Knowledge Spillovers,Competition and Innovation Success

We study the relationship between a patent-based measure of knowledge spillovers that calculates technological proximity based on technologically relevant firms and innovation success. We find – for a representative sample of Swiss firms – that knowledge spillovers have a positive and significant association with the commercial success of innovative products. The paper shows the importance of market conditions for the relationship of spillovers with innovation performance: It is only positive and significant in markets with a medium number of competitors in the main product market, but not in monopolistic or polypolistic market structures.     

The German manufacturing industry faces globalization: Old achievements,new challenges

While the German manufacturing industry is internationally renowned and often seen as the backbone of German economic development, it has encountered some obstacles in the past few years. These obstacles are related with the emergence of new competitors, the shifts of economic activity in Europe due to economic integration and the challenge of German unification. This paper analyzes the historical development of the German manufacturing industry. By discussing the problems of German manufacturing industry in a globalized world, conclusions for necessary reforms can be drawn.     

The relative importance of human resource management practices for innovation

Human resource management (HRM) practices are generally expected to stimulate a firm's innovation performance. However, which of these practices really pay off? Based on a unique dataset that includes detailed information for both a firm's innovation activities and a broad set of HRM practices, we find that primarily new workplace organization practices seem to enhance a firm's innovation activities. Flexible practices of working time management and incentive payment schemes show only small effects on both innovation propensity and innovation success. Further training does only affect innovation success, but not innovation propensity. Overall, we find a stronger linkage between HRM practices and innovation propensity than with innovation success. Further, we find that innovation propensity increases, first, with the number of combinations of HRM practices adopted by a firm but not with the number of combinations of HRM practices from different groups of HRM practices adopted by a firm.     

循环经济一般均衡模式以及确定服务销售价格的基本方法

循环经济的发展核心是实现以销售服务代替销售产品,使生产生活资料的公有共用能得以实现,并最大限度地增加资源利用率,从而保护生存环境和空间,使得人与环境尽可能长时间地可持续发展。人和自然具有耗散结构特征的生命周期,是销售服务代替销售产品的基础。文章通过引入产品的生命周期作为变量,对循环经济的边际效用进行分析,并建立投资消费均衡模式。在所建立的循环经济的投资消费均衡模式中,科技要素代替了古典主义所定义的"资本、劳动和土地"生产三要素中的资源要素(土地等),构成了循环经济生产消费的新三要素:资本、劳动和科技。作为市场经济的循环经济,相对于自由市场经济,更偏好于社会主义市场经济。循环经济的均衡模式和边际效用函数的确定,也可应用于产品服务的定价。作为一个应用实例,将所推导的循环经济边际效用函数和均衡模式的关系,用来分析权重较大的居住服务套利或非套利的定价模式,通过设定不同的房产生命周期,得到区别巨大的房产总价值。通过分析该结果可以说明2008—2009年美国次贷危机引起金融海啸的深层原因,这是本文的一种应用解读。     

Economic integration in northeast Asia: Preconditions and possible trajectories

When in November 2001, the leaders of the Southeast Asian and Northeast Asian states met for the “ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) plus three (China, Japan and Korea),” President Kim Dae‐Jung of South Korea proposed the exploration for an East Asian Free Trade Area (EAFTA) and thereby opened a new chapter of East Asian integration. The special Northeast Asian perspective on regional co‐operation became clear by the simultaneous decision to hold annual meetings of finance and trade ministers of China, Japan and Korea. At the same time, bilateral agreements, like a free trade area between Japan and Singapore, the tentative large free trade area between ASEAN and China and the work‐in‐progress on a Korean‐Japanese Free Trade Area, show the devotion and sometimes even obsession of current policy‐making with reaching regional trade agreements. Regional integration, it seems, is finally on the Northeast Asian agenda. In this paper, the preconditions and perspectives of economic integration in Northeast Asia will be explored. Since economic integration is in various ways linked to political factors, the second section discusses the geo‐political situation of Northeast Asia today. The third section deals with the economic perspectives of different forms of trade integration, followed by an analysis of various attempts for greater macro‐economic and financial co‐operation and a short conclusion.