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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2014‒06‒02
twelve papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Narula R.; Martinez-Noya A.; Ashok M. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on how to improve process innovation in service sectors. To do so, we analyse how the interplay of external knowledge sources specifically, the intensity of end-user collaboration and the breadth of external collaboration and the firms internal resources impact process innovation at the firm level. Survey data from 166 Information Technology Services firms provide the empirical data, which is tested using the partial least squares structural equation model. Our results demonstrate that benefits from collaboration are not automatic, as the firms commitment of internal resources fully mediates the impact of the intensity of end-user collaboration and breadth of external collaboration on process innovation. Thus, internal resources become critical to make effective use of the knowledge residing both internally and externally, and key managerial practices that enable a firm to extract benefits from external collaboration are identified. Keywords end-user collaboration; external knowledge sources; internal resources; process innovation; service industry |
| Keywords: | IT Management; Management of Technological Innovation and R&D; |
| JEL: | M15 O32 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014019&r=knm |
| By: | Acharya, Viral V; Xu, Zhaoxia |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between innovation and firms' dependence on external capital by analyzing the innovation activities of privately-held and publicly-traded firms We find that public firms in external finance dependent industries generate patents of higher quantity, quality, and novelty compared to their private counterparts, while public firms in internal finance dependent industries do not have a significantly better innovation profile than matched private firms. The results are robust to various empirical strategies that address selection bias. The findings suggest that public listing is beneficial to the innovation of firms in industries with a greater need for external capital. |
| Keywords: | finance and growth; financial constraints; innovation; private firms; public firms; R&D |
| JEL: | G31 G32 O16 O30 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9829&r=knm |
| By: | Nour S. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an overview of knowledge transfer and explains the factors that enable or impede absorption capacity and knowledge transfer in the MENA countries, with particular reference to the case of Egypt. We employ the conceptual framework used in the international literature on absorption capacity and international knowledge transfer channels including FDI, international trade, ICT, education, human capital mobility and university-industry linkage, and we examine the factors that enable or impede absorption capacity and knowledge transfer channels in the MENA region and Egypt respectively. One interesting element in our study is that we present a systematic framework for the factors that enable or impede knowledge transfer in Egypt and the MENA region. We find that the factors hindering absorption capacity and knowledge transfer are related to institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, higher education and training, goods market efficiency and labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness and capacity for innovation. Our results are consistent with the stylized facts in the MENA literature regarding the impediment factors hampering the transfer of knowledge in the MENA region. Our results are also in line with the stylized facts in the international literature regarding the interaction and linkage between the different knowledge transfer channels. The major policy implication from our findings is that knowledge transfer is facilitated by supporting the linkages between the different knowledge transfer channels within this systematic framework. Knowledge transfer through utilization of FDI is facilitated by the sound institutions for the provision of sufficiently qualified labour, ICT infrastructure, opening up to international trade, good university-industry cooperation, RD and innovation capacity. Knowledge transfer through utilization of international trade is facilitated by the sound institutions for the provision of sufficiently qualified labour and ICT infrastructure. Finally, knowledge transfer through utilization of human capital and ICT is facilitated by supporting the complementary relationship between them. Keywords Absorption capacity; knowledge transfer; MENA Region; Egypt |
| Keywords: | Economic Development: General; Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development; Technological Change; Research and Development; Intellectual Property Rights: General; |
| JEL: | O10 O11 O30 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014017&r=knm |
| By: | Jason P. Davis (INSEAD); Yulia Muzyrya (University of Michigan); Pai-Ling Yin (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | Although experimentation is critical to the innovation process in startups, little research has explored the link between different experimentation strategies and entrepreneurial innovation. We use unique data on experimentation strategies and innovation outcomes of firms producing iPhone applications to show that the appropriateness of different strategies depends on market characteristics. Simultaneous experimentation strategies are better suited to markets characterized by strong market inheritance, where innovative know-how, development technologies, and heterogeneous preferences from established markets can be leveraged by entrepreneurs. In markets with fewer skills, fewer developmental technologies, and less understood demand expectations, innovations are more likely to result from sequential product improvements based on customer feedback, allowing the entrepreneur to develop skills and clarify what may be singular customer preferences |
| Keywords: | Keywords: Entrepreneur; Innovation; Technology; Strategy; Mobile Apps |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sip:dpaper:13-029&r=knm |
| By: | Agrawal, Ajay; Cockburn, Iain M; Galasso, Alberto; Oettl, Alexander |
| Abstract: | Large firms spawn spin-outs caused by innovations deemed unrelated to the firm's overall business. Small firms generate demand for specialized services that lower entry costs for others. We study the interplay of these two localized externalities and their impact on regional innovation. We examine MSA-level patent data during the period 1975-2000 and find that innovation output is higher in regions where large and small firms coexist. The finding is robust to across-region as well as within-region analysis and the effect is stronger in certain subsamples in a manner that is consistent with our explanation. |
| Keywords: | cities; externalities; firm size diversity; innovation; patents; spin-outs |
| JEL: | L16 O18 O47 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9766&r=knm |
| By: | Giovanni Cerulli (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth,Rome,Italy); Bianca Potì (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth,Rome,Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies at firm level the relation between managerial capacity in doing innovation and profitability. Moving along the intersection between the evolutionary/neo-Schumpeterian theory and the Resource-Based-View of the firm, we prove econometrically that managerial efficiency in mastering the production of innovation is an important determinant of firm innovative performance and market success, and that it complements traditional Schumpeterian drivers. By using a Stochastic Frontier Analysis, we provide a “direct” measure of innovation managerial capacity, then plugged into a profit margin equation augmented by the traditional Schumpeterian drivers of profitability (size, demand, market size and concentration, technological opportunities, etc.) and other control-variables. We run both a OLS and a series of Quantile Regressions to better stress the role played by companies’ heterogeneous response of profitability to innovative managerial capacity at different points of the distribution of the operating profit margin.Results find evidence of an average positive effect of the innovation managerial capacity on firm profitability, although quantile regressions show that this “mean effect” is mainly driven by a stronger magnitude of the effect for lower quantiles (i.e., for firms having negative or low positive profitability). It means that lower profitable firms might gain more from an increase of managerial efficiency in doing innovation than more profitable businesses. |
| JEL: | O31 D22 C22 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csc:cerisp:201301&r=knm |
| By: | Kroll, Henning; Muller, Emmanuel; Schnabl, Esther; Zenker, Andrea |
| Abstract: | [Summary and Discussion] In summary, our findings suggest that the current efforts towards fulfilling the RIS3 ex-ante conditionalities are neither likely to trigger an immediate revolution in European regions' approaches towards innovation policy nor will they put an immediate or even rapid end to all the inherent challenges and contradictions of structural funding that have emerged and evolved across decades of past support periods. [...] -- |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisifr:r22014&r=knm |
| By: | Raphaël Suire (CREM UMR CNRS 6211, University of Rennes 1, France); Jérôme Vicente (PACTE-CNRS, Sciences-Po Grenoble) |
| Abstract: | After an abundant literature on the crucial role of cluster development for innovation and growth in knowledge-based economies, cluster policies have been recently and increasingly called into question in the aftermath of several empirical evidences. Our aim is to show that, in spite of this growing scepticism, new opportunities for cluster policy and collective management exist. They require moving their focus from the “connecting people” one best way that gets through the whole of cluster policy guidelines to more surgical and targeted incentives for R&D collaborations, as well as renewed coordination mechanisms, which favour a set of particular network failures along the life cycle of clusters. |
| Keywords: | Network theories, cluster policy, cluster management |
| JEL: | B52 D85 O33 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201409&r=knm |
| By: | Kamal Saggi (Vanderbilt University); Difei Geng (Vanderbilt University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines trends in innovative activity in several major Asian countries during 1997-2011 as measured by their filings and grants of various types of intellectual property (IP). By almost all measures, there has been a remarkable increase in innovative activity in China. In fact, in 2011 China accounted for roughly 25% of global patent applications. However, several indirect measures suggest that the quality of this newly created Chinese IP is not (yet) world class. For example, relative to residents of other major Asian countries and the United States, Chinese residents tend to file IP applications in foreign markets at a much lower rate. Similarly, the ratio of royalty payments earned by Chinese residents to the number of patents granted to them is fairly low by international standards. Finally, the ratio of patent to utility model applications (typically granted for relatively minor innovations) in China is also relatively small. |
| Keywords: | innovation, protection of intellectual property, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, TRIPS, Asia |
| JEL: | O3 O5 |
| Date: | 2014–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:van:wpaper:vuecon-sub-14-00003&r=knm |
| By: | Bloom, Nicholas; Garicano, Luis; Sadun, Raffaella; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | Guided by theories of management by exception, we study the impact of Information and Communication Technology on worker and plant manager autonomy and span of control. The theory suggests that information technology is a decentralizing force, whereas communication technology is a centralizing force. Using a new dataset of American and European manufacturing firms, we find indeed that better information technologies (Enterprise Resource Planning for plant managers and CAD/CAM for production workers) are associated with more autonomy and a wider span, while technologies that improve communication (like data intranets) decrease autonomy for workers and plant managers. Using instrumental variables (distance from ERP's birthplace and heterogeneous telecommunication costs arising from regulation) strengthens our results. |
| Keywords: | communication technology; delegation; information technology; organization; theory of the firm |
| JEL: | F23 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9762&r=knm |
| By: | Frietsch, Rainer; Tagscherer, Ulrike |
| Abstract: | [Introduction ...] This paper describes the current STI policies of the Sino-German collaboration from a German perspective. It starts with the policies and the actions on the governmental level. Section three tries to briefly depict the effective implementation and the outcomes of these policies and individual actions. It uses empirical data to describe the current status and the evolution of the Sino-German exchange in science, technology and in-novation. Scientific publications and especially co-publications provide a sketch of the science collaborations. Patents and co-patents offer an indication of the technology collaboration as well as an assessment of the attractiveness of the (technology) markets. Finally, foreign trade data also offers a view on the industrial exchange. Profiles in all three dimensions convey a broad picture of complementarities and competition between China and Germany. Section four discusses and summarizes the findings. -- |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:43&r=knm |
| By: | Nour S. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a combination of secondary and primary data to provide a more comprehensive analysis of education, training and skill development policies in the Gulf countries. Different from earlier studies an interesting element in our analysis is that we discuss both the supply and demand sides of educational policies in the Gulf countries. A novel element in our study is that we present and compare the macro and micro views/perspectives concerning plans and policies implemented to improve skill upgrading through enhancing educational system, provision of training, transfer of knowledge/external schooling effect, using the macro and firm surveys 2002 data. Keywords Education; training; skill; skill upgrading policies; Gulf countries |
| Keywords: | National Government Expenditures and Education; Education and Research Institutions: General; Analysis of Education; Education and Inequality; Education: Government Policy; Personnel Economics: Training; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration; |
| JEL: | H52 I20 I21 I24 I28 M53 O15 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014015&r=knm |