Showing papers by "Walter W. Powell published in 2004"
TL;DR: It is argued that the spillovers that result from proprietary alliances are a function of the institutional commitments and practices of members of the network, and the relative accessibility of knowledge transferred through contractual linkages determines whether innovation benefits accrue broadly to membership in a coherent network component or narrowly to centrality.
Abstract: We contend that two important, nonrelational, features of formal interorganizational networks-geographic propinquity and organizational form-fundamentally alter the flow of information through a network. Within regional economies, contractual linkages among physically proximate organizations represent relatively transparent channels for information transfer because they are embedded in an ecology rich in informal and labor market transmission mechanisms. Similarly, we argue that the spillovers that result from proprietary alliances are a function of the institutional commitments and practices of members of the network. When the dominant nodes in an innovation network are committed to open regimes of information disclosure, the entire structure is characterized by less tightly monitored ties. The relative accessibility of knowledge transferred through contractual linkages to organizations determines whether innovation benefits accrue broadly to membership in a coherent network component or narrowly to centrality. We draw on novel network visualization methods and conditional fixed effects negative binomial regressions to test these arguments for human therapeutic biotechnology firms located in the Boston metropolitan area.
2,114 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define the knowledge economy as production and services based on knowledge intensive activities that contribute to an accelerated pace of technical and scientific advance, as well as rapid obsolescence, and assess the distributional consequences of a knowledge-based economy with respect to growing inequality in wages and high-quality jobs.
Abstract: We define the knowledge economy as production and services based on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to an accelerated pace of technical and scientific advance, as well as rapid obsolescence. The key component of a knowledge economy is a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or natural resources. We provide evidence drawn from patent data to document an upsurge in knowledge production and show that this expansion is driven by the emergence of new industries. We then review the contentious literature that assesses whether recent technological advances have raised productivity. We examine the debate over whether new forms of work that embody technological change have generated more worker autonomy or greater managerial control. Finally, we assess the distributional consequences of a knowledge-based economy with respect to growing inequality in wages and high-quality jobs.
1,603 citations
TL;DR: Analysis of cases suggests that different structures of cohesive subsets and overlaps may be predictive in organizational contexts and similarly for the larger fields in which they are embedded, and develops a vocabulary that relates different forms of network cohesion to field properties as opposed to organizational constraints on ties and structures.
Abstract: Social action is situated in fields that are simultaneously composed of interpersonal ties and relations among organizations, which are both usefully characterized as social networks. We introduce a novel approach to distinguishing different network macro-structures in terms of cohesive subsets and their overlaps. We develop a vocabulary that relates different forms of network cohesion to field properties as opposed to organizational constraints on ties and structures. We illustrate differences in probabilistic attachment processes in network evolution that link on the one hand to organizational constraints versus field properties and to cohesive network topologies on the other. This allows us to identify a set of important new micro-macro linkages between local behavior in networks and global network properties. The analytic strategy thus puts in place a methodology for Predictive Social Cohesion theory to be developed and tested in the context of informal and formal organizations and organizational fields. We also show how organizations and fields combine at different scales of cohesive depth and cohesive breadth. Operational measures and results are illustrated for three organizational examples, and analysis of these cases suggests that different structures of cohesive subsets and overlaps may be predictive in organizational contexts and similarly for the larger fields in which they are embedded. Useful predictions may also be based on feedback from level of cohesion in the larger field back to organizations, conditioned on the level of multiconnectivity to the field.
110 citations
TL;DR: In this article, auteurs proposent de rendre compte de l'influence des evolutions des sciences de la vie sur les carrieres and les pratiques academiques.
Abstract: Resume Sur la base d'une enquete empirique aupres de chercheurs de deux campus universitaires, les auteurs proposent de rendre compte de l'influence des evolutions des sciences de la vie sur les carrieres et les pratiques academiques. La preoccupation croissante des universitaires a l'egard de la commercialisation de la recherche est a l'origine de lignes de clivage inedites et de nouveaux criteres de reconnaissance. Ces evolutions sont le produit d'opportunites de financement, d'une transformation des missions structurant les politiques des universites et de l'essor de nouvelles technologies de recherche qui favorisent le rapprochement entre la recherche fondamentale et le developpement de produits issus de son application. Grâce a l'analyse approfondie d'entretiens, les auteurs mettent en evidence l'emergence de modeles de comportements des universitaires face aux opportunites commerciales qui se multiplient dans le domaine des sciences de la vie.
17 citations
15 citations
01 Dec 2004
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make the argument that science-based firms in the life sciences are expected to actively expand the volume and scope of collaborations, and broaden the kinds of partners with whom they collaborate, as they grow larger, older, and become successful.
Abstract: In this chapter, we make the argument that science-based firms in the life sciences are expected to actively expand the volume and scope of collaborations, and broaden the kinds of partners with whom they collaborate, as they grow larger, older, and become successful. We base our arguments on a general process of organizational learning in which organizations with diverse ties are exposed to a broader stock of knowledge, heterogeneity in the portfolio of collaborators facilitates innovation, and repeat contracting enables organizations to deepen their protocols for the exchange of information and resources. We draw from these ideas the conclusion that interfirm collaboration is not a transitional stage, or stepping stone, to success or maturity, but a significant organizational practice in technologically advanced fields. Extending this argument, we suggest this strategy of interfirm collaboration represents neither dependency nor specialization but an alternative way of accessing knowledge and resources.
3 citations