Exploring the bottleneck of Iran's national innovation system by TOC thinking process

This paper contributes to identify systematic problems in NIS using Thinking Process (TOC-TP) and to eliminate the bottlenecks, which results in improving the innovation process and efficiency of NIS. The Case study in this research is the NIS of Iran. The national documents of the innovation system were studied and all problems of NIS mentioned in documents were gathered. The causal relationships between the systematic problems were identified by the survey and grouped into 6 components by Exploratory Factor Analysis: weakness in technology diffusion mechanisms, the lack of centralized governance on science and technology policy, the government's pivotal role as an executor in education and research, weak laws and regulations in the field of research and technology, the lack of adequate financial resources in R&D and the lack of any perspective on the creation of wealth and entrepreneurship among the actors of research and technology. Finally the bottleneck of Iran's NIS was recognized by Thinking Process tools: the small participation of private sector in research and education system as the result of government's pivotal role as an executor of Iran's national innovation system. So the researchers could diagnose the policy gaps related to the identified bottlenecks. First published online: 11 Aug 201

National system of innovation in biotechnology in a developing country – a Gerschenkronian approach to biopharmaceuticals and bioagriculture in Iran

This study is a qualitative analysis to investigate the extent and characteristics of the influence of the national system of innovation (NSI) on the performance of the biotechnology sector in a developing country. While developing country ̳leapfrogging‘ would, at first sight, seem to contradict mainstream theorising about latecomer innovation, it fits well with a Gerschenkronian focus on therole of substitutes to overcome major stumbling blocks to economic developmentand the role of institutions such as banks in directing investment. This makes it compatible with an older, more traditional literature. Yet, even though such success can readily be understood for scale-intensive heavy industries with well-established technological trajectories, it does not seem so simple for biotech, where success is still highly uncertain, even for firms in developed countries, and where directed governance structures of the sort authors such as Gerschenkron highlight are not normally deemed useful. To identify what influences the uneven performance of the bioagricultural and biopharmaceutical sectors in Iran, a parallel approach to Gerschenkron‘s is implemented in this thesis, to determine whether the characteristics of Iran‘s NSI in biopharmaceuticals differ from those of bioagricultural sector and whether these differences explain the differing performance. The study makes extensive use of interviews as well as documentation to assess the actual unfolding of events. The findings were unexpected at the outset of the project as the uneven development in the biotechnology sector of Iran turns out to have been caused less by technological failure than by regulatory failures on the part of government. This demonstrates that while the government can speed up economic development by overcoming barriers (through for example promoting successful access to technological knowledge, research and development), it can also hamperinnovation by failing to provide appropriate legislation and to adjust laws and regulations to the stage of technological development that the biotechnology sector of a developing country has achieved. Thus Gerschenkron‘s conclusion about the state as a substitute for ̳economic backwardness‘ is turned on its hea

Sustainable fuel, food, fertilizer and ecosystems through a global artificial photosynthetic system: overcoming anticompetitive barriers

This article discusses challenges that artificial photosynthetic (AP) systems will face when entering and competing in a global market characterized by established fossil fuel technology. It provides a perspective on the neoliberal principles underpinning much policy entrenching such environmentally destructive technology and outlines how competition law could aid overcoming these hurdles for AP development. In particular, it critiques the potential for competition law to promote a global AP initiative with greater emphasis on atmospheric carbon dioxide and nitrogen fixation (as well as solar-driven water splitting) to produce an equitable, globally distributed source of human food, fertilizer and biosphere sustainability, as well as hydrogen-based fuel. Some relevant strategies of competition law evaluated in this context include greater citizen-consumer involvement in shaping market values, legal requirements to factor services from the natural environment (i.e. provision of clean air, water, soil pollution degradation) into corporate costs, reform of corporate taxation and requirements to balance maximization of shareholder profit with contribution to a nominated public good, a global financial transactions tax, as well as prohibiting horizontal cartels, vertical agreements and unilateral misuse of market power.ARC DP14010056

Investigating Potential Interventions on disruptive impacts of Industry 4.0 technologies in Circular Supply chains: Evidence from SMEs of an Emerging Economy

As a transversal theme, the intertwining of digitalization and sustainability has crossed all Supply Chains (SCs) levels dealing with widespread environmental and societal concerns. This paper investigates the potential interventions and disruptive impacts that Industry 4.0 technologies may have on pharmaceutical Circular SCs (CSCs). To accomplish this, a novel method involving a literature review and Pythagorean fuzzy-Delphi has initially been employed to identify and screen categorized lists of Industry 4.0 Disruptive Technologies (IDTs) and their impacts on pharmaceutical CSC. Subsequently, the weight of finalized impacts and the performance score of finalized IDTs have simultaneously been measured via a novel version of Pythagorean fuzzy SECA (Simultaneously Evaluation of Criteria and Alternatives). Then, the priority of each intervention for disruptive impacts of Industry 4.0 has been determined via the Hanlon method. This is one of the first papers to provide in-depth insights into advancing the study of the disruptive action of Industry 4.0 technologies cross-fertilizing CE throughout pharmaceutical SCs in the emerging economy of Iran. The results indicate that digital technologies such as Big Data Analytics, Global Positioning Systems, Enterprise Resource Planning, and Digital Platforms are quite available in the Irans' pharmaceutical industry. These technologies, along with four available interventions, e.g., environmental regulations, subsidy, fine, and reward, would facilitate moving towards a lean, agile, resilient, and sustainable supply chain through the efficient utilization of resources, optimized waste management, and substituting the human workforce by machines

Innovation Technology

Comprise definition of 1500 terms. Innovation from A to Z presents a glossary, including: Terms, older terms whose meanings have changed, acronyms, synonyms, famous names, selected abbreviations, and cross-references. A highly interdisciplinary approach incorporating strategy and entrepreneurship with technology and engineering sciences, economics, marketing, organizational behavior and theory. Ideal for engineers, managers, sales people and economists. Innovation Technology from A to Z Glossary of terms, including acronyms, synonyms, abbreviations, cross-references 1500 terms supplemented by figures and tables that clearly demonstrate the state-of-the-art in Innovation Technolog

The effect of emerging green market on green entrepreneurship and sustainable development in knowledge-based companies

Environmental concerns, as well as consumers’ awareness of buying green or environmentally-friendly products, has a positive impact on the emergence of the green market. The emerging green market brings many opportunities in different fields. Today, the issue of green entrepreneurship and sustainable development aim at producing environmentally-friendly products. This is indeed welcomed in the emerging green market. The publicly available research studies that investigate how green entrepreneurship, sustainable development, and emerging green markets are interconnected with each other are limited. More specifically, the impact of the green market on green entrepreneurship and sustainable development has not yet been studied completely. Therefore, a comprehensive research model has been developed in this paper based on the literature. The developed model is then tested using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 19. IBM Corp.: Armonk, NY, USA and Smart-PLS Version 2 based on the data collected via a survey from a sample of knowledge-based companies in the Science & Technology Park of Tehran University. The results of the research indicate a positive and significant effect of the emergence of the green market on green entrepreneurship and sustainable development in knowledge-based companies. Moreover, the impact of the green entrepreneurship structure on sustainable development has been studied and the result presents that green entrepreneurship has a positive and significant effect on sustainable development

Organizational innovation factors, capabilities and organizational performance in Iranian automotive industry

Understanding the relationship between innovation and performance of firms for both large and small organisations is relevant for researchers and policy-makers. Many firms and organisations have begun to recognise that innovation proficiency is the key to building a sustainable competitive advantage for their products or services in a progressively crowded marketplace. Even though defining innovation capability through its antecedents is considered as a unique methodology, a theoretical and comprehensive study about the effects of internal and external innovation drivers on organisational performance is still scarce. This study addresses the deficiency of empirical studies by developing a comprehensive model to examine the effects of external innovation drivers and internal innovation drivers namely organisational culture and intellectual capital on organisational performance directly and through innovation capability. A quantitative methodology is used to investigate the relationship paths. Data were collected from 275 companies in the automotive sector in Iran by using a cross-sectional survey method. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used in the hypotheses testing. The results indicate that internal and external organisational innovation has a positive and significant relationship with organisational performance directly and through organisational innovation. Fundamentally, the results of this study can assist organisations and academic bodies to expand their knowledge on the role of innovation drivers and the capability of organisational performance in automotive industry

Skills Required by Consultants for Success within the Competitive Auto Sales Business Environments

Automobile sector is significant to the United States economy accounting for over 3 million jobs in total employment (Mondal, 2011). Sales personnel are essential for generating revenues to sustain the Auto sector. However, automobile sale consultants’ voluntary turnover rate approximates 34.7% costing dealerships about $75,000 per salesperson in annual total cost (Davieson, 2011). Guided by knowledge-based view, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore skills required by some consultants in New York for success beyond five years within the competitive auto sales business environment. Data were collected through semi structured interviews from 20 participants who consulted in same auto dealership and succeeded at least 5 years. Data analysis involved coding techniques and cluster analysis. Member checking strengthened credibility and trustworthiness in interpreting participants’ responses. The 3 themes that emerged related to skills used by auto sales consultants for success including Technical knowledge, Interpersonal, and Salesmanship Skills. Findings may contribute to social change by specifying some skills which successful auto sales consultants use to improve performance, mitigate job loss and reduce turnover rate. Information may enhance product training to facilitate sales skills and increase revenue leading to prosperity of auto dealerships, their employees, and the locality