Knowledge and Competitive Advantage: The Coevolution of Firms, Technology, and National InstitutionsCambridge University Press, 10.11.2003 - 294 Seiten Entrepreneurs, managers, and policy makers must make decisions about a future that is inherently uncertain. Since the only rational guide for the future is the past, analysis of previous episodes in industrial development can shape informed decisions about what the future will hold. Historical scholarship that seeks to uncover systematically the causal processes transforming industries is thus of vital importance to the executives and managers shaping business policy today. With this in mind, Johann Peter Murmann compares the development of the synthetic dye industry in Great Britain, Germany, and the United States through the lenses of evolutionary theory. The rise of this industry constitutes an important chapter in business, economic, and technological history because synthetic dyes, invented in 1856, were the first scientific discovery quickly to give rise to a new industry. Just as with contemporary high tech industries, the synthetic dye business faced considerable uncertainty that led to many surprises for the agents involved. After the discovery of synthetic dyes, British firms led the industry for the first eight years, but German firms came to dominate the industry for decades; American firms, in contrast, played only a minor role in this important development. Murmann identifies differences in educational institutions and patent laws as the key reasons for German leadership in the industry. Successful firms developed strong ties to the centers of organic chemistry knowledge. As Murmann demonstrates, a complex coevolutionary process linking firms, technology, and national institutions resulted in very different degrees of industrial success among the dye firms in the three countries. |
Inhalt
Is This Book for You? | 5 |
Evolution of Technology | 17 |
The Economics and Science of DyeMaking | 24 |
CountryLevel Performance Differences | 32 |
Background Information on the Three Countries | 45 |
Supporting Organizations and the State | 62 |
The AcademicIndustrial Knowledge Network | 69 |
Social Organization of Production at the Shop Floor | 80 |
Forging a National Science Capability | 165 |
Lobbying for a Supportive Patent System | 179 |
Influencing Tariff Laws | 192 |
CHAPTER 5 Toward an Institutional Theory of Competitive Advantage | 194 |
Theoretical Gaps | 195 |
Evolutionary Interpretation of the Key Findings | 199 |
A Theory of Coevolution | 209 |
Implications for Industrial Organization Studies | 221 |
Three Times Two Case Studies | 94 |
The World of Pioneers 185765 | 106 |
Science Unbound 186685 | 120 |
The Age of Bayer 18861914 | 138 |
Managerial Action Make a Difference? | 161 |
The Coevolution of National Industries and Institutions 164 Overview of Collective Strategies | 164 |
Opportunities for Future Research on Industrial Development | 230 |
APPENDIX I A Technological History of Dyes | 239 |
APPENDIX II Short Description of Databases on Firms and Plants | 258 |
269 | |
287 | |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
Knowledge and Competitive Advantage: The Coevolution of Firms, Technology ... Johann Peter Murmann Keine Leseprobe verfügbar - 2006 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
able AGFA alizarin American Aniline analysis aniline dyes August Wilhelm Hofmann azo dyes BASF Bayer became Britain British firms BS&S capabilities Carl Duisberg Caro causal century chemical industry chemists coal-tar coevolution color competitive advantage competitors Congo Red create dominated dye business dye patents dyers and printers dyestuffs economic environment evolution evolutionary theory existing Friedrich Bayer fuchsine German Chemical German Chemical Society German dye firms German dye industry German firms German patent law Graebe Heinrich Caro Hoechst Hofmann Homburg important indigo individual innovations institutions intermediates investments Ivan Levinstein Jäger knowledge large number leadership Levinstein manufacturing mauve natural dyes organic chemistry organizational particular patent law percent Perkin & Sons plant population professors R&D laboratories Rumpf Schoellkopf scholars selection SM&N social strategy structures successful synthetic dye industry technical textile three countries trade United universities
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Localised Technological Change: Towards the Economics of Complexity Cristiano Antonelli Keine Leseprobe verfügbar - 2008 |