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2012 |
 |  | Capacity building for agricultural research for development: Lessons from practice in Papua New Guinea
by Andy Hall & Adiel N. Mbabu (Eds)
Publisher: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht
Dec 2012
978-92-808-5000-0
This book contains a collection of papers that discuss the experience of an Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) capacity building program in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The program was the AusAID-funded Agricultural Research and Development Support Facility (ARDSF), which ran for five years from 2007 to 2012, and which sought to improve the delivery of services by agricultural research organisations to smallholder farmers.
AR4D is an emerging mode of agricultural research practice in the international development community. Definitions of this practice are rather fluid, but its key intent is to directly link investments in research with tangible development
outcomes. The way to actually do this is still a work in progress — a gap that this book seeks to fill. However, it seems quite clear that AR4D’s use of systems perspectives on learning, innovation and change have fundamental implications for the way agricultural research is conducted and the way capacity is built.
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|  | Innovation and Learning Experiences in Rapidly Developing East Asia
by Rajah Rasiah, Thiruchelvam Kanagasundram & Keun Lee (Eds)
Publisher: Routledge, London
2012
978-0-415-59450-9
Technology and technical change is sector- and industry-specific, embedded by locational institutions and organizations, and integrated in global networks. It is non-linear in its emergence and movement, and subsumed in the nature of micro, meso and macro interactions. Using evolutionary theory and its methodological complement of inductive research, this collection showcases selected examples of innovation and learning experience in the rapidly evolving developing economies of East Asia.
Consistent with evolutionary postulations of technology and technical change, this volume provides a range of empirically rich articles that elucidate innovation and learning experiences in East Asia. The case studies range from the dramatic movement of button manufacturing in China, to the globe’s technology frontier, to the rapidly expanding but without tangible technological catch-up of garment manufacturing in the least developed country of Laos. The rich selection of industry-based national case studies provides a comprehensive account of technological catch-up experiences that will be very useful for both scholars and policy makers.
This book was originally published as a special issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.
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|  | Evidence-based Development Economics: Essays in Honour of Sanjaya Lall
by C. Pietrobelli & Rajah Rasiah (Eds)
Publisher: University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur
2012
978-983-100-543-9
At a time when governments are looking for new approaches to promote economic development as the free markets paradigm has proved to be neither necessary nor adequate, the pioneering work of Sanjaya Lall offers policy relevant insights. Sharing his epistemological coordinates, the contributors to this volume develop his ideas further by treating the theory, methodology and evidence related to development issues inductively through a dynamic set of lenses.
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|  | Innovation and Industrialization in Asia
by Rajah Rasiah, Yeo Lin & Yuri Sadoi (Eds)
Publisher: Routledge, London
2012
978-0-415-50545-1
Existing accounts of East Asia’s meteoric growth and structural change has either been explained as one dictated essentially by markets with strong macroeconomic fundamentals, or a consequence of proactive governments. This book departs from such a dichotomy by examining inductively the drivers of the experiences. Given the evolutionary treatment of each economic good and service as different, this book examines technological catch up with a strong focus on the industries contributing significantly to the economic growth of the countries selected in Asia. The evidence produced supports the evolutionary logic of macro, meso and micro interactions between several institutions, depending on the actors involved, structural location and typology of taxonomies and trajectories. The book carefully picks out experiences from the populous economies of China, India and Indonesia, the high income economies of Korea and Taiwan, the middle income economies of Malaysia and Thailand, and the transitional least developed country of Myanmar.
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|  | Adaptive Collaborative Approaches in Natural Resource Governance: Rethinking Participation, Learning and Innovation
by Andy Hall, R. Sulaiman & Hemant Ojha (Eds)
Publisher: Routledge, London, UK
Jul 2012
978-0-415-69910-5
The purpose of this book is to showcase a range of approaches that consider learning and collaboration as central processes in agriculture and natural resources governance and management. These include four related and overlapping adaptive collaborative approaches – Adaptive Collaborative Management, Participatory Action Research, Social Learning and Innovation Systems. Despite these being generated in different institutional domains with somewhat diverse epistemological and policy orientations, the authors show that there are common themes among these approaches.
The book presents a review of various adaptive and collaborative approaches to management developed to cope with the social and biophysical complexity of natural resource systems, including case studies from Bangladesh, Ecuador, Nepal and Zimbabwe. The contexts range from farmer field schools, to floodplain management and community forestry. The authors provide rich accounts of how adaptive collaborative approaches were applied to synergise different types of learning, foster collaboration among stakeholders, and nurture innovative development processes. Through its introduction and conclusion chapters, the book establishes a clear theoretical approach and identifies a set of practical methodologies for combining different systems of knowledge in a way that generates and maximizes innovation and the translation of research into practice.
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|  | Balancing Renewable Electricity. Energy Storage, Demand Side Management and Network Extension from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
by Thomas Ziesemer
Publisher: Europäische Akademie, Berlin
Feb 2012
978-3-642-25156-6
Current images of our future energy system include the
assumption that a high proportion of renewable energies will be used. Relevant scenarios assume that
by 2050 anywhere from 80 to even 100 percent of our electricity will be generated from renewable
energy sources. In addition to power generating systems, the necessary ingredients for a working
system with a high proportion of renewable energy sources include climate-friendly technologies for
balancing the supply and demand of electricity. This is of particular importance with regard to wind
turbines and photovoltaic systems whose supply often plummets due to adverse weather conditions.
The Europäische Akademie has now published an interdisciplinary study entitled “Balancing
Renewable Electricity. Energy Storage, Demand Side Management and Network Extension from an
Interdisciplinary Perspective”. It provides a comprehensive overview of the use of energy storage
systems, demand side management and extended networks for balancing supply and demand within
systems which have a high proportion of renewable energy sources. Based on the results of a threeyear
research project at the Europäische Akademie, researchers from the fields of power engineering,
technology assessment, political science, economics and law are making recommendations in a joint
effort for the development and implementation of climate-friendly strategies for balancing supply and
demand within the electricity system.
It will prove challenging to provide power according to different time scales – since it must be
available within fractions of a second and continue to be available for several hours or days. Because
of the challenge this task represents, the authors predict that a mixture of suitable technologies will
eventually prevail. They have also come to the conclusion that significant development needs exist
regarding energy storage, demand side management as well as electrical transmission and distribution
networks. Promoting innovation in these areas requires, amongst others, a concept aimed at removing
obstacles which arise from existing financial support of other energy technologies. So as to create a
better basis for political measures, systems studies and scientific policy advisory work should also be
expanded. Moreover, the authors perceive a need for amendments to be made in the legal field. Some
important keywords in this context include: legal assignments of storage applications to the level of
the generator or network, planning processes, how to deal with the large amounts of regularly
generated sensitive data and the regulation of the manifold new business relationships which arise.
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2011 |
|  | Automobility in Transition? A Socio-Technical Analysis of Sustainable Transport
by F. Geels, René Kemp, G. Dudley & Glenn Lyons (Eds)
Publisher: Routledge, London
2011
978-0-415-88505-8
Is the automobility regime experiencing a transition towards sustainability? To answer that question, this book investigates stability and change in contemporary transport systems. It makes a socio-technical analysis of transport systems, exploring the strategies and beliefs of crucial actors such as car manufacturers, local and national governments, citizens, car drivers, transport planners and civil society. Two guiding questions are: Will we see a greening of cars, based on technological innovations that sustain the existing car-based system? Or is something more radical desirable and likely, such as the development of travel regimes in which car use is less dominant?
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|  | Malaysian Economy: Unfolding Growth and Social Change
by Rajah Rasiah (Eds)
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur
2011
9789834703646
This textbook is skillfuly designed to meet the increasing demand for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing courses in business, economics, accountancy and finance and many others, who needs to understand the developments in the Malaysian economy over the last 15 years. It comprises 11 solid chapters such as Macroeconomic Policies, Development of Agriculture, Industrial Policy and Industrialization, Affirmative Action and Ethnic Inequality and various others that address a broader theory and the historical underpinnings before critically anchoring the analysis. Readers can be assured of completing this book with a clear grasp on the Malaysia’s macroeconomic structure and a full understanding on the economic issues of concern to policymakers, academics and even industry experts.
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|  | Causes, Costs and Responses
by Wim Naudé, Amelia Santos-Paulino & Mark McGillivray (Eds)
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford
Aug 2011
978-0-19-969315-3
This book has been endorsed by Deepak Nayyar (Distinguished University Professor of Economics, New School for Social Research, New York) who writes that “This book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding or fragile states in the contemporary world”.
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|  | Entrepreneurship and Economic Development
by Wim Naudé (Eds)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
2011
Promoting private sector development and entrepreneurship in particular, has become a defining feature of development policy in recent years. At a time when global development is being jeopardized by man-made and natural disasters, including financial crises and climate change, the need to integrate socially beneficial innovation and the pursuit of profit with the role of state and non-state actors, is becoming more urgent than ever.
This volume brings together internationally leading scholars to explore the nature of economic development and its relationship with the various concepts of entrepreneurship. It identifies the concerns and issues in measuring the impact of entrepreneurship, evaluates and presents empirical evidence on the role of entrepreneurship and economic development, and dissects the evolving relationship between the state and entrepreneurs. The chapters emphasise the importance of institutions for understanding how entrepreneurs can play their innovative, Schumpeterian role to the greatest benefit to society, and that such institutional-entrepreneurial interactions – even beyond the traditional theatre of the nation state and the national economy – remains a major challenge.
This book is indispensable reading for all interested in development economics, entrepreneurship and business management.
This book is endorsed by professor Roger Stough (George Mason University, USA), who writes that it is “the single best and most informative work on the topic of entrepreneurship and economic development in print... a must read".
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|  | Spatial segregation and migrant economic success. Labour market and self-employment outcomes of migrants in the Netherlands'
by Pascal Beckers
Publisher: Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbruecken
2011
978-3844318784
In this book I explore whether and how the spatial location of non-Western immigrants in the Netherlands matters for their economic success in the labour market and in self-employment. More specifically, I aim to find out how the local spatial environment in the place of residence, or place of firm location (for the self-employed), shapes immigrant economic prospects. This aim is reached by combining a number of thematic, complementary research projects. These projects assess the socio-economic position of non-Western immigrants in the country, analyse neighbourhood segregation effects on labour market outcomes, and examine spatial location effects on migrant business performance. To answer the research question, I combine quantitative and qualitative methods. The overall conclusion of my work is clear: Space matters for immigrant economic success both in the labour market and in self-employment. Location is an important determinant of economic success of non-Western immigrants in the Netherlands as regions, municipalities and neighbourhoods within municipalities offer different labour market and self-employment opportunities to migrants.
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|  | The Why and How of Open Education - With lessons from the openSE and openED Projects
by Andreas Meiszner (Eds)
Publisher: Collaborative Creativity Group, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, NL
Apr 2011
This introduction to Open Education (OE) gives practical guidance on the design and delivery of OE courses while wrestling with theoretical considerations of this new and emerging domain. Educators are the main targets, but it will also be relevant to policy makers, senior education managers and the learning industry as a whole.
The book draws from three sources: first from well-established online learning ecosystems, including Open Source Software communities; second from existing Open Courses in traditional formal education and related design models such as the Meta-design framework (Fischer, 2007); and third from EU funded research and pilot projects: FLOSSCom (2006-2008), openSE (2009-2011) and openED (2009-2012).
More information | |
|  | Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Development
by Adam Szirmai, Wim Naudé & Micheline Goedhuys (Eds)
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford
2011
Entrepreneurship and innovation are two of the most pervasive concepts of our times, yet there are still gaps in our understanding of the interactions between entrepreneurship and innovation, particularly in developing countries. This book is an attempt to fill this gap. It focuses on the entrepreneurship-innovation-development nexus, drawing heavily on empirical evidence from developing countries. Cross-country and individual country experiences cover nations as diverse as Ethiopia, India, Turkey, Vietnam, and also examine lessons from advanced economies such as Finland.
Three sets of questions are addressed. What is the impact of entrepreneurship and innovation on growth and development? What determines the innovative performance of entrepreneurs in developing countries? What role does the institutional environment play in shaping the extent and impact of innovative activities?
A key message is that entrepreneurial innovation, whether through small firms, large national firms, or multinational firms, is often vibrant in developing countries, but does not always realise its full potential. This is due to institutional constraints, the absence of the appropriate mix of different types of small and large and domestic and foreign firms, and insufficiently developed firm capabilities. The contributions provide a better understanding of the determinants and impacts of innovation in developing countries and the policies and institutions that support or hinder innovation.
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2010 |
|  | Crédito y desigualdad: Efecto del acceso a crédito en la brecha de ingreso de los hogares
by Andres Mideros Mora
Publisher: FLACSO-Ecuador. Abya Yala, Quito
2010
En los procesos de inclusión económica y de lucha contra la pobreza, las microfinanzas y en especial el microcrédito han sido reconocidos como herramientas destacadas. La evidencia empírica muestra resultados alentadores, aunque no definitivos.
La reducción de la pobreza se piensa como uno de los principales objetivos de la política social. El debate sobre inequidad se centra en las oportunidades y deja de lado desigualdades económicas; sin embargo en Ecuador; como en muchos otros países, las desigualdades económicas como la del ingreso se relacionan directamente con inequidad de acceso a bienes y servicios, lo que limita las oportunidades. En este libro se plantea la reducción de la desigualdad de ingreso como un mecanismo necesario para la equidad de oportunidades y la reducción de la pobreza, y se evalúa el impacto del acceso a crédito productivo para lograr este objetivo.
El primer capítulo discute las relaciones entre bienestar, desigualdad, inequidad y pobreza, así como su posición como objetivos de política pública, además presenta resultados y críticas de evaluaciones de impacto a programas de microcrédito. El segundo, presenta la relación entre desigualdad de ingreso e inequidades en Ecuador. El tercero, muestra los resultados del efecto del acceso a crédito productivo en el ingreso de los hogares con negocio propio, a fin de determinar si el acceso generalizado a crédito permitiría cerrar la brecha de ingreso entre los hogares. Finalmente, el capítulo cuatro presenta las conclusiones.
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|  | Understanding Small-Island Developing States: Fragility and External Shocks
by Amelia Santos-Paulino, Mark McGillivray & Wim Naudé (Eds)
Publisher: Routledge, London
2010
978-0-415-57695-6
Description
Small island developing states (SIDS) are characterised by high economic, geographical and social vulnerability. These states are perceived as economically vulnerable, exhibiting poor economic performance, and embedding low levels of achieved well-being on most criteria. SIDS, which occupy very large parts of the world, face idiosyncratic development challenges largely owing to their susceptibility to external shocks. Still, these countries are all too often overlooked in the development research literature.
Arising from a UNU-WIDER research project, this book provides in-depth research on the international dimensions of SIDS development experiences. Using a wealth of data, as well as case studies, the main topics examined comprise: aid, policies and growth; the costs of neglect, in terms of losses owing to a country falling into the fragile states group, of that country and those in its region; the composition of trade and the impact of external shocks, and the impact of remittances. The studies jointly provide valuable insights for small islands and other developing countries in the pursuit of sustainable growth and development.
This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Development Studies.
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|  | The New Political Economy of Southeast Asia
by Rajah Rasiah (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
2010
978 1 84980 265 9
'The different parts of the Southeast Asian puzzle fit better together as a consequence of reading this valuable book, which brings history back in to show how regions learn from each other and establish an identity.'
– Alice Amsden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
More information | |
|  | Handbook of the Economics of Innovation
by Bronwyn Hall & N. Rosenberg
Publisher: Elsevier, Amsterdam
2010
978-0-444-53611-2
Economists examine the genesis of technological change and the ways we commercialize and diffuse it. The economics of property rights and patents, in addition to industry applications, are also surveyed through literature reviews and predictions about fruitful research directions. - Two volumes, available as a set or sold separately
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|  | Innovation Strategies for a Global Economy
by Fred Gault
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK
2010
978 1 84980 036 5
Innovation provides a path to sustainable growth but a strategy for innovation in a global economy is no longer national. Countries must attract people and investment from abroad and participate in world markets and institutions. This book starts with the language and system framework used to discuss innovation, and the statistical indicators needed to describe the activity. It then looks at innovation strategies, their components and their management before proposing directions for new work in developed and developing countries.
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|  | The Rise of Technological Power in the South
by Xiaolan Fu & Luc Soete (Eds)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK
2010
978-0-230-23840-4
The rise of the emerging economies is dramatically changing the landscape of the world economy. Tremendous efforts and various strategies have been used to build up technological capabilities in the emerging economies. This book explores the drivers of technological upgrading and catch-up in the emerging economies, paying specific attention to technology and innovation policies, national innovation systems, the role of foreign direct investment and small and medium enterprises. Through cross-country comparisons and in-depth case studies of the emergng economies, this volume offers practical implications and valuable lessons for other developing countries, whilst providing new concepts and visions for future research.
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2009 |
|  | Innovation Policies and International Trade Rules: The Textiles and Clothing Industry in Developing Countries
by Kaushalesh Lal & P Mohnen (Eds)
Publisher: Palgrave-Macmillan, New York
2009
0230577431
Using the findings from data analysis of fifty-one developing countries, this book analyses several national and international factors that have resulted in uneven development of the textiles and clothing industry in the developing world. The findings are further substantiated by case studies of major players in this industry, such as India and China. While international trade rules have played a critical role in the growth of the textiles and clothing industry, country- and industry-specific policies and capacity building initiatives have also resulted in the present scenario in several countries. There is no common recipe for all developing countries for sustaining market share in the domestic and international markets. Regional and local factors need to be taken into consideration while formulating policies for the industry.
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|  | Aggregate and Regional Productivity Growth in Chinese Industry
by Lili Wang
Publisher: VDM Verlag, Saarbrücken, Germany
Nov 2009
ISBN: 978-3639000245
This book examines the growth experience in Chinese industry and manufacturing, with a special emphasis on the decomposition of growth, structural change, regional divergence and convergence, and technology spillovers. The decomposition analysis focuses on three dimensions: sectoral, regional and institutional. This book investigates regional productivity differentials and the provincial convergence trend in Chinese industry. Moreover, it explores the contribution of technological spillovers to the process of industrial growth and catching-up in Chinese regions. It includes an analysis of the regional, institutional and technological sources of growth.
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|  | El sistema nacional de innovación mexicano: estructuras, políticas, desempeño y desafíos
by Gabriela Dutrenit, Mario Capdeville, Juan Manuel Corona, Martin Puchet, Fernando Santiago-Rodriguez & Alexandre Vera Cruz
Publisher: UAM/Textual, Mexico and Uruguay
2009
The book characterizes the main actors shaping the national innovation system in Mexico. The analysis includes the functions and linkages among those agents from both macro and microeconomic perspectives. The document, originally prepared as input to the latest OECD Review of Innovation Policy: Mexico (http://www.oecd.org/document/27/0,3343,en_2649_34273_43822619_1_1_1_1,00.html), was subsequently enriched with additional analysis on the current situation and perspective for science, technology and innovation activities in Mexico.
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|  | The Bioeconomy to 2030: Designing a Policy Agenda
by Anthony Arundel & D. Sawaya
Publisher: OECD, Paris
2009
ISBN: 978-92-64-03853-0
The Bioeconomy to 2030: Designing a Policy Agenda begins with an evidence-based technology approach, focusing on biotechnology applications in primary production, health, and industry. It describes the current status of biotechnologies and, using quantitative analyses of data on development pipelines and R&D expenditures from private and public databases, it estimates biotechnological developments to 2015. Moving to a broader institutional view, it also looks at the roles of R&D funding, human resources, intellectual property, and regulation in the bioeconomy, as well as at possible developments that could influence emerging business models. Fictional scenarios to 2030 are included to encourage readers to reflect on the interplay between policy choices and technological advances in shaping the bioeconomy. Finally, the book explores policy options to support the social, environmental and economic benefits of a bioeconomy.
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|  | European Science And Technology Policy - Towards Integration or Fragmentation?
by Henri Delanghe, Ugur Muldur & Luc Soete (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK
2009
978-1-84844-330-3
This innovative book focuses on the most important concept underpinning current European Union research policy. It describes the history and concept of the European Research Area (ERA), analyses some of the underlying assumptions, assesses some of its achievements, and takes a brief look at its future.
European Science and Technology Policy deals with the notion of the ERA, a coordinated and effective European Research Area, the successful achievement of which will become the main objective of EU research policy once the Lisbon Treaty enters into force. The book demonstrates that almost ten years after the formal launch of the ERA concept, little top-down progress seems to have been made in terms of achieving better governance of the European research landscape. However, tangible bottom-up progress has been made towards harmonizing research beyond the existing uncoordinated national, intergovernmental and supranational policy schemes.
Given the current ongoing ERA debate, this timely publication will be an invaluable tool for technology and innovation policymakers and practitioners in Europe. It will also appeal to scholars and students in the fields of science, technology and innovation.
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|  | Uneven Paths to Development: Information Hardware Innovation Systems in Asia and Africa
by Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka & Rajah Rasiah
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
2009
This book represents an important step forward towards understanding why some countries and regions are successful in catching-up with the rich part of the world while others tend to have great difficulties in doing so. It represents a very happy marriage between the literature on economic development and the literature on innovation and learning. At the end of the book a series of thoughtful recommendations for innovation policy are presented. This volume should be recommended to students and practitioners involved in understanding and promoting economic development.
More information | |
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2008 |
|  | A Economica da Inovação Industrial
by Chris Freeman & Luc Soete
Publisher: Editoria Unicamp, Campinas, Brazil
2008
978-85-268-0825-6
Portuguese translation of the third edition of "The Economics of Industrial Innovation" (1997)
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|  | Making Choices about Hydrogen: Transport Issues for Developing Countries
by Lynn K. Mytelka & Grant Boyle (Eds)
Publisher: UNU Press and IDRC, Tokyo and Ottawa
2008
978-9280811551
Towards the end of the millennium, rising fuel prices and pollution levels, drew attention to the need for more innovative solutions to the problems of energy security, fuel efficiency and high levels of greenhouse gases but policy support for a concerted move towards clean fuels and alternatives to the internal combustion engine (ICE) was neither strong nor sustained as changes in the 1990 California Air Resources Board Zero Emission vehicle targets illustrated. The uncertainties that policy changes across the industrialized world produced has led to the development of a wide array of fuel options, from CNG to bio-ethanol, bio-diesel and hydrogen and of vehicles – including those with flex-fuel engines, electric vehicles, hybrids of various sorts and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This is raising new issues for developing countries in their role as both importers and producers of automobiles and auto parts. The papers in this volume include a selection of revised and updated papers first presented at the UNU-MERIT International Conference on Hydrogen Fuel Cells in November 2005, as well as a few invited papers.
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|  | Internationalisation of European ICT Activities - Dynamics of Information and Communications Technology
by Huub Meijers, Bernhard Dachs & Paul J. J. Welfens (Eds)
Publisher: Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany
2008
ISBN: 978-3-540-77108-1
The internationalisation of information and communication technologies has accelerated since the 1990s in Europe and worldwide. Taking a close look at the empirical analysis of competitive trade positions, trends in foreign direct investment and the internationalisation of research and development in ICT brings many new insights about the expansion, innovation and adjustment in the EU’s most dynamic sector. Moreover, the analysis discusses case studies on key players in ICT and suggests major policy conclusions for a field considered fundamental in the context of the EU’s Lisbon Agenda.
The theoretical and empirical analysis gives a new and differentiated picture of European ICT where the links between telecommunications dynamics, software innovation and digital services are crucial. Outsourcing, insourcing and offshoring are natural elements of a new digital international division of labour which require reforms in both the EU member countries and at the supranational level.
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|  | Multinational Enterprises And The Global Economy, Second Edition
by John Dunning & Sarianna M. Lundan
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK
May 2008
978 1 84376 525 7
Since the initial publication of this book more than a decade ago, the economic, managerial and social implications of globalisation and technological advancement have become even more varied and prominent. Accompanying these developments, there has been a rise in scholarly interest in interdisciplinary research addressing the important challenges of an ever-changing physical and human environment. Drawing on articles and books from international business and economics, as well as economic geography, political economy and strategic management, a systematic overview of the developments in scholarly thinking is presented, while also highlighting the emerging topical issues and methodologies.
This thoroughly updated and revised edition of a widely acclaimed, classic text will be required reading for academics, policymakers and advanced students of international business worldwide. Employing a distinctive and unified framework, this book draws together research across a range of academic fields to offer a synthesis of the determinants of MNE activity, and its effects on the economic and social well-being of developed and developing countries. Unique to the new edition is its focus on the institutional underpinnings of the resources and capabilities of MNEs, and the role of MNE activity in transmitting and facilitating institutional change.
More information | |
| | Uneven Paths Of Development - Innovation and Learning in Asia and Africa
by Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka & Rajah Rasiah
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
Nov 2008
978 1 84720 906 1
This book represents an important step forward towards understanding why some countries and regions are successful in catching-up with the rich part of the world while others tend to have great difficulties in doing so. It represents a very happy marriage between the literature on economic development and the literature on innovation and learning. At the end of the book a series of thoughtful recommendations for innovation policy are presented. This volume should be recommended to students and practitioners involved in understanding and promoting economic development.’
More information | |
| | Multinationals, Technology and Localization in Automotive Firms in Asia
by Rajah Rasiah, Yuri Sadoi & Rogier Busser
Publisher: Routledge, London
May 2008
978-0-415-44067-7
East Asia has led rapid economic growth in the last few decades with India joining them over the last five years. Automotive parts manufacturers have been an important component of domestic production in all these economies. Experts with several years of multi-disciplinary research experience on the field examine the actual and potential technological and localization implications of MNC operations in East Asia and India. The rich collection of country experiences are both original and incisive.
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|  | Knowledge Economies: Innovation, Organization and Location
by Wilfred Dolfsma
Publisher: Routledge, 978-0-415-41665-8
Mar 2008
ISBN: 978-0-415-41665-8
This book makes a strong and coherent contribution to the discussion of the knowledge economy and of innovation, offering a range of theoretical insights from different disciplinary perspectives. The role of knowledge, knowledge development, and knowledge diffusion is discussed at the micro level of individuals and firms, but also at the level of groups of firms and sectors, as well as at the level of the economy at large. Dolfsma analyses knowledge development and diffusion as a thoroughly social process, depending on communicative structures to support cooperation. The author combines insights from economics and management with perspectives from sociology (network theory), anthropology (gift exchange), social psychology, science studies and information theory (scientometrics), using empirical analyses to demonstrate where knowledge impacts the dynamics of an economy.
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|  | Innovation Policy In Europe: Measurement and Strategy
by Claire Nauwelaers & René Wintjes (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar
Feb 2008
This book analyses the latest developments to innovation policy in Europe and offers recommendations for the future. The first part of the book discusses the use of indicators to inform policy-making, progressively shifting emphasis from traditional to less traditional innovation indicators, and from the national to the regional dimension. The second part investigates the internal dynamics of policy-making and explores the conditions to improve the effectiveness of innovation policies in Europe.
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2007 |
| | Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators in a Changing World: Responding to Policy Needs
by Anthony Arundel, A. Colecchia & Fred Gault (Eds)
Publisher: OECD, Paris
2007
As part of engaging a wider community of policy users and indicator developers, Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators in a Changing World: Responding to Policy Needs is a selection of the papers discussed at the OECD Blue Sky II Forum (Ottawa, 25-27 September 2006). Policy needs, measurement issues, and some of the challenges in describing cross-cutting and emerging topics in science, technology and innovation (STI) are presented; ideas to exploit existing data and develop new frameworks of measurement are shared. The intent of the debate is to guide future development of STI indicators at the OECD and beyond.
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|  | Emerging Free and Open Source Software practices
by Sulayman K. Sowe, Ioannis Stamelos & Ioannis Samoladas (Eds)
Publisher: IGI Publishing, USA
May 2007
978-1-59904-210-7
Project infrastructure and software repositories are now widely available at low cost with easy extraction, providing a foundational base to conduct detailed cyber-archeology at a scale not open to researchers before. Emerging Free and Open Source Software Practices provides a collection of empirical research acting as a focal point to the status of these repositories and infrastructures along with the F/OSS project.
Emerging Free and Open Source Software Practices presents a framework and state-of-the-art references on F/OSS projects, reporting on past and on-going case studies of projects covering a wide range of F/OSS applications and domains. This book postulates trends in the evolution of software practices and solutions to the challenges ubiquitous nature free and open source software provides.
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|  | Consuming symbolic Goods: Identity and commitment, values and economics
by Wilfred Dolfsma
Publisher: Routledge, London
Nov 2007
978-0-415-45636-4
The phenomenon of consumption has increasingly drawn attention from economists. While the ‘sole purpose of production is consumption’, as Adam Smith has claimed, economists have up to recently generally ignored the topic. This book brings together a range of different perspectives on the topic of consumption that will finally shed the necessary light on a largely neglected theme.
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|  | Fighting the War on File Sharing
by Aernout Schmidt, Wilfred Dolfsma & Wim Keuvelaar
Publisher: Asser Press
2007
ISBN 978-90-6704-238-3
The explosive growth of the Napster and KaZaA services shows that peer-to-peer file sharing has tremendous appeal in our information society. Nevertheless, current legal and economic practices prevent that these services achieve their full potential. Fighting the War on File Sharing looks into the issue from the perspectives of IT, economics and law and combines the results, pointing out ways how to reduce its escalation and to end the war. The approach and the solutions reached recognize the influence of outstanding work produced in different disciplines, such as law and information technology (Lessig), political anthropology (Douglas, Geertz, Smits), new institutional economics (Coase, North, Greif) and jurisprudence (Fuller, Bobbitt, Tamanaha). This book is very important to anyone concerned about how intellectual property law, economics and rhetoric fuel the war on file sharing, and, in general, to everyone interested in the future of the Media Industry on Internet.
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|  | Information and Communication Technologies and SMEs in the Context of Globalization: Evidence from the Developing World
by Kaushalesh Lal
Publisher: Palgrave-Macmillan, New York
Nov 2007
This book makes an important contribution to business, economic growth, and information and communication technologies led technical change literature. Evidence based on primary survey of firms, comes from firms located in three Continents, namely; Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Using advanced statistical and econometric techniques, the studies presented in the book have been able to capture the factors that are impediments in the adoption of new technologies.
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|  | Innovation And Economic Development
by Lynn K. Mytelka (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar
2007
The wide-ranging volume brings together the path-breaking work pioneering researchers in this field, as well as more recent studies by a new generation of researchers. The volume contains contributions by several UNU-MERIT staff and fellows including Lynn Mytelka, Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, Rajah Rasiah, René Kemp, Luc Soete, Robin Cowan and Andy Hall.
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|  | China: Building an Innovative Economy
by Celeste Varum, Can Huang & Borges Gouveia
Publisher: Chandos Publishing, UK
2007
This book provides a comprehensive description of China's innovation system through in-depth analysis of its transformation in the past two decades. Among other recent experiences the book analyses how China has reformed its industry and academy sector to meet the challenge of innovation and discusses prospects for its future development from an innovation and technology perspective.
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|  | Industrial Clusters and Innovation Systems in Africa:
Institutions, Markets and Policy
by Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka & Dorothy McCormick
Publisher: UNU Press, Tokyo
May 2007
ISBN 92-808-1137-1, ISBN-13: 978-92-808-1137-7
This book is the first to examine the incidence and role of clusters as a viable and increasingly important form of industrial organization in Africa. It presents a series of theoretically grounded case studies that analyze clusters in different industrial sectors and at different levels of economic development.
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2006 |
|  | Uses and Abuses of Governance Indicators
by Christiane Arndt & C. Oman
Publisher: OECD, Paris
2006
92-64-02685-1
Rapidly rising attention to the quality of governance in developing countries is driving explosive growth in the use of governance “indicators” by international investors, donors of official development assistance, development analysts and academics.
This study helps both users and producers of governance indicators to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the best and most widely used indicators, helps them find their way through the jungle of the hundreds of existing governance indicator datasets, and shows how governance indicators tend to be widely misused both in international comparisons and in tracking changes in the quality of governance in individual countries. It also explains recent developments in the supply of governance indicators, arguing that while there will never be one perfect governance indicator, the production and use of more transparent governance indicators will better serve the needs of users and developing countries alike.
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|  | New Frontiers In The Economics Of Innovation And New Technology - Essays in Honour of Paul A. David
by Bronwyn Hall & W.E. Steinmueller (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK
2006
978 1 84720 323 6
Recent research on the economics of innovation has acknowledged the importance of path dependence and networks in the evolution of economies and the diffusion of new techniques, products, and processes. These are topics pioneered by Paul A. David, one of the world’s leading scholars in the economics of innovation.
This collection provides a tribute to the diversity and depth of Paul David’s contributions. The papers included range from simulation models of the evolution of market structure in the presence of innovation, through historical investigations of knowledge networks and empirical analysis of contemporary networks, to the analysis of the diffusion of innovations using simulation and analytic models and of the diffusion of knowledge using patent data.
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|  | Mental Capital
by Rifka Weehuizen
Publisher: COS
2006
In a knowledge economy, people work increasingly with their heads instead of their hands. This makes mental health a crucial component of economic growth. However, the knowledge economy leads to high levels of stress and mental health problems. By damaging its ‘mental capital’ the knowledge economy undermines the basis for its own success. These are some of the conclusions of the report ‘Mental Capital’ by Rifka Weehuizen.
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|  | Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems
by Andy Hall, Willem Janssen, Eija Pehu & Riikka Rajalahti
Publisher: World Bank
May 2006
ISBN 0-8213-6741-2
This paper assesses the usefulness of the innovation systems concept in guiding investments to support the development of agricultural technology. To that end, it develops an operational agricultural innovation systems concept for the World Bank’s client countries and collaborators. The manuscript has been produced through collaboration between the World Bank’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department and UNU-MERIT.
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|  | Communication and Cooperation in the Virtual Workplace
by Gaby Sadowski-Rasters, Geert Duysters & Bert Sadowski
Publisher: Edward Elgar, UK
Nov 2006
ISBN-10: 1845425871, ISBN-13: 978-1845425876
This innovative book explores the structure, growth and effectiveness of virtual communities in computer-mediated environments. In spite of initial enthusiasm, much uncertainty remains about the prospects of virtual teams and the technology that supports their collaboration. The book seeks to confront these issues and offers a unique insight into the realities of virtual working.
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|  | Reflexive Governance for Sustainable Development
by Jan-Peter Voss, Dierk Bauknecht & René Kemp (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar
May 2006
This book deals with the issue of sustainable development in a novel and innovative way. It examines the governance implications of reflexive modernisation – the condition that societal development is endangered by its own side-effects. With conceptualising reflexive governance the book leads a way out of endless quarrels about the definition of sustainability and into a new mode of collective action.
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|  | National Innovation, Indicators and Policy
by Louise Earl & Fred Gault (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK
Aug 2006
ISBN13 978 1 84542 287 5
This book takes stock of what is known about the process of innovation and its effects, and the policy interventions that influence both. It provides insights into future research required to support evidence-based policy-making and makes clear the need to take a systems approach to the analysis of innovation, its outcomes and its impacts.
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|  | Understanding the Dynamics of a Knowledge Economy
by Wilfred Dolfsma & Luc Soete (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK
May 2006
ISBN 13 978 1 84542 307 0
The ‘knowledge economy’ is a concept commonly deemed too ambiguous and elusive to hold any significance in current economic debate. This valuable book seeks to refute that myth. Presenting an important collection of views, from a number of leading scholars, this innovative volume visibly demonstrates that knowledge and information are a prime resource in driving the dynamics of an economy.
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|  | Learning To Compete: Institutions, Technology and Enterprise in Africa
by Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka
Publisher: Ashgate Publishers
Apr 2006
ISBN: 0 7546 4643 2
This book examines the institutional roots of the persistent differences in economic performance of firms, industries and countries in Africa. It draws attention to the role of institutions in supporting technical change and shows how technological progress is central to competitiveness in a global context. The role of initial conditions such as levels of literacy and natural endowment, the structure of industry and resource endowment are also emphasized. With its focus on how institutions shape systems of innovation this book makes a unique contribution to the debate about African development.
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|  | SMEs and New Technologies: Learning E-Business and Development
by Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka & Kaushalesh Lal
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Jul 2006
This books looks specifically at ICT adoption and learning trajectories in developing countries; a context characterized by skill deficiencies and weak institutional support. The authors employ a systemic theoretical framework and a variety of research techniques to present firm-level evidence on learning in firms in an Internet-based production environment. The book arrives at a typology of firms on the basis of technological capability and learning trajectories. It identifies systemic and institutional factors that foster the adoption of technologies and goes on to analyse these factors in a multivariate econometric framework.
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|  | Industrial Innovation and Environmental Regulation: Developing Workable Solutions
by Saeed Parto (Eds)
Publisher: UNU Press, Tokyo
Dec 2006
ISBN 92-808-1127-4
What role should governments play in protecting the environment and controlling the environmental impacts of industry? Do regulations benefit the environment, and how do they affect industrial innovation? The contributors to this book examine a number of political and industrial trends and responses to these challenges. A useful set of case studies appraise environmental policies and comprehensive statements on environmental protection and sustainable development by numerous countries in the North and the South.
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2005 |
|  | The Dynamics of Socio-Economic Development. An Introduction
by Adam Szirmai
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
2005
ISBN-13: 9780521817639 | ISBN-10: 0521817633
Why are poor countries poor and rich countries rich? How are wealth and poverty related to changes in nutrition, health, life expectancy, education, population growth and politics? This modern, non-technical introduction to development studies explores the dynamics of socio-economic development and stagnation in developing countries. Taking a quantitative and comparative approach to contemporary debates within their broader context, Szirmai examines historical, institutional, demographic, sociological, political and cultural factors.
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|  | Sustainable Development and Innovation in the Energy Sector
by Thomas Ziesemer
Publisher: Springer, Heidelberg/New York
2005
ISBN: 978-3-540-23103-5
Almost every energy scenario assumes an enormous growth in the demand for energy in the coming decades. Meanwhile, at international conferences and other venues, the primary concern is massive reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, especially of the CO2 produced by fossil-fuel energy consumption. Experts also point out the political risk of depending on petroleum and remind us of the fact that resources are not inexhaustible. This timely book explores: how these conflicting scenarios could be reconciled; how can we shape a more sustainable energy system from the existing one; and possible technological progress and innovations to enable a brighter future. It also addresses the reality that there exists no consensus on the extent to which innovations can really contribute to reconciling ever-growing energy consumption, availability of resources and the environment, and the structural demands on any energy system.
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|  | The Economics of the Digital Society
by Luc Soete & Bas ter Weel (Eds)
Publisher: Edward Elgar
Nov 2005
This book questions how modern economies have been transformed as a result of digital goods and markets, and explores the policy implications and challenges of this revolution. The authors have assembled leading economists and social scientists to provide an invaluable insight into the influence of the digital society in the core fields of economics. They offer a comprehensive overview of the changes that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have brought about in our analysis and understanding of society, focusing particularly upon welfare economics, networks, the diffusion of new businesses and new forms of entrepreneurship, the auctioning of licences, the much-debated role of intellectual property rights and the emergence of free software in the open-source movement.
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|  | Regulating Bioprospecting: Institutions for Drug Research, Access and Benefit-Sharing
by Padmashree Gehl Sampath
Publisher: UNU Press, Tokyo
Oct 2005
ISBN 92-808-1112-6
Bioprospecting, or the search for useful biochemical compounds and genes in nature, has been the focus of international negotiations for more than a decade, yet the debate on the terms for access to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and benefit-sharing is far from settled. This book examines the optimal property rights structures and institutional mechanisms for regulating bioprospecting for drug research. Focusing on the economics of contracts, it shows that the rights exchanged are complementary at each stage of drug discovery and the development of genetic resources.
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|  | Collaboration, Ownership and the Digital Economy
by Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (Eds)
Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge
May 2005
ISBN-10: 0-262-07260-2, ISBN-13: 978-0-262-07260-1
The contributors to CODE, from such diverse fields as economics, anthropology, law, and software development, examine collaborative creativity from a variety of perspectives, looking at new and old forms of creative collaboration and the mechanisms emerging to study them. Discussing the philosophically resonant issues of ownership, property, and the commons, they ask if the increasing application of the language of property rights to knowledge and creativity constitutes a second enclosure movement -- or if the worldwide acclaim for free software signifies a renaissance of the commons.
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