Different corpuses are analysed by means of co-word analysis, in the framework of technological watch of the industrial valorization of plant proteins. The comparison of keyword clusters reveals unequal results, raising the question of the relevance of information retrieval. The corpuses compiled do not provide all the important signals that can be expected from this type of study. Research on several data bases (five) provides increasingly detailed images which allow for rapid progress, with the experts, towards critical points of information.

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In this article, a method to map the knowledge base (KB) of firms is developed and applied to the study of strategic changes, mergers and acquisitions. The empirical data are related to three firms, Hoechst, Rhone-Poulenc and Aventis, which resulted from the merger of the first two. Our study shows how the KB of both Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc changed gradually reflecting their strategic reorientation away from chemistry and towards the life sciences. While the previous transition produced a segmented KB with the chemistry and biology subsets largely separated, the merger led a more closely integrated KB. The KB of some Aventis subsidiaries have been studied as well.Knowledge base, Lexicographic analysis, Patents, Mergers, Strategy,

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