Salvatore Vicari

Conoscenza e impresa

La conoscenza e un concetto centrale nella teoria economica, in quanto essa e legata ad alcuni suoi problemi chiave: valore, sviluppo, risorse. Essa e stata sottovalutata per un lungo periodo, anche se oggi molti studiosi condividono l’idea che essa giuochi un ruolo molto importante. Sono state elaborate diverse teorie per spiegare la natura dell’impresa in termini di conoscenza. La mia opinione al riguardo e piuttosto radicale: l’impresa altro non e che un sistema cognitivo, in grado di trasformare la conoscenza in valore economico. Essa utilizza una particolare capacita, quella di utilizzare le sue risorse di conoscenza al fine di generare nuove risorse, attraverso un processo di creazione di valore economico.

Developing a Brokering Capacity within the Firm: The Enactment of Market Knowledge

Is market knowledge really useful to advance innovation and why are some companies better at using market knowledge to generate innovation than others? This paper addresses this issue conceptually, building on the assumption that it is distribution and usage of market knowledge which make the difference in innovative competition. We build on two different streams of research: market orientation and market knowledge, and knowledge brokering. We show why the emergence of internal market knowledge brokers may enhance the opportunity of innovation for organizations. We distinguish four different types of internal brokers. This distinction is related to the typology of knowledge to be transferred between two internal parties and the cognitive distance between these parties. Conclusions and implications are drawn on how companies should manage these figures of internal brokers in order to favour the distribution and the usage of market knowledge on the edge of innovation.

Acquisitions as Experimentation

Literature on management is showing increasing interest in the subject of acquisitions, due to the importance that these have had on the economies of the Triad and on the processes of company development. One of the more important questions facing management experts is the handling of the post-acquisition phase, which is probably the most delicate moment in the management of an acquisition.