Thomas Mandeville

Toward an evolutionary theory of innovation and growth in the service economy

Abstract We propose a theory of innovation in services based upon the development of new markets that exploit the powers of ICT to coordinate service production and delivery. As digital communications and computational infrastructure have developed over the past few decades, the scale and scope of the service sector has also evolved such that it is now, we believe, in the midst of a productivity revolution driven by the ICT enabled decomposition of services to their elemental parts and the subsequent gains through specialization and reintegration of these elements. This works to advance existing services and create new services, and so to drive the growth of economic activity. In this paper, we propose a theory of this evolutionary process.

An information economics perspective on innovation

Introduces the information theoretic or economics of information approach, shows how this relates to innovation and illustrates an example of an information economics model of innovation. Attempts to demonstrate that an information economics perspective, both generally and in the context of a simple model, improves understanding of and provides new insights into innovation, compared to a more conventional economic approach.

The Knowing Nation: A Framework for Public Policy in a Post-industrial Knowledge Economy

As the global economy becomes more knowledge intensive and the wealth of nations more dependent on their knowledge assets being harnessed, it is essential for policy makers to have frameworks for the development and utilisation of national knowledge assets. This article argues that a policy framework can be developed through which policy initiatives in a range of policy areas can be filtered in order to meet the challenges of the knowledge economy. We have developed an approach that has previously been applied to managing intellectual capital in firms and adapted it to the public policy arena. In doing so we question policy orthodoxies such as the assumption that free trade automatically facilitates international knowledge flows, that participation in a global knowledge economy necessarily challenges national sovereignty, and that online delivery of education is necessarily a progressive strategy.

Phenomenological Turbulence and Innovation in Knowledge Systems

Most considerations of knowledge management focus on corporations and, until recently, considered knowledge to be objective, stable, and asocial. In this paper we wish to move the focus away from corporations, and examine knowledge and national innovation systems. We argue that the knowledge systems in which innovation takes place are phenomenologically turbulent, a state not made explicit in the change, innovation and socio-economic studies of knowledge literature, and that this omission poses a serious limitation to the successful analysis of innovation and knowledge systems. To address this lack we suggest that three evolutionary processes must be considered: self-referencing, self-transformation and self-organisation. These processes, acting simultaneously, enable system cohesion, radical innovation and adaptation. More specifically, we argue that in knowledge-based economies the high levels of phenomenological turbulence drives these processes. Finally, we spell out important policy principles that derive from these processes.

The Evolution of the Digital Computation Industry

All industries are based upon a core of knowledge. Economic evolution is the growth of this knowledge as an experimental and path-dependent process involving markets, firms, finance, entrepreneurship, and often substantial uncertainty. In the set of industries associated with information technology, the core of knowledge is programmable digital computation (PDC). In this paper, we outline the origins and development of PDC, and in particular the path from the mainframe industry to the PC. We tell this story in order to highlight a number of salient features about the relationship between competition and evolution. First, the predominant form of competition was not focused about competitive pricing in existing markets, but rather for the creation of new markets and therefore monopoly positions. Second, as the IBM story demonstrates, this involved leveraging competencies between markets, often deliberately destroying a market in order to create a new one. Third, as the hacker tradition illustrates, much of the entrepreneurial development of the industry came from the users, due to their close conception of the technological possibilities and opportunities. Fourth, we highlight the overarching importance of the setting of standards (by fiat, by self-organization, or by monopoly) and the role this has in reducing uncertainty. We offer some policy and management lessons based upon this analysis.

The Competitive Process in the Age of the Internet

Abstract This paper examines some of the impacts of the widespread adoption and use of the Internet in advanced countries on business, consumers and the media. It is argued that while capital costs of entry into Internet‐based businesses may be very low, this does not guarantee that markets in which such firms operate will necessarily be hotly contested, for success may require substantial sunk costs to be incurred in development. It explores the changing nature of market institutions associated with the rise of e‐commerce (including the advent of what are labelled ‘portal’ firms) and associated changes in the division of labour between buyers, sellers and intermediaries. The authors provide behavioural, evolutionary, and information theoretic perspectives on these dynamic issues.

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE INFORMATION ECONOMY: THE EXAMPLE OF QUEENSLAND

This paper presents the results of a study which identifies the extent of the Queensland information sector and assesses the role of information technology within it. In terms of employment, the information sector in Queensland in 1981 comprised about 36 per cent of the States labour force. Information technologies are diffusing rapidly and widely into all sectors of the Queensland economy. Their impact on organisation and employment are investigated.

Services, ICTs and the Changing Nature of Economic Development Processes in the KBE Era

Abstract We present a concise, exploratory, discussion paper that provides some promising hypotheses concerning how economic development processes may be evolving in the KBE era. Emerging roles for ICTs and services in the economy are driving these changes. Developing countries may be able to leapfrog stages of growth, or structural change, that presently developed nations historically went through. Case studies of India and Indonesia are utilized.

The Electronic Superhighway: Increased Commodification or the Democratisation of Leisure?

This analysis of the electronic superhighway focuses on its potential engagement with the consumer economy. If changes to the existing media system spawned by the electronic superhighway are to be as dramatic and far reaching as many commentators would have us believe, what impact will these changes have on the process of consumption? To answer this question we describe possible changes to commodities, consumers and means of mediating between consumers and producers which the superhighway could make possible. New frontiers of time and space are opened up to be commodified but perhaps at the expense of other non-commodified options for discretionary time. In particular, we target the further commodification of identity as an important arena for analysis. In conclusion, we briefly examine the implications of different ways of funding the superhighway.

Telecommunications in the Pacific region: Impact of a new regime

In many developed countries there has recently been serious erosion of the monopoly position of national telecommunications authorities. Such authorities have long found difficulty in adjusting to the furious pace of electronics technology. The private sector may find less difficulty and should benefit as both user and provider of new information services. However, there are likely to be costs involved, and those who have traditionally made least use of telecommunications seem destined to bear the bulk of these costs. In developed countries, this may be unfortunate: in developing countries, the consequences could be much more serious.