Stable Jobs or iPhones? The Dilemma of Innovation in Socialism

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 642-649
Author(s):  
Mihnea Tudoreanu ◽  
David M. Kotz
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Technological Advance ◽  
Product Lines ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Employment Security ◽  
Employment Guarantee ◽  
New Location

Perhaps the greatest strength of capitalism has been its ability to promote sustained technological progress. A viable socialism must also promote sustained technological progress while avoiding the problems associated with technological change under capitalism. Socialism faces a fundamental dilemma regarding technological change and job security in that technological progress is inherently disruptive. As old technologies are superseded, product lines become obsolete, production processes are changed, and certain kinds of jobs are no longer needed. Thus, technological progress creates insecurity for jobholders. Even with an employment guarantee, the loss of one’s job may require retraining, changing careers, or moving to a new location. In this paper, we propose means for promoting technological advance under planned socialism while also providing meaningful employment security.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of Environmental Regulation’s Impact on Green Technological Progress—Evidence from China’s Manufacturing Sector

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1600
Author(s):  
Weijiang Liu ◽  
Mingze Du ◽  
Yuxin Bai
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Biased Technological Change ◽  
Chinese Manufacturing Industry

As the world’s largest developing country, and as the home to many of the world’s factories, China plays a crucial role in the sustainable development of the world economy regarding environmental protection, energy conservation, and emission reduction issues. Based on the data from 2003–2015, this paper examined the green total factor productivity and the technological progress in the Chinese manufacturing industry. A slack-based measure (SBM) Malmquist productivity index was used to measure the bias of technological change (BTC), input-biased technological change (IBTC), and output-biased technological change (OBTC) by decomposing the technological progress. It also investigated the mechanism of environmental regulation, property right structure, enterprise-scale, energy consumption structure, and other factors on China’s technological progress bias. The empirical results showed the following: (1) there was a bias of technological progress in the Chinese manufacturing industry during the research period; (2) although China’s manufacturing industry’s output tended to become greener, it was still characterized by a preference for overall CO2 output; and (3) the impact of environmental regulations on the Chinese manufacturing industry’s technological progress had a significant threshold effect. The flexible control of environmental regulatory strength will benefit the Chinese manufacturing industry’s technological development. (4) R&D investment, export delivery value, and structure of energy consumption significantly contributed to promoting technological progress. This study provides further insight into the sustainable development of China’s manufacturing sector to promote green-biased technological progress and to achieve the dual goal of environmental protection and healthy economic growth.

Management of Technological Change and Quality in Ship Production

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (02) ◽  
pp. 105-110
Author(s):  
Ernst G. Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Technological Advance ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Total Quality ◽  
Fair Price ◽  
Process Technology ◽  
Shipbuilding Industry ◽  
Step Procedure ◽  
Product And Process ◽  
And Performance

Ship production, like other manufacturing and assembly activities, must keep up with technology to assure achievement of required productivity, quality, and technological advance expected by an increasingly demanding marketplace. The ship market has not only become technologically sophisticated, but customers now no longer buy on price alone. They want quality in design, detailing, operability, maintainability, reliability, usability, all in addition to a fair price, reliable delivery schedule, and effective follow-on service. In other words, the shipbuilding industry is finally emerging as a market-conscious, responsive industry aware of user needs. To perform this newly rediscovered function, shipbuilding has to assure better management of technological change in both product and process technology and assure continuous total quality management from design and production to delivery and follow. Many shipbuilders are new at this because many assumed a seller's marketplace. In this paper, the management of technological change and quality in ship production is presented as a formal step-by-step procedure which should be undertaken at regular (quarterly or at least yearly) intervals to assure that the yard maintains its quality and performance in process and product terms.

Consumer Preference for the Latest Technological Offering

2014 ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Derrick S. Boone Sr.
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Technological Advance ◽  
Relative Advantage ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Purchase Decisions ◽  
Expectation Formation ◽  
Price Decline

Prior research has shown that when making high tech purchase decisions, consumers consider not only the relative advantage afforded by currently available products, but also the relative advantage expected from future generation products. Additionally, empirical evidence suggests that prices for high tech products often decline faster than the technology advances. This chapter takes both these findings into account and investigates the antecedents of expectation formation and how consumer purchase decisions for high- and low-tech products are impacted by asymmetrical rates of technological advance and price decline. Although consumers generally prefer the latest technological generation of a product, level of technological sophistication (high- vs. low-tech), rate of technological change and price decline, and expectations regarding future product introductions, based on familiarity with past product introductions, were found to moderate the effect of technological generation on preference.

Technological Change and Innovations in Microfinance Institutions: What Matters?

2020 ◽  
pp. 097215092092736
Author(s):  
Md Aslam Mia
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Malmquist Productivity Index ◽  
Productivity Index ◽  
Institutional Characteristics ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Macroeconomic Factors ◽  
Second Stage

Usage of technology that serves to improve organizational efficiency among financial service providers has substantially increased during the past decade. Similarly, a large number of microfinance institutions (MFIs) have incorporated technological innovation in their operations to provide clients with better financial services. To understand the determinants of technological change in MFIs, this study investigated various factors, including sources of funds, institutional characteristics (IC) and macroeconomic factors. Using longitudinal data (2009–2014) from the microfinance industry in Bangladesh, this study estimated the Malmquist Productivity Index (non-parametric) to decompose the technological change at the first stage. This index was then used as a dependent variable in the second stage to regress against certain independent variables. Overall, it was found that the microfinance industry in Bangladesh observed regression in technological change; however, technological change could be improved by promoting peer borrowing among MFIs. Apart from that, greater autonomy through decentralization of MFI branches could also stimulate technological progress. Interestingly, MFIs located in Dhaka have experienced better technological progress than MFIs located in other parts of the country, which signifies the importance of location. Additionally, the findings also revealed a gap in transfer of technological knowledge from commercial banks to the MFIs that they fund.

scholarly journals Technological Bias and Its Influencing Factors in Sustainable Development of China’s Transportation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5704
Author(s):  
Shuai Zhang ◽  
Xiaoman Zhao ◽  
Changwei Yuan ◽  
Xiu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Total Factor Productivity ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Transportation Industry ◽  
Factor Productivity ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Biased Technological Change ◽  
Technological Bias

The bias of technological progress, particularly relating to energy saving and carbon emissions reduction, plays a significant role in the sustainable development of transportation, and has not yet received sufficient attention. The objectives of this paper were to examine the bias of technological change (BTC), input-biased technological change (IBTC), and output-biased technological change (OBTC), and their influencing factors in the sustainable development of China’s regional transportation industry from 2005 to 2017. A slack-based measure (SBM) Malmquist productivity index was adopted to measure the BTC, IBTC, and OBTC by decomposing green total factor productivity. The results revealed that: (1) Continuous technological bias progress and input-biased technological progress existed in China’s transportation development from 2005 to 2017, making an important contribution to green total factor productivity. The output-biased technological change was close to 1, indicating a slight impact on the sustainable development of the transportation industry; (2) The bias of technological progress in eastern regions was slightly greater than that in central regions, and obviously greater than that in western regions. Moreover, different provinces experienced different types of technological bias change, with four major types observed during the research period; (3) The input-biased technology of a majority of provinces tended to invest more capital relative to labor, using more capital comparing to energy, and consume more energy relative to labor, while the output-biased technology of most provinces tended to produce desirable outputs (value added in transportation) and reduce the byproduct of CO2 relatively; (4) Average years of education, green patents in transportation, industrial scale, and local government fiscal expenditure in transportation significantly contributed to promoting the bias of technological progress, which was inhibited by the R&D investment. This study provides further insight into the improvement of sustainable development for China’s transportation, thereby helping to guide the government to promote green-biased technological progress and optimize the allocation of resources.

Perception of job security in a process of technological change: Its influence on psychological well-being

2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Conde Vieitez ◽  
Alberto De La Torre Carcía ◽  
María Teresa Vega Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Psychological Well Being

Employment and competitiveness as challenges for collective bargaining: a global perspective

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-731
Author(s):  
Youcef Ghellab ◽  
Peggy Kelly
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Product Market ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
Employment Security

This article explores the changing focus of collective bargaining within the context of the global drive for competition. The first section describes how the main items on the agenda for collective bargaining have shifted from income distribution to means of promoting and protecting employment and competitiveness, and explains how mass unemployment and precarious employment have pushed employment security to the top of the collective bargaining agenda. Technological change, the increasing globalisation of the economy, the formation of regional economic groupings, and the intensification of competition between firms in the product market have all contributed to the pressure on collective bargaining institutions to improve competitiveness. The second section examines innovative approaches to dealing with the issues of employment protection, creation and competitiveness by highlighting the collective bargaining experiences of a number of countries outside of the European Union.

Conflict Between Efficiency and Sense of “Ludus”

1998 ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Moog Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Technological Progress ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Business Administration ◽  
Technological Advance ◽  
Technological Society ◽  
Brazilian Culture ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Apparent Conflict

Efficiency is a highly considered virtue, especially in our contemporary technological society. It appears to be opposed to the sense of ludus (playfulness) that is greatly valued in Brazilian culture. Is this conflict real? Is it a definite impediment to modernization? This paper deals with this apparent conflict of values, trying to find a way toward a harmonious integration of them. Efficiency is shown as the virtue of a culture turned toward modernity. It is therefore highly prized in contemporary business administration theories. It is also shown that the whole of modern society is oriented toward technological advance and it consequently tends to value efficiency above all other values. Considering other values found in different cultures, there needs to be a better knowledge of them. This study establishes ludus as a typical value of Brazilian culture. An analogy is drawn between the sense of playfulness described and praised by Brazilian authors, and the sense of detachment from technology proposed by Jacques Ellus as a condition for creating a real civilization with technological progress.

John W. MeDor and Gunvant M. Desai (eels.). Agricultural Change and Rural Poverty - Variations on a Theme by Dharm Narain. Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1985. xix + 233 pp. Illustrations: bibliography; index.

1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-196
Author(s):  
Luther Tweeten
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Green Revolution ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Agricultural Change ◽  
Extensive Data ◽  
Johns Hopkins University ◽  
Variations On A Theme ◽  
Trickle Down

It is fashionable in some intellectual circles to deride the trickle-down theory, technological change, and the Green Revolution as tools of the haves to exploit the have-nots. In a worthwhile book, drawing especially on extensive data for India, several distinguished analysts from various countries examined sources of rural poverty with special attention to the role of technological progress and the trickledown theory.

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