Ability Of Industry Research Articles

The commoditisation of automotive assembly: Canada as a cautionary tale

For generations, automotive manufacturing has made an outsized contribution to the Canadian economy. The industry's growth was supported by active industrial policy, including an evolving combination of incentives: low-cost, high-quality labour, access to the largest market in the world, and investment inducements; and deterrents: market access and trade-related levers and threats. In recent years, many of the advantages Canada made for itself have eroded. The rise of new competitors, shifting philosophies surrounding trade, cost pressures, and a new paradigm with respect to investment incentives have challenged policy-makers. Several attributes previously considered the preserve of advanced countries like Canada are now evident in lesser developed jurisdictions, a phenomenon that this paper terms the commoditisation of automotive assembly. It is the result of standardised production processes and the automotive industry's ability to recruit top tier talent, particularly in less developed countries. This phenomenon is evident in the convergence of quality results and capital intensity across geographic boundaries and economic strata, expanding production in lesser developed countries, the emergence of luxury vehicle production in those countries, and stagnation of final assembly production in developed countries.

KETAHANAN SEKTOR KEUANGAN DAN SHADOWBANKING: ANALISA TERHADAP INDUSTRI PEMBIAYAAN DI INDONESIA

The failure of supervision instrument on shadow banking practice in the US has triggered financial collapse and spread accross sovereignities. The G20 has asked FSB to undertake in depth analysis of shadow banking progress along with needed recommendations to overcome the weaknesses. This paper attempts to analyze the shadow banking practice in Indonesia particularly in the consumer finance industry by using the flow of fund analysis recommended by FSB and several relevant financial ratios. The size of credit intermediation in this industry only accounts for 3% of GDP compared to bank credit accounting for 30% of GDP in 2011, however the credit growth in finance industry has superseded banking sector. The consumer finance industry are dominantly reliant on bank lending and bond which reduces the susceptibility of market shock. The asset securitization is not common in this industry. The financial sector authority has imposed strick regulation on this industry to ensure industry's financial health. Despite industry's ability to meet those requirements, the high dependency on debt for operation has raised concern for stronger equity increase. Further, the expansive credit intermediation in this industry can bring liquidity problem which requires further regulation.

Planning and best practice guidance: A route map to help householders with their energy saving retrofits

This paper presents the experience of delivering a local authority led, solid wall insulation focused energy efficiency scheme. The aims are to present the national and localised policy context in which the scheme was developed, and to identify the major challenges that have arisen during the delivery phase of the scheme. Four key themes are identified: planning consents and traditional construction; customer engagement and knowledge; industry transition; and national policy drivers. The examination of these key areas of challenge focuses on the issues for delivery at scale within the private owner-occupier sector. The following section considers Bristol City Council's solutions to improving customer experience and the industry's ability to improve its understanding of building physics to drive improvements in the quality of installations. The paper concludes by drawing together the challenges and solutions: making suggestions of improvements for energy literacy for customer engagement and empowerment; developing installer training and a kitemark, or industry standard, to drive quality in the industry; as well as suggestions on how a more holistic approach to energy retrofitting could deliver the former and see real savings for energy and CO2.

Stock Market Response to Strategic Technical Alliances between Drug and Biotechnology Firms

Traditionally, firms in the pharmaceutical industry have depended on their internal research and development (R&D) capabilities to maintain a productive new product pipeline. During the past two decades, however, the industry's pipeline productivity has decreased compromising the industry's ability to meet shareholder expectations. As a strategy to invigorate pipeline productivity, and impact financial performance, pharmaceutical firms have increased utilization of strategic technical alliances. Earlier research shows that the degree of financial impact resulting from strategic technical alliances varies in terms of partnership type and differences between client and partner firms. This research studies strategic technical alliances between pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms from 1985 to 2012. Event study methodology is used to determine the relationship between stock market response to alliance announcements, measured as cumulative abnormal returns, and factors representing the absorptive capacity of the pharmaceutical firms in the sample. Then, variables indicating the development stage of the drugs included in the alliances are added to assess the effect of project risk on the market response. The study finds that, in general, the stock market responds in a positive manner to strategic technical alliances in the pharmaceutical industry reflecting the market's immediate response, and expectations of future firm value, resulting from the alliance. The degree of the market's response varies in terms of the client firms’ absorptive capacity with new product introductions being the strongest driver. The market responds similarly to alliances across different drug development stages, however, a stronger response is observed in preclinical and extension stages.

The Need for Water Reuse Guidelines for Designing and Operating Membrane Facilities

In a world in which every drop of water counts, membrane technology is emerging as a major innovation in water treatment and reuse. A lack of uniform standards affects the industry's ability to develop an effective water management portfolio, and the need for clear guidelines has never been greater.

Wine tourism: Motivating visitors through core and supplementary services

Wine tourism is a relatively fledgling industry sector facing a number of important economic development issues. One such issue is the industry's ability to foster a sustainable revenue base for small and medium wineries. Winery visitation is a significant concern and in this paper is defined as the visitor's intention to pay a first or return visit to a winery. The purpose of this exploratory study is to compare specific factors that may influence wine tourists' intentions to visit or revisit a winery or wine region in North Carolina. A theoretical model of core and supplementary services is examined to see which of a number of factors are most influential in decisions to visit a winery and to determine the role of winescape and tourism services in promoting wine tourism. The importance of customer service was found to be the primary predictor of intentions for repeat visitation.

Heritability of racing durability traits in the Australian and Hong Kong Thoroughbred racing populations.

Many attempts have been made to improve the well-being of racing Thoroughbreds through improvements in management and veterinary care. However, these attempts are often limited by the industry's ability to regulate a large number of environmental variables and as a result have arguably had limited success in providing long-lasting change for the breed. To identify heritable durability traits for Thoroughbred horses racing in Australia and Hong Kong. Heritability analysis of a longitudinal dataset. Performance data on the Thoroughbred populations racing in Australia and Hong Kong between 2000 and 2011 (n = 168,993) were used to estimate the heritabilities and probability values of fixed effects and covariates for a range of racing durability traits. Heritabilities for all durability traits were estimated using a single trait animal model. Each model included, as a minimum, the effects of sex and trainer. Racing longevity (0.12 ± 0.01), racing persistence (0.10 ± 0.01), racing frequency (0.03 ± 0.01), spells (a time period between consecutive races, official trials and/or jump-outs greater than 90 days in length) per year (0.05 ± 0.01), spells per 10 starts (0.03 ± 0.01) and variation of days between races (0.08 ± 0.03) were all significantly heritable for horses racing in Australia. Racing longevity (0.08 ± 0.02), racing persistence (0.04 ± 0.02), spells per year (0.06 ± 0.02) and spells per 10 starts (0.11 ± 0.04) were significantly heritable for horses racing in Hong Kong. The heritabilities estimated for durability traits in this study provide support for the successful and practical application of genetic selection methodologies to improving the well-being of racing Thoroughbreds.

The German Pharmaceutical Market Reorganization Act (AMNOG) from an economic point of view

Since the introduction of early benefit assessments in Germany, prices for new medicinal products are set in accordance with the "degree of additional benefit." The major aim of the present work is to point out the economic rationale for the definition of a regulatory price for patent-protected drugs. With regard to the economic objectives of efficient allocation of resources, reducing information asymmetries, and promoting high-value innovation, the applied benefit assessments represent major progress in the German health care sector. In addition to the multifaceted criticism of procedural details, there is a general risk that the institutions involved are lagging behind societal preferences. In this case, early benefit assessments may lead to suboptimal results. The pharmaceutical industry's ability to innovate, on the other hand, may be seen to be a result of the interaction between national benefit assessments and the research activities of internationally oriented drug manufacturers. Accordingly, recent trends toward the implementation of national early benefit assessments in combination with international reference pricing may be seen to be critical; however, Germany is merely following the trend of other countries.

Three-Dimensional Integration: A Tutorial for Designers

There is a perception that classical semiconductor scaling is undergoing saturation and has recently not been delivering on the historical expectations for cost, power, and performance scaling. Both the cost of technology node development and the cost to manufacture the newer nodes have been escalating, as has the nonrecurring engineering charge for new designs in these newer nodes. This has serious implications for our industry's ability to sustain the proliferation of increasingly complex systems at affordable prices and the consequent societal impacts. Thus, the industry has been examining a variety of innovations that scale the package and the board, which have traditionally not scaled to the same extent that silicon has. While silicon has scaled by a factor of 1,000× over the last 45 years, the bump pitch to packages and the trace pitch and ball-grid array pitches on printed circuit boards have scaled by less than a factor of 4× over the same interval, as shown in Figure 1. We are also coming to realize that integrating diverse technologies on a single chip has made technologies far more complex than they need be and to wonder if we could de-integrate technology components, such as memory and logic or analog and logic, and somehow reintegrate them at the system level without loss of latency and bandwidth. In fact, approaches where we optimize technologies for function rather than use general-purpose technologies promise to be lower in cost and achieve better power performance.

Big Thinking about Teaching Advertising

The 2014 Advertising Teaching Workshop at AEJMC in Montreal featured a segment titled Group Think: Sharing Ideas, Growing Ideas. Workshop participants broke into five groups to discuss issues affecting both the advertising industry and advertising education. Because these issues influence all our programs, we're sharing our collective thinking by way of this summary.From trends to data. From evolving models of delivery to evolving creative portfolios. And partnering with other units across our campuses. We hope you will find some ideas that will stimulate discussions within your programs and help move your courses and curriculum forward in the ever-changing advertising world. Or perhaps you'll find some interesting gems that might inspire your research.Big trendsAt the conference, the emerging factors coalescing to shape the advertising industry as we know it today were distilled into three broad trends: analytics, relationships and delivery. Analytics is an ever-changing area as technology continually improves and refines the industry's ability to gather and synthesize data. The use of analytics informs both content creation and content delivery, with such factors as return on advertising investment, search engine optimization, search engine marketing and advertising effectiveness driving this trend.Relationships - both building and maintaining them with engaged consumer audiences - continue to impact the industry. Four areas in the relationship trends were identified: engaging the audience, providing relevant communication, reaching influences and proactively responding to privacy concerns.Delivery of the advertising message needs to be both simple and shareable. Underlying this premise are these four influences: the impact of global messaging, the demand for diverse and ethnographic-inspired communication, the creation and dissemination of branded content and the mandate for seamless digital and social media strategies.Even with these three trends buffering the winds of change within the advertising industry, many traditional conceptual models such as the creative brief are still appropriate and relevant. However, such traditional templates now need to be used with analytics, relationships and delivery method in mind.Big data and analyticsBig data and analytics were identified and combined as one of the three trends, and this area also was the focus of one of the workshop teams. Big data includes consumer consumption patterns, media usage and purchase behavior. When asked to define or conceptualize big data, both data mining and technology were discussed. While data is clearly quantitative, it was also noted that there are some qualitative aspects that are important. Advertising agencies struggle with too much and perhaps one solution would be to hire computer scientists to interpret it. To be useful, the data must be in a language that both strategists and creatives can understand and use.Student perceptions of data and analytics are that they are technical and boring. Students, on the other hand, often see themselves as creative. In the past, research data were more manageable. Today everything is online in real time and requires ongoing monitoring. This results in an enormous amount of data. Clearly, our students need training. Tomorrow's new data specialists might have a background in computer science.This could lead to more interdisciplinary work with other departments such as computer science.This raises the question: What do we want our students to know about data and analytics? First, we don't want our students to be afraid of data. In fact, it should be their friend because understanding data will make them more employable. They'll also appreciate being able to interpret reports because they can use them for evidence to persuade their number-oriented clients from the marketing world. …

Examining the intersection of race and gender in video game advertising

Women and racial/ethnic minorities account for a growing percentage of video game players in the USA. The economic future of the video game industry may, in part, depend on the industry's ability to adapt marketing efforts to appeal to the growing female and racial/ethnic markets. Contrary to these efforts, however, is advertisers' reliance on stereotypes in advertisements to quickly establish a common understanding and wide appeal to a mass audience. This study investigates how race and gender intersect in the stereotypical character depictions used to market video games to consumers. A systematic content analysis was carried out of 383 US magazine advertisements of console, mobile, and PC video games. Stereotyping and intersectionality literatures were used as theoretical guides for this research. Findings reveal that the marketing of video games in the USA upholds some longstanding media stereotypes of minorities and women, including that of the White male hero, submissive sexualized female, Asian ninja, and deviant Black male. The potential social and economic implications of the video game industry's reliance on character stereotypes for the marketing of video games are discussed.

Traceability and supply chain complexity: confronting the issues and concerns

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the recent horsemeat scandal in European markets. The paper is primarily interested in how this scandal has festered and what perhaps ought to be done to ensure consumers get what they feel they should be getting. It also attempts to identify the lapses that have created the basis for this to happen. Design/methodology/approach – The paper mainly draws on reports in the media and discussions generated following the scandal to assess the issues under consideration. It also looks at the issues surrounding the global supply chain environment and provides solutions on how to strengthen the weak links in the meat supply chain. Findings – The paper finds that the scandal has damaged consumer confidence in the industry's ability to regulate itself. It notes that pinpointing risk has become a difficult struggle as retailers are often inundated with data, and suppliers, for lack of time, have become reluctant to “waste time” completing check-lists and audits. The paper maintains that there is the urgent need for adequate inspection and a means to incentivise the food industry to police itself much better. It recognises that lack of visibility and a lack of direct influence over suppliers further down the supply chain have led to distinct problems within the food industry. Originality/value – The paper contributes to an ongoing discussion that has been of considerable concern to many consumers. Its importance lies in the fact that it suggests important measures, which, if implemented, could help in ensuring the elimination of fraud in the food chain.

Dispersant Use in Ice-Affected Waters: Regulatory Status and Opportunities to Advance Decision Making

ABSTRACT There is increasing interest in, and evolving technological capability to, conduct offshore oil and gas exploration and production operations in sensitive arctic regions. This has focused attention on oil spill preparedness and response for waters which have an ice cover for some part of the year. Given the logistical challenges associated with transporting and deploying mechanical equipment in these remote, ice-prone areas, the application of dispersants below and on the water surface is being considered as one of the ways to mitigate the impact of accidental oil spills from offshore exploration, production and transportation operations. In 2013, the International Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) commissioned a study about using dispersants in ice-affected waters. Part of the study scope was a regulatory review concerning the dispersant use in twenty-one Northern Hemisphere nations having Arctic/ice-prone waters. An important issue for government policy and decision makers is considering where and when dispersant use might reduce the net economic and environmental damage from an oil spill. Industry is aware that their resources and knowledge can help inform nations as they examine dispersants as a response option. This paper presents an overview of the regulatory status regarding the use and/or limitations of dispersants in countries that have oil and gas exploration and production operations ice-affected waters; potential obstacles in decision making which may limit industry's ability to stand up the logistical infrastructure necessary to implement an effective dispersant operation; and potential strategies, e.g., industry technical support and stakeholder engagement, to address identified obstacles in countries with ice-affected waters.

Recent Advances by the API Remote Sensing Technical Working Group for Oil Spill Preparedness and Response

ABSTRACT In 2010, the American Petroleum Institute coordinated the establishment of an Oil Spill Preparedness and Response Joint Industry Task Force (JITF) comprised of experts from industry and government. The JITF was established to examine the efforts implemented during recent oil spill events, assess the current state of the industry's ability to respond to significant spills, and identify potential learnings. A remote sensing technical working group (TWG) was formed under the Oil Sensing and Tracking program to document current remote sensing technology and future research and development needs related to tracking oil on the water's surface. Since its inception, the Remote Sensing TWG has held face-to-face meetings, engaged with other joint industry groups, and completed a planning guide, “Remote Sensing in Support of Oil Spill Response,” to assist in the identification of surveillance technologies, sensors, and platforms that could enhance response efforts. The document provides information related to both strategic and tactical response activities. The guide was designed as a practical “Users Guide” as well as a planning and preparedness tool for response personnel that may be required direct surveillance activities. The group also identified key areas for industry and academia for future research and development, including:Quantifying the aerial extent and concentration of oil on the water's surface; andEnhancing ways to provide quality-assessed data in near real-time to both field resources and command centers. In addition, the TWG is currently researching the development of a web-based tool that would aid in the selection of appropriate satellite sensors for a particular response scenario. The group is working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to customize and expand an existing NASA satellite tool for use during oil spill response. The TWG plans to continue collaboration and knowledge-sharing with other joint industry projects, and to continue to hold regular meetings to share recent experiences, collaborate on potential technology areas that need development, and disseminate scientific findings in the field of remote sensing that will enhance the capabilities and readiness for response.

The institutional context of poverty: State fragility as a predictor of cross-national variation in commercial microfinance lending

We examine cross-national variation in the global growth of commercial microfinance from 1998 to 2009 as a natural experiment to analyze the role of national institutions in shaping the ability of commercial enterprises to reach the global poor. Our results demonstrate that a country's level of state fragility represents an important institutional context of poverty that explains significant cross-national variation in the commercial microfinance industry's ability to grow its client base, control costs, and attract commercial capital. Moreover, we find that commercial microfinance lenders have experienced greater difficulty than nonprofit lenders in growing their client base in more fragile state settings. Our results support the proposition that the state shapes both institutional hazards and opportunities for business-led efforts to combat global poverty.

Strategic toolkits: seniority, usage and performance in the German SME machinery and equipment sector

This paper examines the strategic tool kit, from a human resource management (HRM) perspective, in terms of usage and impact. Research to date has tended to consider usage, assuming to a certain extent that knowledge and understanding of particular tools suggest that practitioners value them. The research on which this paper is based builds upon the idea that usage indicates satisfaction, but develops the usage theme to investigate which decision-makers are actually engaged in both tool appliance and the strategic process. Of particular interest to the researchers are the educational background, age and seniority of the decision-makers. In addition, potential links with HRM and organizational performance are also explored. The context of the research, the German machinery and equipment sector, provides an insight into the industry's ability to sustain growth in face of increasing international competition. The paper calls for a greater awareness, from a human resource perspective, and utilization of strategic management practice and associated decision-making aids.

A New Model of Petrochemical Technology Strategic Planning

We, for the first time, propose a new model for technology strategy formulation in Iran’s petrochemical industry. It is the result of an integrated and systematic hybrid of existing models presented in literature of technology strategy. Furthermore, we identify strategies of technology development in Iran’s petrochemical industry by using ability – attractiveness matrix and patent indicators. A list of technologies in the industry, the industry's ability in the development of technologies, attractiveness of technologies in the industry, and patent indicators in the evaluation of the industry are identified based on experts’ viewpoints. Data is collected in subsidiary companies. Respondents are professional employees in these companies doing research in specific fields of petrochemical industry.

High Efficiency and Low Cost of Electricity Generation from Fossil Fuels While Eliminating Atmospheric Emissions, Including Carbon Dioxide

NET Power has developed a novel, oxy-fuel thermodynamic power cycle [1] that uses hydrocarbon fuels, captures 100% of atmospheric emissions, including all carbon dioxide, and has a cost of electricity that is highly competitive with the best current systems that do not have CO2 capture. The proprietary system achieves these results through a closed-loop, high-pressure, low-pressure-ratio recuperated Brayton cycle that uses supercritical CO2 as the working fluid. The cycle exploits the special thermodynamic properties of carbon dioxide as a working fluid by eliminating the energy losses that steam-based cycles encounter due to the heat of vaporization and condensation. The compelling economics of the system are driven by high target efficiencies – 59% net LHV for natural gas and 51% net LHV for coal – and low projected capital and O&M costs, which are the result of utilizing only a single turbine, having a smaller plant footprint, and requiring fewer, smaller components than comparable fossil-fuel systems.NET Power, Toshiba Corporation, Exelon Corporation, and the Shaw Power Group are partnering to commercialize this system by developing a 50MWt facility that is scheduled to begin testing in 2014. This facility will generate electricity from natural gas and capture 100% of emissions, including all CO2. The initial design for a commercial system with an electrical output in the range of 200MWt to 500MWt is also under development. The turbine for the 50MWt plant is being designed at the 500MWt level and then scaled down for the demonstration plant to facilitate rapid development of the large-scale turbine in the future. The demonstration plant will test all components and control systems and the operability of the cycle, including 100% capture of carbon dioxide and other impurities, using a range of fuel gas compositions.The NET Power cycle will have an important impact on the power industry's ability to control and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Driven by its competitive cost when compared to state-of-the-art technologies without CO2 capture, the authors believe the NET Power cycle will remove economic barriers to the deployment of 100%-carbon-capture, fossil-fuel-based electricity generation technology. This will enable both the developed and developing world to produce cheap electricity that does not contribute to CO2-based climate change.

Arms Procurement and the Russian Defense Industry: Challenges Up to 2020

The Russian government has launched a new state armament program for the period 2011–2020 in a decisive effort to bring the Russian Armed Forces into the 21st century. This article investigates the prerequisites for the successful fulfillment of this program and assesses the industry's ability to meet the program's demands. The main findings are that the costs of the program are unrealistically high and that deficiencies in the procurement system and in the technologies and performance of the industry present serious challenges and obstacles that will hinder the fulfillment of the program.

CO2 Storage Contingencies Initiative: Detection, Intervention and Remediation of Unexpected CO2 Migration

High profile refinery, pipeline and well incidents over the past several years may have impacted stakeholder perception of the oil and gas industry's ability to prevent and control accidents. This perception may be translated to current and future CO2 storage projects, as this relatively new application has a limited track record at scale. To better understand unexpected fluid migration and responses, the CO2 Capture Project Phase 3 (CCP3) has developed the “CO2 Storage Contingencies” project. The project was initiated by a CCP3-sponsored workshop that brought together industry, national laboratory and academic experts in wells, reservoir engineering and geosciences. The goal was to systematically assess CO2 and displaced fluid migration scenarios with current versus needed capabilities for detection, intervention and remediation of damages. Three focus areas were addressed in detail: wells, conformance and seals/fractures. It was concluded that groundwater and vadose zone remediation strategies would be deferred owing to decades of related experience and that a focus on intervention might obviate their need. The underlying assumption of the workshop was that even if CO2 storage projects employ state-of-the-art site characterization, risk assessment, and monitoring systems, unexpected migration may nevertheless occur, particularly during the early stages of gaining experience with large scale deployment. Specific mechanisms for unanticipated CO2 and brine migration were identified with both established and novel mitigation approaches for remedying them proposed. The group concurred on a general approach to qualifying scenarios with potential mitigations. A forward plan was outlined to document relevant industry experience with a roadmap of needed research and development (R&D), including modelling, simulation, bench-scale experiments and field trial design through deployment. The initial phases of the study are ongoing with concurrent concept development of the latter phases entailing identification, assessment and possible deployment of a field trial of detection and intervention approaches.