The problem-solving view of new product development sees the innovation process as a series of problem-solving loops broken down into three stages: problem detection, analysis and removal. We link this framework with lead user-driven innovation regarding software and show that effort by lead users (LUs) in each stage of the innovation problem solving process is, in varying degrees, associated w...

There is ample empirical evidence indicating that a substantial fraction of the population exhibits social preferences. Recent work also shows that social preferences influence the effectiveness of incentives in labor relations. Hence when making contracting decisions, employers should take into account that workers are heterogenous with respect to both their productivity and their social prefe...

Over the last decades, views on fisheries management have oscillated between alarm and trust in management progress. The predominant policy for remedying the world fishing crisis aims at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) by adjusting gear selectivity and fishing effort. Here we report a case study on how striving for higher yields from the Eastern Baltic cod stock by increasing selectivity has be...

A number of reports about malfunctions of hight-tech components in vehicles appeared recently. To a major part, such malfunctions are related to software. As the amount of software will steadily increase during the next years, software will dramaticially impact the quality of service in future. The competence to produce robust and dependable software will be essential to keep a leading role on ...

Since the advent of electronic computers, people have struggled to develop effective software engineering processes. While these processes are similar to those used by hardware engineers, the software industry has earned a reputation for late delivery of inadequate products. Most software managers are looking for ways to deliver quality products faster, or with fewer resources. The development ...

In many growth models, economic growth arises from people creating ideas, and the long-run growth rate is the product of two terms: the effective number of researchers and their research productivity. We present a wide range of evidence from various industries, products, and firms showing that research effort is rising substantially while research productivity is declining sharply. A good examp...

In this paper Malmquist productivity index(MPI) for decision making unit(DMU) with interval data has been evaluated.A method for assessing Malmquist productivity index using cost efficiency also has been developed.The applicability of the methods developed is illustrated in the context of the analysis of groups of teaching of university performance.

Context: Claimed benefits of software modelling and Model Driven techniques are improvements in productivity, portability, maintainability and interoperability. However, little effort has been devoted at collecting evidence to evaluate their actual relevance, benefits and usage complications. Goal: The main goals of this paper are: (1) assess the diffusion and relevance of software modelling an...

The literature on principal-agent models has been mainly concerned with two aspects of the princi-pal's problem: (a) choosing the optimal compensation scheme to motivate the agent to implement the " right " amount, or type, of effort in accordance with the principal's objectives; and (b) choosing the scheme that will " sort " the agents according to their underlying (and unobservable) ability. ...

Performance Pay and Multi-dimensional Sorting: Productivity, Preferences and Gender This paper studies the impact of incentives on worker self-selection in a controlled laboratory experiment. In a first step we elicit subjects’ productivity levels. Subjects then face the choice between a fixed or a variable payment scheme. Depending on the treatment, the variable payment is either a piece rate,...