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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2011‒09‒22
five papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Angela Cipollone; Marcella Corsi; Carlo D'Ippoliti |
| Abstract: | By considering the case of Italy we show that despite much rhetoric and expectations about the fact that women have gradually overcome men in terms of educational attainments, they still lack behind in terms of the main skills and competencies that can profitably be used in the market. On the one hand, women lack both general and specific knowledge related to the labour market, on the other hand the skills and competencies they acquire by carrying on unpaid work do not seem to be positively valued by the market. However, women also appear to exhibit higher returns to knowledge, both in terms of returns to education and of returns to work-related knowledge. Women’s employment is more determined by the joint impact of care burdens and knowledge-determined opportunities, and their wages are more significantly affected by our indicators of knowledge. More than for men, while specialisation improves “insider” women’s wages, it reduces “outsider” women’s ability to obtain a job. |
| Keywords: | gender differentials; returns to knowledge; human capital |
| JEL: | J24 J16 C43 J71 C14 |
| Date: | 2011–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:2013/97186&r=knm |
| By: | José Albors-Garrigos (Dpto. Organización de Empresas); José L. Hervas-Oliver (Dpto. Organización de Empresas) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to use an integrated theory based on a firm’s internal and external sources of knowledge framework to analyze how different are R&D from non-R&D activities to innovate, specially in a context of low and medium low tech (LMT) sectors where most of the firms are SMEs. Simultaneously, the paper also explores the key differences between R&D and non-R&D innovators. The empirical analysis is based on a representative panel of 2023 Spanish manufacturing firms for 2005 and 2006 from the Spanish Ministry of Industry. Innovation in product and process is explained using non-R&D variables such as in Marketing, Design or hiring tertiary degree employees. Only innovation in product is explained by R&D expenditures. Addressing innovation in process, R&D variables work in few cases and neither R&D expenditures but occasionally R&D employees and are specially relevant the non-R&D variables. The interaction (moderating) effect is specially negative and significant, addressing the substitution effect with different implications regarding product or process innovation. Therefore, innovation can be explained using non-R&D variables such as investments in Marketing, Design, and other routines linked to human resources, technology monitoring committees or the existence of a formal plan to innovate. The firms with more internal resources, those which conduct R&D activities present a better AC and it leads to engage in cooperation agreements and access to external flows of knowledge. The paper has important implications for policymakers due to the fact that most of policies for R&D are based on R&D programmes, while there are other realities: non-R&D factors which also explain innovation, specially when considering low tech sector contexts. El presente artículo usa la teoría de recursos y capacidades para, a través de los recursos internos y externos de las empresas, analizar las actividades de R&D y las actividades de no-R&D en su impacto sobre la performance de innovación de la empresa, en un contexto sectorial de baja y media tecnología. Asimismo, el artículo explora el rol innovador de las empresas que hacen R&D y las que no lo hacen. Con una muestra de 2023 empresas manufactureras españolas, obtenemos un comportamiento innovador para la innovación en producto y en proceso y, sobre todo, observando que las actividades de R&D tienen muy poco peso explicativo sobre el resultado de innovación. El artículo presenta implicaciones para la Academia y los policymakers, sobre todo por el hecho de que la mayoría de las políticas de innovación se basan en actividades de R&D. |
| Keywords: | fuentes de innovación, estrategias de búsqueda de conocimiento externo, cooperación tecnológica, capacidad de absorción. innovation sources, technology cooperation, absorptive capacity, search strategies. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasec:2011-06&r=knm |
| By: | Ceren Ozgen (Department of Spatial Economics, VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Due to the growth in international migration in recent decades, the workforce of firms in host countries has become considerably more diverse, both demographically and culturally. It is an important question for firms and for governments to ask whether there are some productivity-enhancing externalities gained from this growing diversity within firms. In recent years migration research has demonstrated positive economic impacts of cultural diversity on productivity and innovation at the regional level. However, there is a dearth of research on the links between innovation and migrant diversity at the firm level. In this paper we construct and analyse a unique linked employer-employee micro-dataset of 4582 firms, based on survey and administrative data obtained from Statistics Netherlands. Excluding firms in the hospitality industry and other industries that employ low-skilled migrants, we use the local number of restaurants with foreign cuisines and the historical presence of migrant communities as valid instruments of endogenous migrant settlement. We find that firms in which foreigners account for a relatively large share of employment are somewhat less innovative. However, there is strong evidence that firms that employ a more diverse foreign workforce are more innovative, particularly in terms of product innovations. |
| Keywords: | immigration, innovation, cultural diversity, knowledge spillovers, linked employer-employee data, Netherlands |
| JEL: | F22 O31 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011013&r=knm |
| By: | Gallié, Emilie-Pauline; Legros, Diego |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the effects of human capital and technological capital on innovation. While the role of technological capital as measured by research and development (R&D) expenditure has been intensively investigated, few studies have been made on the effect of employee training on innovation. This article explores the relationship between innovation and firm employee training. Our methodological approach contributes to the literature in three ways. We propose various indicators of firm employee training. We build a count data panel with a long time-data series to deal with the issue of firms’ heterogeneity. We propose a dynamic analysis. Using dynamic count data models on French industrial firms over the period 1986–1992, we find positive and significant effects of R&D intensity and training on patenting activity. Whatever the indicators of training our results show that the firm employee training has a positive impact on technological innovation. |
| Keywords: | Patents; R&D; Employee training; Count panel data; Linear feedback model; |
| JEL: | C23 C25 J24 L60 O31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/6962&r=knm |
| By: | Rachel Griffith (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Manchester); Helen Miller (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | <p><p><p>In 2010 China was the world's fourth largest filer of patent applications. This followed a decade of unprecedented increases in investment in skills and Research and Development. If current trends continue China could rank first in the very near future. We provide evidence that the growth in Chinese patenting activity has been accompanied by a growth in Chinese inventors creating technologies that are near to the science base. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Part of the success of China has been to attract the investment of foreign multinationals. This is also true for a number of other Emerging Economies. Europe's largest multinational firms increasingly file patent applications that are based on inventor activities located in emerging economies, often working alongside inventors from the firm's home country. </p></p></p> |
| Keywords: | China; innovation; offshoring; patents. |
| JEL: | F21 F23 O3 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:11/15&r=knm |