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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2009‒02‒14
eight papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Andersson, Åke E (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Information and knowledge are essential to the decision making of firms. However, information is a primitive in the formation of knowledge. Information and the related concepts of risk and surprise are primarily of importance for rational decision making while knowledge is a form of (non-material) capital to be used as a resource in the transformation of different inputs into valuable outputs. Knowledge can be embodied in educated labor, in material capital, as patented production recipes or as contents of publically available documents and other media. In the paper optimality aspects of the acquisition of knowledge capital is analyzed. Estimates of private and public returns to investments in knowledge are reported. Some economic consequences of frictions over time and space are analyzed and new models containing such frictions are proposed. |
| Keywords: | productivity; growth; knowledge; R&D; returns to R&D; returns to knowledge |
| JEL: | O11 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2009–01–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0165&r=knm |
| By: | Rammer, Christian; Czarnitzki, Dirk; Spielkamp, Alfred |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of in-house R&D and innovation management practices on innovation success in small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). While there is little doubt about the significance of technology competence for generating successful innovations, inhouse R&D activities may be a particular challenge for SMEs due to high risk exposure, high fixed costs, high minimum investment and severe financial constraints. SMEs may thus opt for refraining from R&D and relying more on innovation management tools in order to achieve innovation success. We analyse whether such a strategy can pay off. Based on data from the German CIS we find that R&D activities are a main driver for innovation success if combined with external R&D, using external innovation sources or by entering into cooperation agreements. SMEs without in-house R&D can yield a similar innovation success if they effectively apply human resource management tools or team work to facilitate innovation processes. |
| Keywords: | Innovation Success, R&D, Innovation Management, SMEs |
| JEL: | L25 O31 O32 O38 O47 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7434&r=knm |
| By: | Morone, Piergiuseppe; Petraglia, Carmelo; Testa, Giuseppina |
| Abstract: | Abstract: In this paper we assess the relevance of both knowledge creation and diffusion processes in affecting Italian SMEs’ propensity to innovate. In doing so a knowledge production function (KPF) is estimated for a representative sample of small and medium manufacturing firms over the period 1998-2003. To account for endogeneity of R&D effort in the KPF, we estimate a Heckman selection model on R&D decisions and obtain two main results. First, we do not find the probability of being engaged in intramural R&D activities to be significantly related to firm size. Second, for those firms engaged in R&D activities, the intensity of R&D effort increases with firm size. Then, the KPF is estimated for three different samples of firms using a standard probit where the probability that SMEs will innovate depends upon intramural R&D effort, regional and industrial spillovers and a vector of interaction and control variables. The main results obtained from this second set of regressions are the following: first, we find the probability to innovate to be positively related to sectoral spillovers, the magnitude of such impact being decreasing in firms’ size. Second, knowledge diffusion via geographical proximity enhances the probability of the recipient firm to innovate only if it has an appropriate endowment of human capital. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; knowledge; spillovers; firm size |
| JEL: | L6 O3 C25 |
| Date: | 2008–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13329&r=knm |
| By: | de Mel, Suresh (University of Peradeniya); McKenzie, David (World Bank); Woodruff, Christopher (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: | Innovation is key to technology adoption and creation, and to explaining the vast differences in productivity across and within countries. Despite the central role of the entrepreneur in the innovation process, data limitations have restricted standard analysis of the determinants of innovation to consideration of the role of firm characteristics. We develop a model of innovation which incorporates the role of both owner and firm characteristics, and use this to determine how product, process, marketing and organizational innovations should vary with firm size and competition. We then use a new large representative survey from Sri Lanka to test this model and to examine whether and how owner characteristics matter for innovation. The survey also allows analysis of the incidence of innovation in micro and small firms, which have traditionally been overlooked in the study of innovation, despite these firms comprising the majority of firms in developing countries. More than one quarter of microenterprises are found to be engaging in innovation, with marketing innovations the most common. As predicted by our model, firm size is found to have a stronger positive effect, and competition a stronger negative effect, on process and organizational innovations than on product innovations. Owner ability, personality traits, and ethnicity are found to have a significant and substantial impact on the likelihood of a firm innovating, confirming the importance of the entrepreneur in the innovation process. |
| Keywords: | innovation, microenterprises, SMEs, development |
| JEL: | O31 L26 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3962&r=knm |
| By: | Laura Abramovsky; Helen Simpson |
| Abstract: | We investigate evidence for spatially mediated knowledge transfer from university research. We examine whether firms locate their R&D labs in proximity to university research departments, and whether those that do are more likely to co-operate with, or source information from universities in the course of their innovative activities. We find evidence that pharmaceutical firms locate their R&D facilities near to frontier chemistry research departments, consistent with accessing localised knowledge spillovers, but also linked to the presence of science parks. In industries such as chemicals and vehicles there is less evidence of immediate co-location with universities, but those innovative firms that do locate near to relevant research departments are more likely to engage with universities. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Geography, spillovers, public research |
| JEL: | O3 R11 R13 I23 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:08/200&r=knm |
| By: | Cockburn, Iain; MacGarvie, Megan; Müller, Elisabeth |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between fragmented intellectual property (IP) rights and innovative performance, taking into consideration the role played by in-licensing of IP. Controlling for a variety of firm and market characteristics, we find that firms facing more fragmented IP landscapes are more likely to report expenditures on in-licensing and for those firms that do incur license costs we find a weak positive association between licensing expenditure and fragmented IP rights in the relevant technology. We also observe a negative relationship between IP fragmentation and innovative performance, but only for firms that engage in in-licensing and only for product innovation. The relationship between fragmentation and innovative performance also depends on the size of a firm’s patent portfolio, which suggests an important strategic role for defensive patenting in the context of fragmented property rights. |
| Keywords: | patent thickets, licensing, innovative performance |
| JEL: | O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7475&r=knm |
| By: | Elvio Accinelli; Silvia London; Edgar J. Sanchez Carrera |
| Abstract: | We study an imitation game of strategic complementarities between the percentage of high-skilled workers and innovative firms, namely, human capital and R&D, respectively. We show that this model has two pure Nash equilibria, one of them with high investment in R&D and skilled workers while the other one, which we interpret as poverty trap, exhibits lack of skills and underinvestment. Furthermore, we show that we can avoid the poverty trap if the number of innovative firms is larger than a threshold value allowing an increment of the number of skilled workers |
| Keywords: | Imitative behavior, conformism, poverty traps, strategic complementarities |
| JEL: | C72 C79 D83 O12 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:554&r=knm |
| By: | Margaret Denton; Jenny Ploeg; Joseph Tindale; Brian Hutchison; Kevin Brazil,; Noori Akhtar-Danesh; Monica Quinlan |
| Abstract: | Community support services (CSSs) enable persons coping with health or social problems to maintain the highest possible level of social functioning and quality of life. Access to these services is challenging because of the multiplicity of small agencies providing these services and the lack of a central access point. A review of the literature revealed that most service awareness studies are marred by acquiescence bias. To address this issue, service providers developed a series of 12 vignettes to describe common situations faced by older adults for which CSSs might be appropriate. In a telephone interview, 1152 older adults were presented with a series of vignettes and asked what they would do in that situation. They were also asked about their most important sources of information about CSSs. Findings show awareness of CSSs varied by the situation described and ranged from a low of 1% to 41%. The most important sources of information about CSSs included informational and referral sources, the telephone book, doctor’s offices, and through word of mouth. |
| Keywords: | I18 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:qseprr:430&r=knm |