|
on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
|
Issue of 2013‒04‒13
thirteen papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Antonelli Cristiano; Colombelli Alessandra (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of external knowledge and internal stocks of knowledge in the generation of new technological knowledge. It relies on the notion of recombination and brings together three concepts: the appreciation of current expenses in R&D activities; the analysis of the role of the stock of knowledge composition; the identification of the role of external knowledge available in the regional proximity. The empirical section is based upon a panel of companies listed on the main European financial markets for the period 1995–2006. The econometric analysis considers patents as a measure of the knowledge out put and, on the right hand side, next to R&D expenditures, the stock of knowledge internal and external to each firm. The results confirm that the stock of internal knowledge and the access to external knowledge play a key role in assessing the actual capability of each firm to generate new knowledge. |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201305&r=knm |
| By: | Cullmann, Astrid; Zloczysti, Petra |
| Abstract: | Expenditures devoted to research and development (R&D) are scarce and thus need to be used as efficiently as possible given the financial constraints countries are facing. This paper assesses the relative efficiency of R&D expenditures for 26 OECD member countries and 2 non-member countries. As countries differ in their national innovation systems and states of economic development and industrialization, e.g. transition economies in Eastern Europe vs. Asian countries vs. Anglo-Saxon countries, the measurement of R&D efficiency needs to consider differences in the technology of knowledge production. The existing empirical literature on R&D efficiency mainly builds on a homogeneous technology frontier neglecting the importance to account for country-specific heterogeneity. This paper models technological differences in knowledge production among countries using a stochastic frontier model for panel data. Applying a latent class model for SFA, we find empirical evidence for two technological classes, a `capital-intensive' and a `labor-intensive' one. Assuming a common knowledge production technology, as has been done so far in the empirical literature, thus results in biased efficiency estimates. |
| Keywords: | innovation; knowledge production function; latent classes; R&D efficiency; stochastic frontier analysis |
| JEL: | C40 O31 O57 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9345&r=knm |
| By: | Liliana Araújo (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Sandra T. Silva (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto, OBEGEF) |
| Abstract: | Extensive literature on the contribution of knowledge spillovers to growth and development at the regional level exists but these studies mainly features regions characterised by a high level of economic development. This paper assesses the importance of knowledge spillovers for firms located in relatively small, peripheral and economically depressed areas. Based on both primary (direct surveys to 257 firms) and secondary data, we concluded that the more relevant knowledge spillovers for firms located in a depressed region of northern Portugal (Vale do Ave) are inter-regional and international. This suggests that the contacts established with sources of knowledge from outside the region under analysis and abroad are crucial for the performance of firms. Despite the innovative intra-industry environment impacts positively on the economic performance of firms, our results convey that in such peripheral and depressed region geographical proximity is not critical for the firms’ economic performance. |
| Keywords: | Depressed areas; Evolutionary Economic Geography; Knowledge Spillovers, Innovation. |
| JEL: | R11 B52 D80 O3 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:488&r=knm |
| By: | Antonelli Cristiano; Gehringer Agnieszka (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the demand pull effects on sector-level total factor productivity growth. Such effects stem from the knowledge interactions carried by the market transactions of intermediate inputs between competent customers and innovative suppliers. Both knowledge interactions and transactions are substantial Ingredients in making the competent demand operate the positive impact on productivity growth of the entire economic system. The demand pull hypothesis is, thus, rejuvenated through the focus on the inter-sectoral linkages between competent users and innovative producers. In the empirical analysis bas ed on a dynamic panel technique, we implement intermediate flows from input-output tables, qualified by productivity increases downstream, in order to investigate their joint influence on the upstream growth of productivity. The evidence Union of the derived demand-driven influence regarding the European (EU) over the period 1995-2007 is strong and positive, but varies between three EU innovation systems, EU core, East and South |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201303&r=knm |
| By: | Ana Carina Araújo (AdI – Portuguese Innovation Agency); Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto; OBEGEF) |
| Abstract: | Given that science and technology are inductors of economic development, the emergence of a knowledge-based economy creates an overlay of communications and expectations that have led to institutional restructuring based on innovative capacities. While the literature tends to concentrate on university-industry relations, this paper intends go a step further, by exploring the university-industry-government relations established in a technology transfer context. Particular attention is paid to the key factors that foster technology transfer within the triad university-industry-government in an international context, i.e., the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). Based on 71 technological Partnership Agreements (PAs), estimation results indicate that PAs associated to partners that provide their collaborators with the appropriate training in technology transfer-related issues, present substantial past experience in international or technological projects, and participate in extensive networks, are those that achieve better performances in terms of international technology transfer. In contrast, and quite surprisingly, the EEN’s human capital endowments and absorptive capacity act as barriers to international technology transfer. A deeper analysis into this latter finding shows that high levels of formal schooling per se are not a key determinant of international technology transfer; indeed, the critical factor is instead highly educated human resources who receive complementary training in technology transfer issues. |
| Keywords: | International technology transfer; Triple Helix; Enterprise Europe Network |
| JEL: | O32 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:480&r=knm |
| By: | Cerquera, Daniel; Klein, Gordon J. |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of the adoption of ICT on the economic performance at the firm level, considering explicitly the interaction of adopting firms within the intermediate input market in Germany. The paper identifies and quantifies the importance of adoption externalities and knowledge spillovers inherent in the introduction of ICT. The results show that the adoption of ICT at the firm level is positively affected by the use of ICT downstream and upstream (i.e. by a firm's clients and suppliers). Moreover, the use of ICT upstream(i.e. by a firm's suppliers) negatively affects the extend of IT outsourcing at the firm level, suggesting a substitution effect between inputs provided by suppliers with an intense use of ICT and a firm's demand for external IT services. The paper also finds that the use of ICT within the intermediate input markets positively affects the efficiency of internal processes by increasing the cost reductions generated by the introduction of process innovations. -- |
| Keywords: | Information and Communication Technologies,General Purpose Technologies,Intermediate Input Markets,Innovation,Firm Level Data |
| JEL: | D22 L25 O32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13013&r=knm |
| By: | Ceren Ozgen (Department of Spatial Economics, VU University Amsterdam and bTinbergen Institute, Amsterdam,); Thomas de Graff (aDepartment of Spatial Economics, VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | An increasing amount of research in the migration literature shows a positive association between migrant diversity and rm productivity. However, the potential bias due to unobserved heterogeneity remains a challenge. In this paper we analyse the impact of cultural diversity on firm innovativeness, while using finite mixture modeling to control for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. Recent availability of microdata has enabled us to construct a linked employee- employer dataset through merging datasets on both workers and firms. We explore the possible ways of firm-level knowledge exchange among the employees with different cultural backgrounds and its impact on firms' product and process innovations. We find that workforce diversity is beneficial for innovativeness in capital-intensive sectors. It also positively impacts large firms that operate in high-level services, manufacturing, mining and R&D sectors, that are predominantly located in the non-urban areas in the Netherlands. In labour and land intensive sectors, the impact of cultural diversity on innovativeness is inconclusive. |
| Keywords: | Cultural diversity, innovativeness, (un-)observed heterogeneity, finite mixture modeling, migration |
| JEL: | J15 J21 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2013012&r=knm |
| By: | Francesco Avvisati; Sara Hennessy; Robert B. Kozma; Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin |
| Abstract: | The Italian Ministry of Education launched in 2007 a National Plan for Digital Schools (Piano Nazionale Scuola Digitale) to mainstream Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Italian classrooms and use technology as a catalyser of innovation in Italian education, hopefully conducing to new teaching practices, new models of school organisation, new products and tools to support quality teaching. The Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research asked the OECD to review its Plan from an international perspective and to suggest improvements.<P> The small budget of the Plan has limited the effectiveness of its diverse initiatives. In its current design, a significant rise of the budget of the plan through public or private sources is a necessary condition for its success. Given current budgetary constraints, a significant budget increase may be difficult, and the report proposes to revise some features of the Plan in order to achieve two objectives: 1) speed up the uptake of ICT in Italian schools and classrooms; 2) create an Innovation Laboratory Network of test bed schools piloting and inventing new pedagogic and organisational practices to improve Italian education, by refocusing the innovation projects on the school 2.0 (scuol@ 2.0) initiative.<BR>En Italie, le Ministère de l’Éducation a initié en 2007 un Plan National pour l’École Numérique (Piano Nazionale Scuola Digitale), avec comme objectifs de diffuser les technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) dans les classes d’école italiennes et d’utiliser la technologie comme un catalyseur d’innovation dans l’éducation italienne, conduisant à l’adoption de nouvelles pratiques pédagogiques, de nouveaux modèles d’organisation scolaire, ainsi qu’au développement de nouveaux produits et outils pour soutenir un enseignement de qualité. Le Ministère italien de l’Éducation, des Universités et de la Recherche a demandé à l’OCDE d’examiner son Plan dans une perspective internationale et de faire des suggestions pour son amélioration.<P> Le budget modeste du Plan a limité l’efficacité de ses diverses initiatives. Dans son design actuel, une augmentation significative de son budget, à travers des sources publiques ou privées, est une condition nécessaire à son succès. Étant donné les contraintes budgétaires actuelles, une augmentation importante du budget peut paraître difficile, et le rapport propose de réviser certains aspects du Plan afin d’atteindre deux objectifs : 1) accélérer l’adoption des TIC dans les écoles et salles de classe italiennes ; 2) créer un Laboratoire d’Innovation en Réseau constitué d’écoles expérimentales qui pilotent et inventent de nouvelles pratiques pédagogiques et organisationnelles pour améliorer l’éducation italienne, en recentrant les projets d’innovation du Plan sur son initiative école 2.0 (scuol@ 2.0). |
| Date: | 2013–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:90-en&r=knm |
| By: | Calbay, Francis Raymond |
| Abstract: | Labor migration has become entrenched in underdeveloped countries as a means to address rampant unemployment and to sustain the local economy. In the Philippines, it is estimated that one in ten Filipinos work abroad. With limited sources to address the information needs of widely dispersed Filipino migrant workers, this study explores how the Catholic Church could steward knowledge transfer, specifically through homilies. Under the framework of Symbolic Convergence theory, thematic content analysis is executed on homilies gathered from a Taiwan-based parish. Through close reading of themes from the recorded texts, migrant workers are said to have knowledge requirements based on their roles as: surveyor (of the foreign environment), survivor (of migrant challenges), and savior-returnee (of eventual homecoming). Findings suggest that homilies provide pragmatic, non-sectarian information. This exploratory study proposes that the church setting could host knowledge transfers for Filipino migrant workers. |
| Keywords: | knowledge transfer; migrant labor; social communication; symbolic convergence |
| JEL: | Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45947&r=knm |
| By: | Lynn Ilon (College of Education, Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | While collective intelligence systems become ubiquitous for learning in knowledge industries, civic life and personal lives, they have yet to be embraced into formal schooling systems. Still, learning, knowledge and assessment protocols still abide, in large part, to the educational systems logic of the industrial era. The temptation is to view schooling as falling behind with teacher retraining and curriculum revision leading the way. This article examines the underlying logic of both collective intelligence and formal education systems and traces education¡¯s reluctance to it roots in an industrial era and the incentives prevailing in its structures. Embracing collective intelligence, then, will require a redefinition of schooling rather than a mere retooling. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge Creation, Curriculum, Education, Collective Intelligence. |
| JEL: | A31 D83 I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snv:dp2009:201299&r=knm |
| By: | Elena Sochirca (Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, CEF.UP); Pedro Mazeda Gil (Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, CEF.UP); Oscar Afonso (Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, CEF.UP) |
| Abstract: | Based on an extended model of endogenous directed technical change and on cross-country data, we identify and quantify the long-run link between: (i) the technology structure (high- versus low-tech sectors) and the skill structure (high- versus low-skilled workers), by considering an explicit role for the (potential) gross complementarity between technological goods; (ii) the Tobin-q and the technology characteristics of the firms through their impact on economic growth. Our estimation and calibration exercise suggests the existence of a moderate degree of gross complementarity and of an elastic relationship between the Tobin-q and key technology parameters. |
| Keywords: | high-tech, low-tech, skills, complementarity, Tobin-q, technological-knowledge bias |
| JEL: | O31 O41 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:478&r=knm |
| By: | Joanne Lindley (University of Surrey) |
| Abstract: | Despite the recent financial crisis the UK financial pay premium has continued to rise. To some extent this is a consequence of increased skill intensity in the finance sector, but this paper shows that finance workers have higher cognitive skills, on average, and this partly explains their higher wages. These are significant across all post-secondary education groups and not just those at the top. However, after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity we still find unexplainable rents to finance sector workers which are largely a consequence of bonuses. Though we also show that finance workers are more likely to be insecure about their job especially those that receive higher bonuses. In keeping with the existing literature on inequality we estimate demand and supply models to explain increasing inequality between finance workers vis-à-vis other workers. We find that finance workers are not perfect substitutes for non-finance workers in production, which is consistent with them having higher cognitive skills. Finally, we find relative demand shifts in favour of finance sector workers which are partially correlated with increased financial innovation and technical change, but most importantly we find that these demand shifts are slowing down. |
| JEL: | J20 J31 I24 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sur:surrec:0313&r=knm |
| By: | Ganeshan Wignaraja (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the “black box†of innovation in the electronics production network in East Asia through a mapping exercise of technological capabilities and an econometric analysis of exporting in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Thailand, and the Philippines. Technology-based approaches to trade offer a plausible explanation for firm-level exporting behavior and complement the literature on production networks. The econometric results confirm the importance of foreign ownership and innovation in increasing the probability of exporting in electronics. Higher levels of skills, managers’ education, and capital also matter in the PRC as well as accumulated experience in Thailand. Furthermore, a technology index composed of technical functions performed by firms (to represent technological capabilities) emerges as a more robust indicator of innovation than the research and development (R&D) to sales ratio. Accordingly, technological effort in electronics in these countries mostly focuses on assimilating and using imported technologies rather than formal R&D by specialized engineers. |
| Keywords: | innovation, Production Networks, East Asia, technology index, Technological Capability, Foreign Ownership, Thailand, PRC, Philippines |
| JEL: | F23 O31 O32 L63 O57 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:microe:23395&r=knm |