The struggle for existence in the world market ecosystem

The global trade system can be viewed as a dynamic ecosystem in which exporters struggle for resources: the markets in which they export. We can think that the aim of an exporter is to gain the entirety of a market share (say, car imports from the United States). This is similar to the objective of an organism in its attempt to monopolize a given subset of resources in an ecosystem. In this paper, we adopt a multilayer network approach to describe this struggle. We use longitudinal, multiplex data on trade relations, spanning several decades. We connect two countries with a directed link if the source country's appearance in a market correlates with the target country's disappearing, where a market is defined as a country-product combination in a given decade. Each market is a layer in the network. We show that, by analyzing the countries' network roles in each layer, we are able to classify them as out-competing, transitioning or displaced. This classification is a meaningful one: when testing the future export patterns of these countries, we show that out-competing countries have distinctly stronger growth rates than the other two classes

The entrepreneurial ladder, gender, and regional development

Gender differences at five levels of entrepreneurial engagement are explained using country effects while controlling for individual-level variables. We distinguish between individuals who have never considered starting up a business, those who are thinking about it, and nascent, young, and established entrepreneurs. We use a large international dataset that includes respondents from 32 European countries, three Asian countries, and the United States. Findings show that cross-country gender differences are largest in the first and final transitions of the entrepreneurial process. In par

Generalized barriers to entry and economic development

Entry barriers, Catching-up, Economic growth and development, O10, O54, E11,

Variety and niche creation in aircraft, helicopters, motorcycles and microcomputers

Evolutionary theories of economic development stress the role of variety as both a determinant and a result of growth. Our empirical understanding of the role of variety, however, is still limited. We propose two variety measures, one based on entropy and one based on Weitzman's maximum likelihood procedure. It is argued that the two measures are complementary since they highlight different aspects of variety. Entropy is based on frequencies and indicates the statistical variety, while Weitzman's measure is based on the distance between products, and indicates the degree and structure of differentiation of a population. We apply the measures to product characteristics of four technologies (aircraft, helicopters, motorcycles, and microcomputers). The results on the three transport technologies show classic evolutionary specialisation patterns that can be understood on the basis of niche theory. In these cases, the changes in variety are related to changes the scope of services a technology can deliver analogous to the size of a habitat of a biological species. The results on microcomputers call for another explanation, since we found that variety decreased while the scope of services increased rapidly. In this case, the rapid fall in costs per unit service decreased so rapidly that the lower end of the market continuously disappears when the higher end of the market is extended. The results on microcomputers call for extending niche theory including the rate of change in costs

Knowledge dynamics, firm strategy, mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology based sectors

In this article, a method to map the knowledge base (KB) of firms is developed and applied to the study of strategic changes, mergers and acquisitions. The empirical data are related to three firms, Hoechst, Rhone-Poulenc and Aventis, which resulted from the merger of the first two. Our study shows how the KB of both Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc changed gradually reflecting their strategic reorientation away from chemistry and towards the life sciences. While the previous transition produced a segmented KB with the chemistry and biology subsets largely separated, the merger led a more closely integrated KB. The KB of some Aventis subsidiaries have been studied as well.Knowledge base, Lexicographic analysis, Patents, Mergers, Strategy,

Introduction to the Journal of Evolutionary Economics special issue: the product characteristics approach to innovation studies

International audienceThis special issue collects a selection of papers that were originally presented at the workshop on ‘Demand, Product Characteristics and Innovation’ organized at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena in October 2007. The workshop was funded by the DIME (Dynamics of Innovation and Markets) Network of Excellence of the European Commission. All these papers are empirical investigations of the dynamics of innovation in particular industries, based on the ‘twin characteristics’ approach pioneered by Saviotti and Metcalfe (1984) exactly 25 years ago. Altogether, the papers contained in this special issue provide a good illustration of the variety of approaches that can be employed in detailed studies of product characteristics. They also provide a good overview of the riches of insights that can be gained using this approach. As the availability of datasets and information on product prices and technical characteristics is likely to increase in the near future, empirical studies based on product characteristics seem to represent a research trajectory that is worthwhile pursuing, especially by younger generations of researchers

‘Chariots of fire’: the evolution of tank technology, 1915–1945

Technological trajectories, Technological paradigms, Tanks, O30, D83,