The Role of Organizational Competences in the Evolution of Business Models

International audienceThis paper presents the use of a conceptual framework designed for the management of organizational competences to contribute to the evolution of the business model of an enterprise. The framework, developed based on a detailed review of the history of the car manufacturer Toyota, was used for a Delphi study and an action-research applied in the furniture industry. The results suggest that it is applicable for ex-post analysis of organizational changes, as well as a strategy planning tool

Perinatal Hypoxia-Ischemia Disrupts Striatal High-Affinity [ 3 H]Glutamate Uptake into Synaptosomes

: We examined the impact of hypoxia-ischemia on high-affinity [ 3 H]glutamate uptake into a synaptosomal fraction prepared from immature rat corpus striatum. In 7-day-old pups the right carotid artery was ligated, and pups were exposed to 8% oxygen for 0, 0.5, 1, or 2.5 h, and allowed to recover for up to 24 h before they were killed. High-affinity glutamate uptakes in striatal synaptosomes derived from tissue ipsilateral and contralateral to ligation were compared. After 1 h of hypoxia plus ischemia, high-affinity glutamate uptake in the striatum was reduced by 54 ± 13% compared with values from the opposite (nonischemic) side of the brain (p < 0.01, t test versus ligates not exposed to hypoxia). There were similar declines after 2.5 h of hypoxiaischemia. Activity remained low after a 1 h recovery period in room air, but after 24 h of recovery, high-affinity glutamate uptake was equal bilaterally. Kinetic analysis revealed that loss of activity could be attributed primarily to a 40% reduction in the number of uptake sites. Hypoxia alone had no effect on high-affinity glutamate uptake although it reduced synaptosomal uptake of [ 3 H]3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-ethylamine. Addition of 1 mg/ml of bovine serum albumin to the incubation medium preferentia'ly stimulated high-affinity glutamate uptake in hypoxic-ischemic brain compared with its effects in normal tissue. These studies demonstrate that hypoxia-ischemia reversibly inhibits high-affinity glutamate uptake and this occurs earlier than the time required to produce neuronal damage in the model.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66361/1/j.1471-4159.1986.tb00803.x.pd

Molecular Characterisation of Long-Acting Insulin Analogues in Comparison with Human Insulin, IGF-1 and Insulin X10

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: There is controversy with respect to molecular characteristics of insulin analogues. We report a series of experiments forming a comprehensive characterisation of the long acting insulin analogues, glargine and detemir, in comparison with human insulin, IGF-1, and the super-mitogenic insulin, X10. METHODS: We measured binding of ligands to membrane-bound and solubilised receptors, receptor activation and mitogenicity in a number of cell types. RESULTS: Detemir and glargine each displayed a balanced affinity for insulin receptor (IR) isoforms A and B. This was also true for X10, whereas IGF-1 had a higher affinity for IR-A than IR-B. X10 and glargine both exhibited a higher relative IGF-1R than IR binding affinity, whereas detemir displayed an IGF-1R:IR binding ratio of ≤ 1. Ligands with high relative IGF-1R affinity also had high affinity for IR/IGF-1R hybrid receptors. In general, the relative binding affinities of the analogues were reflected in their ability to phosphorylate the IR and IGF-1R. Detailed analysis revealed that X10, in contrast to the other ligands, seemed to evoke a preferential phosphorylation of juxtamembrane and kinase domain phosphorylation sites of the IR. Sustained phosphorylation was only observed from the IR after stimulation with X10, and after stimulation with IGF-1 from the IGF-1R. Both X10 and glargine showed an increased mitogenic potency compared to human insulin in cells expressing many IGF-1Rs, whereas only X10 showed increased mitogenicity in cells expressing many IRs. CONCLUSIONS: Detailed analysis of receptor binding, activation and in vitro mitogenicity indicated no molecular safety concern with detemir

External vs Internal Determinants of Firm Technology Strategy: Evidence from the Polish Services Sector

The authors use the insights from strategy research and innovation studies to address two principal questions regarding the technology strategy of a firm: what are the distinct elements of technology strategy and what are the strategy determinants? Equipped with Zahra's (1996) concept of measuring technology strategy, we analyze data from two runs of the Community Innovation Survey for Polish service firms. They propose a set of indicators reflecting four principal fields of technology strategy: pioneer-posture, R&D efforts, technology portfolio, and monitoring activities. Interactions between the strategic variables are analyzed and their determinants are assessed. The results suggest that technology strategies are determined by both factors external to the firm, and by the hitherto less stressed in the CIS-based empirical literature, internal factors. The role of internal factors increases with the macroeconomic environment becoming less favourable

Absorptive capacity and innovation: When is it better to cooperate?

Cooperation can benefit and hurt firms at the same time. An important question then is: when is it better to cooperate? And, once the decision to cooperate is made, how can an appropriate partner be selected? In this paper we present a model of inter-firm cooperation driven by cognitive distance, appropriability conditions and external knowledge. Absorptive capacity of firms develops as an outcome of the interaction between absorptive R&D and cognitive distance from voluntary and involuntary knowledge spillovers. Thus, we offer a revision of the original model by Cohen and Levinthal (Econ J 99(397):569-596, 1989), accounting for recent empirical findings and explicitly modeling absorptive capacity within the framework of interactive learning. We apply that to the analysis of firms' cooperation and R&D investment preferences. The results show that cognitive distance and appropriability conditions between a firm and its cooperation partner have an ambiguous effect on the profit generated by the firm. Thus, a firm chooses to cooperate and selects a partner conditional on the investments in absorptive capacity it is willing to make to solve the understandability/novelty trade-off. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg