Learning And Collaboration: An Examination Of North American-japanese Joint Ventures

ABSTRACT HAS BEEN ARCHIVED 02/29/96

The Eroding Artificial/Natural Distinction: Some Consequences for Ecology and Economics

Since Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), historians and philosophers of science have paid increasing attention to the implications of disciplinarity. In this chapter we consider restrictions posed to interdisciplinary exchange between ecology and economics that result from a particular kind of commitment to the ideal of disciplinary purity, that is, that each discipline is defined by an appropriate, unique set of objects, methods, theories, and aims. We argue that, when it comes to the objects of study in ecology and economics, ideas of disciplinary purity have been underwritten by the artificial-natural distinction. We then problematize this distinction, and thus disciplinary purity, both conceptually and empirically. Conceptually, the distinction is no longer tenable. Empirically, recent interdisciplinary research has shown the epistemological and policy-oriented benefits of dealing with models which explicitly link anthropogenic (i.e., “artificial”) and non-anthropogenic factors (i.e., “natural”). We conclude that, in the current age of the Anthropocene, it is to be expected that without interdisciplinary exchange, ecology and economics may relinquish global relevance because the distinct and separate systems to which each “pure” science was originally made to apply will only diminish over time

Trust and institutions

"Dieses Papier beschäftigt sich mit den Funktionen von Institutionen im Prozess der Vertrauensgenese in Beziehungen zwischen individuellen Akteuren (Managern) und kollektiven Akteuren (Firmen). Es werden mehrere Ansätze zur Konzeptualisierung von Vertrauen in organisationalen Kontexten und deren Annahmen darüber diskutiert, wie institutionelle Arrangements Prozesse der Vertrauensbildung beeinflussen. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Diskussion wird eine tragfähige Perspektive zur Analyse des Verhältnisses zwischen Vertrauen und institutionellen Strukturen entwickelt. Vier Szenarien, in welchen der Einfluss von Institutionen für die Genese von Vertrauen besonders wichtig sein kann, werden genauer betrachtet: das frühe Entwicklungsstadium von Geschäftsbeziehungen; Fälle, in denen Institutionen relativ stark und verlässlich sind; Fälle, in denen Vertrauen schnell aufgebaut werden muss; und Fälle, in denen idiosynkratische Transaktionen stattfinden." (Autorenreferat)"This paper deals with the role of institutions in the development of trust among individual actors (managers), among collective actors (firms), and between individual and collective actors. We review various strands of literature on organizational trust and examine the assumptions made about how trust building processes are influenced by institutional arrangements. Building on this discussion, we develop a perspective on the interrelationship between trust and institutions. We examine four situations where the influence of institutions can be conducive to building trust in business relationships: in the early stages of the development of a trust-based relationship; when institutions are relatively strong; when trust needs to be established swiftly; and when the transaction is idiosyncratic rather than based on routine behavior." (author's abstract

Understanding the fidelity effect when evaluating games with children

There have been a number of studies that have compared evaluation results from prototypes of different fidelities but very few of these are with children. This paper reports a comparative study of three prototypes ranging from low fidelity to high fidelity within the context of mobile games, using a between subject design with 37 participants aged 7 to 9. The children played a matching game on either an iPad, a paper prototype using screen shots of the actual game or a sketched version. Observational data was captured to establish the usability problems, and two tools from the Fun Toolkit were used to measure user experience. The results showed that there was little difference for user experience between the three prototypes and very few usability problems were unique to a specific prototype. The contribution of this paper is that children using low-fidelity prototypes can effectively evaluate games of this genre and style

When Ecology Needs Economics and Economics Needs Ecology: Interdisciplinary Exchange in the Age of Humans

Evidence that humans play a dominant role in most ecosystems forces scientists to confront systems that contain factors transgressing traditional disciplinary boundaries. However, it is an open question whether this state of affairs should encourage interdisciplinary exchange or integration. With two case studies, we show that exchange between ecologists and economists is preferable, for epistemological and policy-oriented reasons, to their acting independently. We call this “exchange gain.” Our case studies show that theoretical exchanges can be less disruptive to current theory than commonly thought—valuable exchange does not necessarily require disciplinary integration

Trust and Institutions

Abstract: This paper deals with the role of institutions in the development of trust among individual actors (managers), among collective actors (firms), and between individual and collective actors. We review various strands of literature on organizational trust and examine the assumptions made about how trust building processes are influenced by institutional arrangements. Building on this discussion, we develop a perspective on the interrelationship between trust and institutions. We examinefour situations where the influence of institutions can be conducive to building trust in business relationships: in the early stages of the development of a trust-based relationship; when institutions are relatively strong; when trust needs to be established swiftly; and when the transaction is idiosyncratic rather than based on routine behavior.

When Ecology Needs Economics and Economics Needs Ecology: Interdisciplinary Exchange in the Age of Humans

Evidence that humans play a dominant role in most ecosystems forces scientists to confront systems that contain factors transgressing traditional disciplinary boundaries. However, it is an open question whether this state of affairs should encourage interdisciplinary exchange or integration. With two case studies, we show that exchange between ecologists and economists is preferable, for epistemological and policy-oriented reasons, to their acting independently. We call this “exchange gain.” Our case studies show that theoretical exchanges can be less disruptive to current theory than commonly thought—valuable exchange does not necessarily require disciplinary integration