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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
| By: | TODO Yasuyuki; SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of overseas subsidiaries' R&D activities on the productivity growth of parent firms using firm-level panel data for Japanese multinational enterprises. We distinguish between overseas R&D for the utilization and acquisition of foreign advanced knowledge, or innovative R&D, and overseas R&D for the adaptation of technologies and products to local conditions, or adaptive R&D. Our major finding is that overseas innovative R&D helps to raise the productivity growth of the parent firm, while overseas adaptive R&D has no such effect. In addition, we examine whether overseas innovative R&D has an indirect effect on home productivity growth by improving the rate of return on home R&D. However, we find no evidence of such an indirect effect, suggesting that overseas innovative R&D does not engender any knowledge transfers from overseas to home R&D units. |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:07008&r=knm |
| By: | Jean-Jacques Chanarron (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - [CNRS : UMR5824] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines], EMSI - Ecole de Management des Systèmes d'Information - [Ecole de Management de Grenoble]); David Birchall (Henley Management College - [Henley Management College]) |
| Abstract: | There is evidence to suggest that firms wish to work with universities to gain access to new technologies, to knowledge of future technologies and their possible impact and to thechnical problem-solving capability. There is much less evidence to support the proposition that firms work with business models and new processes. The barriers identified include those concerning management and leadership.<br />Following an overview of relevant literature, the research here reported is the outcome of investigations carried out by a network of academics and practitioners from the automotive industry. Though the examination of a number of case studiesof joint efforts, a model for cooperation is developed. Critical success factors for sustainable networks, relating to the different modes of collaboration, are put forward. Finally, areas for further research are identified. |
| Keywords: | business-school ; universities ; cooperation ; knowledge transfer ; automotive industry ; case studies ; key success factors |
| Date: | 2007–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00136143_v1&r=knm |
| By: | Beckerman, Carina (Dept. of Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I theorize about how transforming the interpretative scheme for what a patient record is might restructure a health care setting. The observations presented here were obtained when I during three years followed implications of constructing and computerizing a patient record at three different hospitals. The results were then analyzed and interpreted within a framework combining theories about knowledge management with concepts from structuration theory and cognitive theories about schema-use, representations and sense-making. The findings indicate that thinking about the patient record as a knowledge management system might start a horizontal and vertical movement, a movement of coordination and enhancement. I propose that what the employees want to achieve with the knowledge management system depends on what strategy they have for it. |
| Keywords: | interpretative schemes; anesthesia patient record; knowledge management system; knowledge management; structuration theory |
| Date: | 2007–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hastba:2007_005&r=knm |
| By: | Eklund, Johan (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) and CESIS); Wiberg, Daniel (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) and CESIS) |
| Abstract: | Economic theory tells us that abnormal firm and industry profits will not persist for any significant length of time. Any firm or industry making profits in excess of the normal rate of return will attract entrants and this competitive process will erode profits. However, a substantial amount of research has found evidence of persistent profits above the norm. Barriers to entry and exit, is an often put forward explanation to this anomaly. In the absence of, or with low barriers to entry and exit, this reasoning provides little help in explaining why these above-norm profits arise and persist. In this paper we explore the links between the systematic search for knowledge and the persistence of profits. By investing in research and development firms may succeed in creating products or services that are preferred by the market and/or find a more cost efficient method of production. Corporations that systematically invest in research and development may, by doing this, offset the erosion of profits and thereby have persistently high profits which diverge from the competitive return.We argue that even in the absence of significant barriers to entry and exit profits may persist. This can be accredited to a systematic search for knowledge through research and development. |
| Keywords: | Persistence of Profits; Profit Dynamics; R&D; Innovation Activity; Knowledge |
| JEL: | C10 C32 O10 O32 |
| Date: | 2007–03–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0085&r=knm |
| By: | SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi; TODO Yasuyuki |
| Abstract: | This paper explores what factors determine the nature, extent, and location of Japanese multinationals' R&D activities abroad. Taking advantage of a rich micro-level dataset from the survey on Japanese overseas subsidiaries, the study distinguishes between two types of overseas R&D: innovative and adaptive. We find several differences between the determinants of overseas innovative and adaptive R&D. These differences confirm the view that overseas innovative R&D aims at the exploitation of foreign advanced knowledge, whereas overseas adaptive R&D is mostly influenced by the market size of the host country. Our results provide a convincing and comprehensive explanation of the geographical distribution of overseas R&D by Japanese MNEs. |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:07010&r=knm |
| By: | Michael Dietrich (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | IntroductionCharacteristically, in economics, the analysis of firm activity is based on a production function that defines a deterministic relationship between factor inputs and firm output. The analysis of the firm as an organisation takes a somewhat different approach. For instance, behavioural economics (for example Simon, 1955; March and Simon, 1958; Cyert and March, 1963), transaction cost theory (Williamson, 1975, 1985) and capabilities approaches (for example Foss and Loasby, 1998; Foss, 2005) emphasise that economic agents have inevitably incomplete information and knowledge and are at most boundedly or limitedly rational. The implication here is that while general principles governing intra-firm interaction can be specified, detailed organisational processes inside the firm are, for practical academic purposes, effectively unobservable. Hence, the usual analytical tools designed to analyse firm behaviour, based on production functions and optimising principles with full information, are in practice an oversimplification of firm activity (Loasby, 1999). |
| Date: | 2005–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2005014&r=knm |
| By: | Michael Kaeding (Leiden University) |
| Abstract: | Using methods for assessing both correlational causation and necessary/sufficient causation, this article addresses a fundamental puzzle confronting those who seek to understand one important part of the EU policy cycle, namely to explain why member states of the EU differ in their transposition records of EU legislation. Exploring a rationalist framework to assess the transposition problematic in the EU the article treats theoretically and empirically determinants of transposition termination and duration. Using a comprehensive data set on large-scale transposition records in 9 member states (Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden) covering the 1995-2004 period, they are tested by means of ordered multinomial logistic and hazard function regressions. Drawing on existing research and knowledge, calibrated measures further improve our understanding of widely acknowledged notions of necessary and sufficient conditions. |
| Keywords: | European Union, transposition, directives, fuzzy set, mixed methods, |
| JEL: | O19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bep:dewple:2006-1-1163&r=knm |
| By: | Corinne Autant-Bernard (CREUSET - Centre de Recherche Economique de l'Université de Saint-Etienne - [CNRS : FRE2938] - [Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne]); Pascal Billand (CREUSET - Centre de Recherche Economique de l'Université de Saint-Etienne - [CNRS : FRE2938] - [Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne]); Christophe Bravard (CREUSET - Centre de Recherche Economique de l'Université de Saint-Etienne - [CNRS : FRE2938] - [Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne]); Nadine Massard (CREUSET - Centre de Recherche Economique de l'Université de Saint-Etienne - [CNRS : FRE2938] - [Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne]) |
| Abstract: | Based on the research projects submitted to the 6th Framework Program of the European Union, this paper studies cooperative networks in micro and nanotechnologies. Our objective is twofold. First, using the statistical tools of the social network analysis, we characterise the structure of the R&D collaborations established between firms. Second, we investigate the determinants of this structure, by analysing the individual choices of cooperation. A binary choice model is used to put forward the existence of network effects alongside other microeconomic determinants of cooperation. Our findings suggest that network effects are present, so that probability of collaboration is influenced by each individual's position within the network. It seems that social distance matters more than geographical distance. We also provide some evidence that similar firms (in terms of research potential) are more likely to collaborate together |
| Keywords: | Network formation; R&D collaboration; Knowledge externalities; nanotechnologies |
| Date: | 2007–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:ujm-00137238_v1&r=knm |
| By: | Carlo Pietrobelli; Federica Saliola (Department of Law, Università degli Studi Roma Tre) |
| Abstract: | There is an growing literature exploring the increasing fragmentation of production processes and the evolution of internationally-dispersed but functionally-integrated economic activities. However, most of this literature appears to neglect an important part of the story, that is the form and the organization of the relationships (the governance) among the various actors involved in these activities, and their implications for development. We develop this analysis in this paper, and explore it empirically with a new dataset on Thailand. In order to address this issue, we study global and domestic value chains in Thailand, and develop a quantitative measure of their governance, which takes into account different levels and types of buyers’ involvement with suppliers’ activities. We then use this measure to explore econometrically its relationship with suppliers’ performance. An important finding is that the relationships MNCs have with their suppliers is multifold and generally more intense than for domestic value chains. Our estimates suggest that more intense buyers’ involvement with local suppliers, not only in the definition of products’ characteristics, design and quality, but also in technology dissemination and R&D is generally associated with higher suppliers’ productivity. However, the governance of the value chain appears to affect the productivity of domestic value chains’ suppliers to a greater extent than for firms supplying MNCs or for exporters. We suggest that this result may be explained by the different nature of the information and knowledge being exchanged, and by the gaps between the leader and its suppliers. |
| Keywords: | North-South, Keywords: Global Value Chains, Multinational Corporations, Foreign Direct Investment, Upgrading, Productivity |
| JEL: | F23 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rcr:wpaper:07_02&r=knm |
| By: | Christian Belzil (GATE CNRS) |
| Abstract: | This papers contains a survey of the recent literature devoted to the returns to schooling within a dynamic structural framework. I present a historical perspective on the evolution of the literature, from early static models set in a selectivity framework (Willis and Rosen, 1979) to the recent literature, stimulated by Keane and Wolpin (1997), and which uses stochastic dynamic programming techniques. After reviewing the literature thoroughly, I compare the structural approach with the IV (experimental) approach. I present their commonalities and I also discuss their fundamental di8erences. To get an order of magnitude, most structural estimates reported for the US range between 4% and 7% per year. On the other hand, IV estimates between 10% and 15% per year are often reported. The discrepancy prevails even when comparable (if not identical) data sets are used. The discussion is focussed on understanding this divergence. The distinction between static and dynamic model specifications is a recurrent theme in the analysis. I argue that the distinction between the IV approach and the structural approach may be coined in terms of a trade o8 between behavioral and statistical assumptions. For this reason, and unless one has very specific knowledge of the true data generating process, it is neither possible, nor sensible, to claim which approach to estimation is more flexible. More precisely, I show that structural and IV approaches differ mainly at the level of i) the compatibility of the underlying models with truly dynamic behavior, ii) the role of heterogeneity in ability and tastes, iii) the consideration of post-schooling opportunities, and (iv) the specification (and interpretation) of the Mincer wage equation. |
| Keywords: | ability bias, dynamic self-selection, human capital, IV estimations, natural experiments, returns to education |
| JEL: | J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0609&r=knm |