Production of commodities by means of processes: The flow–fund model, input–output relations and the cognitive aspects of production

• Application of the flow–fund model.
• Task distributions and the division of knowledge within production processes.
• Links between the analysis of flow–fund, input–output and innovative activity.
• Co-evolution between organisational settings and productive knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the potential contribution of the flow–fund model to analysing the organisation of production processes by exploring the links with two other levels of analysis: namely, the input–output relations and innovative activity through the development of new knowledge.The flow–fund model focuses on the time dimension of production activities which require specific ‘knowledge how’, in addition to ‘knowledge that’. The flow–fund methodology allows us to analyse the task distributions and the organisation of production processes that are both absent from input–output models. The time-dimension of the flow–fund analysis provides the necessary bridge to explain the co-evolution of organisational settings and new productive knowledge.