· 4th Generation R&D · Competitive Architecture: The External Framework · Organizational Capability: The Internal Framework · The Knowledge Channel and Market Development · Managing Knowledge and Financial Assets · Organizational Architecture · Organizational Capability Development · The Innovation Business Process

Fourth-Generation Wireless Networks: Applications and Innovations presents a comprehensive collection of recent findings in access technologies useful in the architecture of wireless networks.

This book contributes towards the integration of the R&D function with regard to societies, nations, industries and organizations, as well as to leaders within organizations. It covers the management aspects and approaches to R&D management and provides information on the major contexts of R&D such as in production, HR, marketing and finance – functions that are essential to attracting, developing and retaining scientific manpower. The book further elaborates on organizations’ human strategic prospectives. It also suggests various types of practices to help organizations achieve their objectives and analyzes how R&D can contribute to technology, innovation and science to improve organizations’ productivity. In closing, it discusses some of the challenges faced by developing countries and presents R&D management from a global perspective.

Publisher's description: Fourth Generation Evaluation represents a monumental shift in evaluation practice. Guba and Lincoln point to the inherent problems faced by previous generations of evaluators--politics, ethical dilemmas, imperfections and gaps, inconclusive deductions--and lay the blame for failure and nonutilization at the feet of the unquestioned reliance on the scientific/positivist paradigm of research. Fourth Generation Evaluation, a more informed and sophisticated approach, moves beyond science to include the myriad human, political, social, cultural, and contextual elements that are involved. Based upon relativism, a unity between knower and known, and a subjective epistemology, the authors show how fourth generation evaluation unites the evaluator and the stakeholders in an interaction that creates the product of the evaluation. Differing from previously existing generations, this new approach moves evaluation to a new level, whose key dynamic is negotiation. The constructivist paradigm is espoused by the authors and shown to offer multiple advantages, including empowerment and enfranchisement of stakeholders, as well as an action orientation that defines a course to be followed. Not merely a treatise on evaluation theory, Guba and Lincoln also comprehensively describe the differences between the positivist and constructivist paradigms of research, and provide a practical plan of the steps and processes in conducting a fourth generation evaluation.

The book is very well-structured. . . [It] provides a timely contribution to a conversation with a long history, and debates over the nature and purpose of the university seem certain to figure prominently in educational discourse for many years to come. Peter Roberts, Journal of Educational Administrative and History Drawing from experience as a professor in innovation and entrepreneurship and as a consultant to universities, Wissema offers deep insights into management of the modern universities. The book is well-written and all those university administrators who wish to transform their universities into entrepreneurial universities would find the book very useful. Jandhyala B.G. Tilak, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration In Central and Eastern Europe, universities are struggling to adapt to the new economic and institutional situations. The concept of the Third Generation University is powerful in giving direction. In addition, the book offers much practical advice, taken from the author s experience as a consultant to universities. Marjan Bojadzhiev, University American College Skopje, Macedonia Although the quality of university management makes or breaks the effectiveness and efficiency of a university, most university managers come unprepared to the job while only few books and courses in the subject are available. This book offers, amongst other things, welcome insights into the issue of university management. In Wageningen, the concept of the Third Generation University has proven to be inspiring, challenging and operational. It enabled us to develop science for Impact for a variety of new stakeholders. M. Kropff, Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands This book demonstrates that universities are subject to fundamental change, evolving from science-based, monodisciplinary institutions into transfunctional, international know-how hubs named third generation universities or 3GUs. J.G. Wissema explores the combination of forces that propel this dramatic change, tracing the historic development of universities, and exploring the technology-based enterprises, technostarters and financiers for start-ups and young enterprises that are the main partners of these 3GUs. He goes on to illustrate that universities play a new role as incubators of new science- or technology-based enterprises and take an active role in the exploitation of the knowledge they create. The book concludes with suggestions regarding the way in which changes in the university s mission should be reflected in subsequent organisational changes. Offering practical advice on the route forward for universities, and elucidating the role of education in entrepreneurship, this unique book will prove invaluable to academics and practitioners who seek to implement and facilitate changes for 3GU status. It will also appeal to students and researchers with an interest in business and management, education, entrepreneurship and public policy on education.

"This book addresses the crucial question for innovative prospector companies of how to bridge the gap between exploration and exploitation. Whereas exploration deals with the search for new ideas and opportunities, exploitation is about incrementally moving the performance bar a little bit higher. Finding the right balance between exploration and exploitation is essential for the long term survival in today’s highly dynamic business environments. In a cross-industry study of ten large, multinational prospector companies, which are world leaders in their respective industries, it was discovered that the 'industry clockspeed', the length between the subsequent product generations, plays an essential role in bridging this gap. The product generation life cycle (PGLC) typically ranged from just several months in short life cycle industries (SLCIs), such as electronics and the mobile phone industry, to (more than) 10 years in long life cycle industries (LLCIs), such as aerospace and pharmaceutics. Our data indicate that companies operating in SLCIs face major problems in maintaining the long term knowledge base of their firms, whereas companies in LLCIs tend to have problems in aligning their innovation strategy to the short term business needs. To investigate the dynamics of strategic alignment, in one of the LLCI companies, a multinational supplier of industrial components, a six-year longitudinal study was conducted. Here our data indicate that finding a funding structure that effectively balances exploration and exploitation, combined with regular structured feedback between the exploration and exploitation function is needed to maintain long term strategic alignment. CTOs and innovation managers can use this book by first establishing the industry clockspeed(s) in their respective industries or product range(s) and then benchmark their innovation processes to those of the first class (SLCI or LLCI) prospector companies included in this book."

Although social, political, technological and business networks hold our modern world together, we still lack a good understanding of what business networks are, how they work, and the language of network analysis that we may apply to solve common, everyday problems. This book looks at such questions as: How do we make sense of the business networks we participate in and the networks we observe from a distance? Are business networks distinct from social networks, and if so what distinguishes them? How can business network analysis from a multidisciplinary perspective enhance strategic management? Emanuela Todeva deftly explores the patterns of networking and the dynamics of network relationships, to show how we can begin to tap their full potential. Of great interest to students and scholars of business network analysis, this revealing volume will also prove informative for managers wishing to obtain insights into network dynamics and its implications for strategic decision making. Business Networks expertly provides an interdisciplinary overview. It skilfully engages the reader with a range of economic, sociological, strategic management and communication theories that contribute to our knowledge of networks and networking. Transcending specific disciplines, and synthesizing the contributions that shape the structural, relational and cultural approaches to network analysis, Todeva’s outstanding text offers a wealth of conceptual frameworks and an exhaustive typology of existing business networks.