Capitalism, profits and innovation in the new techno-economic paradigm

Innovative profits (of the kind conceptualized by Schumpeter) are today being increasingly created through international corporate networks for technological development. Such profits through innovation are encouraged by newer more flexible organizational forms, and further encouraged (unlike in the conventional perspective on profits and on the incentive to innovate) by knowledge flows between firms. Our empirical evidence, based on US patent data, shows that multinational companies are currently more likely to develop abroad technologies which are less science-based, and less dependent upon tacit knowledge. However, within the science-based industries firms may generate abroad some technologies which are heavily dependent on tacit knowledge, but normally in fields that lie outside their own core technological competencies. We find some evidence of a convergence in corporate technological diversification across large firms, facilitated by the now common spread in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) as an integrator of formerly separate technological systems. This has led smaller firms to diversify, but giant firms to consolidate activity around those technologies that have become most interrelated.     

Why we need a commitment approach to environmental policy

The principal reason why economists have advocated environmental policies based on incentives is that their conception of business behavior derives from the neoclassical model of the firm. Businesses certainly do respond to profit incentives, but firms' behavior is also greatly influenced by socio-political considerations and their organizational capabilities. In recent years, a significant group of businesses that are highly innovative, competitive and socially responsible has emerged. These are not the firms that policy makers envisioned when they formulated command and control and market incentive environmental policies, i.e., control-oriented policies. Because of this, there is a need for new types of environmental policies. Thus, the first purpose of this paper is to propose a new class of environmental policies. The second purpose is to explain why the neoclassical model is deficient as a basis for environmental policy and to explicate the nature of a more appropriate model.Control-oriented policies were designed for firms that behave like neoclassical firms. For high performance organizations (HPOs), what is needed is the opposite of control-oriented policy. What is needed is an environmental policy that takes advantage of HPOs commitment, responsibility, and trustworthiness. The appropriate policy should take into account that overall environmental performance is a product not just of firm behavior but of the whole environmental system of which firms are a part. What is needed is a commitment approach to environmental policy.A commitment approach (CA) to environmental policy is first of all not a control-oriented policy. A CA is a nonregulatory approach in which firms are self-regulated. The CA is only for firms that are able to 1) make a commitment to high environmental performance and 2) develop the capabilities to meet these commitments. The environmental protection (EP) agency that administers the CA would be charged with selecting the particular “high commitment” (HC) firms that would be subject to the policy. Low and intermediate commitment firms would presumably continue to be regulated under the usual control-oriented environmental policies. The selected HC firms would be eligible for government technical assistance and information. In addition, the EP agency could aid the functioning of the environmental systems (ES) in which HC firms are embedded by, for example, providing education and information to these businesses' stakeholders. Finally, it would be necessary for the EP agency to accomplish periodic assessments of how ESs performance departs from the ideal and how these systems' operations require rectification.     

At the Interfaces of Governance and Competence Perspectives: Discussing Organizational Choices in the Scottish Biotechnology Cluster

This paper focuses on the desirability of different modes of governance in the context of the Scottish biotechnology cluster. The objective is to design theoretical models able to predict organizational choices made by firms seeking access to key complementary assets. Inspiration is drawn from two distinct streams of research: transaction cost economics and the competence perspective. The procedure adopted replicates the static and comparative approach used in several empirical investigations by transaction cost economics. However, as in a competence perspective, 'strategizing' behaviour is taken into account. The data needed to run econometric analysis have been collected via mail surveys based on the completion of a questionnaire. Valid responses were provided by 31.2% of an original sample that was composed of a range of organizations including dedicated biotechnology firms, equipment and service providers, clinical research organizations, etc. Empirical results show that both transaction cost and competence-related consideration help explain the selection of specific governance modes. However, Scottish biotechnology companies seem to be predominantly concerned with enhancing existing competences.     

The impact of the corporate income tax: evidence from state organizational form data

By taxing the income of corporate firms at a different rate than non-corporate firms, taxes can play an important role in a firm's choice of organizational form. The sensitivity of the organizational form decision to tax rates provides a key indicator of the distortion created by the corporate income tax. This paper uses new cross-sectional data on organizational form choices across states compiled in the Census of Retail Trade to estimate this sensitivity. The results document a significant impact of the relative taxation of corporate to personal income on the share of real economic activity that is done by corporations and that the impact is many times larger than has been found in the previous empirical literature based on time-series data. The results show little impact, however, on the actual operations of firms such as their labor intensity, wages and the like. They do indicate that firms are able to exploit the progressivity of the corporate income tax system by dividing into numerous firms.     

ECONOMIC MODELING AND THE FALSE TRADEOFF BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

One important element of the current policy debate on what measures should be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is the controversy over the costs of reducing those emissions. "Top-down" macroeconomic and general equilibrium models give much higher estimates of the costs than "bottom-up" models based on microeconomic and engineering data. This paper investigates the causes of the divergence between the two modeling approaches. The conventional top-down models incorporate strong implicit assumptions about maximization, technical progress, and organizational efficiency that predetermine their results. However, these assumptions are questionable on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Economic assessment of policy alternatives would benefit. from analyses that take account of the actual characteristics of business firms and other organizations that emit greenhouse gases in the course of their activities.     

Intangible Investment and Market Valuation

This study derives performance‐ and expenditure‐based estimates of intangible capital and measures the extent to which intangible capital is captured by the equity market measures of firm value. Intangible capital is evaluated using occupational information available in the Finnish linked employer–employee data for the 1997–2011 period. The performance‐based organizational investment in value added is approximately 3 percent; R&D and ICT investment shares are lower, at 1.5 percent, and all are clustered in intangible‐intensive sectors that represent 40 percent of the private sector. Expenditure‐based organizational capital also exists in clusters other than that intensively investing in managerial and marketing effort, and performance‐based R&D capital is concentrated in the cluster with intensive R&D activity; both increase the market value of firms beyond the level that can be explained by standard economic analysis.     

Technology mining for small firms: Knowledge prospecting for competitive advantage

Successful small businesses effectively use outside information. High tech small firms are designed to be flexible and innovative. They are often built upon a successful innovative product. These organizations are challenged to remain innovative in a fast-paced competitive environment. However, they face constraints due to the costs associated with the development of continuous innovation. This paper presents technology mining as a method to aid small firms in remaining knowledgeable about innovative ideas. In doing so, the authors present findings from a small high tech company whose issues are typical of other small high tech firms. Areas for improvement and recommendations to address those areas are also presented for review and further reflection.     

Risks and opportunities for the progress of digitalization in Mexico

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research is to identify Mexico’s current conditions for the incorporation of the changes derived from the processes of increasing digitization into its productive sector, called Industry 4.0. To achieve this goal, this work uses the results obtained from a survey questionnaire answered by qualified technological and productive informants with the purpose of identifying the perspectives of firms initiating this transformation. The selection of information units was based on a theoretical sample (not statistically representative), a methodological feature that forced us to analyze carefully the data collected. The results reached show that, from the perspective of the actors involved, the innovative structure in Mexico presents serious limitations in terms of technical and organizational capabilities of the firms to incorporate digital technologies in their production processes. This paper proposes a first exploratory analysis on the visions of Mexican firms and intermediary organizations that deals with the increasing technical and organizational challenges of the new digital technologies. This article provides analytical and empirical inputs for the analysis of the opportunities that Mexican firms have to incorporate these new technical trends. Finally, the work highlights critical institutional and governance aspects for the debate of national industrial and innovative policy agendas.     

Towards a kernel theory of external knowledge integration for high-tech firms: Exploring a failed theory test

Designing information systems (ISs) requires a thorough understanding of the organizational knowledge processes in which these systems are used. Although much is known about internal organizational knowledge processes, the understanding of external knowledge processes is less developed. Hence, this paper reflects an attempt to operationalize and test a model of the process of external knowledge integration (EKI), consisting of an identification, acquisition, and utilization stage. We utilize high-technology based firms from a variety of high-tech categories including nanotechnology based firms since these firms have critical knowledge integration needs. The results of an international survey, with responses of 317 high-tech companies, suggest that not these three EKI-stages, but four organizational effectiveness functions (goal attainment, pattern maintenance, adaptation, and integration) account for most variation in responses. These findings seem to imply that ISs that are to support the EKI-process should be designed according to organizational effectiveness functions rather than to EKI-stages. It is proposed that each organizational effectiveness function imposes different requirements on ISs because users interact differently with IS in each function.     

Striving to be green: the adoption of total quality environmental management

Many firms are undertaking environment-friendly organizational change by applying the philosophy of total quality management with its emphasis on reducing waste and increasing efficiency. Their objective is to improve their management of pollution and increase customer satisfaction. This article investigates the factors that lead to total quality environmental management (TQEM) by large firms. We find that internal considerations stemming from a firm's technical capability, size (absolute and relative to competing firms), extent of operations and volume of past emissions are strongly associated with the TQEM adoption decision. The first four factors are proxies for the firm's costs and capabilities of adopting TQEM while the fifth factor is related to the benefits from increasing efficiency and waste reduction, and thus proxies for internally generated demand for TQEM. The desire to improve a firm's image with customers, earning good-will with regulators and the anticipation of future regulations do not appear to be associated with the adoption of TQEM. Thus, this article's main conclusion is that the adoption of TQEM is associated mostly with internal factors and motives.     

Organizational Cultures of Corruption

Systematic differences in the incidence of corruption between countries can be explained by models of coordination failure that suggest that corruption can only be reduced by a “big push” across an entire economy. However, there is significant evidence that corruption is often sustained as an organizational culture, and can be combated with targeted effort in individual organizations one at a time. In this paper, we propose a model that reconciles these two theories of corruption. We explore a model of corruption with two principal elements. First, agents suffer a moral cost if their corruption behavior diverges from the level they perceive to be the social norm; second, the perception of the norm is imperfect; it gives more weight to the behavior of colleagues with whom the agent interacts regularly. This leads to the possibility that different organizations within the same country may stabilize at widely different levels of corruption. Furthermore, the level of corruption in an organization is persistent, implying that some organizations may have established internal “cultures” of corruption. The organizational foci are determined primarily by the opportunities and (moral) costs of corruption. Depending on the values of these parameters, the degree of corruption across departments may be relatively uniform or widely dispersed. These results also explain another surprising empirical observation: that in different countries similar government departments such as tax and education rank very differently relative to each other in the extent to which they are corrupt. This is difficult to explain in incentive‐based models if similar departments face similar incentives in different countries.     

供应链企业间地理距离与组织距离对合作创新绩效的影响

显性地理距离与隐性组织距离作为影响供应链企业间合作创新绩效的关键因素日益引起学者们关注。采用实证研究法，深入探讨供应链企业间地理距离与组织距离对合作创新绩效的影响及中介机制，并分析地理距离对组织距离影响的调节效应。结果显示：地理距离、组织距离对合作创新绩效、新产品开发速度、新产品创新性具有显著负向影响；新产品创新性、新产品开发速度对合作创新绩效具有显著负向影响；新产品开发速度在地理距离、组织距离对合作创新绩效的影响过程中发挥中介作用，而新产品创新性不具中介作用；地理距离对组织距离与新产品开发速度间关系的影响不显著，但会强化组织距离对新产品创新性的负向影响。     

农村经济组织形态的演变与创新——山东省莱阳市农业产业化调查报告

农业产业化的进程也是一个农村经济组织演变和创新的过程。作者在对山东省莱阳市调研的基础上描述和分析了这一历史过程。在农业产业化之初 ,农村的主要经济组织形式是合作社和“龙头企业 +农户”。但是 ,这两种组织形式都存在着一些缺陷。前者主要是受制于资金不足和缺乏抵押性资产 ;后者主要是契约不能对当事人构成有效约束。为了克服这些缺陷 ,有必要引入组织中介 ,形成新的组织形式———“龙头企业+合作社 +农户”或“龙头企业 +大户 +农户”。这种组织变革在一定程度上弥补了原有制度缺陷 ,从而在实践中日益发展成为农业产业化的主要组织形态。但是 ,由于契约是不完全的 ,合作社和大户抵押性资产不足 ,这两种组织形式也面临着一些新问题 ,本文探索了组织改善和组织创新的路径。     

License scheme: an optimal waste management policy under asymmetric information

A system requiring a waste management license from an enforcement agency has been introduced in many countries. A license system is usually coupled with fines, a manifest, and a disposal tax. However, these policy devices have not been integrated into an optimal policy. In this paper we derive an optimal waste management policy by using those policy devices. Waste management policies are met with three difficult problems: asymmetric information, the heterogeneity of waste management firms, and non-compliance by waste management firms and waste disposers. The optimal policy in this paper overcomes all three problems.     

Effects of Technology Absorptive Capacity and Technology Proactivity on Organizational Learning, Innovation and Performance: An Empirical Examination

Technology is crucial for organizations in the knowledge society, but little empirical research has been conducted on technology absorptive capacity and technology proactivity. Based on existing theoretical studies, this article formulates a global model to analyse how technology absorptive capacity and technology proactivity influence organizational learning and organizational innovation, and how these dynamics capabilities affect organizational performance. The model also shows how organizational learning affects organizational innovation. The hypotheses are tested using data from 246 Spanish technological firms. The paper discusses the findings and provides several implications for future research. The findings are important for management practice, especially for firms where technology is the main strategic element.     

企业战略联盟的市场绩效分析

从产业经济学的角度看,任何一种正式或非正式的经济组织,其市场绩效都存在一定的差异,导致市场绩效降低的企业行为或组织形式必然受到政府的管制。例如,垄断和串谋在市场经济国家都被视为不正当的竞争行为,政府将用法律手段对其进行规制。企业战略联盟作为一种企业间合作组织,它与垄断和串谋究竟有何本质区别?政府是否应该用法律手段进行规制?要回答这些问题,则必须从市场绩效的角度对其进行评价。     

Effects of Technology Absorptive Capacity and Technology Proactivity on Organizational Learning,Innovation and Performance: An Empirical Examination

Technology is crucial for organizations in the knowledge society, but little empirical research has been conducted on technology absorptive capacity and technology proactivity. Based on existing theoretical studies, this article formulates a global model to analyse how technology absorptive capacity and technology proactivity influence organizational learning and organizational innovation, and how these dynamics capabilities affect organizational performance. The model also shows how organizational learning affects organizational innovation. The hypotheses are tested using data from 246 Spanish technological firms. The paper discusses the findings and provides several implications for future research. The findings are important for management practice, especially for firms where technology is the main strategic element.     

有限责任合伙制会计师事务所民事责任若干疑难问题研究

有限责任合伙制是西方国家大会计师事务所普遍采用的组织形式,我国政府为了加快会计师事务所的做大做强,也在采取相应措施推动大中型会计师事务所采用有限责任合伙制组织形式。而系统研究和解决有限责任合伙制会计师事务所民事责任的一些重大问题,如对故意、重大过失、过失的界定,如何把损失赔偿额在各虚假陈述行为主体之间特别是合伙人之间进行分配,以及与此相关的配套措施的建立和完善,将有助于有限责任合伙制会计师事务所的做大做强,最终实现跨越式发展。     

Markets, bureaucracies and groups in the information society : An institutional appraisal of the impacts of information technology

The issue regarding the impact of information technology on organizations is here reconsidered by applying a new analytical framework. Information technology affects the cost of transactions which take place under alternative institutional arrangements, such as markets, bureaucracies and groups; technology can affect the efficiency of the organizations which apply it and the organizational behaviour of their members. Empirical data show how computerization changes organizational patterns according to efficiency considerations. An enlargement of the framework to take into account alternative mechanisms for organizational participation, such as exit, voice and loyalty, allows to examine the impacts of information technology on participation possibilities within organizations.     

员工地位竞争动机、知识分享行为与创新绩效——基于嵌入性悖论视角

组织中个体创新常常面临嵌入性悖论。相对于传统地位竞争的反功能视角，人们日益认识到地位竞争尤其是威望型地位竞争，可以为个体提供创新资源和动力。有效化解这一悖论，关键在于明晰何种类型的地位竞争以及何种程度的嵌入性可以促进个体创新。对一家大型多业务单元传媒集团227名员工进行实证调查，分析结果表明：威望型地位竞争可以通过促进个体知识分享行为提升个体创新绩效；非正式地位较低的个体更有可能具有威望型地位竞争动机；正式地位与非正式地位对个体地位竞争动机有交互影响，处于高正式地位的成员如果在非正式网络中处于边缘位置，则更可能在地位竞争中表现出威望型地位竞争动机。