nep-knm New Economics Papers
on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy
Issue of 2012‒05‒02
nine papers chosen by
Laura Stefanescu
European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration

  1. The Knowledge Multiplier By Mário Alexandre Patrício Martins da Silva
  2. An Experiment on Protecting Intellectual Property By Joy A. Buchanan; Bart J. Wilson
  3. The Two Faces of R&D and Human Capital: Evidence from Western European Regions By Johanna Vogel
  4. Varieties of service economies in Europe By Di Meglio, Gisela; Pyka, Andreas; Rubalcaba, Luis
  5. Ideas Production in Emerging Economies By Luintel, Kul B; Kahn, Mosahid
  6. Innovation Barriers across Firms and Countries By Werner Hölzl; Jürgen Janger
  7. Nonparametric prediction of stock returns guided by prior knowledge By Michael Scholz; Jens Perch Nielsen; Stefan Sperlich
  8. The importance of responsibleinnovation and the necessity of ‘Innovation-care’ By Pavie, Xavier
  9. Coordinating R&D activities in multinational companies: towards new tools and practices? By Lusine Arzumanyan; Ulrike Mayrhofer; Christopher Melin

  1. By: Mário Alexandre Patrício Martins da Silva (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto)
    Abstract: The paper develops a formal model of external knowledge and identifies the role of knowledge multipliers. Social interactions and knowledge multipliers play a crucial role in the determination of the rate of technological change. The analytical identification of the knowledge multiplier expression constitutes a key step in the appreciation of the crucial role of knowledge interactions. First, social considerations endogenously change the knowledge production function of each firm. The knowledge multiplier is the specific mechanism by means of which external knowledge contributes to enhance the innovative capacity of each firm. The production function of knowledge shows that the knowledge multiplier is larger, the stronger the cumulative positive effects of external knowledge on the generation of new knowledge. Second, social considerations explain the long-run dynamics of innovation. Social reinforcement and the knowledge multiplier determine the rise or fall of the rate of accumulation of technological knowledge.
    Keywords: External knowledge, social interactions, social multiplier, localized knowledge, innovation network, interactive learning, sustainable growth
    JEL: O30
    Date: 2012–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:456&r=knm
  2. By: Joy A. Buchanan (Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, George Mason University); Bart J. Wilson (Economic Science Institute, Chapman University)
    Abstract: We conduct a laboratory experiment to explore whether the protection of intellectual property (IP) incentivizes people to create non-rivalrous knowledge goods, foregoing the production of other rivalrous goods. In the contrasting treatment with no IP protection, participants are free to resell and remake non-rivalrous knowledge goods originally created by others. We find that creators reap substantial profits when IP is protected and that rampant pirating is not uncommon when there is no IP protection. But most importantly, we find that IP protection in and of itself is neither necessary nor sufficient for generating wealth from the discovery of knowledge goods.
    Keywords: intellectual property, experimental economics
    JEL: C92 D89 K39
    Date: 2012
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:12-09&r=knm
  3. By: Johanna Vogel
    Abstract: This paper investigates two channels through which research and development (R&D) and human capital may affect regional total factor productivity growth in the manufacturing sector, using panel data on 159 EU-15 regions from 1992 to 2005. Based on the endogenous growth model of Griffith, Redding and Van Reenen (2003), we allow R&D and human capital to influence productivity growth both directly, reflecting own innovation, and indirectly, reflecting imitation of frontier technology. Further, the model allows for conditional convergence to a long-run level of TFP relative to the frontier. We also develop an extension that captures geographically localised technology spillovers. Our preferred system-GMM estimates provide evidence of a positive and significant direct effect of human capital, and a positive and significant indirect effect of R&D on productivity growth. This may be interpreted as lending support to the recent focus of EU regional policy on raising educational attainment and R&D expenditures, although their channels of influence appear to differ. Our results also suggest that TFP convergence has taken place over our sample period and that geographic distance to the technology frontier matters.
    Keywords: Total factor productivity, Convergence, Human capital, Research and development, European regions
    JEL: O30 O47 I25 C23
    Date: 2012
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:599&r=knm
  4. By: Di Meglio, Gisela; Pyka, Andreas; Rubalcaba, Luis
    Abstract: This paper identifies the varieties and dynamics of service economies in Europe, analysing the role of knowledge base and innovative efforts and their evolution across time and countries. Results based on aggregated macroeconomic data indicate that there is no convergence trend towards a single service economy model. Moreover, different service economies models can be associated with institutional and welfare state diversity. When analysing a comprehensive set of indicators at a disaggregated level a more detailed pattern of service economies emerges. The structural composition of countries plays a prominent role, while heterogeneity is driven by uneven knowledge bases and innovative efforts. --
    Keywords: services,social models,innovation,knowledge,Europe
    JEL: L80 O31 C38
    Date: 2012
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fziddp:442012&r=knm
  5. By: Luintel, Kul B (Cardiff Business School); Kahn, Mosahid
    Abstract: We model ‘new ideas’ production in a panel of 17 emerging countries. Our results reveal: (i) ideas production is duplicative, (ii) externality associated with domestic knowledge stocks is of above unit factor proportionality, (iii) OECD countries raise the innovation-bar for emerging countries, (iv) there is no significant knowledge diffusion across emerging countries, and (v) growth in emerging countries appear far from a balanced growth path.
    Keywords: Ideas Production; Knowledge Diffusion; Panel Co-integration
    JEL: C2 O3 O4
    Date: 2012–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2012/6&r=knm
  6. By: Werner Hölzl (WIFO); Jürgen Janger (WIFO)
    Abstract: This paper studies differences in the perception of innovation barriers between innovative and non-innovative firms for 18 EU countries. The countries are grouped by their distance to the technological frontier using Community Innovation Surveys for the years 2002-2004 and 2004-2006. The results show that non-innovators interested in innovation are much more likely to perceive barriers than non-innovators that are not interested in innovation activities. With regard to differences between country groups there is a clear indication that innovation barriers related to the availability of skilled labour, innovation partners and knowledge are more important for firms located in countries close to the frontier, while the opposite is true regarding the availability of external finance. Although the share of innovators decreases with the distance to the technological frontier, the share of barrier-related innovators increases. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the innovation barrier approach to understand the determinants of innovative activity at the firm level and to priority-setting within innovation policies.
    Keywords: Innovation barriers, Europe, innovation policy
    Date: 2012–04–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2012:i:426&r=knm
  7. By: Michael Scholz (Karl-Franzens University Graz); Jens Perch Nielsen (Cass Business School); Stefan Sperlich (Universitie de Geneve)
    Abstract: One of the most studied questions in economics and finance is whether equity returns or premiums can be predicted by empirical models. While many authors favor the historical mean or other simple parametric methods, this article focuses on nonlinear relationships. A straightforward bootstrap-test confirms that non- and semiparametric techniques help to obtain better forecasts. It is demonstrated how economic theory directly guides a model in an innovative way. The inclusion of prior knowledge enables for American data a further notable improvement in the prediction of excess stock returns of 35% compared to the fully nonparametric model, as measured by the more complex validated R2 as well as using classical out-of-sample validation. Statistically, a bias and dimension reduction method is proposed to import more structure in the estimation process as an adequate way to circumvent the curse of dimensionality.
    Keywords: Prediction of Stock Returns, Cross-Validation, Prior Knowledge, Bias Reduction, Dimension Reduction
    JEL: C14 C53 G17
    Date: 2012–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grz:wpaper:2012-02&r=knm
  8. By: Pavie, Xavier (ESSEC Business School)
    Abstract: This study deals with responsibility as part of innovation. Innovation gives birth to development for the organizations by nature and can take several forms. In an economic context always more global and more competitive, innovation can only be at the core of any strategy. At the same time, the race for innovation in the world today raises new questions. These questions stem most of the time from the impossibility to forecast the result of the <p> innovations: will it be successful or not? More exactly the questions innovation raise are also <p> about its consequences on all the society, and not only on the economics, as Schumpeter assumed (Schumpeter, 1939). The consequences of innovation can stretch to the environment, to the society and to social topics. They are to be placed under the innovator’s yoke as well. Thus the particularities of the responsible-innovation have to take into account these important questions and to be articulated according to different topics. Responsibleinnovation should indeed help to answer the problematic raised by the innovation. <p> In parallel, the common acceptance of the word ‘responsibility’ raises some questions about <p> its use and how it should be understood. What does ‘responsibility’ mean? Who is responsible <p> and for what? Is it the shareholder, the customer, the supplier or the manager? These <p> questions are at the core of our research; we try, by the notion of care, to provide an evolution of responsible-innovation. Contrary to it, the ‘innovation-care’ is about people and focuses on taking care of them. The purpose of the innovation-care is indeed to innovate while keeping up with the level of productivity necessary to any organization. It also has to take into account the essential interdependence between the innovator and the citizen, and to accept the role played by innovation in the individual’s life within the City.
    Keywords: Innovation; responsibility; care; innovator; individuals; performance; interdependence; ethics
    Date: 2012–01–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:essewp:dr-12003&r=knm
  9. By: Lusine Arzumanyan (EA3713 - Centre de Recherche Magellan - Université de Lyon - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon III); Ulrike Mayrhofer (EA3713 - Centre de Recherche Magellan - Université de Lyon - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon III); Christopher Melin (EA3713 - Centre de Recherche Magellan - Université de Lyon - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon III)
    Abstract: Over the past few decades, scholars have shown a growing interest in the topic of innovation processes in multinational enterprises (MNE). Management systems of MNEs are complex, mainly because of the geographical dispersion of their activities. The internationalisation of the value-chain raises critical questions linked to the coordination of innovation processes. The objective of this paper is twofold: (1) to contribute to a better understanding of coordination mechanisms of innovation processes in multinational enterprises, and (2) to propose new tools and practices that can be used by MNEs to efficiently manage their innovation processes.
    Keywords: Research and development ; multinational company; coordination of activities.
    Date: 2011–09–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00690220&r=knm

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