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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2008‒07‒05
ten papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Jing Li (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | This paper extends Li (2008b) to the multi-agent environment, where players reason about each other’s awareness as well as knowledge, subject to their own awareness constraints. I characterize the interactive knowledge hierarchies under unawareness, which significantly differ from those in the standard information partition model by allowing for false interactive knowledge. Aumann’s classic characterization of common knowledge does not immediately apply in this environment, even if there is “common awareness” of the event involved. An alternative characterization of common knowledge is provided. |
| Keywords: | unawareness, state space models, interactive knowledge, common knowledge |
| JEL: | C70 C72 D80 D82 D83 |
| Date: | 2008–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:08-023&r=knm |
| By: | Attar, Mustafa A. |
| Abstract: | We study a Schumpeterian model of long-run growth with endogenous fertility and with three interacting dimensions of innovation. Scientific research is the fundamental dimension of innovation that creates new technological knowledge. This is allocated over new working prototypes in the horizontal dimension. New firms finance scientific research by obtaining the property rights of new working prototypes, and existing firms invest in developing the blueprint mode of working prototypes into the more productive modes of production in the vertical dimension. Balanced growth in the standards of living is fully endogenous without scale effects, and a new parameter, i.e., the elasticity of scientific knowledge with respect to existing collective scientific knowledge, nonlinearly accelerates long-run growth. With exogenous population growth, the model generates a semi-endogenous result due to the endogenously determined bound on technological opportunity. |
| Keywords: | Science; Technology; Blueprints; R&D; Endogenous Fertility. |
| JEL: | O41 O33 O31 |
| Date: | 2008–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9427&r=knm |
| By: | Robert E. Lucas, Jr. |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces and partially develops a new model of endogenous technological change, viewed as the product of a class of problem-solving producers. The model, based on earlier work by Eaton and Kortum, is built up from the premise that all knowledge resides in the head of some individual person and the knowledge of a firm, or economy, or any group of people is simply the knowledge of the individuals that comprise it. The model is applied to an economy with a cohort structure. A calibration the model using cross-section earnings data, in addition to aggregate GDP growth, is considered. |
| JEL: | O0 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14133&r=knm |
| By: | Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Johansson, Dan (Ratio) |
| Abstract: | High-growth firms (HGFs) are critical for net job creation and economic growth. We analyze HGFs using the theory of competence blocs, linking firm growth to property rights and the interaction of complementary expertise. Specifically, we discuss how the institutional framework affects the prevalence and performance of HGFs. Firm growth is viewed as resulting from the perpetual discovery and use of productive knowledge. A key element in this process is the competence bloc, a nexus of economic actors with complementary competencies that are vital in order to generate and commercialize novel ideas. The institutional framework determines the incentives for these individuals to acquire and utilize knowledge. We identify a number of institutions that foster the emergence of competence blocs and the creation of HGFs. In particular, our analysis points to the pivotal roles played by tax structures, labor market regulation, and the contestability of currently closed service markets. Finally, we characterize institutions beneficial for sclerotic or dynamic capitalism, respectively, depending on whether they provide a favorable environment for the emergence of competence blocs and the creation of HGFs. |
| Keywords: | Competence Bloc; Dynamic Capitalism; Entrepreneurship; Flyers; Gazelles; High-growth Firms; Industrial Policy; Innovation; Institutions; Labor Security; Product Market Regulations; Property Rights; Sclerotic Capitalism; Self-employment; Tax Policy |
| JEL: | H32 L25 L50 M13 O31 P14 |
| Date: | 2008–06–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0757&r=knm |
| By: | Benjamin F. Jones |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a model where human capital differences - rather than technology differences - can explain several central phenomena in the world economy. The results follow from the educational choices of workers, who decide not just how long to train, but also how broadly. A "knowledge trap" occurs in economies where skilled workers favor broad but shallow knowledge. This simple idea can inform cross-country income differences, international trade patterns, poverty traps, and price and wage differences across countries in a manner broadly consistent with existing empirical evidence. The model also provides insights about the brain drain, migration, and the role for multinationals in development. More generally, this paper shows that standard human capital accounting methods can severely underestimate the role of education in development. It shows how endogenous educational decisions can replace exogenous technology differences in a range of economic reasoning. |
| JEL: | F22 F23 I20 J24 J31 O11 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14138&r=knm |
| By: | Spyros Arvanitis (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich) |
| Abstract: | In this study we investigated the determinants (a) of the propensity of Swiss firms to train apprentices and (b) of the intensity of apprentice training as measured by the employment share of apprentices. Innovation, firm age and competition conditions on the product market are possible determining factors that are especially emphasized in this investigation. In a further step, we analyzed the impact of apprentice training on labour productivity when apprentice training is considered as an additional production factor in the framework of a production function. We found that the skill composition of the employment, innovation activities, firm age, labour costs, capital intensity, and competitive pressures all play a positive or negative role, even if not at the same extent, in determining the propensity and/or intensity of apprentice training. A further finding was that training propensity and/o training intensity correlate negatively with labour productivity. |
| Keywords: | start-ups, training, innovation, firm age |
| JEL: | J24 O30 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:08-198&r=knm |
| By: | Marcus Wagner |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the link between sustainability-related innovation and sustainability performance and the role that family firms play in this. This theme is particular relevant from a European point of view given the large number of firms that are family-owned. Governments often support environmentally and socially beneficial innovation with various policy instruments with the intention is to increase international competitiveness and simultaneously support sustainable development. In parallel, firms use corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental management systems partly in the hope that this will foster such innovation in their organisation. Hence the main research question of this paper is about the association of CSR and environmental management with environmentally and socially beneficial innovation and its determinants. Based on panel data, the paper analyses the link of corporate sustainability performance with sustainability innovation and the effect of being a family firm using panel estimation techniques. The paper discusses the results of the analysis, which point to a moderating role of family firms on the link of sustainability innovation and performance and assesses the policy implications of this insight. |
| Keywords: | sustainability, innovation, management, quantitative methods, family firms |
| JEL: | C30 L73 Q25 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2008-046&r=knm |
| By: | Fernando Munoz-Bullon |
| Abstract: | This contribution investigates why firms keep on downsizing once they have started to do so. From a theoretical standpoint, we develop economic and institutional explanations for explaining corporate downsizing duration. The empirical work is carried out applying event history techniques to a sample of manufacturing firms drawn from the Spanish Survey on Business Strategies from 1994 to 2005. Although results show support for persistence in downsizing over time, repeated personnel reductions is not a widespread tool in managing the workforce in this country. In addition, we find certain key corporate parameters such as profitability, temporality rate, size and employment termination costs (as well as market demand trends) to be important determinants of the continuation of on-going downsizing experiences. This is the first study on this issue using corporate-level data for Spain and multivariate methods. |
| Keywords: | Downsizing duration, Spain, Organizational learning, Manufacturing firms, Temporary contracts, Employment termination costs |
| JEL: | M54 J65 J21 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:wbrepe:wb082805&r=knm |
| By: | António Brandão Moniz (IET - Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation - WORKS project); Margarida Paulos (IET - Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation - Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Faculty of Sciences and Technology - Faculty of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Portugal had only very few foresight exercises on the automobile sector, and the most recent one was a survey held in a project on work organisation systems in the automobile industry, its recent historical paths and the special strategies of location of companies (the WorTiS project). This involved several teams with different disciplinary backgrounds and from two Portuguese universities. The provisional main results of the first round of a Delphi survey held in Portugal on the automotive sector were already published, but a further analysis was not yet done. This foresight survey was done under the WorTiS project, developed in 2004 by IET – Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation (at FCT-UNL), and financed by the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology. Some of this experience on foresight analysis is also been transferred to other projects, namely the WORKS project on work organisation restructuring in the knowledge society that received the support from EC and still is running. The majority of experts considered having an average of less knowledge in almost all the scenario topics presented. This means that information on the automotive industry is not spread enough among academics or experts in related fields (regional scientists, innovation economists, engineers, sociologists). Some have a good knowledge but in very specialised fields. Others have expertise on foresight, or macroeconomics, or management sciences, but feel insecure on issues related with futures of automobile sector. Nevertheless, we considered specially the topics where the experts considered themselves to have some knowledge. There were no “irrelevant” topics considered as such by the expert panel. There are also no topics that are not considered a need for co-operation. The lack of technological infrastructures was not considered as a hindered factor for the accomplishment of any scenario. The experts’ panel considered no other international competence besides US, Japan or Germany in these topics. Special focus will be made in this paper on the topic 2. Public policy and automobile industries, and more specifically on the technological and/or research policies issues, where one can specify the automobile’s role in transport policies with further implications like environment, safety, energy, mobility. |
| Keywords: | automotive industry; scenario; economical co-operation; technology; Delphi survey |
| Date: | 2008–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00287886_v1&r=knm |
| By: | Bastian Westbrock |
| Abstract: | Empirical work suggests that the network of research and development alliances is asymmetric, with a small number of firms involved in the majority of partnerships. This paper relates the structure of the collaboration network to a fundamental characteristic of the demand for research output: the benefits of knowledge accumulation create private and social incentives for a concentration of collaborative activities. I theoretically investigate the formation of bilateral collaborative links in two different industry settings, one socially managed, the other oligopolistic. I find that in both cases a concentrated network is the typical equilibrium structure as well as the socially efficient structure. |
| Keywords: | R&D collaboration, market structure, networks |
| JEL: | D43 D85 L13 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:0815&r=knm |