Intermediary organisations play a distinctive, yet underestimated, role in the learning processes of developing economy clusters. This study situates itself in a new way of thinking about knowledge and innovation; one that emphasises learning as a social process, within communities that emerge through the development of shared practice. It finds that, while previous formulations of intermediaries have emphasised linking and accessing, in some contexts their roles are more fundamental and include community-building and coordinating common strategies. For many agricultural clusters, reflecting a move in developing economies from „import-substitution‟ towards a focus on exports, learning and innovation has become central. Facing challenges in knowledge generation and transfer (Bessant et al, 2003), clustering aids knowledge diffusion amongst producers and stimulates the learning necessary to penetrate international markets (Schmitz and Nadvi, 1999; Humphrey and Schmitz, 2000). While opportunities sometimes exist for learning from global buyers, however, it is more common in natural-resource based clusters for the onus to be on producers to develop their own capabilities (Gomes, 2006). This study examines the contribution a diverse group of actors, categorised as intermediary organisations, make to this process. The practice-based perspective (Amin and Cohendet, 2004) provides a framework through which the intermediary role is conceptualised, alongside insights from the innovation and network literatures (Howells, 2006; Burt, 2005). While these literatures predominantly focus on linking and accessing, however, intermediaries‟ roles are found, in certain developing economy contexts, to stretch wider. Through a case study of a Peruvian agricultural cluster, they are identified as performing a cluster-building role, by providing a platform for inter-firm cooperation. They also, through their ability to coordinate firm actions, facilitate opportunities for value chain learning. In addition, they provide new knowledge inputs to cluster actors, either through their own knowledge creation capabilities or their ability to translate and adapt existing knowledge.

Tout au long du XIXe siècle, le gouvernement des Établissements français de l’Inde promet de respecter les us et coutumes des Indiens. Il s’engage notamment à juger les habitants de ses établissements suivant ces us et coutumes. Il forge ainsi une catégorie juridique pour désigner les conflits coutumiers pris en charge par la justice coloniale : les « affaires de caste ».Cette étude des affaires de caste contribue aux développements récents des recherches d’histoire impériale et coloniale sur la formation du droit. Elle rejoint les travaux actuels qui remettent en cause l’idée que le droit colonial est imposé par le haut, suivant une logique rationnelle, et montrent qu’au contraire, il est le fruit de compositions avec les formes juridiques précoloniales et les possibilités locales. La thèse étudie spécifiquement les processus de composition à l’œuvre dans le façonnement du système juridique en matière de caste. Le système juridique, entendu comme l’ensemble des règles de droit, les institutions chargées de les appliquer et les usages de ces institutions, est envisagé dans son rapport aux demandes sociales. Cette approche localisée de la situation coloniale apporte de plus un éclairage nouveau sur la société indienne dans le sud du sous-continent. Elle participe ainsi au débat sur la constitution des castes comme unité sociale et comme catégorie administrative à la période coloniale. Le système juridique est examiné sous différents angles. Dans un premier temps, la focale est placée sur les cadres coloniaux des affaires de caste et les modalités d’expression de la souveraineté du gouvernement colonial. Dans un second temps, l’attention est tournée vers les différents acteurs de la résolution des conflits, qui participent au façonnement de ces cadres. Pour finir, l’étude s’arrête sur la forme et les enjeux des litiges, de manière à saisir le rôle des justiciables dans la production des normes sociales et juridiques / In the course of the 19th century, the government of the French settlements of India promises to respect the habits and customs of the Indian people. It also commits to judge the inhabitants of these settlements according to these customs and habits. It consequently creates a legal category to designate the customary conflicts judged by the colonial justice: the “caste affairs”. This study of caste affairs contributes to the recent developments in imperial and colonial history on the formation of the law. It resonates with the current works that question the idea of colonial law being imposed in a top-down fashion following a rational logic and that show that, on the contrary, colonial law results from arrangements with precolonial legal forms and local possibilities. The thesis specifically studies the process that shapes the legal system regarding castes. The legal system, understood as all the legal rules, the institutions in charge of enforcing them, and the use of these institutions, is analysed in its relationship with social demands. Furthermore, this localised analysis of the colonial situation, shed new lights on the Indian society of the south of the sub-continent. It contributes to the debates on the constitution of castes as a social unit and administrative category in the colonial period. The legal system is analysed from different perspectives. First, the focus is put on the colonial frameworks governing the caste affairs and on the ways in which the sovereignty of the colonial government is articulated. Second, the study gives attention to the different actors involved in the resolution of these conflicts, which participates to the shaping of these frameworks. To finish with, the study focuses on the forms and stakes of disputes in order to understand the role of the litigants in the production of social and legal norms

Corruption is an important social and ethical problem / fight with it requires changes in values, norms and behavioral patterns of the society. This is usually a long and difficult process. Decades should pass to change deep values of a society. In the mean time, it is possible to combat corruption by changing incentive structures in the economy. If deep causes of the problem are analyzed carefully, a new system of governance can be established, such that, even most opportunist individuals do not find getting involved in corrupt practices profitable. Aim of this thesis is to examine characteristics of the system providing a fertile environment for corruption and to figure out factors stimulating corrupt transactions using game theoretical models. The first two models examine corruption as a kind of transaction between the briber and the bribee. In the models, it is shown that intermediaries sector occur from the profit maximization behavior of agents. This sector, by establishing long term, trust based relationships with bureaucrats, decreases risks occurring from the fact that the two parties involved in a corrupt transaction do not know each other perfectly. This sector, by reducing the likelihood of detection, serves corrupt transactions, and in return for the service it provided, takes commission, so gets benefit. Third model examines a strange type of corruption, a case of (spurious) middlemen obtaining bribe from the public service bureaucrats give, by pretending that he has influence on the acceptance or speed of it. The model tries to detect the characteristics of the environment making such a deception process persistent.

Diusion of renewable energy technologies(RETs) is an important challengeof the current century. Much of the existing research has put a focus on understandingthe diusion of RETs through the perspective of systems of innovation. However, two recent studies highlight the importance of the actors in the process- those who adopt the RETs. With the current study we continue thisactor perspective by focusing on the adoption process as the driver of the massdiusion. We bring together the two streams of diusion of innovation and innovationintermediaries in a thesis that aims to show how comprehending thesingle adoption process and providing support to the adopters at every singlephase of it can facilitate diusion. Our focus is fully on public intermediaries. We show that public innovationintermediaries known in research for their support for the innovation systemhave an unexplored facet i.e. that of supporters at the adopter level. The thesiscontributes to previous literature showing that public intermediaries are thesupporters of adopters of RETs at the very beginning of the process which wascurrently unexplored. Moreover, we demonstrate that public intermediaries arepresent in the later phases of the adoption process as well being their impartialitya main advantage in comparison to private intermediaries. The study revealstwo key roles of public intermediaries in the pre-adoption phase of the processand four roles in the implementation phase. To complete the research we use qualitative methods and particularly groundedtheory methodology for data collection and analysis. Data is collected throughface-to-face long interviews with six public and/or non-prot intermediaries locatedin the Swedish county, Ostergotland. The study brings about the recognitionof public intermediaries as direct supporters of adopters of RETs in practice,oers ways of rethinking the existing policies in order to speed up diusion ofRETs and expands the arena for further research with focus on the interactionbetween intermediaries and adopters.

Yes / It is against the background of low engagement by SMEs in e-business that this paper seeks to highlight the potential importance of aggregation and of the role of trusted third parties in facilitating higher levels of involvement. The paper is based on an ongoing SME e-business research programme and reports on some recent research on SMEs that were using high complexity e-business applications and explores the extent to which the research findings could address the core concern of low engagement. This qualitative case study based research includes analysis of data collected from 13 community intermediaries, acting as trusted third parties. It concludes that the role of community intermediaries appears to be central to the adoption of critical e-aggregation applications provided by service providers. For policymakers, this important role of critical e-aggregation applications in facilitating e-business engagement by SMEs has emerged as part of this research but there is limited evidence of policy initiatives that reflect this.

While many organizational actors, including firms, governments, universities, and non-profit organizations may have an impact on the innovative capacity of the firms with which they engage, we have little knowledge of their relative importance. The literature on innovation intermediaries reports on the impact of specific types of organizations, but has not considered the relative importance of different types of organizations. While the studies using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data are able to consider relative effects, data on the nature of those effects are limited. In the interests of a better understanding of the relative nature and degree of the innovation enabling contributions of a range of organizational actors, I conduct a comparative examination of the contributions of firms, governments, universities, industry associations, and research institutes. Using survey data from a sample of 499 firms, I identify the actors that are most strongly associated with each of ten innovation intermediation activities.

Through an empirical comparison between U.S and Canadian copyright law, this paper examines how lawmakers in both countries should deal with copyright liability issues in the cloud while maintaining a proper balance between content owners and Internet intermediaries. This paper proposes to answer this question throughout the study of the liability of Internet intermediaries. Drawing on copyright statutory provisions, case law and scholars articles, this paper examines the issue of online piracy, defines cloud computing and identifies the copyright liability issues posed by the cloud. It then compares U.S and Canadian copyright laws and discusses the new reform proposed in both countries in relation with the liability of Internet intermediaries. It concludes that new statutory reform might not be necessary except for clarification purposes. Indeed current copyright laws deal efficiently with copyright liability issues in the cloud while maintaining a proper balance between content owners and Internet intermediaries.

While many organizational actors, including firms, governments, universities, and non-profit organizations may have an impact on the innovative capacity of the firms with which they engage, we have little knowledge of their relative importance. The literature on innovation intermediaries reports on the impact of specific types of organizations, but has not considered the relative importance of different types of organizations. While the studies using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data are able to consider relative effects, data on the nature of those effects are limited. In the interests of a better understanding of the relative nature and degree of the innovation enabling contributions of a range of organizational actors, I conduct a comparative examination of the contributions of firms, governments, universities, industry associations, and research institutes. Using survey data from a sample of 499 firms, I identify the actors that are most strongly associated with each of ten innovation intermediation activities.

Governments of the G7 have relied primarily on two strategies to develop their respective economies, the commercialization of research using licensing models and new venture creation. Yet, they have acknowledged no specific approach to achieving commercialization success. In fact, the results of the methods used for the commercialization of results are generally viewed as not satisfactory, thus creating room for new approaches to be proposed. One of the strategies used to assist the commercialization process has been recently instituted through social actors called innovation intermediaries. Their involvement in the commercialization process has the potential not only to facilitate the process but also to diffuse knowledge and foster innovation. To date, their practices are still under development, motivating academics in various disciplines to originate research studies aimed at gaining a better understanding of them. The literature has proposed definitions and attributed functions to innovation intermediaries, but it has not arrived at a definitive description of these actors or their activities. In practice, innovation intermediaries do not have a standard operational structure, established methods, or metrics to report their results; they have yet to, establish their own practices or use evidence to inform their activities. The objective of this study is to clarify their practices and challenge their current modus operandi with a view to improvement. To explain the activities of innovation intermediaries (their practice), to expose the role of evidence, and to represent the main concerns of innovation intermediaries, a framework based on distinctive attributes of the practice was produced using insights gained from a systematic literature review, an exploratory study, and literature stressing the importance of evidence. The framework was tested using a confirmatory study in the form of an online survey with the participation of 55 innovation intermediaries from around the world. The results show that innovation intermediaries have a predisposition to focus their practice on strategic concerns, finding a fit for the venture offering in the market while neglecting to oversee the mechanisms required for developing a viable venture offering. They tend to support their decisions anecdotally, referencing their previous experiences without the support of systematic methods to corroborate their conclusions. Their prioritized goals are first, to persuade investors and sponsors to collaborate with their clients; second, to help their clients occupy a leading position in their markets, and third, to support their clients to refine the venture offering and transform it into a commercial success. The emergent framework has characterized the practice of innovation intermediaries, identified particular gaps in their activities and their use of evidence, and suggested that the current focus in the practice of innovation intermediaries may not be contributing all that it could to the commercialization process. This framework may be of significant value to advance this field of knowledge and hopefully contribute to professionalize the practice of these social actors. Ultimately, this research could form the foundation for strengthening evidence-based best practices for innovation intermediaries.

The era of increasingly well-developed communication, network, along with this wave of change, and the globalization, the economic opportunities brought by virtual world, is nothing more than companies do their utmost to pursue the scope. Increase the added value of products or services to enhance corporate profitability, originally only be used for sales of products and services in the physical store, joined network store sales and let the results of the rapid growth of invisible. But, what's the difference with the physical store, when in contact with the consumer products and services through web services. Will internet service changes product attributes in response of the consumers decision-making behavior? What's the important factor in rely on the procurement of online shoppers? The special attributes of the virtual economy, let us know, why trust is the reason of consumers purchase goods and services on recognized intermediary platform, and they gradually accumulating customer loyalty and purchasing intention. For this reason, we explored the trust antecedents, attribute dimensions, and how trust link to the loyalty and purchasing intention, as well as their composition and influencing factors. And based on the objects of online potential shopping group for the research topic, the trust associated with e-commerce community loyalty and customer purchase intention. By the stratified random sampling, a total of 248 samples were taken, and use of path analysis and stepwise regression to analyze the data in parallelly. In this study, convenience sampling questionnaire survey found that: "Personality-based trust", "institution-based trust" and "knowledge-based trust", link to the" customer loyalty "and" " purchase intention" via "Intermediaries trust. Trust in intermediaries¡¦ link to online shopper¡¦s purchases intentions, through "customer loyalty" with direct and indirect effects. The significant differences found, by analysis of the online shoppers demography of with and without the shopping experience in the past three months show on the trust of intermediaries. Therefore, we confirmed once again that the trust of the E-commerce community and its strong related items.