Change, Coordination, and Capabilities

Empirical studies on coordination of economic activities focused on the two polar cases of governance mode, namely vertical integration and market exchanges. Whether firms should be vertically integrated or lever market exchanges in the face of change is, however, debated. Two positions have emerged. Some scholars argue that the vertically integrated firm is the appropriate mode of coordination when change occurs, while market exchanges are more appropriate for dealing with stable contexts (Teece, 1996). On the other hand, Harrigan (1984, 1985) contends that firms should rely on market exchanges when technological change renders upstream capabilities obsolete. Based on two case studies of the aircraft engine industry, this paper introduces the concept of systems integration as the primary coordination mechanism in-between markets and hierarchies that firms employ to cope with change. The focus is on multitechnology settings. Multitechnology, multicomponent products intensify the coordination efforts for firms developing them and therefore provide a vantage point to study coordination modes in the face of technological change. The paper argues that systems integration, as a coordination mechanism, comprises a set of different technological and organizational skills, ranging from component assembly through the understanding and integration of the technological disciplines underlying a product, to project management. It shows that from a competitive point of view, systems integration is most appropriately understood as knowledge integration. Systems integrating firms are understood as those organizations that set up the network of actors involved in the industry and lead it from an organizational and technological viewpoint.technological change, systems integration, knowledge integration, vertical integration, market exchanges

Application of fuzzy simulation for evaluating enterprise application integration in healthcare organisations

Healthcare organisations have focused on the latest technological innovations to overcome their organisational and clinical problems. The information systems were not developed in a cordinated way but evolved as autonomous and hetrogeneous systems. Thus, the integration of these systems represents one of the most urgent priorities of healthcare organisations that allow the whole organisation to meet the increasing clinical, organisational and managerial needs. Recently, technological developments have emerged in the area of integration technology such as Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). This provides significant benefits to organisations to overcome the integration problem. This work therefore evaluates the adoption of EAI in healthcare organisations. In doing so, Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) simulation is used to demonstrate the causal inter-relationships between the EAI adoption factors. FCM simulation provides insights into better understanding about interdependencies of the factors that influence EAI adoption in healthcare organisations

Business Level Service-Oriented Enterprise Application Integration

In this paper we propose a new approach for service-oriented enterprise application integration (EAI). Unlike current EAI solutions, which mainly focus on technological aspects, our approach allows business domain experts to get more involved in the integration process. First, we provide a technique for modeling application services at a sufficiently high level of abstraction for business experts to work with. Next, these business experts can model the orchestration as well as the information mappings that are required to achieve their integration goals. Our mediation framework then takes over and realizes the integration solution by transforming these models to existing service orchestration technology

Testing for international financial markets integration

This paper examines the extent to which financial markets across the main international financial centres integrated between 1988 and 2001 in the face of technological change and capital market liberalisation. Two empirical approaches are adopted based on principal components analysis and cointegration tests, applied respectively to covered interest rate differentials and real interest rates.. The results suggest that some financial integration occurred during the 1990s but that integration is far from complete at the international level. The study also confirms differing trends in the integration of financial markets in different geographical regions.School of Managemen

INTERNATIONALIZATION AND INNOVATION: THE CHALLENGES FOR EUROPE IN A CHANGING WORLD

A large part of the economic literature is unanimous in believing technological progress and openness to foreign trade are key variables to trigger the processes of stable and persistent economic growth. An in-depth analysis of these factors, thus, becomes necessary both to meet the challenges of the international market, and to strengthen the European integration process. This paper aims to provide an empirical analysis of the interaction between foreign trade and technological progress by performing a multidimensional scaling. This technique is used to produce a graphical representation of the 27 EU member states, in accordance to the degree of similarity or dissimilarity between them. The indicators used, and the indexes calculated, reflect the different degree of internationalization of each country's economy, the regulation of trade flows, investment in specific R&D and technological progress.International trade, integration, technological progress

Vertical Integration and Dis-integration of Computer Firms: A History Friendly Model of the Co-evolution of the Computer and Semiconductor Industries

In this paper we present a history-friendly model of the changing vertical scope of computer firms during the evolution of the computer and semiconductor industries. The model is "history friendly", in that it attempts at replicating some basic, stylized qualitative features of the evolution of vertical integration on the basis of the causal mechanisms and processes which we believe can explain the history. The specific question addressed in the model is set in the context of dynamic and uncertain technological and market environments, characterized by periods of technological revolutions punctuating periods of relative technological stability and smooth technical progress. The model illustrates how the patterns of vertical integration and specialization in the computer industry change as a function of the evolving levels and distribution of firms' capabilities over time and how they depend on the co-evolution of the upstream and downstream sectors. Specific conditions in each of these markets - the size of the external market, the magnitude of the technological discontinuities, the lock-in effects in demand - exert critical effects and feedbacks on market structure and on the vertical scope of firms as time goes by

Technological Capabilities Asymmetries in Latin American and the Caribbean

This paper analyzes the convergence process in Latin America and the Caribbean during the 1960-2005 period. The evidence is not favorable to clear convergence or divergence trends, but to a slight process of convergence until the 1970s, and then global divergence. In turn, the results suggest the existence of transitory clubs of convergence during the 1960-1974 and 1990-1994 periods. After that, the lower income economies showed convergence to the relative richer countries, but in a context of increasing dispersion of the per capita income. The development accounting and the decomposition of the total factor productivity (TFP) indicate that those results are mainly explained by relative differences in the technological capabilities, and that the existence of structural differences is a key factor to explain the nonconvergence in technological capabilities. The efforts to integrate the economies were not enough to reduce the gap but the divergence in technological capabilities would have been worst without the integration process.Convergence; Total Factor Productivity Decomposition; Technological Capabilities; Economic Integration; Latin American and the Caribbean

Vertical integration, technological choice and foreclosure

This article examines why, and how, fiscal decentralization could increase the economic growth rate (the hypothesis is predatory, or "corrupt", govemments). Searching for the optimal level of decentralization, the article first investigates the effects of an horizontal partition of the political power. Two effects will compete : a positive effect due to "proximity" and a negative effect linked to "coordination failures" (for raisons of externalities, small independent régions failed to implement a sufficient level of public spending). Then, the analysis seems to provide a theory of frontiers. But the article also shows that the intervention of a super-center (even corrupted), which centralizes taxes and decentralizes spending, should realize a higher growth rate. In that way, "federalism", which rather is a vertical partition of the political power, is the optimal rule.

Competency level of technological pedagogical contents knowledge (TPCK) framework amongst graduate teachers

This article propose a framework for educational technology based on Shulman’s formulation of ‘‘pedagogical content knowledge’’ and extend it to the integration of technology into it. It attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of teacher knowledge required for technology integration in teaching. Briefly, that thoughtful pedagogical uses of technology require the development of a complex, situated form of knowledge that we call Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). The TPCK framework has much to offer to discussions of technology integration at multiple levels: theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological as well as the complex roles of, and interplay among, three main components of learning environments: content, pedagogy, and technology