Browsing by Author "Sibuyi, Johannes Zeni"
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- ItemKnowledge development through regulation : a case study of the knowledge contribution of the public regulator to electronic bingo technology(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Sibuyi, Johannes Zeni; Maasdorp, Christiaan Hendrik; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Information Science.ENGLISH SUMMARY : Knowledge development for innovation often occurs in a regulated environment, raising the question whether regulation inhibits knowledge development. In most regulated industries, organizations are required to submit their new products to a regulator to get approval prediffusion for consumption. Innovating organizations routinely perceive those responsible for implementation and enforcement of the regulations as incompetent, lacking in both understanding and capacity to evaluate the new innovations. The typical regulator's strategic knowledge posture is therefore regarded as knowledge exploitation of already existing products and services, due to the perceived lack of incentive to enable innovation and knowledge creation. Classical economic theory affirms the view of regulation as a compliance burden that increases opportunity costs for innovating organizations, since many resources used to comply with regulatory requirements could have been used for innovation efforts instead. The Porter Hypothesis (1991) counters this view of the relationship between regulation and innovation based on empirical evidence that, where the environment allows, regulation induces innovation and enhances competitiveness. The thesis proceeds from the Porter Hypothesis and aims to highlight specific instances where knowledge development was enhanced by the regulator. To do this, the thesis focuses on gambling regulation in South Africa and takes the development of the Electronic Bingo Terminals (EBT) gambling product as a case study. Through document review and interviews of stakeholders in the EBT product development and regulation process, empirical evidence is presented of instances where the public regulator induced knowledge development and supported innovation. A data analysis framework inspired by Boisot's (1998) I-space and Schumpeterian learning is used to analyse the interview and documentary data about how the EBT product came into existence and to highlight the knowledge creation and development aspects identified in the process of evaluating and approving the EBTs by the public regulator. It is demonstrated that the EBT product was unlikely to meet the diffusion equirements and the success thresholds in the gambling market without the knowledge contribution from the public regulator. The contribution from the regulator was found to spring from knowledge embedded in its employees, their practices and operational methods. For this reason, it is argued that such contributions are likely to manifest in other products and approval requests. It is concluded that the public regulator supported knowledge development in several ways in the case of the development of EBTs and that a closer look at regulatory knowledge contribution offers an important perspective on the management of knowledge for innovation.