The evolution of systems-integration capability in latecomer contexts: the case ofIran’s thermal and hydro power generation systems

This study concerns building capabilities within the electricity sector of Iran, a developing country. It focuses on two areas of high-technology development,• hydro electricity generation plants and thermal electricity generation plants, and investigates the accumulation of local capabilities to undertake large and complex development projects in these two areas. The empirical aim of the thesis is to analyse how far the local capabilities have advanced and what can be done to enhance them. The business of engineering and developing complex electricity generation systems, such as hydro and thermal power plants, is an example of high-value high-technology capital goods industries (sometimes referred to as CoPS in the innovation studies literature). This literature suggests that systems integration is a core capability of leading suppliers in CoPS industries. Most studies of capability building at the firm level in latecomer contexts, however, have focused on mass-manufacturing firms rather than on project-based ones. The CoPS literature, on the other hand, has investigated the concept of systems integration capability within the context of developed economies. Therefore, this research aims to examine latecomer systems integration capability (LSIC) in these two CoPS areas in Iran to develop our understanding of the nature and evolution of LSIC. This research is carried out as an exploratory case study, combining some elements of latecomer theory, systems integration and capability theory to develop the analytical framework for the study. The framework is then applied to evidence gathered from two major Iranian systems integrators that lead engineering and development activities involved in the construction of power plants. Evidence is gathered on the evolution of micro-level attributes, including people, knowledge, processes and structures, underlying LSIC, along with changes in products and outcomes of systems integration activities. These categories of evidence are combined with the evidence on the internal context of the firms and their external environment to reveal their achievements in the accumulation of LSIC, and to understand the dynamics behind the evolution of LSIC. The analysis of this thesis shows how the two Iranian firms entered into the business of systems integration of power plant systems, and have gradually built higher levels of LSIC, allowing them to succeed in competitive local and overseas markets, and to diversify into local markets for other complex projects. Nevertheless, there have been imbalances, spurts of rapid capability growth, periods of falling behind in specific areas of LSIC, close connections and relationships (amounting to a co-evolution among LSIC areas), and major investments and strategies to remedy imbalances, and to sustain the firms' progress. This thesis also attempts to explain these complex variations in the evolutionary paths of LSIC. In addition to contributing to the latecomer capability literature, this research suggests some policy and business strategy implications.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Estimating variance components of ellipsoidal, orthometric and geoidalheights through the GPS/levelling Network in Iran

The Best Quadratic Unbiased Estimation (BQUE) of variance components in the Gauss-Helmert model is used to combine adjustment of GPS/levelling and geoid to determinethe individual variance components for each of the three height types. Through theresearch, different reasons for achievement of the negative variance components werediscussed and a new modified version of the Best Quadratic Unbiased Non-negativeEstimator (MBQUNE) was successfully developed and applied. This estimation could beuseful for estimating the absolute accuracy level which can be achieved using theGPS/levelling method. A general MATLAB function is presented for numericalestimation of variance components by using the different parametric models. Themodified BQUNE and developed software was successfully applied for estimating thevariance components through the sample GPS/levelling network in Iran. In the followingresearch, we used the 75 outlier free and well distributed GPS/levelling data. Threecorrective surface models based on the 4, 5 and 7 parameter models were used throughthe combined adjustment of the GPS/levelling and geoidal heights. Using the 7-parametermodel, the standard deviation indexes of the geoidal, geodetic and orthometric heights inIran were estimated to be about 27, 39 and 35 cm, respectively.QC 20120123</p

The Moderating Role of Perceived Authenticity of Founder on the Success of High Technology Firms

In choosing among innovative ideas, venture capitalists use factors that reflect the merits of the plan and also mertis of the team. This research focuses on the factors relating to the team and examines the relation between the perceived authenticity of the founder in  their leadership and success of the venture. We gathered data from 32 young, high-technology firms that had used financial aids in Iran. This finance was provided by Iran Innvation Fund according to the high-technology law. We used proxies to measure success and a standard questionnaire to measure perceived authenticity of the founder. Findings illustrate that perceived authenticity of the founder in their leadership has a positive moderation impact on the success of the venture. As the perceived authenticity increased, the chance of success increased for the venture. This research extends the innovation literature and contributes to the aunthenticity research. Venture capitalist can use the findings to reduce their risk in choosing profitable venture

The intellectual evolution of the technological catch-up literature: Bibliometric analysis

We analyse the growing literature on technological catch-up since the 1980s to identify its intellectual bases and evolution. The analysis uses co-occurrence and co-citation techniques to explore trends in keywords, journals, documents, and authors. In the 1980s, the area was characterised by two unrelated streams of work on macroeconomic growth and the building of technological capabilities at the micro-level in developing economies. During the 1990s, when the technological catch-up literature began to take off, these two streams of literature evolved further and came closer to each other. During the 2000s, firm-level studies rooted in resource-based and knowledge-based views proliferated. From 2010 they were followed by an increased number of studies of latecomer firm internationalisation. The field's qualitative evolution has been characterised by the convergence between the economic growth and technology capabilities literature, a change of focus from the macro issues of growth and convergence to firm (latecomer firm) and sectoral level issues, and a dominant concern about the relationship between globalisation and technology upgrading at the sectoral or mezzo level. There are four streams that currently underpin research on technology catch up: economic growth, systems of innovation, knowledge management, and industrial dynamics cum global value chains and latecomer firm

Long-term reliability of nanometer VLSI systems: modeling, analysis and optimization

This book provides readers with a detailed reference regarding two of the most important long-term reliability and aging effects on nanometer integrated systems, electromigrations (EM) for interconnect and biased temperature instability (BTI) for CMOS devices. The authors discuss in detail recent developments in the modeling, analysis and optimization of the reliability effects from EM and BTI induced failures at the circuit, architecture and system levels of abstraction. Readers will benefit from a focus on topics such as recently developed, physics-based EM modeling, EM modeling for multi-segment wires, new EM-aware power grid analysis, and system level EM-induced reliability optimization and management techniques. Reviews classic Electromigration (EM) models, as well as existing EM failure models and discusses the limitations of those models; Introduces a dynamic EM model to address transient stress evolution, in which wires are stressed under time-varying current flows, and the EM recovery effects. Also includes new, parameterized equivalent DC current based EM models to address the recovery and transient effects; Presents a cross-layer approach to transistor aging modeling, analysis and mitigation, spanning multiple abstraction levels; Equips readers for EM-induced dynamic reliability management and energy or lifetime optimization techniques, for many-core dark silicon microprocessors, embedded systems, lower power many-core processors and datacenters

Aging effects in FPGAs: an experimental analysis

International audienceModern Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FP-GAs) are built using the most advanced technology nodes to meet performance and power demands. This makes them susceptible to various reliability challenges at nano-scale, and in particular to transistor aging. In this paper, an experimental analysis is made to identify the main parameters and phenomena influencing the performance degradation of FPGAs. For that purpose, a set of controlled ring-oscillator-based sensors with different frequencies and tunable activity control are implemented on a Spartan-6 FPGA. Thus, the internal switching activities (SAs) and signal probabilities (SPs) of the sensors can be varied. We performed accelerated-lifetime conditions using elevated temperatures and voltages in a controlled setting to stress the FPGA. A novel monitoring method based on measuring the electromagnetic emissions of the FPGA is used to accurately monitor the performance of the sensors before and after the stress. The experiments reveal the extent of performance degradations, the impact of SPs and SAs, and the relative impacts of BTI and HCI aging factors