Value creation and knowledge loss: The case of Cremonese stringed instruments

摘要

Violins, the most expressive stringed instruments, made by a Cremonese grand master have been recognized as the best. As the present day makers of violins claim to have more knowledge about making violins now than ever before and replicate the Cremonese masters, the problem of value creation and recognition becomes more complicated. The present research work has tried to present a systems view of creativity to show how changing evaluation criteria in the music field shaped the conditions supporting knowledge creation, retention, and transfer over time and the value accorded to Cremonese masters' stringed instruments. The paper argues that the master-apprentice relationships facilitated the generation and transfer of the knowledge needed to make stringed instruments, and a diverse and changing musical field was a source of evolving evaluations for instruments and instrument makers, and how Cremonese stringed instruments gained extraordinary recognition after almost a century delay in recognition. This has been explored by proposing a more refined conceptualization of the value assessment processes and determinants of value occurring in a field. (94 refs.)