Oligopolistic Competition and New Technology Adoption under Uncertainty

The paper examines the adoption of a new technology in oligopoly, where there is ex ante uncertainty about variable costs of the new technology. Each firm can either adopt the new process by bearing some up-front investment or may continue to use the old one, after which firms play a Cournot market game. If in equilibrium both technologies are employed, more uncertainty about the new technology increases (decreases) the number of innovating firms and decreases (increases) the product price if the up-front investment is large (small). Our model applies readily to vertical integration if integrated firms neither buy nor sell the intermediate good on the market. However, if buying and selling is allowed, the number of integrated firms is independent of input price uncertainty.     

吸收能力对新技术采纳时机的影响

本文通过引入吸收能力并假设潜在的新技术采纳厂商可以凭借吸收能力实现对购买技术的自我改进,构建了一个两时期的非对称双寡模型,研究了吸收能力对新技术采纳时机的影响。研究结论为:该双寡模型存在两种均衡,即分离均衡和混合均衡。在分离均衡中,吸收能力强的厂商倾向于作为跟随者延迟采纳新技术,而吸收能力弱的厂商作为领先者即时采纳可得的新技术。混合均衡的结果是抢先进入均衡或等待均衡。另外,外部知识的性质对于新技术的采纳也有重要影响。     

Technological Discontinuities and the Nature of Competition

We revisit the Schumpeterian model of competition driven by the perennial gale of creative destruction. Not every innovation must necessarily lead to the destruction of incumbent firms. In many high-technology industries we observe a symbiotic coexistence between new entrant and incumbent firms. This phenomenon warrants more attention. We build upon the innovation and strategic alliance literature to develop the notion of 'complementary innovation.' We advance propositions with respect to the following questions: What impact will a complementary innovation have on firm entry, interfirm cooperation, and the nature of competition? Based on the propositions advanced, we develop a cyclical model of industry dynamics initiated by a complementary innovation. The propositions and the cyclical model of industry dynamics are illustrated in a case study of the biopharmaceutical industry.     

Costly Technology Adoption and Capital Accumulation

We develop a model of costly technology adoption where the cost is irrecoverable and fixed. Households must decide when to switch from an existing technology to a new, more productive technology. Using a recursive approach, we show that there is a unique threshold level of wealth above which households will adopt the new technology and below which they will not. This threshold is independent of preference parameters and depends only on technology parameters. Prior to adoption, households invest at increasing rates, but consumption growth is constant.     

自助服务技术采纳的前因与模式:文献综述

通过系统梳理自助服务技术研究文献,总结了两类自助服务技术采纳前因——认知型前因和情感型前因,归纳出三种自助服务技术采纳模式——认知驱动模式、情感驱动模式及认知和情感综合驱动模式。研究表明:在自助服务技术采纳前因研究中,认知型前因所占比重很大,而情感型前因所占比重相对较小;三种采纳模式对自助服务技术采纳现象均起到了很好的理解和预测作用。最后,提出了自助服务技术采纳研究的发展方向。     

Timing and Commitment of Environmental Policy,Adoption of New Technology,and Repercussions on R&;D

We investigate the interplay between environmental policy, incentives to adoptnew technology, and repercussions on R&D. We study a model where a monopolistic upstream firm engages in R&D and sells advanced abatement technology to polluting downstream firms. We consider four different timing and commitment regimes of environmental tax and permit policies: ex post taxation (or issuing permits), interim commitment to a tax rate (a quota of permits) after observing R&D success but before adoption, and finally two types of ex antecommitment before R&D activity, one with a unique tax rate (quota of permits), the other one with a menu of tax rates (permit quotas). We study the second best tax and permit policies and rank these with respect to welfare. In particular, we find that commitment to a menu of tax rate dominates all other policy regimes.     

Technology Adoption Costs and Productivity Growth: The Transition to Information Technology

Using two panels of U.S. manufacturing industries, this paper estimates capital adjustment costs from 1961 to 1996. I find that from 1974–1983 adjustment costs rose sharply—they more than doubled from about 3% of output to around 7%. Moreover, this increase is specifically associated with a shift to investment in information technology. But such large adoption costs imply that the Solow residual mismeasures productivity growth: Adoption costs are resource costs representing an unmeasured investment. I find that when this investment is included, productivity grew about 0.4% per annum faster than official measures during the 1970's and early 1980's, reducing the size of the productivity “slowdown.” Indeed, estimated productivity growth rates were roughly the same from 1974–1988 as from 1949–1973. Thus technology transitions critically affect productivity growth measurement. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: O30, O47, E22.     

Technology Adoption, Human Capital, and Growth Theory

The paper explores a model in which growth is determined by a combination of human capital and technology adoption. At the heart of the model is the notion of "contiguous knowledge"—the idea that knowledge spreads out a certain distance. Because of this property of knowledge, a country can adopt existing technology only when it is sufficiently close to the technological frontier. Unlike the neoclassical growth model, the proposed model predictions are pessimistic for countries that are far away from the frontier. The model is thus able to account both for rapid growth episodes and economic stagnation.     

International Technology Transfers and Competition*

This paper analyzes North–South technology transfers in a model of oligopolistic competition and spatial product differentiation. Two firms in the North supply a high‐tech good and a technically related low‐tech good. They decide about licensing the low‐tech good to suppliers in the South. With the license Southern firms get access to technology from the North, which enables them—with a certain probability—to enter the market for the high‐tech good. Northern firms may therefore license strategically to influence the competitive environment in the high‐tech market. In this setting, multiple equilibria with and without licensing may arise, and the resulting outcomes may be inefficient from the viewpoint of the Northern firms.     

The Optimal Timing of Adoption of a Green Technology

We study the optimal timing of adoption of a cleaner technology and its effects on the rate of growth of an economy in the context of an AK endogenous growth model. We show that the results depend upon the behavior of the marginal utility of environmental quality with respect to consumption. When it is increasing, we derive the capital level at the optimal timing of adoption. We show that this capital threshold is independent of the initial conditions on the stock of capital, implying that capital-poor countries tend to take longer to adopt. Also, country-specific characteristics, as the existence of high barriers to adoption, may lead to different capital thresholds for different countries. If the marginal utility of environmental quality decreases with consumption, a country should never delay adoption; the optimal policy is either to adopt immediately or, if adoption costs are “too high”, to never adopt. The policy implications of these results are discussed in the context of the international debate surrounding the environmental political agenda.      

The Timing of Technology Adoption by a Cost-minimizing Firm

Received December 7, 1999; revised version received July 26, 2001     

企业突破性技术持续采用意愿的驱动机制研究

整合组织动机和期望确认理论，从购买动机视角探讨企业突破性技术持续采用意愿的驱动机制。将购买动机分为效率动机、规范趋同动机和模仿趋同动机，阐述购买动机对突破性技术持续采用意愿影响的微观机理。以198家购买过云计算技术的企业为研究样本，实证检验购买动机与突破性技术持续采用意愿间的关系，并检验满意和认知锁定的中介效应。结果表明：购买动机正向影响突破性技术持续采用意愿，满意和认知锁定在购买动机与突破性技术持续采用意愿之间起中介作用，各购买动机的中介作用路径呈现差异化。其中，效率动机的作用路径被满意和认知锁定部分中介，模仿趋同动机的作用路径被满意部分中介，规范趋同动机的作用路径被认知锁定部分中介。研究结论打开了企业突破性技术持续采用意愿的“黑箱”，对于企业深入理解突破性技术持续采用意愿的驱动机制，促进突破性技术在持续采用过程中发挥真正价值具有重要借鉴意义。     

National Health Insurance and Technology Adoption: Evidence from Taiwan

Generous health-insurance coverage may encourage hospitals to acquire and employ more advanced medical technologies. The authors examine the effects of Taiwan's 1995 implementation of National Health Insurance on technology adoption, ownership, and use by comparing changes in adoption, ownership, and use rates by private hospitals with changes by public nonteaching and public teaching hospitals. Using random-effect panel probit and tobit models, the article finds strong empirical evidence that third-party payment increases the probability of technology adoption, ownership, and use. (JEL H4 , I )     

企业突破性技术持续采用意愿的驱动机制研究

整合组织动机和期望确认理论,从购买动机视角探讨企业突破性技术持续采用意愿的驱动机制。将购买动机分为效率动机、规范趋同动机和模仿趋同动机,阐述购买动机对突破性技术持续采用意愿影响的微观机理。以198家购买过云计算技术的企业为研究样本,实证检验购买动机与突破性技术持续采用意愿间的关系,并检验满意和认知锁定的中介效应。结果表明：购买动机正向影响突破性技术持续采用意愿,满意和认知锁定在购买动机与突破性技术持续采用意愿之间起中介作用,各购买动机的中介作用路径呈现差异化。其中,效率动机的作用路径被满意和认知锁定部分中介,模仿趋同动机的作用路径被满意部分中介,规范趋同动机的作用路径被认知锁定部分中介。研究结论打开了企业突破性技术持续采用意愿的“黑箱”,对于企业深入理解突破性技术持续采用意愿的驱动机制,促进突破性技术在持续采用过程中发挥真正价值具有重要借鉴意义。     

簇群与新竞争经济学

既然公司能够从世界各地获取资本、商品信息和技术——而且往往是通过鼠标的点击就能获取,那么我们就有必要重新思考关于公司和国家如何竞争等众多的传统观点。理论上,更为开放的全球市场和更加快捷……     

市场的新功能与市场竞争的新特点

随着经济的全球化趋势,市场制度具有了更加突出的重要地位,市场竞争具有了新的特点.当代国际竞争归根到底是不同市场制度之间的竞争.一个国家要想在激烈竞争的世界财富分配格局中取得更大的份额,必须在市场制度建设上取得优势.     

The Impact Of Technology Adoption On Firm Productivity *

In this paper an attempt is made to theoretically and empirically explore the impact of technology adoption on firm output and productivity. The theory is based upon a modified Cobb Douglas production function with capital, labour and technology adoption as arguments. Three versions of the model with varying degrees of endogeneity are developed and then tested upon a data set relating to the adoption of five different process technologies by 217 firms in the UK engineering industry over the period 1981–1990. All the results indicate that technology adoption has a positive impact on output and productivity.