Technological Knowledge (technological + knowledge)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Innovation and technological knowledge in the Upper Paleolithic of Northern Eurasia

EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 5 2005
John F. Hoffecker
Abstract The technology of modern humans is unique in the animal kingdom with respect to its complexity and capacity for innovation. Evidence of technological complexity and creativity in the archeological record is broadly coincident with and presumably related to traces of creativity in art, music, ritual, and other forms of symbolism. The pattern of modern human technology is part of a larger package of behavior (sometimes referred to as "behavioral modernity") that emerges with the appearance of industries in Eurasia classified as Upper Paleolithic, but has deeper roots in the African Middle Stone Age.1,5. [source]


Multinational Firm Knowledge, Use of Expatriates, and Foreign Subsidiary Performance

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 1 2010
Yulin Fang
abstract The impact of knowledge transfer on foreign subsidiary performance has been a major focus of research on knowledge management in multinational enterprises (MNEs). By integrating the knowledge-based view and the expatriation literature, this study examines the relationship between a multinational firm's knowledge (i.e. marketing and technological knowledge), its use of expatriates, and the performance of its foreign subsidiaries. We conceptualize that expatriates play a contingent role in facilitating the transfer and redeployment of a parent firm's knowledge to its subsidiary, depending on the location specificity of the organizational knowledge being transferred and the time of transfer. Our analysis of 1660 foreign subsidiaries of Japanese firms over a 15-year period indicates that the number of expatriates relative to the total number of subsidiary employees (1) strengthened the effect of a parent firm's technological knowledge (with low location specificity) on subsidiary performance in the short term, but (2) weakened the impact of the parent firm's marketing knowledge (with high location specificity) on subsidiary performance in the long term. We also found that the expatriates' influence on knowledge transfer eventually disappeared. The implications for knowledge transfer research and the expatriate management literature are discussed. [source]


Knowledge management for corporate entrepreneurship and growth: a case study

KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 1 2008
Fátima Guadamillas
This study presents a case of corporate entrepreneurship analyzed from a Knowledge-based perspective as an extension of the Resource-based View (RBV) of the firm. This approach proposes that the development of knowledge can underpin the growth of the firm through corporate entrepreneurship. Following this perspective, we analyze the way an established firm uses resources and capabilities, especially its accumulated knowledge, as a foundation on which to develop a growth strategy through diversification to related businesses in the fields of electronics and Information Technology (IT). Moreover, we identify some of the most important factors contributing to the success of this strategy, such as the internal development and integration of relevant technological knowledge, human resources (HR) policies, organizational flexibility, knowledge management tools based on IT, and purchase of companies and cooperation agreements for the acquisition of external knowledge. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Valuing of firms' prior knowledge: a measure of knowledge distance

KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 2 2003
Shantha Liyanage
Knowledge, especially scientific and technological knowledge, grows according to knowledge trajectories and guideposts that make up the prior knowledge of an organization. We argue that these knowledge structures and their specific components lead to successful innovation. A firm's prior knowledge facilitates the absorption of new knowledge, thereby renewing a firm's systematic search, transfer and acquisition of knowledge and capabilities. In particular, the exponential growth in biotechnology is characterized by the convergence of disparate scientific and technological knowledge resources. This paper examines the shift from protein-based to DNA-based diagnostic technologies as an example, to quantify the value of a firm's prior knowledge using relative values of knowledge distance. The distance between core prior knowledge and the rate of transition from one knowledge system to another has been identified as a proxy for the value a firm's prior knowledge. The overall ,difficulty of transition' from one technology paradigm to another is discussed. We argue this transition is possible when the knowledge distance is minimal and the transition process has a correspondingly high value of absorptive capacities. Our findings show knowledge distance is a determinant of the feasibility, continuity and capture of scientific and technological knowledge. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Paradigms and Novelty in Economics: The History of Economic Thought as a Source of Enlightenment

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 5 2009
Wilfred Dolfsma
Over time, economics has experienced paradigm shifts, and there is every reason to think this will continue. In economics, as in the development of technological knowledge, paradigms do not emerge from nowhere, but build on precursors, possibly from other fields. Our understanding of current economic thinking can be enhanced by paying greater attention to the role of paradigms and by using concepts such as myth, plot structure, and cultural endowment, which are typically given greater attention by literary analysts than by economists, to study paradigms. Here we argue that together these can help us better understand how ideas from other times and fields may be combined with our own to generate better research and publications, and that a greater awareness of the history of economics may well be an excellent vehicle for enhancing that understanding. [source]


Systematic comparison of surface coatings for protein microarrays

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 18 2005
Birgit Guilleaume Dr.
Abstract To process large numbers of samples in parallel is one potential of protein microarrays for research and diagnostics. However, the application of protein arrays is currently hampered by the lack of comprehensive technological knowledge about the suitability of 2-D and 3-D slide surface coatings. We have performed a systematic study to analyze how both surface types perform in combination with different fluorescent dyes to generate significant and reproducible data. In total, we analyzed more than 100 slides containing 1152 spots each. Slides were probed against different monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and recombinant fusion proteins. We found two surface coatings to be most suitable for protein and antibody (Ab) immobilization. These were further subjected to quantitative analyses by evaluating intraslide and slide-to-slide reproducibilities, and the linear range of target detection. In summary, we demonstrate that only suitable combinations of surface and fluorescent dyes allow the generation of highly reproducible data. [source]


The sourcing of technological knowledge: distributed innovation processes and dynamic change

R & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2003
Jeremy Howells
This paper outlines the knowledge and technology sourcing practices of a range of key firms and organisations across the UK based on primary research, and analyses the key factors related to managing the technological knowledge boundaries of the firm. In particular, the paper considers the dynamic dimension considerations to such issues. As such it outlines important differences between short and long time horizons, before analysing in more detail some of the implications for firms of technological change over the long term. The paper seeks to highlight the importance of the time dimension in helping to explain why and how firms source technological knowledge externally and how they align their sourcing activities to their strategies associated with developing current and future capabilities. [source]