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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2007‒05‒04
four papers chosen by Emanuele Canegrati Catholic University of the Sacred Heart |
| By: | Modén, Karl-Markus (Södertörn University College); Norbäck, Pehr-Johan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Persson, Lars (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of foreign entry on productive efficiency during the Polish investment liberalization. The performance of foreign acquisitions is compared to foreign firms entering the market through greenfield entry, as well as domestic acquisitions of privatized firms, domestic greenfields and remaining state-owned (non-privatized) firms during the period 1995-2000. We find that foreign privatized firms have realized larger productivity gains than all types of domestic firms and that this is not due to higher price-cost margins, which is consistent with the idea that foreign firms bring in firm-specific knowledge. Foreign greenfields have the highest average labour productivity, while foreign privatizations show the largest productivity increase. |
| Keywords: | Privatizations; M As; FDI; Foreign Ownership; Productivity |
| JEL: | F23 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0703&r=knm |
| By: | Alan Kirman; Sheri Markose; Simone Giasante; Paolo Pin |
| Abstract: | We study the formation of social networks that are based on local interaction and simple rule following. Agents evaluate the profitability of link formation on the basis of the Myerson-Shapley principle that payoffs come from the marginal contribution they make to coalitions. The NP-hard problem associated with the Myerson-Shapley value is replaced by a boundedly rational 'spatially' myopic process. Agents consider payoffs from direct links with their neighbours (level 1) which can include indirect payoffs from neighbours' neighbours (level 2) and up to M-levels that are far from global. Agents dynamically break away from the neighbour to whom they make the least marginal contribution. Computational experiments show that when this self-interested process of link formation operates at level 2 neighbourhoods, agents self-organize into stable and efficient network structures that manifest reciprocity, equity and segregation reminiscent of hunter gather groups. A large literature alleges that this is incompatible with self-interested behaviour and market oriented marginality principle in the allocation of value. We conclude that it is not this valuation principle that needs to be altered to obtain segregated social networks as opposed to global components, but whether it operates at level 1 or level 2 of social neighbourhoods. Remarkably, all M>2 neighbourhood calculations for payoffs leave the efficient network structures identical to the case when M=2. |
| Date: | 2007–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esx:essedp:629&r=knm |
| By: | Adegbesan, Tunji (IESE Business School); Ricart, Joan E. (IESE Business School) |
| Abstract: | Most approaches to innovation bear the implicit assumption that increased innovativeness leads to improved organizational performance. Thus, more attention has been focused on innovativeness than on innovation performance; on novelty than on value. However, recent empirical evidence calls into question the unqualified optimism surrounding innovation, and leads us to ask what we really know about when technological innovation improves performance. In this paper, we seek to make a contribution by presenting the results of an exhaustive review of extant knowledge on the outcomes of technological innovation. Our synthesis of the literature allows us to relate in one parsimonious model the drivers and moderators of the antecedents, technical outcomes, and performance outcomes of technological innovation and technological change. We also make sense of the proliferation of terms, and consequent terminological ambiguity, which characterizes a lot of work on technological innovation. Finally, in the light of the model presented and recent developments in work on firm capabilities, we indicate possible avenues for further development of this critical area of research. |
| Keywords: | Technological innovation; organizational performance; innovation and innovativeness; |
| Date: | 2007–01–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0668&r=knm |
| By: | James B. Davies (University of Western Ontario); Martin G. Kocher (University of Innsbruck); Matthias Sutter (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We examine the publications of authors affiliated with an economics research institution in Canada in (i) the Top-10 journals in economics according to journals' impact factors, and (ii) the Canadian Journal of Economics. We consider all publications in the even years from 1980 to 2000. Canadian economists contributed about 5% of publications in the Top-10 journals and about 55% of publications in the Canadian Journal of Economics over this period. We identify the most active research centres and identify trends in their relative outputs over time. Those research centres successful in publishing in the Top-10 journals are found to also dominate the Canadian Journal of Economics. Additionally, we check the robustness of our findings with respect to journal selection, and we present data on authors' Ph.D.-origin, thereby indicating output and its concentration in graduate education. |
| Keywords: | research in economics; Canadian economics; top journals |
| JEL: | A14 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwo:uwowop:20072&r=knm |