An Investigation into the Evolution and Future of Digitalisation in Elite Sports: It’s Influence within On-Pitch Decision-making.

The sports industry has seen exponential growth in a number of areas (Heitner, 2015), the most evident of which is its capability to use data and technology to inform performance and decisionmaking (Agrawal, 2015; Hill, 2018). This trend has increased as a result of improved technological innovations and Horrocks et al. (2016) postulated that the sports industry is reaching a plateau in terms of physical fitness (measuring performance). There is therefore a need to better understand the acquisition of decision-making abilities and a need for players to make swift appropriate decisions in time constrained and high-pressured environments. However, a challenge present in sports is better informed individual and team decision-making skills. Although literature is published in this area, and has contributed to the understanding of the phenomenon (Williams, 2007; Horrocks et al., 2016), it has only really been explored with little reporting on how digitalisation influences the decision-making of coaches and players in a team setting (James, 2006: Richards et al., 2012, 2017). Consequently, the central purpose of this research is to investigate the utilisation of data and technology in sports, with a focus on how it influences decision-making of players and coaches. This research takes an evolutionary perspective by way of investigating the evolution and possible future of digitalisation in the sports sector. The research employed a qualitative approach using the learning organisation theory as a lens. 33 semi-structured interviews were conducted with various stakeholders from elite football (Premier League, Championship), cricket (First-Class County Clubs) and rugby (Rugby League). These included: Sport Directors, Managers, Head Coaches, Players, Performance Analysts, Medical Staff and also some Sport Data Companies. The findings of this study produced an account of the ways in which data and technology is being utilised in sports from training, performance management, injury prevention to on-pitch decision making and implications for team and opposition strategy. This research demonstrates that digitalisation influences the decision-making processes of players and coaches and goes further to show how and to what extent this occurs. Furthermore, this research demonstrates how sports teams are learning entities and how effective use of digitalisation enables the development of learning capabilities. The actual level of utilisation of data within sports is very varied, with football appearing to have higher utilisations and more initiatives. Challenges such as lack of resources and expert personnel have been underlined as issues still being experienced by sports teams. The findings are used to develop recommendations on how to best utilise data analytics and technology for on-pitch improvement of decision-making and how current methods can be improved. A conceptual framework is presented regarding the successful implementation and utilisation of data and technological tools. It is recommended that sports teams implement the framework and use it around their current team philosophy and strategies. However, it is equally important for sports teams to keep working and adjusting the framework. Moreover, the theoretical and practical contributions to the literature and the sports industry are highlighted. Finally, the limitations of the study are discussed, while also emphasising recommendations for future research

The Evolution of Smart Buildings: An Industrial Perspective of the Development of Smart Buildings in the 2010s

Over the course of the 2010s, specialist research bodies have failed to provide a holistic view of the changes in the prominent reason (as driven by industry) for creating a smart building. Over the 2010s, research tended to focus on remaining deeply involved in only single issues or value drivers. Through an analysis of the author’s peer reviewed and published works (book chapters, articles, essays and podcasts), supplemented with additional contextual academic literature, a model for how the key drivers for creating a smart building have evolved in industry during the 2010s is presented. The critical research commentary within this thesis, tracks the incremental advances of technology and their application to the built environment via academic movements, industrial shifts, or the author’s personal contributions. This thesis has found that it is demonstrable, through the chronology and publication dates of the included research papers, that as the financial cost and complexity of sensors and cloud computing reduced, smart buildings became increasingly prevalent. Initially, sustainability was the primary focus with the use of HVAC analytics and advanced metering in the early 2010s. The middle of the decade saw an economic transformation of the commercial office sector and the driver for creating a smart building was concerned with delivering flexible yet quantifiably used space. Driven by society’s emphasis on health, wellbeing and productivity, smart buildings pivoted their focus towards the end of the 2010s. Smart building technologies were required to demonstrate the impacts of architecture on the human. This research has evidenced that smart buildings use data to improve performance in sustainability, in space usage or for humancentric outcomes

Product/Brand co-creation methodology crossing marketing, design thinking, creativity and management: ideas(r)evolution

This thesis introduce a new innovation methodology called IDEAS(R)EVOLUTION that was developed according to an on-going experimental research project started in 2007. This new approach to innovation has initial based on Design thinking for innovation theory and practice. The concept of design thinking for innovation has received much attention in recent years. This innovation approach has climbed from the design and designers knowledge field towards other knowledge areas, mainly business management and marketing. Human centered approach, radical collaboration, creativity and breakthrough thinking are the main founding principles of Design thinking that were adapted by those knowledge areas due to their assertively and fitness to the business context and market complexity evolution. Also Open innovation, User-centered innovation and later on Living Labs models emerge as answers to the market and consumers pressure and desire for new products, new services or new business models. Innovation became the principal business management focus and strategic orientation. All this changes had an impact also in the marketing theory. It is possible now to have better strategies, communications plans and continuous dialogue systems with the target audience, incorporating their insights and promoting them to the main dissemination ambassadors of our innovations in the market. Drawing upon data from five case studies, the empirical findings in this dissertation suggest that companies need to shift from Design thinking for innovation approach to an holistic, multidimensional and integrated innovation system. The innovation context it is complex, companies need deeper systems then the success formulas that “commercial “Design thinking for innovation “preaches”. They need to learn how to change their organization culture, how to empower their workforce and collaborators, how to incorporate external stakeholders in their innovation processes, hoe to measure and create key performance indicators throughout the innovation process to give them better decision making data, how to integrate meaning and purpose in their innovation philosophy. Finally they need to understand that the strategic innovation effort it is not a “one shot” story it is about creating a continuous flow of interaction and dialogue with their clients within a “value creation chain“ mindset; RESUMO: Metodologia de co-criação de um produto/marca cruzando Marketing, Design Thinking, Criativity and Management - IDEAS(R)EVOLUTION. Esta dissertação apresenta uma nova metodologia de inovação chamada IDEAS(R)EVOLUTION, que foi desenvolvida segundo um projecto de investigação experimental contínuo que teve o seu início em 2007. Esta nova abordagem baseou-se, inicialmente, na teoria e na práctica do Design thinking para a inovação. Actualmente o conceito do Design Thinking para a inovação “saiu” do dominio da area de conhecimento do Design e dos Designers, tendo despertado muito interesse noutras áreas como a Gestão e o Marketing. Uma abordagem centrada na Pessoa, a colaboração radical, a criatividade e o pensamento disruptivo são principios fundadores do movimento do Design thinking que têm sido adaptados por essas novas áreas de conhecimento devido assertividade e adaptabilidade ao contexto dos negócios e à evolução e complexidade do Mercado. Também os modelos de Inovação Aberta, a inovação centrada no utilizador e mais tarde os Living Labs, emergem como possiveis soluções para o Mercado e para a pressão e desejo dos consumidores para novos productos, serviços ou modelos de negócio. A inovação passou a ser o principal foco e orientação estratégica na Gestão. Todas estas mudanças também tiveram impacto na teoria do Marketing. Hoje é possivel criar melhores estratégias, planos de comunicação e sistemas continuos de diálogo com o público alvo, incorporando os seus insights e promovendo os consumidores como embaixadores na disseminação da inovação das empresas no Mercado Os resultados empiricos desta tese, construídos com a informação obtida nos cinco casos realizados, sugerem que as empresas precisam de se re-orientar do paradigma do Design thinking para a inovação, para um sistema de inovação mais holistico, multidimensional e integrado. O contexto da Inovação é complexo, por isso as empresas precisam de sistemas mais profundos e não apenas de “fórmulas comerciais” como o Design thinking para a inovação advoga. As Empresas precisam de aprender como mudar a sua cultura organizacional, como capacitar sua força de trabalho e colaboradores, como incorporar os públicos externos no processo de inovação, como medir o processo de inovação criando indicadores chave de performance e obter dados para um tomada de decisão mais informada, como integrar significado e propósito na sua filosofia de inovação. Por fim, precisam de perceber que uma estratégia de inovação não passa por ter “sucesso uma vez”, mas sim por criar um fluxo contínuo de interação e diálogo com os seus clientes com uma mentalidade de “cadeia de criação de valor

Toward a theory of the evolution of business ecosystems : enterprise architectures, competitive dynamics, firm performance & industrial co-evolution

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Vita.Includes bibliographical references (v. 4, p. 698-745).This dissertation contributes toward the building of a theory of the evolution of business ecosystems. In the process, it addresses a question that has been posed by evolutionary theorists in the economics and sociology literatures for decades: "Why do firms in the same industry vary systematically in performance over time?" Seeking a systematic explanation of a longitudinal phenomenon inevitably requires characterizing the evolution of the industrial ecosystem, as both the organization (firm) and its environment (industry, markets and institutions) are co-evolving. This question is therefore explored via a theoretical sample in three industrial ecosystems covering manufacturing and service sectors, with competitors from the US, Europe and Japan: commercial airplanes, motor vehicles and airlines. The research is based primarily on an in depth seven-year, multi-level, multi-method, field-based case study of both firms in the large commercial airplanes industry mixed duopoly as well as the key stakeholders in their extended enterprises (i.e. customers, suppliers, investors and employees). This field work is supplemented with historical comparative analysis in all three industries, as well as nonlinear dynamic simulation models developed to capture the essential mechanisms governing the evolution of business ecosystems.(cont.) A theoretical framework is developed which endogenously traces the co-evolution of firms and their industrial environments using their highest-level system properties of form, function and fitness (as reflected in the system sciences of morphology, physiology and ecology), and which embraces the evolutionary processes of variation, selection and retention. The framework captures the path-dependent evolution of heterogeneous populations of enterprise architectures engaged in symbiotic inter-species competition and posits the evolution of dominant designs in enterprise architectures that oscillate deterministically and chaotically between modular and integral states throughout an industry's life-cycle. Architectural innovation - at the extended enterprise level - is demonstrated to contribute to the failure of established firms, with causal mechanisms developed to explain tipping points.by Theodore F. Piepenbrock.Ph.D

Napalm, An American Biography

This dissertation offers a history of napalm from its invention in 1942 at Harvard University to President Barack Obama's signature on 21 January 2008 of the first U.S. treaty to limit its use. It describes the incendiary weapon's creation through a partnership between government and academia; deployment in both Europe and the Pacific, culminating with the firebombing of Japan's major cities in 1945; extensive use during the Korean War, and many other conflicts; and transformation in public opinion from a marvel to a monster so horrible Pentagon commanders won't mention it, and commentators routinely cite it as an icon of savage cruelty. The history traces this change in public opinion to media coverage during the Vietnam War that raised awareness of the weapon's effects on civilians; protests against the war and the Dow Chemical Corporation that started in 1965 and defined the gel as barbaric; U.S. defeat in Vietnam; commentary by opinion makers after the war, especially Hollywood film-makers; the rise of a global popular culture linked by electronic media; changes in international law; and development of alternative weapons. The study concludes that napalm's story highlights the significance of worldwide communications and popular culture, the increased importance of civilian casualties in war, the important role social movements and international law play in the formulation of social norms, and the increasing power of global opinion to constrain national authorities

Southern Accent September 2005 - April 2006

Southern Adventist University\u27s newspaper, Southern Accent, for the academic year of 2005-2006.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/southern_accent/1083/thumbnail.jp

Academic attitudes to new media in UK higher education: an interdisciplinary study

This thesis examines the attitudes of UK academics toward new media as both cultural artefacts and tools, assessing the relationship of those attitudes to traditionally distinct disciplinary structures. An inclusive and conceptually informed framework was developed following a review of multi-disciplinary literatures addressing the organisation of disciplines, the management of Higher Education, and the multiple meanings of new media. The original contribution of the thesis is an enriched understanding of what new media mean to academics both symbolically and practically at a time of immense technological and organisational change. Empirical data were gathered from a sample of 209 UK academics in four academic fields which were selected strategically using a frame based on the work of Whitley (2000). The primary instrument used was a self-administered online questionnaire (distributed to 953 individuals in 112 in-scope institutions, hence the response rate is 22 percent) using Likert scales and semantic differentials to capture attitudinal statements. Illustrative, descriptive and inferential statistics were computed from this, although it must be noted that the population size could only be estimated. An analysis of commonalities and differences in emerging and conventional disciplinary structures suggests a stronger influence of the practical rather than symbolic influences of discipline on academics' attitudes toward new media. A homogenisation of attitudes is found across not only disciplines, but genders, age groups, and experience levels. At the same time, while these findings echo those of other research, strong conceptual and methodological differences remain evident in debates about new media in much scholarly literature, primarily that drawn along disciplinary lines, or for a specialist audience. This suggests two equally important positions from which academics assess new media; those rooted in disciplinary modes, and those common to multiple practitioners and audiences in the academic 'workspace'. This can be seen as symptomatic of the new managerial models for research, teaching and assessment currently prevalent within HE

Bowdoin Orient v.132, no.1-24 (2002-2003)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-2000s/1003/thumbnail.jp

Library buildings around the world

"Library Buildings around the World" is a survey based on researches of several years. The objective was to gather library buildings on an international level starting with 1990