281 research outputs found
Lock-in & Break-out from Technological Trajectories: Modeling and policy implications
Arthur [1,2] provided a model to explain the circumstances that lead to
technological lock-in into a specific trajectory. We contribute substantially
to this area of research by investigating the circumstances under which
technological development may break-out of a trajectory. We argue that for this
to happen, a third selection mechanism--beyond those of the market and of
technology--needs to upset the lock-in. We model the interaction, or mutual
shaping among three selection mechanisms, and thus this paper also allows for a
better understanding of when a technology will lock-in into a trajectory, when
a technology may break-out of a lock-in, and when competing technologies may
co-exist in a balance. As a system is conceptualized to gain a (third) degree
of freedom, the possibility of bifurcation is introduced into the model. The
equations, in which interactions between competition and selection mechanisms
can be modeled, allow one to specify conditions for lock-in, competitive
balance, and break-out
Appropriability in Services
Services constitute a major part of the economy, and, contrary to popular believe, service firms do innovate. In this paper I take a closer look at one aspect of innovation in services: appropriability. I discuss the different elements that are possibly of importance for appropriability, and discuss one element in more detail. Reputation has been argued to be decisive when
service firms try to appropriate the benefits of their innovative activity. In this paper, some
suggestions are brought forward that will be useful in thinking systematically about reputationshaping mechanisms
Some Economics of Digital Content
The music industry is currently subject to changes influenced by ongoing digitalisation and informatization that are unprecedented. Other sectors can expect to undergo in the near future what the media industry is going through now – the movie industry being a prime suspect. Each day, some 600,000 copies of movies are exchanged via the Internet, most of these in violation of the copyright laws. The disruptive nature of technological development makes that the market for entertainment products and other content undergoes fundamental changes. Where ‘content’ used to be exchanged attached to a physical carrier, increasingly it has the features of an information product
Book review: Strategic Management of Innovation Networks. By Muge Ozman. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2017, ISBN 978‐1107071346, paperback, £30, pp. 360
Book review: Strategic Management of Innovation Networks. By Muge Ozman. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2017, ISBN 978‐1107071346, paperback, £30, pp. 36
The Process of New Service Development: issues of formilization and appropriability
Services form an important part of the economy today. Innovation for service firms is as important as for manufacturing, but the innovation process for service firms is comparatively little studied. In this paper, I review the literature there is on the innovation process for service firms, and make two suggestions for formalizing that process. The common thought that service firms do not innovate does not hold. Innovation is, however, often ad hoc for services, and it can therefore be difficult to measure firms’ innovation efforts. These points are all related to issues of appropriability of the benefits of innovation in services. The two issues primarily discussed in this paper – the possibilities of formalizing and appropriating in case of NSD – are central for issues for service firms. It is here that this paper offers some contributions to the existing literature; it does not so much present an overview thereof
Towards a Dynamic (Schumpeterian) Welfare Economics
For an economy where knowledge plays an increasingly important role in shaping its dynamics, economics needs a dynamic (Schumpeterian) welfare theory. This paper sketches the role of knowledge in an economy and argues that a static Paretian welfare economics is inadequate, or at least needs to be supplemented. As suggested by the work of Schumpeter, a dynamic welfare economics acknowledges the role of knowledge. In a dynamic welfare economics, I suggest, different costs of communication are central, indicating that knowledge may not be readily diffused or exchanged. Recent developments in Intellectual Property Right (IPR) law are evaluated to determine the extent to which they affect communication costs and thus future economic welfare
Accounting as Applied Ethics: Teaching a Discipline
In this article it is argued that there are notable parallels between all of the different strands within ethics on the one hand, and accountancy on the other that, in teaching, can be drawn upon to enhance students’ understanding of the latter. Accountancy, part of economics, draws on utilitarian ethics, but not solely so. Accounting, in addition, draws on deontological and communitarian strands in ethics. The article suggests that the teaching of accounting – especially to non-economists – would benefit substantially from highlighting and developing these parallels
Collective Consuming: Consumers as Subcontractors on Electronic Markets
In this article, contrary to popular belief, it is argued on the basis of Transaction Cost
Economics that consumers will become dependent subcontractors on electronic markets.
Consumers invest time and effort building up a relation with a producer or e-tailer; an
investment that is idiosyncratic. The producer or e-tailer only needs to invest in generic assets
that enable him to automate the process of collecting and processing customer information she
needs to differentiate products and discriminate prices. As subcontractors consumers face high
switching costs and are thus dependent on producers or e-tailers. Virtual communities of
consumers that organize countervailing power will not mitigate this tendency
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