Gabriel Yoguel

Knowledge circulation in vertically integrated production networks: Cases of the Argentine automotive and iron and steel industries

Summary The goal of this article is two-fold: on the one hand, we develop a methodology that is able to quantify the knowledge circulation inside a Vertically Integrated Production Network (PNW). On the other hand, we will apply such methodology to a set 150 Argentine firms supplying either the automotive or the iron and steel industries. Both industries are different in commercial results as well as in their participation in international markets. We investigate whether or not differences in networking are significant to the understanding of different performances. We find that the PNW organised by the steel firms allows for a better knowledge circulation. We also find that the Linkage Style within the PNW is significant for explaining techno-productive capabilities. Such relevance of the knowledge circuit and the way the PNW incentives it constitute an essential point that contributes with the comprehension of the different performances between both PNW.

Capacities, innovation and feedbacks in production networks in Argentina

This paper is based on an application of the complex systems approach to economics with the objective of exploring the micro- and meso-mechanisms of development. Under this approach, innovation can be seen as an emergent property that depends on micro interaction and on specificities of macro structure. This study emphasizes that the micro interactions can be described by the feedback mechanisms between the absorption and connectivity capacities of firms, and the macro structure by processes of creative destruction, knowledge appropriation and structural change. The paper presents empirical evidence on the feedback loops between absorption and connectivity capacities in production networks in Argentina and their impact on innovation results. This paper concludes that the restrictions on absorption capacity and mainly on connectivity capacity in several production networks in Argentina condition the development of positive feedbacks between the two capacities, and hence the scope of the innovation path.

De Schumpeter a los postschumpeterianos: viejas y nuevas dimensiones analíticas

This article discusses the major ideas of Schumpeter and identifies changes or breaks in his line of thinking throughout his works. His major contribution was to explain the dynamics of economic development based on the emergence of processes of creative destruction that take place under different forms of competition. Many years later this legacy became relevant in developing evolutionary and neo-Schumpeterian theory. This article also presents the elements missing from this thinking, later developed by evolutionary and neo-Schumpeterian theory. Among them, the importance of learning processes and the development of competition in companies, diffusion mechanisms for innovation and the role of institutions are especially notable.