Disequilibrium Phenomenon Research Articles

Edith Penrose, economics and strategic management

Edith Penrose's work on is often seen as a classic in strategic management and a precursor of today's resource-based view of the firm. However, it is argued in this paper that this is, at best, imprecise and rather a misrepresentation of Penrose: her interest was not in whether there can be rents in equilibrium, but in firm growth as a disequilibrium phenomenon. Moreover, her basic vision of the competitive process is very different from that which animates modern economic approaches to strategy, such as the resource-based approach and new industrial organisation economics. This paper briefly discusses some implications for modern strategic thinking of Penrose's vision.

Speculation, Heterogeneity and Learning: A Simulation Model of Exchange Rates Dynamics

This paper presents a model of a speculative determination of exchange rates. The authors' basic claim is that speculation is intrinsically a disequilibrium phenomenon, mainly because the imperfect rationality of economic agents engenders heterogeneity of their beliefs, representations, and 'models of the world.' They use classifiers systems and genetic algorithms to simulate the behavior of learning agents and study the aggregate results in terms of prices and volume of transaction. Simulated exchange rates exhibit some of the distinctive properties characterizing real series. Copyright 1996 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG

A Schumpeterian model of endogenous innovation and growth

A disequilibrium model of endogenous innovation and growth is presented. The behaviour of the agents is supposed to be governed by routines, not by maximization. The entrepreneurs are assumed to invest a fraction of their operating profits in real capital accumulation, and another fraction in R&D. The latter leads to an increase in labour productivity via a R&D production function. In this ‘Schumpeterian’ model, not only the R&D processes of innovations are considered, but the diffusion processes as well. As in Schumpeter's theory of economic development the economic impact of technical change is considered a disequilibrium phenomenon. Thus, in a capitalist economy characterized by ongoing diffusion processes of innovations, time averages are more important than steady state values even in a long run perspective.

Oxygen isotope composition of garnet and spinel peridotites in the continental mantle: Evidence from the Vitim xenolith suite, southern Siberia

Spinel and garnet fades peridotites from the Vitim Volcanic Field in Siberia comprise a suite of fertile mantle xenoliths, which are LREE depleted and have strongly depleted strontium and neodymium isotopic compositions. Determination of 18O16O ratios by conventional and laser-assisted fluorination techniques yield a very restricted range of whole-rock δ18O values for both spinel peridotites (+ 5.4 to + 5.8‰) and garnet lherzolites (+ 5.5 to + 5.8‰) equivalent to that observed for lunar rocks and midocean ridge basalts (MORB). Mineral δ18O values for the xenoliths are: olivine = + 5.1 to + 5.8%., orthopyroxene = + 5.7 to + 6.0%., clinopyroxene = + 5.5 to + 6.2%., garnet = + 5.5 to +6.0%., and spinel = + 4.9 to + 5.5%. Similarly, δ18O ranges for silicate mineral pairs vary from only 0.5 to 0.7%. The sixteen peridotite xenoliths studied exhibit equilibrium O-isotope fractionations between minerals of a magnitude expected from theoretical and experimental considerations, in particular a temperature-controlled 18O distribution between olivine and pyroxenes in spinel-bearing peridotites. Because the Vitim garnet and spinel peridotites are rich in basaltic components and show long-term depletion in incompatible elements, they are derived from a MORB-like mantle source which makes up, according to current geochemical models, a predominant part of the Earth's upper mantle. The Vitim xenolith suite may, therefore, reflect its bulk O-isotope character. With increasing temperature and degree of partial melting, such a mantle source could generate basaltic liquids with δ18O values varying from C. + 6.1 to + 5.7%. Thus, the broad δ18O range of c. + 4.5 to + 7.5%. reported in the literature for spinel peridotite xenoliths is probably a very restricted disequilibrium phenomenon that likely reflects recent metasomatic overprinting in highly localized zones of the uppermost continental mantle affected by basaltic magmatism and, therefore, should not be considered as representative of the upper mantle, in general.

The persistence of abnormal returns

AbstractThe time‐series behavior of ROI is examined to assess a central element of competitive markets, the lack of persistence of abnormal profits. The analysis first determines the aggregate dynamic process of ROI and then examines how strategic and market factors influence this process. Consistent with abnormal returns resulting from a disequilibrium phenomenon, a mean reverting time‐series process approximates the behavior of ROI. While a variety of factors influence the persistence of return, the conditions under which market forces do not drive return back to its competitive rate seem remote, if present at all. Nonetheless, these factors can insulate a firm from competitive forces and so result in longer‐term abnormal profits.

An experimental measurement of cation diffusion in almandine garnet

COMPOSITIONAL zoning in minerals is a disequilibrium phenomenon which is in principle potentially useful for interpreting the thermal history of the host rock. Almandine-rich garnets from low and medium grade regionally metamorphosed rocks are commonly zoned1–8. The manganese content typically varies from core to rim, being high in the centre and low at the rim, producing a bell-shaped profile, whereas Fe is antipathetic to Mn. With the exception of the diffusion models of Anderson and Buckley9, such zoning has generally been explained in terms of fractionation-depletion processes2–4 where diffusion in the growing mineral is assumed to be negligible. However, in garnets from high grade rocks8,10,11, zoning is usually weak, absent or reversed, and recent authors8,12,13 have favoured the homogenisation of pre-existing or developing zoning by volume diffusion. To evaluate the importance of cation diffusion to garnet zoning, Fe–Mn interdiffusion coefficients have been measured over a restricted temperature range.