by John P. Woods., Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2001., Includes bibliographical references (p. 85).

The convergence of three distinct but interconnected trends - unrelenting globalization,
growing worldwide electronic connectivity, and increasing knowledge intensity of
economic activity - is creating powerful new opportunities and challenges for global
politics. This rapidly changing environment…

Drawing on an empirical study on automakers? management of supplier
involvement in product development in Japan, this paper shows that when the design of
a component is outsourced to a supplier, how much and what automakers know about
the component…

Industrial Ecology (IE) is a systems approach to efficient resource use and protection of the
environment. Instead of just devising improved methods of waste treatment and disposal, we look for the best
opportunities to reduce waste throughout the total material…

In order to understand and create human-level intelligence I have developed the Polyscheme cognitive architecture to build systems that combine several representation and inference schemes when they think. Polyscheme is based on three principles. First, different (aspects of) situations that…

This study offers a detailed case study of how Toyota facilitates interorganizational knowledge transfers among within its production network. In particular, we identiify and examine six key institutionalized knowledge sharing routines developed by Toyota and its suppliers. By examining how…

This paper presents a knowledge-based approach to
reducing impediments to collaboration in a
distributed environment. A major impediment to
such collaboration is the issue of communications -
clearly and efficiently expressing the desires of every
stakeholder in the process, as…

This paper demonstrates the importance of knowledge for effective
management of outsourcing. Drawing on an empirical study on automakers?
management of supplier involvement in product development in Japan, this paper shows
that the level of own knowledge is critical for…

This paper presents a knowledge-based approach for capturing data and rationale, so
that the experience and insights gained while pursuing a major project or endeavor can
be utilized when pursuing future endeavors of a similar nature. The proposed

Data quality issues have taken on increasing importance in recent years. In our research, we have discovered that many “data quality” problems are actually “data misinterpretation” problems – that is, problems with data semantics. In this paper, we first illustrate…