Modelling the joint impact of R&D and ICT on productivity: A frontier analysis approach

This study explores the channels through which technological investments affect productivity performance of industrialized economies. Using a Stochastic Frontier Model (SFM) we estimate the productivity effects of R&D and ICT for a large sample of OECD industries between 1973 and 2007, identifying four channels of transmission: input accumulation, technological change, technical efficiency and spillovers. Our results show that ICT has been particularly effective in reducing production inefficiency and in generating inter-industry spillovers, while R&D has raised the rate of technical change and favoured knowledge spillovers within sectors. We also quantify the contribution of technological investments to output and total factor productivity growth documenting that R&D and ICT accounted for almost 95% of productivity growth in the OECD area.     

Conceptualizing the ICT Artifact: Toward Understanding the Role of ICT in National Development

In development literature, information and communications technology (ICT) has been characterized as having the potential to enable national development. However, ICT has been conceptualized mostly as a monolithic and homogeneous entity. To a great extent, the ambiguous findings and diverse opinions on the role of ICT in national development can be attributed to this limited focus. In order to better understand the role ICT can play in national development, we believe that the ICT artifact needs to be examined in finer detail. We propose that ICT needs to be conceptualized in its many facets, perceptions, and in its manifold impact in societies. We use recent concepts from the IT literature to propose an integrative framework to study the role of ICT in development. Policymakers and donor agencies may find this framework useful in evaluating the potential impact of development interventions using ICT.     

Conceptualizing the ICT Artifact: Toward Understanding the Role of ICT in National Development

In development literature, information and communications technology (ICT) has been characterized as having the potential to enable national development. However, ICT has been conceptualized mostly as a monolithic and homogeneous entity. To a great extent, the ambiguous findings and diverse opinions on the role of ICT in national development can be attributed to this limited focus. In order to better understand the role ICT can play in national development, we believe that the ICT artifact needs to be examined in finer detail. We propose that ICT needs to be conceptualized in its many facets, perceptions, and in its manifold impact in societies. We use recent concepts from the IT literature to propose an integrative framework to study the role of ICT in development. Policymakers and donor agencies may find this framework useful in evaluating the potential impact of development interventions using ICT.     

Incorporating affordability,efficiency, and quality in the ICT development index: Implications for index building and ICT policymaking

Abstract

International Telecommunication Union’s ICT Development Index and related measures of a country’s ICT development maturity suffer from several limitations, including subjective estimation of the weights of individual indicators and sub-indices, use of inappropriate quantitative models, specification bias arising from the exclusion of potential predictors from the estimation models, and a failure to capture the disparities among different groups of countries. To overcome these problems and provide a more reliable measure of ICT development, this study develops the Modified ICT Maturity Level Index using the 2015 data of 166 countries. This index adds affordability, efficiency, and quality to the existing sub-indices of access, use, and skills. Sub-index and indicator weights are determined in an outcome-orientated way using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. We find that affordability, quality, and efficiency significantly explain the variation in the level of maturity of ICT development in addition to the previously used dimensions of International Telecommunication Union’s ICT Development Index and modified ICT Development Index (mIDI) developed by Gerpott and Ahmadi, and that their explanatory power differ by a country’s level of economic development. The new index produces significantly different country rankings. This has important implications for ICT policy priorities and provides a measure of ICT development maturity less prone to the innocent or intentional distortion of such policy priorities.     

网络能力与创业能力——基于东北地区新创企业的实证研究

基于东北地区368份有效调研问卷,研究了新创企业的企业网络能力对创业能力的影响。实证结果表明,网络能力的三个维度,即网络构想能力、关系管理能力以及角色定位能力均与创业能力的两个维度,即机会能力和运营管理能力均呈现正相关关系,结果启示我们,可以从网络能力的培育着手来提高企业的创业能力,是新创企业提高创业能力的重要路径之一。     

基于模糊层次分析法的企业技术创新能力评价

在介绍模糊层次分析法和企业技术创新能力评价指标体系的基础上,运用模糊层次分析法对四家企业的技术创新能力进行科学地评价。模糊层次分析法不仅可以对不同企业进行横向对比分析,还可以对不同时期的同一企业进行纵向对比分析,从而明确企业在技术创新能力上的优势和不足,这对于企业的技术创新活动具有指导意义。     

Understanding benefits realisation of iREACH from a capability approach perspective

The research presented in this paper is the first wave of a longitudinal study of a Cambodian information and communication for development (ICT4D) project, iREACH, aimed at testing a framework for evaluating whether and how such initiatives can contribute to capabilities, empowerment and sustainability. The framework is informed by Amartya Sen’s capability approach (CA), uses a participatory methodology, considers the micro-, meso-, and macro- levels in understanding the role ICT can play in the development process, and adopts a forward-looking longitudinal perspective. Key findings of this research are that the project had contributed to livelihoods and other aspects of well-being in diverse ways, primarily in education, health, and farming. Participants also valued the project because of its contribution to empowerment, particularly gender empowerment. Another way in which participants valued iREACH was of a more intrinsic nature, manifested in a general appreciation of just being part of the world and knowing about events in other parts of Cambodia and beyond. These findings are consistent with the CA’s emphasis on development being about more than economic growth and support the importance of considering external factors, conceptualised here as the meso- and macro- levels, in the conversion of commodities in the form of services provided at iREACH, to capabilities.     

韩国ICT研发中长期战略(2013-2017)解读

对韩国政府审议通过的《ICT研发中长期战略(2013-2017)》提出的背景进行分析,对战略蓝图与目标、重点任务以及保障体系进行简要综述,对韩国历届政府提出的ICT研发战略进行比较分析,期望对我国"十三五"时期信息通信技术领域的技术创新与产业发展规划有所启示。     

ICT access: Testing for convergence across countries

Our objectives for this article are twofold: first, to examine the convergence of nations with regard to ICT access; and second, to see whether countries in the same continental region (South and East Asia, West and Middle East Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania) or having same initial ICT access have coalesced into groups. We constructed an ICT access index using three indicators (mobile phone, Internet, and broadband use per 100 population) for a sample of 198 nations for the 16-year period from 2000 to 2015. Results show that digital divide has declined in relative terms, but not in absolute terms. The countries, starting at lower ICT levels, are not adopting ICT faster than the leaders. Continental region-wise analysis also shows that the catch-up is maximum for already developed countries, and minimum for countries in African and Oceania continental regions.     

能力、资源与核心能力形成分析

本在对能力与资源以及核心能力等概念进行剖析的基础上，分析了企业所拥有的资源如何在外界环境与内部制度等的规制下相互作用产生能力、能力有效组合形成企业的核心能力，并进一步分析了如何有效地对资源、能力与核心能力进行管理，从而最终提高企业的竞争力。     

资源重构能力与商业模式创新：基于动态能力束的观点

基于动态能力束观点,本文研究了资源重构能力通过顾客整合与供应商整合对商业模式创新的影响,提出了相关研究假设。在此基础上,运用层次回归分析方法对来自154家企业的数据进行实证分析,检验了这些研究假设。研究发现：资源重构能力的两个维度——资源重组能力与资源重置能力,对商业模式创新不仅具有直接影响而且具有间接影响;资源重组能力可与顾客整合组合形成动态能力束进而能够通过顾客整合影响商业模式创新;资源重置能力可分别与顾客整合、供应商整合组合形成动态能力束进而能够分别通过它们影响商业模式创新。     

History and Habit in the Mobilization of ICT Resources

A healthy civil society has long been held as vital to a healthy democracy and there is interest in whether the Internet affects this linkage. This paper explores the relationships between offline and online modes of associational life and also analyzes offline and online interactions with local governments in the US context. Based on our empirical analyses of 1,203 respondents, we show that online participation is not simply an extension of offline participation, but can be distinguished in important ways. First, we find that political and community-oriented engagements cluster separately from more private-regarding engagements. Second, participants of online democratic engagement are not characterized by the SES markers associated with offline democratic engagement who are older, have higher incomes, and have lived in the community longer. Finally, we find significant links between democratic engagement with the political system and involvement with political associations (but not social and community-oriented associations).     

History and Habit in the Mobilization of ICT Resources

Evidence demonstrates that the digital divide is deepening despite strategies mobilized worldwide to reduce it. In disadvantaged communities, beyond training and infrastructural issues, there often lies a range of cultural and historically formed relationships that affect people's adoption of ICTs. This article presents an analysis of local resident's engagement with their council's pilot project to develop a computer facility in their community center. We ask, to what extent can people in poor urban communities, once trained, be expected to volunteer to work on furthering community education and development in ICTs in their local area? Findings indicate four patterns of individual engagement with the computer project: reflexive, utilitarian, distributive, and nonparticipatory. It is argued that local people engaged with the intervention in historically patterned and locally distinctive ways that served immediate personal and pragmatic ends. They did not adopt the long-term strategic goals of the council or university.     

Beyond Harmonization: ICT Policymaking in Regional Economic Communities

Regional economic communities, which are growing in numbers and size, play an increasingly important role in information and communication technology (ICT) policymaking. As seen through the lens of complex adaptive systems theory, such systems should strive to generate adaptive policies through adaptive policymaking processes that position them to respond to rapid technological change. To date, however, regional policymaking has been overly concerned with policy harmonization as an outcome, possibly to the detriment of other important goals. Despite this bias, upon closer examination, one finds that regional communities do foster adaptivity through their roles in the formation of epistemic communities, capacity building, and resource pooling. These activities contribute to variation, interaction, and selection, all key processes for adaptation. It is this degree of adaptivity, and its required balance between policy harmonization and competition, that should be the basis for analyzing the effectiveness of regional policymaking.     

信息通信技术的创新和标准化研究:以移动通信为例

技术创新和标准化越来越在信息通信技术的发展中起关键性的作用。本文基于根本性创新和渐进性创新的技术创新分类视角,研究了信息通信技术创新及其特点,结合3代移动通信的发展,探讨了技术创新和标准化间内在的本质的关系:根本性创新导致新的标准体系的形成,子系统的渐进性创新使得产品性能不断得到改善。两种创新的交替引发信息通信旧的标准技术生命周期不断被新的替代。     

数字创新能力：内涵结构与理论框架

数字创新能力是数字经济时代组织持续竞争优势的重要来源,但现有文献对其内涵并未有明确阐解。本文在界定数字创新能力的概念特征基础上,剖析了其两层五维度的结构,认为数字创新能力是由数字连接能力、数据聚合能力、智能分析能力等一阶维度和数字敏捷能力和重组创新能力等二阶维度组成。在此基础上,本文搭建了数字创新能力的理论框架,从环境层面、生态系统层面和组织层面阐述数字创新能力的前因,并简要分析其对竞争优势的支撑作用。最后,本文提出了未来研究重点和方向。     

基于吸收能力的创新能力与竞争优势关系研究

 基于动态能力理论的观点,以我国企业为研究对象,探索企业吸收能力、创新能力对竞争优势的影响机制和作用路径,验证并建立一个新的竞争优势模型。研究结果表明,作为动态能力的两个重要维度吸收能力和创新能力是形成竞争优势的重要因素,吸收能力不仅对竞争优势存在直接影响作用,还存在间接影响作用;同时,吸收能力对企业创新能力的形成具有显著正向影响作用,从而证实了吸收能力在动态能力中的基础性作用,揭示了动态能力内在结构的非平行关系,进一步完善了战略相关理论研究。     

ICT Inclusion and Gender: Tensions in Narratives of Network Engineer Training

Government, major information and communications technology (ICT) companies, and educational institutions in the United Kingdom currently claim that ICT skills training offers inclusion into the new economy. We focus on a private-public training initiative and its impact on the socially excluded, specifically lone women parents. Narrative data from four United Kingdom educational sites participating in this computer network engineer training program highlight a systemic paradox: that ICT skills development initiatives designed to support lone women parents are simultaneously working in opposition to broader policy goals such as work-life balance and ironically serve to reproduce the participants' classification as socially excluded. The assumptions underpinning the model of social inclusion driving the ICT skills training course are analyzed critically using the concepts of community of practice, classificatory systems, and marginalization. Our findings suggest that ICT training courses and initiatives should be accompanied by changes in pedagogic practice that accommodate the more wide-ranging needs of those targeted for inclusion, as well as changes in employment settings. We conclude by exploring the implications of this for government policy formation, business vendor qualifications, the design of ICT skills training initiatives, and our understanding of the role of ICT skills in overcoming the digital divide.