Non-appropriateness

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As a non-Aneigbarkeit ( English : Inappropriability ) is called in economics the phenomenon that a company not all the benefits (usually proceeds ) of products manufactured by him good can be realized. For example , knowledge generated through research and development (R&D) or the knowledge underlying the company's core competencies cannot be fully acquired under certain conditions.

A company cannot internalize the entire knowledge generated - knowledge is thus a form of a collective good , as its criterion of non-excludability ; use by person A does not exclude use by person B, C etc. or, in this context, not entirely off) partly fulfilled and additionally the criterion of non-rivalry (English: rivalry ; the use of knowledge by person A does not rival the use of knowledge by person B, C etc.) completely fulfilled.

The fact that a company cannot internalize all of the knowledge it generates is due to the fact that, for various reasons, part of the knowledge always diffuses (that is, “seeps through” the boundaries of the company and thus becomes accessible to others). One reason for this diffusion of knowledge is, for example, that other companies operate reverse engineering and thus use the knowledge of the innovating company with less effort than with their own developments.

Every innovation thus generates positive external effects ( externalities ) on other companies due to this inability to acquire knowledge , but at the same time can lead to underproduction in a market economy due to the lower incentive (suboptimal, because non-exclusive, use of knowledge or technology) . The degree of adaptability determines whether a company invests in a project. The external effects can manifest themselves in the form of reduced development times ( time-to-market ) or reduced development costs. If necessary, a company can also use this diffused knowledge to bring products or technologies comparable to those of the innovating company onto the market and thus, for example, force them into the market as an early successor .

In the extreme case, with perfect non-appropriateness, the good will not, ceteris paribus, be produced by the private sector, while perfect appropriateness leads to efficient production. The underproduction of a non-appropriable good through low resource allocation is thus a form of market failure . This, in turn, can be used by the state as a justification for intervening in the market. Intellectual property such as patents or copyrights represent a certain protection, especially for goods or processes and "technologies" based on knowledge or ideas, so that the financial incentive for production is not nil.

The non-appropriateness of knowledge thus forms the counterpart to tacitical knowledge .

literature

  • Arrow, Kenneth J. (1971): Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention , Economics of Information and Knowledge (Editor: DM Lamberton), Baltimore, Penguin Books
  • Kukuk, Martin; Stadler, Manfred (2002): Rivalry and Innovation Races , Economics Seminar, Discussion Article No. 236, University of Tübingen PDF (English)

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