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The paper aims to investigate the relationship between trade liberalization and technology absorption in a less developing country context. The objective is to empirically test the relationship between these two variables. This analysis was conducted in Sub-Saharan African economies.

A panel regression of 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa was estimated based on a model that takes into account both trade policy and non-policy factors affecting technology absorption.

A positive and significant relationship was found between trade liberalization and technology absorption. This relationship is valid across a variety of model specifications, technology absorption proxies and estimation techniques. Moreover, non-policy factors such as geographical spillover play significant role in technology absorption.

The paper examines the link between the trade liberalization and the technology absorption in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis is empirical in nature and builds on panel estimations. The novelty of the paper comes from the topic investigated and the focus on a region which has not attracted much attention in the literature.

This paper aims to provide a conceptual model that elucidates the role of cognitive absorption in explaining behavioural intentions in virtual health communities.

Data were collected from 361 contributing members of virtual health communities from Gauteng, South Africa, using a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modelling using AMOS software was used to analyse the data.

The findings show that cognitive absorption has a significant direct positive influence on content posters’ intentions to continue participating on virtual health community platforms. Cognitive absorption was also found to have an indirect influence on behavioural intentions through its influence on members’ attitude. It was also found to play a mediating role in the influence of perceived usefulness and behavioural intention.

The study shows the value of linking flow theory and the technology acceptance model to provide a comprehensive understanding of behavioural intentions in virtual health community forums.

Managers of virtual health communities need to pay attention to experiential aspects of their sites. Success in ensuring that community members are cognitively absorbed is key to the development of positive attitude and intentions towards virtual health community forums.

Virtual health communities play a new and growing role in the way health-related information and support is offered and accessed by those in need. Despite their importance, not much research has been done to explain the role of consumer experience in member behavioural intentions on such forums. The study contributes to this understanding by demonstrating the value of cognitive absorption in directly explaining users’ attitude and behavioural intentions. The study also sheds light on the role played by cognitive absorption in explaining the influence of perceived usefulness on behavioural intentions.

With growing interest in the uses of hedonic technologies and gamification in system design, the concept of cognitive absorption (CA) has become increasingly salient in the information systems literature. However, little effort has been made to evaluate the research status and consolidate the current literature findings. To fill these research gaps, the authors conducted a literature review on CA. The authors then proposed an integrative framework that summarises the key elements of and variables related to CA and their relationships. The major findings of the study are discussed, and an agenda for future research is proposed.

Based on theories of organizational learning and strategic considerations, this study aims to develop a strategic contingency model for technology alliance and identify how alliance‐specific factors, strategic factors, and organizational capability factors influence firms to acquire competencies and competitive advantages through technology alliance.

A six‐page, 94‐item survey questionnaire was developed and mailed to top‐level managers of the semiconductor firms in Taiwan. A total of 63 valid responses were received.

The study results indicate that firms with higher absorption orientation, higher risk reduction orientation, higher R&D scale economy orientation, and higher top management team experiences tend to perform better in acquiring competitive advantages. In addition, the strategic fit between strategic factors, organizational capability factors and technology alliance choice could lead firms to better competitive advantage.

Although the results of this study are fruitful, several suggestions could be made for academicians and business practitioners. First, the respondent rate of this study is low and could be improved. Second, in addition to the strategic contingency model as developed in this study, more research factors could be further investigated. Third, more case studies could be conducted to reconfirm the results of this study.

The major contribution of this study is to investigate what critical factors would influence the choice of a technology alliance model, and what effects the influencing factors have on the relationship between a technology alliance model and the intended competency development. The results of this study provide very important references for academicians and practitioners to investigate the effectiveness of technology alliance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution of Chinese technology policy, assess its technological and economic performance from the visual angle of “market in exchange for technology” strategy.

A quantified method based on policy contents from policy power, policy goals and policy means was developed to build a policy database, and analyze the evolutionary tendency of Chinese technology policy. In addition, econometric models were built to assess the performance of technology policy.

The critical goals of Chinese technology policy are introducing technology directly or indirectly by introducing foreign investment and innovation, but the critical linkage between introduction and innovation‐technology absorption was absent – almost all policy means aim at the introduction of foreign investment and innovation but not technology absorption. More unfortunately, the econometric results show that introduction of foreign investment contributes little, while technology absorption contributes much more. Institutional path‐dependence and the competition for benefits among different departments have aggravated an already unbalanced emphasis on technology policies during the reform.

During the quantification of technology policy, one perhaps loses some information about policy, and it can only be used to analyze the technology policy system, not special technology policy.

Analyses of the evolution of Chinese technology policy and econometric results show the blunder of “market in exchange for technology” strategy from policy formulation and execution. Also, it leads to the optimization of technology policy from policy targets, implements based on national technology and innovation strategy.

The paper develops the method of technology policy quantification and builds econometric models to assess the contribution of technology policy to technology progress and economy development.

The objective of this study is to highlight the questions arising in the design of district heating and cooling systems (DHCSs) in a distributed generation context and to present a model to help find cost‐effective solutions.

Literature on energy systems optimisation is reviewed and a mixed integer programming model for decentralized DHCSs design is developed and applied to two real case studies.

Distributed cooling generation partly coupled with distributed cogeneration and DH is the preferred solution in the examined areas. The optimal configurations, with special reference to network sizing and layout, significantly depend on heating demand profiles and energy prices.

Interdependencies between energy units sizing and network layout definition should be considered. Obtaining more robust and reliable network configurations should be the objective of future modelling efforts.

Despite the growth of distributed energy conversion, designers often rely on centralized concepts in order to reap economies of scale. The presented model helps in discovering less usual solutions representing the most profitable option.

Combining and comparing central and distributed production of heat and cooling under consideration of network costs.

The automobile industry in India is one of the sunrise industries and is poised to enhance its contribution from 5 percent of GDP in 2006 to 10 percent by 2016. The auto component industry in India has grown hand in hand with the industry and is in the process of transforming itself from being a “Job order fulfiller” to being an “Integrated organization”. With the liberalization process having started in 1991, most auto component manufacturers in India have chosen the easy path of attempting to progress on operational or manufacturing capabilities. For advancing on technology capability dimension, they mostly relied on international collaborations. The purpose of this paper is to study the strategic technology management (STM) practices in select case organizations in the auto component industry in India.

The methodology employed for this study is a combination of literature survey, expert opinion, comparative case study and a flexible systems methodology, situation‐actor‐process‐learning‐action‐performance analysis. Longitudinal studies of technology development at the two case organizations have been done and the case analysis and synthesis has been developed based on valuable inputs and insights shared by key personnel in the case organizations.

The study finds that two different organizations have adopted different technology strategies. While both case organizations have strong linkage between business and technology strategy, the approach has been reasonably different for technology acquisition and development. The findings suggest that an effective STM can contribute to faster technology absorption and overall business performance. Organizations in India need to develop the in‐house capabilities along with suitable technology acquisitions, wherever required.

The two cases provide valuable insights into STM practices in two organizations and highlight the methodology adopted by the companies in their evolutions toward becoming world‐class integrated organizations. The learning can provide the way forward for capable firms in the auto component industry in India.

This paper aims to propose an odor sensing system based on wide spectrum for e-nose, based on comprehensive analysis on the merits and drawbacks of current e-nose.

The wide spectral light is used as the sensing medium in the e-nose system based on continuous wide spectrum (CWS) odor sensing, and the sensing response of each sensing element is the change of light intensity distribution.

Experimental results not only verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system but also show the effectiveness of least square support vector machine (LSSVM) in eliminating system errors.

Theoretical model of the system was constructed, and experimental tests were carried out by using NO₂ and SO₂. System errors in the test data were eliminated using the LSSVM, and the preprocessed data were classified by euclidean distance to centroids (EDC), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), LSSVM, respectively.

The system not only has the advantages of current e-nose but also realizes expansion of sensing array by means of light source and the spectrometer with their wide spectrum, high resolution characteristics which improve the detection accuracy and realize real-time detection.

The purpose of this paper is to assess how national and regional authorities in south-east Europe in a period of crisis perceive and set in motion research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3) and the options that these strategies offer to overcome the current fiscal and development crisis.

The paper starts with a literature review on the guiding principles of smart specialisation strategies and the differences from previous rounds of regional innovation strategies. Evidence on smart specialisation efforts is provided by cases studies in Greece, Slovenia, and Cyprus, focusing on the elaboration of such strategies in three countries with precarious innovation systems under severe conditions of crisis. The case studies are organised around key aspects of the smart specialisation logic, such as the selection of specialisation priorities, bottom-up governance, private sector leadership, and engines of innovation and competitiveness.

The paper explores the obstacles encountered in running effective RIS strategies under crisis conditions. The paper highlights the main challenges to address, such as the readiness and credibility of public authorities to design and implement sound RIS3 strategies, the willingness of companies to be involved in strategic planning, the availability of private investment funds, innovation and diversification during a crisis, and the drivers of specialisation that could lead to competitiveness and growth. In the conclusions the paper identifies three routes towards smarter productive diversification and five critical stages in the entrepreneurial discovery process.

The paper has both practical and theoretical significance. It focuses on the main challenges of smart specialisation and offers guidance in the elaboration of RIS3 in peripheral EU economies. On the other hand, it proposes a model for the entrepreneurial discovery process, based on the assessment of areas and futures of productivity and added-value increase, as productive diversification and crisis exit route.

This paper intends to examine the change of R&D fiscal policies in China since 1978 and its impact on China's drive to become an innovation‐oriented country.

This paper adopts an archive approach and undertakes an overview of the policy changes and their implications.

It is found that policy changes have gradually made enterprises the focal point of the national innovation system and that correspondingly a new financial and fiscal mechanism has been created to create incentives for innovation in firms.

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the changing financial and fiscal policies in support of technological innovation in China.