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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2013‒05‒22
seventeen papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Martin , Roman (CIRCLE, Lund University); Trippl , Michaela (Department of Human Geography and CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Regional innovation strategies rank on the top of public policy agendas today. There is a widespread consensus in both academic and policy circles that standardised “best practice” innovation policy models suffer from severe limitations and major shortcomings. The recent literature is replete with claims that regional innovation policies should be place-based and context-sensitive, taking into consideration the specificities of regions and their distinctive preconditions and capacities for innovation. Various conceptual approaches and theories support such a view. This paper discusses two concepts, which have a particularly strong potential for informing a differentiated regional innovation policy approach; the regional innovation system (RIS) theory and the knowledge base concept. The RIS literature highlights the importance of the organisational and institutional setting of a region and suggests that system deficiencies or failures should constitute the starting point for designing regional innovation policies. The differentiated knowledge base approach stresses that regional industries differ strongly in the underlying knowledge bases and, as a consequence, in their policy needs. We elaborate on the policy implications that originate from these concepts and argue that tailor-made regional innovation policies should consider both region-specific institutional set-ups and knowledge bases. |
| Keywords: | regional innovation policy; regional innovation system; differentiated knowledge bases |
| JEL: | L52 O21 O25 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_013&r=knm |
| By: | Cristiano Antonelli; Alessandra Colombelli |
| 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 output 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. |
| Keywords: | knowledge generation function, knowledge stock, external knowledge, path dependence |
| JEL: | O30 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2013-08&r=knm |
| By: | J. Herstad , Sverre (Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU), Oslo; CIRCLE, Lund University); Ebersberger , Bernd (MCI Management Center Innsbruck,Austria); Asheim, Bjørn (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Innovation collaboration is subjected to partner search and selection constraints. These constraints are reinforced by geographical distance, and mediated by privileged information accessed through pre-existing formal and informal ties to foreign business contexts. Multinational corporations may therefore influence the collaborative linkages maintained by their affiliates abroad, outside the group network. This paper shows that the sensitivity of foreign collaboration to resources provided by the parent group is dependent on whether affiliates of the multinational are engaged in developing cross-disciplinary, application-specific technological knowledge with a strong tacit content (e.g. systems engineering), knowledge with a strong aesthetic of cultural content (e.g. media or fashion) or knowledge dominated by specific scientific disciplines (e.g. biotechnology). |
| Keywords: | Multinational corporations; industrial knowledge bases; innovation collaboration; globalization |
| JEL: | F23 L24 O32 |
| Date: | 2013–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_012&r=knm |
| By: | Martin , Roman (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | It is argued in this paper that the nature of innovation networks can vary substantially with regard to the type of knowledge that is critical for innovation. Subject to the knowledge base of an industry, networks between companies can differ in various aspects, such as their geographical configuration, their structure, the type of actors holding a strategic position and the type of relations between actors. The paper comprises a conceptual discussion on social capital theory and networks, followed by a theoretically informed discussion on differentiated knowledge bases and innovation networks, which is subsequently illustrated with empirical material. The empirical analysis is based on social network analysis in association with exclusive data about patterns of cooperation and knowledge exchange in a number of regional industries located in different parts of Europe. The findings suggest that networks in analytical industries are not much constrained by geographical distance; knowledge is exchanged in a highly selective manner between research units and scientists in globally configured epistemic communities. Synthetic industries source knowledge within nationally or regionally configured networks between suppliers and customers, and within communities of practice. Symbolic industries rely on knowledge that is culturally defined and highly context specific, resulting in localised networks that are temporary and flexible in nature. |
| Keywords: | differentiated knowledge bases; regional innovation systems; social capital; social network analysis; knowledge networks |
| JEL: | B52 O25 P51 R11 R12 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_014&r=knm |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Information and Communication Technologies - ICT Policy and Strategies Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems Private Sector Development - E-Business Tertiary Education Environmental Economics and Policies Education Environment Agriculture |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:12896&r=knm |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Private Sector Development - E-Business Technology Industry Education - Education for the Knowledge Economy Urban Development - City Development Strategies Macroeconomics and Economic Growth - Knowledge Economy Industry |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:12623&r=knm |
| By: | Shahid Yusuf |
| Keywords: | Information and Communication Technologies - ICT Policy and Strategies Private Sector Development - E-Business Technology Industry Social Protections and Labor - Labor Policies Education - Knowledge for Development Industry |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:12781&r=knm |
| By: | S. Bakhtiari; A. Minniti; A. Naghavi |
| Abstract: | This research sheds light on the role of product scope on the innovation activity of multinational multi-product firms. We use patent citation data to break down innovation into two types by measuring the degree to which innovation performed by firms is fundamental and the extent to which the output of the R&D can be spread across different product lines. We focus on two features in multinational production: (i) fundamental innovation is geographically more difficult to transfer abroad to foreign production sites, (ii) learning spillovers can occur from international operations. The results reveal that the second effect is more likely to dominate when a firm is active in more product lines. We argue that a more diversified portfolio of products increases a firm’s scope of learning from international operations, thereby enhancing its ability to engage in more fundamental research. In contrast, firms with less product lines that geographically separate production from innovation shift the innovation activities towards more specialized types of innovation. |
| JEL: | F12 F23 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp879&r=knm |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Ufuk Akcigit; Nicholas Bloom; William Kerr |
| Abstract: | We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A key feature is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using detailed US Census micro data on firm-level output, R&D and patenting. The model provides a good fit to the dynamics of firm entry and exit, output and R&D, and its implied elasticities are in the ballpark of a range of micro estimates. We find industrial policy subsidizing either the R&D or the continued operation of incumbents reduces growth and welfare. For example, a subsidy to incumbent R&D equivalent to 53 of GDP reduces welfare by about 1.53 because it deters entry of new high-type firms. On the contrary, substantial improvements (of the order of 53 improvement in welfare) are possible if the continued operation of incumbents is taxed while at the same time R&D by incumbents and new entrants is subsidized. This is because of a strong selection effect: R&D resources (skilled labor) are inefficiently used by low-type incumbent firms. Subsidies to incumbents encourage the survival and expansion of these firms at the expense of potential high-type entrants. We show that optimal policy encourages the exit of low-type firms and supports R&D by high-type incumbents and entry. |
| Keywords: | entry, growth, industrial policy, innovation, R&D, reallocation, selection. |
| JEL: | E2 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-23&r=knm |
| By: | Binz , Christian (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland); Truffer , Bernhard (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland); Coenen , Lars (CIRCLE, Lund University; Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU), Norway) |
| Abstract: | Studies on technological innovation systems (TIS) often set spatial boundaries at the national level and treat supranational levels as a geographically undifferentiated and freely accessible global technological opportunity set. This article criticizes this conceptualization and proposes instead to analyze relevant actors, networks and processes in TIS from a relational perspective on space. It develops an analytical framework which allows investigating innovation processes (or ‘functions’) of a TIS at and across different spatial scales. Based on social network analysis of a co-publication dataset from membrane bioreactor technology, we illustrate how the spatial characteristics of collaborations in knowledge creation vary greatly over relatively short periods of time. This finding suggests that TIS studies should be more reflexive on system boundary setting both regarding the identification and analysis of core processes as well as in the formulation of policy advice. |
| Keywords: | technological innovation system; relational space; system functions; knowledge creation; social network analysis; membrane bioreactor technology |
| JEL: | O31 Q55 |
| Date: | 2013–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_011&r=knm |
| By: | Amel Attour |
| Abstract: | Cette recherche analyse les déterminants à l’origine de l’adoption de l’e-Gouvernement par les communes. Comme le met en évidence la littérature empirique, la mise en place d’une offre de services numériques est conjointement déterminée par les caractéristiques internes aux communes et par un effet d’apprentissage informationnel par l’observation des communes géographiquement voisines ou similaires en taille de population. Comme contribue à le montrer le présent article, analysé au niveau des communes d’appartenance départementale similaire, l’influence de ces déterminants sur le choix d’adoption de l’e-Gouvernement local est spécifique au territoire. L’adoption de l’e-Gouvernement par les communes peut en effet être expliquée par une logique de diffusion verticale, en plus d’une logique d’imitation par apprentissage observationnel des communes géographiquement voisines. L’adoption de l’e-Gouvernement par les communes relève en effet de modèles de diffusion régionale différents selon la taille des communes. |
| Keywords: | Innovation de politique publique, e-Gouvernement local, modèles de diffusion régionale de l’innovation (theory of diffusion policy), communes. |
| JEL: | L86 L88 M15 O32 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2013-12&r=knm |
| By: | Gosens, Jorrit (State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences b Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China); Lu, Yonglong (a State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences); Coenen , Lars (CIRCLE, Lund University; Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU), Norway) |
| Abstract: | Emerging economies increasingly contribute to global clean-tech innovation. The ‘Technological Innovation System’ (TIS) framework and its system functions have become a popular analytical tool for clean-tech innovation. Its applicability to emerging economies is not entirely straightforward, however, because of two interconnected flaws. First, empirical TIS work has focused predominantly on advanced economies. Second, although TIS is theoretically understood to be a global phenomenon, empirical TIS work often uses national borders as system boundaries. Earlier perspectives on innovation in emerging economies have stressed the role of transnational linkages in (early) innovative activities in emerging economies. While implicitly acknowledged, the TIS literature lacks a systematic specification of these transnational linkages, how and under what conditions they form, and how they induce or hamper TIS formation. This paper draws on insights from the perspectives of National Learning Systems, International Technology Transfer, and Global Production Networks to elaborate on the transnational dimension of TIS formation in emerging economies. The insights these strand of literature offer on the challenges and opportunities of such transnational linkages may be accurately grasped by the seven TIS system functions, lending credence to further application of the TIS framework in emerging economy case studies. |
| Keywords: | Technological innovation system; clean-tech; emerging economies; changing global innovation |
| JEL: | O31 |
| Date: | 2013–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_010&r=knm |
| By: | Luis Garicano; Luis Rayo |
| Abstract: | An expert must train a novice. The novice initially has no cash, so he can only pay the expert with the accumulated surplus from his production. At any time, the novice can leave the relationship with his acquired knowledge and produce on his own. The sole reason he does not is the prospect of learning in future periods. The profit-maximizing relationship is structured as an apprenticeship, in which all production generated during training is used to compensate the expert. Knowledge transfer takes a simple form. In the first period, the expert gifts the novice a positive level of knowledge, which is independent of the players' discount rate. After that, the novice's total value of knowledge grows at the players' discount rate until all knowledge has been transferred. The inefficiencies that arise from this contract are caused by the expert's artificially slowing down the rate of knowledge transfer rather than by her reducing the total amount of knowledge eventually transferred. We show that these inefficiencies are larger the more patient the players are. Finally, we study the impact of knowledge externalities across players. |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1203&r=knm |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Law and Development - Trade Law International Economics and Trade - Free Trade International Economics and Trade - Trade Policy Economic Theory and Research Private Sector Development - Emerging Markets Macroeconomics and Economic Growth |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:10851&r=knm |
| By: | Frans A. van der Zee (TNO) |
| Abstract: | This report assesses what is new about Asian growth, focusing primarily on the ‘external’ dynamics of change (the roles of inter-country growth and networks, trade and FDI – i.e. the context of globalization). |
| Keywords: | Asia, Growth, China, Asian Economy, Asian crisis, ICT |
| JEL: | F01 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc70816&r=knm |
| By: | Christian Jaag |
| Abstract: | Network industries are traditionally strongly influenced by sector-specific regulation; especially universal service obligations (USO) play an important role. In these sectors, USO impact market forces by shaping competition asymmetrically. They also interfere with other regulations such as intellectual property laws which are of increasing importance in these industries. This interaction has recently become of interest in the postal sector due to its recent convergence with telecommunications and the emergence of innovative services at the interface of the two sectors. In free markets, the design of intellectual property right trades off investment incentives against market distortions due to (temporary) exclusive rights. USO distort competition and thereby affect the optimal solution of this trade-off. The paper discusses various aspects of the influence of patents on universal service provision. It also illustrates these effects by means of a simple model of an innovation race under asymmetric regulation and with forced licensing to derive regulatory and policy implications to safeguard a cost-effective and consumer-oriented provision of universal services. |
| Keywords: | Universal service obligation, Communications, Intellectual Property |
| JEL: | L51 O34 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chc:wpaper:0040&r=knm |
| By: | Giuditta De Prato (Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Joint Research Centre, European Commission); Daniel Nepelski (Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Joint Research Centre, European Commission) |
| Abstract: | The Commission Communication entitled "A Strategy for ICT R&D and Innovation in Europe: Raising the Game" proposes reinforcing Europe's industrial and technology leadership in ICT. Building on Europe's assets, the Communication anticipates a landscape where, by 2020, "(…) Europe has nurtured an additional five ICT poles of world-class excellence (…)". This study attempts to identify ICT R&D&I-related agglomeration economies in Europe that would meet world-level excellence, and to identify weak signals that would indicate the dynamics of a changing ICT-related economic geography in Europe. Both of those identification processes are based on quantitative data, built on a set of relevant criteria leading to measurable indicators. The study is developed around several tasks, the results of which are presented in a series of IPTS working papers. This first Working Paper synthesises the conclusions of the conceptual and empirical literature review that was carried out both at the beginning of the study. It summarises the most prominent concepts discussed in the relevant literature, the methods that were developed and leads to a definition of the European ICT Poles of Excellence that will guide later work. |
| Keywords: | ICT, excellence, poles of excellence |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc77962&r=knm |