|
on Innovation |
| By: | Cees van Beers; Elina Berghäll; Tom Poot |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates innovating firms’ determinants of R&D collaboration with domestic universities and public knowledge institutes in Finland and the Netherlands. Three questions – relevant for innovation policies - constitute the central part of this paper. First, are innovating foreign firms less or more involved in R&D co-operation with domestic public knowledge institutions than innovating domestic firms? Second, do innovating firms that are open to their external knowledge environment have a higher probability to co-operate with public partners than firms that are not or less open? Third, are public knowledge institutions in Finland and the Netherlands attractive R&D partners to innovative firms? Based on data from Community Innovation Surveys we find that foreign firms in the Netherlands are less likely to co-operate with domestic public knowledge institutions than domestic firms, while in Finland no significant difference can be detected. With regard to the second question our findings show that openness of innovating firms is an important determinant of R&D collaboration in both countries. Finally, the empirical results show that knowledge of public partners is considered useful by innovating firms to transform own ideas into concrete innovations in Finland, but not in the Netherlands. However, the type of knowledge – fundamental or applied - is important for R&D collaboration with Dutch public partners, but not for co-operating with Finnish public partners. This raises the issue whether Finnish innovation policies with a strong focus on R&D co-operation provide incentives for domestic public partners to put more emphasis on applied research. |
| Keywords: | Multinational enterprises; innovation; R&D collaboration; public knowledge institutions; national innovation systems |
| JEL: | O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-12&r=ino |
| By: | Marcus Wagner |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses empirically the relationship between environmental innovations, environmental management and patenting. In particular it tests a number of propositions on how environmental management systems and the interaction with environmentally more or less concerned stakeholders are associated with the probability of firms to pursue innovation in general (measured as patenting behaviour) and specifically environmental innovation (measured as firm self-assessment and based on patent data). In applying a negative binomial as well as binary discrete choice models the relationship is studied using data on German manufacturing firms. As a novel and important insight, the study finds that environmental innovation can be meaningfully identified using patent data and that environmental innovation defined this way is less ubiquitous than self-reported environmental innovation. It also reveals that the implementation level of environmental management systems has a positive effect exclusively on environmental process innovation, whereas it is negatively associated with the level of a firm’s general patenting activities. For environmental product innovation and patented environmental innovations a positive relationship with environ-mentally concerned and a negative link with environmentally neutral stakeholders is found. |
| Keywords: | Environmental innovations; patents |
| JEL: | O31 Q56 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-14&r=ino |
| By: | Agustí Segarra-Blasco (Grup de Recerca en Indústria i Territori(GRIT), Departament d'Economia, Universitat Rovira i Virgili.) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the effects of two main sources of innovation —intramural and external R&D— on the productivity level in a sample of 3,267 Catalan firms. The data set used is based on the official innovation survey of Catalonia which was a part of the Spanish sample of CIS4, covering the years 2002-2004. We compare empirical results by applying usual OLS and quantile regression techniques both in manufacturing and services industries. In quantile regression, results suggest different patterns at both innovation sources as we move across conditional quantiles. The elasticity of intramural R&D activities on productivity decreased when we move up the high productivity levels both in manufacturing and services sectors, while the effects of external R&D rise in high-technology industries but are more ambiguous in low-technology and services industries. |
| Keywords: | Innovation sources, R&D, Productivity, Quantile Regression |
| JEL: | O30 C10 O14 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2007-08&r=ino |
| By: | Cugno Franco (University of Turin); Ottoz Elisabetta (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | Different protection mechanisms may be employed at the same time for a given innovation when the innovation is comprised of separately protectable components. If patents and trade secrets can be mixed in protecting single innovations, a trengthening in patent breadth may induce a lower level of patenting, as innovators are more prone to rely on secrecy. |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:200707&r=ino |
| By: | Anneli Kaasa; Helje Kaldaru; Eve Parts |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how different dimensions of social capital and institutional quality are related to innovation activity and its utilisation. For reasons of data availability, previous studies have included mainly patenting data. This study complements the previous studies by analysing smaller sample, but including more indicators of innovation. Data for 29 European countries are analysed. As an alternative to usual analysing methods, cluster analysis is used to overcome the problem of small sample. First, cluster analysis is conducted to examine the similarities and differences in various aspects of innovation activity and utilisation of innovations. Next, the social capital and institutional quality are considered as possible factors of innovation next to the R&D and human capital. The findings supported the idea that different dimensions of social capital have a different impact on innovation activity; the results concerning the utilisation of innovations were mixed. |
| Keywords: | innovation, social capital, institutional quality, Europe |
| JEL: | A12 A13 O31 O4 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtk:febawb:55&r=ino |
| By: | Silva, Maria José; Leitão, João |
| Abstract: | In the context of globalisation, innovation is considered as a key factor for enhancing the competitiveness of firms. Nowadays, it is widely accepted that Portuguese firms face an increasing competitive environment, which is characterised by internationalization and globalization. In this sense, it becomes important to analyse the determinant factors of innovation capability of firms. This paper aims to identify and analyse the degree of importance of the determinant factors of innovation capability of Portuguese industrial firms. The data obtained through the 2rd Community Innovation Survey (CIS II) conducted by EUROSTAT, is used in a linear regression model. The entrepreneurial innovative capability, measured as product innovation, is considered as the variable answer, in the estimation process of a Logit function. The paper presents an innovative contribution since it uses a set of five determinant factors of innovation capability of industrial firms, at a product innovation level. Technological capacity, dimension of the firm, activity sector, market orientation and location of the firm, are considered as determinants factors of innovation capability of the firms. The results of the joint analysis provide the identification of stimulating factors and restraining factors of the entrepreneurial innovative capability of a selected sample of Portuguese industrial firms. Under a Schumpeterian approach, the paper ratifies that large enterprises are more prone to innovate than small enterprises. The dimension plays a role, in terms of the strategic conduct implemented by small firms, which are not so prone to innovate, due to its small dimension. Benchmarking the Portuguese case is particularly important, because small industrial enterprises face restraining conditions imposed by outsourcing contracts that are established between small producers and leading international buyers. This restrains, broadly, the entrepreneurial innovative capability of small industrial enterprises. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Entrepreneurial Innovative Capability. |
| JEL: | O32 O31 |
| Date: | 2007–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5216&r=ino |
| By: | Sandro Montresor; Giuseppe Vittucci Marzetti |
| Abstract: | The paper aims at investigating how innovations cluster in different technological systems (TSs) when their “techno-economic", rather than “territorial" space is considered. Innovation clusters of economic sectors are identified by applying network analysis to the intersectoral R&D flows matrices of 15 OECD countries in the middle '90s. Different clusterization models are first tested in order to detect the way sectors group on the basis of the embodied R&D flows they exchange. Actual clusters are then mapped in the different TSs by looking for intersectoral relationships which can be qualified to constitute “reduced-TSs" (ReTSs). In all the 15 TSs investigated the techno-economic space appears organized in hierarchies, along which its constitutive sectors group into clusters with different density and composition. Once ReTSs are looked for, the 15 TSs display highly heterogeneous structures, but with some interesting similarity on the basis of which different clusters of TSs can be identified in turn. |
| Keywords: | Innovation clusters; technological systems; R&D expenditure; embodied innovation flows |
| JEL: | O33 O38 O39 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-15&r=ino |
| By: | Tseveen Gantumur; Andreas Stephan |
| Abstract: | The telecommunications in the 1990s witnessed an enormous worldwide round of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). This paper examines the innovation determinants of M&A activity and the consequences of M&A transactions on the technological potential and the innovation performance. We examine the telecommunications equipment industry over the period 1988-2002 using a newly constructed data set with firm-level data describing M&A and innovation activity as well as financial characteristics. Based on a matching propensity score procedure, the study provides evidence that M&A realize significantly positive changes to the firm's post-merger innovation performance. |
| Keywords: | Mergers & Acquisitions, Innovation Performance, Telecommunications Equipment Industry |
| JEL: | L63 O30 L10 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp728&r=ino |
| By: | Pilar Beneito (Universitat de València); Amparo Sanchis Llopis (Universitat de València); María Engracia. Rochina Barrachina (Universitat de València) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of firms' R&D-experience in their innovative success using a representative sample of Spanish firms for the period 1990-2002. Using count data models and within an innovation production function approach, we investigate the influence of firms' R&D-experience in the achievement of innovative results. To estimate R&D-experience, partially unobserved, we estimate a duration model and use the obtained results and a non-parametric procedure to impute R&D-experience when unobserved. We obtain that R&D effectiveness increases along the R&D history of the firm. En este trabajo se analiza el papel de la experiencia en actividades de I+D sobre el éxito innovador de las empresas utilizando una muestra representativa de empresas españolas para el periodo 1990-2002. Mediante modelos de recuento (count-data models) y partiendo de la especificación de una función de producción de innovaciones, investigamos la influencia de la experiencia en I+D en la obtención de resultados innovadores. Para estimar la experiencia en I+D, que es parcialmente inobservable, estimamos un modelo de duración y utilizamos los resultados obtenidos en este modelo y un procedimiento no paramétrico para imputar la experiencia en I+D a aquellas empresas para las que no se observa. Nuestros resultados muestran que la efectividad de la inversión en I+D aumenta con el historial innovador de la empresa. |
| Keywords: | Innovación, acumulación del conocimiento, experiencia en I+D, modelos de duración, modelos de recuento innovation, accumulation of knowledge, R&D-experience, duration models, count data models. |
| JEL: | O30 O34 C23 C10 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasec:2007-10&r=ino |
| By: | David B. Audretsch; Werner Bönte; Prashanth Mahagaonkar |
| Abstract: | Innovative nascent entrepreneurs face the problem of obtaining finance, mainly due to information problems. We use new data on capital seeking start-ups allowing distinction between planning stage and early stage. Being innovative does not affect the probability of having external finance in the planning stage but has a positive effect in the early stage. Early start-ups with patents have a significantly higher probability of having equity whereas debt is not affected. Patents, coupled with prototypes have a higher probability for external finance which may be due to reduced uncertainties and learning. The most important determinant of debt is house ownership. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Information Asymmetries |
| JEL: | M13 G32 O32 O47 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-09&r=ino |
| By: | Gaétan de Rassenfosse (Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Business School, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels and ECARES, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.); Bruno Van Pottelsberghe (Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Business School, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels and DULBEA, Université Libre de Bruxelles and ECARES, Université Libre de Bruxelles.) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the role of patent filing fees requested by the member states of the European Patent Convention (EPC). We provide a first empirical evidence showing that the fee elasticity of the demand for priority applications is negative and significant. Given the strong variation in absolute fees and in fees per capita across countries, this result witnesses a suboptimal treatment of inventors across European countries and suggests that fees should be considered as an integral part of an IP policy, especially in the current context of worrying backlogs. In addition, we show that the transfer rate of domestic priority filings to the EPO increases with the duration of membership to the EPO and the GDP per capita of a country, suggesting that member states experience a learning curve within the EPC. The high heterogeneity in the transfer rates casts some doubts on the practice that consists in relying on filings at the EPO or at the USPTO to assess innovative performance of countries. |
| Keywords: | fees, patent filing, price elasticity. |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O38 O57 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:07-022&r=ino |
| By: | Stéphane Guérard; Ann Langley |
| Abstract: | Legitimation and competition are two major forces moulding organizational field and the diffusion of innovations. While discursive legitimation provides "rational justifications" for innovations, competition may incite organizations to acquire effective innovations preemptively. This paper draws on a case study of the legitimation and diffusion of a sophisticated medical technology to suggest that, in highly regulated environments, these two forces may interact, and that opposing legitimation strategies may be associated with competition. We argue that while convergent discursive legitimation strategies tend to speed up the diffusion process, divergent discursive legitimation strategies may have the opposite effect. The case suggests that the dominant logics of legitimation may shift, oscillating between convergence and divergence as an innovation diffuses. We also show how the resulting delays in diffusion may be pre-empted by a phenomenon we call institutional delinquency, that is when the moral and cognitive-cultural legitimacies of the technology among professionals and managers becomes sufficient to counteract regulatory forces. |
| Keywords: | technology, legitimation, institution, innovation, PET scanner, theorization, competition |
| JEL: | I12 D81 O32 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hem:wpaper:0703&r=ino |
| By: | Spielman,David J.; Hartwich,Frank; von Grebmer, Klaus |
| Abstract: | "This study, which examines the role of public–private partnerships in international agricultural research, is intended to provide policymakers, research managers, and business decisionmakers with an understanding of how such partnerships operate and how they potentially contribute to food security and poverty reduction in developing countries. The study examines public–private partnerships in light of persistent market failure, institutional constraints, and systemic weaknesses, which impede the exchange of potentially pro-poor knowledge and technology. The study focuses on three key issues: whether public–private partnerships contribute to reducing the cost of research, whether they add value to research by facilitating innovation, and whether they enhance the impact of research on smallholders and other marginalized groups in developing-country agriculture. The study examines 75 projects undertaken by the research centers and programs of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in partnership with various types of private firms. Data and information were obtained through document analysis, semi-structured interviews with key informants, and an email survey of CGIAR centers. The resulting analysis provides a characterization of public–private partnerships in the CGIAR and describes the factors that contribute to their success. These finding are important to improving both public policy and organizational practices in the international agricultural research system." - from authors' abstract. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural R&D, CGIAR, Innovation, Public-private partnerships, |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:00708&r=ino |
| By: | Hartwich, Frank; Arispe, Tito; Monge, Mario |
| Abstract: | "This report presents the results of a study on local innovation in four peanut-producing regions in Bolivia. It aimed at identifying the type of organizations and mechanisms contributing the most to the adoption of innovations. The theoretical framework utilized suggests that farmers introduce and apply innovations as a combined result of their perceptions on the utility derived from doing so, and their individual and collective capabilities to absorb those innovations... [The] results guide to the conclusion that to achieve a larger and better participation of small peanut farmers in innovation processes, it is necessary to (1) adapt innovation sets to farmers absorptive capabilities; (2) try to improve the individual absorptive capabilities through financing schemes, training and sensibilization efforts; (3) promote and substantially intensify interactions among innovation providers and farmers, in a way that collective absorptive capabilities and a common learning on technology's applications and applicability can be developed; and (4) include other actors from the transportation, processing and exportation sectors in partnership arrangements, in order to improve their common understanding of production, quality and market opportunities, as well as to open and widen access to markets and to complementary financial support." from Executive summary in English |
| Keywords: | Peanuts, Social networks, Small farmers, Absorptive capabilities, Agricultural innovations, Technological innovations, |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:00692&r=ino |
| By: | Arijit Mukherjee2; Piercarlo Zanchettin |
| Abstract: | We study vertical integration and product innovation (in the form of horizontal product differentiation) as interdependent strategic choices of vertically related firms. We consider product innovation in the downstream market as a strategic decision of innovative firms facing a threat of vertical integration and market foreclosure by an upstream monopolist. Our main finding is that, although product differentiation allows to soften product market competition and to avoid market foreclosure, the downstream market may prefer less product differentiation to deter vertical integration. Therefore, less product innovation can be a possible social cost of a lenient antitrust policy. |
| Keywords: | Vertical Integration; product innovation; market foreclosure; duopoly |
| JEL: | D43 L13 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lec:leecon:07/12&r=ino |
| By: | Hartwich, Frank; Gottret, Maria Veronica; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Tola, Jaime |
| Abstract: | "The International Service for National Agricultural Research¾on its own from 2002 until 2003, and as a division of the International Food Policy Research Institute thereafter has studied 124 public–private partnerships in agriculture in nine Latin American countries through its initiative on public–private partnerships for Agro-Industrial Research in Latin America...This paper examines...seven cases of public–private partnership building in which private- sector companies, producer associations, and research organizations engage in collaboration for the purpose of developing innovations in agricultural production and value chains. The paper considers different points of entry to partnership building, emulating best practices. The paper describes (a) how common interests among multiple stakeholders have been identified; (b) how partners have been motivated to participate in partnerships; (c) how the roles of different brokers within or outside the partnerships have fostered partnership development; and (d) how the contributions of partners have been negotiated to ensure that partnership arrangements are in alignment with the interests of the partners, their capacities, and the prevailing technological and market opportunities. The paper targets policymakers and administrators in agricultural development, and collaborators in research and innovation projects who are interested in issues of how best to build partnerships among public and private agents. from Authors' Abstract |
| Keywords: | Public-private partnerships, Agricultural innovations, Capacity strengthening, Agricultural research, |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:00699&r=ino |
| By: | James H. Love; Stephen Roper; Jun Du |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the relationship between innovation, ownership and profitability for a panel of manufacturing plants in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Previous literature suggests that innovators are persistently more profitable than non-innovators, but little is known about how this link is moderated by external versus domestic ownership. We consider the link between innovation and profits separately for innovators and non-innovators, and for indigenous innovators and non-innovators and externally-owned plants. We also consider the determinants of innovation over the distribution of plant-level profitability, and find that the determinants of profitability – including innovation and external ownership – vary over the distribution from low to high profitability plants. We find support for the view that innovators and non-innovators have different profitability determinants, and that the profitability of externally-owned plants depends on very different factors to that of indigenously-owned enterprises. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Ownership; Profitability; Ireland; Northern Ireland |
| JEL: | O32 F14 L60 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-10&r=ino |
| By: | Christiane Götze (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Lehrstuhl für ABWL und Produktion/Industriebetriebslehre) |
| Abstract: | Erkenntnisse über Netzwerkstrukturen in F+E und über ihre technologisch herausragenden Mitarbeiter fußen bisher ausschließlich auf Ergebnissen qualitativer Untersuchungen. Der Versuch einer stärkeren quantitativen Fundierung für das strategische Human Resource Management in diesem Bereich steht bisher aus. Der vorliegende Beitrag ist vor diesem Hintergrund bestrebt, die entstandene Lücke mittels Kombination der Methoden der Patent- und der Netzwerkanalyse zu schließen. Er zeigt anhand der Untersuchung einer Patentstichprobe aus der Herzschrittmachertechnologie, dass sich ein Großteil der Leistung in Forschung und Entwicklung nicht nur auf einige wenige Köpfe konzentriert, sondern vor allem, dass sich diese Leistungsträger signifikant von ihren Miterfindern unterscheiden. Sie weisen umfangreichere Netzwerkkontakte auf, befinden sich eher auf Mittlerpositionen und tendieren dazu, häufiger mit denselben Erfindern zusammen zu arbeiten. Einige Erkenntnisse qualitativ orientierter Studien können somit bestätigt, andere müssen verworfen werden. <BR><B>Summary</B> Scientific research concerning R+D network structures and the characteristics of their top-performing inventors has thus far mainly been based on qualitative studies. A stronger empirical foundation for Strategic Human Resource Management in this field is still pending. This paper fills this vacancy by combining the two methods of patent and network analysis. It shows by means of a patent sample from cardiac pacemaker technology, that the majority of technological performance is not only concentrated on just a few individuals, but that they even more importantly show characteristics dissimilar to their fellow inventors. The top-performing inventors possess substantially more contacts within the network, are more likely to take a mediator position, and work in conjunction with the same actors more frequently. Some findings of qualitative studies can thus be confirmed, whereas others must be rejected. |
| Keywords: | Netzwerk, F+E, Patente, Erfinder, Personal |
| Date: | 2007–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jen:jenjbe:2007-22&r=ino |
| By: | Nathalie Lazaric |
| Abstract: | The aim of this article is to understand permanence and changes inside organizational routines. For this purpose, it seems important to explain how individual and collective memorisation occurs, so as to grasp how knowledge can be converted into routines. Although memorisation mechanisms imply a degree of durability, our procedural and declarative knowledge, and our memorisation processes, evolve so that individuals and organisations can project themselves into the future and innovate. Some authors highlight the necessity of dreaming and forgetting (Bergson 1896); others believe that emotions play a role in our memorisation processes (Damasio 1994). These dimensions are not only important at the individual level but also in an organisational context (Lazaric and Denis 2005; Reynaud 2005; Pentland and Feldman 2005).I review the individual dimension of these memorisation processes, with the Anderson’s distinction between procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge. I discuss the notion of cognitive automatisms in order to show why routines should be investigated beyond their first literal assumption (Bargh, 1997). This leads to a clear understanding of the micro level that underpins organisational flexibility and adaptation (notably the motivational triggers). Within organisations, the memorisation mechanisms are at once similar and diverse. Indeed, organisations use their own filters and mechanisms to generate organisational coordination. Organizational memory has its own dimension as it does not merely consist of the sum of individual knowledge and must be able to survive when individuals leave. Routines depend on the organisational memory implemented and on the procedural knowledge and representations of it (individual and collective representations). |
| Keywords: | Knowledge; memorisation; organizations; individuals |
| JEL: | D83 O31 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-13&r=ino |
| By: | David M. Cutler |
| Abstract: | Measuring the lifetime costs and benefits of medical technologies is essential in evaluating technological change and determining the productivity of medical care. Using data on Medicare beneficiaries with a heart attack in the late 1980s and 17 years of follow up data, I evaluate the long-term costs and benefits of revascularization after a heart attack. I account for non-random selection into treatment with instrumental variables; following McClellan, McNeil, and Newhouse, the instrument is the differential distance to a hospital capable of providing revascularization. The results show that revascularization is associated with over 1 year of additional life expectancy, at a cost of about $40,000. Revascularization, or other treatments correlated with it, appears to be highly cost-effective. |
| JEL: | I11 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13478&r=ino |
| By: | Daniel Toro González |
| Abstract: | La escasa información sobre la inversión de las firmas en investigación y desarrollo (I&D) genera dificultades para la medición de su impacto en la actividad económica. Se desarrolla un modelo teórico orientado a determinar el impacto de la inversión en I&D en la economía y se demuestra que cuando una firma aumenta su inversión en I&D puede aprovechar la existencia de spillovers. |
| Date: | 2007–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000162:004207&r=ino |
| By: | Michel Fok (UPR10 - Systèmes cotonniers en petits paysannats - [CIRAD]); Marnus Gouse (Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development - [University of Pretoria]); Jean-Luc Hofs (UPR10 - Systèmes cotonniers en petits paysannats - [CIRAD]); Johann Kirsten (Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development - [University of Pretoria]) |
| Abstract: | L'essentiel de la production de coton en Afrique du Sud provient des fermiers à production commerciale, il est donc erroné de considérer l'adoption impressionnante de Coton Génétiquement Modifié (CGM) comme un exemple d'utilisation réussie par les petits producteurs. Le secteur coton sud-africain évolue dans un environnement instable de production et de commercialisation, et les petits producteurs en souffrent le plus en raison de leurs ressources financières limitées, de la faiblesse de leur production, de leurs faibles capacités de gestion et de commercialisation et de l'absence de choix de production alternative. La superficie totale en coton et le nombre de producteurs a diminué de manière drastique depuis l'introduction du CGM, ce phénomène amène les observateurs à remettre en cause le soi-disant "success story" du CGM en Afrique du Sud. L'expérience des petits producteurs dans ce pays montre que la seule introduction d'une technologie ne peut accroître durablement une production, les facteurs tels que les arrangements institutionnels jouent un rôle crucial. Les études antérieures avaient mis l'accent exclusivement sur la performance d'une technologie nouvelle en minimisant le rôle l'aspect institutionnel. Les résultats de notre recherche complète les études existantes en indiquant que la rentabilité de l'utilisation du CGM est faible dans un contexte défavorable sur le plan climatique et institutionnel. Ceci nous rappelle que l'agriculture pluviale est sensible aux aléas climatiques et que l'adoption d'une technologie nouvelle dans ces conditions peut accroître le risque financier lié à la production cotonnière. |
| Keywords: | coton; Afrique du Sud; OGM; Bt; évaluation d'impact; rentabilité |
| Date: | 2007–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00176546_v1&r=ino |
| By: | Mads Greaker and Tom-Reiel Heggedal (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | The density of fuel filling stations influences consumers' utility of private car transport. Thus, to the extent that different modes of private transport require different fuels, there may exist a network externality in the consumption of private transport. We investigate this in a formal model of the market for private transport. In the model there are two competing technologies; today's internal combustion engine based on fossil fuels, and tomorrow's hydrogen car. Due to the network externality there may exist several market equilibriums, of which one is likely to Pareto dominate the other(s). Thus, a lock-in situation is possible. On the other hand, if either the costs of establishing hydrogen filling stations is too high or the hydrogen car technology is still in its infancy, the only equilibrium is the current internal combustion engine equilibrium. Hence, apart from internalizing the environmental externality on gasoline cars, the government has no reasons to intervene before the technology is ripe. And even then, governments should take great care so as not to create a situation of excess momentum. |
| Keywords: | Lock-in; Path dependency; Hydrogen economy; Climate change policy |
| JEL: | L11 L15 L62 Q42 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:516&r=ino |
| By: | Pender, John |
| Abstract: | "During the past several decades dramatic improvement has occurred in agricultural productivity and livelihoods in South and East Asia, stimulated by the Green Revolution and supported by several other factors. Nevertheless, hundreds of millions of rural people in less-favored environments of this region still live in poverty and received limited benefit from the Green Revolution. To address these problems, alternative technological approaches to the conventional Green Revolution technologies are being advocated to address the problems of poor farmers in less-favored areas of Asia, including low external input and sustainable agricultural approaches, organic agriculture and biotechnology. This paper reviews the literature on agricultural technology options in South and East Asia, drawing conclusions concerning technology strategies to reduce poverty among poor farmers in less-favored areas of this region. Among the main conclusions of the review are the following: 1. There is no technology approach that will work in all of the diverse circumstances of South and East Asia. 2. It is difficult, but not impossible, to identify and promote technologies that will substantially improve the livelihoods of poor people in less-favored areas. 3. Key requirements for technologies to be taken up by farmers and to have a substantial impact on reducing poverty are that the technology is profitable in a relatively short period of time; does not substantially increase risks; and is consistent with farmers' endowments of knowledge, management skill, land, labor, and other assets. 4. New technologies, by themselves, are not sufficient to bring about sustainable rural development and elimination of rural poverty, although they can have a major impact. Effective institutions and a stable and supportive policy environment are also critical. 5. Effective farmers' organizations accountable to poor farmers are a critical need for the success of all technologies in reaching the poor. Such organizations are needed to reduce the costs and improve the effectiveness of technical assistance efforts for all technologies, and are particularly important for technologies that require effective collective action and for increasing smallholders' access to markets for organic and other high value products. 6. Improved methods of technology dissemination are needed to reach poor farmers in less-favored areas. Top down technology transfer approaches that worked well with simple technology packages do not work as well with complex technologies that have to be adapted to local circumstances based on agro-ecological principles and local conditions. These lessons should give pause to advocates one particular technological approach as the solution for poor farmers in less favored environments of Asia and elsewhere. What farmers need are not technology dogmas but options that can work in their context, combining what is useful from different approaches. This requires a pragmatic approach to learning what works well where and why. In pursuit of such pragmatic options for farmers, research and development programs should not ignore the potentials of traditional farming practices or intensive Green Revolution type technologies, which are well suited to farmers' needs in many contexts." - from authors' abstract. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural technology, Low-external input agriculture, Organic farming, biotechnology, Sustainable agriculture, Less favored areas, Rural poverty, Land resources, Poverty reduction, |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:00709&r=ino |