Toward an optimal degree of openness in IT innovation projects

In spite of substantial interest in open innovation (OI), both research and practice lack methods that support companies in managing their IT innovation projects (ITIPs) relative to OI. We contribute to the closure of this gap by providing an approach for an ex ante financial evaluation of OI application, which involves developing a theoretical model that determines the optimal degree of openness in ITIPs. Based on our model, we examine relevant causal relationships by analyzing the influence of a company's ability to manage OI and the probability of success in OI application on the theoretical optimum. We find that the optimal openness level is linked with the company's ability to manage OI, which can incorporate organizational, cultural, and technological maturity. To increase the value contribution of OI, companies should focus on a steady improvement in managing OI. The results provide both an indicator for practical decision‐making and a starting point for future research.     

Non‐wage benefits,costs of turnover and labour attachment

Like firms in established market economies, many Russian firms provide non‐wage benefits to their workers, such as housing, medical care or day care. This article explains the provision of benefits as a strategic choice for firms in the presence of labour and service market imperfections. Analysing unique survey data for 404 industrial establishments from 40 Russian regions, the authors provide strong evidence that non‐wage benefits are used by firms to attach workers and thereby reduce the costs of labour turnover in the face of tight labour markets. It is also shown that this attachment strategy works due to imperfections in the regional markets for social services.     

Do we need deeper trade agreements for GVCs or just a BIT?

The paper investigates two policies geared towards stimulating and shaping global value chains (GVCs), namely deep regional trade agreements (DRTAs) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs). In an augmented gravity model, we test the impact of both policies on a variety of trade in value added indicators. We find that both policies are likely to increase GVC trade, although their transmission channels differ. While backward linkages are stimulated through both BITs and DRTAs, forward linkages respond only to DRTAs. The estimates suggest that negotiating a DRTA with investment provisions has a higher impact on trade in value added than signing a shallow RTA and a separate BIT.     

神农神话源于何处的文化记忆?(下)

(上接《中国农史》2020年第6期)五、湘西北澧阳平原彭头山文化的奇迹虽然整个长江中下游地区都可以被称为是新石器时代稻作发展地带,但是考古学及古环境研究表明,栽培水稻的生活方式最早产生且根深蒂固的发祥地并没有那么广大,而是以澧阳平原为核心地的彭头山文化地区。在彭头山文化之前,野生稻已进入华南地区初步定居人群的生活中;而彭头山文化晚期以来,稻作聚落多见于洞庭平原,且聚落结构趋向于稳定,遗址出土炭化的早期栽培稻种的概率非常高,并且出现萌芽形态的水田,如田块、田埂和排水沟等。也就是说,虽然人们早于彭头山文化时期就开始利用水稻,但其生活发生转折的关键期却是在彭头山文化时期。只有彭头山文化才是完全放弃狩猎,单纯依靠采集和网捕水中及水边食物维生而完全定居,并致力于稳定地发展稻作农耕的时代,是最早也是迄今所知唯一的案例。     

Evolution of markets: a simulation with centralized,decentralized and posted offer formats

We apply standard evolutionary dynamics to study trader participation in three competing market formats —call market (CM), posted offer (PO) and decentralized market (DM). In our framework, heterogeneous buyers and sellers seek to transact a homogeneous good, which can be done by allocating their time among three different market formats. Our results show that (i) the final participation of traders in the CM is much higher, (ii) the PO can coexist with the CM, (iii) the DM unravels when competing against CM and (iv) the DM can coexist with the PO, depending on the initial participation conditions. Thus, we demonstrate that agent-based micro-simulations coupled with replication dynamics can reproduce most of the previously known theoretical results and have the potential to investigate other commonly used hybrid auction protocols.     

Endogenous Selection of Institutions and Their Exogenous Effects

Institutions shape social outcomes, yet institutions themselves are products of political choices. When institutional choices are determined by the same political and social processes that they shape, institutions are endogenously selected. Here I address the question of whether this endogenous institutional selection necessarily implies endogenous institutional effects. If it does, the use of institutional parameters as independent variables explaining policy outcomes and properties of the resulting political regimes, widespread in the literature on comparative political institutions, is hard to justify. I argue, however, that strategic choice of the rules of the game implies designers' ability to obtain their preferred institutional effects only under conditions of complete information. Under incomplete information, ex-post institutional effects do not need to be endogenous, since at the time of designing the rules the designers were not in position to control the selection of these effects. The reason why the choice of the rules does not imply the choice of their effects lies in the intervening and interactive (rather than additive) role played by the environmental parameters, including players' own characteristics, that are not revealed at the time of the institutional choice. Additionally to the model which illustrates the logic of the argument and the workings of intervening structural effects, I find supporting evidence in the processes of design of election laws in post-communist Europe, where stages of design and implementation followed each other in a very quick succession yet were characterized by substantial changes in manifested institutional preferences of the key political players.     

Taxing air pollutants and carbon individually or jointly: results from a CGE model enriched by an emission abatement sector

We analyse the separate and collective impacts of emissions taxation to understand the internalisation effects of externalities. The analysis is carried out using a static computable general equilibrium model, with unemployment, bottom-up abatement technologies represented by a step function, and detailed emission coefficients. Environmental and health external costs are quantified using the ExternE’s Impact Pathway Approach. Emissions, as a result of environmental taxation, fall through reduced output, production factor substitution, and increased end of pipe abatement activity. The analysis shows that a full internalisation of environmental externalities can result in modest overall economic and environmental welfare gains. There are, however, differences in terms of employment and output, depending on what combination of taxes are applied, which sectors are covered, and how fiscal revenues are redistributed. Air quality benefits range from €35–75 per ton of CO₂ abated. Total environmental benefits always exceed GDP loss and the associated welfare loss.     

Labor flexibility and firm performance

The aim of this paper is to add to the labor flexibility debate by exploring the relationship between different forms of flexible working practices and the performance of the firm. Although there is a strong argument that labor flexibility can lead to greater financial success through the reduction in labor costs and the ability to use labor resources more efficiently, little empirical evidence has been provided to demonstrate the existence of such a relationship. This paper reviews the existing literature, puts forward a number of research propositions, and tests them by using data drawn from the Cranet-E International Survey of Strategic Human Resource Management. Only one form of numerical flexibility is found to have a positive relationship with firm performance. Proposals for further research are suggested.     

Do science and money go together? The case of the French biotech industry

Developing technological applications, entering exploitation alliances, and choosing between research‐ or service‐focused strategic orientations are decisions that high‐tech firms must manage concurrently. This article explores systematically the contrasting effects of these strategic determinants on rent generation and rent appropriation using the entire population of French biotech firms (1994–2002). Findings indicate that science and money do not unconditionally go together–the direct relationship between rent‐accruing resources (e.g., patents or articles) and rent appropriation varies depending on the type of resources and the strategic orientation. Moreover, the effects of strategic determinants differ for rent generation vs. rent appropriation: 1) technological application diversity undermines a firm's capacity to appropriate rents–in particular for research‐oriented firms; 2) exploitation alliances favor rent generation but hinder rent appropriation; 3) service‐oriented firms exhibit significantly better performance than research‐oriented firms. Such evidence challenges the emergence in the biotechnology industry of a ‘one‐best’ strategic trajectory, as represented by research‐intensive start‐ups funded by private money engaged in publishing and patenting races. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.