Digital Economy and Knowledge Economics

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Bhekuzulu Khumalo

The digitization of information has been one of the greatest stories of the last two decades. This article seeks to explain the meaning of this process and how it affects already established models concerning trade and knowledge economics. This article is based on the simple premise that knowledge is the most important resource, without which nothing can be done. The article starts by looking at the competitive advantage theory that was largely promoted by Michael Porter whose works have greatly influenced the first part of this article. The article then discusses the ever more important role of knowledge due to competitive advantage theory and the digitalization of information. Finally the implications and discrediting the comparative advantage theory, this theory has no place in modern economic thinking. As we have more tools in our disposal, we must investigate the importance of wave theory as well as the true meaning of competition. It also looks into the greater role collaboration will play in the future. The article briefly discusses the effects that the digitization of information will have over time.

Author(s):  
Bhekuzulu Khumalo

The digitization of information has been one of the greatest stories of the last two decades. This paper seeks to explain the meaning of this process and how it affects already established models concerning trade and knowledge economics. This paper is based on the simple premise that knowledge is the most important resource, without which nothing can be done. The paper starts by looking at the competitive advantage theory that was largely promoted by Michael Porter whose works have greatly influenced the first part of this paper. The paper then discusses the ever more important role of knowledge due to competitive advantage theory and the digitalization of information. Finally the implications and discrediting the comparative advantage theory, this theory has no place in modern economic thinking. As we have more tools in our disposal, we must investigate the importance of wave theory as well as the true meaning of competition. It also looks into the greater role collaboration will play in the future. The paper briefly discusses the effects that the digitization of information will have over time.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 912-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Hellwig ◽  
Ian McAllister

Conventional wisdom holds that asset owners favor parties on the center-right. This assumption, however, ignores the possibility that party positions may shift over time and across contexts. The electoral payoff from ownership thus depends on how the policies of the major parties treat those assets. In this article, we argue that the prediction that asset holders support right-of-center parties rests on the position-taking strategies of parties. We test this expectation with evidence from six elections in Australia and with a dataset of post-election surveys in 25 advanced democracies. Utilizing different measures for key concepts, both analyses support our claims. Study findings identify the supply side of electoral competition as an important condition for patrimonial economic voting and, more generally, confirm the role of parties in mobilizing voters around issues on which they have a competitive advantage.


Author(s):  
Stephen Duhan ◽  
Margi Levy ◽  
Philip Powell

Resource-based theory suggests that firms develop idiosyncratic capabilities that contribute to sustainable competitive advantage when they are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. The successful use of information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) has been linked to improved firm performance. Recent literature suggests that a deeper understanding of what capability means in practice may be gained from a disaggregation into component competences and resources. A better understanding of the role of IS/IT in business level capability may be achieved through a fuller articulation, both of the capability itself, and the contribution of IS/IT, together with an evaluation of the effectiveness in delivering sustainable competitive advantage. A dynamic capabilities perspective explains the way firms adapt capabilities to changing market environments over time. This paper explores these propositions through an exploratory case study using a framework derived from a resource-based and systemic view of the firm. The analysis suggests a dynamic Capability Development Model through which the implications and potential for IS and IT over time may be understood. The paper addresses three issues. First, it offers a better articulation of what capability concepts mean in practice. Second, it takes a disaggregated understanding of capabilities, and third, it sheds light on the dynamics of capabilities.


1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 139-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherwin Rosen

The systems aspects of Austrian economic thought pertaining to the process of competition deserve a prominent place in modern economic thinking. The paper develops the differences between the Austrian view of competition as an evolutionary process, and the neoclassical emphasis on determining market equilibrium under known or given conditions. These bear importantly on the fundamental way we think about decentralization of economic activities among highly specialized agents with incomplete knowledge and information. The role of competition as a selection device that often encourages survival of the fittest and solves some types of agency problems is well worth thinking about.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Johnson

Due to the rise of global supply chains, gross exports do not accurately measure the amount of value added exchanged between countries. I highlight five facts about differences between gross and value-added exports. These differences are large and growing over time, currently around 25 percent, and manufacturing trade looks more important, relative to services, in gross than value-added terms. These differences are also heterogenous across countries and bilateral partners, and changing unevenly across countries and partners over time. Taking these differences into account enables researchers to obtain better quantitative answers to important macroeconomic and trade questions. I discuss how the facts inform analysis of the transmission of shocks across countries; the mechanics of trade balance adjustments; the impact of frictions on trade; the role of endowments and comparative advantage; and trade policy.


2003 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Majoros

The study introduces a Hungarian economic thinker, István Varga*, whose valuable activity has remained unexplored up to now. He became an economic thinker during the 1920s, in a country that had not long before become independent of Austria. The role played by Austria in the modern economic thinking of that time was a form of competition with the thought adhered to by the UK and the USA. Hungarian economists mainly interpreted and commented on German and Austrian theories, reasons for this being that, for example, the majority of Hungarian economists had studied at German and Austrian universities, while at Hungarian universities principally German and Austrian economic theories were taught. István Varga was familiar not only with contemporary German economics but with the new ideas of Anglo-Saxon economics as well — and he introduced these ideas into Hungarian economic thinking. He lived and worked in turbulent times, and historians have only been able to appreciate his activity in a limited manner. The work of this excellent economist has all but been forgotten, although he was of international stature. After a brief summary of Varga’s profile the study will demonstrate the lasting influence he has had in four areas — namely, business cycle research and national income estimations, the 1946 Hungarian stabilisation program, corporate profit, and consumption economics — and will go on to summarise his most important achievements.


Author(s):  
Yabing Zhang

This article is devoted to the problem of using Russian time-prepositions by foreigners, especially by the Chinese. An analysis of modern literature allows the author to identify the main areas of the work aimed at foreign students’ development of the skills and abilities to correctly build the prepositional combinations and continuously improve the communication skills by means of the Russian language. In this paper, the time-prepositions in the Russian language have been analyzed in detail; some examples of polysemantic use of prepositions, their semantic and stylistic shades alongside with possible errors made by foreign students are presented. The results of the study are to help in developing a system of teaching Russian time-prepositions to a foreign language audience, taking into account their native language, on the basis of the systemic and functional, communicative and activity-centred basis. The role of Russian time-prepositions in constructing word combinations has been identified; the need for foreign students’ close attention to this secondary part of speech has been specified. It has been stated that prepositions are the most dynamic and open type of secondary language units within the quantitative and qualitative composition of which regular changes take place. The research substantiates the need that students should be aware of the function of time-preposition in speech; they are to get acquainted with the main time-prepositions and their meanings, to distinguish prepositions and other homonymous parts of speech as well as to learn stylistic shades of time-prepositions. Some recommendations related to the means of mastering time-prepositions have been given: to target speakers to assimilate modern literary norms and, therefore, to teach them how to choose and use them correctly by means of linguistic keys that are intended to fill the word with true meaning, to give it an organic structure, an inherent form and an easy combinability in the texts and oral speech.


Author(s):  
Sérgio Gomes ◽  
Vítor Braga ◽  
Alexandra Braga

Innovation is seen as a competitive advantage that many companies use to ensure the continuity and success of your business.NP 4457:2007 is the Portuguese norm that supports management, based on a model of innovation backed up by interfaces and interaction between technical/scientific knowledge, its specific mechanisms and the overall society.Our paper aims to analyse innovation activities and the involvement of human resources in Portuguese firms certified by NP4457 and associated to the implementation of Research, Development, and Innovation (RD&I) management systems. We have collected the data through IPAC’s database, using a survey administered to all firms.Our results suggest the existence of a Human Resources (HR) involvement policy, customers and suppliers. The involvement of stakeholders with innovation activities results of its acceptance as a mechanism able to generate wealth, with benefits for both firms and the community.


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