Using tactical and operational factors to assess strategic alignment: an SME study

The strategic use of Information Technology (IT), better known as strategic alignment, has significantly increased, as a result of the strong dependence of organisational activity on Information Systems (IS) and their related technologies. Strategic alignment is considered as a key element to improve performance on organisations, enhance efficiency and allow organisations to be more competitive in their respective industry. One of the first steps towards achieving strategic alignment is to have adequate means to measure it. Current assessment approaches, though, are mainly focused at the strategic level but provide little insight at tactical and operational levels, which are recognized as important areas for achieving strategic alignment. Furthermore, most of the existing approaches are tested in large organisations and there is little research on assessing the effectiveness of these approaches for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This paper proposes an alternative instrument that rather than focusing only at the strategic level it aims to have a better understanding by measuring alignment at tactical and operational levels. Finally this paper presents the findings of applying this instrument on an SME

A distributional checklist of the leaf-cutting bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) of Florida

The leaf-cutting bees are a diverse group which is commonly encountered all across the country. With over 600 North American species, most of which are in the genera Anthidium, Dianthidium, Stelis, Heriades, Hoplitis, Osmia, Megachile and Coelioxys, there are numerous “non-Apis” pollinators. Being an important taxon, there is a definite need for an awareness of their distribution across the United States and, perhaps in time, everywhere. This may allow us to follow the establishment of exotic species such as Megachile [Callomegachile] torrida Smith, M. [Pseudomegachile] lanata Fabricius, and an unidentified exotic which is listed below in the subgenus Callomegachile

How redeployable are patent assets? Evidence from failed startups

Entrepreneurial firms are important sources of patented inventions. Yet little is known about what happens to patents "released" to the market when startups fail. This study provides a first look at the frequency and speed with which patents originating from failed startups are redeployed to new owners, and whether the value of patents is tied to the original venture and team. The evidence is based on 1,766 U.S. patents issued to 285 venture capital-backed startups that disband between 1988 and 2008 in three innovation-intensive sectors: medical devices, semiconductors, and software. At odds with the view that the resale market for patented inventions is illiquid, we find that most patents from these startups are sold, are sold quickly, and remain "alive" through renewal fee payment long after the startups are shuttered. The patents tend to be purchased by other operating companies in the same sector, and retain value beyond the original venture and team. We do find, however, that the patents and people sometimes move jointly to a new organization following the dissolution of the original venture, and explore the conditions under which such co-movement is more likely. The study provides new evidence on a phenomenon-of active markets for buying and selling patents-underexplored in the strategy literature and consequential for both entrepreneurial and established firms.Accepted manuscrip

Is there a Risk-Return Trade-off across Occupations? Evidence from Spain

We use data from Spain to test for an effect of earnings risk and skewness on individual wages. We carry out separate estimation for men, women, public and private sector employees. In accordance with previous evidence for the US we show the existence of a risk-return trade-off across occupations in the Spanish labour market. These results are in conformity with preferences of risk-averse individuals with decreasing absolute risk aversion.Risk-aversion, skewness affection,occupational choices,compensating wage differentials

The Dynamics of the Transfer and Renewal of Patents

This paper explores a new dataset of transfers of patents recorded at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, a number of patterns are presented. For instance, the probability of a patent being traded monotonically decreases as a function of its age except at the renewal dates. Immediately after renewal, this probability discontinuously increases. Among patents of the same age, the probability of being traded and the probability of being renewed is increasing in the total number of citations received. Moreover, previously traded patents, and especially the recently traded, are more likely to be traded and less likely to be allowed to expire than patents not previously traded. Second, the paper extends Pakes and Schankerman\\'s patent renewal framework in order to develop a model of the transfer and renewal of patents. Two new key features of the model are motivated by the patterns documented: gains from reallocating patents to more productive firms and costs of adopting technology.Markets for Technology; Patents; Transfer of Patents

Autonomous Locomotion Mode Transition Simulation of a Track-legged Quadruped Robot Step Negotiation

Multi-modal locomotion (e.g. terrestrial, aerial, and aquatic) is gaining increasing interest in robotics research as it improves the robots environmental adaptability, locomotion versatility, and operational flexibility. Within the terrestrial multiple locomotion robots, the advantage of hybrid robots stems from their multiple (two or more) locomotion modes, among which robots can select from depending on the encountering terrain conditions. However, there are many challenges in improving the autonomy of the locomotion mode transition between their multiple locomotion modes. This work proposed a method to realize an autonomous locomotion mode transition of a track-legged quadruped robot steps negotiation. The autonomy of the decision-making process was realized by the proposed criterion to comparing energy performances of the rolling and walking locomotion modes. Two climbing gaits were proposed to achieve smooth steps negotiation behaviours for energy evaluation purposes. Simulations showed autonomous locomotion mode transitions were realized for negotiations of steps with different height. The proposed method is generic enough to be utilized to other hybrid robots after some pre-studies of their locomotion energy performances

Lagrangian Volume Deformations around Simulated Galaxies

We present a detailed analysis of the local evolution of 206 Lagrangian Volumes (LVs) selected at high redshift around galaxy seeds, identified in a large-volume $\Lambda$ cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) hydrodynamical simulation. The LVs have a mass range of $1 - 1500 \times 10^{10} M_\odot$. We follow the dynamical evolution of the density field inside these initially spherical LVs from $z=10$ up to $z_{\rm low} = 0.05$, witnessing highly non-linear, anisotropic mass rearrangements within them, leading to the emergence of the local cosmic web (CW). These mass arrangements have been analysed in terms of the reduced inertia tensor $I_{ij}^r$, focusing on the evolution of the principal axes of inertia and their corresponding eigendirections, and paying particular attention to the times when the evolution of these two structural elements declines. In addition, mass and component effects along this process have also been investigated. We have found that deformations are led by dark matter dynamics and they transform most of the initially spherical LVs into prolate shapes, i.e. filamentary structures. An analysis of the individual freezing-out time distributions for shapes and eigendirections shows that first most of the LVs fix their three axes of symmetry (like a skeleton) early on, while accretion flows towards them still continue. Very remarkably, we have found that more massive LVs fix their skeleton earlier on than less massive ones. We briefly discuss the astrophysical implications our findings could have, including the galaxy mass-morphology relation and the effects on the galaxy-galaxy merger parameter space, among others.Comment: 23 pages, 20 figures. Minor editorial improvement

Patent collateral, investor commitment, and the market for venture lending

This paper investigates the market for lending to technology startups (i.e., venture lending) and examines two mechanisms that may facilitate trade within it: (1) the ‘salability’ of patent collateral; and (2) the credible commitment of existing equity investors. We find that intensified trading in the secondary patent market is strongly related to the annual rate of startup lending, particularly for startups with more redeployable patent assets. Moreover, we show that the credibility of venture capitalist commitments to reinvest in their startups’ next round of financing can be critical for startup debt provision. Utilizing the crash of 2000 as a severe and unexpected capital supply shock for VCs, we show that lenders continue to finance startups with recently funded investors better able to credibly commit to refinance their portfolio companies, but withdraw from otherwise-promising projects that may have needed their funds the most. The findings are consistent with predictions of incomplete contracting and financial intermediation theory.Accepted manuscrip