Accumulation and Circulation of the Knowledge Needed for Biotech Business Promotion by Engineers of R&D Section in an IT Enterprise: the Case of Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd

Much research has been carried out on the accumulation and effective use of knowledge as a company-specific form of intellectual property. However, insufficient attention has been given to research focusing on the effects of micro-level knowledge absorption and its effective use. In this paper, we try to demonstrate what should be done in order to promote new biotech business from the perspective of each engineer\u27s knowledge, through a micro-level investigation focusing on the life science business section of one IT enterprise. Based on the results of a questionnaire survey of engineers, interviews of several engineers, and patent data analysis, we discuss the progress of the biotech business in an IT enterprise from the aspect of accumulation and circulation of knowledge in a core technology field, the IT business, and a technology field of new entry, the biotech business. This paper reports that the positive growth cycle of biotech business promotion in an IT enterprise, using Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. as a case, attained by incorporating the latest biotech knowledge from junior engineers and utilizing IT knowledge from middle engineers leads to the recruiting of qualified students

Technologies de l’information, productivité et croissance des entreprises : résultats basés sur de nouvelles microdonnées internationales

La relation entre les technologies de l’information (TI), la productivité et la croissance économique a été établie au niveau agrégé. Cependant, les mécanismes par lesquels l’effet se manifeste au niveau de l’entreprise restent à préciser. Les organismes statistiques ont élaboré des indicateurs de l’aptitude des entreprises à utiliser les technologies de l’information (p. ex. l’infrastructure des technologies de l’information, la diffusion de technologies particulières) et certains indicateurs de l’utilisation réelle (p. ex. buts et fréquence d’utilisation). L’étape suivante consiste à produire des estimations de l’impact de l’utilisation des technologies de l’information. Une étude menée récemment par l’OCDE visait à résoudre cette question en utilisant des données agrégées pour les pays membres de l’OCDE, ainsi que des microdonnées pour l’Allemagne et les États‑Unis. Une deuxième phase de l’étude de l’OCDE consistera en une série de projets, regroupant deux ou trois pays, réalisée au moyen de nouvelles microdonnées obtenues récemment pour une douzaine de pays environ. Le présent article décrit l’un de ces projets, destiné à évaluer l’effet des technologies de l’information au Danemark, au Japon et aux États‑Unis. Chacun de ces pays a recueilli récemment de nouvelles données sur l’utilisation des technologies de l’information au niveau de l’entreprise et procédé à l’analyse préliminaire de celles-ci. En outre, chaque pays se distingue des autres par sa structure de marché et sa structure institutionnelle. La prochaine phase du projet consistera à élaborer des estimations de l’effet de l’utilisation des technologies de l’information fondées sur ces nouvelles microdonnées, ainsi qu’à émettre et à tester des hypothèses qui tiennent compte des différences entre les structures de marché et les structures institutionnelles de ces pays.A positive relationship between information technology (IT), productivity, and growth has been established at the aggregate level. What remain unclear are the mechanisms through which the effect operates at the level of specific businesses. Statistical agencies have developed indicators of businesses’ readiness to use IT (e.g. the IT infrastructure, diffusion of specific technologies), and some indicators on actual usage (e.g., purposes, frequency of use). The next phase is using those data to develop estimates of the impact of IT use. A recent study addressed this question using aggregate data for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and micro data (data for specific businesses) for Germany and the U.S. A second phase of that study envisions a series of two- and three-country studies making use of newly available micro data for roughly a dozen countries. This paper outlines one such study, a three-country project addressing the impact of IT use in Denmark, Japan, and the U.S. Each country recently collected new data at the level of specific businesses on the use of IT by businesses, and has conducted preliminary analyses of its own data. Each country also has different underlying market and institutional structures. The findings presented here are preliminary. They show that network information technology has a significant impact on labour productivity growth in United States. The next phase of this project will develop estimates of the impact of IT use based on these new micro data, developing and testing hypotheses that acknowledge differences among the countries in market and institutional structures

Innovation Strategy And Business Performance Of Japanese Manufacturing Firms

This paper presents the first exploration of survey data of innovation strategy and performance of over 10,000 Japanese manufacturers. Although the importance of technological activities among various kinds of firms' strategic variables is generally agreed in Japan, empirical studies of them are very rare. In this paper, I start with basic facts of firms' R&D activities such as size and sectoral distribution of R&D expenditure and the number of patent holding, and investigate inter-industry heterogeneity of innovation strategies including technology licensing. The second part of this paper is for addressing issues on the relationship between these innovative strategies and the productivity level of firm. This evaluation is done by the following two steps, comparison between R&D performers and non performers, then regression of productivity on R&D among R&D performers. Small, but some positive associations between them are found, especially in high-tech industries.R&D, patents, technology spillover, productivity, Japanese manufacturing firms, JEL Classification: 030, L60,