Report 2002: Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy (IVS)
Solbjergvej 3,3
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Head of Department: Peter Lotz
Telefon: +45 3815 2530
Fax: +45 3815 2845
E-mail: ak.ivs@cbs.dk
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Head of Department: Peter Lotz
Telefon: +45 3815 2530
Fax: +45 3815 2845
E-mail: ak.ivs@cbs.dk
Highlights of 2002
- The Department hosted two major international conferences: the DRUID Conference on "Industrial Dynamics of the New and Old Economy - who is embracing whom?" in June and the LINK Conference on "Organising Processes of Building and Leveraging Knowledge" in November.
- The Department intensified patent and copyright research through internal recruiting of a promising assistant professor and a number of arrangements with other institutions and enterprises.
- The Department was in charge of editing three special editions of respected international journals.
- A staff member received the Tietgen Prize for research in business economics.
Academic profile
The Department conducts research in economics with its academic basis in modern economics theories, including, among others, transaction cost economics theory, principal-agent theory, contract economics and information economics, all covered by the broad term of "organisational economics". The Department researches in how these theories, often in combination with more traditional industrial economics and insights from sociology, psychology and geography, can be made to interact with key business economics fields such as strategy (both competition strategy and technology strategy) and organisation (e.g. new organisational forms).
The Department's research field may be described as the "organisation of economic activities". The primary purpose of the Department is to contribute to an understanding of the economic organisation of society and in particular how and why activities are organised in markets, enterprises, business sectors and other "organisations". Ultimately, the purpose is to describe the suitability of a given organisation.
Hence, research at IVS is characterised by an interest in understanding the reason for the organisation of economic activities in various forms of organisation with special structures of knowledge and incentives. Therefore, the traditional distinction between the internal and external relations of an enterprise are not very meaningful to Department research seeing that an important amount of research interest is aimed at the division of labour between enterprises and the market. Department research is characterised by an interest in the broad spectrum of various forms of organisation between the two poles of hierarchy and the market. Thus, a substantial part of our research involves attempts to define the limits of an enterprise by studying the possibilities of appropriating the results of research and development activities or the possibilities of outsourcing activities without risking hold-ups. In other words, this part of Department research studies the driving forces and limits of specialisation or (vertical) division of labour which defines the scope of the market.
Similarly, competition is shaped by industry structure, and analyses of the "horizontal" division of labour are therefore an integral part of the research activities. For example, the existence of economies of scale is one of the driving forces behind increased specialisation (and thus the possibility of e.g. outsourcing), but it is also important to local and global industry structures.
However, Department research activities also cover internal business issues, e.g. analyses of the potential roles of a head office in diversified enterprises, or how to efficiently coordinate knowledge across divisions.
A characteristic feature of the Department is that a large part of its research is conducted against a highly concrete empirical background, and the primary goal is not model development but to understand real-world phenomena. Thus the Department has a long-standing tradition of research in innovation and technology-related topics, and these areas remain a major element of its research field. So far, a large part of Department research (not least technology-oriented research) has had a strong empirical foundation and been inductively oriented. One of the strengths of the Department is to have deep and detailed empirical knowledge of the research fields addressed based on combinations of interviews, surveys, register data and many types of secondary sources.
In recent years, the Department has also conducted research concerning "new organisational forms" (e.g. incentive systems and decentralisation), i.e. general questions of the allocation of decision rights within organisations. Among enterprises, such rights are governed by contracts, which are often explicit but may also frequently be implicit and the result of repeated interaction, creating environments of non-adversary behaviour. Cases in point are certain regional clusters of enterprises.
The relevance of Department research is to be found primarily in the area of strategy, e.g. competition strategy, technology strategy, human resource management, knowledge management or - with a new term - organisation strategy.
Research strategy
The Department regards research activity relevance as the ultimate criterion for good research. Its research results should benefit society in one way or another. In a university department this should be achieved primarily through teaching. However, the Department is increasingly presenting research results directly to players in the business community and the wider society - a fact which may serve as a source of inspiration and stimulation to research activities.
The Department regards research activity relevance as the ultimate criterion for good research. Its research results should benefit society in one way or another. In a university department this should be achieved primarily through teaching. However, the Department is increasingly presenting research results directly to players in the business community and the wider society - a fact which may serve as a source of inspiration and stimulation to research activities.
Before research results can be presented and applied, as a general rule they must be subjected to quality control in the research environment. In light of the increasing specialisation of research, this will often be an international environment. To present research results in international research forums and to publish them internationally is therefore a crucial prerequisite of documenting research quality. International publication is therefore a necessary part of the research obligation.
Hence, the overall, long-term research objective of the Department is to obtain a position as an internationally recognised organisation economics department. And publication in recognised international journals is the most important means of achieving this objective. The Department considers journals such as Research Policy and Industrial and Corporate Change academically highly suitable, but also wishes to contribute to broad top economics journals such as Academy of Management Journal and Strategic Management Journal.
It is the Department goal to keep publication at a level of at least one article published in an international journal per permanently employed researcher.
It is the Department goal to keep publication at a level of at least one article published in an international journal per permanently employed researcher.
Department research is organised as a combination of individual projects, joint authorships and major projects, typically with external funding.
External funds finance projects with independent research plans adapted to and supporting the Department research profile. The Department aims to pursue a high degree of external funding, not least in order to be able to retain a fair number of PhD students.
In 2002, the Department portfolio of externally funded projects included the following: DRUID (Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics), LINK (Learning, Incentives and Knowledge), CISTEMA (Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Management of Technology), the LOK project entitled "The building of international relations by small and medium-sized Danish sub-contractors" as well as an agreement with the Danish Agency for Development of Trade and Industry on the funding four scholarships. Furthermore, the Department still constitutes an important element of the Center for Law, Economics and Financial Institutions (LEFIC). In 2002, the research portfolio was enlarged with the "Biotechnology Innovation in the Oresund Region" programme. In general, the Danish Social Science Research Council is the Department's key source of external funding.
In 2002, the Department extended its research activities in the area of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), i.a. through recruiting efforts and collaboration with the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, and it aims to develop these activities into a proper area of strength.
Research results
For many years, IVS has been among the most published departments of the Faculty, and this was also the case in 2002. The Department publication profile is extremely international. While the total number of Faculty publications (excluding proceedings, working papers and "other publications") is distributed fairly evenly on Nordic-language (Danish) and foreign-language (English) publications, more than 80 per cent of the Department's research is published in English. This is the result of a deliberate effort to be a part of the international research environment.
For many years, IVS has been among the most published departments of the Faculty, and this was also the case in 2002. The Department publication profile is extremely international. While the total number of Faculty publications (excluding proceedings, working papers and "other publications") is distributed fairly evenly on Nordic-language (Danish) and foreign-language (English) publications, more than 80 per cent of the Department's research is published in English. This is the result of a deliberate effort to be a part of the international research environment.
Over the last five years, the total number of publications has been fairly constant, and the same applies to the proportion of Danish and English publications. In 2002, however, the number of English-language publications declined slightly, mainly due to fewer anthology contributions. With regard to the most important type of publication of the Department, i.e. articles in English-language journals, the level was 17 in 2002 against 19 in 2001. It is difficult to judge the quality of these articles, but there is a tendency towards publication in better journals.
Publication in 2002 thus included Research Policy and Industrial and Corporate Change (twice).
Research relations to practice
As mentioned under the academic profile, to a wide extent Department research is aimed at concrete, practical issues of organising activities in the business community and the wider society. Department research is thus inspired by research itself and by its surroundings. Department researchers therefore have a long-standing tradition of collaborating with external players, primarily to identify relevant issues and to retrieve data. This type of activity often leads to invitations to participate in the strategic considerations of such players. Examples from 2002:
As mentioned under the academic profile, to a wide extent Department research is aimed at concrete, practical issues of organising activities in the business community and the wider society. Department research is thus inspired by research itself and by its surroundings. Department researchers therefore have a long-standing tradition of collaborating with external players, primarily to identify relevant issues and to retrieve data. This type of activity often leads to invitations to participate in the strategic considerations of such players. Examples from 2002:
The Department staff have:
- entered into working relationships with enterprises such as Accenture, CSC, Framfab, Glunz & Jensen et al. with a view to sparring and retrieval of empirical data;
- given evidence in the hearing on software patents conducted by the Business and Research Committee under the Danish Parliament;
- participated as experts in a UN Task Force on Intellectual Property;
- participated as experts in the "Task Force Transport" Conference arranged by Transportøkonomisk Forening (Transport Economy Association) and the National Agency for Enterprise and Housing;
- participated in a working group on "technological vision" under the Danish Agency for Development of Trade and Industry and made a presentation to the committees on the interaction of research and innovation under the Research Councils;
- made a presentation on the reform of the University Act to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Danish Rectors' Conference;
- been a member of the Danish Building Development Council and made a presentation at the building sector hearing held by the Danish Parliament;
- been the prime mover of Reklamekartellet - an association that brings about contact between research environments and the advertising business.
In addition, many members of the Department staff have commented on subjects such as local business development, government aid and socio-political issues in the media. Research results have been presented in articles in Danish financial daily Børsen, among others.
In addition to such individual activities, groups of Department staff have held seminars with players from the 'real world': In the spring, a meeting was held with Wonderful Copenhagen on the development of tourism in Copenhagen, and in September a number of key players from the patent industry participated in a presentation of the Department's research in this area.
Last updated by Anders Krag 09/02/2005
