nep-knm New Economics Papers
on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy
Issue of 2009‒02‒22
six papers chosen by
Laura Stefanescu
European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration

  1. Strategic Choice between Process and Product Innovation under Different Competitive Regimes By Luigi Filippini; Gianmaria Martini
  2. The Role of R&D and Technology Diffusion in Climate Change Mitigation: New Perspectives using the WITCH Model By Valentina Bosetti; Carlo Carraro; Romain Duval; Alessandra Sgobbi; Massimo Tavoni
  3. Cognitive styles in business and management: a review of development over the past two decades By Armstrong, S.; Cools, E.
  4. Democratization is the determinant of technological change By Coccia Mario
  5. Evaluating the Effect of Public Subsidies on firm R&D activity: an Application to Italy Using the Community Innovation Survey By Cerulli Giovanni; Poti' Bianca
  6. Investimento pubblico e privato in R&S: effetto di complementarietà o di sostituzione? By Coccia Mario

  1. By: Luigi Filippini (DISCE, Università Cattolica di Milano); Gianmaria Martini (Università di Bergamo)
    Abstract: This paper investigates the strategic choice between introducing a process or a product innovation in a duopoly model with vertical differentiation, comparing the outcomes in case of Bertrand and Cournot competition. It is shown that under both competitive regimes three equilibria in innovation adoption may arise: two symmetric equilibria, where firms select the same innovation type, and one asymmetric equilibrium. The competitive regime has an impact on the features of the asymmetric equilibrium, since in case of Bertrand competition, the high (low) quality firm chooses a product (process) innovation, while firms make the opposite choices in case of Cournot competition. The presence of a leapfrogging effect (only in the Cournot competitors tend to favor the introduction of a new product in comparison with the Bertrand competitors.
    Keywords: vertical differentiation, innovation adoption, process and product innovation, competitive regime.
    JEL: D43 L15 O33
    Date: 2009–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie6:itemq0953&r=knm
  2. By: Valentina Bosetti; Carlo Carraro; Romain Duval; Alessandra Sgobbi; Massimo Tavoni
    Abstract: This paper uses the WITCH model, a computable general equilibrium model with endogenous technological change, to explore the impact of various climate policies on energy technology choices and the costs of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations. Current and future expected carbon prices appear to have powerful effects on R&D spending and clean technology diffusion. Their impact on stabilisation costs depends on the nature of R&D: R&D targeted at incremental energy efficiency improvements has only limited effects, but R&D focused on the emergence of major new low-carbon technologies could lower costs drastically if successful – especially in the non-electricity sector, where such low-carbon options are scarce today. With emissions coming from multiple sources, keeping a wide range of options available matters more for stabilisation costs than improving specific technologies. Due to international knowledge spillovers, stabilisation costs could be further reduced through a complementary, global R&D policy. However, a strong price signal is always required.<P>Le rôle de la R&D and de la diffusion des technologies dans l’atténuation du changementclimatique : nouvelles perspectives à l’aide du modèle WITCH<BR>Cet article utilise le modèle WITCH, un modèle d’équilibre général calculable à progrès technique endogène, afin d’explorer l’impact de diverses politiques climatiques sur les choix de technologies énergétiques et les coûts de stabilisation des concentrations de gaz à effet de serre. Il apparaît que les prix courants et anticipés du carbone ont des effets puissants sur la dépense en R&D et la diffusion des technologies propres. Leur impact sur les coûts de stabilisation dépend de la nature de la R&D : une R&D améliorant l’efficacité énergétique de façon incrémentale a des effets limités, mais une R&D visant à l’émergence de nouvelles technologies sobres en carbone pourrait drastiquement réduire les coûts en cas de succès – notamment dans le secteur non-électrique, où de telles options sobres en carbone sont aujourd’hui rares. Les émissions provenant de sources multiples, garder un éventail d’options aussi large que possible influence davantage les coûts de stabilisation qu’améliorer certaines technologies spécifiques. Du fait des externalités internationales liées à la R&D, les coûts de stabilisation peuvent être encore réduits par une politique complémentaire de R&D mondiale. Cependant, un signal de prix fort est toujours nécessaire.
    Keywords: climate policy, energy R&D, politique climatique, R&D énergétique, fund, fonds, stabilisation costs, coûts de stabilisation
    JEL: H0 H2 H3 H4 O3 Q32 Q43 Q54
    Date: 2009–02–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:664-en&r=knm
  3. By: Armstrong, S.; Cools, E. (Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School)
    Abstract: This paper considers the theory, measurement, and practical relevance of cognitive style for both management practice and organisational behaviour. We simplify matters by confining our discussions to cognitive style per se, deliberately excluding the construct of learning styles. We also confine our analysis to those constructs that have a strong conceptual and empirical foundation in business and management or organisational and occupational settings. We aim to examine ways in which these styles have influenced both management and organisational behaviour from multiple perspectives over the past two decades. To conclude, we draw reasoned and authoritative conclusions about the implications that research into cognitive style has for management practice and organisational behaviour, and ways in which the field needs to develop in order to successfully bridge the relevance gap between theory and practice.
    Keywords: Cognitive styles, review, business and management, organisational behaviour, relevance gap, pragmatic science
    Date: 2009–02–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vlg:vlgwps:2009-02&r=knm
  4. By: Coccia Mario (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth, Moncalieri (Turin), Italy)
    Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between democracy and technological innovation. The primary findings are that most free countries, measured with liberal, participatory, and constitutional democracy index, have higher technological innovation than less free and more autocratic countries, so that the former have a higher interaction among social, economic and innovation systems with fruitful effects on economic growth and the wealth of nations. In fact “democracy richness” in these countries displays a higher rate of technological innovation. In addition, democratization is an antecedent process (cause) to technological innovation (effect), which is a major wellknown determinant of economic growth. These findings lead to the conclusion that policy makers need to be cognizant of positive association between democratization and technological innovation to sustain modern economic growth and future technological progress in view of the accelerating globalization.
    Keywords: Democratization, Technological Innovation, Patents, Royalty Licenses Fee, Economic Grow
    JEL: F00 O33 O34 O57 P00
    Date: 2008–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csc:cerisp:200806&r=knm
  5. By: Cerulli Giovanni (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth, Rome, Italy); Poti' Bianca (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth, Rome, Italy)
    Abstract: The aim of the paper is twofold: to verify a full policy failure of public support on private R&D effort, when in presence of a potential plurality of public incentives; to compare the most recent econometric methods used for the analysis of the input additionality. Compared to previous studies our work wants to trace out an advance in two directions: adding more robustness by comparing results from various econometric techniques and providing an analysis of the R&D policy effect behind the average results. A by-product of the paper is a taxonomy of the econometric methods used in the literature, according to the structure of the models, the type of dataset and the available policy information. We exploit the third wave of the Community Innovation Survey for Italy (1998-2000) with a sample size of 1,221 supported and 1,319 non-supported firms. Given the used type of data, the article presents two main limits: first, we do not know the level of the subsidy, so that we can control only for the presence of a total crowding-out; second, we can check only the short-run effect of the supporting policy, while an increase in the private R&D effort could be more likely in the medium term. Our results suggest that: 1. the main factors influencing the probability to participate to the incentive policy are R&D experience, human skills, liquidity constraints, but also foreign capital ownership; 2. on average, the total substitution of private funding by the public one is excluded for Italy as a whole, although some cases of total crowding-out are found: low knowledge intensive services, very small firms (10-19 employees) and the auto-vehicle industry. We get, on average, 885 additional thousand Euros of R&D expenditure per firm with a ratio equal to 4.62: it means that if a generic control unit does 1 thousand Euros of R&D expenditure a matched treated does 4.62 thousand Euros. The additionality for the R&D intensity is about 0.014 with a ratio of about 2.67.
    Keywords: Business R&D; Public Incentives; Econometric Evaluation
    JEL: O32 C52 O38
    Date: 2008–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csc:cerisp:200809&r=knm
  6. By: Coccia Mario (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth, Moncalieri (Turin), Italy)
    Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between public and private research funding. Data from Eurostat are used. The methodology applies econometric models based on regression analyses. The main results are: public R&D expenditure is a complement for private R&D one, but the latter has to be higher than the former to be a determinant for economic growth of countries. These results can be affected by several factors concerning the structure of National System of Innovation as well as Triple Helix interaction. In addition this research shows that the composition of public and private magnitude of national investment in research depends on the level of country development.
    Keywords: Research Funding, Economic Growth, Comparative Study, Research Policy
    JEL: C00 E00 E60 H50 O38 O40 O57
    Date: 2008–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csc:cerisp:200804&r=knm

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