|
on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
|
Issue of 2013‒11‒29
thirty-one papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Arvanitis, Spyros (KOF, ETH Zürich); Lokshin, Boris (School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG); Wörter, Martin (KOF, ETH Zürich) |
| Abstract: | There is growing evidence that firms increasingly adopt open innovation practices. In this paper we investigate the impact of two such external knowledge acquisition strategies, 'buy' and 'cooperate', on firm's product innovation performance. Taking a direct (productivity) approach, we test for complementarity effects in the simultaneous use of the two strategies, and in the intensity of their use. Our results based on large panels of Dutch and Swiss innovating firms, suggest that while both 'buy' and 'cooperate' have a positive effect on innovation, there is little statistical evidence that using them simultaneously leads to higher innovation performance. Results from the Dutch sample provide some indication, that there are positive economies of scope in doing external and cooperative R&D simultaneously conditional on doing internal R&D. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Open innovation, R&D collaboration, make, buy strategies |
| JEL: | O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013003&r=knm |
| By: | Nour, Samia Satti Osman Mohamed (Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, Khartoum University, and UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs both the descriptive and comparative approaches and uses the definition of systems of innovation used in the literature to examine the existence, characteristics and implications of the regional systems of innovation in the Arab region. We examine three hypotheses, that the regional systems of innovation exist but are characterized by serious weaknesses in the Arab region compared with other world regions, that the structure of the economy has a significant effect in the performance of innovation systems in the Arab region, and that the poor Arab systems of innovation have serious implications in the Arab region. We explain two common characteristics of Arab regional systems of innovation concerning poor subsystems of education, S&T, R&D and ICT institutions in the Arab region and concentration of R&D activities within public and universities sectors and small contribution of the private sector in R&D activities. We find that the major implications are the poor performance of the Arab region in terms of S&T indicators, competitiveness indicators, technology achievement index and poor integration in the knowledge economy index. Therefore, it is essential for the Arab region to enhance the institutions of higher education, S&T, R&D and ICT to build the Arab regional systems of innovation and to achieve economic development in the Arab region. |
| Keywords: | Education, S&T, R&D, Systems of innovation, economic structure, Arab region |
| JEL: | O10 O11 O30 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013012&r=knm |
| By: | Iizuka, Michiko (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | The innovation systems approach has proven useful in explaining the reasons behind varying economic performance in developing countries. The systemic understanding of the innovation process, which pays attention to the knowledge flow among interactive actors, serves as a useful 'focusing device' for elaborating effective policy to accelerate the innovation process and to contribute to economic development. The existing use of the innovation system may need to change substantially to address present-day societal challenges. The emerging types of innovation-such as user innovation, public sector innovation, social innovation and innovation for inclusive development-have different features from those of existing types. This paper examines the features of emerging types of innovation to assess whether and how the current innovation system can be remodelled to explain emerging social agendas, with particular focus on developing countries. |
| Keywords: | innovation system, user innovation, public sector innovation, social innovation, innovation for inclusive development, developing countries |
| JEL: | O20 O21 O31 O32 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013005&r=knm |
| By: | Verónica Fernández Gual (CREIP, XREAP, Industry and Territory Research Group, Reus, Spain); Agustí Segarra Blasco (CREIP, XREAP, Industry and Territory Research Group, Reus, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates relationships between cooperation, R&D, innovation and productivity in Spanish firms. It uses a large sample of firm-level micro-data and applies an extended structural model that aims to explain the effects of cooperation on R&D investment, of R&D investment on output innovation, and of innovation on firms’ productivity levels. It also analyses the determinants of R&D cooperation. Firms’ technology level is taken into account in order to analyse the differences between high-tech and low-tech firms, both in the industrial and service sectors. The database used was the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for the period 2004-2010. Empirical results show that firms which cooperate in innovative activities are more likely to invest in R&D in subsequent years. As expected, R&D investment has a positive impact on the probability of generating an innovation, in terms of both product and process, for manufacturing firms. Finally, innovation output has a positive impact on firms’ productivity, being greater in process innovations. |
| Keywords: | innovation sources; productivity; R&D Cooperation |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2013-08&r=knm |
| By: | Cevikarslan, Salih (UNU-MERIT, and SBE, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | The aims of this paper are twofold. The first is to analyse the interaction between research and development (R&D) activities of firms and heterogeneous consumer preferences in structuring the evolution of an industry. The second is to explore the heterogeneity in firms' innovation strategies. Is heterogeneity sustainable in the long-term and what happens to the market shares of firms having different innovation strategies when a structural market characteristic (market size) or a behavioural rule (R&D intensity) is changed? To answer these research questions, an evolutionary, multi-agent based, sector-level innovation model is designed. The model addresses supply and demand sides of the market simultaneously with the co-evolution of heterogeneous consumer preferences, heterogeneous firm knowledge bases, and technology levels at the micro level. |
| Keywords: | Heterogeneity, innovation strategies, evolutionary economics, agent-based modelling |
| JEL: | B52 L11 O33 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013019&r=knm |
| By: | Arias Ortiz, Elena (Education Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Crespi, Gustavo (Competitiveness and Innovation Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Tacsir, Ezequiel (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG, and Competitiveness and Innovation Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Vargas, Fernando (Competitiveness and Innovation Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Zuniga, Pluvia (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovation behaviour of manufacturing firms in LAC using the recently released Enterprise Surveys 2010. The Enterprise Surveys define innovation rates as the share of firms introducing product and process innovations. The survey also measures the proportion of firms investing in research and development (R&D) and filing for intellectual property rights (IPRs). The aim of this note is to understand the main characteristics of innovative firms and to gather new evidence with regard to the nature of the innovation process in the region. Statistics about the performance of LAC firms are provided using different types of indicators to measure firms' innovative behaviour. In particular, differences in innovation performance and effort by country, sector, and key firm characteristics, such as being a multinational or exporter, are explored. Those firms in LAC that are top R&D performers are identified, and the analysis closes with an exploration of firm characteristics that strongly correlate with the probability of being a top R&D performer in the region. |
| Keywords: | innovation, research and development, Latin America, enterprise surveys |
| JEL: | D22 O31 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013028&r=knm |
| By: | Borrás , Susana (Department of Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark And CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden); Edquist , Charles (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | The main question that guides this paper is how governments are focusing (and must focus) on competence building (education and training) when designing and implementing innovation policies. With this approach, the paper aims at filling the gap between the existing literature on competences on the one hand, and the real world of innovation policy-making on the other, typically not speaking to each other. With this purpose in mind, this paper discusses the role of competences and competence-building in the innovation process from a perspective of innovation systems; it examines how governments and public agencies in different countries and different times have actually approached the issue of building, maintaining and using competences in their innovation systems; it examines what are the critical and most important issues at stake from the point of view of innovation policy, looking particularly at the unresolved tensions and systemic unbalances related to competences in the system; and last but not least, it elaborates a set of overall criteria for the selection and design of relevant policy instruments addressing those tensions and unbalances. |
| Keywords: | Innovation system; innovation policy; public policy instruments; Knowledge; R&D; learning; skills; training; education; competences; competence building; innovation policy instruments |
| JEL: | L38 M38 O25 O30 O31 O32 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_028&r=knm |
| By: | Pellegrino, Gabriele (University of Barcelona, and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza and Milano); Savona, Maria (SPRU, University of Sussex,) |
| Abstract: | The paper adds to the scattered empirical evidence on the role of obstacles to innovation in a three-fold way. First, we correct for the usual sample selection bias by filtering out firms not interested in innovation from 'potential innovators'. We then analyse the impact of obstacles on the translation of firms' engagement in innovative activities onto actual innovative outputs. Second, we assess what mostly affects firms' rate of failure in this process, whether finance or, rather, knowledge or demand-related constraints. Third, we do so in a panel framework, which allows to account for endogeneity and firms' unobserved heterogeneity through individual effects. We find that demand- and market-related factors are as important as financing conditions in determining firms' innovation failures. This evidence puts much of the latest hype on finance in perspective and brings back into the picture traditional demand and market structure arguments of why firms fail to innovate. The empirical analysis is based on an unbalanced panel of firm data from four waves of the UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS) between 2002 and 2010 merged with the UK Business Structure Database. |
| Keywords: | Barriers to innovation, Innovative firms, Potential Innovators, Failed Innovators, Panel data |
| JEL: | C23 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013029&r=knm |
| By: | Figueiredo, Paulo N. (Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation); Cohen, Marcela (Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation); Gomes, Saulo (Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation) |
| Abstract: | Although much has been written about organizational-level learning, there is a dearth of empirical studies that explore the role of changes in the nature of firm-centred learning mechanisms in affecting inter-firm differences and similarities in the accumulation of innovation capabilities, especially among firms from emerging economies, known as latecomers. By examining the relationships between these issues based on fieldwork evidence from 13 natural resource-processing firms in Brazil (1950-2000s), this study found that: (1) firms that combined the use of external and internal learning mechanisms with increased intensity and quality achieved higher innovation capability levels than firms that used these learning mechanisms with limited frequency and unchanged quality over time; (2) the relative importance of both external and internal learning mechanisms changed as firms' capabilities approached world-leading levels; (3) some combinations of external and internal learning mechanisms were associated with the attainment of particular innovation capability levels. Therefore, if latecomer firms expend limited efforts in using and deliberately changing the intensity and, mainly, the quality of both external and internal learning mechanisms over time, they will deepen their innovation capabilities slowly and will remain innovation 'followers' rather than becoming world-leading innovators. Using a novel approach that explores the relationship between latecomer firms' innovation capability-building and the extent of changes in the underlying learning mechanisms, this paper furthers our understanding of the nature and dynamics of learning and its role as a primary source of firms' international innovation performance. It also challenges recent approaches that seem to over emphasize open learning processes and post-Chandlerian forms of learning as the leading sources of firms' innovation capabilities. |
| Keywords: | Innovation capability building, learning mechanisms, latecomer firms, natural resources, multiple case-study, Brazil |
| JEL: | O12 O32 O33 M10 Q20 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013007&r=knm |
| By: | Nour, Samia Satti Osman Mohamed (Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, Khartoum University, and UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use the data from the firm survey (2002) at the micro level and some recent and update current secondary data at the macro level to examine the importance (impacts) of tacit and codified sources of knowledge at firm and aggregate levels respectively. Our results at the macro level are consistent with the notion that tacit knowledge is complementary with schooling, while tacit knowledge and codified knowledge are positively correlated with GDP. Moreover, at the macro/aggregate level, our results show a significant complementary relationship between codified knowledge and the number of Full Time Equivalent Researchers (FTER) and between them and publications, cooperation and technology (patents). Our findings at the micro level indicate positive correlations between tacit knowledge, ICT, training, profit, output and output diversification. In addition, our findings illustrate that tacit skill/knowledge inside the firm increases with market size: total investment, capital, firm size and age. Our results are consistent with the findings in the knowledge literature and are also useful to indicate the importance of good education at both the micro and macro levels. |
| Keywords: | Tacit knowledge, codified knowledge, economic growth, Arab Gulf countries |
| JEL: | O10 O11 O30 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013016&r=knm |
| By: | Nour, Samia Satti Osman Mohamed (Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, Khartoum University, and UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs both the descriptive and comparative approaches and uses the definition of knowledge and knowledge indicators used in the literature to examine the existence and development of the knowledge economy in the Arab region. We fill the gap in the Arab literature and present a more comprehensive analysis of the development of knowledge indicators in the Arab region. Our findings support the first hypothesis that the knowledge economy exists in the Arab region and coincides with a substantial knowledge gap compared to other world regions. Our results corroborate the second hypothesis concerning the variation in knowledge indicators, according to the structure of the economy in the Arab region, and support the third hypothesis concerning the poor and slow progress in the trend of knowledge - related indicators in the Arab region. Therefore, it is essential for the Arab region to enhance the knowledge economy and indicators to achieve economic development in the Arab region. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge economy, tacit knowledge, codified knowledge, knowledge index, Arab region |
| JEL: | O10 O11 O30 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013015&r=knm |
| By: | Hou, Jun (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, and Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | In developing countries, innovation is to a large extent a matter of adoption of advanced technologies but also of conducting internal R&D to be able to better assimilate existing technologies. This paper, based on firm level data from 24 developing countries, examines the roles of internal R&D efforts (MAKE) and external technology sourcing (BUY) in fostering productivity in manufacturing firms. Is MAKE a substitute for BUY or are the two strategies complementary as evidenced in some developed countries? Our empirical investigation highlights the critical role of external technology acquisition in manufacturing industries in low-income countries and exhibits signs of complementarity only in middle-income countries. |
| Keywords: | innovation, make and buy, complementarity, developing countries |
| JEL: | O13 O33 D22 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013010&r=knm |
| By: | Raymond, Wladimir (STATEC Luxemburg); Mairesse, Jacques (CREST-INSEE, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, and NBER); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG, SBE, Maastricht University, and CIRANO); Palm, Franz (SBE, Maastricht University and CESifo) |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces dynamics in the R&D to innovation and innovation to productivity relationships, which have mostly been estimated on cross-sectional data. It considers four nonlinear dynamic simultaneous equations models that include individual effects and idiosyncratic errors correlated across equations and that differ in the way innovation enters the conditional mean of labour productivity: through an observed binary indicator, an observed intensity variable or through the continuous latent variables that correspond to the observed occurrence or intensity. It estimates these models by full information maximum likelihood using two unbalanced panels of Dutch and French manufacturing firms from three waves of the Community Innovation Survey. The results provide evidence of robust unidirectional causality from innovation to productivity and of stronger persistence in productivity than in innovation. |
| Keywords: | R&D, innovation, productivity, panel data, dynamics, simultaneous equations |
| JEL: | C33 C34 C35 L60 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013025&r=knm |
| By: | Akçomakn Semih (TEKPOL, Middle East Technical University, and UNU-MERIT); Akdeve, Erdal (School of Management, Yıldırım Beyazıt University); Findik, Derya (TEKPOL, Middle East Technical University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a novel taxonomy of firms based on specialization versus diversification in production and markets. Firms may choose to specialize on few production activities or alternatively may build expertise in many activities. There is an accompanying decision when firms sell their products: whether to serve few or many markets. We argue that the location on the specialization-diversification spectrum significantly affects how firms manage innovation. For a sample of 90 innovator ICT firms in Ankara we find that cooperation structure, sources of innovation and funding of R&D display statistically significant different patterns according to the specialization-diversification taxonomy. |
| Keywords: | management of innovation, core competency, expertise building, R&D, ICT |
| JEL: | O32 L22 L86 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013024&r=knm |
| By: | Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT, and SBE, Maastricht University); Hall, Bronwyn H. (University of California at Berkeley, NBER, UNU-MERIT, and SBE, Maastricht University.) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the existing evidence regarding the effects of technological and non-technological innovations on the productivity of firms and the existence of possible complementarities between these different forms of innovation. |
| Keywords: | innovation, productivity |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O33 O40 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013021&r=knm |
| By: | Lafond, Francois (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | Suppose that homogenous agents fully consume their time to invent new ideas and learn ideas from their friends. If the social network is complete and agents pick friends and ideas of friends uniformly at random, the distribution of ideas’ popularity is an extension of the Yule-Simon distribution. It has a power-law tail, with an upward or downward curvature. For infinite population it converges to the Yule-Simon distribution. The power law is steeper when innovation is high. Diffusion follows S-shaped curves. |
| Keywords: | innovation, diffusion, two-mode networks, cumulative advantage, quadratic attachment kernel, power law, Yule-Simon distribution, generalized hypergeometric distribution |
| JEL: | D83 D85 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013040&r=knm |
| By: | Zhang, Mingqian (Shanghai International Studies University); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | Using a large dataset of over 100,000 Chinese firms created between 2000 and 2006, we explore whether there is a link between innovation effort (R&D) or innovation output (the share of innovative sales) and the firm's duration of survival. We estimate a complementary log-log model with time-varying explanatory variables controlling for individual heterogeneity. We find that innovative firms tend to survive longer, more so because of R&D than because of introducing new products. There seems to be an inverted-U relationship between R&D or innovation output and long-term survival, suggesting that too much R&D or product innovation can cause firms to die, perhaps because of excessive risk. Survival has a cyclical behaviour, and it varies across provinces. It also varies with ownership. State-owned firms have a higher hazard rate than privately-owned firms, which have a higher hazard rate than foreign-owned firms. |
| Keywords: | firm survival, complementary log-log duration models, China, innovation |
| JEL: | L25 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013057&r=knm |
| By: | Tiwari, Amaresh K. (University of Liege); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG, SBE, Maastricht University, and CIRANO); Palm, Franz (SBE, Maastricht University and CESifo); Schim van der Loeff, Sybrand (SBE, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Using Dutch data we empirically investigate how financing and innovation vary across firm characteristics. We find that when firms face financial constraints, debt financing and innovation choices are not independent of firm characteristics, and R&D slows down. In the absence of financial constraints, however, as they raise debt, firms become less inclined to innovate and the change in the propensity to innovate no longer varies with firm characteristics. We find that financing constraints faced, propensity to innovate, and R&D intensity are not uniform across firm characteristics. A new 'Control Function' estimator to account for heterogeneity and endogeneity has been developed. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, R&D, Capital Structure, Financial Constraints, Firm Characteristics, Correlated Random Effects, Control Function, Expected a Posteriori |
| JEL: | G30 O30 C30 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013027&r=knm |
| By: | Igor Gurkov (D.Sc., National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia)); Sergey Filippov (Ph.D., Delft University of Technology (Delft, The Netherlands), Assistant Professor) |
| Abstract: | Subsidiaries of foreign multinational companies are essential part of the modern Russian economy. In many sectors, they enjoy dominant positions. Innovation is an important driver and determinant of this dominance. Yet, little research has been done on innovation strategies and innovation processes in foreign subsidiaries in Russia. The paper aims to fill this gap. On the basis of qualitative evidence, it explores the goals, patterns and challenges of innovation activities in Russian subsidiaries. Our findings suggest that that manufacturing subsidiaries have implemented numerous effective innovation routines that are an integral part of daily ‘routine’ management. This is driven by the two-faceted objective – to achieve global quality standards and low production costs. |
| Keywords: | manufacturing, subsidiaries, multinational corporations, innovation, Russia, surveys. |
| JEL: | F23 L21 L22 L23 L60 M11 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:07man2013&r=knm |
| By: | Igor Gurkov (D.Sc., National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia)); Sergey Filippov (Ph.D., Delft University of Technology (Delft, The Netherlands), Assistant Professor) |
| Abstract: | The extant literature acknowledges the role of overseas subsidiaries in the growth and development of multinational companies (MNCs). Such subsidiaries are viewed as critical players in the innovation process at MNCs. Although this topic has gained importance, it remains largely under-researched in the Russian context. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the dynamics of the innovation process in Russian-based subsidiaries of global MNCs. It seeks to explore and understand motivation and drivers of innovation, key participants, and impact and outcomes of innovation, with a specific reference to the peculiarities of the Russian institutional environment. We present qualitative findings from several case studies of Russian manufacturing subsidiaries of foreign MNCs, which indicate that Russian subsidiaries are not only recipients of knowledge and technology developed elsewhere in the MNCs, but are active developers of innovative products and solutions that are later applied in other units of the respective MNCs |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Subsidiaries, Russia, Manufacturing, MNCs, Technologies. |
| JEL: | F23 L21 L22 L23 L60 M11 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:11man2013&r=knm |
| By: | Rosa, Julio Miguel (Industry Canada, Economic Research and Policy Analysis Branch); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG, and CIRANO) |
| Abstract: | On the one hand, firms prefer to perform R&D in an open mode (letting R&D be performed extramurally or even selling their R&D services) to benefit from knowledge spillovers and complementarities between internal and external R&D. On the other hand, they may also like to perform R&D in a closed mode (funding and executing their R&D intramurally) to minimize outgoing externalities. We examine the dynamic process by which firms change the way of doing R&D and how these strategic choices of doing R&D affect their productivity growth. This study is based on the Statistics Canada Research and Development in Canadian Industry survey (RDCI), which collects data on R&D performed in the business sector in Canada. The paper is based on data for the period 1997 to 2006. The panel dimension of the data allows to control for unobserved characteristics of R&D performers by estimating a multinomial Logit model with unobserved heterogeneities using maximum simulated likelihood (MSL) method. |
| Keywords: | R&D, State Dependence, Dynamic Multinomial Logit, Panel-data, Maximum Simulated Likelihood, Open Innovation |
| JEL: | C35 L23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013060&r=knm |
| By: | Link, Albert N. (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics); Antonelli, Cristiano (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper is the Introduction to Recent Developments in the Economics of Science and Innovation (Edward Elgar, 2014). The causes and consequences of the general efficiency of labor and the associated changes in the production, consumption, and distribution brought about by the introduction of new technologies in economic systems is a field of economic investigation of growth interest and widening activity in both research and teaching. Our views of the evolution of this field are summarized in this paper. |
| Keywords: | Science; Innovation; Technological change; Economic systems |
| JEL: | O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2013_021&r=knm |
| By: | Hitoshi Tanaka (Faculty of Economics, Hokkai-Gakuen University); Tatsuro Iwaisako (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how intellectual property rights (IPR) protection affects innovation and foreign direct investment (FDI) using a North-South quality-ladder model incorporat- ing the exogenous and costless imitation of technology and subsidy policies for both R&D and FDI. We show that for the interior steady state to be stable, either R&D or FDI sub- sidy rates must be positive. Our findings also indicate that strengthening IPR protection promotes both innovation and FDI. Moreover, a strengthening of IPR protection can also improve welfare if the initial IPR protection in the South is weak and the R&D subsidy rate is not too high. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment, innovation, intellectual property rights protection |
| JEL: | F43 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1315r&r=knm |
| By: | Leeuwen, George van (Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | Almost all empirical research that has attempted to assess the validity of the Porter hypothesis has started from reduced-form models, e.g. by using single-equation models for estimating the contribution of environmental regulation (ER) to productivity. This paper addresses the Porter Hypothesis within a structural approach that allows us to test what is known in the literature as the "weak" and the "strong" version of the Porter hypothesis. Our "Green Innovation" model includes three types of eco investments and non-eco R&D to explain differences in the incidence of innovation. Besides product and process innovations we recognize eco-innovation as a separate type of innovation output. We explicitly model the potential synergies of introducing the three types of innovations simultaneously and their synergy in affecting total factor productivity (TFP) performance. Using a comprehensive panel of firm-level data built from four surveys we aim to estimate the relative importance of energy price incentives as a market based type of ER and the direct effect of environmental regulation on eco investment and firms' decisions regarding the introduction of several types of innovations. The results of our analysis show a strong corroboration of the weak version of the Porter hypothesis but not of the strong version of the PH, in this case on TFP performance. |
| Keywords: | Porter Hypothesis, green innovation, environmental regulation, innovation complementarities, productivity |
| JEL: | H23 L5 O32 O38 Q55 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013002&r=knm |
| By: | Srholec , Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Much has been written about innovation cooperation. But little research has been done to explain national differences thereof. Using macro and micro evidence from the fourth Community Innovation Survey, we econometrically investigate the extent to which national framework conditions account for the propensity of firms to cooperate on innovation at home and abroad. The results indicate strong differences across countries in the latter. Firms operating in countries with less developed research infrastructure are shown to be more likely to cooperate with foreign partners, hence supporting the thesis that in this context the foreign linkages tend to be diasporic. Size and openness of the economy matters too. But characteristics of firms that explain cooperation have not been found to differ much by country. In this respect, the results draw attention to limits of the existing micro datasets on innovation cooperation. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; cooperation; innovation system; multilevel model; Europe |
| JEL: | D21 F23 L16 O23 |
| Date: | 2013–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_026&r=knm |
| By: | Cevikarslan, Salih (UNU-MERIT, and SBE, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | The aims of this paper are twofold. The first is to analyse the interaction between research and development (R&D) activities of firms and heterogeneous consumer preferences in structuring the evolution of an industry. The second is to explore the effects of patent life and patent breadth on market outcomes. To answer these research questions, an evolutionary, multi-agent based, sector-level cumulative innovation model is designed. The model addresses supply and demand sides of the market simultaneously with the co-evolution of heterogeneous consumer preferences, heterogeneous firm knowledge bases and technology levels at the micro level. In line with the evolutionary modelling tradition, we have a search algorithm-innovation and imitation of products by firms - a selection of algorithm-revealed preferences of the consumers - and a population of objects in which variation is expressed and on which selection operates: namely, firms (Windrum, 2004). Firms compete on quality and price of their products in an oligopolistic market whereas consumers, constrained by their computational limits, act to maximize their utility with their product choices in a boundedly rational way. There is continuous firm entry and exit depending on the competitive performance of the firms. |
| Keywords: | Patents, industrial dynamics, evolutionary economics, agent-based modelling |
| JEL: | B52 L11 O34 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013020&r=knm |
| By: | Crespi, Gustavo (Competitiveness and Innovation Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Tacsir, Ezequiel (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of process and product innovation on employment growth and composition in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Uruguay using micro data from innovation surveys. Based on the model put forward by Harrison et al. (1998), employment growth is related to process innovations and to the growth of sales separately due to innovative and unchanged products. Results show that compensation effects are pervasive and that the introduction of new products is associated with employment growth at the firm level. No evidence of displacement effects due to the introduction of product innovations was observed. With respect to the impact of innovation on employment composition, there is scant evidence of a skill bias, although product innovation is more complementary to skilled than to unskilled labour. |
| Keywords: | innovation, employment, developing countries, Latin America, innovation surveys |
| JEL: | O12 O14 O31 O33 O40 J21 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013001&r=knm |
| By: | Monica Calcagno (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice) |
| Abstract: | The present economic and financial crisis stressed the focus on innovation as a key process, imagined to support organizations facing the problem of how to produce value in a radically changed milieu. Given this context, the management literature has been looking for innovative practices, investigating those contexts where words such as change, subversion of traditions and innovation have been given a strategic role. This happens, among the others, in artistic productions, where the artistÕs creative process has a deeply innovative nature (Frankelius, 2011). The present study aims to investigate the processes of value creation taking place in one of these artistic organizations: Il Posto, an Italian company of vertical dance founded by Wanda Moretti. The choice of Wanda Moretti as an object of observation has a double meaning. As a dancer and a choreographer, her creative process is made of creative thinking and action, such as thinking and action are the main components of the managerial perspective. Secondly, her artistic project is an innovative project in the perspective of modern dance. We then aim to observe and identify the innovative dimension of her language, analysing the processes through which her creative thinking takes place, inducing action. The paper adopted a qualitative approach, using a process of interpretation based on a narrative model. To explore this narrative dimension, giving room to the interpretation of the processes in the specific context where they took place, the case study has been followed by three in-depth observations, where three main activities of the choreographer have been put under the lens of a conceptual microscope. The paper ends with the identification of the main processes, through which innovation takes place in the context of observation. |
| Keywords: | innovation, organization, culture, creativity |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:58&r=knm |
| By: | Cowan, Robin (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, Maastricht University, and BETA, Universite de Strassbourg); Kamath, Anant (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | This is a model of knowledge exchange by means of informal interaction among agents in low technology clusters. What this study seeks to do is to colour these exchanges by placing them in an environment of complex social relations, test whether the small-world network structure is the most favourable for knowledge exchanges in these environments, and explore the influence of social relations and network distance. These enquiries are the contribution of this model to the existing series of studies on efficient network structures for knowledge diffusion. We find that the small-world network structure may not be the best network structure for highest and most equitable knowledge distribution, when knowledge exchanges are undertaken in environments of complex social relations. Also, we confirm that the highest and most equitable knowledge distribution is achieved when there is perfect affinity among the agents. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge Exchanges, Small-Worlds, Social Networks, Complex Social Relations |
| JEL: | D85 O33 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013004&r=knm |
| By: | Figueiredo, Paulo N. (EBAPE, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | This article examines outcomes that are achieved by latecomer firms from the accumulation of innovative capabilities. Drawing on fieldwork evidence from pulp and paper firms in Brazil (1950-2010), it was found that: (1) the firms accumulated innovative capabilities that turned them into world leaders in the segment of the global pulp and paper industry based on eucalyptus forestry; (2) besides this technological catch-up, the accumulation of these innovative capabilities resulted in outcomes that generated benefits within these firms such as (i) implemented inventive and innovative activities; (ii) consistent improvement of several parameters of operational and environment-related performance; (iii) varied patterns of corporate growth; (3) these outcomes were achieved not only by research-based and patent-related capabilities but mainly by a mix of innovative capability levels, with differing degrees of novelty and complexity for diverse technological functions. Therefore, the accumulation of a wide range of types and levels of innovative capabilities does pay off for the innovative firms, their industries and, ultimately, their economies. By combining a novel approach to examining firm capabilities with findings from an inductive fieldwork, this article provides new empirical and methodological insights for the long-standing debate on innovative capabilities as the fundamental source of firm competitive performance. The article draws managers' attention to the importance of a multiplicity of types and levels of capabilities to achieve relevant outcomes, and policy makers in developing economies to adopt a comprehensive view on innovative activities and place firm-centred innovation capability accumulation at the centre of industrial innovation policies. |
| Keywords: | innovative capability accumulation, latecomer firms, catch-up, competitive performance, Brazil |
| JEL: | M16 O32 Q16 Q18 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013048&r=knm |
| By: | R. Andergassen; F. Nardini; M. Ricottilli |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the mechanics through which novel technological principles are developed and diffused throughout an economy consisting of a technologically heterogeneous ensemble of firms. In the model entrepreneurs invest in the discovery and in the diffusion of a technological principle and their profit flow depends on how many firms adopt the innovation and on how long it takes other entrepreneurs to improve it. We show that technological convergence emerges from the competition among entrepreneurs for the profit flow and characterize the economy's growth rate. |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O41 E19 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp912&r=knm |