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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2010‒06‒11
six papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Pramod K. Nayar |
| Abstract: | The current knowledge economy in terms of their human rights component, the author argues, offers a space where demands and claims can be articulated. Websites, databases, documentation and archives about Rwanda, Bosnia or Indian dalits are ‘archives of suffering’. And this databasing of atrocity, deprivation and suffering is a counter-knowledge, an alternate view of both knowledge-work and globalization itself. Using critical theorists in new media and cyberculture studies, I explore the new domain of knowledge that online databases offer exploring a human rights website Witness (www.witness.org) and its poetics. |
| Keywords: | cyberculture, knowledge work, archives, witness, knowledge economy, Witness, critical theory |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2532&r=knm |
| By: | Roman, Monica |
| Abstract: | The economic success is more and more based on upon the effective utilization of intangible assets such as knowledge, skills and innovative potential as the key resource for competitive advantage. For transition countries, such as Romania and Bulgaria, the efficiency of research and development activities is particularly important, since technological progress is one of the core aspects of economic growth. In this article we describe the common features of the two countries, but also the existing differences in respect with knowledge based economy. There are significant regional differences within the countries and marginal regions must close the gap with more developed regions. The paper analyzes research efficiency at the regional level for NUTS2 regions from Romania and Bulgaria between 2003 and 2005, applying a DEA framework. Our main finding is that Bulgarian regions are more efficient in R&D activities compared to Romanian ones. The only Romanian efficient region is Bucuresti Ilfov, while the other two efficient regions are rather small Bulgarian regions, with fewer resources. They show a remarkably high level of research efficiency, whereas some of the larger regions (both from Romania and Bulgaria) lag behind. |
| Keywords: | regions knowledge economy transition countries efficiency DEA |
| JEL: | R58 P27 R11 O31 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23083&r=knm |
| By: | Reinhilde Veugelers |
| Abstract: | This Working Paper by Bruegel Senior Fellow Reinhilde Veugelers examines the potential for a knowledge-based growth path in transition countries of central and eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The paper looks closely at how total-factor productivity, a residual growth factor commonly interpreted as reflecting technological progress, drives growth rates in these economies which exhibit a much lower GDP per capita compared to the EU15 or the United States. By analysing the prerequisites for knowledge-based growth, the author explains why transition countries are at a systemic disadvantage relative to the EU15, US and Japan and have limited potential for knowledge-based growth. |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bre:wpaper:425&r=knm |
| By: | Jarle Hildrum; Dieter Ernst; Jan Fagerberg |
| Abstract: | Traditionally many studies of knowledge in economics have focused on localized networks and intra-regional collaborations. However, the rising frequency by which firms collaborate within the context of global networks of production and innovation, the increasingly intricate divisions of labor involved and the extensive use of the Internet to facilitate interaction are all relatively novel trends that underline the importance of knowledge creation and flows across different locations. Focusing on this topic, the present chapter examines the complex interactions between global production networks (GPN), digital information systems (DIS) and knowledge transfers in information technology industries. It seeks to disentangle the various conduits through which different kinds of knowledge are transferred within such networks, and investigate how recent generations of DIS are affecting those knowledge transfers. The paper concludes that the dual expansion of GPN and DIS is adding new complexity to the practice of innovation: To access knowledge necessary for sustained creativity firms often have to link up with remote partners in GPN, but to be able to absorb and utilize this knowledge, they also frequently have to engage in local interactive learning processes. These local- global linkages - and the various skills necessary to operate them - are strongly interdependent, mutually reinforcing and critical for the development and maintenance of innovation-based competitiveness. |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:icr:wpicer:07-2010&r=knm |
| By: | John Foster (School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | It is argued that the fact that economic systems are dissipative structures must be taken fully into account in economics if we are to understand the nature of the economic-ecological interface and how to deal with emergent environmental problems, such as global warming. Such problems are a product of economic growth, which is widely accepted to be the outcome of the acquisition and application of knowledge. Drawing upon disparate literatures within and outside economics, it is argued that economic growth should be more properly viewed as the outcome of a co-evolutionary process that involves the autocatalytic interaction of new knowledge and access of increasing amounts of free energy to do increasingly specialized forms of work. The conventional view is that energy is just a factor of production used increasingly as new knowledge is employed. The possibility of reverse causation is considered here. Specifically, the relevance of the ‘energy hypothesis,’ associated with Eric Schneider and his collaborators, is assessed. This hypothesis states that all dissipative structures have, as their primary objective, the reduction of accessible free energy gradients. It is concluded that such a hypothesis cannot be rejected in the context of economic behaviour and that this opens up an important research agenda for economists. It is argued that such research has to be interdisciplinary because our economic behaviour is driven by aspirational goals which are aesthetic constructions in the mind and strongly connected to our emotions. In this regard, recent neuropsychological literature, arguing that certain emotional dispositions are necessary before we can employ our cognitive capabilities effectively, is important to digest. Thus, the possibility exists that it is in the emotional domain of the mind that the energy hypothesis is operative. Aesthetic constructions are, thus, connecting agents in the knowledge-energy co-evolutionary process. Some of the macroeconomic evidence concerning the relationship between free energy use and economic growth is considered and it is found that the energy hypothesis cannot be rejected in the economic domain. However, considerably more research needs to be undertaken before any firm conclusions can be drawn. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:404&r=knm |
| By: | Antonelli Cristiano (University of Turin); Crespi Francesco; Scellato Giuseppe |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201010&r=knm |