1,720,952 research outputs found
Innovation in small and micro-enterprises in Donegal; nice idea or commercial reality?
Get PDFContext and Purpose:
This dissertation was based on the authors own practical experience of working with
small and micro-enterprises (SaMEs) over eighteen years. In his experience, many
business development models, originally developed around large firms, do not take
account of the needs and characteristics of SaMEs, including innovation theories and
models which base their research on large multinational organisations with apparently
little consideration for how innovation is developed, managed or measured in SaMEs.
Therefore, the author decided to undertake research into innovation in SaMEs in
Donegal. The three overall objectives of this research study were to:
Identify what SaMEs in Donegal understand by the term ‘innovation’
Investigate innovation practice(s) in SaMEs in Donegal
Identify how innovation can be effectively measured within SaMEs.
Design / Methodology / Approach
In a process similar to Andrews et al. (2008), a detailed literature review was undertaken
which guided subsequent research activities where data was collected using in-depth
interviews. The two stages of data collection were:
1. Literature review supported by in-depth interviews with key informants
(government bodies, agencies) who provided an insight to innovation practices
within the county
2. In-depth interviews which provided a comprehensive view of the understanding,
practice, motivations, behaviours and attitudes towards innovation and its
measurement amongst SaMEs in Donegal
4
Findings:
While very few SaMEs are aware of innovation theories, processes and procedures,
practically all of them engage in some form of innovative activity. They possess a broad
understanding of the ‘concept’ of innovation and are aware of its benefits. Enterprises
engage in a wide range of innovations across products, processes, people, marketing, etc.
and innovation is very important to them. However, innovation is not a managed or
systematic process and while this is often due to lack of resources, the small size and
flexible nature of SaMEs also means that innovative proposals with merit can be assessed
and acted upon quickly.
Many enterprises in Donegal do not engage with existing innovation networks/clusters as
they feel that they are not suited to their needs. The main innovation barriers include
lack of time and management support for innovation, the financial risk associated with
innovations, poor ICT infrastructure, complacency amongst SaMEs and high costs of
innovation including prototyping, IP, etc. Few SaMEs measure innovation activities and
some only measure innovation because management accounts provide them with the
information to facilitate this. A significant point to emerge from the study was the
benefits of management accounts to SaMEs.
Research Limitations:
Very little information exists on innovation in micro enterprises. Furthermore, innovation
is a very broad subject and while a number of significant themes emerged from the
literature review, it was not feasible, as part of a Masters dissertation, to investigate
these issues by means of an extensive quantitative survey with SaMEs.
Originality / Value
This paper seeks to provide an insight into the understanding which regionally-based,
SaMEs have of innovation and whether, given their unique characteristics, they can
practically use accepted innovation management theories, tools, etc. It also seeks to
inform support organisations and other enterprises as to the challenges faced by
regionally-based SaMEs in trying to implement innovation activities and whether current
5
support structures adequately address their needs. Finally, it seeks to establish whether
innovation in SaMEs is effectively measured and whether innovation metrics have
benefits for such organisations.
Suggestions for Further Research:
Further consideration should be given to whether recognised innovation management
systems, models and structures as opposed to flatter, more organic innovation models
are best suited to SaMEs. Also, can current support structures, networks, clusters, etc., be
effectively tailored so that they are responsive to the real needs of SaMEs, and can
current support organisations and policy makers present innovation more simply to
SaMEs in a way which is easy to understand and practical to manage and which can
demonstrate clear growth benefits. The benefits of effective management accounting
systems which accrue to SaMEs in terms of knowledge management, innovation
management and marketing activities should also be considered. Finally, as little research
exists in relation to innovation in micro enterprises further studies should be undertaken
in this area
Innovation in small and micro-enterprises in Donegal; nice idea or commercial reality?
Get PDFContext and Purpose:\ud
This dissertation was based on the authors own practical experience of working with\ud
small and micro-enterprises (SaMEs) over eighteen years. In his experience, many\ud
business development models, originally developed around large firms, do not take\ud
account of the needs and characteristics of SaMEs, including innovation theories and\ud
models which base their research on large multinational organisations with apparently\ud
little consideration for how innovation is developed, managed or measured in SaMEs.\ud
Therefore, the author decided to undertake research into innovation in SaMEs in\ud
Donegal. The three overall objectives of this research study were to:\ud
Identify what SaMEs in Donegal understand by the term ‘innovation’\ud
Investigate innovation practice(s) in SaMEs in Donegal\ud
Identify how innovation can be effectively measured within SaMEs.\ud
Design / Methodology / Approach\ud
In a process similar to Andrews et al. (2008), a detailed literature review was undertaken\ud
which guided subsequent research activities where data was collected using in-depth\ud
interviews. The two stages of data collection were:\ud
1. Literature review supported by in-depth interviews with key informants\ud
(government bodies, agencies) who provided an insight to innovation practices\ud
within the county\ud
2. In-depth interviews which provided a comprehensive view of the understanding,\ud
practice, motivations, behaviours and attitudes towards innovation and its\ud
measurement amongst SaMEs in Donegal\ud
4\ud
Findings:\ud
While very few SaMEs are aware of innovation theories, processes and procedures,\ud
practically all of them engage in some form of innovative activity. They possess a broad\ud
understanding of the ‘concept’ of innovation and are aware of its benefits. Enterprises\ud
engage in a wide range of innovations across products, processes, people, marketing, etc.\ud
and innovation is very important to them. However, innovation is not a managed or\ud
systematic process and while this is often due to lack of resources, the small size and\ud
flexible nature of SaMEs also means that innovative proposals with merit can be assessed\ud
and acted upon quickly.\ud
Many enterprises in Donegal do not engage with existing innovation networks/clusters as\ud
they feel that they are not suited to their needs. The main innovation barriers include\ud
lack of time and management support for innovation, the financial risk associated with\ud
innovations, poor ICT infrastructure, complacency amongst SaMEs and high costs of\ud
innovation including prototyping, IP, etc. Few SaMEs measure innovation activities and\ud
some only measure innovation because management accounts provide them with the\ud
information to facilitate this. A significant point to emerge from the study was the\ud
benefits of management accounts to SaMEs.\ud
Research Limitations:\ud
Very little information exists on innovation in micro enterprises. Furthermore, innovation\ud
is a very broad subject and while a number of significant themes emerged from the\ud
literature review, it was not feasible, as part of a Masters dissertation, to investigate\ud
these issues by means of an extensive quantitative survey with SaMEs.\ud
Originality / Value\ud
This paper seeks to provide an insight into the understanding which regionally-based,\ud
SaMEs have of innovation and whether, given their unique characteristics, they can\ud
practically use accepted innovation management theories, tools, etc. It also seeks to\ud
inform support organisations and other enterprises as to the challenges faced by\ud
regionally-based SaMEs in trying to implement innovation activities and whether current\ud
5\ud
support structures adequately address their needs. Finally, it seeks to establish whether\ud
innovation in SaMEs is effectively measured and whether innovation metrics have\ud
benefits for such organisations.\ud
Suggestions for Further Research:\ud
Further consideration should be given to whether recognised innovation management\ud
systems, models and structures as opposed to flatter, more organic innovation models\ud
are best suited to SaMEs. Also, can current support structures, networks, clusters, etc., be\ud
effectively tailored so that they are responsive to the real needs of SaMEs, and can\ud
current support organisations and policy makers present innovation more simply to\ud
SaMEs in a way which is easy to understand and practical to manage and which can\ud
demonstrate clear growth benefits. The benefits of effective management accounting\ud
systems which accrue to SaMEs in terms of knowledge management, innovation\ud
management and marketing activities should also be considered. Finally, as little research\ud
exists in relation to innovation in micro enterprises further studies should be undertaken\ud
in this area
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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