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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2011‒04‒23
ten papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Gault, Fred (UNU-MERIT, and TUT-IERI Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the social impacts of the development of science, technology and innovation indicators. The approach deals separately with the development process and with the use of the indicators that result. Underlying the discussion is an assumption that indicators are a technology, a product, which governs behaviour, is modified by users (outside of the producer community), and develops in response to user needs. Science and technology indicators are considered separately from innovation indicators, and the importance of language based on codified and tacit knowledge is emphasized. The knowledge is codified in manuals, and the tacit knowledge is held in overlapping communities of practice that develop the manuals, gather the data, produce the indicators and use them. Finally, there is a discussion of how this process changes and renews itself. |
| Keywords: | Economic impacts, social impacts, innovation indicators, science and technology indicators, indicators, social constructs, knowledge |
| JEL: | O33 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011008&r=knm |
| By: | Schwalje, Wes |
| Abstract: | The movement of many countries towards knowledge-based economic development requires the transition to more effective skill formation systems. This paper proposes an institutionalist approach to national skills development systems in the advancement towards knowledge-based economic development. There is currently no accepted general framework to analyze national skills development systems which has resulted in countries adopting reactive approaches to skills development problems. The conceptual framework advanced is an integrated, systemic view of national skills formation systems guided by government intervention in light of rampant failures of neo-liberal skills formation approaches that rely upon market mechanisms. The framework contributes to the skills formation literature by reviewing, synthesizing, and building on the literature from a multidisciplinary perspective that considers the relevant institutions and interests of key stakeholders as highly interrelated in the context of knowledge-based economic development and achievement of accompanying economic, political, and social objectives. |
| Keywords: | skills formation; knowledge economy; competitiveness; skills development policy; economic development |
| JEL: | J40 J41 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30302&r=knm |
| By: | Doranova, Asel (Technopolis Consulting Group); Costa, Ionara (UNU-MERIT); Duysters, Geert (Eindhoven University of Technology and Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | Technology transfer in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects of the Kyoto Protocol has become one of the important issues addressed both in policy agenda and by academic scholars. In many CDM project host countries, technology transfer is among the key provisions of sustainable development objectives of the CDM projects. This study is an effort to investigate CDM projects' related technology transfer process from the organizational learning perspective. The prerequisite for successful technology transfer and organizational technological learning is to foster technological capabilities (TC) of an organization. In this study we used data from our survey of the CDM project host organizations in four largest CDM host countries India, Brazil, Mexico and China. We assessed TC building progress and studied various characteristics of the organizations. The present paper focuses on absorptive capacity related determinants of technological capability building in the CDM projects. Absorptive capacity is a multidimensional concept thus we investigated the effect of the dimensions such as prior knowledge, personnel qualification, and training efforts. A strong positive association was established between prior knowledge and TC building; and less for qualification variable. Besides we proved a curvilinear relationship between prior knowledge and TC building outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Clean Development Mechanism, Technology transfer, technological capability building, technological learning, absorptive capacity |
| JEL: | O13 O19 O57 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011010&r=knm |
| By: | NAGAOKA Sadao; OWAN Hideo |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the sources of firm-level scale economies in R&D, based on unique project-level data from a new large-scale survey of Japanese inventors, matched with firm-level data. We focus on four sources: complementary assets, internal and external knowledge inflows, and inventor team size. Major findings include: (1) a larger firm tends to generate more patents from a research project but not more valuable patents, controlling for the objectives and the R&D investment (inventive efforts) for the project; (2) the sales of a firm rather than its R&D (or patent stocks) significantly affects the number of patents from the project, suggesting that the main source of such scale economy is not internal knowledge inflow but "appropriation advantage" of a large firm; (3) an inventor in a large firm often gains important knowledge for the project from internal knowledge inflow as well as from scientific literature. However, the performance of R&D-for which internal knowledge is important-tends to be low; and (4) the size of inventor teams increases with firm size and technological diversity. A larger team size is significantly associated with higher patent value and, as such, the size of the inventor team is one source of firm-level scale economies. |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:11038&r=knm |
| By: | Gault, Fred (UNU-MERIT, and TUT-IERI Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a way of including in official statistics consumers as user innovators who modify or develop products for their own use. The issue addressed is the role of the market in the definition of innovation in the OECD/Eurostat Oslo Manual and the exclusion by the definition of consumers who modify or develop products and then freely reveal the knowledge gained to others. A modest proposal is made for a change to the definition which also has implications for the measurement of innovation in the public sector. The policy implications of user innovation by consumers and by firms are considered along with the importance of including consumer user innovation in official statistics. The paper ends with a programme for future work. |
| Keywords: | User innovation, consumer innovation, public sector innovation, official statistics |
| JEL: | D12 H00 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011009&r=knm |
| By: | Delmar, Frédéric (Research Institute of Industrial Economics and Center for Research in New Venture Creation and Growth); Wennberg, Karl (The Ratio Institute and Stockholm School of Economics); Hellerstedt, Karin (Jönköping International Business School) |
| Abstract: | Endogenous growth theory is based on the notion that technological knowledge stimulates growth, yet the micro foundations of this process are rarely investigated and remain obscure. Knowledge spillover theory posits that growth is contingent on the technology dependence of industries, forming the landscape for technology entrepreneurs to launch and grow new ventures. We investigate these theoretical contingencies of endogenous growth with two research questions at two levels of analysis: First, do industries with a greater need for new technology-based entrepreneurship grow disproportionately faster than other industries? Second, do the knowledge spillover effects foster the growth of new technology based firms contingent on certain industry structures? These questions are examined empirically, using a comprehensive employee-employer data set on the science and technology labor force in Sweden from 1995 to 2002. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous Growth; Entrepreneurship; Industry Evolution |
| JEL: | D24 L11 L26 M13 |
| Date: | 2011–04–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0165&r=knm |
| By: | Sdiri , Hanen; Mohamed, Ayadi |
| Abstract: | It is widely recognized that innovation is the major driver of economic growth and competitiveness. But, some works focus especially on analyzing the determinants and the effects of innovation while distinguishing product innovation to process innovation. This distinction is often regarded as a fundamental assumption but the way in which firms make the decision to innovate remains rarely tested. Based on a sample of 108 Tunisian service firms, the purpose of the paper is to explain the way in which firms make the decision to innovate: simultaneous (one-stage model) or sequential (two-stage model). Given the multiple discrete choices setting, we use a Multinomial Probit model (MNP). We find that the two-stage model has a statistically-significant advantage in predicting the innovation. This result suggests that, in practice, the sequential model illustrate well the innovation making-decision procedures. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Prise de décision; Secteur des services. |
| JEL: | O33 O31 L80 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23084&r=knm |
| By: | Georg von Graevenitz (University of Munich); Stefan Wagner (University of Munich); Dietmar Harhoff (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | We investigate incidence and evolution of patent thickets. Our empirical analysis is based on a theoretical model of patenting in complex and discrete technologies. The model captures how competition for patent portfolios and complementarity of patents affect patenting incentives. We show that lower technological opportunities increase patenting incentives in complex technologies while they decrease incentives in discrete technologies. Also, more competitors increase patenting incentives in complex technologies and reduce them in discrete technologies. To test these predictions a new measure of the density of patent thickets is introduced. European patent citations are used to construct measures of fragmentation and technological opportunity. Our empirical analysis is based on a panel capturing patenting behavior of 2074 firms in 30 technology areas over 15 years. GMM estimation results confirm the predictions of our theoretical model. The results show that patent thickets exist in 9 out of 30 technology areas. We find that decreased technological opportunities are a surprisingly strong driver of patent thicket growth. |
| Keywords: | Patenting, Patent thickets, Patent portfolio races, Complexity, Technological Opportunities |
| JEL: | L13 L20 O34 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:356&r=knm |
| By: | Kristina McElheran |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between market position and the adoption of IT-enabled process innovations. Prior research has focused overwhelmingly on product innovation and garnered mixed empirical support. I extend the literature into the understudied area of business process innovation, developing a framework for classifying innovations based on the complexity, interdependence, and customer impact of the underlying business process. I test the framework’s predictions in the context of ebuying and e-selling adoption. Leveraging detailed U.S. Census data, I find robust evidence that market leaders were significantly more likely to adopt the incremental innovation of e-buying but commensurately less likely to adopt the more radical practice of e-selling. The findings highlight the strategic significance of adjustment costs and co-invention capabilities in technology adoption, particularly as businesses grow more dependent on new technologies for their operational and competitive performance. |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-10&r=knm |
| By: | Kathrin Armbruster (University of Basel) |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:04/11&r=knm |