The role of 1st tier suppliers in automobile product modularisation: the search for a coherent strategy

Modularization is a growing concept in auto industry. Architectural decisions had been many time studied from the car maker's point of view. This article addresses the question of supplier's strategy in the modular business. A prior publication (Fourcade Midler 2004) showed that supplier's involvement could take various forms, from light coordination to heavy investment in deep module redesign. This article will investigate how these different modular involvement profile could fit in general 1st Tier supplier's strategy. It is based both on a general study of automotive suppliers industrial field and an interactive research that we have been pursuing in conjunction with one 1st Tier supplier since 2001.

The role of 1st tier suppliers in automobile product modularisation: the search for a coherent strategy

Modularization is a growing concept in auto industry. Architectural decisions had been many time studied from the car maker's point of view. This article addresses the question of supplier's strategy in the modular business. A prior publication (Fourcade Midler 2004) showed that supplier's involvement could take various forms, from light coordination to heavy investment in deep module redesign. This article will investigate how these different modular involvement profile could fit in general 1st Tier supplier's strategy. It is based both on a general study of automotive suppliers industrial field and an interactive research that we have been pursuing in conjunction with one 1st Tier supplier since 2001

Multilevel integration of exploration units : beyond the ambidextrous organization

How firms combine incremental and radical innovation? The ambidextrous model suggests to differentiate exploration units from exploitation units. We show the importance of integration between these entities in outlining the tensions between them. We suggest that integration takes place on a multilevel basis and relies on various mechanisms.Modèle ambidextre

Favoriser l'innovation radicale dans une entreprise multidivisionnelle : Extension du modèle ambidextre à partir de l'analyse d'un cas

Le modèle d'organisation ambidextre constitue l'une des réponses avancées par la littérature pour développer des innovations radicales dans les grandes entreprises. Il met en avant la coexistence d'unités dédiées à l'exploitation et d'autres à l'exploration et au développement de ces innovations. L'articulation de ces unités, à la fois séparées et intégrées, a été peu étudiée. Sur la base d'une étude longitudinale d'une nouvelle unité organisationnelle créée pour favoriser l'innovation dans une grande entreprise multidivisionnelle, nous caractérisons plusieurs modes d'intégration situés à des niveaux différents et fondés sur des mécanismes variés. Les processus de reconfiguration de ressources qui favorisent le développement d'innovations radicales sont également analysés.Modèle ambidextre

Les filières scientifiqueset l'emploi

La désaffection pour les études en Sciences fondamentales à l'universitéIl existe en France une inquiétude certaine sur l'avenir des formations scientifiques. Lapremière impression que l'on retire de la lecture des nombreux rapports qui se sont penchés sur laquestion en France (Blandin Renar 2002, Porchet 2002, 2003, Ourisson 2002), en Europe (par exWilen 2006) ou dans les pays de l'OCDE (OCDE 2005) est l'absence de consensus sur la notion descientifique, aussi bien en termes de formation que d'activité professionnelle. Il s'agit d'une notion aumieux conventionnelle, définie souvent de manière ad hoc et donc source de nombreuses ambiguïtés.Le premier objectif de ce rapport est de préciser très clairement ce que l'on entend par formationscientifique d'une part, activité scientifique d'autre part.Les formations scientifiques sont celles qui délivrent des connaissances en sciences, sciencesfondamentales (maths physique chimie, sciences de la nature ou de la vie) ou sciences appliquées(sciences de l'ingénieur, sciences techniques et technologiques, y.c informatique). Les premièresconduisent à des diplômes de sciences fondamentales délivrés principalement par les Universités,tandis que les secondes mènent aussi bien à des diplômes universitaires qu'à des DUT, des BTS etdes diplômes d'ingénieur. Forts de ces précisions1, on constate que la désaffection des étudiantssemble avérée pour l'ensemble de ces formations, mais tout particulièrement si l'on se réfère auxinscriptions en 1er cycle universitaire de sciences fondamentales ; amorcée en 1995, elle se poursuitinexorablement depuis du fait des jeunes titulaires d'un Bac S qui préfèrent s'inscrire dans les filièressélectives (Santé, IUT, STS, CPGE) ou dans les disciplines de sciences appliquées (sciences del'ingénieur ou sciences informatiques) (Partie A1 de ce rapport) plutôt qu'en DEUG de sciences. Lesformations universitaires de 2ème et 3ème cycle en sciences sont, peut-être pour l'instant ? peutouchées mais deux choses peuvent l'expliquer : la présence d'un nombre important d'étudiantsétrangers (Tomasini 2005) et le fait que les élèves de certaines formations d'ingénieurs et ceux desEcoles Normales Supérieures réintègrent le circuit universitaire en deuxième cycle.Cette désaffection concerne la plupart des pays de l'OCDE mais la France semble être parmiles pays européens les plus touchés (Auriol 2005). Les raisons de cette désaffection sontrégulièrement évoquées et semblent à peu près connues (OCDE 2005, Lille 2005). Au delà d'unecrise idéologique qui amène les citoyens et notamment les jeunes à douter du fait que la Science soitsource de progrès, les causes de la désaffection renvoient souvent au fonctionnement du système deformation : les élèves titulaires d'une formation secondaire scientifique sont de plus en plus nombreuxà poursuivre des études supérieures en dehors du domaine des sciences (hors Santé et STAPS). Lecas est particulièrement net en France dès lors que l'on sépare les Sciences fondamentales desSciences appliquées, distinction qui recoupe largement celle de la sélectivité des filières de formation.Ainsi les jeunes Bacheliers S se dirigent en priorité vers des études où l'accès est limité (CPGE, IUT,STS, Ecole recrutant au niveau du baccalauréat) et si la majorité d'entre eux entre à l'Université (60%)ils ne sont finalement qu'une minorité (25% des Bacheliers S de l'année) à entamer des études enDeug de Sciences. Encore observe t-on que la moitié de ces derniers (47%) avait déposé un dossierdans une filière sélective en terminale et qu'une petite moitié seulement dit avoir choisi ces études parintérêt pour leur contenu (Lemaire Leseur 2005). Ces comportements sont par ailleurs logiquesquand on sait que le choix d'une Terminale S correspond, pour l'essentiel des jeunes (et de leursfamilles), à d'autres critères que le goût des Sciences (c'est la "voie royale" pour faire des étudessupérieures).filière scientifiques;désaffection pour les études en sciences fondamentales

Acute Effects of Whole-Body Vibration on the Postural Organization of Gait Initiation in Young Adults and Elderly: A Randomized Sham Intervention Study

Whole-body vibration (WBV) is a training method that exposes the entire body to mechanical oscillations while standing erect or seated on a vibrating platform. This method is nowadays commonly used by clinicians to improve specific motor outcomes in various sub-populations such as elderly and young healthy adults, either sedentary or well-trained. The present study investigated the effects of acute WBV application on the balance control mechanisms during gait initiation (GI) in young healthy adults and elderly. It was hypothesized that the balance control mechanisms at play during gait initiation may compensate each other in case one or several components are perturbed following acute WBV application, so that postural stability and/or motor performance can be maintained or even improved. It is further hypothesized that this capacity of adaptation is altered with aging. Main results showed that the effects of acute WBV application on the GI postural organization depended on the age of participants. Specifically, a positive effect was observed on dynamic stability in the young adults, while no effect was observed in the elderly. An increased stance leg stiffness was also observed in the young adults only. The positive effect of WBV on dynamic stability was ascribed to an increase in the mediolateral amplitude of ?anticipatory postural adjustments? following WBV application, which did overcompensate the potentially destabilizing effect of the increased stance leg stiffness. In elderly, no such anticipatory (nor corrective) postural adaptation was required since acute WBV application did not elicit any change in the stance leg stiffness. These results suggest that WBV application may be effective in improving dynamic stability but at the condition that participants are able to develop adaptive changes in balance control mechanisms, as did the young adults. Globally, these findings are thus in agreement with the hypothesis that balance control mechanisms are interdependent within the postural system, i.e., they may compensate each other in case one component (here the leg stiffness) is perturbed

Basement – Cover decoupling and progressive exhumation of metamorphic sediments at hot rifted margin. Insights from the Northeastern Pyrenean analog

International audienceWe compile field data collected along the eastern part of the North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ) to point to a tectonic evolution under peculiar thermal conditions applying to the basin sediments in relation with the opening of the Cretaceous Pyrenean rift. Based on this compilation, we show that when thinning of the continental crust increased , isotherms moved closer to the surface with the result that the brittle-ductile transition propagated upward and reached sediments deposited at the early stage of the basin opening. During the continental breakup, the pre-rift Mesozoic cover was efficiently decoupled from the Paleozoic basement along the Triassic evaporite level and underwent drastic ductile thinning and boudinage. We suggest that the upper Albian and upper Creta-ceous flysches acted as a blanket allowing temperature increase in the mobile pre-rift cover. Finally, we show that continuous spreading of the basin floor triggered the exhumation of the metamorphic, ductily sheared pre-rift cover, thus contributing to the progressive thinning of the sedimentary pile. In a second step, we investigate the detailed geological records of such a hot regime evolution along a reference-section of the eastern NPZ. We propose a balanced restoration from the Mouthoumet basement massif (north) to the Boucheville Albian basin (south). This section shows a north to south increase in the HT Pyrenean imprint from almost no metamorphic recrystallization to more than 600 °C in the pre-and syn-rift sediments. From this reconstruction, we propose a scenario of tectonic thinning involving the exhumation of the pre-rift cover by the activation of various detachment surfaces at different levels in the sedimentary pile. In a third step, examination of the architecture of current distal passive margin domains provides confident comparison between the Pyrenean case and modern analogs. Finally, we propose a general evolutionary model for the pre-rift sequence of the Northeastern Pyrenean rifted margin

Valuation Studies? Our Collective Two Cents

This article presents the results of a poll made among the members of the editorial and advisory boards of Valuation Studies. The purpose is to overview the topic that is the remit of the new journal. The poll focused on three questions: 1. Why is the study of valuation topical? 2. What specific issues related to valuation are the most pressing ones to explore? 3. What sites and methods would be interesting for studying valuation? The answers to these questions provided by sixteen board members form the basis of the article. Based on these answers, it identifies a number of themes concerning the study of valuation, elaborating on the rationale for attending to valuation, the conceptual challenges linked to this, and the specific issues and sites that deserve further attention

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead