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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2009‒02‒07
nine papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Binz-Scharf, Maria (City College of New York, CUNY); Lazer, David (Harvard U) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore the challenges of managing e-government projects. In particular, we highlight two extraordinary managerial challenges that e-government poses: novelty and cross-agency cooperation. E-government is novel because it offers some fundamentally new possibilities for how government does business. The management of e-government is, in significant part, the management of ideas, creativity, and knowledge. E-government requires cross-agency cooperation because of functional needs for scale, consistency, and integration. We examine how four governments that have adopted a project-based approach to the introduction of e-government have coped with the challenges of novelty and cross-agency collaboration. Our findings indicate that e-government projects experience different activities and coordination mechanisms according to the stage of completion of the project and the complexity of the task at hand. We discuss the implications of our findings for the management of e-government projects. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp08-048&r=knm |
| By: | Jeroen de Jong |
| Abstract: | The current paper explores the antecedents of small business owners' decision to exploit identified opportunities for innovation. Drawing on social psychology, entrepreneurship and organizational behavior literature three potential antecedents are proposed: attitude towards the opportunity, subjective norms of close ties, and perceived behavioral control. It is hypothesized that each of these constructs correlates with the decision to innovate. Drawing on multiple-source survey data of 160 high tech small business owners in the Netherlands, it is found that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are positively related to the decision to innovate. Moreover, a three-way interaction is estimated and confirmed, suggesting that when all antecedents are simultaneously present, opportunity exploitation is significantly more likely. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. |
| Date: | 2009–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eim:papers:h200902&r=knm |
| By: | Giannetti, C. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effects of relationship lending on firm innovativeness using a panel of Italian manufacturing firms. In order to disentangle the impact of bank ties on the discovery phase from that in the introduction phase of new technologies, the analysis proceeds in two steps, estimating two distinct equations for each phase. As there are conflicting theoretical predictions on the effects of the various sources of funding in the different stages of the innovative process, this study provides results for small and high-tech firms, so as to control for firm heterogeneity, relying on both cross-section and panel data techniques. Results suggest that for small firms, banks do not carry out a sophisticated intervention at the stage of development of new technologies, playing their traditional role of financing investments of constrained firms. Differently, relationship banks do play an important role in both phases for high-tech firms. |
| Keywords: | Credit relationship;external financing;bank competition. |
| JEL: | C34 G21 O31 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200908&r=knm |
| By: | Sipos, Gabriela Lucia |
| Abstract: | A strong motivation to replace the comparative advantage theory with the competitive advantage theory is given by the significant change of the present economic conditions comparing with the old conditions that inspired the competitive advantage issues. The dynamic character of the market competition and the fact that, in the present, the competitiveness is located to enterprise’s level and not to the level of the national economy are some important argues that sustain the necessity and the opportunity to move the economic thinking from the comparative advantage theory to the competitive advantage theory. In the past, the comparative advantage of an economy was given by the natural resources, by the geographical position or by the specific features of products or services. Nowadays the competitive advantage is created through innovation by all its forms. |
| Keywords: | innovation; comparative advantage; competitive advantage |
| JEL: | O32 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13078&r=knm |
| By: | Mergel, Ines (Harvard U); Lazer, David (Harvard U); Binz-Scharf, Maria (City College of New York, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | Knowledge is essential for the functioning of every social system, especially for professionals in knowledge-intensive organizations. Since individuals do not possess all the work-related knowledge that they require, they turn to others in search for that knowledge. While prior research has mainly focused on antecedents and consequences of knowledge sharing and understanding why people do not share knowledge, less is known why people provide knowledge, and what conditions trigger voluntary engagement in knowledge sharing. Our paper addresses this gap by proposing a multi-level framework for voluntary engagement in knowledge sharing: individual, relational, group, and informational. We provide illustrations from a particular knowledge-intensive community, DNA forensic scientists who work at public laboratories. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp08-047&r=knm |
| By: | Thomas Ziesemer (University of Augsburg, Department of Economics); Peter Michaelis (University of Augsburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Recent political discussions about the possible advantages of first-mover behaviour in terms of environmental policy again called attention to the well-established controversy about the effects of environmental regulation on international competitiveness. Conventional theory claims that the trade-off between regulation and competitiveness will be negative while the revisionist view, also known as the Porter Hypothesis, argues for the opposite. Several previous attempts that analysed this quarrel by means of strategic trade game settings indeed support the former claim and conclude that, to increase a firm’s competitiveness, ecological dumping is the most likely outcome in a Cournot duopoly configuration. However, these results were derived from one period games in which so-called innovation offsets are unlikely to occur. The present paper considers a two-period model that includes an intertemporally growing firm-level knowledge capital. In doing so the accumulation of knowledge is modelled in a unilateral and a bilateral variant. It is shown that for both scenarios in period 1 the domestic government will set a higher emission tax rate compared to its foreign counterpart. Furthermore, we identify conditions for which the domestic tax rate will be set above the Pigouvian level in period 1 in both model variants. |
| Keywords: | first-mover behaviour, Porter Hypothesis, strategic environmental policy, environmental regulation, international competitiveness |
| JEL: | F18 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auh:wpaper:0004&r=knm |
| By: | Kristjanson, Patti (?); Reid, Robin (?); Dickson, Nancy (?); Clark, William C. (Harvard U); Vishnubhotla, Prasad (?); Romney, Dannie (?); Bezkorowajnyj, Peter (?); Said, Mohammed (?); Kaelo, Dickson (?); Makui, Ogeli (?); Nkedianye, David (?); Nyangaga, Julius (?); Okwi, Paul (?); Puskur, Ranjitha (?); Tarawali, Shirley (?); MacMillan, Susan (?); Grace, Delia (?); Randolph, Tom (?); Affognon, Hippolyte (?) |
| Abstract: | This paper asks "What kinds of approaches and institutions, under what sorts of conditions, are most effective for harnessing scientific knowledge in support of strategies for environmentally sustainable development and poverty alleviation?" In applying an innovative conceptual framework to a diverse set of sustainable poverty-focused projects undertaken in numerous African and Asian countries, we found that strategies key to closing gaps between knowledge and action include: combining different kinds of knowledge, learning and bridging approaches, strong and diverse partnerships that level the playing field, and building capacity to innovate and communicate. |
| JEL: | O13 O16 O17 O31 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp08-045&r=knm |
| By: | MacGregor, Steven P. (IESE Business School); Fontrodona, Joan (IESE Business School) |
| Abstract: | An exploration of the fit or space between CSR and innovation is presented, based on the RESPONSE project, a 15-month study involving 60 SMEs throughout Europe. The main practical output of the project was the Social Innovation model, yet a conceptual understanding of CSR and innovation is best advanced through the three hypotheses that constitute the conclusions of the project: H1) The diffusion of CSR should be modelled on the diffusion of innovation; H2) CSR implementation and innovation can be configured to form a virtuous circle; and H3) There is a maturity path toward true integration of CSR and innovation. These three hypotheses inform, respectively, on the background, results and development of the project. H1 is framed within the context of the original European Commission call and proposal; H2 ties in with the Social Innovation model; and H3 is discussed in the light of a short case involving a high-performing SME. Since the hypotheses were the result of the project, we do not attempt to prove them here, but discuss their significance, with the idea that further research and community development will fully evaluate their accuracy. |
| Keywords: | Corporate social responsibility; innovation; small and medium-size enterprises; |
| Date: | 2008–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0759&r=knm |
| By: | Oscar F. Bustiza (Universidad de Granada. Dpt. of Business Management); Matilde Morales-Gallego (Universidad de Granada. Dpt. of Business Management) |
| Abstract: | Few corporate practises have awakened so much recent interest as outsourcing. Seen as the carrying out of a process or activity by an external company or organisation, when this process was traditionally undertaken within the heart of the company, it is not known how far it can be used to determine the limits of the company and, the final aim of this article, the repercussion of its use from the perspective of corporate results analysis. In this way, it appears indispensable to study the internal capabilities of the organisations, in particular their flexibility and the knowledge management that they carry out, understanding that these variables act as moderators when it comes to determining the true effects of outsourcing on the determination of results |
| Keywords: | Outsourcing, Knowledge Management, Flexibility, Profits. |
| Date: | 2008–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:fegper:08/01&r=knm |