Articles

Human trafficking (HT) is a horrific and seemingly intractable problem that is typically construed as falling beyond the purview of engineers. This paper argues that engineering systems analysis can produce important insights concerning HT operations and ways to reduce its frequency. Three cases of such systems analysis illustrate (a) the limitations of individual-level interventions against … Read More

Using institutional theory as a guiding framework, this study operationalized the “Technopolis” wheel, an innovative framework for understanding the factors and institutional structures and connections that are critical to developing and sustaining geographically concentrated technology clusters. We analyzed four established ecosystems (Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston, and New York) for technology entrepreneurship as case studies, using … Read More

In this qualitative study, the authors apply Callon’s sociology of translation to examine how new technology entrepreneurs enact material arguments that involve the first two moments of translation—problematization (defining a market problem) and interessement (defining a market and the firm’s relationship to it) – which in turn are represented in a claim, the value proposition. … Read More

Introduction to a special issue of the Journal of Business and Technical Communication on the rhetoric of entrepreneurship. The author introduces basic definitions and concepts from the field of entrepreneurship, then identifies three issues linking rhetoric to entrepreneurship: rhetoric and identity; rhetoric, culture, and community; and rhetoric and p… Read More

An important development in personal lines of insurance in the United States is the use of credit history data for insurance risk classification to predict losses. This research presents the results of collaboration with industry conducted by a university at the request of its state legislature. The purpose was to see the viability and validity … Read More

This article presents the University Technology Enterprise Network (UTEN), a successful program that built a national innovation network in Portugal based in the university technology transfer offices (TTOs), incubators and science parks. UTEN, which was launched in March 2007, includes 15 Portuguese universities and select international partners in a 5-year program funded by the Portuguese … Read More

K6015, a South Korean firm seeking to commercialize its magnet technology in the US market, entered a technology commercialization training program structured as a competition. Through this program, K6015 (and others in the program) used several genres to progressively interest different sets of stakeholders. To understand how K6015 applied these genres, we analyze this case … Read More

Hydraulic fracturing, the injection of a pressurized fluid mixture of mostly water, sand and a small amount of chemicals (frac fluids), increases extraction rates and recovery of oil or gas. The technique has become increasingly popular when used in combination with horizontal drilling, especially in Texas shale formations. Hydraulic fracturing often requires thousands of cubic … Read More

This investigation studies desalination powered by wind and solar energy, including a study of a configuration using PVT solar panels. First, a water treatment was developed to estimate the power requirement for brackish groundwater reverse-osmosis (BWRO) desalination. Next, an energy model was designed to (1) size a wind farm based on this power requirement and … Read More

Examination of how Korean entrepreneurs in an entrepreneurship program revised their English-language slide decks for their competitive presentations (“pitches”) by reusing content from professional communication genres, including their own documents and feedback from potential stakeholders in their target markets. Research question: As entrepreneurs learn to pitch ideas to unfamiliar markets, how do they revise their … Read More

Examination of how Korean entrepreneurs in an entrepreneurship program revised their slide decks for their presentations ("pitches") in response to professional communication genres representing feedback from potential stakeholders in their target markets. Research questions: As entrepreneurs learn to pitch ideas to unfamiliar markets, how do they revise their slide decks for their pitches when interacting … Read More

The price dynamics of energy and water in Texas might be about to change. Historically, planners have assumed that the price of energy is volatile and trending up, while the price of water is stable and low. However, current trends in technology, demography, and Texas’ natural environment may mean that energy is actually getting more … Read More

When conducting or evaluating cross-cultural/cross-national research studies a critical question must be asked about the measurements: are they culturally an emic or etic? That is, is the research methodology culturally bound or culture free? The research described in this paper shows how etic and emic properties may be explored by using the Ethicality Scale developed … Read More

The Global Commercialization Group (GCG) of the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin has been implementing economic development programs for over a decade. Through work in thirteen different countries and with a variety of players, GCG has experienced both great successes and frustrating challenges. GCG’s mission is to help regions around the … Read More

In this editorial, the authors argue that accounting and marketing research can be both practically relevant and theoretically well-grounded, if a paradigm of application driven theory is adopted and rigorously applied. They distinguish between two dichotomies characterizing research, (1) basic vs. non-basic research and (2) applied vs. pure research. They call for an approach to … Read More

Background: Implementing new practices, such as health information technology (HIT), is often difficult due to the disruption of the highly coordinated, interdependent processes (e.g., information exchange, communication, relationships) of providing care in hospitals. Thus, HIT implementation may occur slowly as staff members observe and make sense of unexpected disruptions in care. As a critical organizational … Read More

This article examines the cost of federal regulations for U.S. businesses and U.S. international competitiveness, as well as one proposal to address the issue, the Competitiveness Impact Statement (CIS). A review of the literature concludes that the lack of reliable data on the cost of regulation at the industry level leads to contradictory results. The … Read More

The predominant view in the literature is that cities affect labor productivity because spatial proximity facilitates the transfer of ideas which make workers more productive. We also anticipate that information technology, or IT (both equipment and labor), by facilitating human communication and speeding up the flow of ideas and data, also contributes to enhancing the … Read More

Position paper by the Digital Media Collaboratory (DMC) of the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. The authors envision learning systems as a ubiquitous public utility and propose an architecture to accomplish it. The paper includes a description of DMC research activitie… Read More

The ability and desire to access knowledge and to be able to learn and put knowledge to work is central to regional economic development and for globalization to be a force for drawing the world together. This chapter presents the logic, conceptual framework, and key elements for leveraging codified knowledge and tacit know-how through Internet … Read More

Business incubators have a 25-year history in the US. Today they number more than 800. Most are non-profit entities, many associated with universities. This article provides a general overview of business incubation in the US and provides a case study of the award-winning Austin Technology Incubator whose companies have generated over $1.4 billion in revenues … Read More

This article explores the characteristics of venture business and entrepreneurs in Korea to (1) identify technology transfer activities, (2) analyze the differences between technology transfer in linear and nonlinear venture businesses, and (3) guide more effective venture business policy and strategy. This empirical assessment reveals that entrepreneurs have insightful evaluations about their resources and capacities … Read More

This paper draws on recent conceptual approaches to economic growth, in which the accumulation of knowledge is the fundamental driving force behind growth. This fact is reflected in the trend in developed economies towards an increasing investment in advanced technology, R&D, education, and culture. Concepts such as learning ability, creativity, and sustained flexibility gain greater … Read More

In view of the current socio-economic context, in which innovation is a key driving force for the sustainable development, which challenges are facing education and research to enhance and nurture innovation and better contribute to help developing and exploiting engineering, science and technology? This broad question has motivated the work behind the present work, which … Read More

As the importance of knowledge creation and diffusion is increasingly recognized as a major driver of economic growth, questions are starting to emerge on how to establish the conditions that foster the processes of knowledge sharing across countries at different levels of development. Under the broad designation of “knowledge for inclusive development,” these questions defined … Read More

This paper describes a particular methodology called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), that has been used previously to analyze the relative efficiencies of industrial firms, universities, hospitals, military operations, baseball players and, more recently, commercial banks. The use of DEA is demonstrated by evaluating the management of 60 Missouri commercial banks for the period from 1984 … Read More

New institutional alliances, driven by the rapid increase in and diversity of new technologies, are altering the strategy and tactics of economic development. As a result, communities across the world are seeking to create modern technopoleis or city-states that interactively link technology commercialization with public and private sectors to spur economic growth and diversification through … Read More