Scale invariance, collective behaviours and structural reorganization are crucial for portfolio management (portfolio composition, hedging, alternative definition of risk, etc.). This lack of any characteristic scale and such elaborated behaviours find their origin in the theory of complex systems. There are several mechanisms which generate scale invariance but maximum entropy models are able to explain both scale invariance and collective behaviours.<p>The study of the structure and collective modes of financial markets attracts more and more attention. It has been shown that some agent based models are able to reproduce some stylized facts. Despite their partial success, there is still the problem of rules design. In this work, we used a statistical inverse approach to model the structure and co-movements in financial markets. Inverse models restrict the number of assumptions. We found that a pairwise maximum entropy model is consistent with the data and is able to describe the complex structure of financial systems. We considered the existence of a critical state which is linked to how the market processes information, how it responds to exogenous inputs and how its structure changes. The considered data sets did not reveal a persistent critical state but rather oscillations between order and disorder.<p>In this framework, we also showed that the collective modes are mostly dominated by pairwise co-movements and that univariate models are not good candidates to model crashes. The analysis also suggests a genuine adaptive process since both the maximum variance of the log-likelihood and the accuracy of the predictive scheme vary through time. This approach may provide some clue to crash precursors and may provide highlights on how a shock spreads in a financial network and if it will lead to a crash. The natural continuation of the present work could be the study of such a mechanism. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In today’s globalised world, everyday life becomes increasingly “liquid” - changing and fragile - as individuals continuously adapt their lifestyle and behaviour to global influences (Bauman 2000). To provide a general framework for understanding this world, Appadurai (1996) introduces five “dimensions” of global flows in his seminal work Modernity At Large: ethnoscapes, financescapes, mediascapes, ideoscapes, and technoscapes. One of them, the ethnoscapes, refers to the increased mobility of individuals and peoples, impacting their cultural affiliations and social networks. <p>The focus of this thesis lies on international, cross-border migrants, the primary representatives of these uprooted individuals. Studying migrants’ consumption behaviour provides a better understanding of the issues faced by all members of liquid life in terms of consumption behaviour, whether they are migrants or not, by referring to its most extreme cases.<p>The present dissertation addresses migrant consumer research through an original angle. It suggests that international migrants position themselves in the global mediascapes of cosmopolitanism and transmigrant communities by activating different consumption discourses. This approach offers a solution to previous ambiguous categorisations of international migrants by relying on self-categorisation across national and cultural boundaries instead of outside-defined sociodemographic or geopolitical criteria. In addition to providing a typology based on the migrants’ strategies of positioning that explains global consumer acculturation, the results allow for a disambiguation of the notions of immigrants, globals and cosmopolitans.<p>The contribution of the dissertation lies in its contrast to existing research, and is therefore more adapted to the liquidity of our modern world. Indeed, the field of consumer research as much as political discourse or companies tend to categorise international migrants according to socioeconomic or geopolitical criteria, such as education, duration of stay or ethnic origin. While consumer research often views low-skilled immigrants in light of specific ethnic groups (Peñaloza 1994, Oswald 1999, Üçok 2007), cross-cultural samples represent the preferred approach to highly-skilled expatriates (Thompson and Tambyah 1999). Consumer research addresses and considers these categories of migrants differently, a questionable postulation in light of global flows which render movement across nations more complex and lead to mixed and multiple cultural affiliations. <p>The main research question to answer in the present thesis is: How do international migrants use consumption behaviour to make sense of their experience? Its broad character allows for new insights and approaches to emerge, both on the side of existing literature and on the empirical side. <p>The dissertation initiates the answer by a first review of the literature. The review highlights gaps and contradictions which can be found in the literature centred on international migrants and their consumption behaviour. The explanation of the context of this research encompasses the definition of consumer culture as well as of globalisation. Indeed, consumption as a discourse plays a role especially in terms of the subscription to a particular group; individuals use consumption to communicate, to express their affiliation with a family, or a place, to situate their identity in their universe (Douglas and Isherwood 1979). These issues change in the global context, and therefore need review. Migration research constitutes the second chapter of the literature review. It presents on the one hand the people endeavouring migration, and on the other, illustrates the various models explaining migration as a process. <p>Based on this review, the research question transforms, splitting it into three elements, each focusing on one element: cultural affiliations, migrant networks and consumer acculturation. The consequent empirical part aims at answering these three questions through three separate, though complementary, research phases, which rely on in-depth interviews, focus groups and observations. Each phase predominantly addressed one research question, though all three elements remain present in all phases. <p>Different types of consumption discourses emerge; in the case of a focus on products of home and/or host culture, three locality discourses develop. Seven globality discourses integrate global and other foreign products in the equation. International migrants seem to use these locality and globality discourses to position themselves in today’s liquid world. They can consequently be compared to the twelve worlds that are presented by Rosenau (2004) as positioning strategies resulting from global “fragmegration”, that is, the difficulty of integrating fragmented and contradictory elements of global societies. <p>The contribution of this dissertation lies in the integration of more diversity in the concepts of cultural affiliations, migrant networks and consumer acculturation. Consequently, the locality and globality discourses provide indications as to the acculturation strategies possible for its members.<p>Doing so, this thesis integrates debates of the local and the global, immigrants versus expatriates, integration versus acculturation, a comparison of interest to both researchers and marketers. On a theoretical level, the thesis provides thus a more generalised view on international migrants, incorporating previous categories. It provides practical solutions, both on a political and on a managerial level. The provided typology enables policy-makers and managers to better understand the new tendencies and problematics inherent to international migration and to address migrants in a way taking into account their actual affiliations and networks. <p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Le modèle ELIE (pour Equal Labour Income Equalization) est un modèle inédit de redistribution globale des revenus – qui a été proposé par Serge-Christophe Kolm dans Macrojustice (2005). Les enjeux de ce modèle, qui repose notamment sur une réflexion profonde concernant les implications économiques des systèmes de valeurs acceptés dans les sociétés occidentales contemporaines, méritent d’être discutés. Notre thèse est qu’en prenant ses distances avec le paradigme dominant en économie normative, à savoir le welfarisme, Kolm est conduit à modifier la définition de l’économie normative. Pour être plus précis, alors que l’économie normative ne traitait jusque-là que de la question des modalités de la redistribution, laissant celle de la nature de l’assiette de redistribution à la philosophie morale et politique (comme en atteste la controverse « égalité de quoi ? » initiée par Sen), Kolm entend réintroduire cette seconde question dans le champ de l’économie normative. La thèse se compose de trois parties portant sur les implications de ce changement de paradigme et de la redéfinition du champ de l’économie normative. La première partie s’attache aux fondements du modèle ELIE et plus précisément à la justification de la redistribution des revenus et à la détermination de son intensité à travers la question d’un choix social libéral. La deuxième partie aborde les implications théoriques de ce changement de paradigme et traite plus spécifiquement de la relation du modèle avec la théorie mirrleesienne de la fiscalité optimale et avec le welfarisme en général. La troisième partie se tourne vers les conséquences de ce modèle en termes de règles de redistribution. / The ELIE model (for « Equal Labor Income Equalization ») is a new model of global income redistribution – proposed by Serge-Christophe Kolm in Macrojustice (2005). What is at stake in this model, which is based on a Deep Thought concerning economic implications of values systems accepted in contemporary occidental societies, deserves to be discussed. I defend the idea that by distancing himself from the dominant paradigm in normative economics, namely the welfarism, Kolm is led to modify the definition of normative economics. To be more precise, while until then normative economics dealt only with the question of redistribution modality, leaving the question of nature of redistribution to moral and political philosophy (as shown in the « equality of what? » controversy initiated by Sen), Kolm reintroduces this second question in the field of normative economics. The dissertation is composed of three parts relating to implications of this paradigm shift and to Kolm’s redefinition of normative economics field. The first part focuses on fundaments of the ELIE model and, more precisely, on income redistribution justification and on the determination of the intensity of redistribution, through the question of a liberal social choice. The second part is about implications of this paradigm shift and is devoted more specifically to the relation of the ELIE model with the mirrleesian theory of optimal taxation and with welfarism in general. The third part turns toward this model’s consequences in terms of redistribution rules.

In the past decades, decentralization has become increasingly important in both developing and developed countries. Based on the standard decentralization theorem, policy makers believe that local governments are closer to citizens and know more about local contexts and needs than the national governments. Consequently, they can design policies leading to a more efficient allocation of public goods. Moreover, when accompanied by empowerment of local decision-makers, decentralization is supposed to make local politicians more accountable to voters in a way that national politicians are not. Yet, the effective implementation of decentralization policies may heavily rely on local institutions. This thesis contributes to a rising literature analyzing the political economics of decentralization, that is the extent to which local political dynamics may reinforce or jeopardies decentralization reforms, ultimately affecting the citizens' well-being. I consider three countries that have devolved power to local politicians to a different extent, and tackle three obstacles that may undermine the beneficial effects of decentralization reforms: first, strong political competition at the local level; second, the need for coordinating the provision of a local public good; the interaction between political competition and coordination needs on accountability and eventually the quality of a local public good. Political competition may hinder the beneficial effects of decentralization on stability in a post-war country like Burundi. After a long-lasting and devastating civil war, in 2010 Burundi organized the first local elections, with the hope of establishing political stability through democratic means. However, together with two co-authors, I show that such political decentralization partly failed. We use a unique dataset and geographic fixed effects to show that violence was higher in municipalities characterized by fierce political competition and acute polarization between demobilized rebel groups. The former protagonists of the civil war used the elections as another stage to engage in a stiff struggle for power, and used “specialists of violence” to illicitly steer the electoral outcome.Political dynamics may undermine the coordinated management of the local sewerage networks in Brazil. I use geospatial data to proxy for the scope of coordination between neighboring municipalities: municipalities that are close “enough” are those more exposed to the spreading of water-borne diseases, which ultimately justifies cross-boundary coordination of local sanitation networks. By exploiting a Regression Discontinuity Design in close municipal elections, I show that political alignment between neighboring mayors may lead to lower access to sanitation networks of households. I argue that mayors co-managing a public good have a stronger incentive to monitor each other and ensure effective coordination when they come from different political parties, essentially because of political competition. Mayors from the same party would tend instead to be more lenient to each other, ultimately undermining the quality of the local public good co-provided.Finally, I study the effect of decentralization on the accountability of local politicians co-managing local police in Belgium. In 2005, one of the regions of Belgium introduced the direct election of mayors, while in the rest of the country mayors remained appointed by the local city councils. Together with a co-author, I exploit this reform to show that crime incidence in municipalities affected by the reform decreased faster than anywhere else in the country. We argue that the direct election of mayors increase the accountability of mayors and their incentives to fight criminality. However, we find that the effects of the reform decrease when an increasingly larger number of neighboring mayors has to coordinate the local police. The need to coordinate the local police blur accountability, mitigating the effects of the reform. To conclude, the overarching message of the thesis is that local institutions matter for the implementation of decentralization policies. Policy-makers redesigning the distribution of power between levels of government need to take into account pre-existing political and institutional dynamics that could jeopardize their policy initiatives. In particular, policy-makers could envision decentralization “at different speeds”, enabling local actors to identify objectives of development together with the right tools to pursue them, and finally decentralize accordingly. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The research performed throughout this dissertation aims at implementing quantitative methods in order to assess economic and technological performances of firms, i.e. it tries to assess the impacts of the determinants of technological activity on the results of this activity. For this purpose, a representative sample of the most important R&D firms in the world is constituted. The micro-economic nature of the analysis, as well as its international dimension are two main features of this research at the empirical level. The second chapter illustrates the importance of R&D investments, patenting activities and other measures of technological activities performed by firms over the last 10 years. The third chapter describes the main features as well as the construction of the database. The raw data sample consists of comparable detailed micro-level data on 2676 large manufacturing firms from several countries. These firms have reported important R&D expenditures over the period 1980-1994. The fourth chapter explores the dynamic structure of the patent-R&D relationship by considering the number of patent applications as a function of present and lagged levels of R&D expenditures. R&D spillovers as well as technological and geographical opportunities are taken into account as additional determinants in order to explain patenting behaviours. The estimates are based on recently developed econometric techniques that deal with the discrete non-negative nature of the dependent patent variable as well as the simultaneity that can arise between the R&D decisions and patenting. The results show evidence of a rather contemporaneous impact of R&D activities on patenting. As far as R&D spillovers are concerned, these externalities have a significantly higher impact on patenting than own R&D. Furthermore, these effects appear to take more time, three years on average, to show up in patents. The fifth chapter explores the contribution of own stock of R&D capital to productivity performance of firms. To this end the usual productivity residual methodology is implemented. The empirical section presents a first set of results which replicate the analysis of previous studies and tries to assess the robustness of the findings with regard to the above issues. Then, further results, based on different sub samples of the data set, investigate to what extent the R&D contribution on productivity differs across firms of different industries and geographic areas or between small and large firms and low and high-tech firms. The last section explores more carefully the simultaneity issue. On the whole, the estimates indicate that R&D has a positive impact on productivity performances. Yet, this contribution is far from being homogeneous across the different dimensions of data or according to the various assumptions retained in the productivity model. The last empirical chapter goes deeper into the analysis of firms' productivity increases, by considering besides own R&D activities the impact of technological spillovers. The chapter begins by surveying the alternative ways proposed in the literature in order to asses the effect of R&D spillovers on productivity. The main findings reported by some studies at the micro level are then outlined. Then, the framework to formalize technological externalities and other technological determinants is exposed. This framework is based on a positioning of firms into a technological space using their patent distribution across technological fields. The question of whether the externalities generated by the technological and geographic neighbours are different on the recipient's productivity is also addressed by splitting the spillover variable into a local and national component. Then, alternative measures of technological proximity are examined. Some interesting observations emerge from the empirical results. First, the impact of spillovers on productivity increases is positive and much more important than the contribution of own R&D. Second, spillover effects are not the same according to whether they emanate from firms specialized in similar technological fields or firms more distant in the technological space. Finally, the magnitude and direction of these effects are radically different within and between the pillars of the Triad. While European firms do not appear to particularly benefit from both national and international sources of spillovers, US firms are mainly receptive to their national stock and Japanese firms take advantage from the international stock.

This thesis consists in a collection of research works dealing with various aspects of International Economics. More precisely, we focus on three main themes: (i) the existence of a world business cycle and the implications thereof, (ii) the likelihood of asymmetric shocks in the Euro Zone resulting from fluctuations in the euro exchange rate because of differences in sector specialization patterns and some consequences of such shocks, and (iii) the relationship between trade openness and growth influence of the sector specialization structure on that relationship. Regarding the approach pursued to tackle these problems, we have chosen to strictly remain within the boundaries of empirical (macro)economics - that is, applied econometrics. Though we systematically provide theoretical models to back up our empirical approach, our only real concern is to look at the stories the data can (or cannot) tell us. As to the econometric methodology, we will restrict ourselves to the use of panel data analysis. The large spectrum of techniques available within the panel framework allows us to utilize, for each of the problems at hand, the most suitable approach (or what we think it is).

Le travail de recherche présenté a pour objet l'évaluation des mesures de promotion du biodiesel envisagées à l'horizon 2010 en France. Cette évaluation repose sur une étude approfondie de la demande de biodiesel française basée sur l'utilisation d'un modèle d'optimisation sous contraintes représentant l'ensemble de l'industrie française du raffinage. La prise en compte des caractéristiques physico-chimiques du biodiesel au moment de la constitution du pool gazole permet au biodiesel d'être incorporé à hauteur de 27% en volume dans le gazole sans problème technique majeur. Une décomposition de la valeur marginale attribuée au biodiesel par les raffineurs en fonction de ses caractéristiques physico-chimiques nous montre que le contenu énergétique du biodiesel est la caractéristique la plus défavorable à l'incorporation de biodiesel et que la densité devient contraignante au-delà de 17% d'incorporation. Le faible contenu en soufre du biodiesel peut néanmoins s'avérer intéressant à l'horizon 2010. A la lumière de cette analyse de la demande, nous procédons à un couplage externe d'un modèle d'offre agro-industriel en biodiesel et du modèle de raffinage français. Ainsi nous étudions l'impact de la réalisation de l'objectif de mise à la consommation du biodiesel pour l'année 2010 sur les surfaces agricoles à mobiliser, la compétitivité du biodiesel, la réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre et la balance commerciale des produits pétroliers. A partir des résultats obtenus, nous proposons une analyse critique des mesures de promotion du biodiesel envisagées à l'horizon 2010.

La thèse interroge la possibilité d'une régulation unique du secteur des services à la personne tel qu'il a été institutionnellement délimité par le Plan Borloo de 2005. Nous y défendons l'idée que, si le Plan Borloo n'a pas permis de générer un secteur unifié, (au sens que lui donne les approches en termes de régulation sectorielle), les dispositifs visant la construction d'un marché des services à la personne, qu'il a introduit, sont mobilisés à la fois par les nouveaux entrants et par les acteurs historiques du champ, mais de façon non homogène et différente de ce que le Plan anticipait.Il en résulte une situation de double crise (crise des enseignes et crises des associations autorisées) que les conclusions de la thèse permettent d'éclairer. / My thesis tests the existence of a unique sectorial-based regulation for lifestyle and domiciliary care services as it was institutionally delimited and thought by the French Plan Borloo (2005). I defend the idea that the Plan Borloo has not generated a unified sector configuration (as defined by sectorial-based regulation approaches). The Plan Borloo has introduced institutional arrangements that aim to constructing a market for lifestyle and home care services. Theses arrangements are mobilised both by new players and by historical suppliers but non-homogenously and differently than expected by the Plan. The consequence is a double crisis (crisis of the new player “brand names” and crisis of the historical third sector actors) that my conclusion explains.

La présente thèse se propose d'étudier la formation de la demande pour les instruments de paiements. Dans un premier essai, nous montrons à l'aide d'un modèle théorique et d'une étude empirique sur données françaises que la tarification des retraits déplacés réduit la demande pour les espèces. Dans un deuxième essai, nous montrons, également à l'aide d'un modèle théorique et d'une étude sur données françaises, que les marchands ajustent leur prix pour rendre les paiements en espèce plus pratiques, au sens où ils mobilisent moins de pièces et billets. Les prix convénients à payer en espèces sont plus fréquent toutes choses égales par ailleurs, et ils sont plus fréquemment payés en espèces. Les troisième et quatrième essais étudient l'impact du crime comme facteur environnemental pour les marchands, plus spécifiquement sur le niveau d'appréciation des espèces et sur l'acceptation de la carte bancaire. Nous montrons que les marchands ont une préférence plus élevée pour les espèces et acceptent moins fréquemment les cartes bancaire de paiement dans un département où la criminalité financière est importante. Les consommateurs possèdent plus souvent une carte bancaire et retirent hebdomadairement des sommes plus élevées aux distributeurs automatiques de billets. Nous mettons en évidence les effets opposés pour un niveau élevé de criminalité violente, aussi bien pour les consommateurs que pour les marchands.% Les effets de la criminalité financière sont interprétés comme résultant de sélection adverse tandis que les effets de la criminalité violente sont interprétés comme des effets de précaution.Enfin, le sixième essai étudie l'influence du risque perçu sur la fréquence de détention et la fréquence d'utilisation des instruments de paiement. Nous appliquons le modèle de Jacoby et Kaplan (1972) au choix de l'instrument de paiement, et nous concluons à partir d'une étude empirique sur données françaises que le risque de manque et le risque de temps ont les effets les plus transversaux sur la demande pour les instruments de paiement. / The present dissertation studies the formation of the demand for the main retail payment instruments (cash, bank card and check). The first chapter presents both a theoretical and empirical analysis using French data. We conclude that charging cash withdrawals at ATMs outside the network of the bank reduces the global demand for cash. The second chapter concludes, with the help of a theoretical model and on the basis of French data, that a seller adjust prices in order to make the buyers pay cash by making cash payment more convenient, in the sense that they limit the number of coins and notes exchanged. All other things being equal, we show that convenient prices are more frequent and more frequently paid cash. The third and fourth chapters study the impact of crime as an environmental factor on the merchant side, more specifically on the preference for cash and card acceptance. We show that in an environment with a high level of financial criminality, merchants have a higher preference for cash and are less likely to accept bank cards. The fifth chapter studies the impact of crime as an environmental factor on the choice of payment instrument by consumers. They are more likely to own a payment card, and the weekly sums withdrawn at ATMs are higher. We find opposite effects for Violent Crime. Eventually, the sixth chapter studies the impact of perceived risk on the holding and and use of payment instruments. We apply the model of Jacoby and Kaplan (1972) to payment instruments, and we conclude on the basis of an empirical investigation that the risk of lack and the time risk have the most cross-cutting effects on the demand for each of the main retail payment instruments.

Qu’est-ce qui détermine la survie et le succès des organisations à travers les différents régimes institutionnels? La présente étude tente à répondre à la question en analysant l’évolution d'une institution médicale publique russe, c. à. d. l'Institution de l'Etat Fédéral « Le Complexe Intersectoriel de Recherche et Technologie « Microchirurgie de l'Œil » de Rosmedtechnologie. L’étude s’étend sur quatre périodes bien définies: 1960-1985 (la Russie Soviétique, la période de pré-perestroïka), 1986-1991 (la perestroïka de Gorbatchev), 1992-2000 (la transition), et 2001-2009 (la Russie actuelle, la période post-Fyodorov). L’analyse se centre sur une coévolution des institutions externes et de la structure organisationnelle de l'entreprise, le système de droits de propriété, les tendances d'innovation et les canaux de diffusion technologique. Les conclusions suggèrent que l'environnement institutionnel général exerce une influence sur la performance de l'entreprise en déterminant « les règles du jeu » pour les transactions économiques et en établissant un ensemble de possibilités de développement. C'est alors les processus internes à l'entreprise, ses compétences dynamiques et sa capacité à innover qui déterminent si l'organisation peut s'adapter aux changements externes, reconnaître les possibilités de développement et en profiter. Par ailleurs, la direction (le leadership), le type de technologie et le niveau de sa diffusion, l’initial soutien de l'Etat, de même que la demande jouent un rôle apparent pour soutenir la performance réussie. Une structure multi-niveaux des récompenses de performance en combinaison avec les méthodes de traitement innovatrices (c. à. d. l’usage d’un conveyor chirurgical et la production en brigades) ont amené à des volumes de procédures cliniques performées plus élevées, de même que la qualité, la complexité et la diversité de traitement plus élevées. D’autant plus, pendant les étapes plus anciennes du développement de l’entreprise, la présence des inventeurs prolifiques et la structure organisationnelle qui soutenait l’apprentissage, la production et l’accumulation des connaissances (le cycle « clinique – ingénierie – approbation – production – clinique ») étaient cruciaux pour la création d’une base d’innovation persistante. Pendant les périodes plus récentes, la combinaison d’accès aux ressources (matérielles, financières, capital humain), les collaborations externes, les méthodes innovatrices d’organisation de traitement, la diffusion extensive des technologies inter- et intra-firme ont aussi contribué à des hauts niveaux d’innovation. Au total, le travail soutient une approche interdisciplinaire à l’étude des organisations, c. à. d. une combinaison de l'analyse institutionnelle, l’économie évolutionnaire et l’économie dynamique d’organisations, le management stratégique, l’économie d'innovation, l’analyse des droits de propriété et le rôle de leadership. / What determines organizational survival and success across different institutional regimes? The present historical case study attempts to answer the question by analyzing the evolution of a Russian state medical institution, i.e. the S.N. Fyodorov “Inter-Sectoral Research and Technology Complex “Eye Microsurgery””. The study spans over four clearly defined regimes: 1960 – 1985 (Soviet Russia, pre-perestroika period), 1986 – 1991 (Gorbachev’s perestroika), 1992 – 2000 (the transition years), and 2001 – 2009 (current Russia, post-Fyodorov period). The analysis focuses on the co-evolution of the external institutions and the firm’s organizational structure, the system of property rights, innovation patterns and the channels of technological diffusion. The findings suggest that the general institutional environment exerts influence on the firm’s performance through determining the “rules of the game” for economic transactions and through establishing a set of development possibilities. It is then the firm’s internal processes, dynamic competences and the ability to innovate that determine whether the organization can adapt to external changes, recognize the development possibilities and take advantage of them. In addition, the roles of leadership, the type of technology and its diffusion scope, initial State support, as well as the extent of demand are apparent in sustaining successful performance. Multi-level high performance rewards structure in combination with novel industrialized treatment methods (e.g. the use of a surgical conveyer and team production) resulted in greater volumes of clinical procedures performed, as well as higher quality, complexity and diversity of treatment. In addition, at the earlier stages of the firm’s development, the presence of prolific innovators and the organizational structure that supported learning, knowledge production and accumulation (the “clinic – engineering – approbation – production – clinic” cycle) were crucial for creating a basis for persistent innovation. In later periods, the combination of resource availability (material, financial, human capital), external collaborations, novel ways of organizing treatment, extensive inter and intra-firm diffusion of technologies also contributed to high levels of innovation. Overall, the work provides support for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of organizations, i.e. combining institutional analysis, evolutionary and dynamic organizational economics, strategic management, the economics of innovation, the analysis of property rights and the role of leadership.