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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2007‒09‒16
eight papers chosen by Emanuele Canegrati Catholic University of the Sacred Heart |
| By: | Bo Carlsson (Case Western Reserve University); Zoltan J. Acs (University of Baltimore); David B. Audretsch (Max-Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany); Pontus Braunerhjelm (Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between knowledge creation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth in the United States over the last 150 years. According to the "new growth theory", investments in knowledge and human capital generate economic growth via spillovers of knowledge. But the theory does not explain how or why spillovers occur, or why large investments in R+D do not always result in economic growth. What is missing is "the knowledge filter" - the distinction between general knowledge and economically useful knowledge. Also missing is a mechanism (such as entrepreneurship) converting economically relevant knowledge into economic activity. This paper shows that the unprecedented increase in R+D spending in the United States during and after World War II was converted into economic activity via incumbent firms in the early postwar period and increasingly via new ventures in the last few decades. |
| Keywords: | knowledge, economic growth, entrepreneurship, spillovers, history |
| JEL: | O14 O17 O30 N90 |
| Date: | 2007–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-057&r=knm |
| By: | Ibrahim, M.K.M.; Ribbers, P.M.A.; Bettonvil, B.W.M. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses how human knowledge resources affect capabilities and subsequently attainment of operational and strategic benefits. We test a conceptual model using data from two qualitative case studies and a quantitative field study. The findings indicate that human knowledge positively influences IOS capabilities related to cross-organizational business processes and transfer of knowledge. The data show that strategic benefits are the consequence of knowledge transfer, when the transfer supports business processes resulting in operational benefits. |
| Keywords: | Interorganizational systems;resource-based view;IOS capabilities;Strategic benefits;Human Knowledge; |
| Date: | 2007–07–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:300011715&r=knm |
| By: | Zoltan J. Acs (George Mason University and Max-Planck-Institute of Economics, Jena); David J. Brooksbank (University of Glamorgan); Colm O'Gorman (Dublin City University); David G. Pickernell (University of Glamorgan); Siri Terjesen (Queensland University of Technology and Max-Planck-Institute of Economics, Jena) |
| Abstract: | We explore if the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship, applied to FDI, provides at least a partial explanation for the greater emergence of recent knowledge-based entrepreneurship in Ireland compared with Wales. In order to examine how FDI and entrepreneurship policy in these two regions might have influenced the levels of knowledge-based entrepreneurship, we outline FDI and entrepreneurship policies for Wales and Ireland and key measures of knowledge creation, and evaluate the extent and nature of FDI activity and its relationship with entrepreneurship in general and knowledge-based entrepreneurship in particular. Implications include possible policy directions for countries that are characterized by weak knowledge-creating institutions yet wish to encourage knowledge-based entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Economic Development, Entrepreneurship, Foreign Direct Investment, Ireland, Knowledge Spillovers, Wales |
| JEL: | J24 L26 M13 |
| Date: | 2007–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-059&r=knm |
| By: | Zoltan Acs (George Mason University); Lawrence A. Plummer (Clemson University); Ryan Sutter (George Mason University) |
| Abstract: | A new model of economic growth introduces the knowledge filter between new knowledge and economically useful knowledge. It identifies both new ventures and incumbent firms as the mechanisms that penetrate the knowledge filter. Recent empirical work has shown that new firms are more proficient at penetrating the knowledge filter than are incumbent firms; however, the analysis has only examined expanding economies and has relied on purely cross-sectional regression methodologies. This study explores the role of new and incumbent firms in penetrating the knowledge filter utilizing recent developments in spatial panel estimation techniques to provide a more robust set of findings. The results suggest those new firms are more proficient at penetrating the knowledge filter in declining and growing regions alike. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, Regional Growth, Endogenous Growth |
| JEL: | L26 O1 O18 O3 R1 |
| Date: | 2007–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-058&r=knm |
| By: | Olivier BROSSARD (LEREPS-GRES); Jérôme VICENTE (LEREPS-GRES) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the firms’ motives for entering into knowledge partnerships. We start by showing that networking strategies are designed to access external knowledge whilst maintaining at the same time a sufficient level of knowledge appropriation and tradability. The ICT sector (and interplaying ones) is particularly concerned by this accessibility/appropriation trade-off. The questions of modularity, complementarity, compatibility and standardisation are critical in the formation of corporate strategic and technological partnerships. Considering that knowledge in this sector is complex and systemic, we construct a theoretical typology of knowledge partnerships by crossing the levels of cognitive and relational proximity with the knowledge phases of exploration, examination and exploitation. This typology is then tested on empirical data through the use of a classification algorithm. The dataset is based on a sample of strategic alliances in the European ICT sector extracted from SDC Platinum. We show that strategic alliances are clustered in relation to the knowledge phases (exploration, examination, exploitation), and that the alliance categories are characterised by levels of relational and cognitive distance which actually are in keeping with the theoretical predictions. |
| Keywords: | knowledge networks; knowledge phases; proximities; strategic alliances; ICT sector |
| JEL: | L22 L24 L63 O31 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grs:wpegrs:2007-18&r=knm |
| By: | Holger Graf (Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, School of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | The internal density of a local network is said to increase the region-specific knowledge-stock and might lead to a comparative advantage. However, it might also lead to a lock-in situation, if local trajectories are directed towards inferior solutions. Accordingly it is argued that successful clusters are characterised by the existence of gatekeepers, i.e. actors that generate novelty by drawing on local and external knowledge. We attempt to answer questions related to the role and characteristics of gatekeepers within regional innovation systems by applying social network analysis based on patent data for four East-German regions. The regional networks appear to be significantly different with respect to the overall degree of interaction and with respect to their relative outward orienta- tion. Concerning the characteristics of gatekeepers, we find that size does not play the major role for being a gatekeeper. It is rather absorptive capacity that matters for gatekeepers. It also shows that public research organisations serve the functions of a gatekeeper to a higher degree than private actors. |
| Keywords: | Innovator networks; Gatekeeper; R+D co-operation; Scientist mobility |
| JEL: | O31 Z13 R11 |
| Date: | 2007–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-054&r=knm |
| By: | Roberto Antonietti (University of Bologna); Giulio Cainelli (University of Bari and CERIS-CNR) |
| Abstract: | Aim of this paper is to explore the main drivers of outsourcing of knowledge intensive business services by Italian manufacturing firms. While anecdotal and empirical evidence has emphasized labour cost and scale economies as behind firms’ choices to outsource production or service activities, here we focus on spatial agglomeration and technology as important factors. Using microeconomic data on a repeated cross-section of Italian manufacturing firms for the period 1998-2003, we develop a two-stage model in order to avoid selection bias: first, we estimate the determinants of the firm's decision to outsource business-related services; second, we estimate the main factors underlying the intensity and complexity of KIBS outsourcing, expressed by the number of service activities that are externalized. Our results show that labour cost-savings are not relevant in driving the decision to outsource KIBS, but ICT, R&D and location within a dense and technologically developed industrial district have very positive effects. |
| Keywords: | KIBS, Service Outsourcing, R&D, ICT, Spatial Agglomeration |
| JEL: | L24 L84 R32 R12 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.79&r=knm |
| By: | Anne ter Wal; Ron A. Boschma |
| Abstract: | The cluster literature suffers from a number of shortcomings: (1) by and large, cluster studies do not take into account that firms in a cluster are heterogeneous in terms of capabilities; (2) cluster studies tend to overemphasize the importance of place and geographical proximity and underestimate the role of networks which are, by definition, a-spatial entities; (3) most, if not all cluster studies have a static nature, and do not address questions like the origins and evolution of clusters. Our aim is to overcome these shortcomings and propose a theoretical framework on the evolution of clusters. Bringing together bodies of literature on clusters, industrial dynamics, the evolutionary theory of the firm and network theory, we describe how clusters co-evolve with: (1) the industry they adhere to; (2) the (dynamic) capabilities of the firms they contain; and (3) the industry-wide knowledge network they are part of. Based on this framework, we believe the analysis of cluster evolution provides a promising research agenda in evolutionary economic geography for the years to come. |
| Keywords: | cluster evolution, network dynamics, industrial dynamics, co-evolution, evolutionary economic geography |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:0707&r=knm |