Chandlerism in post-war Europe: strategic and structural change in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, 1950-1993: a comment

Whittington et al. (Industrial and Corporate Change, 1999, 8,519–550) argue that the conglomerate is a relatively transientphenomenon. However, this comment on their article argues thatexamination of their data suggests that the conglomerate maybe more persistent than is generally believed. It is arguedthat the reason for this may be found in the contribution thisstrategy may make to dealing with technologically turbulentenvironments. The results of Whittington et al. are comparedwith other studies of large firm strategies, and some testableimplications are suggested.     

The dawn of a new era

In the last editorial for the 2003 issues of Radiation ProtectionDosimetry, entitled A change of era, some of the journal's historywas given. Radiation Protection Dosimetry has been publishedby Nuclear Technology Publishing (NTP) since 1981 and in thelast editorial the author paid tribute to many people who havecontributed to its success over the past 23 years. This is the first editorial     

Response to Letter to the Editor

Sir, Response to ‘Are all photon radiations similar in largeabsorbers?—A comparison of electron spectra’ byA. M. Kellerer and H. Roos When the ICRP adopted a quality factor—and subsequentlya radiation weighting factor—that gives equal weight todifferent photon radiations, it did not, necessarily imply thatequal     

Adaptive response by single cell radiation hits--implications to nuclear workers

Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 116: 387–391 (2005) The above cited RPD     

The capabilities of new firms and the evolution of the US automobile industry

Firms that diversify into new and existing industries typicallyoutperform de novo entrants, but in some new industries diversifyingfirms are displaced by later-entering de novo firms. Littleis known about when and how new firms can overcome the advantagesof diversifying firms. This is investigated for one industry,automobiles, where new firms had considerable success. All theentrants into the industry from its inception in 1895 through1966 are identified. The heritage of every entrant into theindustry is traced, including the founders of de novo entrants,to explore how time of entry and pre-entry experience affectedfirm survival. While diversifying firms on average outperformedde novo entrants, de novo entrants founded by individuals thatworked for the leading automobile firms outperformed all firmsand dominated the industry. This is attributed to the novelorganizational challenges faced by automobile firms, which madethe leading firms ideal training grounds for new entrants. Theimplications of these findings for firm capabilities, industrycompetition and regional economic development are discussed.     

The stock market and innovative capability in the New Economy: the optical networking industry

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the stockmarket on the innovative capabilities of high-technology companiesthat have been central to what in the last half of the 1990scame to be called the ‘New Economy’. The empiricalfocus is on equipment suppliers in optical networking—anindustry that integrates the bandwidth potential of fiber opticswith the data communications potential of the internet. Thestudy covers the period from 1996 to 2003, during which theoptical networking industry was, first, central to the New Economyboom, and, then from 2001, ensnared by the bursting of the NewEconomy bubble. This paper shows how, responding to the NewEconomy business model brought into the industry by Cisco Systems,three Old Economy companies—Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies,and Alcatel—sought to use their corporate stock as a currencyto acquire technology companies and compensate talented people,and thus accumulate innovative capability. To understand therelation between the stock market and innovative capabilityin the Cisco ‘growth-through-acquisition-and-integration’model and in the ‘creative responses’ of the OldEconomy companies to the Cisco challenge, we apply an analyticalframework that links four functions of the stock market—control,combination, compensation and cash—with three social conditionsof innovative enterprise: strategic control—the abilitiesand incentives of strategic decision makers to allocate resourcesto uncertain investments in innovative capabilities; organizationalintegration—the structure of incentives that motivatesemployees to apply their skills and efforts to collective learningprocesses; and financial commitment—the availability tothe enterprise of resources to sustain cumulative learning processesuntil, by accessing markets, they can generate financial returns.Using this framework, we show that the ways in which the OldEconomy companies used their stock to accumulate innovativecapability in the New Economy boom of 1998–2000 made themmore vulnerable to the stock market collapse and the slowdownin the optical networking industry in 2001–2003.     

Where do small worlds come from?

Interfirm networks often take on characteristics consistentwith the notion of a small world—they are locally clusteredinto dense sub-networks or cliques that are sparsely connectedby a small number of ties that cut across the cliques, linkingnetwork members through a relatively small number of intermediaries.Are these characteristics an emergent property of interfirmnetworks that result from chance connections among firms, ormore strategic partnering by firms to improve or protect theirnetwork positions? After outlining a behavioral account forthis frequently observed network topology, we show that theevolving investment bank syndicate network in Canada exhibitedsmall world properties from 1952 to 1990. We then identify theinvestment bank cliques comprising the network and the ‘spanning’ties that cut across them, and test three distinct scenariosthat may explain the formation of these ties, which are responsiblefor the small worldliness of the network: (i) chance partneringof firms in different cliques; (ii) insurgent partnering byperipheral firms to destabilize the network and improve theirnetwork positions; and (iii) control partnering by core firmsto maintain the network status quo and their positions withinit. All three scenarios played a role in explaining the formationof clique-spanning ties; however, chance and insurgent partneringplayed a greater role in our empirical setting. Our analysisof how small world structures emerge and evolve over time offersnew insight into the origins of a prevalent interfirm networktopology, and a baseline for constructing future models of interfirmnetwork evolution and dynamics.     

Comments on 'Increasing film-focus distance (FFD) reduces radiation dose for X-ray examinations' by P.C. Brennan, S. McDonnell and D. O'Leary

Sir, Comments on ‘Increasing film-focus distance (FFD) reducesradiation dose for X-ray examinations’ by P.C. Brennan,S. McDonnell and D. O'Leary. In a recent publication, Brennan et al.⁽¹⁾ claim that increasingthe film-focus distance (FFD) from 100 to 130 cm will reduceeffective doses (E) by 33% for a pelvic X-ray examination. Thisconclusion is based on a reported 33% reduction in the entrancesurface dose (ESD), by the use of the same effective dose perunit ESD conversion coefficient (E/ESD) at both FFD values.However, E/ESD values are only valid for the specific     

Personal dose equivalent, Hp(d), and reference point for calibration

Personal dose equivalent, H_p(d), is an interesting quantity.It is defined⁽¹⁾ as the dose equivalent in soft tissue, at anappropriate depth, d, below a specified point on the body. (Softtissue, for this definition, has as its provenance the footnotein ICRU Report 39⁽²⁾ ‘defined as in the ICRU sphere’,i.e. ICRU 4-element soft tissue.) For calibration purposes,the definition is extended to include the calibration phantom⁽³⁾.The calibration quantity is then the dose equivalent at a depthd below the point where the dosemeter is to be positioned forcalibration, in a phantom composed of ICRU tissue of the sameshape and size as the calibration phantom⁽³⁾. Two interesting considerations follow from this definition.The     

UMTS signal measurements with digital spectrum analysers

Radiation Protection Dosimetry     

Radiation quality of photons in small and large receptors--a microdosimetric analysis

The quality of different photon radiations in small and largereceptors is assessed in terms of microdosimetry. Monte Carlosimulations are performed for the electrons released by photons.To represent the case of a small receptor, only electrons releasedby the non-degraded incident photons are tracked. For a largereceptor, all electrons released in the complete degradationprocess are followed. Dose averaged values, y_D, of the linealenergy are derived from the simulated tracks for monoenergeticphotons from 10 keV to 2 MeV. In microdosimetry, the dose meanlineal energy is the major parameter of radiation quality. Theresults demonstrate distinct differences in radiation qualitybetween high-energy gamma rays and conventional X rays thatare present not just in small cell samples but also in largereceptors, such as the human body. The values of y_D suggestthat, for both small and large receptors, conventional X raysshould be about twice as effective as gamma rays from ⁶⁰Co.     

Erratum

Radiation Protection Dosimetry     

Relative biological effectiveness (RBE), quality factor (Q) and radiation weighting factor (wR) * Editor: J. Valentin, Published by: ICRP Publication 92, Annals of the ICRP, Vol: 33(4), 117 pp (2003)

This report, prepared by a joint Task Group of Committees 1and 2 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection(ICRP), is one of a series of documents being prepared by ICRPCommittees to advise the Commission on the formulation of itsnext generation of Recommendations. The effects of ionisingradiation are influenced by the dose, dose rate and the type,or ‘quality’, of the radiation. Prior to the 1990Recommendations, dose equivalent quantities were defined bya quality factor Q(L) that     

Routines and incentives: the role of communities in the firm

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to clarifying theconcept of routines, by focusing on a specific aspect of thisconcept: namely the question of localization of routines withinthe organization. We consider that one of the main weaknessesof the theory in the analytical treatment of routines comesfrom the fact that the local context does not really matter.Our position is that, on the contrary, the local context inwhich routines emerge and learning takes place does matter,and leads to routines that strongly differ in terms of powerof replication, of degree of inertia, of search potential. Webase our analysis of the localization of routines on the conceptof community. We consider that, as a result of the permanentinteraction between the individual and organizational levels,routines are shaped and determined at an intermediate level,the level of communities. Along these lines, we show that theanalysis of the localization of routines in the organizationhas important consequences for our understanding of the specificdimensions of routines (cognitive, co-ordination and motivational),in particular on the incentives and the structure of the firm.     

Is subsidizing entry an optimal policy?

Public subsidies in support of new firm foundation are amongthe most frequently used instruments of industrial policy inthe Euro zone. This paper analyses their effectiveness and efficiencyvis-à-vis some features of the overall process of industrydynamics in Italian manufacturing. To this end, the survivaland growth patterns of new small firms are investigated usinga unique dataset on electrical and electronic engineering inItaly. As regards survival, our results confirm the findingsof other studies, namely that the hazard rates are particularlyhigh in the early stages of firm's lifecycle. As far as growthis concerned, the main finding in this study is that Gibrat'sLaw fails to hold in the years immediately following start-up,when smaller firms must ‘rush’ in order to achievea size large enough to enhance their likelihood of survival;conversely, in later stages of a firm's lifecycle this Law cannotbe ignored. These results radically question the use of subsidiesas an optimal policy for the support of new entries, since thesubsidy brings about a major bias in the process of market selection(including substitution and deadweight effects) and hampersthe post-entry scale adjustment of newborn firms.     

Automation: humans versus machines?

Workers' concerns about being replaced by machines probablyarose during the 19th century when many industries were becomingincreasingly automated. The counterargument to this concernwas that machines would not eliminate jobs, rather they wouldfree people so that they could engage in more fulfilling activities.Czech writer and playwright, Karel Capek, coined the word robot,and in his play R.U.R. (Rozum's Universal Robots), these automatonsdid indeed take over tasks of drudgery. But, the ultimate resultwas not as pleasant as expected. Apprehensions about machineswere exacerbated by     

Delft Conference Proceedings Editorial 2008: safety and efficacy for new techniques and imaging using new equipment to support European Legislation

Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 129 (1-3): 1–2     

Modular production networks: a new American model of industrial organization

This paper uses the case of contract manufacturing in the electronicsindustry to illustrate an emergent American model of industrialorganization, the modular production network. Lead firms inthe modular production network concentrate on the creation,penetration and defense of markets for end products—andincreasingly the provision of services to go with them—whilemanufacturing capacity is shifted out-of-house to globally operatingturn-key suppliers. The modular production network relies oncodified inter-firm links and the generic manufacturing capacityresiding in turn-key suppliers to reduce transaction costs,build large external economies of scale and reduce risk fornetwork actors. I test the modular production network modelagainst some of the key theoretical tools that have been developedto predict and explain industry structure: Joseph Schumpeter'snotion of innovation in the giant firm; Alfred Chandler's ideasabout economies of speed and the rise of the modern corporation;Oliver Williamson's transaction cost framework; and a rangeof other production network models that appear in the literature.I argue that the modular production network yields better economicperformance in the context of globalization than more spatiallyand socially embedded network models. I view the emergence ofthe modular production network as part of a historical processof industrial transformation in which nationally specific modelsof industrial organization co-evolve in intensifying roundsof competition, diffusion and adaptation.     

Letters to the Editor

Sir, Comments on ‘The thermoluminescence dose-response andother characteristics of the high-temperature TL in LiF:Mg,Ti(TLD-100)’ by Y. S. Horowitz, L. Oster and H. Datz This recent article⁽¹⁾ was intended to be a review on the subjectand it reflects the view of its authors, as already publishedin the past. When discussing the dose–response issue (bygas and contact heating) the works of two groups (us being oneof them) are discussed at length and in much detail, somewhatoutside the scope of a balanced review. The article containsclaims that     

Properties of the feynman-{alpha} method applied to accelerator-driven subcritical systems

Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 115(1–4): 58–62(2005) Equation (1) on page