In the context of increasingly globalized markets, ever more complex supply chains and international manufacturing networks, corporate decision-making processes involve more and more actors, variables and criteria. This is a challenge for corporate head quarters. Many have argued that the role...

This paper examines the knowledge bases of the world's largest pharmaceuticals groups by sales. It puts forward the concepts of knowledge breadth and depth as the relevant dimensions along which knowledge bases can be mapped. Breadth is studied by analysing the evolution of specialisation by...

Whilst knowledge is a growing feature of corporate competitiveness and growth, it will make firms increasingly dependent on outside resources (including public and foreign resources), and will be increasingly disruptive to their internal organisation. This is because knowledge is increasingly...

This empirical paper analyses the importance of information and communications technologies (ICT) in the technological diversification trend among the world's large industrial firms. The objective of the research is twofold. First, to emphasise the emerging differences among technologies when...

In this paper we contrast the notions of best-practice and configurations contingent on environmental conditions. The analysis draws upon our study of 38 UK and 70 US service firms which includes an assessment of the organization, processes, tools and systems used, and how these factors...

We understand a great deal about the organization and management of new product development in the manufacturing sector, but we know relatively little about how applicable this research and practice is to the service sector. In this paper we introduce and test a framework for managing new...

This paper examines the role and deployment of design performance measurements (DPMs) in the construction industry, focusing on the consulting engineering sector, the design 'heart' of construction. Compared with manufacturing, there has been very little research on the use of DPMs in...

Along with all other defence-related issues, defence research is a controversial area for EU action. Until recently, defence issues have not figured prominently among EU policy discussions and defence research has played little, if any, role in European technology policy. Although the Framework...

Progress in our understanding of the role of knowledge in the economy, based on Nelson and Winter's book published in 1982, has been mixed. It has been greatest when their concepts have been enriched by empirical evidence, often coming from outside evolutionary economics. It has been least when...

This paper explains the success and failure of two technologies that generate electricity from fossil fuels. Both the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) and fluidised bed boiler burn fossil fuels more cleanly than more traditional technologies. Whereas the CCGT has been used for an increasing...