Technological change in niches: Auxiliary Power Units and the hydrogen economy

In studies of large scale systems innovations or technological transitions, niches have been given a prominent role as incubators for the seeds of future technological systems. It is often argued that immature technologies rely on niches for their development, before they are able to compete in mainstream markets. This paper combines insights from economic theory and from technology studies to formulate a framework for understanding the dynamics of technological change in niches, and applies this framework to the case of fuel cell Auxiliary Power Units (APUs). We conclude that the choice of technology for APUs will be of critical importance in determining the role this market could have in shaping future developments in hydrogen and fuel cells. However, a number of factors are not strictly dependent on the technology used in fuel cell APUs. These comprise factors influencing external economies of scale, network effects, the behaviour of users and expectations.     

On the nature,function and composition of technological systems

This paper suggests that the economic growth of countries reflects their developmental potential which, in turn, is a function of the technological systems in which various economic agents participate. The boundaries of technological systems may or may not coincide with national borders and may vary from one techno-industrial area to another. The central features of technological systems are economic competence (the ability to develop and exploit new business opportunities), clustering of resources, and institutional infrastructure. A technological system is defined as a dynamic network of agents interacting in a specific economic/industrial area under a particular institutional infrastructure and involved in the generation, diffusion, and utilization of technology. Technological systems are defined in terms of knowledge/competence flows rather than flows of ordinary goods and services. In the presence of an entrepreneur and sufficient critical mass, such networks can be transformed into development blocks, i.e. synergistic clusters of firms and technologies which give rise to new business opportunities.     

产学研协同创新视角下联盟网络嵌入对创新绩效的影响

产学研协同创新在促进科技成果转化、提升企业创新绩效过程中起着积极作用。基于社会网络理论,从产学研协同创新视角切入,利用371份联盟网络企业调查数据,构建一个有调节的中介模型,采用结构方程和层级回归分析法进行实证检验。结果显示：协同能力可由企业与产学研协同创新中的四类主体构成的二阶四维变量表示;联盟网络嵌入正向影响企业协同能力和创新绩效;协同能力在结构嵌入和关系嵌入对创新绩效的影响中起部分中介作用;知识刚性负向调节协同能力与创新绩效的作用关系。结论可为嵌入在产学研联盟网络中的企业如何与外部主体有效合作以提升创新绩效提供有益借鉴。     

Welfare from a benefit viewpoint

Summary Individual welfare is most naturally measured in terms of individual utility but this has the well-known disadvantage that utility levels of different consumers cannot be meaningfully compared. This difficulty is traditionally avoided by using various willingness-to-pay measures, such as compensating and equivalent variation. These measures are based on price changes. This paper develops alternative welfare measures using willingness-to-trade concepts as originally proposed by Dupuit (1844). These measures are based directly on commodity bundle changes. These welfare measures can be represented as integrals under certain inverse demand functions.An important property of the proposed welfare measures studied here is that they can be meaningfully aggregated to form overall welfare measures. These measures in turn directly quantify a compensation criterion. It is shown that competitive prices provide a first-order approximation to the welfare measures. Furthermore a second-order approximation can be found by forming a suitable aggregation of the individual second-order effects.Finally, it is shown that the representations for consumer welfare as integrals under inverse demand curves can be extended to the aggregate measures as well. This then provides a complete complement to traditional measures based on price changes.This research was supported by Grant SES-9022881 from the National Science Foundation. The author wishes to thank Andrew Yates for valuable suggestions on this paper.     

Firms' Technological Trajectories and the Creation of Foreign Subsidiaries

Multinational firms are traditionally considered as firms possessing some technological lead and which are exploiting this proprietary advantage in international markets, but a growing literature has been arguing that multinational firms set up foreign subsidiaries not only as a means to exploit their own technology but also to enrich it. This paper provides some empirical evidence for this. The aim of the paper is to assess the effects of the creation of foreign subsidiaries on firms' technological trajectories.The idea is that by setting up subsidiaries in foreign countries, multinational firms can achieve some form of reverse technology transfer that can be expected to affect their technological trajectories.The empirical investigation uses data from 1992 to 1996 for a sample of 2185 Italian manufacturing firms. Results support the view that the creation of manufacturing subsidiaries has a positive impact on firms' productivity trajectories and this positive impact is greater when subsidiaries are created in regions where knowledge spillovers are expected to be relatively higher, such as the US.     

企业技术多样性、实质性社会责任信息披露与创新扩散

技术多样性是企业创新能力的重要表征，但现有研究对于技术多样性与创新扩散的关系存在争议。对此，区分相关和不相关技术多样性对创新扩散的异质性影响，并检验实质性社会责任信息披露作为一种信号传递机制对上述关系的调节作用。基于2008—2017年中国研发密集型上市企业数据进行实证分析，结果发现：相关技术多样性能够积极影响创新扩散；不相关技术多样性对创新扩散的影响存在滞后效应；实质性社会责任信息披露正向调节不相关技术多样性与创新扩散的关系。结论丰富了创新扩散理论与实证研究，可为企业创新实践提供决策依据。     

Knowledge shifts and the business cycle: When boom turns to bust

Informational cascades can be used to augment the existing Austrian business cycle theory. As first-order users of knowledge know the direct causes of a price change, they transmit this knowledge to second-order users through the price system. Banks with direct knowledge of the sources of the fresh liquidity during a credit-induced boom have knowledge of the boom’s artificial and unsustainable nature. Higher order users lack this direct knowledge and hence continue investing largely ignorant of underlying developments. When first-order users of knowledge sense the boom has run its course, they exit the market, sending a strong signal to higher order knowledge users that the boom has ended—a fragile situation built upon an informational cascade begins collapsing. Simultaneously, the boom is characterized by an influx of capital and knowledge into the financial sector owing to increased profits relative to the real economy stemming from Cantillon effects surrounding the credit injection. As knowledge pertaining to real production has also exited, the bust commences with a misallocated productive structure requiring equilibration to become consistent with consumers’ wants. Actions which inhibit this knowledge from returning to the productive structure will unnecessarily lengthen the time to recovery.     

Bunching and second-order conditions: A note on optimal tax theory

We present in this note a simple non-linear taxation model in which the agents are indexed by a one-dimensional parameter. Our purpose is to propose a method of resolution and to compute the optimal solution. We point out that the solution could not always be obtained with a simple derivation of the first-order conditions of the control problem under consideration, and we show the necessity to take into account the second-order conditions.     

Alternative approach to determine the common cycle time for a multi-item production system with discontinuous deliveries and failure in rework

This study employs an alternative approach to determine common production cycle time for a multi-item production system with discontinuous deliveries and failure in rework. A straightforward approach using algebraic derivation is proposed here to reexamine a specific common cycle time problem studied by Chiu et al. (2013a,b), where they used the conventional method with the need of applying first-order and second-order differentiations to system cost function for proof of convexity before deriving the optimal common cycle time. The result of this study is confirmed to be identical to that was obtained in Chiu et al. (2013a,b). This alternative approach enables practitioners who may not have sufficient knowledge of differential calculus to manage the real-life multi-item production systems more effectively.     

Technological start-ups in the innovation system: an actor-oriented perspective

The functional approach of the Technological Innovation System (TIS) has become important in innovation theory to understand the dynamics of technological innovations. Until now, TIS has mainly been applied top-down from a policy perspective. The aim of this study was to investigate whether TIS can be used in the management domain, from an actor-oriented perspective, to explain the dynamics in which technological start-ups are involved when developing innovations. We interviewed the founders of 24 technological start-ups about their experiences with the developmental processes of their innovations. Our results highlight that the functions of TIS provide a useful framework to structure the interactions of technological start-ups. Especially the functions ‘Resource Mobilisation’ and ‘Legitimation’ appeared to be important functions for start-ups when developing an innovation. Our findings show that TIS is a promising framework for the strategic management domain that can offer guidance in the development of innovations.     

科技创新效率与区域经济韧性交互分析——基于珠三角地区的实证

测算珠三角地区科技创新活动研发和经济产出两阶段效率,探讨两阶段效率在时空上的异质性。构建包含科技创新效率、经济韧性和产业多样化的联立方程组,对三者关系进行分析。结果发现,珠三角地区科技创新研发与经济产出效率在空间上存在显著异质性;科技创新效率有助于增强经济韧性,经济韧性也可以提高科技创新效率;现阶段珠三角地区产业相关多样性通过降低研发阶段效率间接削弱经济韧性,无关多样性则与之相反。研究结论对于珠三角地区乃至全国各地提高科技创新活动效率、推动创新驱动发展战略实施、构建区域经济韧性具有重要意义。     

Second order bias of quasi-MLE for covariance structure models

For covariance structure models, the QMLE second-order bias is derived and compared with EL and GMM. Surprisingly, QMLE and EL have the same second-order bias if QMLE and GMM(EL) are equally first-order efficient. Other examples favoring QMLE are given.     

The Dynamic ‘Diamond’: A Technological Innovation Perspective

A firm's local environment can constitute a source of national or regional cornpetitive advantage. An important question, therefore, is how these environments come about and how they can be lost. In this paper, we argue that a local environment is a function of the process of technological evolution. It is a function of how certain initial and prevailing conditions, the type of innovation, and chance events, influence the processes of uncertainty resolution, capabilities building, and survivor selection that are characteristic of technological evolution. We also argue that a region can lose its advantage when a dominant design emerges or when a technological discontinuity obsoletes the localized technological capabilities of not only manufacturers, but also of their suppliers, customers and related industries. The environment is dynamic as firms and nations, in response to their performances, also influence it by changing their strategies or policies.     

新能源企业技术创新效率及收敛性研究

发展新能源产业是国家提高环保能力的重要举措,新能源企业是实施相应战略的载体。基于2014—2018年78家新能源企业面板数据,采用DEA—RAM模型对其技术创新效率进行测量,并应用经济收敛理论,分析新能源企业技术创新效率的收敛性。结果表明：新能源企业技术创新效率水平不高,三大区域间差异明显,整体仍具有较大发展空间;全国以及东部地区新能源企业技术创新效率δ收敛性不显著,但存在绝对β收敛及条件β收敛;中部地区新能源企业技术创新效率δ收敛性以及绝对β收敛性并不显著,而条件β收敛性显著;西部地区新能源企业δ、绝对β以及条件β收敛性均不显著。最后,从提升新能源企业投入水平、提高新能源企业产出质量、适度提升新能源企业规模、优化新能源企业股权集中度等方面,提出提升新能源企业技术创新效率实际增长率的建议。     

Shaping of Strategic Behavior: How Macro-Environmental Effects Pattern the Country-Level Participation of Non-US Firms in US Equity Markets

This paper examines the effects of macro-environmental variables on country-level patterns of participation by firms on the US NASDAQ stock exchange. NASDAQ’s popularity can be linked to the strength of its technological system, as well as the high frequency of listings of technology-oriented firms. Using concepts from organization theory, strategy and international business, we consider the impact of political, legal, cultural, and colonial heritage status on the strategic capital-seeking behavior of non-US companies in US markets. We empirically demonstrate that similarity in legal systems and a shared colonial heritage will influence the probability of a non-US country having firm participation on the NASDAQ. The results also indicate that the effects of institutional forces are not static processes     

Shaping of Strategic Behavior: How Macro-Environmental Effects Pattern the Country-Level Participation of Non-US Firms in US Equity Markets

This paper examines the effects of macro-environmental variables on country-level patterns of participation by firms on the US NASDAQ stock exchange. NASDAQ's popularity can be linked to the strength of its technological system, as well as the high frequency of listings of technology-oriented firms. Using concepts from organization theory, strategy and international business, we consider the impact of political, legal, cultural, and colonial heritage status on the strategic capital-seeking behavior of non-US companies in US markets. We empirically demonstrate that similarity in legal systems and a shared colonial heritage will influence the probability of a non-US country having firm participation on the NASDAQ. The results also indicate that the effects of institutional forces are not static processes     

Adoption of navigation technologies: Five historical and contemporary cases

Five navigation technologies are studied with the aim of discovering why some of them have more difficulties and take longer time than the others to develop and reach the users. The case histories of their development are presented and compared according to their technological antecedents, their applications and the organizations involved. The analysis shows that multiple stakeholders with different agendas coupled with technological uncertainties and ambiguities have a negative impact on adoption. It also shows that entrepreneurs can play a significant role in accelerating the diffusion of technological innovations if the technological system allows for the parallel development of complements or new markets. The paper also highlights the need for deeper understanding of how complex products and systems should be managed in an environment marked by interconnectedness and multiple influential stakeholders.     

IS THERE A ROLE FOR TRANSACTION COST ECONOMICS IF WE VIEW FIRMS AS COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS?

This article assesses the usefulness of transaction cost economics when we view economic organizations, such as firms, as complex adaptive systems. Modern complexity science is radically different in orientation to neoclassical economics, which deals with decision making in contexts that are presumed to be simple and, therefore, disconnected from complex reality. However, transaction cost economics can be related to aspects of modern complexity science: bounded rationality, opportunism, and asset specificity are all associated with behavioral complexity. Furthermore, the emphasis of transaction cost economics on hierarchy and organizational rather than technological considerations is also consistent with complexity science. Drawing on literature in psychological economics, this article synthesizes transaction cost economics with aspects of complexity science in a manner that offers a new research agenda, not only in the context of the organization of production but in economics generally. Such theoretical developments are vital if policy makers are to have at their disposal analytical perspectives that are coherent and applicable in complex historical settings.     

Forms of emergence and the evolution of economic landscapes

Over the past two decades, the notion of ‘emergence’ has attracted increasing attention and controversy across the social science, including economics. Within this context, as economic geographers, our concern in this paper is with the usefulness of the idea of emergence for studying the economic landscape and its evolution. The paper considers in what sense geographical processes and places can legitimately be described as emergent, how such places themselves produce emergent effects, and how we should conceive of and study the ‘emergent’ space economy. To do this, we apply Deacon's (2006) models of first-order, second-order and third-order emergence, and trace through their implications for constructing an ‘emergence perspective’ in economic geography. The notion of third-order emergence is argued to be the most promising, since it focuses explicitly on emergence as an evolutionary process. What is evident, however, is that a notion developed mainly for applications in physical and biological systems requires further elaboration and exploration if it is to provide explanatory leverage in studying the evolution of economic landscapes.     

Combining the technological innovation systems framework with the entrepreneurs’ perspective on innovation

For their technological sustainability innovations to become successful, entrepreneurs can strategically shape the technological field in which they are involved. The technological innovation systems (TISs) literature has generated valuable insights into the processes which need to be stimulated for the successful development and implementation of innovative sustainability technologies. To explore the applicability of the TIS framework from the perspective of entrepreneurs, we conducted a case study in the Dutch smart grids sector. We found that the TIS framework generally matches the perspectives of entrepreneurs. For its use by entrepreneurs, we suggest a slight adaptation of this framework. The process ‘Market formation’ needs to be divided into processes that are driven by the government and processes that are driven by entrepreneurs. There should be a greater emphasis on collaborative marketing, on changing user behaviour and preferences and on the development of fair and feasible business models.