Effective Technology Strategy Research Articles

Combining digital and legacy technologies: firm digital transformation strategies—evidence from Chinese manufacturing companies

The digital transformation of firms is a pervasive trend within the digital-based economy. Despite its inevitability, there is a continuing debate regarding the most effective methods for implementing such transformations. This study delineates four digital technology strategies—searching, enhancing, grafting, and integrating—within the theoretical framework that digital technology can strengthen an enterprise’s existing legacy technology. Using fuzzy qualitative comparative analysis, this study examines 76 Chinese high-tech manufacturing companies to uncover the configuration effects of technology distance, the type of technical search, and leadership perceptions on the adoption of these strategies. The empirical results reveal that the searching strategy is commonly employed in scenarios involving general technology, search breadth, and the perceived usefulness of the technology. The enhancing strategy is typically adopted when companies engage in extensive searches and perceive digital technology as easy to use. Moreover, the grafting strategy has emerged as the natural choice when there is a deep search for specific technologies coupled with a recognition of their usefulness. The integrating strategy becomes prominent when a company identifies a specific technology through both search breadth and search depth, acknowledging its usefulness and ease of use simultaneously. These findings offer valuable insights for managers aiming to select an effective digital technology strategy to facilitate successful transformation.

Financial Technology and Financial Inclusion in Remote Areas of Algeria. Analytical Study Using Data Mining

This study aimed to demonstrate how financial technology tools can be used to achieve financial inclusion by shedding light on the reality of financial technology and financial inclusion in Algeria, specifically in the remote areas of Algeria, as financial inclusion represents one of the main areas that economists and governments are trying to focus on to eliminate poverty. To reach the goal of the study, a statistical analysis method was adopted for the various questions asked to 200 participants in the survey during the period 2022–2023. A set of quantitative and qualitative data was used. The study population represents 200 individuals to whom the questionnaire was distributed. A data mining tool was used to analyze the study data, and the survey participants’ K algorithm was later used to predict the behavior patterns of people from a similarly contextualized community regarding financial activities. The study concluded that financial technology, through its multiple tools, changes the structure of comprehensive financial services, in addition to the diversity and style of financial services provided to individuals, which has enhanced and increased their availability to a broader social group that did not have access to them. It was also shown that there is a significant impact of financial technology tools on enhancing financial inclusion indicators. It is recommended to adopt effective and modern financial and technological strategies that provide marginalized social groups with reasonable access to financial services and products that meet their needs, including transactions, payments, savings, credit, and insurance. Therefore, obtaining the added value of data and investing it will increase financial inclusion indicators.

Comparative Analysis of Digital Application Usage in Micro Enterprises and Small Medium Enterprises

This study aims to analyze the factors that influence the use of digital applications in Micro Enterprises (UMi) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs/UKM) in Indonesia, using the TOE (Technology-Organization-Environment) framework. Through a quantitative approach, this study collected data from 426 MSMEs and analyzed it using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) model. The results show that technological factors are the dominant factors in the use of digital applications in MSMEs. However, there are significant differences in the influence of these factors between UMi and UKM. In UMi, technological factors are more prominent, while in UKM, organizational factors are more influential as determinants of digital application use. UMi focuses more on the technological aspect of digital app usage, while UKM prioritize organization as the main driver. This study provides important insights into the dynamics of digital app usage among MSMEs and the strategic differences between UMi and UKM, offering guidance for the development of more effective and scale-appropriate technology strategies.

Effects of Different Biochar and Effective Microorganism Agent Improvement Approaches on the Nutrient Release Characteristics and Potential of Compost

The nutrient release characteristics of four types of composts, pure municipal sewage sludge compost, corn straw biochar (CSB) improved compost, effective microorganism agent (EM) improved compost, and CSB+EM improved compost, in coastal wetland soil were examined through a soil incubation experiment. The effects of different composts on the spectral characteristics of soil dissolved organic matter (DOM) and microbial community were also investigated. The results demonstrated that the compost additions could significantly reduce soil pH, while increasing soil electrical conductivity and contents of plant available nutrients (e.g., dissolved organic carbon, NH4+-N, NO3--N, available phosphorus, and available potassium). By comparing the nutrient release potential among the improved composts, the CSB+EM-improved compost (CSB+EM-C) evidently had the highest nutrient release potential. Furthermore, the DOM in CSB+EM-C amended soil exhibited a higher humification degree than that of the other composts. The high-throughput sequencing results indicated that the compost additions increased the relative abundances of dominant bacteria at the phylum level, such as the Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. CSB+EM-C exhibited a greater potential to improve the relative abundance of these dominant bacteria phyla than other improved composts. Overall, among all the improvement approaches, the combined use of CSB and EM agent was the optimal composting strategy owing to its highest potentials of nutrient supply and soil quality improvement. The present findings can provide a solid scientific theoretical basis for establishing an effective technology strategy involving the combination of municipal sewage sludge utilization and degraded coastal wetland soil remediation.

CRACKING THE CODE: WHAT MAKES MALAYSIAN MILLENNIALS EMBRACE MOBILE TECHNOLOGY?

The rapid growth of mobile shopping and the increasing use of smartphones and tablets for e-commerce transactions make understanding consumer acceptance crucial for businesses and app developers. This study investigates the factors influencing mobile technology acceptance among millennials in Malaysia, focusing on security, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and the cost of operations. This research highlights the importance of addressing these dimensions for businesses and application developers to maintain millennials' interest in mobile technologies and remain competitive. A sample size of 384 millennial participants, selected using purposive sampling, contributed to the analysis of this study, which was collected using self-administered questionnaires. The data were analysed using SPSS version 28. The findings reveal that security and perceived usefulness significantly influence millennials' engagement with mobile technology. However, two dimensions, the perceived ease of use and the perceived cost of operations do not significantly impact mobile technology adoption. Therefore, this study offers valuable insights for organisations to develop effective mobile technology strategies and enhance millennial consumers' engagement with mobile technologies.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0009/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Financial Technology as a Basis for Financial Inclusion and its Impact on Profitability: Evidence from Commercial Banks

The purpose of this study was to show how financial technology tools can be used to reinforce financial inclusion indicators on the profitability indicators of a Jordanian commercial bank listed on the Amman stock exchange. Between 2010 and 2020, a quantitative and qualitative panel data set was used. The study population is represented by all the banks listed on the Amman stock exchange (n = 16). The study found that financial technology through its multitools changed the structure of the overall financial services, besides the diversity and style of financial services for the commercial banks' clients, thus reinforcing and increasing the availability for a wider social group that did not have access to that service. Further, it was found that there is a significant effect of the financial technology tools to reinforce the financial inclusion indicators over the studies' profitability indicators that include return on assets, return on equity, and earnings per share (JD). It is recommended to adopt effective and modern financial and technological strategies that provide marginalized social groups and small and medium enterprises reasonable access to the financial services and products that meet their needs, including transactions, payments, savings, credit, and insurance. Thus, getting the added value of the data and investing it to increase the financial inclusion indicators improves the profitability indicators and income for commercial banks. Keywords: Financial Technology, Profitability, Financial Inclusion, Commercial Banks.

Implications of Increasing Household Air Conditioning Use Across the United States Under a Warming Climate

AbstractSoaring temperatures and increased occurrence of heatwaves have drastically increased air‐conditioning demand, a trend that will likely continue into the future. Yet, the impact of anthropogenic warming on household air conditioning is largely unaccounted for in the operation and planning of energy grids. Here, by leveraging the state‐of‐the‐art in machine learning and climate model projections, we find substantial increases in future residential air conditioning demand across the U.S.—up to 8% with a range of 5%–8.5% (13% with a range of 11%–15%) after anthropogenic warming of 1.5°C (2.0°C) in global mean temperature. To offset this climate‐induced demand, an increase in the efficiency of air conditioners by as much as 8% (±4.5%) compared to current levels is needed; without this daunting technological effort, we estimate that some states will face supply inadequacies of up to 75 million “household‐days” (i.e., nearly half a month per average current household) without air conditioning in a 2.0°C warmer world. In the absence of effective climate mitigation and technological adaptation strategies, the U.S. will face substantial increases in air conditioning demand and, in the event of supply inadequacies, there is increased risk of leaving millions without access to space cooling during extreme temperatures.

Application of Technology in Mitigating Refined Petroleum Shortages in the Nigerian Downstream Petroleum Supply Industry

Nigeria operates a petroleum-based economy but suffers refined product shortages. The continual shortages or scarcity of refined petroleum products cripples business activities, which undermines the development of the Nigerian economy. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify the strategic role of technology application in mitigating petroleum shortages in the petroleum supply chain and to sustain business development in Nigeria. The research participants include ten senior leaders from two private-sector Nigerian downstream petroleum supply companies located in the Niger Delta region, who had successfully implemented strategies for petroleum supply. The conceptual framework for the research was the resource based view theory. Data collection was through semi structured face-to-face interviews and review of company’s operational and policy documents. Data validation was through member checking and triangulation, after transcription and analysis. The findings indicate that the oil and gas industry is technologically driven, and for efficiency and effectiveness of supply, petroleum leaders should apply required technology in all segment of the supply chain; (operations) vessel or marine, discharge operations, tank farm operations, logistics, and retail outlets, (no operations) administration, sales, safety, IT, finance, and marketing. Findings may be used by petroleum business leaders and investors to create effective and efficient technological resource management strategies in the supply chain, leading to product availability, sustainability, poverty reduction, and economic development.

Science and innovation policies in North African Countries: Exploring challenges and opportunities

Effective science, technology and innovation (STI) policies and strategies reflect a country's successful contribution to scientific advancement. While the economic and geopolitical framework of many North African Countries (NACs) transformed enormously during the past decades, their relevant policies and performance were not responsive enough in adapting to these dynamics. This review is meant to highlight the current development and evolution of NAC's STI policies as well as similarities and identified common societal challenges within NACs. It focusses on the nexus approach to water, energy and food. The findings of this review suggest that the existing reform and development of the STI system in NACs require reorientation towards higher socioeconomic relevance and innovation focus accompanied by legislative measures, effective monitoring and evaluation tools as well as engagement of relevant stakeholders and the adequate leverage of sufficient strategic investments.

STRATEGI PENGELOLAAN PERTANIAN LAHAN KERING DALAM MENINGKATKAN KETAHANAN PANGAN DI NUSA TENGGRARA TIMUR

Strategy of dryland farm management in improving food security in East Nusa Tenggara; One of the promising opportunities but often to be neglected is the use of arable dryland suitable for food crops production, The potential of available dryland agroecosystems is quite extensive and technically suitable for agriculture. The potential land will be able to produce sufficient food if managed using effective technology and appropriate development strategies. Strategies for utilizing potential dry land are: 1) emelioration measures to improve soil quality by utilizing in-situ local resources 2) increased land productivity and sustainable commodity production of dry land sustainably, and 3) rain harvesting  technology, and 4) improvement of economic infrastructure Keywords: Dryland, land management strategy, food security

Identifying new business opportunities from competitor intelligence: An integrated use of patent and trademark databases

This study aims to analyze the position of technology-centered companies in complex market dynamics and discover new business opportunities from competitor intelligence. For this, we consider both technology and market characteristics in providing competitor intelligence by utilizing patent data as a representative proxy for a firm's technology, and trademark data as an information source for the firm's target goods and services. To analyze the two types of data, a collaborative filtering approach together with portfolio analyses and association mining techniques were adopted. Theoretically, this is one of the earliest attempts to combine patent data and trademark data to investigate corporate strategies. In practice, the research results are expected to be used as a decision criterion to diagnose the economic value that companies can obtain by entering the market, as well as the technological value to be passed onto their customers. Thus, the proposed approach can be useful to support effective technology and business strategies in a firm.

Technological and Consumer Strategies to Tackle Food Wasting

Around one-third of the globally produced food is annually discarded worldwide. This amount would be able to satisfy ten times the need of undernourished people. If nothing is done, the mass of discarded food could further rise, compromising the right to food of future generations. Almost all food discards are nowadays disposed of or used for energy recovery. Strategies for recovery of value-added compounds have also been proposed. However, more sustainable options are available. In this context, food science skills are required to develop novel approaches that could allow both reducing disposal of discards and preventing their generation. Effective technological strategies are expected to directly reduce food loss within the production chain but also to drive consumer towards more sustainable choices and behaviours. This review paper summarizes recent developments in possible technological and consumer strategies to tackle food wasting. To this aim, after defining, classifying and quantifying food discards, reasons and responsibilities of discard generation are analysed in the light of the current regulatory efforts. Based on this survey, an overview of possible interventions is provided, underlying their synergistic effects on waste reduction/prevention at industrial and domestic levels.

The impact of networking on competitiveness via organizational learning, employee innovativeness, and innovation process: A mediation model

Despite an extensive body of literature on the role of organizational networking in enhancing a firm's innovativeness and competitiveness, to the best of our knowledge the multivariate influences of organizational learning, employee innovativeness and innovation process, as well as the interplay among these three in the prediction of the organizational networking-competitiveness relationship, have not been integratively explored in the context of information technology-based new product and service development. This research attempts to fill this gap by presenting and testing a new mediation model showing the relationships among organizational networking, employee-innovativeness, innovation process, competitiveness and the effectiveness of the technology-innovation-strategy. We then derive hypotheses about these relationships, testing the hypotheses using data from 110 firms operating in India. The results show that organizational networking leads to competitiveness through organizational learning and innovation process; however, it leads to competitiveness through employee innovativeness only if an effective technology strategy is implemented. The results also show that innovation process does not only mediate the organizational networking-competitiveness relationship but also the employee innovativeness-competitiveness relationship. In particular, our results provide evidence of the importance of organizational learning and innovation process as mediating variables between organizational networking and competitiveness.

The Use of IP Profiles in Selecting and Structuring R&D Alliances

OVERVIEW:In today’s dynamic technology environment, firms in high-tech industries often enter into R&D alliances to overcome internal resource constraints and complement in-house R&D efforts. While alliances may provide valuable opportunities for synergy effects, many projects fail to meet expectations due to inappropriately selected partners. This paper proposes an analytical framework that can help technology managers select suitable partners, especially when they face significant time pressure with limited information. Our framework also supports the formulation of effective technology strategies based on the evaluation of potential alliance candidates via intellectual property (IP) profiles and patent data.

Microbial Cells Force Spectroscopy by Atomic Force Microscopy: A Review

Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation are important phenomena which can produce both detrimental and beneficial effects in several fields. Research is thus focused on the modulation of the properties of material surfaces in order to design and develop substrates able to control bacterial adhesion process, which is the first trigger event of biofilm formation. Several theoretical predictions and experimental procedures have been developed to investigate the physical, chemical and biological mechanisms regulating the attachment of bacteria to solid substrates. Nevertheless, a comprehensive understanding has not been achieved yet, limiting the capability of individuating effective technological strategies to achieve the desired bacterial adhesion behavior. The development of new experimental procedures able to furnish deeper information about bacterial adhesion mechanism is thus needed. Microbial cell force spectroscopy (MCFS) is an atomic force microscopy (AFM) based technique, consisting in the detection of force-distance curves using particular probes obtained immobilizing bacterial cells at the free end of a flexible microcantilever, which allows the detection of the different kinds of cell-surface interaction forces. In this work, we review the state of the art in the development of MCFS, focusing on its working principle and applications. A brief description of the current models and conventional experimental procedures used to evaluate bacterial adhesion to surfaces is reported. Then, the instrumentation and the working principle, the current procedures used to prepare bacterial cells probes and the main applications of the technique are described with the aim of pointing out the advantages of the technique and the limits which still have to be overcome.

Effective Technology Strategy for Shale Plays

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the current state of shale play development in the United States to determine the recent advances in the understanding of reservoir behaviors and the most effective uses of new techniques and technologies. It emphasizes reservoir optimization, and the application of new technologies and techniques to reduce costs and to improve recoverability of hydrocarbons to improve ultimate recoverable reserves. It specifically addresses issues of decline curves, stranded pay between laterals, stacked pay logistics, and pad drilling. In addition, the presentation looks at sweet spot optimization, effective investments, hydraulic fracturing, and geomechanics. In a low price environment, with extreme volatility, the paper also examines strategies employed by companies to preserve their assets and recoverable reserves, which include drilling but not completing and alternative stimulation strategies.

The dynamic response characteristics of traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) continues to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Research has been undertaken in order to better understand the characteristics of the injury event and measure the risk of injury to develop more effective environmental, technological, and clinical management strategies. This research used methods that have limited applications to predicting human responses. This limits the current understanding of the mechanisms of TBI in humans. As a result, the purpose of this research was to examine the characteristics of impact and dynamic response that leads to a high risk of sustaining a TBI in a human population. Twenty TBI events collected from hospital reports and eyewitness accounts were reconstructed in the laboratory using a combination of computational mechanics models and Hybrid III anthropometric dummy systems. All cases were falls, with an average impact velocity of approximately 4.0m/s onto hard impact surfaces. The results of the methodology were consistent with current TBI research, describing TBI to occur in the range of 335–445g linear accelerations and 23.7–51.2krad/s2 angular accelerations. More significantly, this research demonstrated that lower responses in the antero-posterior direction can cause TBI, with lateral impact responses requiring larger magnitudes for the same types of brain lesions. This suggests an increased likelihood of sustaining TBI for impacts to the front or back of the head, a result that has implications affecting current understanding of the mechanisms of TBI and associated threshold parameters.

Information Collection, Access and Dissemination to Support Evidence-Based Shale Policies

To ensure that unconventional shale gas development (UGD) yields net social benefits, we need to identify the magnitude and distribution of its benefits and costs and develop effective technological, management and regulatory strategies to minimize potential adverse effects. A major obstacle in achieving these goals is the gaps in the collection, access and dissemination of information. This paper focuses on informational gaps in assessing a narrow subset of the potential links between UGD and well water contamination, drawing particularly from the experience in Pennsylvania. It suggests strategies for legislators, regulators, industry, and researchers to address these informational gaps, while protecting legitimate privacy concerns. The benefits from improved understanding of the impact of this industry and resulting innovations to mitigate its impacts justifies the costs of data collection, access and dissemination.

Information Collection, Access, and Dissemination to Support Evidence‐Based Shale Gas Policies

AbstractTo ensure that unconventional shale gas development (UGD) yields net social benefits, we need to identify the magnitude and distribution of its benefits and costs and develop effective technological, management, and regulatory strategies to minimize potential adverse effects. A major obstacle to achieve these goals is the gaps in the collection, access, and dissemination of information. This paper focuses on information gaps to assess a narrow subset of the potential links between UGD and well‐water contamination, drawing particularly from the experience in Pennsylvania. It suggests strategies for legislators, regulators, industry, and researchers to address these information gaps, while protecting legitimate privacy concerns. The benefits from an improved understanding of the impact of this industry and resulting innovations to mitigate its impacts justifies the cost of data collection, access, and dissemination.

Challenges in Catalytic Manufacture of Renewable Pyrrolidinones from Fermentation Derived Succinate

Fermentation derived succinic acid ammonium salt is an ideal precursor for manufacture of renewable N-methyl pyrrolidinone (NMP) or 2-pyrrolidinone (2P) via heterogeneous catalysis. However, there are many challenges to making this a practical reality. Chief among the challenges is avoiding catalyst poisoning by fermentation by- and co-products. Battelle/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed an effective technology strategy for this purpose. The technology is a combination of purely thermal processing, followed by simple catalytic hydrogenation that together avoids catalyst poisoning from fermentation impurities and provides high selectivity and yields of NMP or 2P.