Rod Coombs – författare

This book is concerned with the ways in which organizations design, build and use information technology systems. In particular it looks at the interaction between these IT-centred activities and the broader management processes within organizations. The authors adopt a critical social science perspective on these issues, and are primarily concerned with advancing theoretical debates on how best to understand the related processes of technological and organizational change. To this end, the book examines and deploys recent work on power/knowledge, actor-network theory and critical organization theory. The result is an account of the nature and significance of information systems in organizations which is an alternative perspective to pragmatic and recipe-based approaches to this topic which dominate much contemporary management literature on IT.

This book is concerned with the ways in which organizations design, build and use information technology systems. In particular it looks at the interactions between these IT-centred activities and the broader management processes within organizations. The authors adopt a critical social science perspective on these issues, and are primarily concerned with advancing theoretical debates on how best to understand the related processes of technological and organizational change. To this end, the book examines and deploys recent work on power/knowledge, actor-network theory and critical organization theory. The result is an account of the nature and significance of information systems in organizations which is an alternative perspective to the pragmatic and recipe-based approaches to this topic which dominate much contemporary management literature on IT.

The interplay between demand from the market, the role of users in shaping that demand, and the way in which these factors influence the innovation process has always been a complex one. This forward thinking book examines this interplay from a technological change perspective.The contributors explore the potential for rapprochement between economics, sociological and other social science disciplines in considering the allocation of resources and the making of decisions about technological change. The papers within this book represent a judicious blend of theory and empirical research and look at a broad range of innovations, markets and technologies in medicine, agricultural and food production, services and IT. Technology and the Market raises the question of the many 'visible hands' that are involved in linking technology and the market together.This book is recommended to academics and policymakers interested in demand-innovation interaction, scholars of industrial economics and the sociology of technology as well as entrepreneurs.Understanding user needs is now seen as one of the most important factors in the success of innovation and one of the raisons d'être of market research. This book attempts to move the boundaries to show the importance of how demand is detected or constructed by innovators.

This major new book provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary analysis of the nature and significance of collaboration between firms and other actors involved in industrial innovation.The motivations and mechanisms for technological collaboration, the fields in which it is likely to occur, and the consequences of collaboration for the parties involved and the economy as a whole are all addressed by a distinguished group of scholars drawn from economics, sociology, management theory and political economy. Areas and issues covered include growth theory and the theory of the firm, managerial objectives across different cultures, interfirm technological linkages, networks and innovation, strategic collaboration, collaborative agreements, state intervention, strategic alliances and informal networks.Technological Collaboration emphasizes the importance of interfirm collaboration and the establishment of networks in innovation and economic growth. The issues and themes raised in this volume will be of interest to scholars from a variety of different perspectives, interested in technical change, innovation and industrial organization.

This book investigates the effects of organizational contexts on the process of technological innovation. It analyses the internal organization of the firm as well as external influences, and examines how these factors affect a firm's innovative potential. The organization of the firm, it is argued, is intrinsic to the innovation process itself.The authors consider new concepts of the theory of the firm, look at evolutionary economics and concepts of innovation within this school of thought, and analyse national and sectoral systems of innovation. They discuss firm-specific knowledge and organization, and its effects on innovative opportunities. In addition, they pay special attention to a firm's ability to innovate in relation to incentives, and the sources of technology available to them. From this they conclude that organizational factors are primary features of the process of technical change.Included in the discussion are examinations of:networks of collaborating firms in R&D activity'technology foresight' and the direction of future innovative activity in industrial sectorsthe relationship between business units and corporate parentsgovernment and regulatory agenciesthe role of capital, and short termism in financial marketsthe relationship between suppliers and customersTechnological Change and Organization will be of welcomed by those interested in technological change and innovation, institutional and evolutionary economics, as well as to microeconomists interested in the theory of the firm and industrial organization.