A Game Theoretic Analysis of the Conditions of Knowledge Transfer by New Employees in Companies
Sidonia vonLedebur
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 3,
2006
Abstract
The availability of knowledge is an essential factor for an economy in global competition. Companies realise innovations by creating and implementing new knowledge. Sources of innovative ideas are partners in the production network but also new employees coming from another company or academia. Based on a model by HECKATHORN (1996) the conditions of efficient knowledge transfer in a team are analysed. Offering knowledge to a colleague can not be controlled directly by the company due to information asymmetries. Thus the management has to provide incentives which motivate the employees to act in favour of the company by providing their knowledge to the rest of the team and likewise to learn from colleagues. The game theoretic analysis aims at investigating how to arrange these incentives efficiently. Several factors are relevant, especially the individual costs of participating in the transfer. These consist mainly of the existing absorptive capacity and the working atmosphere. The model is a 2x2 game but is at least partly generalised on more players. The relevance of the adequate team size is shown: more developers may increase the total profit of an innovation
(before paying the involved people) but when additional wages are paid to each person a greater team decreases the remaining company profit. A further result is
that depending on the cost structure perfect knowledge transfer is not always best for the profit of the company. These formal results are consistent with empirical studies to the absorptive capacity and the working atmosphere.
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The Potentials for Technology Transfer via Foreign Direct Investement in Central and East Europe - Results of a Field Study
Judit Hamar, Johannes Stephan
East-West Journal of Economics and Business,
1 & 2
2005
Abstract
Foreign direct investment plays a particularly crucial role for the processes of technological catch-up in Central East Europe. Whilst most countries of this region have received considerable direct investments, the composition of kinds of subsidiaries is different between countries and hence will the prospects for intense technology transfer also differ between countries. This contribution aims to compare the potentials for internal and external technology transfer across countries of Central East Europe by analysing the management-relationship between subsidiaries and their parents and the market-relationships between subsidiaries and their host economy. For this, a firm-level database of some 458 subsidiaries in Estonia, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia is analysed empirically.
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Ist Mitbestimmung ökonomisch sinnvoll? - Das Beispiel ostdeutsches Verarbeitendes Gewerbe und Bau -
Birgit Schultz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
Nr. 9,
2005
Abstract
In der öffentlichen Diskussion gibt es teilweise sehr kontroverse Argumentationen dazu, wie betriebliche Mitbestimmung durch den Betriebsrat auf personalpolitische und wirtschaftliche Belange in den Betrieben wirkt. Theoriegeleitete Publikationen zu diesem Themenbereich weisen hingegen vorwiegend auf positive Effekte sowohl für die Belegschaft als auch für das Management hin. Aus diesem Grund wird empirisch untersucht, welche Wirkung Betriebsräte auf die Entwicklung der Beschäftigung haben. In Betrieben mit einer günstigen Ertragslage im Status quo und einem Betriebsrat zeigt sich ein positiver Effekt auf den Beschäftigungsaufbau und auf die zukünftige Ertragslage. Ursprünglich ertragsstarke Betriebe ohne Betriebsrat verschlechtern im Vergleich dazu ihre wirtschaftliche Position. Hingegen haben Betriebe mit einem Betriebsrat gegenüber vergleichbaren Betrieben ohne Betriebsrat bei einer ungünstigen Ertragslage keine beobachtbaren größeren Schwierigkeiten, notwendige Beschäftigungsanpassungen vorzunehmen.
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Non-market Allocation in Transport: A Reassessment of its Justification and the Challenge of Institutional Transition
Ulrich Blum
50 Years of Transport Research: Experiences Gained and Major Challenges Ahead,
2005
Abstract
Economic theory knows two systems of coordination: through public choice or through the market principle. If the market is chosen, then it may either be regulated, or it may be fully competitive (or be in between these two extremes). This paper first inquires into the reasons for regulation, it analyses the reasons for the important role of government in the transportation sector, especially in the procurement of infrastructure. Historical reasons are seen as important reasons for bureaucratic objections to deregulation. Fundamental economic concepts are forwarded that suggest market failure and justify a regulatory environment. The reasons for regulation cited above, however, may be challenged; we forward theoretical concepts from industrial organization theory and from institutional economics which suggest that competition is even possible on the level of infrastructure. The transition from a strongly regulated to a competitive environment poses problems that have given lieu to numerous failures in privatization and deregulation. Structural inertia plays an important role, and the incentive-compatible management of infrastructure is seen as the key element of any liberal transportation policy. It requires that the setting of rules on the meta level satisfies both local and global efficiency ends. We conclude that, in market economies, competition and regulation should not be substitutes but complements. General rules, an "ethic of competition" have to be set that guarantee a level playing field to agents; it is complimented by institutions that provide arbitration in case of misconduct.
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Exporting Financial Institutions Management via Foreign Direct Investment Mergers and Acquisitions
Allen N. Berger, Claudia M. Buch, G. DeLong
Journal of International Money and Finance,
Nr. 3,
2004
Abstract
We test the relevance of the new trade theory and the traditional theory of comparative advantage for explaining the geographic patterns of international M&As of financial institutions between 1985 and 2000. The data provide statistically significant support for both theories. We also find evidence that the U.S. has idiosyncratic comparative advantages at both exporting and importing financial institutions management.
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Das Zustandekommen von Technologie-Spillovers durch ausländische Direktinvestitionen. Eine empirische Untersuchung am Beispiel der ungarischen Industrie.
Jutta Günther
Schriften des IWH,
Nr. 14,
2003
Abstract
Mit dem Beginn der Transformation in den Ländern Mittelosteuropas nahmen auch die ausländischen Direktinvestitionen rapide zu, wobei die ausländischen Tochtergesellschaften sowohl moderne Produktionstechnik als auch Management-Know-how transferieren. Es stellt sich jedoch immer wieder die Frage, ob und inwiefern auch die einheimischen Unternehmen über Technologie-Spillovers von diesen Entwicklungen profitieren. Die Studie zeigt, über welche Kanäle Technologie-Spillovers theoretisch möglich sind und untersucht dann im Rahmen einer empirischen Feldstudie die Bedeutung und Reichweite sowie die Einflussfaktoren der verschiedenen Spillover-Mechanismen am Beispiel der ungarischen Industrie. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Spillovereffekte in der ungarischen Industrie bisher kaum zustande kamen. Gründe dafür sind insbesondere die erheblichen technologischen Disparitäten zwischen ausländischen Tochtergesellschaften und einheimischen Unternehmen und die sehr niedrige Arbeitskräftemobilität von ausländischen zu einheimischen Firmen.
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Firm-Specific Determinants of Productivity Gaps between East and West German Industrial Branches
Johannes Stephan, Karin Szalai
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 183,
2003
Abstract
Industrial productivity levels of formerly socialist economies in Central East Europe (including East Germany) are considerably lower than in the more mature Western economies. This research aims at assessing the reasons for lower productivities at the firm level: what are the firm-specific determinants of productivity gaps. To assess this, we have conducted an extensive field study and focussed on a selection of two important manufacturing industries, namely machinery manufacturers and furniture manufacturers, and on the construction industry. Using the data generated in field work, we test a set of determinant-candidates which were derived from theory and prior research in that topic. Our analysis uses the simplest version of the matched-pair approach, in which first hypothesis about relevant productivity level-determinants are tested. In a second step, positively tested hypothesis are further assessed in terms of whether they also constitute firm-specific determinants of the apparent gaps between the firms in our Eastern and such in our Western panels. Our results suggest that the quality of human capital plays an important role in all three industrial branches assessed. Amongst manufacturing firms, networking activities and the use of modern technologies for communication are important reasons for the lower levels of labour productivity in the East. The intensity of long-term strategic planning on behalf of the management turned out to be relevant only for machinery manufacturers. Product and process innovations unexpectedly exhibit an ambiguous picture, as did the extent of specialisation on a small number of products in the firms’ portfolio and the intensity of competition.
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Recent Developments and Risks in the Euro Area Banking Sector
Reint E. Gropp, Jukka M. Vesala
ECB Monthly Bulletin,
2002
Abstract
This article provides an overview of euro area banks’ exposure to risk and examines the effects of the cyclical downturn in 2001. It describes the extent to which euro area banks’ risk profile has changed as a result of recent structural developments, such as an increase in investment banking, mergers, securitisation and more sophisticated risk management techniques. The article stresses that the environment in which banks operated in 2001 was fairly complex due to the relatively weak economic performance of all major economies as well as the events of 11 September in the United States. It evaluates the effects of these adverse circumstances on banks’ stability and overall performance. The article provides bank balance sheet information as well as financial market prices, arguing that the latter may be useful when assessing the soundness of the banking sector in a forward-looking manner. It concludes with a review of the overall stability of euro area banks, pointing to robustness in the face of the adverse developments in 2001 and the somewhat improved forward-looking indicators of banks’ financial strength in early 2002.
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FDI as Multiplier of Modern Technology in Hungarian Industry
Jutta Günther
Intereconomics,
Nr. 5,
2002
Abstract
Foreign direct investment is generally expected to play a significant role as a multiplier of modern production and management know-how in Central Eastern European transition economies. The following paper examines the various mechanisms by which such technological spillover effects could in theory take place and compares them with the results of an empirical study of their practical significance for Hungarian industry.
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The significance of FDI for innovation activities within domestic firms - The case of Central East European transition economies
Jutta Günther
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 162,
2002
Abstract
Ausländischen Direktinvestitionen wird in den mittelosteuropäischen Ländern eine wesentliche Rolle als Multiplikator modernen Produktions- und Management-Knowhows zugeschrieben. Die sogenannten Technologie-Spillovers werden in der Theorie auf Externalitäten bzw. Extra-market-linkages erklärt. In der Praxis kommen sie über Demonstrationseffekte, Arbeitskräftemobilität, Zuliefererkontakte, Kundenkontakte oder Netzwerkaktivitäten zustande. Die empirische Untersuchung am Beispiel der ungarischen Industrie zeigt jedoch, dass ausländische und einheimische Unternehmen vor allem aufgrund der hohen technologischen Entwicklungsunterschiede weitgehend getrennte Sphären innerhalb des Industriesektors bilden. Daher kommen Technologie- Spillover als innovationsförderndes Instrument einheimischer Unternehmen kaum zustande.
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