According to Giddens (1997), their main charac¬teristics, viz., sovereignty, citizenship and nationalism, are discussed as under:
Sovereignty:
All nation-states are sovereign states. The notion of ‘sovereignty’ refers to the authority of a government over a clearly defined territory with clear cut borders, within which it is the supreme power.
Citizenship:
In modern societies most people living within the borders of the political system are citizens, having common rights and duties and knowing themselves to be part of a nation. Almost everyone in the world today is a member of a definite political order.
Nationalism:
Each community acquires a distinctive character through its association with nationalism. Nationalism can be defined as ‘a set of symbols and beliefs providing the sense of being part of a single political community’. Thus, individuals feel a sense of pride and belonging in being Indian, British, American, Russian or French. It is the main expression of feelings of identity with a distinct sovereign community.
Nationalistic loyalties do not always fit with the physical boarders marking the territories of states in the world today. While the relation between the nation-state and nationalism is a complicated one, the two have come into being as part of the same process.
Nationalism has become an increasingly powerful force in the world, serving as a basis not only of collective social identity but also for political mobilization and action, especially through the use of warfare. The consequences of nationalism often breed extremism and feelings of ethnocentrism (a tendency to think and act blindly that our culture is superior to those of others) resulting into political conflicts. Extreme forms of nation¬alism have engulfed many nations into warfare.
Functions of the State:
As with all social institutions, the state is organized around a set of social functions. It is an important agency of social control which performs this function through laws.
The main functions are maintaining law, order and stability, resolving various kinds of disputes through the legal system, providing common defence, and looking out for the welfare of the population in ways that are beyond the means of the individual, such as implementing public health measures, providing mass education and underwriting expensive medical research. From a conflict perspective, the state operates in the interests of various dominant groups, such as economic classes and racial and ethnic groups.
Lean Mayher (1971) stated the following basic functions of the state:
1. Limiting internal power struggles to maintain internal peace.
2. Bringing power to bear on other societies in defence of national interest or in expanding and building empire
3. Combine Methods and Approaches
• Innovation
• Design
• TRIZ (“theory of inventive problem solving”)
• Lean Six Sigma
• Human Factors
• Theory of Constraints
• PDSA Continuous Improvement
5. Breakthrough Innovation
Revolutionary Science
Typically involves a paradigm shift
• Transistors
• Structure of DNA
• Quartz Watch Movement
1. Non-consumers or
2. Consumers who would not typically used
the products - are now able to consume
6. Sustaining Innovation
• Occurs naturally in an industry
• Almost always an improvement to the bottom
line
• If the innovation is not recognized or is
ignored – the company could suffer
• Generally, the innovation is handled well and
there is a natural transition in the industry
• Changes the “rules of the game”
7. Disruptive Innovation
• Typically originates from outside of an
organization and frequently outside of the
industry
• It is like a wrecking ball in the way it changes
the industry
• Disruption changes the “the game itself”
• Industry leaders typically try to stop or negate
its impact – a losing proposition
9. Disruptive Innovation
• The leading companies were destroyed because
it brought to market a product that was:
– Good Enough
– Simpler
– More Affordable
• These innovations inevitably improve, march
up-market and "disrupt" incumbents by
gradually pushing them out of ever more
complex and margin-rich product segments
10. Disruptive Innovation
The term “Disruptive Innovation” is broadly
misunderstood
Many people think it’s just new and different, or
radical improvements
Instead, disruptive innovation changes
industries because:
1. It makes complicated and expensive
processes simple and
2. Opens them up to a wider audience
12. Smart Phone Disruption?
Models include:
• Redmi 2
• Mi 3 and
• Mi 4i
• The most expensive model
(Mi 4i) costs $219 off-contract
One of the most popular smartphone
manufacturers in the world is Xiaomi
A Chinese company whose devices draw
frequent comparisons to the iPhone
Its current focus is on developing countries,
regions of the world that haven’t already pledged
allegiance to the iPhone or mass-market Android
13. Some Examples of Disruptive
Innovations…
Minicomputers in the 1980s…
• Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
was once the leading minicomputer
manufacturer (second-largest computer
company after IBM)
• Other manufacturers were:
IBM Wang Laboratories
Data General Honeywell
Prime Computervision
14. Disruptive Innovation?
Some Corolla quotes at that time:
“Extreme simplicity was at the core of the first Corolla's
engineering”
“There was nothing sophisticated about the first Corolla and it
wasn't pretty, but it was so simple that there were almost
no parts to break”
• Good Enough?
• Simpler?
• More Affordable?
15. Were the Big 3 Automakers Worried?
• Not really
• They were happy to keep their higher profits on
the more luxury lines of cars
• They were OK letting Toyota have a share of the
inexpensive, low margin cars
• Remember:
These innovators inevitably improve, march
up-market and "disrupt" incumbents by
gradually pushing them out of ever more
complex and margin-rich product segments
16. Other Examples of Disruptive
Innovations
Netflix vs. Blockbuster
Netflix drove Blockbuster into bankruptcy
What was the business model that allowed Netflix to
compete?
• The US Postal Service – delivering to your door
• And then – streaming video over the internet
Good Enough?
Simpler?
More Affordable?
17. Another Disrupted Businesses
• 259 Borders
Superstores
• 114 Borders
Express and
Waldenbooks
• 26 Borders
Airport Stores
CEO Mike Edwards bids farewell to the book retailer’s fans
and customers as the company announced it was going out
of business after 40 years
July 2011
19. The Process – The D4 Road Map
Define
• Create Innovation
Opportunity
• Scope the Opportunity
• Manage People and
Projects
Discover
• Refine the
Opportunity
• Leverage Team
Brain Power
• Search
Knowledge Bases
• Prioritize & Select
Ideas
Develop Demonstrate
• Formulate Design
• Select Design
• Optimize Design
• Build a working
model
• Map Processes
• Optimize Processes
• Improve and
Transition
From: The Innovator’s Toolkit by David Silverstein,
Philip Samuel and Neil CeCarlo, 2009
20.
21. Technology Dynamics
• Technology dynamics is broad and relatively new
scientific field that has been developed in the
framework of the postwar science and technology
studies field. It studies the process of technological
change. Under the field of Technology Dynamics the
process of technological change is explained by taking
into account influences from "internal factors" as well
as from "external factors".
• Internal factors relate technological change to unsolved
technical problems and the established modes of
solving technological problems and external factors
relate it to various (changing) characteristics of the
social environment, in which a particular technology is
embedded.
22. Different frameworks to analyze the dynamics of technology
• Social construction of technology
• Actor–network theory
• Systems theory
• Normalization process theory
• Quasi-evolutionary theories
• Innovation system
• Technological innovation system
Based on the analysis of the various perspectives, one can aim at
developing interventions in the dynamics of a technology. Some
approaches have been developed targeting on interventions in
technological change:
• Technology assessment
• Backcasting
• Strategic niche management
• Transition management (governance)
23. Impact of technology on globalization
• Advancements in technology have considerably facilitated
globalization. In fact technological progress has been one of
the main forces driving globalization. Technological
breakthroughs compel business enterprises to become global
by increasing the economies of scale and the market size
needed to break even.
• Technological advancements reduce costs of transportation
and communication across nations and thereby facilitate
global sourcing of raw materials and other inputs. Patented
technology encourages globalization as the firm owning the
patent can exploit foreign markets without much competition.
• Information technology has led to the emergence of the global
village. For example, the world wide web has reduced the
barriers of time and place in business dealings. Buyers and
sellers can now make transactions at any time and any part
of the globe. Technological change also affects investments.
24. • According to the published work The
Globalization of Information Technology in
Multinational Corporations from the
Information Management Journal, the goal of
information technology is:
• “To create globally integrated information
infrastructures that electronically link their
entire supply chains — their sales, production,
and delivery processes — into one seamless
flow of information across national borders and
time zones, with both real-time and store-and-
forward access to information from any
location (Stephens 1999)”.
25. Technology Transfer
• Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring
(disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person
or organization, in an attempt to transform inventions and scientific outcomes into new products
and services that benefit society. Technology transfer is closely related to (and may arguably be
considered a subset of) knowledge transfer.
• A comprehensive definition of technology transfer today includes the notion of collaborative
process as it became clear that global challenges could be resolved only through the development
of global solutions. Knowledge and technology transfer plays a crucial role in connecting innovation
stakeholders and moving inventions from creators to public and private users.
• Intellectual property (IP) is an important instrument of technology transfer, as it establishes an
environment conducive to sharing research results and technologies. Analysis in 2003 showed that
the context, or environment, and motives of each organization involved will influence the method
of technology transfer employed.
• The motives behind the technology transfer were not necessarily homogenous across organization
levels, especially when commercial and government interests are combined. The protection of IP
rights enables all parties, including universities and research institutions to ensure ownership of the
scientific outcomes of their intellectual activity, and to control the use of IP in accordance with their
mission and core values.
• IP protection gives academic institutions capacity to market their inventions, attract funding, seek
industrial partners and assure dissemination of new technologies through means such as licensing
or creation of start-ups for the benefit of society.
26. Technology transfer in practice
Technology transfers may occur between universities, businesses (of any size, ranging from small, medium, to
large), governments, across geopolitical borders, both formally and informally, and both openly and secretly.
Often it occurs by concerted effort to share skills, knowledge, technologies, manufacturing methods, samples,
and facilities among the participants.
While the Technology Transfer process involves many activities, which can be represented in many ways, in
reality, technology transfer is a fluid and dynamic process that rarely follows a linear course.[2] Typical steps
include:
• Knowledge creation
• Disclosure
• Assessment and evaluation
• IP protection
• Fundraising and technology development
• Marketing
• Commercialization
• Product development, and
• Impact.
Technology transfer aims to ensure that scientific and technological developments are accessible to a wider
range of users who can then further develop and exploit the technology into new products, processes,
applications, materials, or services. It is closely related to (and may arguably be considered a subset of)
knowledge transfer. Horizontal transfer is the movement of technologies from one area to another.
Transfer of technology is primarily horizontal. Vertical transfer occurs when technologies are moved from
applied research centers to research and development departments
28. Status of technology in Malawi
• Firstly, technology in Malawi has brought a tremendous change in the way we communicate and share information
especially over a long distance, with the coming of information and communication technology (ICT) developments,
people can easily communicate in just few minutes or live conversation over a long distance, for instance, with the
coming of cell phones in Malawi people can now receive and send messages within some seconds than it was before
the coming of phones when people could send mails and letters that took days to reach the intended destination,
furthermore, technology in Malawi has improved and created reliable and fast sources of information, with the
coming of internet, radios and televisions(TVs) people in Malawi can now access information easily and be informed
faster on current affairs than how it used to be before where one was supposed to go to library or buy books which
are also very expensive ,this is how technology has advantageously helped Malawi and its people in the sector of
communication and information.
• Secondly, when we talk of advantages of technology we cannot spare the fact that technology in Malawi has
positively changed and improved the way we do money transactions, conduct businesses, marketing and selling of
our goods and services. This can be seen through online money transferring Malawi is enjoying nowadays because of
coming of technology in financial sector, the use of Auto teller machines (ATM’s) which have helped people to have
access to their funds anytime of the day. Paying of bills for electricity, TV stations subscription and water can be done
through mobile phones hence reducing time Malawians had to spend on queues, further to that, technology in
Malawi has also improved the advertisement of goods and services, for example, business people can now advertise
through social networks like Facebook and twitter the goods and services they are offering in order to reach out to
their customers with ease and faster hence improving their businesses and profitability. Technology in Malawi has
helped people to buy goods online reducing transportation costs
• Thirdly, technology has helped Malawi as a nation and its citizens in sector of health and disease control, this has
been realised through application of medical sciences in disease control programs and use of medical drugs to cure
many of these diseases
Notas del editor
Think about the ability to make crowns, implants, etc. at the dentist’s office instead of sending off for one to be made
Xiaomi Redmi 2, Mi 3, and Mi 4i are as attractive and budget-friendly here as they are abroad—the most expensive, the Mi 4i, costs $219 off-contract
I want you to think about this as I talk about Disruptive Innovation
A monocoque body construction is used on most cars today to reduce weight and improve structural integrity. Read on to know more
Monocoque body construction integrates the body and chassis of a vehicle together into a one piece structure. The body and drivetrain are integrated into a single unit by wielding the components together. The drivetrain and body are cast as one structure onto a frame. A monocoque body absorbs all or most of the stresses which the body is subjected to.
Before the monocoque body construction became popular body-on-frame chassis was used for vehicle construction. A separate car body was mounted to a frame that supported the drivetrain. Body-on-frame was popular even after monocoque construction came into being because it was easy and relatively inexpensive to add a different type of body to create a different car that had the same chassis and drivetrain. The body-on-frame type of automobile construction had its limitations as the cars were very heavy which meant high fuel consumption and lower performance figures. Handling and road grip were compromised as the body tended to roll a lot while cornering as it never felt one with the drivetrain. Body-on-frame construction had a higher number of accident fatalities as crumple zones could not be integrated onto the car.
Because a monocoque body construction integrates the frame of the vehicle to the drivetrain of the vehicle the car has better handling traits and lowers the kerb weight of the vehicle. A monocoque body construction improves the fuel economy of a vehicle and makes it safer for occupants in the event of a crash as crumple zones can be integrated into the body of the car. Modern monocoques are designed to distribute the load evenly over the body of the car such as the pillars of cars. High tensile steel panels are used in load bearing parts to make the structure of the car safe. The monocoque body construction technique is still under research and development for enhanced safety and better drive dynamics. Some monocoques have a bonded rear window glass which contributes to the structural integrity of the car.
