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China has become a workshop for the world, and manufacturing in the country is increasingly moving beyond labor-intensive, low value-added products. As a result, companies in different industries around the world are facing increasing competition. Taiwan's bicycle industry is a good example. Taiwan's A-Team aims to establish standardization to achieve the functions of an industrial platform in the bicycle industry. Taiwan's A-Team forms an innovation ecosystem through the participation of domestic and foreign complementary companies and suppliers. The companies of Taiwan's A-Team focus on high value-added products in the global bicycle industry by competing and cooperating with each other in the innovation ecosystem. A study of Taiwan's A-Team provides a number of insights into how this goal is achieved.

Bringing together an international range of expertise, this comprehensive Companion to Technology Management is designed to facilitate the development of management frameworks adaptable for a wide range of organizations, as well as an overview of the development and integration of technology in advanced and emerging economies. Research-based and drawing on a range of practical tools and international cases, it covers the diverse spectrum of the challenges of technology management and how to approach them: I Fundamentals of Technology Management provides an overview of the fundamental aspects of technology management. II Technology Planning focusses on technology- driven organizations, government labs and universities. III Technology Evaluation includes evaluation and assessment, adoption and forecasting through management tools. IV Technology Development and Transfer includes integration, marketing and intellectual property management. V Managing Technological Innovations addresses policy, open innovation and technology entrepreneurship. VI Society and Technology Management focusses on social issues which impact technology and its management. VII New Technologies and Emerging Regions include blockchain, biotechnologies, and smart cities. This Companion is an essential comprehensive source of new and emerging approaches for researchers, advanced engineering and technology management students, and professionals seeking an authoritative global reference source.

Metabolic disorders have been implicated in ocular diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). Recently, hyperuricemia (HUA) has been proposed as another risk factor for AMD, although no cause-and-effect experimental data have been published. In this study, we investigated whether HUA would initiate AMD or related retinal damages in hyperuricemic mice.HUA was induced in male ICR mice by dietary supplements of uric acid and oxonic acid potassium salt, with or without treatments by allopurinol or benzbromarone for various durations. Serum uric acid and angiotensin II concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at regular intervals. The retinal damages were assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining, immunostaining, and TUNEL assay. The cause-and-effect of HUA was compared among the study groups.The results showed that the total thickness of photoreceptor inner and outer segments, as well as the thickness of the photoreceptor outer segment alone, were reduced under HUA. Furthermore, HUA elevated serum angiotensin II, which indicated activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), leading to higher matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) expression, and glial activation in the ganglion cell layer. HUA also led to the reduction of retinal pigment epithelium gap junction protein connexin-43 and apoptosis. Uric acid lowering agents, allopurinol or benzbromarone, were effective in ameliorating the impairments.HUA may pose as a causative factor of retinal injuries. The reduction of serum uric acid may reduce the detrimental effects caused by HUA.

The importance of social interactions has been reported in different animal species. During the pandemic, although people can communicate through other sensory cues, social touch is mostly prohibited under different levels of social distance policies, which inspired us to explore the necessity of physical contact in mouse social interaction. In this study, we first conducted a long-term observation showing that pair-housed mice in a standard laboratory cage spent nearly half the day in direct physical contact with each other. Furthermore, isolation experiments demonstrated that, even with access to other sensations, prevention of social touch for one month significantly induced anxiety levels, changed social behaviors and increased interleukin-6 cytokine in the hippocampus and the serum of mice. Our study demonstrated the necessity of social touch for the maintenance of mental health in mice. This information could have important implications for human social interactions, especially the social policies during a pandemic crisis.

Purpose Innovation ecosystem is an emerging and popular concept in both academic and industrial circles. It offers a new perspective for enterprise strategy positioning. A business can create more value through a healthy innovation ecosystem. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors utilize a new triple-layer core-periphery framework to analyze Insigma Group’s multi-platform collaboration innovation ecosystem, in order to explore the architecture and heterogeneous functions inside an innovation ecosystem. Findings The authors illustrate the components and working mechanisms of the four platforms, which function as ideation, entrepreneurship, financing and investment, and innovation, inside Insigma’s innovation ecosystem in detail, and explain how they interact and collaborate toward a shared aim of the whole innovation ecosystem. Research limitations/implications The innovation ecosystem is an emerging concept. In this study, the authors combined two existing analytical frameworks of innovation ecosystem, and proposed a triple-layer core-periphery framework, which enable us to analyze the heterogeneity inside an innovation ecosystem. Practical implications The authors discussed the role of government and its policies in shaping the innovation ecosystem at the enterprise level. Originality/value The authors believe that this paper provides a holistic study of Insigma’s innovation ecosystem. The triple-layer core-periphery framework can be used to study other enterprise innovation ecosystem in the future.

Purpose: Using general systems theory, we present a series of simulations that shed light on the viability of business strategies in stable and turbulent business environments. Special attention is given to the impact of efficiency versus flexibility on firm performance, and on what the simulations reveal concerning successful strategies in each environment and firm type. Design/methodology/approach: Large-scale Monte Carlo simulations based on Ashby's Requisite Variety principle. Findings: Efficiency and flexibility do not, in general, determine performance. However, certain strategies appear to be superior, and in turbulent business environments, efficiency and flexibility appear well correlated with firm performance. Research limitations/implications: Implications and limitations of the Law of Requisite Variety for strategic analysis are set forth. Limitations stem from the simplifications needed for quantitative analysis, and lack of explicit consideration of competitors’ actions. Practical implications: The simulations’ realism offers insights to strategists regarding the roles of efficiency and flexibility in firm performance. The quantitative approach provides unambiguous definitions for some terms used in strategy, sharpening concepts put forth by Ashby and by Ansoff. Originality/value: A back-to-basics, systems approach to the simulations, using the venerable and general requisite variety principle as its basis, ensures sound analysis and appeal to readers who may come to it from diverse traditions of strategy theory. The quantitative simulation tool is made available for other researchers to test and extend. Keywords: Strategy, Requisite variety, Simulation, Efficiency, Nimble firm, Corporate slack

Reed–Solomon (RS) codes are a type of forward error correction (FEC) coding that is highly efficient at combating burst errors in received messages. This efficiency has led to its widespread application in error correction in the head tag, often in combination with other channel coders for the construction of robust FEC coding. This brief outlines the design and implementation of a two-mode RS decoder using a simplified step-by-step (SS) algorithm for (255, 239) and (204, 188) RS codes. Calculation of the syndrome determinant in the RS decoder is achieved through Gaussian elimination using a 1-D systolic array with hardware architecture of low complexity, ideally suited for the higher-dimensional matrices used in SS algorithms. The proposed two-mode RS decoder is easily modified with regard to the delay-line buffer size, the delta accumulation and summation module, and the control unit. A two-mode RS decoder with approximately 32 K gates was fabricated using 180-nm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology. Evaluation results confirm that the proposed device consumes only 57 mW at 166 MHz.

How do a firm’s internal capabilities and external partnerships contribute to its product and process innovativeness? How do their impacts differ? Based on the theoretical framework of exploitation and exploration, we develop an integrative model linking the impact of both internal capabilities and external partnerships on product and process innovativeness. Survey responses from Taiwanese biotechnology firms indicate that research and development (R&D), marketing, and manufacturing capabilities have different effects on product and process innovativeness. Of the four types of external partnerships, only partnerships with universities and research institutes seem to add value, whereas partnerships with suppliers, customers, and competitors do not contribute to innovativeness. Moreover, marketing capability and customer partnerships have a positive interaction effect on product innovativeness, while manufacturing capability and supplier partnerships have a positive interaction effect on process innovativeness.

In this article we reflect on the adolescent years of Asia management research published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Management (APJM) by reviewing work published in the past 10 years (1997–2006). We report that during the last decade, APJM has published 223 research articles, written by 373 different authors, who are affiliated with 203 different institutions. Our discussion of the future of Asia management research is guided by Kuhn’s (Kuhn, T. S. The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962) perspective on the nonlinear progression of science. We argue that as a growing community, Asia management research is finding its “identity” and establishing its presence in the larger worldwide management research community. Following our analysis, we conclude that the growth of Asia management research—as captured by APJM publications—throughout its “adolescent” years has set forth a challenging and exciting path for the future.

How can small firms manage and benefit from open innovation? We study three Taiwan's biotechnology firms leveraging open innovation in developing new drugs. At the phase of the new drug discovery, two companies acquired technology from external sources. CSRC Synpac Company acquired technology from Professor Yuan-Tsong Chen at Duke University (USA) in 1991. GlycoNex Company acquired technology from Professor Sen-itiroh Hakomori at University of Washington (USA) in 2001. AbGenomics Company developed its own technology at Professor Rong-Hwa Lin's team at National Taiwan University (Taiwan) in 2000. Through technology transfer, CSRC Synpac Company licensed out the new drug Myozyme to Genzyme Corporation (USA) in 2000. AbGenomics Company licensed out the new drug AbGn-168H to Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical (Germany) in 2005. GlycoNex Company licensed out the new drug GNX-8 to Otsuka Pharmaceutical (Japan) in 2009.

Based on Rothwell and Zegveld's (1981) policy tool, we study an assessment of innovation policy of Taiwan's electric vehicle industry, and the policy comparison between Taiwan, USA, Japan, Germany and China. The validity assessment of 30 experts was conducted by adopting the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). This study found that the demand side was the most important in three dimensions of policy. Among the factors of policy tool, 'procurement', 'legal and regulatory' and 'public enterprise' were the top priorities for the future developments of the Taiwan's electric vehicle industry. The USA and Japan were ranked number 1 and number 2 in the 'environment' policy. The 'demand' policy in Taiwan has a greater influence on the development of electric vehicle industry.

The US financial meltdown has changed companies' situations not just fundamentally but pervasively. Institutions and channels of supply and communication have disappeared or become unreliable; we are literally managing in chaos, and traditional notions of strategy, planning, and implementation must be (temporarily, it is to be hoped) discarded. This presentation draws on classic management theory, newer ideas, and experiences from technology companies to outline principles for managing for survival in times of chaos. It introduces new management cycles as alternatives to Fayol's classic management cycle, and a corresponding taxonomy of organizational situations, including stable, chaos, edge of chaos, and disaster. It aims for a clear synthesis suitable for management education and training.