The Recent Growth Performance of US Firms in the Industrial Design Sector: An Exploratory Study

This paper assesses the competitive factors associated with company growth in the US industrial design sector. This small but technologically advanced sector delivers critical innovation inputs to firms that produce durable goods. Evidence from a survey of 85 US design companies suggests that competitive success hinges upon service diversity. Specifically, the most commercially buoyant companies have diversified their service offerings beyond product or component design. These firms have developed strategic competencies in fields such as contract research, prototype development, product testing, technological forecasting, market analysis and even advertising. Although most US design companies are small-to-medium-sized enterprises, successful firms do not differ from their less successful counterparts in terms of employment size, occupational structure, regional location or market focus (client sectors). Instead, the key differences lie in service diversity and the quality of human capital. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the empirical findings for future research on the dynamics of the design industry.     

工业设计伦理学思想探析

以可持续发展与环境保护为启示,分析了以工业化大生产为物质基础的现代设计,在适应工业生产要求的同时,日益表现出过度功利化的趋势;论述了引入设计伦理价值来重新构建设计艺术的审美观念,以及中国传统文化的生态观念对于中国工业设计的发展所具有的重要作用。在此基础上,提出通过设计伦理拓展设计艺术的文化属性,并调整现代设计的价值追求。     

Technological Regimes, Industrial Demography and the Evolution of Industrial Structures

The purpose of this paper is to weave together the new theoriesand empirical evidence analyzing firms and industries in motion,or what has been termed ‘industrial demographics’.In particular, the links between the technological regime underlyingan industry and the observed patterns of industry demographyare emphasized. Although a major conclusion of this new literatureis that the structure of industries is perhaps better characterizedby a high degree of fluidity and turbulence than stability,the patterns of industry demographics vary considerably fromindustry to industry. And what apparently shapes the evolutionof firms particular to a specific industry is, as much as anythingelse, the knowledge conditions shaping the technological regimeunderlying that industry.     

Turning Industrial Residues into Resources: An Environmental Impact Assessment of Goethite Valorization

Goethite is a metals-rich residue that occurs during zinc production. The feasibility of metal recovery from goethite has been demonstrated, but is not economically viable on an industrial scale. Therefore, goethite is landfilled with considerable economic costs and environmental risks. The goal of this study is to evaluate the environmental performance of a new valorization strategy for goethite residues from zinc production, with the aims of: ① recovering the valuable zinc contained in the goethite and ② avoiding the landfilling of goethite by producing a clean byproduct. The presented goethite valorization strategy consists of a sequence of two processes: ① plasma fuming and ② inorganic polymerization of the fumed slag. Plasma fuming recovers the valuable metals by fuming the goethite. The metals-free fumed slag undergoes a process of inorganic polymerization to form inorganic polymers, that can be used as a novel building material, as an alternative to ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based concrete. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is used to compare the environmental performance of the inorganic polymer with the environmental performances of equivalent OPC-based concrete. The LCA results show the tradeoff between the environmental burdens of the fuming process and inorganic polymerization versus the environmental benefits of metal recovery, OPC concrete substitution, and the avoidance of goethite landfilling. The goethite-based inorganic polymers production shows better performances in several environmental impact categories, thanks to the avoided landfilling of goethite. However, in other environmental impact categories, such as global warming, the goethite valorization is strongly affected by the high-energy requirements of the plasma-fuming process, which represent the environmental hotspots of the proposed goethite recycling scheme. The key elements toward the sustainability of goethite valorization have been identified, and include the use of a clean electric mix, more effective control of the fumed gas emissions, and a reduced use of fumed slag through increased efficiency of the inorganic polymerization process.     

Transforming Industrial Districts: Large Firms and Small Business Networks in the Italian Eyewear Industry

This study is an evolutionary comparative analysis of how large, vertically integrated firms and networks of small firms perform, in response to the challenges posed by globalization. It focuses on the Italian eyewear industry which represents an ideal laboratory for studying the establishment and transformation of such diverse production models under ceteris paribus conditions (same industry, same challenges, same product, and same geographical location). Looking at longitudinal statistical data for the Belluno eyewear district and case studies of the four leading companies in the industry, this study demonstrates that, locally embedded networks of small firms no longer represent an organizational structure as robust and stable as in the past. Globalization challenges such networks and demands adjustments that transform the nature of the Belluno eyewear district, away from the traditional stereotype so widespread in the literature, towards a configuration characterized by the presence of leading firms and moderate hierarchy.     

工业动态跟踪测量的原则与技术特点

叙述了工业动态跟踪测量的特征和内容,提出了实现动态跟踪测量的基本目标和任务。并且介绍了测量的原理、原则、方法和虚拟坐标系的建立以及冗余测量配置与测量方法、测量系统的自标定、实用测量系统的技术特点等。最后对动态跟踪测量的发展趋势进行讨论。     

German Industrial Policy: An Overview

The German political economy and its comparative advantage in the production of high quality, internationally competitive manufactured goods has long been an object of study. Yet a remarkable lack of consensus exists as to the key institutional features of the German model, particularly regarding the role of the national state in industrial policy. This paper argues, in the face of widespread calls for withdrawal of German state institutional frameworks governing the labour market in particular, that the German framework is not as rigid as claimed, and that the innovative capabilities of German industry would be best served by incremental changes rather than wholesale dismantling of existing structures.     

试论企业技术创新的概念和举措

文章探讨两个问题：1. 企业技术创新的概念。在自主研究的基础上，借鉴其他学者的研究成果，概括了企业技术创新的7个特征，给出了一个比较科学全面的企业技术创新定义。2. 企业技术创新的举措：a. 开发新产品，概括了新产品的分类、特征和定义，新产品开发的10个小阶段，新产品的构成要素及新产品开发的一般原则；b. 采用新技术，包括创设科研机构、吸引创新型科技人才，采用新技术，创造新的国际技术标准，更新设备和工艺，推广绿色技术；c. 开辟新的市场；d. 开拓新的原料供应来源；e. 采用新的组织和管理方式。     

现代工业设计中的技术美学问题研究

探讨现代工业设计中技术美学的一系列问题,包括设计内容的变革、审美价值的新取向、设计工作流程、工作方式、设计项目的组织管理形式,以及对设计教育等方面的作用和意义.     

'Little Ships': The Co-evolution of Technological Capabilities and Industrial Dynamics in Competing Innovation Networks

Recent agenda-setting exercises in the national innovation systems and industrial dynamics literatures have highlighted the unresolved methodological challenges faced by those seeking to explore the innovation process in a co-evolutionary perspective. The paper seeks to contribute to this debate by drawing upon the research methods and presentational conventions of business historians. The empirical study concerns the emergence of radical innovations in the design and manufacture of sailing dinghies in mid-20th-century Britain. This period saw the displacement of small, highly localized firms engaged in traditional craft practices by a new generation of designers, manufacturers and promoters in pursuit of volume production. The findings are presented in the form of a historical narrative, contrasting the configurations and dynamics of two competing innovation networks in this sector. It shows how actors in each network drew differently on newly available platform technologies, probes their distinctive approaches to design, manufacturing and marketing, and assesses their longer-term impact on the sector. The concluding section relates the findings to the previously discussed theoretical constructs and reflects on the potential contribution of historically informed methodologies.     

On the Causes of Corrosion Fracture of Industrial Pipelines

It is established that the most active corrosion components in gas-water-oil environment are hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and mineral salts (especially chlorides). The main types of corrosion fracture of the metalware of oil and gas objects, in particular, industrial pipelines, exploited under severe climatic conditions, are static and cyclic hydrogen fatigue, sulfide cracking, and local (pitting and groove) corrosion.     

Affordance认知探究及其在产品设计中的应用

目的从认知理论角度探讨Affordance概念在产品设计中的应用。方法通过阐述Affordance理论在认知领域的起源及在设计领域的发展,介绍了深泽直人对Affordance的传承提出了"无意识设计"理念,进而研究Affordance在用户、产品、环境承担的作用。结论总结归纳4种运用于产品设计中的Affordance类型,并针对现有优秀产品案例探讨,详细分析Affordance是如何运作于产品设计中的。最后提出设计人员应该把握四点方向,以更好地从Affordance对产品的影响入手设计出优良的产品。。     

工业火雷管生产线的技术改造

在工业火雷管生产线技术改造中，生产线设计工作着重需要进行工艺方案选择。设计方案论证与确定，生产线标准设备造型，外购设备技术要求确定，非标设备和防护设施设计，装配线与设备的气路图设计，气动控制元件造型，生产线工辅具加工图设计等工作。文章从这些方面对公司工业火雷管生产线技术改造情况作一简介。     

Post-Catch-Up Strategy for Medium-Sized South Korean Firms: Improving Technological Capabilities by Balancing R&D Intensity and Open Innovation

Abstract

This study examines how R&D intensity and open innovation affect the technological capabilities of firms in newly-developed countries, such as South Korea. East Asian latecomers are transitioning from a catch-up phase toward becoming leaders, and they are engaging in open innovation activities to drive this transition. This research quantitatively analyzes three kinds of open innovation activities—outside-in, inside-out, and coupled—to investigate their influence upon technological capabilities, while also considering the effect of R&D intensity. Data from 75 South Korean medium-sized firms were analyzed, and two major findings are reported. First, technological capabilities are enhanced by some open innovation activities and by R&D intensity. Second, R&D intensity negatively moderates the impact of open innovation activities on technological capabilities. Therefore, it may be concluded that firms with relatively low R&D intensity will gain the most benefit from increasing their open innovation activities.     

The Changing Technological Profile of the Leading ICT Firms: Evidence from US Patent Data, 1981-2000

Drawing upon the patent data for 63 of the largest firms in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector for the period 1981-2000, this paper investigates how the technological profile of these firms has altered in relation to technological advantage, technological diversity and path dependency. Using a previously established measure of revealed technological advantage, the firms in the sample almost universally exhibited a decline over time in this measure. While this result is contrary to other multi-industry research, it may be unique to the ICT industry as many non-ICT oriented firms patent in the area as ICT technology underpins developments in more and more industries. In relation to technological diversity, there were high levels of intra-sector diversification, but little diversity beyond the ICT sector, supporting the notion that the emergence of technology markets will support specialization. In addition, strong evidence of path dependency was found indicating that firms adopt long-term strategies for developing their technology portfolios. Given the rapid growth of technology markets, these findings have considerable implications as to the nature and operation of these markets.     

The Nature of Innovation in R&D- and Non-R&D-Intensive Service Firms: Evidence from Firm-Level Latent Class Analysis

Innovation in services has been largely characterised by the predominance of non-technological innovation and low intensity in research and development (R&D) activities. However, most cross-industry analyses still overlook the organisational character of innovation in services. In this article, we use latent class analysis to examine the nature of innovation in 2148 firms from 20 service industries in Spain. On the basis of the analysis of 10 innovation types and 5 kinds of innovation activities, a taxonomy composed of 2 R&D-intensive and 2 non-R&D-intensive clusters is proposed. The findings indicate that organisational innovation counts for three of the four profiles, the new management techniques being the most common organisational innovation in all clusters. Furthermore, micro- and small-sized firms from several subsectors are more likely to be R&D-oriented than medium and large companies. The results underline the coexistence of different innovation patterns within the same industry as well as the predominance of hidden innovators in several industries.     

变风量空调系统的优势探讨

通过比较变风量空调系统与定风量空调系统的控制分析，探讨变风量空调系统较之所具备的优势所在，以及变风量空调系统未来的发展前景。     

字幕摄影机的稳定性探讨及测试和保养

本文探讨了拷贝字幕抖晃产生的原因，探讨了字暮摄影机稳定性的检测方法，并对字幕摄影机的操作注意事项及其维修保养进行了说明。