Managing Uncertainty in Innovation: The Applicability of Both Real Options and Path Dependency Theory

A debate exists on the applicability of real options theory versus path dependency to managing innovation. However, this debate is nascent in terms of empirical studies on what managers actually do in managing innovative opportunities. The value of each perspective is explored by utilizing empirical data from case studies of biopharmaceutical companies to develop grounded theory and a better understanding of the use of options theory and path dependent models in managing innovation. The empirical data suggest that not all of the arguments of the theoretical discourse may be relevant for particular cases and in fact may be the opposite of what is presupposed.     

数字电影在Authorware中的应用

介绍了Authorware中如何对数字化电影进行播放、停止、暂停、快进、后退等操作加以控制的两种方法。利用按钮,实现对数字电影动态播放控制,大大增强了对数字电影动画控制的方便性,提高了交互性,以实例制作方式详细介绍了这种方法的实现过程。     

数字电影在Authorware中的应用

介绍了Authorware中如何对数字化电影进行播放、停止、暂停、快进、后退等操作加以控制的两种方法。利用按钮,实现对数字电影动态播放控制,大大增强了对数字电影动画控制的方便性,提高了交互性,以实例制作方式详细介绍了这种方法的实现过程。     

Managing Sustainable Innovation with a User Community Toolkit: The Case of the Video Game Trackmania

Today, innovating with a user community seems an effective strategy for developing a firm's innovation capacity. However, short‐term benefits from this collaboration are no longer sufficient, and firms are now looking to develop a sustainable relationship with users, to maintain sustainable innovation. This study furthers our understanding of the way in which a user toolkit connected to a community serves to manage innovation of an existing product or service. The literature provides a limited understanding of the role of a user toolkit in the management of a sustainable innovation approach in firms. The research is based on a longitudinal case study of the video game Trackmania, which has an integrated toolkit connected to a large and active user community. Results confirm the crucial role of the toolkit in the construction, control and maintenance of a sustainable innovative approach with a user community. From the innovation perspective, the toolkit can be considered as a means of managing the boundary between the firm and the user community, because it enables the community to structure itself as a multi‐sided platform, where all categories of users participate in value creation. Finally, we identify four modalities for managing sustainable innovation with a user community toolkit.     

Managing for Innovation: The Two Faces of Tension in Creative Climates

Part of managing for innovation is creating the appropriate climate so that people can share and build upon each other's ideas and suggestions. Yet, there are increasing pressures and potential unproductive levels of tension within organizations. This article points out the distinction between two forms of tension that appear within the research on organizational climates for creativity as well as the conflict management literature. The Debate dimension is described as reflecting a more productive idea tension and the Conflict dimension suggests a more non‐productive personal tension. A series of studies, across multiple levels of analysis, are summarized and a new study is reported in order to highlight the finding that relatively higher levels of Debate, and lower levels of Conflict are more conducive to organizational creativity and innovation. A practical model for the constructive use of differences is shared, along with a few strategies for reducing the negative tension associated with Conflict and increasing the positive aspects associated with Debate.     

Lost at the Edge of Uncertainty: Measuring Player Uncertainty in Digital Games

Uncertainty has previously been identified as an important ingredient of engaging games. Design in games can create different levels of uncertainty in players that they can recognize and describe as being either attributable to external forces, such as chance or hidden information, or internal to their own understanding of what to do in relation to their own goals. While it appears that uncertainty can contribute both positive and negative play experiences, there is little work in trying to operationalize and measure this concept as a component of player experience. Reported in this article is an analysis of data from over 700 players using modern bi-factor analysis techniques resulting in a five factor psychometric scale which captures the broad feelings of players about uncertainty in games. Three of these specific factors appear to point toward a single generic factor of uncertainty that is internal to the players, one captures experiences relating to external uncertainty, with the final factor relating to player’s experience of exploring the game to resolve uncertainty. In order to further validate the scale, we conducted an experiment with a commercial puzzle game manipulating the duration of play with predicted outcomes on the different specific factors of the scale. Overall the scale shows promise with good statistical reliability and construct validity of the separate factors and so will be a useful tool for further investigating player experiences in digital games.     

Managing Scientific Uncertainty in Environmental Health: The Example of Electric and Magnetic Fields

Over the past thirty years, the Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) health issue has raised public concern, received media attention, created electric utilities and government agencies awareness, and led to an important effort of scientific investigation. It has been an exemplary experience in managing different aspects of a complex environmental health problem through research, information, and communication. In this article, the historical context and the various approaches to the problem will be described. We will identify the effective rules that were followed and helped to manage the risks and to prevent a public health crisis.     

Managing Uncertainty in Creative Industries: Lessons from Jerry Springer the Opera

This article considers the impact of uncertainty on entrepreneurial performance in the UK theatre industry. The article identifies and evaluates the major determinants of demand uncertainty –audience composition, critical acclaim and media coverage– whose management is key to entrepreneurial success. An in‐depth historical case study of the controversial production, Jerry Springer the Opera, analyses the evolution of these three distinct sources of uncertainty and illustrates that they should not be treated in isolation since they interact in complex ways which change with time. The case study shows how the entrepreneurs involved used a multi‐staged production process as a strategy to market test their product and to distribute their risks across agents and over time. The article therefore considers what contributed to both the successes and failures of these entrepreneurs as well as highlighting important strategic lessons for managing uncertainty in creative industries.     

数字签名技术在公安案件管理中的应用

案件在办理过程中,从一个阶段转到下一个阶段都需要经过所长和局长的二级审批,通过群签名、代理签名和多重签名,实现了案件的办案信息和审批信息的安全性、完整性、不可否认性和可识别性,保障了公安系统网上办案的顺利进行。     

AE数字技术在影视后期制作中的应用

随着信息技术的不断发展,数码技术已逐渐应用于电影和录像制作的所有过程,并在视频制作方面发挥着重要作用。目前,计算机软件应用于数字视频制作,After Effect作为视频合成处理软件,在视频制作过程中广泛使用。笔者分析、总结了AE在电影制作中的应用和演变。AE数字技术是一门以计算机软件和非线性编辑为主的后期技术,是一门实用性技术。     

Case Study: Managing the Change to CASE

Successful implementation of computer-aided software engineering (CASE) is more than a technical issue; it is a people issue as well. IS managers must realize that their staffs often have a strong resistance to change especially when it comes to learning to use a new tool As a result, IS managers must ensure that the proper training program, technical support, and commitment are in place before beginning a CASE implementation. This article presents a case study of how one company followed this plan and successfully implemented CASE.     

The Need for Innovation: a Case History from the Water Industry

Anglian Water is a global water company with Anglo Scandinavian origins. It provides utility services and is a leader in water and wastewater technology and vocational learning through Aqua Universitas the University of Water. It employs over 5,000 people and operates through exclusive subsidiaries or in partnerships. The turnover is almost £800M per year—of which 20% is international. The changing nature of water management has provided a case example of innovation in practice. The case is described with particular reference to Anglian Water. A more formal model framework for innovation is prescribed.     

Managing Distributed Innovation: Strategic Utilization of Open and User Innovation

Research from a variety of perspectives has argued that innovation no longer takes place within a single organization, but rather is distributed across multiple stakeholders in a value network. Here we contrast the vertically integrated innovation model to open innovation, user innovation, as well as other distributed processes (cumulative innovation, communities or social production, and co‐creation), while we also discuss open source software and crowdsourcing as applications of the perspectives. We consider differences in the nature of distributed innovation, as well as its origins and its effects. From this, we contrast the predictions of the perspectives on the sources, motivation and value appropriation of external innovation, and thereby provide a framework for the strategic management of distributed innovation.     

Managing Open Innovation: Exploring Challenges at the Interfaces of an Open Innovation Arena

Collaborating with peers to gain access to knowledge is an attractive alternative for organizations keen to improve their innovativeness, and the rising popularity of open innovation has resulted in the emergence of new actors in the innovation process. Previous research focuses mainly on the firms that collaborate with these actors. This paper adopts the perspective of an open innovation actor and the managerial challenges involved. It is based on a case study of SAFER, a Swedish traffic and vehicle safety research unit with 22 collaborating partners. The unit, which is here called an open innovation arena, differs from an intermediary in that it both enables open innovation within a specific field of expertise and envisages itself as a key player in that same field. The case study reveals three types of challenges for the management of an open innovation arena: challenges that arise at the interface with partner organizations, challenges related to collaboration between the partners, and challenges related to the arena itself.     

Exploring Design Principles of Organizing for Collaborative Innovation: The Case of an Open Innovation Initiative

In a distributed world, relationships and partnering become even more critical for business, as delivering on rising and complex demands and addressing complex issues is more than one organization can do alone. Such a situation constitutes a huge challenge for many organizations. Building on an inductive case study of an open innovation initiative, illustrating the complex and messy nature of such organizing, we outline five design principles that appear fundamental to the organizing for collaborative innovation. These design principles are our main contribution to the emerging research on organizing for collaborative innovation as they form a perspective and a conceptual tool to talk about and understand the messiness and disorganization of dynamic and discontinuous contemporary organizational constructs.     

On the Uncertainty of Straight Lines in Digital Images

A model for the uncertainty of straight lines extracted from digital images is proposed, which accounts both for the image discretization and for the scattering of the line points from the true line. First, some results about uncertainty are derived for the discrete model, in which the point scattering is neglected. Then, the proposed model is compared with the continuous model, in which the image discretization is neglected: experiments show that the continuous model underestimates uncertainty.     

案例与任务驱动教学法在《影视后期制作》课程中的应用

数字技术飞速发展的今天,影视后期制作应用领域越来越多.针对高校《影视后期制作》课程教学现状及弊端,提出案例配合任务驱动教学法,及其具体实施过程,并指出教学中的注意事项.     

CAD技术在机床设计中的应用

机床设计中采用CAD,可以提高工作效率和设计成功率,不但缩短试制周期,而且还降低设计成本.文章针对CAD技术在机床设计中的应用进行了阐述和分析.