Sources of business cycles in Korea and the United States

The authors estimate common and nation-specific components of technology shocks, real demand shocks, and combined (common and nation-specific) monetary shocks using quarterly data for Korea and the United States.Business cycles ; Korea

The Four Tigers of Global E-Business Infrastructure: Strategies and Implications for Emerging Economies

Statistics show that the United States is the leader on all fronts of e-business readiness. However, in different geographic regions several other countries are emerging as leaders in e-business infrastructure development. These Tigers of global e-business infrastructure include Singapore, India, Ireland, and Finland. This paper describes the specific e-business infrastructure models that are taking shape in these emerging leaders. The models are differentiated in terms of their underlying IT infrastructures, human capital requirements, alliance aspects, cultural aspects, and institutional environments. The paper analyzes each model as a configuration of activities for creating competitive advantage in e-business infrastructure. Recommendations are drawn for emerging countries striving to increase their participation in global e-business

Hirschmann Mobility Among Academics of Highly Ranked EU Research Universities

European universities have lost--and partially regained--key research academics to North American and other attractive university systems. EU efforts to reverse the cycle revolve around the establishment of an attractive European Research Area, within which future academic mobility--and commercial knowledge transmission--might be confined. This paper draws upon a survey of 1800 academics in 200 of Europe's most research-intensive universities to understand the principal reasons that underlie contemporary academic mobility. Mobility is conceptualised in Hirschmann terms as 'exit' from an inadequately performing university, rather than remaining 'loyal' to its existing regime or staying to exercise 'voice' in bringing about necessary improvements. The results from logit modeling of choices and options indicate clearly that academics who evidence either 'loyalty' or 'voice' are significantly less likely to be mobile. Moreover, those who are mobile refuse to restrict possible destinations to the ERA if they value better material conditions or better quality of colleagues, students or university reputation.

Determinants of E-Cmmerce Adoption in SMEs

A deep insight of determinants of e-commerce adoption process is in needed to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to fasten up their e-commerce rush and overcome a great number of existed obstacles. This paper analyzed and classified factors taking effects on SMEs’ e-commerce adoption into four groups, specifically: (1) perceived benefits, (2) organizational readiness, (3) external environment, and (4) leadership attitudes and competences. Especially, the paper also gets an overview on the role of leadership in motivating the uptake of e-commerce within SMEs. Thorough analysis within the research contributes not only a general view about core determinants of e-commerce adoption, but also the engine toward the success of e-commerce distribution channel in SMEs

Innovation Offshoring:Asia's Emerging Role in Global Innovation Networks

Most analysts agree that critical ingredients for economic growth, competitiveness, and welfare in the United States have been policies that encourage strong investment in research and development (R&D) and innovation. In addition, there is a general perception that technological innovation must be based in the United States to remain a pillar of the American economy. Over the past decade, however, the rise of Asia as an important location for "innovation offshoring" has begun to challenge these familiar notions. Based on original research, this report demonstrates that innovation offshoring is driven by profound changes in corporate innovation management as well as by the globalization of markets for technology and knowledge workers. U.S. companies are at the forefront of this trend, but Asian governments and firms are playing an increasingly active role as promoters and new sources of innovation. Innovation offshoring has created a competitive challenge of historic proportions for the United States, requiring the nation to respond with a new national strategy. This report recommends that such a strategy include the following elements: output forecasting techniques ... Improve access to and collection of innovation-related data to inform the national policy debate; Address "home-made" causes of innovation offshoring by sustaining and building upon existing strengths of the U.S. innovation system; Support corporate innovation by (1) providing tax incentives to spur early-state investments in innovation start-ups and (2) reforming the U.S. patent system so it is more accessible to smaller inventors and innovators; and Upgrade the U.S. talent pool of knowledge workers by (1) providing incentives to study science and engineering, (2) encouraging the development of management, interpretive, cross-cultural, and other "soft" capabilities, and (3) encouraging immigration of highly skilled workers.Innovation Networks, Innovation Offshoring, Asia

Analysing the Diffusion of a Mobile Service Supporting the E-grocery Supply Chain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a systemic methodology to assess the potential of and facilitate policies for the diffusion of a smartphone based service enabling supply chain (SC) operations in the e-grocery sector. Design/methodology/approach – A System Dynamics (SD) model combining the Bass paradigm for innovation diffusion and an inventory management framework is developed. Semi-structured interviews are conducted to understand the industry business processes; a simple SD model is designed to capture the most important variables together with the relationships among them; a detailed SD model is calibrated and simulation outcomes are analysed. Findings – The efficiency and reliability of the service drive its diffusion among producers and consumers, who in turn persuade retailers to adopt. The assessment methodology can be part of feasibility studies and marketing investigations in order to understand the impact of e-commerce tools on SC processes. Research limitations/implications – This contribution stresses the need to analyse how mobile information technologies may benefit all the business processes of the e-grocery SC, and not just one single process or stakeholder. Practical implications – The approach offers a roadmap to identify the factors influencing the diffusion of mobile e-grocery services as well as the associated impacts on SC processes. Originality/value – The work contributes to overcoming the lack of approaches studying the diffusion of e-grocery by taking into account all the relevant aspects and stakeholders involved and not only the consumer perspective

Internationalisation of Innovation: Why Chip Design Moving to Asia

This paper will appear in International Journal of Innovation Management, special issue in honor of Keith Pavitt, (Peter Augsdoerfer, Jonathan Sapsed, and James Utterback, guest editors), forthcoming. Among Keith Pavitt's many contributions to the study of innovation is the proposition that physical proximity is advantageous for innovative activities that involve highly complex technological knowledge But chip design, a process that creates the greatest value in the electronics industry and that requires highly complex knowledge, is experiencing a massive dispersion to leading Asian electronics exporting countries. To explain why chip design is moving to Asia, the paper draws on interviews with 60 companies and 15 research institutions that are doing leading-edge chip design in Asia. I demonstrate that "pull" and "policy" factors explain what attracts design to particular locations. But to get to the root causes that shift the balance in favor of geographical decentralization, I examine "push" factors, i.e. changes in design methodology ("system-on-chip design") and organization ("vertical specialization" within global design networks). The resultant increase in knowledge mobility explains why chip design - that, in Pavitt's framework is not supposed to move - is moving from the traditional centers to a few new specialized design clusters in Asia. A completely revised and updated version has been published as: " Complexity and Internationalisation of Innovation: Why is Chip Design Moving to Asia?," in International Journal of Innovation Management, special issue in honour of Keith Pavitt, Vol. 9,1: 47-73.

The Role of SMS in Mobile Data Service Diffusion in China: A Longitudinal Case Study Based on Actor-Network Theory

While Japan’s I-mode failed to be adopted in other countries and WAP also did not succeed in promoting mobile data services, a rather simple technology of SMS made its way to facilitate the growth of mobile data services in China. In this paper, we conduct a case study based on actor- network theory in order to explain 1) how mobile data services are developed and adopted in China, 2) what is the role of SMS in facilitating the development of mobile data services, and 3) what technological and social factors attribute to the adoption process of mobile data services. Drawing upon actor-network theory (ANT), this paper investigates longitudinally the driving forces fueling the development of data services in the China market. By analyzing the network structures formed by the various actors such as mobile data service providers, government departments, technical artifacts, customers, etc., we can better understand the dynamics of the mobile data service development in China and provide valuable references for the rest of the world

Globalization and E-Commerce VI: Environment and Policy in Denmark

The diffusion of e-commerce in Denmark is mainly a result of a partnership between government and industry initiatives, rather than being purely market- or government-led. While environmental factors are important enablers of e-commerce diffusion, government policy aims to be a key driving force. Although the size of government is substantial and the list of policy instruments is extensive, there is a serious question about whether the governments\u27 efforts to stimulate use within the society (business, consumers, and government itself) are sufficient to stimulate diffusion of e-commerce adequately. Our analysis questions the effectiveness of the government-led approach because of its timing, its lack of coordinated actions, and the mixed motives of government actions, in particular at the European Community level. Our analysis also found serious structural barriers such as high marginal income taxation and a limited supply of qualified labor. Contributing to the limited labor supply are strict immigration policies and late entry into the labor market (college graduates enter the job market at the mean age of 29). Adding to the structural problems is the lack of large high-tech manufacturing companies that can function as locomotives, as well as an insufficient equity and venture funding market. The Danish national e-commerce strategy is focused on rapid adoption, implementation, and exploitation of e-commerce in all sectors of the economy, rather than a production-led strategy. The official goals of the Danish government are to make IT available to all citizens and to be among the top five IT-using nations in the world. Although our analysis points to a high level of diffusion of the technologies that, in principle could enable e-commerce, actual exploitation is lagging behind the lavish display of technology