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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2013‒12‒06
twelve papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Schubert , Torben (Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) And CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden); Andersson , Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden and Blekinge Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | There is consistent evidence in the literature that average employee age is negatively related to firm-level innovativeness. This observation has been explained by older employees working with outdated technological knowledge and being characterized by reduced cognitive flexibility. We argue that firms can mitigate this effect through employee turnover. In particular turnover of R&D workers is deemed a vehicle for transfer of external knowledge to the firm, which can compensate for lower cognitive flexibility and up-to-date knowledge among older workers. We use a matched employer-employee dataset based on three consecutive CIS surveys for Sweden to test our predictions. Our results suggest a) that overall employee age impacts negatively on product innovation activities (both in terms of propensity and success), b) that the effect of em-ployee staying rate (measured by the share of employees that remain in the firm from one year to the next) on innovation follows an inverted U-shape implying an ‘optimal’ level of employment turnover, and c) that this ‘optimal’ value is lower for firms with older employees. The latter suggests that firms with older employees can at least partially compensate an aged workforce by increased employment turnover. |
| Keywords: | ageing; employee age; innovation; firm performance; R&D; human capita |
| JEL: | D22 J21 J24 L25 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_029&r=knm |
| By: | Chaminade , Cristina (CIRCLE, Lund University); Plechero , Monica (IRPPS-CNR, Italy and CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | Abstract Access to global innovation networks (GINs) has been unequal across the regions of the world. While certain regions are considered knowledge hubs in GINs, others still remain marginalized; this points to the role of regional innovation systems in the emergence and development of GINs. Using firm-level data collected through a survey and case studies in 2009–2010, this article systematically compares the patterns of global networks in the ICT industry in a selection of European, Chinese and Indian regions. The results show that GINs are more common in regions which are not organizationally and institutionally thick, suggesting that GINs may be a compensatory mechanism for weaknesses in the regional innovation system. |
| Keywords: | globalization; innovation networks; regions; Europe; India; China |
| JEL: | O30 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_032&r=knm |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (CSIR, Blekinge Inst of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how the influence of firm-level innovation determinants varies over the industry life cycle. Two sets of determinants are distinguished: (1) determinants of a firm’s innovation propensity, i.e. the likelihood of being innovative and (2) determinants of its innovation intensity, i.e. innovation sales. By combining the literature emphasizing firms’ internal resources (micro level) with the research strand on the role of the industry context (meso-level), the paper develops hypotheses about the relative importance of firm-level innovation determinants over the industry life cycle. Estimation of a firm-level model of innovation in Sweden, while acknowledging the stage of the life cycle of the industry a firms belongs to, shows that the importance of the determinants of innovation propensity and intensity are not equal over the stages of an industry’s life cycle. |
| Keywords: | Determinants of innovation; innovation intensity; innovation propensity; Industry Life Cycle (ILC); Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) |
| Date: | 2013–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bthcsi:2012-011&r=knm |
| By: | Carbonara, Nunzia (CSIR, Blekinge Inst of Technology); Tavassoli, Sam (CSIR, Blekinge Inst of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate concerning the role of heterogeneity for the innovative capability of industrial districts. With this aim, using a knowledge-based approach, the paper focuses on different sources of industrial district knowledge heterogeneity and studies how the different level of heterogeneity affects the innovative capability of industrial districts. Four theoretical hypotheses concerning the effects of knowledge and knowledge heterogeneity on the Industrial District innovativeness are formulated. To test the hypotheses, an econometric analysis on 32 Italian District Provinces is applied. Empirical results show that knowledge heterogeneity matter for increasing the innovative capability of industrial districts. |
| Keywords: | Industrial district; innovative capability; knowledge heterogeneity |
| JEL: | F14 O32 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bthcsi:2012-010&r=knm |
| By: | Johansson, Börje (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Center of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS) KTH, and Center for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE), Sweden); Warda, Peter (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Center of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS) KTH, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how firms’ internal and external knowledge sources affect the introduction of new export products with regard to value, number, average unit price and average quantity. Previous studies of this kind suggest that firms’ export performance is influenced by internal knowledge, and the knowledge potential in the local and regional environment. In the present study the knowledge milieu of the exporting firm is the local and regional knowledge potential that is represented by the presence of Knowledge-Intensive Manufacturing Industries (KIMI). The empirical analysis demonstrates that a firm’s internal knowledge has a positive effect on the value, number, average unit price, and average quantity of new export products. The knowledge milieu of the exporting firm, represented by the access to local and intra-regional KIMI-employment, has: i) a negative effect on the value and the average quantity, and ii) a positive effect on the number and the average unit price, of new export products, respectively. |
| Keywords: | New export products; accessibility; manufacturing; knowledge; human capital |
| JEL: | D21 D24 F23 L60 R30 |
| Date: | 2013–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0331&r=knm |
| By: | Riccardo Crescenzi; Max Nathan; Andrés Rodríguez-Pose |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how physical, organisational, institutional, cognitive, social, and ethnic proximities between inventors shape their collaboration decisions. Using a new panel of UK inventors and a novel identification strategy, this paper systematically explores the net effects of all these ‘proximities’ on co-patenting. The regression analysis allows us to identify the full effects of each proximity, both on choice of collaborator and on the underlying decision to collaborate. The results show that physical proximity is an important influence on collaboration, but is mediated by organisational and ethnic factors. Over time, physical proximity increases in salience. For multiple inventors, geographic proximity is, however, much less important than organisational, social, and ethnic links. For inventors as a whole, proximities are fundamentally complementary, while for multiple inventors they are substitutes. |
| Keywords: | innovation, patents, proximities, regions, knowledge spillovers, collaboration, ethnicity, |
| JEL: | O31 O33 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1324&r=knm |
| By: | Claire Nauwelaers; Karen Maguire; Giulia Ajmone Marsan |
| Abstract: | Estonia and Finland have centuries of collaboration, mainly between the capital areas of Tallinn and Helsinki that currently account for 2 million inhabitants and USD 76 billion in economic output. The entry of Estonia into the European Union and, since the mid-2000s, a two-hour ferry trip, have both facilitated flows of people and merchandise across the Gulf of Finland. The different levels of development between Helsinki and Tallinn result in many asymmetric flows (workers to Helsinki, tourists to Tallinn). Beyond infrastructure and labour market issues, there are interesting opportunities for joint innovation policy efforts given their shared strengths such as in ICT, a dynamic start-up environment and technologically sophisticated public services. Cross-border collaboration can help build an “entrepreneurial knowledge region” brand. This case study is part of the project Regions and Innovation: Collaborating Across Borders. A summary of this working paper appears in a report of the same name. |
| JEL: | L52 L53 O14 O18 O38 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2013/19-en&r=knm |
| By: | Amarante, M; Ghossoub, M; Phelps, E |
| Date: | 2013–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imp:wpaper:12241&r=knm |
| By: | Chaminade , Cristina (CIRCLE, Lund University); Intarakumnerd, Patarapong (College of Innovation, Thammasat University Thailand); Sapprasert , Koson (TIK and CAS, Norway) |
| Abstract: | The paper contributes to research on innovation systems; in particular, the current debate on rationales for innovation policy by providing a framework to identify systemic problems in a given system of innovation and test the framework empirically. The data was drawn from the Thai Community Innovation Survey in the period after which a major change in the country’s innovation system policy had been initiated. By hierarchical factor analysis, systemic problems suggested by prior studies are grouped into four components: institution, network, science and technology infrastructure and other support services. Our framework and methodology may also be applied in the analyses of systemic problems in other countries, especially for the purpose to investigate a mismatch between policies and problems. |
| Keywords: | Systemic problems; Innovation Policy; National Innovation System; Hierarchical Factor Analysis; Thailand |
| JEL: | O30 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_031&r=knm |
| By: | Lundvall , Bengt-Åke (CBS, Aalborg University, Denmark); Vang , Jan (Copenhagen Institute of Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark); Joseph , KJ (Centre for Development Studies (CDS), India); Chaminade , Cristina (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper links innovation system analysis to economic development. Both fields are young and interdisciplinary. In the recent years, there has been a renewed interest on applying the innovation system concept in developing countries. In the first part of this paper we try to specify the conditions under which innovation systems can be used in a developing country context; and we do so in a dialogue with critiques developed within the community of evolutionary and development scholars. In the second part of the paper we give a brief assessment of how development economics has evolved and we draw some lessons for a research strategy. We will argue that the crisis of the first generation of development economics that was represented by scholars such as Nurkse, Myrdal, Hirschman, Singer and Sen has left a void in development economics that cannot be filled neither by mainstream neoclassical economics nor by ‘new growth theory’. We see the innovation system approach as a serious candidate to fill this void |
| Keywords: | Innovation systems; development economics; developing countries |
| JEL: | O30 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_033&r=knm |
| By: | Claire Nauwelaers; Karen Maguire; Giulia Ajmone Marsan |
| Abstract: | Hedmark County (Norway) and Dalarna County (Sweden) are both rural, with the border being remote from regional centres. The total population of less than half a million inhabitants spans across almost 58 800 km², with an economic output of USD 22 billion. Efforts to support collaboration at the border focus on the sector of tourism that both share, and which would be facilitated by the construction of one airport to serve both sides. As most science and technology-related assets are located far from the border, the region does not seem to have the relevant conditions for a broad cross-border regional innovation policy since urban centres are perhaps better served by looking towards other locations rather than this border. On the border, efforts for innovation in other forms, such as in marketing and organisational methods in tourism, are more relevant. This case study is part of the project Regions and Innovation: Collaborating Across Borders . A summary of this working paper appears in a report of the same name. |
| JEL: | L52 L53 O14 O18 O38 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2013/18-en&r=knm |
| By: | Yuezhou Cai; Aoife Hanley |
| Abstract: | The standard indicators used to compare cross-country innovation are in the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR). But there are problems with aggregation and response bias with these largely self-reported measures (Hollanders and van Cruysen, 2008). We propose a theory-based metric using Data Envelopment Analysis which corrects for sample bias and considers Returns to Scale. The derived ranking compares well to components of the GCR. Moreover, in second-stage estimations, our corrected efficiency score correlates well with standard Growth Theory indicators |
| Keywords: | Data Envelopment Analysis, Efficiency Indicators, Global Competitiveness Report |
| JEL: | C61 C14 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1882&r=knm |