Knowledge Diffusion, Supplier's Technological Effort and Technology Transfer via Vertical Relationships

This paper studies the effect of knowledge diffusion on the incentives for developed countries(DC)' firms to undertake costly technology transfer to their developing countries(LDC)' suppliers whose cost of production varies inversely with their technological effort. When the incumbent supplier's cost of improving efficiency is high, upstream (or, respectively, downstream) diffusion of knowledge to potential input (final output) producers encourages (discourages) technology transfer as it increases upstream (downstream) competition. However, and in sharp contrast to existing literature, when technological effort is less costly, upstream (downstream) knowledge diffusion discourages (encourages) technology transfer by reducing (increasing) the incumbent supplier's technological effort.technology transfer; technological effort; developing countries; knowledge diffusion; buyer-supplier

Rethinking Invention: Cognition and the Economics of Technological Creativity

Economists have typically not devoted much attention to the act of invention. This paper attempts to redress this situation by exploring a form of cognition, analogical transfer, which is thought by some researchers to lie at the heart of successful creativity. An analogical transfer is said to have occurred when information and experiences from one known situation is retrieved and utilized in the search for the solution to an entirely different situation. This paper shows how such analogical thought can give rise to a theoretical framework, in which disparate factors pertaining to technological creativity can be pieced together to yield an explanation of the level of inventive output experienced.invention, technological change, technological creativity, problem solving, learning.

Innovation and Foreign Technology in Italy,1861-2011

The paper explores the long run evolution of Italy’s performance in technological innovation as a function of international technology transfer, reconstructing the different phases and dimensions of Italian innovative activity, tracking the transfer of foreign technological knowledge through a number of channels, analysing the impact of imported technology. The study is based on a newly constructed dataset, over the 1861-2009 period, composed of variables related to: innovation activity performance; foreign technology transfer; domestic absorptive and innovative capability. The analysis highlights, also by econometric assessment, the significant contribution of foreign technology both to innovation activity results and to productivity growth. Differences across channels of technology transfer and historical phases emerge, also in connection with the evolution of human capital endowment and domestic innovative capacity. Machinery imports contributed positively both to innovation activity and to productivity growth; inward FDI contributed positively to productivity growth, but not to indigenous innovation activity; the accumulation of technical human capital fuelled both. In the long Italian Golden Age, for the first time the association of foreign technological knowledge with indigenous innovation processes strengthened productivity significantly. More recently instead the dismal productivity growth is negatively associated with formalised innovation activity under-performance and reduced imports of disembodied technologyItaly,Technology Transfer,Innovation,Absorptive Capability,Patenting

Motional effects on the efficiency of excitation transfer

Energy transfer plays a vital role in many natural and technological processes. In this work, we study the effects of mechanical motion on the excitation transfer through a chain of interacting molecules with application to biological scenarios of transfer processes. Our investigation demonstrates that, for various types of mechanical oscillations, the transfer efficiency is significantly enhanced over that of comparable static configurations. This enhancement is a genuine quantum signature, and requires the collaborative interplay between the quantum-coherent evolution of the excitation and the mechanical motion of the molecules; it has no analogue in the classical incoherent energy transfer. This effect may not only occur naturally, but it could be exploited in artificially designed systems to optimize transport processes. As an application, we discuss a simple and hence robust control technique.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures; completely revised; version accepted for publicatio

Entry aerodynamics and heating

An overview of the problems of entry aerodynamics and heating is given with emphasis on survival of the probe, predictability of performance, and reliability of performance. Technological challenges to performance prediction are considered and include: turbulent heat transfer, radiation blockage, chemical state of the shock layer, afterbody heat transfer, asymmetric ablation, and real-gas aerodynamics. It is indicated that various obstacles must be overcome in order to achieve technology readiness. These obstacles are considered to be: extrapolations from ground tests to flight; lack of flight experience; lack of parametric data; and uncertain knowledge of atmospherics

Internal and External Factors on Firms’ Transfer Pricing Decisions: Insights from Organization Studies

Well understood in economics, accounting, finance, and legal research, transfer pricing has rarely been comprehensively explored in organization management literature. This paper explores some theoretical explanations of transfer pricing within multidivisional firms drawing insights from various organizational theories – primarily institutional theory, transaction cost economics, and social networks – to develop a conceptual model of transfer pricing. This model focuses on the nature of multidivisional firms’ internal transfers, internal and external technological environments, and internal and external social environments. We highlight the importance of transfer pricing as a key strategic dimension to understand intra-firm flows and their associated costs.theory, value, transfer pricing; intra-firm flows, multidivisional firm.

International technology transfer: building theory from a multiple case-study in the aircraft industry

International technology transfer occurs frequently in international operations, for example in\ud cases of foreign direct investment where companies set-up existing manufacturing lines in new\ud locations. It also occurs in situations of international outsourcing where a new supplier receives\ud product and/or production process information. This technology transfer process often leads to\ud difficulties, for example delays and much higher costs than anticipated. To gain insight into the\ud causes of these difficulties we used a grounded theory approach to describe the process of\ud international production technology transfer. We conducted four case studies in the aircraft\ud industry and analyzed the problems that occurred. We found that technology transfer consists of\ud three phases: preparation, installation and utilization. These three phases are influenced by three\ud types of factors: technological, organizational and environmental. The combination of activities\ud with factors enables an integrated view on international technology transfer. We found that the\ud amount of technology, the accuracy of information, and the extent of organizational and\ud environmental differences have a large impact on the efficiency of the technology transfer\ud process

Why Have Health Expenditures as a Share fo GDP Risen So Much?

Aggregate health expenditures as a share of GDP have risen in the United States from about 5 percent in 1960 to nearly 14 percent in recent years. Why? This paper explores a simple explanation based on technological progress. Medical advances allow diseases to be cured today, at a cost, that could not be cured at any price in the past. When this technological progress is combined with a Medicare- like transfer program to pay the health expenses of the elderly, the model is able to reproduce the basic facts of recent U.S. experience, including the large increase in the health expenditure share, a rise in life expectancy, and an increase in the size of health-related transfer payments as a share of GDP.

Oblivious transfer based on single-qubit rotations

We present a bit-string quantum oblivious transfer protocol based on single-qubit rotations. Our protocol is built upon a previously proposed quantum public-key protocol and its practical security relies on the laws of Quantum Mechanics. Practical security is reflected in the fact that, due to technological limitations, the receiver (Bob) of the transferred bit-string is restricted to performing only "few-qubit" coherent measurements. We also present a single-bit oblivious transfer based on the proposed bit-string protocol. The protocol can be implemented with current technology based on optics