Report 2002: Center of Market Economics (CME)
Grundtvigsvej 37
DK-1864 Frederiksberg C.
Telefon: +45 3815 2989
Fax: +45 3815 2102
E-mail: info.cme@cbs.dk
DK-1864 Frederiksberg C.
Telefon: +45 3815 2989
Fax: +45 3815 2102
E-mail: info.cme@cbs.dk
Highlights of 2002
- The Center completed a joint anthology entitled "From e-learning to knowledge creation – bridging the gap between learning and working" written in Sitescape. This is the first CBS example of virtual systems used for research purposes. The anthology was published in print and on the Internet at http://www.knowledgecreation.dk . It was presented on 19 September 2002 at the "Invitation til et samspil – E-learning som facilitator" (Invitation to interaction – e-learning as a facilitator) conference organised by CME and FUHU.
- The Center developed and established a unique virtual tracking system which is expected to form the basis of data retrieval in research projects on virtual learning in coming years.
- As the only academic unit in the world, the Center established an e-dialogue library.
- Professors Joe Hair (Louisiana State University) and David Smith (National University of San Diego) visited the Center for an extended period, and professor Gerald Albaum (University of New Mexico) visited for a brief period.
- The publication rate of the Center has been on the rise every year since it was established. In 2002, production amounted to 24 publications.
Academic profile
The central field of activity of the Center is Knowledge Creation, i.e. the science of Knowledge Creation in virtual networks. The field is considered an increasingly important foundation for knowledge management and innovation in enterprises and organisations, which is emphasised by increased Intranet use in enterprises as well as their networks.
Knowledge Creation activities are based on two mutually enhancing core areas cultivated over a number of years, viz. empirical market economy and virtual learning exercised through the Center's own e-learning concept. These areas have been cultivated on the basis of the original background of Center staff in business-to-business marketing, ICT/information theory, e-learning, economic theory and the theory of methodology/science.
The Center conducts these activities by dismantling the distinctions between theory and practice and through academic and professional learning, not least through development and operation of virtual networks in closed electronic spaces focusing on problem orientation, partnerships with the business community and interactivity controlled by participants. It does not produce and present knowledge in the traditional way only, i.e. through scientific and pragmatic publications or similar activities, but very much through continuous development of structure and content as well as implementation of learning processes integrated with what selected enterprises consider their real problems.
In concrete terms, since its establishment, the Center has exploited these two core areas in four different interdisciplinary directions described in previous research and centre management reports and on our Website:
- Strategic Business Market Forecasting/Business Intelligence
- Digital Competition/Future Business Conditions
- E-learning
- Market Economics Methodology
Research strategy
As mentioned above, Knowledge Creation is becoming an increasingly generic description of Center activities, but at the same time a huge effort is needed in coming years to push the two core areas and four interdisciplinary fields of application forward in the same direction.
As mentioned above, Knowledge Creation is becoming an increasingly generic description of Center activities, but at the same time a huge effort is needed in coming years to push the two core areas and four interdisciplinary fields of application forward in the same direction.
Thus, Knowledge Creation must also be considered a strategic goal for the future exploitation of Center resources. Experience gained in recent years shows that virtual Knowledge Creation depends on a capability of virtual learning closely related to an empirical-analytical approach to the development of markets and enterprises and to a distinctly practice and experience-based approach to work in virtual learning spaces.
A historical line of Center research development can therefore be drawn from concentrating on marketing subjects (e.g. business-to-business, ICT/information theory and economic theory) via occupation with the above four concrete interdisciplinary areas to the development of Knowledge Creation in virtual space as a central goal for and generic description of research.
In other respects, our research shows:
- that practice, learning, research, development, teaching, training, consultancy and project work will become increasingly virtualised in Intranets and Extranets and that this process will involve closer cooperation between the academic world and the business community. The Center therefore subscribes to a mode 2 way of thinking.
- that empirical analyses of the relationship between markets and enterprises decisively support virtual competence by making problem-oriented virtual learning processes increasingly relevant.
- that the foundation of marketing research should be the study of business decisions based on the decision-maker's (potential) knowledge of external market conditions, thereby focusing on interdisciplinary retrieval of knowledge, information and data from various economic aggregation levels and vertical markets. This leads to a contextual methodology enabling business decision-makers to identify and solve problems.
Hence, the research objectives of the Center are to create an inspiring and qualifying environment characterised by cooperation with the business community, analysis work, virtual learning and education of new researchers. An important CME objective is to generate application-oriented results for the benefit of the business community. This is to be achieved through cooperation with significant enterprises, improved development processes and better learning results. The participation of enterprises, public institutions and other educational establishments in cooperation projects and their acceptance and use of the concepts developed are thus considered to be crucial success criteria. Furthermore, importance is attached to a high-level scientific methodological approach enabling substantial publication achievements.
Research results and research relations to practice
The Center publication rate is high and on the rise with more than 20 annual publications in recent years (see Figure 1).
The Center publication rate is high and on the rise with more than 20 annual publications in recent years (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: CME publications in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002
The Figure shows a particularly sharp increase in the number of foreign-language publications, in this case comprised by publications in English only. In 2002, a total of 24 publications were published. Obviously, the activities of the Center should not be measured on the number of publications alone. The Center is deeply involved in mode 2 research, which is shown by the continued development and application of its virtual concept (a case in point being the HD programme in Marketing/Foreign Trade) and the high degree of cooperation with a number of significant enterprises, first of all the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group which adopted the concept and many of the results. For example, a PhD student from A.P. Moller is expected to be attached to the Center in 2003.
The Center has also been successful in disseminating its concept of virtual learning to the Department of International Economics and Management (INT). Cooperation with INT was extended and intensified in 2002 to the benefit of both parties, and efforts to disseminate the CME concept have been made by arranging a major conference in cooperation with FUHU and through the publication of an anthology and various other activities.
The Center would like to see further dissemination of experience from the CME concept to other environments at CBS, but we are aware that this would require a high degree of motivation in those environments.
In our opinion, the generally accepted benchmarking method for research cooperation and partnerships with the business community, where success rates are measured by the ability to attract external funding in the form of money, is much too narrow. Alternatively, we might focus on whether organisations and institutions enter into real working relationships and apply research results in practice.
However, in terms of external funding, the Center is in fact doing very well (cf. Figure 2).
Figure 2: CME publications in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002
When looking at how the business sector applies research results in practice and how it finances research, it should of course also be pointed out that the development and operation of the virtual HD programme in Marketing/Foreign Trade by the Center supports both.
Last updated by Anders Krag 09/02/2005
