Academic Communicationin Russian and German Scientific Societies:Formats, Norms, and Limits

The article considers representative viewpoints and arguments of German uni­versities’ faculty and management regarding some problems the present-day German Academia have been facing. The author compares these problems with challenges of the Russian higher education in the context of scientific communi­cation. The major difference between German humanities professors and their Russian counterparts is a lack of systematic communication mechanisms even within the professional community, insufficient interdisciplinary connections and a weak public role of the intellectuals. It is for this reason that Russian scholars find it difficult to get incorporated into the international knowledge market, and to insist on their field’s specific character – namely, qualitative assessment, publications in their mother tongue and publishing traditional monographies. The author outlines structural elements of successful scientific communication and regards its problems in Russia and Germany in the context of the global knowledge market, global competition and a new industrial revolution caused by the total digitalization and automatization. The article also focuses on the third mission of universities which refers to their faculty’s public activity, accessibility of their research results in the mass media, the scope of their public discussion and tangible impact on social and political institutions, industry and business. The author pays special attention to the evaluation criteria in philosophical, so­ciological and humanitarian disciplines, and to their specific nature compared to other research and education fields (i.e. IT).

Antecedents of Knowledge Acquisition in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Knowledge acquisition has gained several research areas, such as human resources, marketing, finance, performance, and so forth. It has been acknowledged as an essential path for business success. While firms recognize the importance of knowledge acquisition to enhance business performance, previous literature indicates that SME’s are limited in knowledge acquisition efforts corroborated by the limited research in knowledge sources. For SMEs, knowledge acquisition can be identified as a vital variable as its absence may often hamper the leverage of attaining firm objectives. The frugality of research in discussing the antecedent factors in knowledge acquisition unequivocally, in the Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises is the motivation for the present study. Based on previous studies the study develops a conceptual framework to suggest a relationship between knowledge acquisition and four antecedent factors (domestic knowledge, market knowledge, technological knowledge, and environmental knowledge). A Questionnaire is proposed to collect data and Smart PLS would be used to analyze the data. Conclusion/Recommendations: This study attempts to discuss some of the precursor variables that can affect knowledge acquisition.

REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL NETWORK: CONCEPT AND FEATURES

The article deals with essence of the network approach and the options for its implementation in the knowledge market as a form of interaction between educational organizations at various levels. The approaches and definitions regarding the definition of the category “regional educational network” are considered. It is established that the implementation of the features of the network economy, which are appropriate to apply in the processes of forming a regional educational network. The peculiarities of basic principles, forms and models that affect the development and formation of a regional educational network are considered. It is concluded that the regional education network has completely new traditional elements that are endowed with communicative and technological properties.

Communicative and educational factors impeding the development of international scientific and scientific-technological collaboration between the countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organization

One of the important vectors in development of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) became the international scientific and scientific-technological collaboration. However, this vector is not fully developed due to not only legal, organizational or financial issues, but also factors affecting communication between the subjects of cooperation in scientific or scientific-technological spheres, as well as defining accessibility and mobility of the knowledge market. In this case, it refers to the language of scientific communication used in international scientific and scientific-technological collaboration (communicative factors), and the development of education and academic mobility (educational factors) in SCO member-states. The conclusion is made that the effectiveness of international scientific and scientific-technological collaboration between the countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organization drops due to controversial policy and normative legal regulation with regards to the language used in scientific and scientific-technological communication, as well as with regards to development of higher education and academic mobility between the SCO countries. The author underline the need for further unification of national legislation of SCO member-states pertaining to the use of one or another language as the means of international scientific communication, requirements to preparation of academic staff, creation of relevant programs of students’ academic mobility, and development of generally accepted educational standards.

A Primary Comparative Analysis and Integration of the Hayekian- Laozian Theories of Knowledge, Market Process and Law

The thought of Hayek has been a topic of considerable interest for a while now and the studies of Laozi’s philosophy have also been drawing increasing attention worldwide. In particular, increasingly people seek answers to current political, economic and social questions within Laozi’s wis- dom of more than 2000 years ago. By comparing and integrating the theo- ries of Hayek and Laozi, this paper uncovers new insights into the ideas of Laozi and how they align with some of Hayek’s central ideas. Firstly, this arti- cle makes a comparative analysis of the theories of Hayek and Laozi based on their original works, particularly through the authors’ new translation of the original Chinese texts of Laozi. Further, this paper shows how the ideas of authors overlap and are complimentary and therefore proposes a Hayekian-Laozian perspective that informs the idea of entrepreneurship. Therefore, this paper not only seeks to show that Laozi anticipated modern economic insights but that these modern insights can also be integrated into a more detailed theory. Keywords: Hayek, Laozi, market competition, Daodejing. JEL classification: A12, D4, B11, B22, B53, D83, K2, L26. Resumen: El pensamiento de Hayek ha sido un tema de considerable interés desde hace tiempo y los estudios de la filosofía de Laozi también están lla- mando una creciente atención a nivel global. En particular, las personas cada vez buscan más respuestas a cuestiones políticas, económicas y socia- les actuales dentro de la sabiduría de Laozi de hace más de 2000 años. Comparando e integrando las teorías de Hayek y Laozi, este trabajo descu- bre nuevas perspectivas en las ideas de Laozi y cómo se alinean con algu- nas de las ideas centrales de Hayek. En primer lugar, este artículo hace un análisis comparativo de las teorías de Hayek y Laozi basado en sus trabajos originales, en particular a partir de la nueva traducción de los textos origi- nales en chino de Laozi llevada a cabo por los autores de este trabajo. Ade- más, este trabajo muestra cómo las ideas de ambos autores se solapan y son complementarias y por tanto propone una persepctiva hayekio-laoziana sobre la idea de empresarialidad. Así, este trabajo no sólo busca poner de manifiesto que Laozi anticipó conocimientos económicos modernos, sino también que estos conocimientos modernos pueden integrarse en una teoría más detallada. Palabras clave: Hayek, Laozi, competencia de mercado, Daodejing. Clasificación JEL: A12, D4, B11, B22, B53, D83, K2, L26.

Rigor, relevance, and the knowledge “market”

Purpose The “relevance literature” often moans that the publications of top-ranked academic journals are hardly relevant to managers, while actionable research struggles to get published. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical explanation of this phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach This paper addresses the relevance debate in management science through the theoretical frame of the theories of the firm. Findings This paper proposes that business organizations should tend to internalize specific applied research. Applied to management research, this could explain why the “market” for academic publications might be more relevant for generalizable and conceptual research than for applied, contextualized research. Research limitations/implications The paper is conceptual. However, it provides a new prospect to the rigor-relevance debate and to the ranking of researchers and business schools. Practical implications Business organizations should tend to internalize specific, applied research. Consequently, academic publications should concentrate on generalizable, “Mode 1” research. Social implications The conclusions could justify the evolution of the rating of universities and researchers towards a multi-dimensional rating, including measures of the socio-economic impact of the research, instead on focusing on academic publications only. Originality/value This paper offers a new point of view on the rigor-relevance debate. It supports the idea that applied and conceptual research are different forms of knowledge and should be “traded”, produced and rewarded differently.