The learning-decoding approach as a means of overcoming the barriers to growth in small & medium size enterprises

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis explores how small business owners learn to learn' to overcome barriers to growth or commercial success. This learning takes place within a process which has been termed the Learning-Decoding Approach. This Approach consists of three main factors - (1) how small business owners Scan their environment for signals and cues; (2) how they Decode any signals and cues; and (3) how they Test their Mental models and Assumptions - this factor incorporates an analysis of the inclination to be Open to changing or affirming the Mental Models and Assumptions held. Further, it examines what the small business owner does with the final result from this process: that is, is it used to influence the design of some strategic plan or does it become part of an emerging one? Generally, it was found that Strategic Planning is not a function of the Learning- Decoding Approach. It is not considered a core tool for overcoming barriers to growth. Its major role is at the task or operational level rather than the business level. Further, any attempt at Strategy Planning is only used as a guide. Fifty small firms were investigated within two `knowledge-worker' sectors: the Management Consulting Sector and the Marketing Consulting Sector. Within these sectors three sizes of firms were reviewed. Thirty-eight male and twelve female owner-managers were involved in the interviews. The research identified a number of similarities and some differences between the sectors; and provided a cultural explanation for them. The daily work practices used by owner-managers showed that the sectors were different but closely aligned. A tentative Learning-Decoding Approach model was developed and comprised three spectrums. Firms can be positioned on them according to their predisposition to, and skills in, Scanning the environment for signals, and Decoding the signals and then Testing them against their Mental Models and Assumptions. Further, if learning is to occur the owner-manager must be prepared to be open to changing any Mental Models and Assumptions held. By learning the skills implicit in this process, the owner-manager can move on to learning how to overcome the barriers to growth. This suggests that the Learning- Decoding Approach can provide a helpful model for advisers to enable them to mentor, coach, counsel or facilitate small business owners in a review of their business style and practice. The main conclusion drawn from the thesis is that Scanning, Decoding and Testing are perceived as valuable activities which influence commercial success. However, a gap is evident between attitude and behaviour. Due to this, it is felt that the aims of the research are only partly met

CHORUS Deliverable 2.1: State of the Art on Multimedia Search Engines

Based on the information provided by European projects and national initiatives related to multimedia search as well as domains experts that participated in the CHORUS Think-thanks and workshops, this document reports on the state of the art related to multimedia content search from, a technical, and socio-economic perspective. The technical perspective includes an up to date view on content based indexing and retrieval technologies, multimedia search in the context of mobile devices and peer-to-peer networks, and an overview of current evaluation and benchmark inititiatives to measure the performance of multimedia search engines. From a socio-economic perspective we inventorize the impact and legal consequences of these technical advances and point out future directions of research

A theory and model for the evolution of software services.

Software services are subject to constant change and variation. To control service development, a service developer needs to know why a change was made, what are its implications and whether the change is complete. Typically, service clients do not perceive the upgraded service immediately. As a consequence, service-based applications may fail on the service client side due to changes carried out during a provider service upgrade. In order to manage changes in a meaningful and effective manner service clients must therefore be considered when service changes are introduced at the service provider's side. Otherwise such changes will most certainly result in severe application disruption. Eliminating spurious results and inconsistencies that may occur due to uncontrolled changes is therefore a necessary condition for the ability of services to evolve gracefully, ensure service stability, and handle variability in their behavior. Towards this goal, this work presents a model and a theoretical framework for the compatible evolution of services based on well-founded theories and techniques from a number of disparate fields.

Property management strategies for institutional investors in the '90s

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-92).by John A. Willand.M.S

The Future of the Internet III

Presents survey results on technology experts' predictions on the Internet's social, political, and economic impact as of 2020, including its effects on integrity and tolerance, intellectual property law, and the division between personal and work lives