Transferring technology from university to rural industry within a developing economy context: The case for nurturing communities of practice

The primary aim of this paper is to demonstrate how technology transfer between universities and rural industries in developing countries can be achieved effectively, using independent research and advisory centres as intermediaries. It draws on a longitudinal action research study, which experiments with the process of nurturing and bridging communities of practice amongst recipients of technology and stakeholders concerned with technology diffusion, productivity and economic development. Its empirical evidence is from an academic-related, non-government intervention initiative targeting two small-scale industries, namely fish farming and coffee production, in the Cauca region of Colombia. Results demonstrate how barriers to transfer can be overcome. The intervention is considered as instrumental; its key components and outcomes are discussed in detail.     

The role of intermediaries in establishing a sustainable supply chain

In sustainable supply chain management, buyers may use intermediaries to bridge exchanges with suppliers when knowledge of suitable sustainability practices is weak and in need of facilitation. Understanding how supply chain intermediaries perform this role and what happens when intermediation is no longer needed is important in establishing more sustainable supply chains. Two supply chain intermediaries have been investigated with the resulting case study evidence analysed using the Gioia methodology. The findings suggest supply chain intermediaries add value to the buyer-supplier exchange by facilitating sustainability-related information transfer, knowledge development, risk management and improved capabilities. For example, specific practices such as corrective action reports, often managed by the intermediary, underpin the development of a sustainable supply chain. When the intermediary is no longer needed, they become disintermediated from the specific buyer-supplier exchange but may be re-employed in a new triadic relationship in the future with previous parties. This provides positive spill-over effects through intermediation–disintermediation–post-intermediation cycles for both the buyer and supplier populations and for broader society. Overall, the findings highlight the value of the transient position of supply chain intermediaries in establishing sustainable supply chains and the intended consequences of their involvement.     

MODELS OF BANKING INSTABILITY: A PARTIAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract. This paper critically examines the theoretical literature on banking instability that has followed Diamond and Dybvig (1983). It explores the extent to which it (a) explains banking instability within a theoretical context in which financial intermediaries improve on unintermediated markets, and (b) justifies government involvement in the financial intermediation industry. It suggests that the literature has yet to provide a satisfactory theoretical basis for banking instability as such since the intermediaries which arise from it are peculiar mutual funds that bear little resemblance to real-world banks. In addition, the paper challenges the widespread belief that this literature provides a sound foundation for government involvement in the industry. It suggests that arguments for government intervention are open to objection on various grounds, the most important one being that they are inconsistent with the existence of properly motivated financial intermediation in these models.     

Technology valuation of a scanning probe microscope developed at a university in a developing country

Precompetitive technology (PT) refers to devices, equipment, software or processes primarily developed at universities in developing countries for research or teaching as a result of externally financed projects contracted between the university institutes, centers or faculties and industry. PT is generally embodied in the form of laboratory prototypes and is licensed via technology transfer (TT) contracts between the university and external funding agencies or other interested parties. In the process of defining the terms of a TT contract, a fundamental question arises: what is the monetary value of a precompetitive technology? In this paper we present a methodology for PT valuation based on the identification of specific value points (SVP) related to its development. The four-step method includes the definition of a PT value range based on cost and market approaches, expected incomes, present value and scoring in order to determine the relative weights of the primary aspects of the intellectual capital behind the technology. The valuation methodology is applied to the specific example of a scanning probe microscope (SPM) developed at the Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).     

Policy Shocks, Market Intermediaries, and Corporate Strategy: The Evolution of Business Groups in Chile and India

Numerous countries have undergone rapid transitions in their economic environments. Yet, little is known about firms' responses to such transitions. We use field-collected data to study the evolution of eighteen large and diversified business groups in Chile (1987–1997) and India (1990–1997). The chosen periods correspond to significant deregulation in the primary markets in both countries. Conventional wisdom suggests that the intermediation roles played by business groups ought to decrease during these periods. However, we find an increase in group scope, an increase in the strength of the social and economic ties that bind together group firms, an increase in self-reported intermediation attempts by the groups, and some evidence that these actions are associated with improvements in accounting and stock-market performance of the group affiliates. We suggest that the slow development of market intermediaries, in a manner suggested by institutional economics, and the attendant lack of reduction in transaction costs in primary markets, can explain these findings.     

Network Intermediaries in International Trade

Motivated by evidence on the importance of incomplete information and networks in international trade, we investigate the supply of network intermediation. We build a general-equilibrium model in which agents with networks of foreign contacts either can use their networks themselves in support of production or can make their networks available for others to use and thereby can become network intermediaries. We use this model for comparative statics and welfare analysis. One welfare conclusion is that intermediaries may have inadequate incentives to maintain or to expand their networks, suggesting a rationale for the policies followed by some countries to encourage large-scale trading companies.     

Financial development and productive efficiency: A panel study of developed and developing countries

This paper uses a stochastic production frontier for panel data to investigate the effect of financial development on productive efficiency. Three panels of a number of countries in different stages of development are used along with eight alternative measures of financial development pertaining to the monetary sector, financial intermediaries, and equity markets. The results indicate that in general the more developed the financial intermediaries sector and equity markets, the higher the productive efficiency. In particular, financial deepening reduces productive inefficiency in both developed and developing countries, although the effect is larger in the former. The author wishes to thank three anonymous referees for their many helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. All remaining errors are the author's responsibility. A slightly different version of this paper was presented at the 50th annual conference of the International Atlantic Economic Society, Charleston, South Carolina, October 2000. This research is partially funded by a Marquette University College of Business Administration Faculty Research Grant from the Miles Fund and a grant from Marquette University Institute for International Economic Affairs.     

Intermediation in Search Markets

In markets, in which exchange requires costly search for trading partners, intermediaries can help to reduce the trading frictions. This intuition is modeled in a framework with heterogeneous agents, who have the choice between intermediated exchange and search accompanied by some bargaining procedure. The equilibria of such a game are characterized. In the case of a monopolistic intermediary, the tradeoff between the bid-ask spread and the costs of delay during private search determine the intermediary's clientele. In equilibrium the monopolist charges a positive spread. Traders with large gains from trade prefer to deal with him, whereas traders with relatively low gains from trade engage in search. In case of competition among intermediaries, the classical Bertrand result obtains, and bid and ask prices converge to the (unique) Walrasian equilibrium price. Thus, in the confines of the model, the Walrasian auctioneer of the market under consideration can be replaced by competing intermediaries. In addition a multiplicity of subgame perfect Nash equilibria emphasizes the coordination problems inherent in models of intermediation.     

Managing human reources for learning and innovation: a comparative study of Brazilian,Japanese and Korean firms

In this paper we develop a comparative study of the processes of organizational change which leading-edge technology firms are experiencing, particularly in terms of human resources management, which favour the learning and development process of employees and of organizations themselves. It focuses on the telecommunication industry in three countries: Japan, Korea and Brazil where qualitative research was conducted in eleven companies. The outcomes of the field research reveal innovative policies and practices in human resouces management, even though these are specific to each country. The specificities are mainly justified by the stage of development of each industry in the scenary of global competition. Nevertheless, all companies considered already show the traces that are required to consider them as learning organizations.     

Middlemen and Oligopolistic Market Makers

This paper studies the endogenous structure of intermediation when heterogeneous intermediaries choose between becoming a middleman or a market maker, and the relation between the equilibrium market structure and price dispersion. We obtain three main results: First, middlemen and oligopolistic market makers can coexist in the market equilibrium. All market makers publicly post unique ask and bid prices. These prices serve as the high and low bounds, respectively, for the ask and bid prices of middlemen, when capacity cost is sufficiently large. Second, more efficient intermediaries choose to become market makers, whereas less efficient intermediaries choose to become middlemen. Third, if the fixed cost of capacity installation for market makers increases, the number of market makers declines, whereas the number of middlemen increases. As a result, both ask prices and bid prices become more dispersed.     

Diversity in the regulation of Islamic Financial Institutions

More than 200 Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) are reported to have total combined assets in excess of US$ 200 billion with an annual growth rate estimated between 10 and 15%. The regulatory regime governing IFIs varies across countries. International organizations have been established to set standards that would strengthen and eventually harmonize prudential regulations as they apply to IFIs. The paper contributes to the discussion on the nature of the prudential standards to be developed. It clarifies risks IFIs are exposed to and the type of regulation that would help to manage them. It considers that the industry is still evolving with an anticipated convergence of the practice of Islamic financial intermediation with its conceptual foundations. Accordingly, the paper contrasts the risks and regulation that would be needed in the case of Islamic financial intermediation operating according to core principles and current practice. Implications for approaches to capital adequacy, licensing requirements and reliance on market discipline are outlined. The paper suggests an organization of the industry that would allow it to develop in compliance with its principles and prudent risk management and to facilitate its regulation.     

Trade through endogenous intermediaries

We propose an intermediation core for an economy that explicitly specifies how traders organize themselves into trade cooperatives (intermediaries) and how trade between them gets carried out. The intermediation core allocations are closely related to the equilibrium allocations of a non-cooperative intermediation game in Townsend (1983). We show that the intermediation core contains all subgame perfect equilibrium allocations of the intermediation game, similar to the inclusion of competitive equilibrium allocations in the core usually studied. We identify intermediation core allocations that are also subgame perfect equilibrium allocations of the intermediation game in terms of the supporting intermediary structures. These results help to characterize subgame perfect equilibrium allocations of the intermediation game and to analyze their welfare and stability properties.     

Active intermediation in a monetary overlapping generations economy

This paper establishes that the profit-seeking activities of private intermediaries can ensure Pareto efficiency in the standard pure-exchange monetary overlapping generations economy without the need for government monetary or fiscal policy intervention. Moreover, these profit-seeking activities are shown to rule out all aperiodic and k-periodic cycles for k greater than 2. Contrary to much recent work on intermediation, the profit opportunities that arise for intermediaries in this context are not due to assumed frictions or asymmetric information. Rather, they are due to the dynamic open-ended structure of the economy, which permits debt roll-over.     

Learning and technological capability building in emerging economies: The case of the biomass power equipment industry in Malaysia

There is increasing recognition that the transfer of foreign technology to developing countries should be considered in light of broader processes of learning, technological capability, formation and industrial development. Previous studies that have looked at this in the context of cleantech industries in emerging economies tend to overlook firm-level specifics. This paper contributes to filling this gap by utilising in-depth qualitative firm-level data to analyse the extent to which the use of different learning mechanisms can explain differences in the accumulation of technological capabilities. This is explored via an examination of eight firms in the biomass power equipment industry in Malaysia during the period 1970–2011. The paper finds that firms relying on a combination of learning from foreign technology partners and internal learning by planned experimentation make most progress in terms of technological capability. Nevertheless, local spill-over effects were found to be important for some firms who learned principally from imitation of local competitors, although significantly, firms learning from local spillovers failed to advance beyond extra basic operating technological capabilities. Those firms who proactively pursued learning from foreign partners, on the other hand, advanced further, reaching basic innovative levels of technological capabilities. These findings are relevant for a wider range of industrial sectors in emerging economies.     

Government instruments to support the commercialization of university research: Lessons from Canada

Increased efforts are made in most industrialized countries to promote the commercialization of university research, for instance, through spin-off firm formation. Many studies have investigated the initiatives set up in the university sector that aim to support and facilitate the commercialization of research, such as technology transfer offices (TTO). However, few studies have looked at the increasing number of instruments introduced from the government. This paper reviews the Canadian support structure at federal level that aims to support the commercialization of publicly funded research. Two types of programs can be identified. Firstly, programs made to induce structural reforms within the university sector in order to improve the institutional capabilities to facilitate commercialization projects. Secondly, programs providing support to specific commercialization projects. This paper explores how these types of programs are operated at government level. An example of implementation at university level is also given. The lessons to be learned from the Canadian case are related to how the government initiatives encourage a bottom-up approach. This is accomplished by providing resources for direct use in commercialization projects or to develop professional expertise in technology transfer in the university sector, by experimenting with new initiatives, and finally by facilitating cooperation between commercializing organizations.     

Active intermediation in a monetary overlapping generations economy

This paper establishes that the profit-seeking activities of private intermediaries can ensure Pareto efficiency in the standard pure-exchange monetary overlapping generations economy without the need for government monetary or fiscal policy intervention. Moreover, these profit-seeking activities are shown to rule out all aperiodic and k-periodic cycles for k greater than 2. Contrary to much recent work on intermediation, the profit opportunities that arise for intermediaries in this context are not due to assumed frictions or asymmetric information. Rather, they are due to the dynamic open-ended structure of the economy, which permits debt roll-over.     

The role of financial intermediaries in monetary policy transmission

The recent financial crisis has stimulated theoretical and empirical research on the propagation mechanisms underlying business cycles, in particular on the role of financial frictions. Many issues concerning the interactions between banking and monetary policy forced policy makers to redefine economic policies, and motivated macroeconomists to focus on the implications of financial intermediation constraints for asset price fluctuations, the behavior of non-financial firms, households, governments and in turn for real macroeconomic performance. This paper surveys research on the role of financial intermediaries and financial frictions in the transmission of monetary policy and discusses how to design both the new banking regulatory and supervisory structures and monetary policy in order to stabilize the economy. It also serves as an introduction to this special issue.     

Entrepreneurial orientation,intermediation services,microfinance, and microenterprises

This study was conducted to examine the influence of intermediation services on microfinance‐supported microenterprises. Information was collected by using a structured pretested questionnaire from a random section of 366 respondents (from 366 enterprises) from 2 Indian states. Econometric models were used to test the hypotheses, and reliability and validity testing and data analysis were also performed. It was noticed that proactiveness and risk‐taking ability of microenterprises were enhanced when intermediaries emphasize more on the business development services, financial intermediation services, and social intermediation services. Intermediation services of intermediaries impacted on entrepreneurial orientation of microenterprises where networking of microentrepreneurs positively moderated the relationship.     

Social Intermediation in Base‐of‐the‐Pyramid Markets

Our study explores the structuring decisions made by intermediaries seeking to alleviate poverty by connecting base‐of‐the‐pyramid markets with more developed markets. Using intermediation theory to ground our study, we collected qualitative data on 29 social intermediation projects located within Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Our findings suggest that ‘socializing’ intermediation theory to more accurately explain and predict structural outcomes across more diverse contexts requires three key modifications: (1) the attenuation of opportunism, which creates an internalizing social force; (2) the accommodation of non‐monetary objectives, which creates an externalizing social force; and (3) the perception of transaction capabilities as tractable, which serves as a guidepost for reconciling these two opposing social forces.     

轨道梁基础PHC桩施工技术探讨

PHC桩是在近代高性能混凝土(HPC)和预应力技术的基础上发展起来的混凝土预制构件,它是建设部科技成果重点推广项目。由于它的卓越性能,得到了建筑界人士的青睐,在国外发展迅速,日本、港澳地区及东南亚各国使用都很广泛。现以月东油田A平台为例,对整个桩基施工过程及工艺进行总结、分析,以期能对类似工程起到借鉴作用。