The Impact of Knowledge Codification, Experience Trajectories and Integration Strategies on the Performance of Corporate Acquisitions

This study addresses the following questions: (1) can organizations learn how to manage infrequent and heterogeneous tasks ? (2) If they can, then what are the mechanisms that might explain learning under these circumstances ?, and (3) what are the limitations under which these mechanisms operate ? A model based on explicit knowledge codification and tacit experience accumulation is submitted and tested using data from a sample of 183 acquisitions in the US banking industry. Measures of post-acquisition integration strategies and of pre-acquisition resource characteristics are included in the model. We find that tacit knowledge accumulation significantly impacts performance when the experiences are highly homogeneous, and that knowledge codification improves acquisition performance in the context of high post-acquisition integration, i.e. when the organizational challenge is particularly complex. Also, the level of integration between the two firms involved in the acquisition positively influences performance, while the replacement of top managers in the acquired firm impacts performance in a negative fashion. Implications are drawn for organizational learning theory and for a knowledge-based view of corporate acquisitions.

Design of Fragment Selector

The existing manual process of weight categorization of Service shells into various standard weight groups is lengthy as well as time consuming. A method has been suggested for designing an apparatus 'Fragment Selector' which will save much labour and time in categorisation of shells

Indian Seed System Development: Policy and Institutional Options

Developments in the Indian seed industry and their impact on access and use of commercial seed by farmers have been examined. Various types of seed systems such as hybrids, self-pollinated crops, vegetatively propagated crops, crops with high seed volume, etc have been analysed. It has been shown that the commercial seed markets for hybrids are well developed, but these need improving flow of information to farmers and effective regulation of unscrupulous traders, etc. There are significant changes in terms of seed regulations, management of GM crops and protection of intellectual property. Since all these regulations are mutually enforcing, there is a need for developing institutional capacity for their enforcement, as well as flexibility to learn from the experience for future adaptation. There is a lot of scope for strengthening the seed system of ‘orphan crops’, where there is no participation of the private sector, and the public seed system is facing several resource and institutional constraints. In particular, there is a need for technological backstopping, developing partnerships with private and civil society organisations, and developing capacity at the local level. The results of farm surveys have shown that increasing proportion of farmers use commercial seed for quality considerations. The study has argued that there is a problem with variety selection, particularly of proprietary hybrids, due to lack of information, which has resulted into poor crop performance on several occasions.Crop Production/Industries,

Delivering Seeds of 'Orphan' Crops: The Case Studies of Potato and Groundnut in India

This paper examines the performance of the Indian seed system in the context of high volume, low value seed, using the case studies of potato and groundnut. In theory, public sector should be able to address seed needs of farmers growing these crops. However, the ability of the public sector is constrained by a number of institutional and technical factors, and farmers largely depend upon traditional sources of seed. The traditional sources meet more than two-thirds of the total seed demand , and the rest is met by the formal seed system, mainly public seed agencies. Most of the farmers buy fresh seed for quality reasons, and only 12-15 percent farmers purchase seed to change variety. In potato, technological innovation provided options to enhance multiplication rate and improve quality of seed, and therefore attracted the private sector in the production and delivery of seed to farmers. Availability of source seed from public plant breeding programs further encouraged the private sector's participation. However, it is very unlikely that the crops under study will attract private investment in plant breeding because of inadequate incentives even under the new IPR regime. Therefore, public research system should continue to shoulder the responsibility of plant breeding, and develop partnership with the private sector to strengthen decentralized seed activities. Coordination among public seed corporations of different states may help augment seed supply in the deficit regions, and offer greater choice to farmers. Efforts to develop supply chain, especially for premium market, will eventually attract private sector in the product, as well as seed market.Seed system, Seed sources, Seed saving, Seed quality, Supply chain, India, Crop Production/Industries, O3, Q13, Q16,

Development and validation of novel and quantitative MRI methods for cancer evaluation

Quantitative imaging biomarkers (QIB) offer the opportunity to further the evaluation of cancer at presentation as well as predict response to anti-cancer therapies before and early during treatment with the ultimate goal of truly personalised medical care and the mitigation of futile, often detrimental, therapy. Few QIBs are successfully translated into clinical practice and there is increasing recognition that rigorous methodologies and standardisation of research pipelines and techniques are required to move a theoretically useful biomarker into the clinic. To this end, I have aimed to give an overview of what I believe to be some of key elements within the research field beginning with the concept of imaging biomarkers, introducing concepts in development and validation, before providing a summary of the current and future utility of a range of quantitative MR imaging biomarkers techniques within the oncological imaging field. The original, prospective, research moves from the technical and analytical validation of a novel QIB use (T1 mapping in cancer), first in vivo qualification of this biomarker in cancer patient response assessment and prediction (sarcoma and breast cancer as well as prostate cancer separately), and then moving on to application of more established QIBs in cancer evaluation (R2*/BOLD imaging in head and neck cancer) as well as how existing MR data can be post-processed to improved cancer evaluation (further metrics derived from diffusion weighted imaging in head and neck cancer and textural analysis of existing clinical MR images utility in prostate cancer detection)

Integrating Acquired Capabilities: When Structural Integration Is (Un)necessary

Acquirers who buy small technology-based firms for their technological capabilities often discover that postmerger integration can destroy the very innovative capabilities that made the acquired organization attractive in the first place. Viewing structural integration as a mechanism to achieve coordination between acquirer and target organizations helps explain why structural integration may be necessary in technology acquisitions despite the costs of disruption this imposes, as well as the conditions under which it becomes less (or un-) necessary. We show that interdependence motivates structural integration but that preexisting common ground offers acquirers an alternate path to achieving coordination, which may be less disruptive than structural integration

Governing Collaborative Activity: Interdependence and the Impact of Coordination and Exploration

We examine the performance implications of selecting alternate modes of governance in interorganizational alliance relationships. While managers can choose from a range of modes to govern alliances, prior empirical evidence offers limited guidance on the performance impact of this choice. We use an agent-based simulation of interfirm decision making to complement empirical studies in this area. Our results point to a complex interplay between interdependencies, governance structures, and firms\u27 search capabilities. Different patterns of interdependence create varying needs with respect to coordination and exploration, while at the same time different governance modes, coupled with organizational search capabilities, supply varying degrees of these factors. Firm performance in an alliance relationship improves when the needs and supplies of coordination and exploration are matched. We find situations in which stronger organizational search capabilities can backfire, leading to lower exploration within the alliance relationship, and hence to lower firm performance. Moreover, we show that for higher levels of interdependence, coordination can become more critical for firm performance than exploration: unless it is tied to coordination, exploration can be ineffective in alliance settings

Partnering in a Haze: Interdependence Misspecification and Firm Performance in Strategic Alliances

We examine the implications for firm performance of managers having only a partial understanding of the true nature of their inter-firm interdependence. While operating with such ex-ante uncertainty regarding inter-firm interdependency is common when selecting an approach to governing an alliance relationship, the literature offers limited guidance as to the performance implications of such “misspecifications.” We employ an agent-based simulation to model inter-firm decision making in a context where firms have either under- or over-specified views of their inter-firm interdependencies. Consistent with intuition, firm performance declines with interdependence misspecifications. We find, however, interesting variation in this effect across alternate governance modes and across levels of actual interdependency. We also find that interdependence misspecifications have differing effects on exploration and coordination, leading to tradeoffs between performance and other alliance objectives

PREVALENCE OF REFRACTIVE ERRORS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN AN URBAN SETUP: A PROSPECTIVE AND OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of refractive errors and their types by their age, sex, and class among the students of secondary school in an urban area of state of Punjab, North India. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on a total of 1545 school children, aged between 10 and 16 years studying in 6th–10th class. Sample size included 822 males and 723 females. Snellen’s distant test types and self-illuminated streak retinoscope were used for this study. Results: Cumulative prevalence of refractive errors was found to be 35.21% among the students. The distribution among the type of refractive errors was: Myopia – 65.07%, Hypermetropia – 14.89%, and Astigmatism – 20.04%. The prevalence among the male and female students was 34.91% and 35.55%, respectively. Conclusion: This study supports the screening of school children for visual acuity and their refractive errors so that they can be identified to improve their quality of life at present and also to prevent any long-term visual disability