An autopoietic explanation is offered to explain the reluctance of a major international manufacturer of titanium dioxide to adopt a production process that might have enabled it to retain competitive advantage. Alternative explanations which focus solely on economic considerations and innovation difficulties are discussed, but it is concluded that they are merely part of an autopoietic explanation of a cultural blanket which engulfed the organisation. To support the argument, case evidence is presented on Tioxide's operations with a focus on Burnie, Tasmania.
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J. Ryser, ‘New feed, new technique enliven the TiO2 scenario’, Chemical Engineering, 25 November 1985, p. 20.
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ICI Press Release, 6 February 1997.
R. Carson, Silent Spring, Houghton-Miflen, Boston, 1962.
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Ibid.
European Chemical News, 25 July 1988, p. 4.
European Chemical News, 27 May 1991, p. 29.
DuPont, personal communication.
A. Cooper & D. Schendel, ‘Strategic responses to technological threats’, Business Horizons, 19, 1, 1976, pp. 61–69.
R. Moenaert et al., op. cit., Ref. 5.
J. Galbraith & R. Kazanjian, ‘Developing technologies: R & D strategies of office product firms’, Columbia Journal of World Business, 18, 1983, pp. 37–44.
H. Maturana & F. Varela, Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realisation of the Living, Reidel, London, 1972.
N. Luhman, ‘The autopoiesis of social systems’, in F. Geyer & J. van der Zouwen (eds), Sociocybemetic Paradoxes: Observation, Control and Evolution of Self-Steering Systems, Sage, London, 1986.
G. Morgan, Images of Organisations, Sage, London, 1986.
E. Khalil, ‘Hayek's spontaneous order and Varela's autopoiesis: a comment’, Human Systems Management, 11, 1992, p. 105.
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W. S. Robinson, op. cit., Ref. 7, p. 127.
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