Disintegration, modularity and entry mode choice: Mirroring technical and organizational architectures in business functions offshoring

We study the relationship between modularity and entry mode choice in the context of business functions offshoring. We define the degree of modularity of an activity as technical architecture (whether it can be detached from the rest of the value chain without loss of synergies). We refer to the entry mode chosen as organizational architecture (whether a captive solution, a partnership or outsourcing). We propose that the selection of entry mode should reflect the alignment of the technical and organizational architectures: that is, they need to be ‘mirrored’. Modular activities are more likely to be outsourced, as modularity decreases transaction costs and knowledge leakages risks, while not-modular activities reflect captive entry modes. Based on the analysis of 486 business function offshoring initiatives, we also argue that firms can “break” the mirror as the entry choice is contingent upon the level of disintegration of the value chain and the offshoring experience of the firms

Prospecção dos riscos ambientais das nanotecnologias aplicadas à agricultura.

Abstract: A nanotecnologia oferece a perspectiva de grandes avanços que permitirão melhorar a qualidade de vida e preservar o meio ambiente. Apesar do aumento do emprego das nanotecnologias seu potencial encontra-se ainda reprimido devido à fase inicial do seu desenvolvimento no Brasil e à ausência de metodologias que tornem suas avaliações de riscos uma prática corrente. Desta forma, formulamos alguns indicadores ambientais, toxicológicos e ecotoxicólogicos para avaliar o potencial de risco dos produtos nanotecnológicos para fins agrícolas e, assim, orientar os especialistas sobre importantes aspectos da segurança da nanotecnologia

Consultation of scientific experts as a preliminary approach aiming to contribute with the discussion of nanotechnology regulation.

The expansion of the applications of nanostructured materials in various sectors of the economy has alerted the scientific community to the need to consider and anticipate the importance of a regulatory definition for the Nanotechnology. The regulatory requisite has been often decisive for companies opting for the use of new technologies and especially for decision on investment in some countries that have a regulatory framework better structured. In order to identify the best way to lead the discussion that contributes to the subject of regulation in Brazil it has been organized a workshop with the presence of experts from the scientific community and policy makers. As a result, questions were developed that addressed the regulatory process of nanotechnology in order to analyze the knowledge and the placement of specialists who are directly linked to the development of nanotechnologies. These were made available for 214 active specialists in related areas of Nanotechnology in a questionnaire formatted for website applying the Delphi technique in Limesurvey platform. The analysis of the results and consolidation of the responses was made by the project team and invited a panel of experts to discuss the query results and set the directions. In general, the integration of data obtained in the remote and face-to-face consultation allows to infer that the definition of general protocols and some specific protocols with a description of the most important tests to evaluate the safety, focusing on toxicological and ecotoxicological tests, could support both the scientific community as the regulators agents to base the discussion of the most relevant concerns in this area

Risk indicators of the nanoparticles-a decision making process aiming to support the nanomaterials development.

Nanotechnology allows us to develop high quality products with wide application in agriculture, environmental protection, among others. However, some questions arose about the safety of these products. Therefore, criteria to assess the safety of nanoproducts, especially for those that already are on the market has fundamental importance. The hazard or risk identification aims to identify potential adverse effects on the health or the environment that are associated with exposure to a biological, physical or chemical agent. Thus, this work presents some key indicators to assess the risk potential of nanoparticles available today. These indicators were developed by a multidisciplinary team of experts gathered research project coordinated and financed by Embrapa (Rede AgroNano) from technical variables formulated and grounded in the scientific literature and reports from international agencies. Risk indicators were validated remotely by experts from various fields of development and application of nanotechnology through a questionnaire developed according to the Delphi technique, which was made available on the website of Embrapa Environment. For the construction of this questionnaire was used Limesurvey, an open source software developed in PHP and using MySQL database. After statistical and technical analysis this information was validated by experts and stakeholders in technical workshops. According to them, these indicators represent the most critical aspects to the development of nanotechnology. These indicators are intended to help developers of these technologies to reassess the methodologies used for the development of nanotechnologies in order to mitigate a potential risk

Indicadores de risco do desenvolvimento das nanotecnologias: uma ferramenta de apoio à decisão.

Resumo: A nanotecnologia representa atualmente um negócio mundial que movimenta mais de 100 bilhões de dólares e atrai cada vez mais recursos humanos e financeiros, devido ao seu enorme potencial de aplicação. Assim, metodologias que permitam avaliar a segurança dos nanoprodutos, especialmente aqueles que já encontram-se no mercado, são de fundamental importância. No entanto, a área do conhecimento que envolve as avaliações de riscos das nanotecnologias encontra-se ainda bastante incipiente no Brasil. A criação de uma metodologia para a Avaliação dos Riscos das nanotecnologias representa uma medida mitigatória eficaz para enfrentar os desafios cada vez maiores identificados pelos cientistas e legisladores, podendo atuar em três momentos: prevenindo, monitorando e restaurando. Desta forma, são apresentados nesse trabalho 14 indicadores para a avaliar o potencial de risco. Esses foram validados pelos especialistas da área de nanotecnologia por meio da Técnica Delphi de consulta aos especialistas. Segundo eles, esses indicadores representam de modo mais completo os aspectos mais críticos relacionados ao desenvolvimento da Nanotecnologia. Estes indicadores, de modo geral, têm a finalidade de auxiliar os desenvolvedores desta tecnologia para que reavaliem as metodologias empregadas para o desenvolvimento das nanotecnologias com a finalidade de mitigar um provável risco

Subsídios técnicos para formulação do processo regulatório das nanotecnologias no Brasil: consulta a especialistas como uma abordagem preliminar.

O presente trabalho visa auxiliar os legisladores quanto ao processo regulatório das nanotecnologias inseridas no mercado. Com a finalidade de identificar o melhor modo de conduzir a discussão que contribua com a regulamentação do tema no Brasil foi organizado um workshop com a presença de especialistas da comunidade científica e legisladores. Como resultado foram elaboradas questões que abordavam o processo regulatório da nanotecnologia com a finalidade de analisar o conhecimento e o posicionamento dos especialistas que estão diretamente ligados ao desenvolvimento das nanotecnologias. Essas foram disponibilizadas para 214 especialistas atuantes nas áreas correlatas da Nanotecnologia no formato de um questionário-web aplicando a Técnica Delphi, através da plataforma do Limesurvey. A análise dos resultados obtidos e consolidação das respostas foi feita com a equipe do projeto e convidados em um painel de especialistas para discutir os resultados da consulta e definir os direcionamentos. De modo geral, a integração dos dados obtidos permitiu inferir que a definição de protocolos gerais e alguns protocolos específicos com descrição dos ensaios mais relevantes para avaliação da segurança, com foco em testes toxicológicos e ecotoxicológicos, poderiam apoiar tanto o meio científico quanto os agentes reguladores para versarem sobre as preocupações mais relevantes nesta área. ?- This paper aims to assist legislators in the regulatory process of nanotechnologies available in the market. In order to identify the best way to lead the discussion that contributes to the subject of regulation in Brazil it has been organized a workshop with the presence of experts from the scientific community and policy makers. As a result, questions were developed that addressed the regulatory process of nanotechnology in order to analyze the knowledge and the placement of specialists who are directly linked to the development of nanotechnologies. These were made available for 214 active specialists in related areas of Nanotechnology in a questionnaire formatted for website applying the Delphi technique in Limesurvey platform. The analysis of the results and consolidation of the responses was made by the project team and invited a panel of experts to discuss the query results and set the directions. In general, the integration of data obtained in the remote and face-to-face consultation allows to infer that the definition of general protocols and some specific protocols with a description of the most important tests to evaluate the safety, focusing on toxicological and ecotoxicological tests, could support both the scientific community as the regulators agents to base the discussion of the most relevant concerns in this area

Wigner formalism for a particle on an infinite lattice: dynamics and spin

The recently proposed Wigner function for a particle in an infinite lattice (Hinarejos M, Banuls MC and Perez A 2012 New J. Phys. 14 103009) is extended here to include an internal degree of freedom as spin. This extension is made by introducing a Wigner matrix. The formalism is developed to account for dynamical processes, with or without decoherence. We show explicit solutions for the case of Hamiltonian evolution under a position-dependent potential, and for evolution governed by a master equation under some simple models of decoherence, for which the Wigner matrix formalism is well suited. Discrete processes are also discussed. Finally, we discuss the possibility of introducing a negativity concept for the Wigner function in the case where the spin degree of freedom is included

Synthesis and characterization of entangled mesoscopic superpositions for a trapped electron

We propose a scheme for the generation and reconstruction of entangled states between the internal and external (motional) degrees of freedom of a trapped electron. Such states also exhibit quantum coherence at a mesoscopic level.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, RevTeX (twocolumn