The experience of technological collaborations by MERCOSUR companies

This paper examines some of the experiences in information and knowledge sharing involving MERCOSUR firm. It finds that while technological collaborations by MERCOSUR firms are relatively few, located in low-tech sectors and taking place in an environment of little innovation, they are motivated by the need to ‘fuse’ their own knowledge with that of partner or to improve available information. Modes of governance vary accordingly, with equity or contractual forms being used for new developments and informal agreements for improvements. Govmments and business associations can be important facilitators of technological collaborations. The analysis of technological collaborations suggested that the better prepared a corporation entered an agreement the more successful it was likely to be. It also pointed out that where interactions were intense, well intended and transparent, included personnel exchanges, were properly assessed and involved receptive participants, learning progressed smoothly and partners were satisfied. Benefits of the collaborations included new patentable and non-patentable products new factories, as well as building trust between partners. Premature termination of some collaborations was the result of financia1 limitations unrelated to the success of the collaboration.     

The take-over market for privately held companies: the US experience

The volume of acquisitions involving privately held firms hasfar surpassed that of publicly traded firms in recent years;yet this segment of the take-over market remains largely unexplored.In analysing the unique features of private target take-overs,we compare the mergers and acquisitions markets for unquotedand quoted firms on several dimensions including methods ofpayment, offer premiums and bidder wealth effects. Our resultsshow that these mergers provide positive shareholder wealthbenefits for bidders and relatively high premiums for privatelyheld targets. Also, the market's reaction depends on whetherit perceives the price paid for the target as too high or toolow, a rational response given the sentiment at the time ofthe announcement.     

实施"走出去"战略成效显著

经过二十多年的努力，我国的对外开放已经取得了举世瞩目的成绩。发展对外贸易、有效利用外商投资、积极开展国际经济合作等措施大大促进了国民经济的快速发展和综合国力的日益提高，使我国具备了一定的国际竞争实力。实施“走出去”的开放战略是世纪之交党中央总揽全局，根据国内外发展新形势做出的重大决策。朱基总理在九届人大三次、四次和今年召开的九届人大五次会议的《政府工作报告》中多次指出：应该继续实施“走出去”战略，鼓励和支持有条件的各类所有制企业，到国外特别是周边国家投资办厂和承包工程，带动国内技术、设备、材料和…     

On the economics of R&D and technological collaborations: Insights and results from the project colline

Research collaborations involve co-production and exchange of knowledge across organisational boundaries. They involve governance of intellectual property rights and partners' use of collectively produced knowledge. The principal findings arise from case studies of consortia governance in biotechnology and software and substantial variety in arrangements is identified. This variety may be explained by the appropriability of knowledge in particular research domains as well as by the nature of the knowledge generated. Consequences of governance rules are explored for European research consortia and for collective standards making activities. The analysis indicates several policy conclusions: government policy has an important role in overcoming market failures in consortia formation; adoption of any uniform intellectual property rights model for consortia would be likely to reduce research productivity; policies aimed at stimulating consortia formation must take account of the nature of knowledge that is to be exchanged.     

The gravity model analysis: an application on MERCOSUR trade flows

This paper explores the determinants of bilateral trade flows between Mercosur countries. To this aim, a gravity model is applied to annual bilateral exports between 75 countries in 1980–2008. The model is augmented with variables that are relevant in determining the volume and direction of international trade using two alternative estimation methods; pooled ordinary least squares and panel fixed effects. The results reveal that the influence of the agreement on trade has been positive but moderate. As a whole, Mercosur has had positive effects, and this agreement can be reinforced with the deepening of their relationships and the entry of new members.     

Knowledge codification and technological innovation success: Empirical evidence from Spanish biotech companies

This paper analyzes the influence of knowledge codification on technological innovation in a sample of Spanish firms from the biotechnology sector. It tests how codification affects firms' development of incremental and radical innovations and their attempts to keep their investments exclusive by building barriers to imitation and to substitution. The work also considers the incorporation of legal protection measures. The results show, on the one hand, that knowledge codification is only beneficial for developing incremental innovations and, on the other, that firms must incorporate systems of legal protection into their codification practices if they want to keep their innovations exclusive.     

Identifying technological capabilities with different degrees of coherence: The challenge to achieve high technological sophistication in latecomer software companies (based on the Bulgarian case)

The paper introduces the notion of coherence of technological capabilities. It argues that in analysing technological capabilities (TC) the analysis needs to go beyond investigation of constituent capabilities and should take into account the level of coherence among the constituent capabilities. The phenomenon of different degree of coherence of TC is detected while exploring the TC in Bulgarian software companies. Significant differences emerge between the TC of domestic-oriented vs. export-driven companies in the accumulation of constituent capabilities. But it is the analysis of the coherence of TC, which proved capable to capture the real differences in capability accumulation: strong coherence occurs only in ‘export’ TC. This analysis revives the debate about possibilities for leapfrogging by latecomers by developing software industries. Based on the results the study revises the ‘walking on two legs’ hypothesis and also points that the optimistic forecasts about the possibilities for leapfrogging by the latecomer countries by developing indigenous software industries might have been overestimated.     

Technology interdependence and entry modes of the Taiwanese technological multinational companies: moderating effects of political instability,technological uncertainty,and Confucian dynamism

This study aims to examine how technology interdependence and three environmental variables, namely political instability, technological uncertainty and Confucian dynamism, in the host country collectively influence Taiwanese technological multinational company’s (MNC) entry mode choice between joint venture (JV) and wholly owned subsidiary (WOS). Grounded on theories of transaction cost economies and organisational design, this study hypothesises a positive technology interdependence–WOS relationship that can be explained by appropriation and coordination concerns. Moreover, the aforementioned relationship can be positively moderated by technological uncertainty while negatively moderated by political instability and Confucian dynamism. These hypotheses were examined and supported using logistic regressions in the analysis of 195 foreign entries undertaken by Taiwanese information and electronic MNCs.     

跨国经营企业中的人力资源管理问题

参与经济全球化带来的新课题当今世界，经济全球化、文化多元化给全球企业的人力资源管理带来新的课题。随着区域性合作组织如欧盟、北美自由贸易区、亚太经合组织等产生，国与国之间的界限开始变得越来越模糊，地区经济甚至全球经济正日益成为一个不可分割的整体，牵一发而动全身。这种情况下，传统的管理理念不断受到冲击，作为经济一体化推动力及其自然结果的跨国公司，既面对着不同的政治体制、法律规范和风俗习惯，同时又推动着各种文化的相互了解、相互渗透和不断融合。跨国公司的管理者们经常会遇到诸如管理制度与价值观迥异的组织如…     

The distribution of technological progress

The size distribution of the domains of US-patented technological knowledge obeys an exponential law, revealing a disproportionable concentration of progress among larger domains. Our analyses suggest that this phenomenon is explained by a combination of two factors. First, domains’ trajectories of growth have inherently different potentials. Second, differences in domains’ potentials are magnified by a mechanism—domains’ self-hybridization—endogenous to the process of knowledge growth. Our results show that in addition to being stable, the observed distribution of technological progress is likely to arise under very general conditions.     

柏克德公司经营战略模式及其启示

二十多年来,中国的经济发展一直在走高能耗、高产出的粗放型道路。但是,在国内外各种原材料价格急剧上升,国际石油期货价格突破每桶70美元,铁矿石价格上涨70%的今天,改变经济增长方式,建立节约型社会的任务刻不容缓。而“走出去”实现产业转移,发掘和利用更多国际资源是中国经济继续保持可持续发展的重要方式。在“走出去”的主要形式中,对外工程承包非常重要。而中国的承包商要走向国际市场,绝对不能仅仅依靠我国廉价的劳动力资源。学习国外先进建筑工程企业的经验和做法是尽快与国际接轨的捷径。美国建筑工程行业的领袖柏克德公司(B echt…     

Portfolio selection by Austrian insurance companies

Zusammenfassung Ausgehend von einem modifizierten Modell vonParkin (1970) wird versucht, das Anlageverhalten der österreichischen Vertragsversicherungen ökonometrisch zu erfassen. In diesem Modell wird das gewünschte Portefeuille abhängig von den erwarteten Ertragsraten der einzelnen Aktiva gemacht. Um diesen Ansatz auf Daten anwenden zu können, sind Annahmen über den Zusammenhang von tatsächlichem und gewünschtem Portefeuille sowie über die Erwartungsbildung notwendig. In dieser Arbeit wurden der Stockanpassungsmechanismus und der marginale Anpassungsmechanismus sowie unitäre und rationale Erwartungen näher untersucht.Die Anwendung dieser Modelle auf Daten der österreichischen Versicherungswirtschaft im Zeitraum 1973 bis 1982 zeigt, daß der marginale Anpassungsmechanismus besser geeignet ist, die Enge der heimischen Finanzmärkte wiederzugeben, und daß unitäre Erwartungen rationalen vorzuziehen sind. Im Gegensatz zu Wertpapieren und Forderungen, die zueinander Substitute sind, herrscht bei den Einlagen das Transaktionsmotiv vor, sodaß für diese Position das Portfoliomodell wenig geeignet erscheint. Es ist jedoch nicht auszuschließen, daß die Ergebnisse stark von institutionellen Gegebenheiten beeinflußt worden sind.

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The author is indebted to G. Winckler for helpful discussions.     

The adoption of new technology by listed companies: the case of Twitter

This study investigates the adoption of Twitter by Australian listed companies for disseminating marketing information (including corporate promotion) and for directly interacting with consumers. Based on a sample of the Top 200 Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed companies, we find that companies with larger market capital are more likely to adopt Twitter for static advertising, a one-way communication approach, and direct interaction with consumers, a two-way communication approach. Companies with smaller market capital that adopt Twitter for marketing communication appear to disseminate more corporate promotion information, a static advertising approach. Overall, our results indicate that the level of a company's access to resources can influence their adoption of a new technology and the manner in which it is used. This study calls for further clarification of regulation regarding marketing communication on social media and experience sharing between industry practitioners.     

The motivations,institutions and organization of university-industry collaborations in the Netherlands

This study builds on the economics and organization literatures to explore whether and how institutions and organizational structure complement or substitute each other to create specific spaces of alignment where specific individual actors’ motivations co-exist. Focusing on university-industry collaborations, the study examines whether and how different axes of alignment of university and industry motivations are integrated in projects with specific technological objectives and organizational structures, benefitting from the presence of specific institutions designed to facilitate collaboration. Empirically, the study relies on in-depth data on 30 university-industry collaborations in the Netherlands, and provides preliminary evidence that the technological objective and organizational structure of collaboration are malleable variables allowing the integration of both partners’ objectives and expectations. Different institutional incentives for university-industry collaboration favor specific axes of alignment of motivations and certain types of collaborative projects’ design. Hence, our exploratory results suggest that specific organizational and technological structures tend to prevail in the presence of specific institutions.     

汲取美国实践经验发展我国海外经营

在以和平与发展为时代特征的当今世界，经济因素在整个国际关系中占有越来越重要的地位，实现资源在更大范围内的有效配置，已经成为国际经济与合作的战略目标。美国是世界上最大的对外投资国，截至2000年底，美国拥有的海外资产高达61672亿美元，比1999年增加了2461亿美元。2000年美国对外直接投资1172亿美元，至此美国对外直接投资额已累计达到14452亿美元。越来越多的美国公司、企业走出国界，实行跨国经营。这些公司通过直接投资，在全球范围内组织生产和销售，形成了一大批跨国公司。这些跨国公司充分利用国外资源和市场，带动了美国经…     

Refining the debate on GM crops using technological foresight—the Danish experience

Rapid developments in and the controversial nature of biotechnology call for communication, networks, partnerships, and collaboration in research, not just among researchers, but also between researchers and research “users” in industry, government, and elsewhere. Technological foresight appears to offer a coordinating method for developing and strengthening those linkages. To test this, a technological foresight study was performed on genetically modified (GM) crop technology in the Danish context. The background of the study was the conflict and intense debate in Denmark over applications of gene technology, especially over the deliberate release of genetically modified (GM) crops. However, the current debate characteristically involves sharply opposed fronts, lacking willingness and courage to engage in a free-flowing and open-minded debate on both rational and normative components of biosafety. In it, stakeholders and experts on both side of the conflict advocate widely differing opinions. Without a proper generally intelligible dialogue, the broader public audience finds it hard to comprehend this type of debate. The study pursues the notion that public dialogue can act as a driver of future applications in the technological domain, specifically GM crops. The study concluded with a stakeholder workshop that revealed three key issues that might provide helpful starting points for a more free-flowing and open-minded debate about the future of GM crops. The issues were those arising from the following statements: a broad perspective on risk is crucial; international regulation must make allowance for developing countries; a better configuration of the risk debate is needed. These issues are discussed in more details in the article.     

上市公司会计舞弊与审计对策探析

近年来我国上市公司的会计舞弊案时有发生，上市公司的会计信息整体质量仍然不高，本文试图通过分析上市公司会计舞弊的内因与外因，针对其会计舞弊的主要方式——现金、收入确认、关联方交易和会计政策变更等舞弊行为进行分析，从而提出相应的审计对策。