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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2008‒08‒06
nine papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Onetti Alberto (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, Italy); Odorici Vincenza (Business Administration Department , University of Bologna, Italy); Presutti Manuela (Business Administration Department , University of Bologna, Italy) |
| Abstract: | Using qualitative methodology, we aim to understand how serial entrepreneurs can foster the development of born-global ventures. We consider a born-global start-up as the final stage of the learning process for a serial entrepreneur, advancing propositions regarding the importance of prior entrepreneurial experience – in terms of knowledge acquisition, identification and exploitation of opportunities, social networks development – for bornglobal venture creation and growth. We verify that the serial entrepreneur’s previous entrepreneurial experiences could substitute for the lack of knowledge, opportunity recognition and social networks of a born-global start-up. Thus, we recognize the necessity of a shift in the unit of analysis, from born-global start-up to a global serial entrepreneur. Moreover, we suggest to follow a dynamic approach when the born-global start-up issue is discussed since we expect that the entrepreneur’s learning process evolves over time in relation to their quality of previous experiences. |
| Keywords: | born-global, international new ventures, entrepreneurship, serial entrepreneur, internationalization, social network, entrepreneurial experience, opportunity identification, opportunity exploration, longitudinal case study. |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ins:quaeco:qf0801&r=knm |
| By: | Hulsink, W.; Elfring, T.; Stam, W. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | Social networks matter in the innovation processes of young and small firms, since ‘innovation does not exist in a vacuum (Van De Ven, 1986: 601).’ The contacts a firm has could both generate advantages for further innovation and growth, and disadvantages leading to inertia and stagnation. In the first case the existing social network or the new business contact provides opportunities furthering eventual success, in the second case, the existing network or the new business contacts turns out to have a constraining or even detrimental effect on performance. The search and use of social capital is driven by goal-specificity: it only includes those ties that help the actor in the attainment of particular goals. Most of the research so far has been deliberately or unwillingly one-sided, by for instance only looking at entrepreneurial firms in dynamic industries (or more specifically, start-ups in the high-tech industries). Or selective attention has been paid to either the internal sources or the external contacts to trigger innovation. And when a conclusive study has been conducted into investigating both the effect of internal and external ties on innovation, the sample often includes large and established companies and managers (instead of entrepreneurs and smaller firms, as what we are interested in). The main line of reasoning in this paper is as follows. In the first section we discuss the key network concepts, such as, social capital, relational embeddedness (strong and weak ties), structural embeddedness (i.e. structural holes). Section two deals with innovation and the central role of knowledge in the discovery and realisation of innovations. Social networks and its potential for knowledge brokering appear to be important and therefore the last section focuses on the relationship between particular network characteristics and innovation. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship;innovation;social capital;networking;small- and medium-sized firms;James Dyson |
| Date: | 2008–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765012873&r=knm |
| By: | Irene Valsecchi (University of Milano-Bicocca) |
| Abstract: | The survey is concerned with the issue of information transmission from experts to non-experts. Two main approaches to the use of experts can be traced. According to the game-theoretic approach expertise is a case of asymmetric information between the expert, who is the better informed agent, and the non-expert, who is either a decision-maker or an evaluator of the expert’s performance. According to the Bayesian decision-theoretic approach the expert is the agent who announces his probabilistic opinion, and the non-expert has to incorporate that opinion into his beliefs in a consistent way, despite his poor understanding of the expert’s substantive knowledge. The two approaches ground the relationships between experts and non-experts on such different premises that their results are very poorly connected. |
| Keywords: | Expert, Information Transmission, Learning |
| JEL: | D81 L21 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2008.35&r=knm |
| By: | Jaison R. Abel; Todd M. Gabe |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between human capital and economic activity in U.S. metropolitan areas, extending the existing literature in two important ways. First, we utilize new data on metropolitan-area GDP to measure economic activity. Using educational attainment as an indicator of human capital, we find that a one-percentage-point increase in the proportion of residents with a college degree is associated with a 2.3 percent increase in metropolitan-area GDP per capita. Second, we move beyond the conventional proxy for human capital (educational attainment) to develop new measures that reflect the types of knowledge within U.S. metropolitan areas. Results show that knowledge associated with the provision of producer services and information technology are particularly important determinants of economic vitality in U.S. metropolitan areas. |
| Keywords: | Human capital ; Metropolitan areas - Statistics ; Gross domestic product ; Education - Economic aspects |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:332&r=knm |
| By: | Athanasios Orphanides; John C. Williams |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the robustness characteristics of optimal control policies derived under the assumption of rational expectations to alternative models of expectations formation and uncertainty about the natural rates of interest and unemployment. We assume that agents have imperfect knowledge about the precise structure of the economy and form expectations using a forecasting model that they continuously update based on incoming data. We also allow for central bank uncertainty regarding the natural rates of interest and unemployment. We find that the optimal control policy derived under the assumption of perfect knowledge about the structure of the economy can perform poorly when knowledge is imperfect. These problems are exacerbated by natural rate uncertainty, even when the central bank's estimates of natural rates are efficient. We show that the optimal control approach can be made more robust to the presence of imperfect knowledge by deemphasizing the stabilization of real economic activity and interest rates relative to inflation in the central bank loss function. That is, robustness to the presence of imperfect knowledge about the economy provides an incentive to employ a "conservative" central banker. We then examine two types of simple monetary policy rules from the literature that have been found to be robust to model misspecification in other contexts. We find that these policies are robust to the alternative models of learning that we study and natural rate uncertainty and outperform the optimal control policy and generally perform as well as the robust optimal control policy that places less weight on stabilizing economic activity and interest rates. |
| Keywords: | Rational expectations (Economic theory) ; Monetary policy ; Econometric models |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2008-09&r=knm |
| By: | Dostie, Benoit (HEC Montreal); Jayaraman, Rajshri (European School of Management and Technology (ESMT)) |
| Abstract: | Using a large longitudinal, nationally representative workplace-level dataset, we explore the productivity gains associated with computer use and organizational redesign. The empirical strategy involves the estimation of a production function, augmented to account for technology use and organizational design, correcting for unobserved heterogeneity. We find large returns associated with computer use. We also find that computer use and organizational redesign may be complements or substitutes in production, and that the productivity gains associated with organizational redesign are industry-specific. |
| Keywords: | linked employer-employee data, workplace practices, productivity, information technologies |
| JEL: | D20 L20 M54 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3612&r=knm |
| By: | Anna Ilyina; Roberto Samaniego |
| Abstract: | The benefits from financial development are known to vary across industries. However, no systematic effort has been made to determine the technological characteristics that are shared by industries that tend to grow relatively faster in more financially developed countries. This paper explores a range of technological characteristics that might underpin differences across industries in the need or the ability to raise external funding. The main finding is that industries that grow faster in more financially developed countries tend to display greater R&D intensity or investment lumpiness, indicating that well-functioning financial markets direct resources towards industries that grow by performing R&D. |
| Keywords: | Technology transfer , External financing , Industrial investment , Investment policy , Development , Production growth , |
| Date: | 2008–07–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/182&r=knm |
| By: | Ferris, Shaun; Engoru, Patrick; Kaganzi, Elly |
| Abstract: | "There is growing pressure for farmers in countries such as Uganda to accelerate their efforts to commercialize production in the face of increasing market competition from neighboring countries and across the world. To assist farmers, a new generation of low cost market information services is being developed that takes advantage of information and communication technologies such as FM radios, mobile phones, and internet-based communications systems, to enable farmers to monitor and adjust to dynamic market conditions in local, national, and export markets. Although there is much interest in market information from farmers, other market chain actors, and service providers, there is skepticism from funding agencies to support such services over the long term, due to past failures. This study therefore aims to evaluate how farmers access and use market information to improve their market decision making. It also evaluates whether there are any advantages of collective action in using market information to improve marketing decisions. This is considered an important point of analysis as virtually all extension plans in Uganda currently use farmer groups as key element of their learning and intervention strategies. Survey results found that all farmers interviewed were able to access market information through radio and mobile phones. In Uganda, up to 94 percent of farmers interviewed owned a radio and 25 percent of farmers owned mobile phones. Up to 52 percent of farmers indicated that receiving Market Information Services (MIS) had a positive impact on their business, and 39 percent stated that it had a lot of impact in terms of decision making and stabilizing incomes." authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Market Information Services, Group Marketing, Collective action, FM Radio, Mobile Phone, SMS, income, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:worpps:77&r=knm |
| By: | Fabio Mariani (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at explaining why countries with comparable levels of education still experience notable differences in terms of R&D and innovation. High-skilled migration, ultimately linked to differences in R&D costs, might be responsible for the persistence of such a gap. In fact, in a model where human capital accumulation and innovation are strategic complements, we show that allowing labor outflows may strengthen educational incentives in the lagging economy if migration is probabilistic in nature, but at the same time reduces the share of innovative production. Income (growth) might be consequently affected, and a positive migration chance is very unlikely to act as a substitute for educational subsidies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Education; Brain drain. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00308746_v1&r=knm |