In this paper, we argue that the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities. We label this capability a firm's absorptive capacity and suggest that it is largely a function of the firm's level of prior related knowledge. The discussion focuses first on the cognitive basis for an individual's absorptive capacity including, in particular, prior related knowledge and diversity of background. We then characterize the factors that influence absorptive capacity at the organizational level, how an organization's absorptive capacity differs from that of its individual members, and the role of diversity of expertise within an organization. We argue that the development of absorptive capacity, and, in turn, innovative performance are history- or path-dependent and argue how lack of investment in an area of expertise early on may foreclose the future development of a technical capability in that area. We formulate a model of firm investment in research and development (R&D), in which R&D contributes to a firm's absorptive capacity, and test predictions relating a firm's investment in R&D to the knowledge underlying technical change within an industry. Discussion focuses on the implications of absorptive capacity for the analysis of other related innovative activities, including basic research, the adoption and diffusion of innovations, and decisions to participate in cooperative R&D ventures. **

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Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation

Part One: The Context Of Educational Research Part Two: Planning Educational Research Part Three: Styles Of Educational Research Part Four: Strategies And Instruments For Data Collection And Researching Part Five: Data Analysis

Research Methods in Education

The growing technical uncertainties and complexities of problems of global concern have made international policy coordination not only increasingly necessary but also increasingly difficult. If decision makers are unfamiliar with the technical aspects of a specific problem, how do they define state interests and develop viable solutions? What factors shape their behavior? Under conditions of uncertainty, what are the origins of international institutions? And how can we best study the processes through which international policy coordination and order emerge? While a variety of analytic approaches have been used to address the problems of international cooperation, the approaches have yielded only fragmentary insights. At its core, the study of policy coordination among states involves arguments about determinism versus free will and about the ways in which the international system is maintained and transformed. Among the overlapping topics of debate are whether national behavior is determined or broadly conditioned by system-level factors, unit-level factors, or some complex interplay between the two; whether state policymakers can identify national interests and behave independently of pressures from the social groups they nominally represent; and whether states respond consistently to opportunities to create, defend, or expand their own wealth and power, to enhance collective material benefits, or to promote nonmaterial values.' A related question of

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Introduction: epistemic communities and international policy coordination

To solve a problem, needed information and problem-solving capabilities must be brought together. Often the information used in technical problem solving is costly to acquire, transfer, and use in a new location-is, in our terms, "sticky." In this paper we explore the impact of information stickiness on the locus of innovation-related problem solving. We find, first, that when sticky information needed by problem solvers is held at one site only, problem solving will be carried out at that locus, other things being equal. Second, when more than one locus of sticky information is called upon by problem solvers, the locus of problem solving may iterate among these sites as problem solving proceeds. When the costs of such iteration are high, then, third, problems that draw upon multiple sites of sticky information will sometimes be "task partitioned" into subproblems that each draw on only one such locus, and/or, fourth, investments will be made to reduce the stickiness of information at some locations.

Information stickiness appears to affect a number of issues of importance to researchers and practitioners. Among these are patterns in the diffusion of information, the specialization of firms, the locus of innovation, and the nature of problems selected by problem solvers.

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Sticky Information and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation

A widely entertained hypothesis holds that, in comparisons among countries, productivity growth rates tend to vary inversely with productivity levels. A century of experience in a group of presently industrialized countries supports this hypothesis and the convergence of productivity levels it implies. The rate of convergence, however, varied from period to period and showed marked strength only during the first quarter-century following World War II. The general process of convergence was also accompanied by dramatic shifts in countries' productivity rankings. The paper extends the simple catch-up hypothesis to rationalize the fluctuating strength of the process and explores the connections between convergence itself and the relative success of early leaders and latecomers.

Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind

Technology's contribution to economic growth and competitiveness has been the subject of vigorous debate in recent years. This book demonstrates the importance of a historical perspective in understanding the role of technological innovation in the economy. The authors examine key episodes and institutions in the development of the U.S. research system and in the development of the research systems of other industrial economies. They argue that the large potential contributions of economics to the understanding of technology and economic growth have been constrained by the narrow theoretical framework employed within neoclassical economies. A richer framework, they believe, will support a more fruitful dialogue among economists, policymakers, and managers on the organization of public and private institutions for innovation. David Mowery is Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy at the School of Business Administration, University of California, Berkeley. Nathan S. Rosenberg is Fairleigh Dickinson Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He is the author of Inside the Black Box: Technology and Economics (CUP, 1983).

Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth.

An economic history of Britain since 1700, in three volumes by 39 eminent historians and economists. It will appeal particularly to first and second year university students, but is also suitable for anyone interested in the history of the British economy.

The Economic History of Britain since 1700

Acknowledgments Introduction Richard H. Steckel, Roderick Floud. 1: The Standard of Living Debate in International Perspective: Measures and Indicators Stanley L. Engerman 2: Long-Term Trends in Health, Welfare, and Economic Growth in the United States Dora L. Costa, Richard H. Steckel. 3: Health, Height, and Welfare: Britain, 1700-1980 Roderick Floud, Bernard Harris. 4: Was Industrialization Hazardous to Your Health? Not in Sweden! Lars G. Sandberg, Richard H. Steckel. 5: Economic Welfare and Physical Well-Being in France, 1750-1990 David R. Weir 6: Health and Welfare of Women in the United Kingdom, 1785-1920 Paul Johnson, Stephen Nicholas. 7: Differential Structure, Differential Health: Industrialization in Japan, 1868-1940 Gail Honda 8: Heights and Living Standards in Germany, 1850-1939: The Case of Wurttemberg Sophia Twarog 9: Paradoxes of Modernization and Material Well-Being in the Netherlands during the Nineteenth Century J. W. Drukker, Vincent Tassenaar. 10: Height, Health, and Economic Growth in Australia, 1860-1940 Greg Whitwell, Christine de Souza, Stephen Nicholas. 11: Conclusions Richard H. Steckel, Roderick Floud. Contributors Author Index Subject Index

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Health and Welfare during Industrialization

In historical accounts of the circumstances of ordinary people's lives, nutrition has been the great unknown. Nearly impossible to measure or assess directly, it has nonetheless been held responsible for the declining mortality rates of the nineteenth century as well as being a major factor in the gap in living standards, morbidity and mortality between rich and poor. The measurement of height is a means of the direct assessment of nutritional status. This important and innovative study uses a wealth of military and philanthropic data to establish the changing heights of Britons during the period of industrialization, and thus establishes an important dimension to the long-standing controversy about living standards during the Industrial Revolution. Sophisticated quantitative analysis enables the authors to present some striking conclusions about the actual physical status of the British people during a period of profound social and economic upheaval, and Height, Health and History will provide an invigorating statistical edge to many debates about the history of the human body itself.

Height, Health and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1980

1. Economic growth during the long twentieth century Nicholas Crafts 2. From empire to Europe: Britain in the world economy Kevin O'Rourke 3. Population, migration and labour supply Tim Hatton 4. Health and welfare Bernard Harris 5. Income and living standards Ian Gazeley 6. Technology, innovation and economic growth Tom Nicholas 7. Consumption and affluence Avner Offer 8. Cycles and depressions Matthias Morys 9. The City and the corporate economy David Chambers 10. Armaments and the economy Jari Eloranta 11. The deindustrial revolution: the rise and fall of UK manufacturing, 1870-2010 Michael Kitson and Jonathan Michie 12. The rise of the service sector Steve Broadberry 13. The household economy Peter Scott 14. Growth of the public sector Bob Millward 15. Soft power: the media industries Gerben Bakker 16. Sterling and monetary policy Catherine Schenk 17. Economic policy and management Roger Middleton 18. Economic ideas and ideology Roger Backhouse and Keith Tribe.

Roderick Floud

Papers

Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth.

The Economic History of Britain since 1700

Health and Welfare during Industrialization

Height, Health and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1980

The Cambridge economic history of modern Britain