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The purpose of this book is to reconcile two terms that the economic tradition has opposed for a long time: the market and knowledge. The editor and contributors focus on the transformations that affect the processes of creation, accumulation and exchange of scientific, technological and commercial knowledge by organizations. The first part of this book analyzes knowledge markets basis. The first three chapters rely on the idea that knowledge is the organization’s fundamental capital. Technological and scientific knowledge is becoming more fragmented. Pieces of knowledge may be articulated due to sophisticated R&D technologies. Markets for knowledge solely concern individual knowledge units which form the knowledge base of the firm. These knowledge units are capitalizable and adaptable to different contexts. The second part of this book extends these developments by providing sectoral illustrations (chemistry, bio-pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and software). Firms are focusing on their own competencies, which entails an increasing externalization of some tasks, even the more complex ones for which the recourse to an external business service is legitimated by competencies-related motivations, economies of scale and economies of scope. These knowledge providers allow firms to improve the efficiency of their innovative and productive activities. Consequently, the role of markets for knowledge is analyzed both with respect to the decomposition of the productive processes and the disintegration of the innovative ones.
