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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2008‒08‒21
nine papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Brunner, Daniuel; Voigt, Tim |
| Abstract: | The simulation studies presented by Nelsen and Winter (1982) examine the modelling of industry dynamics. These studies are a prominent and unique approach visualizing innovation and imitation processes. Assuming the standard model envisages firms acting individually, this paper treats the question concerning how the dynamic of the market changes in the case of inter-firm cooperation. Thereby we refer to one of our case studies (Brunner / Voigt 2008) and reconstruct interactions between the cooperation participants. On the one hand, we extend the Nelson-Winter-model by a factor market where the cooperation is able to bundle its demand. On the other hand, the model is enlarged by interactions of the cooperation actors in terms of innovation and imitation processes. A fundamental result of the simulation studies is that the cooperation participants improve their market position due to the cooperation. In particular, this study shows how the cooperation supports and simultaneously accelerates the dissemination of innovation. |
| Keywords: | Nelson-Winter; diffusion proccesses; knowledge communication; simulation study |
| JEL: | O33 D4 M13 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10027&r=knm |
| By: | Marsh, Leslie; Onof, Christian |
| Abstract: | To know is to cognize, to cognize is to be a culturally bounded, rationality-bounded and environmentally located agent. Knowledge and cognition are thus dual aspects of human sociality. If social epistemology has the formation, acquisition, mediation, transmission and dissemination of knowledge in complex communities of knowers as its subject matter, then its third party character is essentially stigmergic. In its most generic formulation, stigmergy is the phenomenon of indirect communication mediated by modifications of the environment. Extending this notion one might conceive of social stigmergy as the extra-cranial analog of an artificial neural network providing epistemic structure. This paper recommends a stigmergic framework for social epistemology to account for the supposed tension between individual action, wants and beliefs and the social corpora. We also propose that the so-called ‘‘extended mind’’ thesis offers the requisite stigmergic cognitive analog to stigmergic knowledge. Stigmergy as a theory of interaction within complex systems theory is illustrated through an example that runs on a particle swarm optimization algorithm. |
| Keywords: | Social epistemology; Extended mind; Social cognition; Particle swarm optimization |
| JEL: | D83 B53 D87 |
| Date: | 2007–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10004&r=knm |
| By: | Martin Srholec (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Innovation is a multilevel phenomenon. Not only characteristics of firms but also the environment within which firms operate matter. Although this has been recognized in the literature for a long time, a quantitative test that explicitly considers the hypothesis that framework conditions affect innovativeness of firms has been lacking. Using a large sample of firms from many developing countries, we estimate a multilevel model of innovation that integrates explanatory factors at different levels of the analysis. Apart from various firm’s characteristics, national economic, technological and institutional conditions are demonstrated to directly predict the likelihood of firms to innovate. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, technological capability, multilevel modeling, institutions, developing countries. |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20080812&r=knm |
| By: | Charles Manski (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | <p><p><p>This paper develops a broad theme about policy choice under ambiguity through study of a particular decision criterion. The broad theme is that, where feasible, choice between a status quo policy and an innovation is better framed as selection of a treatment allocation than as a binary decision. Study of the static minimax-regret criterion and its adaptive extension substantiate the theme. When the optimal policy is ambiguous, the static minimax-regret allocation always is fractional absent large fixed costs or deontological considerations. In dynamic choice problems, the adaptive minimax-regret criterion treats each cohort as well as possible, given the knowledge available at the time, and maximizes intertemporal learning about treatment response.</p></p></p> |
| JEL: | D7 H0 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:10/08&r=knm |
| By: | Hassani, Hossein; Gheitanchi, Shahin; Yeganegi, Mohammad Reza |
| Abstract: | Retrieving valuable knowledge and statistical patterns from official data has a great potential in supporting strategic policy making. Data Mining (DM) techniques are well-known for providing flexible and efficient analytical tools for data processing. In this paper, we provide an introduction to applications of DM to official statistics and flag the important issues and challenges. Considering recent advancements in software projects for DM, we propose intelligent data control system design and specifications as an example of DM application in official data processing. |
| Keywords: | Data mining; Official data; Intelligent data control system. |
| JEL: | C6 C0 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10070&r=knm |
| By: | Joel Stiebale; Frank Reize |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the welfare effects of foreign direct investment by investigating the effects of cross-border mergers and acquisitions on innovation activities in target firms. The empirical analysis is based on survey and ownership data for a large sample of small- and mediumsized German firms. After controlling for endogeneity and selection bias, it is found that foreign takeovers have a large negative impact on the propensity to perform innovation activities and a negative impact on average R&D expenditures in innovative firms. Furthermore, innovation output, measured as the share of sales from product innovations is not significantly affected by a foreign takeover for a given amount of innovation efforts. Hence, the estimation results do not show any evidence of significant technology spillovers through foreign direct investment in form of a higher innovation success. |
| Keywords: | Multinational enterprises, mergers and acquisitions, innovation |
| JEL: | D21 F23 G34 C31 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0050&r=knm |
| By: | Erika Harden; Douglas L. Kruse; Joseph R. Blasi |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship of "shared capitalist" compensation systems - profit/gainsharing, employee ownership, and stock options - to the culture for innovation and employees' ability and willingness to engage in innovative activity. Using a large dataset with over 25,000 employee surveys in over 200 worksites of a large multinational organization, we find that both shared capitalism compensation and high performance work policies contribute to these innovation outcomes. Owning company stock is the most consistently positive compensation variable in predicting both an innovation culture and willingness to engage in innovative activity. We also find that shared capitalism and high performance work policies have stronger effects in predicting an innovation culture when they are combined, and that the effects of shared capitalism and high performance work policies are partially, but not wholly, mediated through greater employee alignment with company strategy. The findings are consistent with agency theories predicting that the principal agent problem can be addressed by a combination of shared incentives and cooperative culture which encourages mutual monitoring and opportunities to share information. |
| JEL: | J33 J54 L23 L25 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14234&r=knm |
| By: | Marcus Wagner |
| Abstract: | Innovation activities in high technology industries provide considerable challenges for technology and innovation management. In particular, since these industries have a long history of radical innovations taking place through distinct industry cycles of higher and lower demand, firms frequently consider the option to use acquisitions as a means for technology sourcing. The paper investigates this behaviour for three high technology industries, namely semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology and electronic design automation which is a specific sub-segment of the semiconductor industry. It analyses the association of firm characteristics with different aspects of acquisition behaviour with a particular focus being put on innovation-related firm characteristics. The paper confirms a substitutive relationship between acquisitions and own research activities as well as between own and acquired firm patenting, but also finds that firm size, financial conditions and geographical origin of the firm matter for acquisition behaviour. |
| Keywords: | Acquisition, innovation, high technology, quantitative methods, research, R&D |
| JEL: | L10 L86 M20 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2008-055&r=knm |
| By: | Rupert Harrison; Jordi Jaumandreu; Jacques Mairesse; Bettina Peters |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of process and product innovations introduced by firms on employment growth in these firms. A simple model that relates employment growth to process innovations and to the growth of sales separately due to innovative and unchanged products is developed and estimated using comparable firm-level data from France, Germany, Spain and the UK. Results show that displacement effects induced by productivity growth in the production of old products are large, while those associated with process innovations, which are likely to be compensated by price decreases, appear to be small. The effects related to product innovations are, however, strong enough to overcompensate these displacement effects. |
| JEL: | D2 J23 L1 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14216&r=knm |