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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2008‒02‒16
eleven papers chosen by Emanuele Canegrati Catholic University of the Sacred Heart |
| By: | Dov Samet |
| Date: | 2008–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:levrem:122247000000001875&r=knm |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Fujita, Masahisa |
| Abstract: | How is long run economic growth related to the diversity of knowledge? We formulate and study a microeconomic model of knowledge creation, through the interactions among a group of R & D workers, embedded in a growth model to address this question. Income to these workers accrues as patent income, whereas transmission of newly created knowledge to all such workers occurs due to public transmission of patent information. Our model incorporates two key aspects of the cooperative process of knowledge creation: (i) heterogeneity of people in their state of knowledge is essential for successful cooperation in the joint creation of new ideas, while (ii) the very process of cooperative knowledge creation affects the heterogeneity of people through the accumulation of knowledge in common. The model features myopic R & D workers in a pure externality model of interaction. Surprisingly, in the general case for a large set of initial conditions we find that the equilibrium process of knowledge creation converges to the most productive state, where the population splits into smaller groups of optimal size; close interaction takes place within each group only. Equilibrium paths are found analytically. Long run economic growth is positively related to both the effectiveness of pairwise R & D worker interaction and to the effectiveness of public knowledge transmission. |
| Keywords: | knowledge creation; knowledge externalities; microfoundations of endogenous growth; knowledge diversity and growth |
| JEL: | D90 D83 O31 |
| Date: | 2008–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:7088&r=knm |
| By: | Frank J. van Rijnsoever; Carolina Castaldi |
| Abstract: | Innovation is a process that involves searching for new information. This paper builds upon theoretical insights on individual and organizational learning and proposes a knowledge based model of how actors search for information when confronted with innovation. The model takes into account different search channels, both local and non local, and relates their use to the knowledge base of actors. The paper also provides an empirical validation of our model based on a study on the search channels used by a sample of Dutch consumers when buying new consumer electronic products. |
| Keywords: | knowledge base, learning, information search, innovation, consumer behaviour |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uis:wpaper:0802&r=knm |
| By: | James D. Adams; J. Roger Clemmons |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates science production functions for R&D-performing firms in the United States using scientific papers as the measure of output, by analogy with patents. The underlying evidence covers 200 top U.S. R&D firms during 1981-1999 as well as 110 top U.S. universities. We find that industrial science builds on past scientific research inside and outside the firm, with most of the returns to scale in production deriving from outside knowledge. In turn, the largest outside contribution derives from universities rather than firms; this is especially true when papers are weighted by citations received, a measure of their importance. Consistent with the role assigned to knowledge spillovers in growth theory, the importance of outside knowledge, especially that of universities, increases from the firm to the industry level. The findings survive the inclusion of fixed effects, interactions among the effects, variations in sample and specification, and efforts to control for endogeneity. |
| JEL: | D24 L33 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13823&r=knm |
| By: | Laurens K. Hessels; Harro van Lente |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a systematic reflection on the Gibbons-Nowotny notion of ‘Mode 2 knowledge production’. We review its reception in scientific literature and compare it with 8 alternative diagnoses of changing science systems. The ‘Mode 2’ diagnosis identifies a number of important trends that require further empirical effort, but it suffers from severe conceptual problems. It is time to untie its five major constitutive claims and investigate each separately. |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uis:wpaper:0803&r=knm |
| By: | Rens L.J. Vandeberg; Ellen H.M. Moors |
| Abstract: | Innovation is an interactive learning process which is of special interest for emerging technologies in which complex complementary knowledge from heterogeneous stakeholders is combined. In the emerging phase of technology development a lot of knowledge is tacit and can only be transferred face-to-face. At the same time a shared vision between stakeholders is being formed that acts as a driver for innovation. Although the importance of interactive learning is widely acknowledged, an adequate framework for studying interactive learning processes in emerging technologies is still missing. Therefore we formulated the leading research question: How to understand and conceptualize interactive learning in the context of emerging technologies? We did not only take the outcome of interactive learning into account, but also focused on opening the black box of the interactive learning process. We developed a framework based on characteristic elements of the interactive learning process in emerging technologies (i.e. prime mover, intermediaries, network formation and knowledge flows), influencing conditions (geographical, cognitive, regulatory, cultural and organisational proximity), and the outcome of the interactive learning process (single-loop and double-loop, tacit and codified knowledge). Clarifying examples are taken from the empirical field of the development of novel food products (functional foods). |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uis:wpaper:0806&r=knm |
| By: | Thierry BURGER-HELMCHEN |
| Abstract: | Based on a longitudinal case study of a high tech start-up, this paper explores how different forms of entrepreneurship coexist and interplay to create a firm’s innovative dynamics. A particular focus is given to knowledge-based entrepreneurship linked to technological innovation and exploitation, service entrepreneurship, and organizational-marketing entrepreneurship. Findings suggest that firms can realize performance benefits when their members divide those entrepreneurial activities between themselves during the launching phase of the firm, and then adapt the configuration of the activities, and their behaviours into a managerial form during the expansion phase of the firm. Our work offers a dynamic view of the conditions a firm has to fulfil to survive in a knowledge-based environment and we analyse the process that produces a good integration of plural-entrepreneurship behaviours. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2008-01&r=knm |
| By: | Yar, Daniel (University College of Borås); Wennberg, Karl (Dept. of Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics); Berglund, Henrik (Chalmers University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses social cognitive theory to investigate entrepreneurial intent among participants in graduate entrepreneurship programs. To the best of our knowledge, the paper is the first to investigate the importance of creativity in entrepreneurship education and theoretical models of entrepreneurial intentions. Specifically, we test whether students creative potential is related to their intention to engage in entrepreneurship. Theoretically derived hypotheses are tested using multiple and ordinal regression analyses. We find that high scores on a creativity test and prior entrepreneurial experiences were positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions, whereas perception of risks had a negative influence. Our theoretical predictors of entreprenurial intention received strong support, indicating that creativity should be considered in models of entrepreneurial intentions. Yet, the use of intentions as dependent variable has its know weaknesses in that we might not distinguish between 'dreamers' and 'doers'. The findings indicate that exercises in creativity can be used to raise entrepreneurial intentions of students in entrepreneurship education. Heterogeneity in creative styles among students also points to the problems of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to entrepreneurship education. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship education; intentions; creativity |
| Date: | 2008–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hastba:2008_004&r=knm |
| By: | Growiec, Jakub |
| Abstract: | The famous Mincer equation regressing log earnings on years of schooling is derived from a linear human capital accumulation equation at the individual level. Even if the cross-sectional Mincer equation holds at the level of individuals, it does not hold at the macro level of countries because aggregation of human capital has to take into account its vintage structure: human capital is embodied in people of different generations whose lifespan is finite. Finiteness of people’s lives imposes also a limit on the potential of human capital accumulation to drive aggregate economic growth. Aggregate human capital accumulation may however become an engine of growth thanks to human capital externalities (knowledge spillovers). We use these findings to revisit the assumptions of the well-known Uzawa–Lucas growth model from an aggregation perspective. |
| Keywords: | human capital accumulation; Mincer equation; aggregation; vintage structure; balanced growth |
| JEL: | I20 J24 O40 |
| Date: | 2007–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:7070&r=knm |
| By: | Sumit Agarwal; John C. Driscoll; Xavier Gabaix; David Laibson |
| Abstract: | Agents with more experience make better choices. We measure learning dynamics using a panel with four million monthly credit card statements. We study add-on fees, specifically cash advance, late payment, and overlimit fees. New credit card accounts generate fee payments of $15 per month. Through negative feedback -- i.e. paying a fee -- consumers learn to avoid triggering future fees. Paying a fee last month reduces the likelihood of paying a fee in the current month by about 40%. Controlling for account fixed effects, monthly fee payments fall by 75% during the first three years of account life. We find that learning is not monotonic. Knowledge effectively depreciates about 10% per month, implying that learning displays a strong recency effect. |
| JEL: | D1 D40 D8 G20 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13822&r=knm |
| By: | Erik S. Reinert; Iulie Aslaksen; Marie G. Eira; Svein Mathiesen; Hugo Reinert; Ellen Inga Turi |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the role of nation-states and their systems of gover- nance as sources of barriers and solutions to adaptation to climate change from the point of view of Saami reindeer herders. The Saami, inhabiting the northernmost areas of Fennoscandia, is one of more than twenty ethnic groups in the circumpolar Arctic that base their traditional living on reindeer herding. Climate change is likely to affect the Saami regions severely, with winter temperatures predicted to increase by up to 7 centigrade. We argue that the pastoral practices of the Saami herders are inherently better suited to handle huge natural variation in climatic con- ditions than most other cultures. Indeed, the core of their pastoral practices and herding knowledge is skillful adaptation to unusually frequent and rapid change and variability. This paper argues that the key to handle permanent changes successfully is that herders themselves have sufficient degrees of freedom to act. Considering the similarities in herding practices in the fours nation-states between which Saami culture is now divided . Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia . the systems of governance are surprisingly different. Indeed, the very definition of what is required to be defined as an ethnic Saami is very different in the three Nordic countries. We argue that timely adjust- ments modifying the structures of governance will be key to the survival of the Saami reindeer herding culture. Since the differences in governance regimes . and the need to change national governance structures . are so central to our argument, we spend some time tracing the origins of these systems. |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tth:wpaper:16&r=knm |