The past two decades have seen a gradual but noticeable change in the economic organization of innovative activity. Most firms used to integrate research and development with activities such as production, marketing, and distribution. Today firms are forming joint ventures, research and development alliances, licensing deals, and a variety of other outsourcing arrangements with universities, technology-based start-ups, and other established firms. In many industries, a division of innovative labor is emerging, with a substantial increase in the licensing of existing and prospective technologies. In short, technology and knowledge are becoming definable and tradable commodities. Although researchers have made significant advances in understanding the determinants and consequences of innovation, until recently they have paid little attention to how innovation functions as an economic process. This book examines the nature and workings of markets for intermediate technological inputs. It looks first at how industry structure, the nature of knowledge, and intellectual property rights facilitate the development of technology markets. It then examines the impacts of these markets on firm boundaries, the division of labor within the economy, industry structure, and economic growth. Finally, it examines the implications of this framework for public policy and corporate strategy. Combining theoretical perspectives from economics and management with empirical analysis, the book also draws on historical evidence and case studies to flesh out its research results.

A comprehensive history of market-shaping industries and their impact on how we invest today This engaging book highlights the history of industrial development and its impact on investors. Today's investors will learn about past approaches to technological advances such as-electricity, the railroad, the telephone, the computer, and much more-while gaining insights on how to appraise the "new technology" companies of the future. This complete and well researched history of industries and investing wouldn't be complete without a look at: how Thomas Edison lost control of his company, the impact of the Standard Oil breakup, the early days of the wireless industry, and the changing face of the computer industry today. Investors looking for industry-shaping investments will undoubtedly use Engines That Move Markets as their guide.

Insights that can help you improve your technology edge Featuring contributions from technology visionaries at leading alternative investors, hedge funds, trading firms, exchanges, and vendors, this book covers current trends in trading technology. The book features interviews with the leaders responsible for the technology that is shaping today's electronic financial markets. You'll hear the views of CIOs, CTOs, and other technology leaders on emerging technologies, innovation in the financial sector, and how technology is enhancing markets in ways other than just speed. Their perspectives on harnessing technology to enhance computing power, reduce time to market, bolster risk management, and much more offer valuable lessons for readers. Includes a wealth of practical insights on how to improve your technology edge Features interviews with leading technology professionals in the financial industry across an array of asset classes and markets Serves as a topical guide to the latest developments, enhancements and applications of technology to tackle trading and risk management challenges Includes insights from top technology professionals on evaluating and adopting technology solutions Looks at the effects of technology on finance professionals and their businesses as well as the global finance industry generally

Slicing through blunt theories of supply and demand, Callon presents a rigorously researched but counterintuitive model of how everyday market activity gets produced. If you’re convinced you know what a market is, think again. In his long-awaited study, French sociologist and engineer Michel Callon takes us to the heart of markets, to the unsung processes that allow innovations to become robust products and services. Markets in the Making begins with the observation that stable commercial transactions are more enigmatic, more elusive, and more involved than previously described by economic theory. Slicing through blunt theories of supply and demand, Callon presents a rigorously researched but counterintuitive model of market activity that emphasizes what people designing products or launching startups soon discover—the inherent difficulties of connecting individuals to things. Callon’s model is founded upon the notion of “singularization,” the premise that goods and services must adapt and be adapted to the local milieu of every individual whose life they enter. Person by person, thing by thing, Callon demonstrates that for ordinary economic transactions to emerge en masse, singular connections must be made. Pushing us to see markets as more than abstract interfaces where pools of anonymous buyers and sellers meet, Callon draws our attention to the exhaustively creative practices that market professionals continuously devise to entangle people and things. Markets in the Making exemplifies how prototypes, fragile curiosities that have only just been imagined, are gradually honed into predictable objects and practices. Once these are active enough to create a desired effect, yet passive enough to be transferred from one place to another without disruption, they will have successfully achieved the status of “goods” or “services.” The output of this more ample process of innovation, as redefined by Callon, is what we recognize as “the market”—commercial activity, at scale. The capstone of an influential research career at the forefront of science and technology studies, Markets in the Making coherently integrates the empirical perspective of product engineering with the values of the social sciences. After masterfully redescribing how markets are made, Callon culminates with a strong empirical argument for why markets can and should be harnessed to enact social change. His is a theory of markets that serves social critique.

The first book to provide an integrative presentation of the issues, challenges and success of designing, building and using agent applications. The chapters presented are written by internationally leading authorities in the field, with a general audience in mind. The result is a unique overview of agent technology applications, ranging from an introduction to the technical foundations to reports on dealing with specific agent systems in practice.

This Palgrave Pivot explores how communication technology such as the Internet has changed the nature of trade, focusing especially on economy-wide reductions in company size (granularity) and the role of retailers (disintermediation). By increasing access to comparative data, influencing conceptions of time, and reducing the number of intermediaries between creator and consumer, technological connectivity is changing the very definition of competition. In the new network economy, disintermediation and granularity are turning cooperative information gathering and sharing into a vital market institution. To exemplify the effects of communication technology, Bhatt focuses on two markets with particularly powerful effects on the economy: labor and education, and CIME (communication, information services, media, and entertainment). Mobile connectivity is radically changing the extent, capabilities, and operations of these markets, both in terms of the services they provide and how they interact with consumers. Bhatt also explores how these benefits intersect with new concerns about privacy and security when the line between public and private information is becoming ever more fluid.

A proposal for moving from price-centric to innovation-centric competition policy, reviewing theory and evidence on economic incentives for innovation. Competition policy and antitrust enforcement have traditionally focused on prices rather than innovation. Economic theory shows the ways that price competition benefits consumers, and courts, antitrust agencies, and economists have developed tools for the quantitative evaluation of price impacts. Antitrust law does not preclude interventions to encourage innovation, but over time the interpretation of the laws has raised obstacles to enforcement policies for innovation. In this book, economist Richard Gilbert proposes a shift from price-centric to innovation-centric competition policy. Antitrust enforcement should be concerned with protecting incentives for innovation and preserving opportunities for dynamic, rather than static, competition. In a high-technology economy, Gilbert argues, innovation matters. Gilbert considers both theory and available empirical evidence on the relationships among market structure, firm behavior, and the production of new products and services. He reviews the distinctive features of the high-tech economy and why current analytical tools used by antitrust enforcers aren't up to the task of assessing innovation concerns. He considers, from the perspective of innovation competition, Kenneth Arrow's “replacement effect” and the Schumpeterian theory of market power and appropriation; discusses the effect of mergers on innovation and future price competition; and reviews the empirical literature on competition, mergers, and innovation. He describes examples of merger enforcement by US and European antitrust agencies; examines cases brought against Microsoft and Google; and discusses the risks and benefits of interoperability standards. Finally, he offers recommendations for competition policy. The open access edition of this book was made possible by generous funding from Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.