The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) represent the most important strategic shift in US trade policy since establishment of the WTO and pursuit of “competitive liberalization.” At face value, TTIP and TTP are seen as a response to deadlock in the WTO. However, international agreements negotiated by states to address specific economic issues such as trade, finance, and monetary policy can have geo-political implications and origins that extend far beyond their initial core economic content. Policy makers must fully understand and...
The SME Instrument (SMEI) is a new consolidated funding scheme within Horizon 2020. It was introduced in 2014 as a dedicated tool to support high potential innovation, ultimately as a way to consolidate EU policy efforts to foster European competitiveness in advanced technologies in order to match its excellence in science. The expectations were pinned on small firms – the drivers of knowledge economy. There was never previously a tool dedicated exclusively to supporting the technological entrepreneurship of small and medium-sized companies in the European policy landscape. Therefore, the...
The current understanding of the dynamics of digital platforms and strategy for their concomitant ecosystems has emerged from an analysis of firms in Western market economies. Our contribution arises from a detailed study of the business strategies of the current leaders in the Chinese mobile internet industry—Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu. We find that they have developed business models significantly different from those of US firms. We argue that these Chinese firms are developing a “platform business group” strategy predicated upon horizontal expansion through organic growth, acquisition...
Many believe that modern technologies such as 3D printers, sensors, and networking capabilities provide an unprecedented opportunity to support a renewal of localized production— especially when combined with “Maker Movement” trends toward customization, user engagement, local and small-batch production, and reparability. Others are unconvinced, and instead forecast increased efficiency in high volume production and global supply chains. Let us state the core questions: will either the Maker Movement or these dramatic new technologies fundamentally influence the basic structures of market...
Develop a comprehensive database of all university-related spinoffs from five research universities in the states of Kansas and Missouri – Kansas State University, the University of Kansas system, the University of Missouri system, Washington University, and Saint Louis University (hereafter referenced collectively as K/M research universities). Develop a database of entrepreneurship-related programs at these universities. Construct a data profile for each university that will yield insight into its position in the national innovation system and...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP, is not strictly a trade and investment deal. Of course, TPP is a strategic bargain and not just a political economy arrangement. More importantly though, it is ultimately a broadly gauged bargain about critical rules of the market. These include rules, as examples, for information technology, Intellectual Property, and the environment. As international trade deals increasingly become entangled with the domestic regulation of the economy, although they always were, the treaty implications for market rules must be considered - what the rules are, how they...
The transportation and logistics sector is being transformed by the Internet. Roughly $8.3 trillion is spent on logistics every year globally but the industry still relies on faxing papers, spreadsheets, and other means of organizing and keeping track of shipments. However, entrepreneurs have been launching firms meant to “platformize” the shipping industry. In this paper, I analyze a recently formed San Francisco firm, Flexport, a company developing a platform to reinvent global logistics. Flexport is among many other companies in the Silicon Valley and San Francisco area that using new...
It would be a mistake to read the 13th Five Year Plan (FYP) as if one were reading oracle bones for clarity on China’s economic future. Rather, it should be understood as the Chinese government’s long-winded wish list of what they would like to see happen in the economy. The 13th FYP suggests that the Chinese government would like to see innovative Chinese-brands dominate the market for new energy vehicles (NEVs). 2 While there are new and interesting developments that should be monitored closely, the government’s ability to realize their objectives are limited. Most NEVs on Chinese roads...
The miracle growth of the Chinese economy has decreased from a compound annual growth rate of 10% to less than 7% in 2015. The two engines of growth - export on a scale never before witnessed and massive infrastructure investments - are reaching the point of diminishing returns. This poses the central question which is explored in this book - can China escape the middle-income trap? Assuming current political arrangements remain unchanged and that it does not or cannot adopt Western sociopolitical economic regimes, can China develop an indigenous growth model centered on innovation?...
History, not ideology, holds the key to growth. Brilliantly written and argued, "Concrete Economics" shows how government has repeatedly reshaped the American economy ever since Alexander Hamilton's first, foundational redesign. This book does not rehash the sturdy and long-accepted arguments that to thrive, entrepreneurial economies need a broad range of freedoms. Instead, Steve Cohen and Brad DeLong remedy our national amnesia about how our economy has actually grown and the role government has played in redesigning and reinvigorating it throughout our history. The government not...