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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2008‒11‒18
twelve papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Van Hemert, Patricia; Nijkamp, Peter |
| Abstract: | The past decade has shown a rising popularity of the notion of the knowledge-based economy. In Europe this has led to important political paradigms such as the Lisbon Accord and the Barcelona targets, which have become signposts for R&D policy in the EU. The relationship between knowledge and economic growth is often studied in a conceptual and empirical context by addressing correlations between these factors (on the basis of e.g. the new growth theory and endogenous growth theory). This paper takes a complementary, more exploratory route. Starting from the notions of modern knowledge and growth theory, it examines views and attitudes of experts and industrial, R&D or research leaders to identify the critical success factors that are decisive for economic dynamism of a region or country. Knowledge is conceived of as a social capital asset that may reduce or maintain accelerated economic growth. In our study, a sample of 'knowledge experts' is used to identify the relative importance attached by these experts to the various factors that shape the force field of a knowledge-based economy. The results are analyzed using statistical regression methods and common factor analysis. The study is carried out for different types of regions/ countries in the world (the Netherlands, developed regions, developing regions, and semi-developed regions). |
| Keywords: | critical success factors/factor analysis/growth/innovation/knowledge-based economy |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:dynreg28&r=knm |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Johansson, Börje (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Karlsson, Charlie (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This report presents a case study of the role of a large R&D intensive multinational company for a small open economy. The case study examines the role of AstraZeneca in the Swedish economy, i.e. an economy dominated by multinational companies. The purpose of the report is to analyze the interaction of AstraZeneca’s units in Sweden with the rest of the Swedish economy, and the Swedish innovation system in particular. We analyze the company’s role as an employer in the private sector, its transaction links with other Swedish firms and its role for Sweden’s exports. In a second perspective we focus on the company’s role in the Swedish knowledge economy and innovation system. The report analyses the company as a node for knowledge flows in the Swedish economy and innovation system, and its role as an employer of highly educated and skilled workers in Sweden.Our analysis of the Swedish units’ interaction with the rest of the Swedish economy shows that ’traditional’ couplings in the form of transactions with Swedish suppliers are limited. It is instead the company’s position in the ‘knowledge economy’ that makes its presence in Sweden important. |
| Keywords: | R&D; multinationals; innovation systems; innovation networks; R&D networks; pharmaceutical; anchor-tenant; spillovers; knolwedge flows |
| JEL: | D57 F14 F23 L14 L22 L65 O12 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2008–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0154&r=knm |
| By: | Lam, Alice; Lambermont-Ford, Jean-Paul |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a motivation-based perspective to explore how organisations resolve the social dilemma of knowledge sharing, and the ways in which different motivational mechanisms interact to foster knowledge sharing and creation in different organisational contexts. The core assumption is that the willingness of organisational members to engage in knowledge sharing can be viewed on a continuum from purely opportunistic behaviour regulated by extrinsic incentives to an apparently altruistic stance fostered by social norms and group identity. The analysis builds on a three-category taxonomy of motivation: adding ‘hedonic’ motivation to the traditional dichotomy of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Based on an analysis of empirical case studies in the literature, we argue that the interaction and mix of the three different motivators play a key role in regulating and translating potential into actual behaviour, and they underline the complex dynamics of knowledge sharing and creation in different organisational contexts. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge sharing; tacit knowledge; motivation; incentives; organizational learning; human resource practices |
| JEL: | L2 D83 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11488&r=knm |
| By: | Ådne Cappelen, Arvid Raknerud and Marina Rybalka (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Norwegian business spending on R&D is low by OECD standards. To stimulate business R&D, in 2002 the Norwegian government introduced a tax-based incentive, SkatteFUNN. We analyze the effects of SkatteFUNN on the likelihood of innovating and patenting. Using a rich database for Norwegian firms, we find that projects receiving tax credits result in the development of new production processes and to some extent the development of new products for the firm. Firms that collaborate with other firms are more likely to be successful in their innovation activities. However, the scheme does not appear to contribute to innovations in the form of new products for the market or patenting. |
| Keywords: | Tax credits; R&D; Patenting; Innovation; Self-selection |
| JEL: | C33 C52 D24 O38 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:565&r=knm |
| By: | Lazonick, William |
| Abstract: | A basic intellectual challenge for those concerned with the poverty of nations is -Date come -Date grips with the nature and causes of the wealth of the world?s wealthier nations. One might then be in a position -Date inform the poorer nations how they might achieve similar outcomes. This paper is organized around what I call ?the theory of innovative enterprise?, a perspective derived Date the his-Daterical and comparative study of the development of the advanced economies. The theory of innovative enterprise provides the essential analytical link between entrepreneurship and development. Section 2 offers, as a point of departure, a contrast between entrepreneurship in rich and poor nations. Section 3 outlines the theory of the innovating firm in which entrepreneurship has a role -Date play. Section 4 identifies the roles of entrepreneurship in new firm formation in terms of the types of strategy, organization, and finance that innovation requires, and emphasizes the ?disappearance? of entrepreneurship with the growth of the firm. In Section 5 I argue that, in the advanced economies, successful entrepreneurship in knowledge intensive industries has depended heavily upon a combination of business allocation of resources -Date innovative investment strategies, and government investment in the knowledge base, state sponsored protection of markets and intellectual property rights, and state subsidies -Date support these business strategies. One cannot understand national economic development without understanding the role of the developmental state. At the same time, the specific agenda and ultimate success of the developmental state cannot be unders-Dateod in abstraction Date the dynamics of innovative enterprise. It is through the interaction of the innovative enterprise and the developmental state that entrepreneurial activity inserts itself in-Date the economic system -Date contribute -Date the process of economic development. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, innovative enterprise, developmental state |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:dp2008-01&r=knm |
| By: | Key, Nigel; McBride, William D.; Ribaudo, Marc |
| Abstract: | In recent years, structural changes in the hog sector, including increasing farm size and regional shifts in production, have altered manure management practices. Over the same period, changes to the Clean Water Act, new state regulations, and increasing local conflicts over odor have influenced manure management decisions. This study uses data from two national surveys of hog farmers to examine how hog manure management practices vary with the scale of production and how these practices evolved between 1998 and 2004. The findings provide insights into the effects of structural changes and recent policies on manure management technologies and practices, the use of nutrient management plans, and manure application rates. |
| Keywords: | hog production, manure management, structural change, environmental regulation, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6071&r=knm |
| By: | Alexandre Almeida (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Cristina Santos (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Mário Rui Silva (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | The concept of Regional Innovation System (RIS) builds upon an integrated perspective of innovation, acknowledging the contribution of knowledge production subsystem, regulatory context and enterprises to a region’s innovative performance. Science and Technology parks can act as a platform to the production of knowledge and its transfer to the economy in the form of spin-offs or simple knowledge spillovers, enhanced by the co-location of R&D university centers and high technology enterprises on site. Although reflecting mainly a science push perspective, they may constitute central nodes in an infrastructural system of competitiveness that articulates other entrepreneurial location sites and bridges Universities to the economy in a more efficient and effective way, being crucial to increasing technology transfer and interchange speed, promoting the technological upgrading of the regional economy. In this paper we discuss the importance of Science and Technology Parks in the building up of a Regional Innovation System, promoting the technological intensification of the economy, a more effective knowledge transfer and sharing and the construction of competitive advantages, with particular importance in follower regions facing structural deficiencies. We oppose to the predominant closed paradigm, which understands science parks’ role in a narrow and “enclavist”, arguing in favor of an open and “integrative” paradigm where the interconnection to other infrastructures and agents boosts the park’s performance and upgrades the regional economies competitiveness infra-structures and innovation capability. We further stress the importance of science parks in signaling capabilities and hence attracting R&D external initiatives, namely, R&D FDI. |
| Keywords: | Science Parks, New technology-based firms, Innovation, Regional Policy |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O38 R58 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:302&r=knm |
| By: | Elena Cefis |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the effects of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) on corporate research and development (R&D) strategies using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data on the Dutch manufacturing sector. The focus of the research is whether M&A affect corporate innovation strategies, favouring in-house R&D and innovation expenses versus external technological sourcing. The results show that M&A activities have a positive and significant impact on innovation investments by firms, and particularly on R&D intensity and total expenditure on innovation. M&A affect corporate innovation strategies, favouring in-house R&D versus external technological sourcing. Firm post-merger behaviour favours the consolidation of the knowledge, competences and capabilities that have been acquired by merging with or by buying another firm, confirming that the reasons for a merger or acquisition are most often related to firms' innovative performance. Following involvement in a M&A, firms tend primarily to focus on fully integration of their resource bases in order to enable them to produce and sell innovative products that are new to the market. |
| Keywords: | Technology sourcing; Innovation; M&A; Heckman two-stage; Bi-Tobit. |
| JEL: | D21 O31 O32 L22 |
| Date: | 2008–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2008/25&r=knm |
| By: | Alexandre Almeida (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); António Figueiredo (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Mário Rui Silva (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | In the spirit of “The Lisbon strategy”, public policies are redirecting support from investment-driven policies to knowledge building as the main driver for competitiveness and innovation. This re-orientation poses different challenges to regions and RIS concept may be the central element, simultaneously goal and toolbox, for devising innovation promotion policies. The RIS framework stresses the need to combine a systemic and inclusive view of innovation along with territorially embedded specificities. In this paper we explore how to operationalize the concept of RIS in terms of innovation policy, arguing against a “one size fits all” approach. Concentrating our analysis on follower regions, we bridge the concept of RIS with the structural deficiencies and challenges posing to this kind of regions, for which innovation policy should seek an adequate combination between science push and demand pull perspectives. We also address the importance of taking advantage of the catching-up status, building upon R&D cost-advantages and clustering around external initiatives as well as the correction of important constraints to the construction of a RIS. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Regional Innovation Systems, Innovation Policy, Follower Regions |
| JEL: | O18 O31 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:301&r=knm |
| By: | Berchicci, L.; Tucci, C.L. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | Previous research has considered how exploratory market learning processes moderate market and technological uncertainty in radical product development. Scholars argue that new product development (NPD) teams may increase the chances of success of radically new projects by acquiring, assimilating and implementing new information from market feedback. However, research has not tackled how information is assimilated by the NPD team and to what extent the process of information implementation occurs. In this article, we begin to fill the need for such research by investigating the interaction between internal team values (beliefs and possibly ideology) and external market feedback / information in radical projects. Via the lens of a 2-year longitudinal participant-observation study, we suggest that information assimilation is not automatic, but rather influenced in interesting ways by internal team values. The findings imply that shared team values act as a selective assimilation mechanism determining whether a development team will act on user feedback. Furthermore, the type of information (e.g., functional vs. conceptual feedback) processed by the development team acts as a moderating factor on the relationship between the team values and information processing. |
| Keywords: | radical products;market feedback;team values;new product development;technological uncertainty;market learning |
| Date: | 2008–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765013765&r=knm |
| By: | Madzivhandila, Percy; Groenewald, Izak; Griffith, Garry; Fleming, Euan |
| Abstract: | Effective socio-economic service delivery is vital for alleviating poverty in developing countries. Increased financial support without complementary investment in service delivery mechanisms often results in little or no impact. This paper contributes to the discussion on how to maximize the impact of agricultural R&D. The case study examined is the South African Beef Profit Partnerships project that is underpinned by the Continuous Improvement and Innovation process. The evidence is presented using a €شrident€٠evaluation approach: a description and analysis of the process followed; the measurement of the outcomes achieved (impact); and the perspectives of the stakeholders involved. |
| Keywords: | Continuous Improvement and Innovation, Beef Profit Partnerships project, Socio-Economic Development, Sustainable Livelihoods, Research and Development, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6017&r=knm |
| By: | Bahlmann, R.D. (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculteit der Economische Wetenschappen en Econometrie (Free University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics Sciences, Business Administration and Economitrics); Huysman, M.H.; Elfring, T.; Groenewegen, P. |
| Abstract: | Recent theorizing in cluster literature emphasizes the importance of inter-cluster knowledge linkages in addition to local knowledge dynamics, enabling new and innovative ideas to flow from one cluster to the other. This paper contributes to this topic by studying inter-cluster knowledge linkages at an individual level of analysis, making use of qualitative social network measures. Central to this case is the Amsterdam New Media-cluster, with a special focus on entrepreneurs engaging in lively inter-cluster exchange of knowledge and debate, resulting in the exchange of new visions and ideas across cluster boundaries. The results reported in this paper provide us with an opportunity to discuss cluster boundaries as a social construction, especially in relation to the knowledge- based view of clusters. |
| Keywords: | inter-cluster knowledge linkages, entrepreneurship, Amsterdam New Media-cluster, Social networks |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:vuarem:2008-13&r=knm |