Balancing breadth and depth of expertise for innovation: A 3M story

This study examines how inventors’ breadth and depth of expertise influence innovation in 3M, a company renowned for sustained innovation for over a century. While prior research tends to examine a single indicator – the technical success achieved by the inventor – our study differentiates between three indicators of a successful inventor: (1) the number of inventions generated; (2) the extent to which the inventor has a significant impact in his or her technical domain; and (3) the inventor's career success, in terms of the commercial value they have brought by converting their inventions into products that generate sales for commercial organizations. We found that breadth of inventor expertise relates to the generation of many inventions, but not necessarily to those that are technically influential. Depth of inventor expertise enables individuals to generate technically influential inventions, as measured by patents granted. However, both breadth and depth of expertise are required for innovators to be deemed highly valuable, based on their records of effectively converting inventions into commercially successful products. Our study extends prior research on innovation in two ways. We provide a comprehensive view of how inventors’ expertise influences innovation and also show how inventors with different expertise profiles can contribute in unique ways to their organization.     

Market extension and knowledge management strategies of knowledge-intensive business services

The paper aims at analysing the relationship between the market extension of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) and their knowledge management strategies. The literature emphasizes the strong relationship existing between KIBS and their customers in terms of innovation process and knowledge creation. We argue that the knowledge management strategies – in terms of knowledge codification, personalization, and knowledge creation – implemented by a KIBS is related to their geographical market extension. A quantitative approach is developed based on more than 150 Italian KIBS specializing in design and communication. The paper enriches the research framework concerning KIBS by emphasizing also the role of partners other than customers in KIBS’ knowledge management strategies.     

Training Preschoolers on First‐Order False Belief Understanding: Transfer on Advanced ToM Skills and Metamemory

This study investigated the relation between theory of mind (ToM) and metamemory knowledge using a training methodology. Sixty‐two 4‐ to 5‐year‐old children were recruited and randomly assigned to one of two training conditions: A first‐order false belief (ToM) and a control condition. Intervention and control groups were equivalent at pretest for age, parents' education, verbal ability, inhibition, and ToM. Results showed that after the intervention children in the ToM group improved in their first‐order false belief understanding significantly more than children in the control condition. Crucially, the positive effect of the ToM intervention was stable over 2 months and generalized to more complex ToM tasks and metamemory.     

Price Discrimination and Audience Composition in Advertising-Based Broadcasting

In this article, a model is introduced that has 2 distinguishing features. First, the multidimensional nature of competition in media markets characterized by free access and advertising is acknowledged, through explicit modeling of vertical and horizontal differentiation. Second, the price of advertising depends on the expected audience composition, not simply on its magnitude, and the amount of price discrimination. It is found that market equilibria depend on a number of critical factors: the amount and type of price discrimination in advertising, the correlation between formats and audience composition, the relative profitability of the different market segments, and diseconomies of scale in program quality. For a variety of market structures, the ability to discriminate on the price of advertising encourages a higher level of quality in broadcast media.     

Communicating “Truth”: Testimonio,Vernacular Voices,and The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy

In this essay, the authors explore some of the communicative dimensions of the Rigoberta Menchú controversy, engaging both the textual and contextual elements of this controversy. They first provide a brief review of the Menchú case and an analysis of the criticism by her principal detractor, David Stoll. The authors then analyze the unique role that testimonio plays in Latin American discursive constructions, as well as how other discursive communities responded to the Menchú-Stoll controversy. Finally, the authors comment on the discursive importance of the Menchú-Stoll controversy, and make a case for the heuristic value of testimonio in future investigations of Latin American work in communication studies.     

Cost Structure and Product Mix of Local Public Theatres

The purpose of this study is to analyse the cost structure of the Italian local public theatres in order to assess economies of scale and scope and the desirability of the reform of the subsidy system. A translog multiproduct cost function was estimated using panel data for a sample of 28 theatres over the period 1991–1993. The results indicate the existence of scale and scope economies for most output levels. In addition, the estimated marginal costs for the two outputs indicate that, ceteris paribus, an additional performance conducted inside or outside the theatre by the resident theatre group is generally more expensive than an additional performance conducted inside the theatre by external theatre groups. These results call for a reform of the public subsidy system which do not promote the proliferation, but the interchange and the diffusion of a limited number of high quality shows. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Acute effect of different minimalist shoes on foot strike pattern and kinematics in rearfoot strikers during running

Despite the growing interest in minimalist shoes, no studies have compared the efficacy of different types of minimalist shoe models in reproducing barefoot running patterns and in eliciting biomechanical changes that make them differ from standard cushioned running shoes. The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of different footwear models, marketed as “minimalist” by their manufacturer, on running biomechanics. Six running shoes marketed as barefoot/minimalist models, a standard cushioned shoe and the barefoot condition were tested. Foot–/shoe–ground pressure and three-dimensional lower limb kinematics were measured in experienced rearfoot strike runners while they were running at 3.33 m · s^?1 on an instrumented treadmill. Physical and mechanical characteristics of shoes (mass, heel and forefoot sole thickness, shock absorption and flexibility) were measured with laboratory tests. There were significant changes in foot strike pattern (described by the strike index and foot contact angle) and spatio-temporal stride characteristics, whereas only some among the other selected kinematic parameters (i.e. knee angles and hip vertical displacement) changed accordingly. Different types of minimalist footwear models induced different changes. It appears that minimalist footwear with lower heel heights and minimal shock absorption is more effective in replicating barefoot running.     

High-volume resistance training reduces postprandial lipaemia in postmenopausal women

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of 11 weeks of low-volume resistance training (LVRT) and high-volume resistance training (HVRT) on muscle strength, muscle thickness (MT), and postprandial lipaemia (PPL) in postmenopausal women. Thirty-six healthy and untrained postmenopausal women (age, 58.9 ± 5.8 years; 68.6 ± 10.3 kg; and BMI, 26.9 ± 4.8 kg · m^?2) participated in resistance training 3× per week for 11 weeks (HVRT = 12; LVRT = 13; and control group = 11). Biochemical variables, both pretraining and post-training, were evaluated 16 h after the administration of an oral fat tolerance test (OFTT) and metabolic variable during [energy expenditure (EE)] and after training session [excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)]. Muscle strength (1 RM) and MT were also calculated, and no significant differences were observed between the groups for PPL (mmol · L^?1 per 5 h) as measured by glucose, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, and total cholesterol. EE total (EE + EPOC; 6.12 ± 1.21 MJ vs. 2.26 ± 0.85 MJ), resting fat oxidation (5.52 ± 1.69 g · h^?1 vs. 4.11 ± 1.12 g · h^?1); MT (vastus medialis, 21.4 ± 1.8 mm vs. 18.4 ± 1.2 mm and vastus lateralis 22.3 ± 1.2 mm vs. 20.8 ± 1.3 mm); triacylglycerol (TAG) 0, 1, 2, 4; and 5 h after OFTT, TAG area under the curve (AUC) (5.79 ± 0.42 vs. 7.78 ± 0.68), and incremental AUC (?46.21 ± 14.42% vs. 7.78 ± 4.68%) were all significantly different post-training for HVRT versus LVRT, respectively (P < 0.05). The results of this investigation suggest that HVRT reduces PPL in postmenopausal women.     

Los orígenes de la conducta altruista en niños. Aspectos educativos y televisión en familia

Resumen

Se presenta el comportamiento altruista o pro-social como un aspecto importante de la psicopedagogía. Se pasa revista a las últimas investigaciones en este campo, analizando los posibles factores determinantes de tal comportamiento, y poniendo un acento especial en los antecedentes educativos familiares. Se concluye con un cuadro de líneas directrices para un programa educativo hacia la pro-sociabilidad.