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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2008‒12‒01
eight papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Martina Kauffeld-Monz (Institute for Urban Science and Structural Policy (IfS Berlin), Germany.); Michael Fritsch (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW-Berlin), and Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany.) |
| Abstract: | The discussion on regional innovation systems emphasizes the duality of local and global links. While the former enable effective knowledge exchange between regional actors, the latter are considered to provide regional systems with knowledge diverse to their knowledge base. Our empirical analysis of 18 German regional innovation networks highlights the importance of public research organizations for inter-regional knowledge exchange. The broker and gatekeeper function of public research organizations may be particularly important in lagging regions that typically suffer from a lack of large firms who often assume the role of "gatekeepers of knowledge". |
| Keywords: | Regional systems of innovation, innovation networks, knowledge broker, gatekeeper |
| JEL: | D83 D85 L14 |
| Date: | 2008–22–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2008-089&r=knm |
| By: | JOSE MANUEL ESTEVES (Instituto de Empresa) |
| Abstract: | This exploratory study attempts to analyze the way women and men perceive talking about information and communication technology, and its impact in knowledge sharing. Based in 14 focus groups we have defined a conceptual model to interpret this impact in ICT knowledge sharing. Our research findings show that there are differences between men and women, thus gender is a critical factor in ICT knowledge sharing. Also, social, cultural and educational factors have a strong negative impact in their behaviour. Furthermore, we posit that the attitude predisposes a favourable (men) and unfavourable (women) reaction to talk about ICT and this affects ICT knowledge sharing. |
| Keywords: | Focus group, Gender, Knowledge |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emp:wpaper:wp08-29&r=knm |
| By: | Sköld, Martin (Dept. of Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Knowledge development patterns in radically new product architectures are explored. The aim is to achieve rich insights to generate explanatory propositions from a longitudinal field-study of three years. Results descend from a strategically selected sample pictured by a large industrial corporation up to develop a new product architecture as a principal mean to achieve synergies from an acquisition process. The study demonstrates how knowledge about two domains; components and architecture, simultaneously changes when developing radically new product architectures. Explanatory propositions suggest: (1) architecture to add complexity and uncertainty; (2) components to reduce complexity and uncertainty; (3) and architectural knowledge to be developed from knowledge about components. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge development; patterns; radical innovation |
| Date: | 2008–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hastba:2008_008&r=knm |
| By: | Jeroen de Jong; Vareska van de Vrande; Wim Vanhaverbeke; Maurice de Rochemont |
| Abstract: | Although evidence for open innovation practices has been provided for large MNEs, they have not yet been analyzed systematically for SMEs. This paper presents the results of a survey among 605 Dutch innovating SMEs. The results show that SMEs are increasingly adapting open innovation practices. Moreover, they indicate a difference in the adaption to open innovation between manufacturing and services firms, and between larger and smaller SMEs. Larger SMEs adapting more quickly and in a more structured and professionalized way to open innovation than smaller ones. The survey furthermore shows that SMEs generally pursue an open innovation strategy to realize market-related objectives such as meeting customer demands, or keeping up with competitors. In addition, the results show that the most important barriers respondents face are related to the organizational and cultural differences when cooperating with other partners. Other serious barriers are administrative burdens, financing and knowledge transfer problems. |
| Date: | 2008–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eim:papers:h200819&r=knm |
| By: | Pirvu, Cerasela; Giurca Vasilescu, Laura; Mehedintu, Anca |
| Abstract: | Nowadays, the importance of the SME field becomes more and more a real basis for establishing and developing a modern, dynamic knowledge-based economy because their capacity to stimulate private ownership and entrepreneurial skills; to be flexible and to adapt quickly to a changing market; to generate new jobs. The accession of Romania to the European Union involve a lot of challenges and among them, the SME development plays a central role. So, the Romanian Government settled up the main priorities regarding the development of the small business sector: creating a business environment supportive of SME development and growth; developing SME competitiveness; improving SME access to financing; improving SME export performance; promoting an entrepreneurial culture and strengthening management performance. An intrinsic constituent of this process is represented by the access of the companies to the financing which must be made in correlation with the adopted strategy of development, because this development needs time and, necessarily, the existence of the financing sources. The choice of these sources depends on the financial structure of the enterprise, on its financial situation. So, enterprises can choose between the internal sources and the external sources, the difference between these both being represented by their stability, their independence, their cost and the priority of the owners of capital in the situation of a bankruptcy. Even if the internal sources are most often preferred by the managers because they assure the independence of the enterprise, these are not always sufficient. In that case, companies use the external financing sources which also have advantages as the deductibility of the expenses with the interests, what makes them less expensive. |
| Keywords: | SMEs; financing; credit banking; risks; Romania |
| JEL: | O16 G32 G21 |
| Date: | 2008–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11788&r=knm |
| By: | Martin Woerter (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Stephen Roper (Centre for Small and Medium Enterprises, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK) |
| Abstract: | Recent studies in the tradition of Schmookler have re-emphasised the potential role of demand in stimulating innovation. Here, we reconsider the role of ‘home’ and ‘export’ market demand in stimulating manufacturing innovation using comparable panel data for two small open economies – Ireland and Switzerland. Our analysis is based on the estimation of reduced form innovation production functions using panel data estimators over the sample period 1994 to 2005. For a range of innovation indicators, however, we find little evidence of any significant market demand effects, with innovation performance instead determined largely by firm-level capability effects and characteristics. In policy and strategy terms this suggests the continued value of measures to improve innovation capability regardless of market demand conditions. In more methodological terms our results suggest the validity of the usual assumption implicit in modelling innovation outputs that supply-side factors predominate. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, demand, Ireland, Switzerland |
| JEL: | O3 O5 P5 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:08-210&r=knm |
| By: | Manuel A. Hidalgo Pérez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Jesús Rodríguez López (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); José María O´Kean Alonso (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | Using the EU KLEMS dataset we test the capital-skill complementarity hypothesis in a cross-section of sectors in Spain between 1980 and 2005. We analyze three groups of workers, who are classed according to skill level: high, medium and low. Capital assets have been broken down into ICT (information and communication technologies) assets and non-ICT assets. Acquisition and usage costs of ICT assets declined throughout the period studied, both in absolute terms and relative to the other capital assets and workers. Our principal finding is that the substitutibility between workers and ICT assets falls as worker skill level rises. In fact, the ICT assets were strongly complement with highly skilled workers and were not substitutive with them. Throughout the period analyzed, the fraction of employed medium- and high-skill workers rose by 21% and 12%, respectively, to the disadvantage of low-skill workers. After decomposing these changes, we found that the latter were dominated by an ajustment within sectors more than by a composition effect or adjustment between sectors. These adjustments may be explained by reference to the estimated elasticities of substitution. |
| Keywords: | capital-skill complementarity, ICT, translog cost function, elasticity of substitution. |
| JEL: | E22 J24 J31 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:08.12&r=knm |
| By: | Jasmina Arifovic (Department of economics - Simon Fraser University); Herbert Dawid (Dept. of Business Administration - Bielefeld University); Christophe Deissenberg (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - CNRS : UMR6579); Olena Kostyshyna (Portland State University - Portland State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the potential commitment value of cheap talkinflation announcements in an agent-based dynamic extension of theKydland-Prescott model. In every period, the policy maker makesa non-binding inflation announcement before setting the actualinflation rate. It updates its decisions using individual evolutionarylearning. The private agents can choose between two differentforecasting strategies: They can either set their forecast equal tothe announcement or compute it, at a cost, using an adaptive learningscheme. They switch between these two strategies as a function ofinformation about the associated payoffs they obtain throughword-of-mouth, choosing always the currently most favorable one.Weshow that the policy maker is able to sustain a situation with apositive but fluctuating fraction of believers. This equilibrium isPareto superior to the outcome predicted by standard theory. Theinfluence of changes in key parameters and the impact of transmissionof information among nonbelievers on the dynamics are studied. |
| Keywords: | time inconsistency; bounded rationality; forecast and agentheterogeneity; cheap talk; evolutionary learning |
| Date: | 2008–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00339761_v1&r=knm |