Effects of Processing on Zinc Levels in Spinach, Beef, and Potatoes

Spinach, beef, and potatoes were subjected to combinations of cooking, freezing, retorting, and storage and analyzed for total zinc and water soluble zinc, before and after acid-enzyme digestion. Zinc and its complexes that were soluble were membrane filtered to exclude the passage of substances larger than 5,000 daltons. Approximately 30–50% of the total zinc in spinach systems and about 70–100% of the zinc in potato systems was water soluble. Practically none of the endogenous zinc in beef was water soluble. Regardless of processing method, essentially all zinc in spinach and potatoes and about half of the zinc in beef was released after acid-enzyme digestion. All of the spinach and potato zinc and at least a third of the beef zinc following digestion passed through the 5,000 dalton membrane.     

Technological Discontinuties, Organizational Capabilities, and Strategic Commitments

Innovations based on radically new technologies are believedto create advantages for entrants over incumbents in the relevantmarkets. Under what circumstances is this true? To what extentdo incumbents' disadvantages stem from their failure to maketimely commitments to new capabilities and new strategies asopposed to their inability to implement those commitments effectively?We explore those questions in relation to recent literaturein economics and organization theory and introduce the conceptof the ‘value network’. Historical evidence suggeststhat entrants find greatest advantage when innovations disruptestablished trajectories of technological progress, a circumstanceassociated with moves to new value networks. The incumbent'sdisadvantage, hence, seems to be associated with an inabilityto change strategies, not technologies.     

Managerial Commitments and Technological Change in the US Tire Industry

This paper attempts to reconcile the anomaly between the assumptionthat inertial forces resist change among successful incumbentsto new technology and empirical evidence attesting to willingnessto change despite strong economic disincentives. It looks atmanagerial commitment to employees, customers and communitiesas influencing response to radical technologies and considersthe response by the largest US tire firms to the revolutionin radial technology. The paper introduces a theoiy linkingcommitments and firms' response to disruptive technologicalchanges, provides a brief history of the US tire industry priorto the radial revolution and considers the consequences of theradial revolution. It concludes that managerial commitmentsplayed an important role in tire makers' response to radialtechnology, thus supporting the claim that commitments shouldbe considered with competences and economic incentives in examininghow incumbents respond to technological discontinuities.