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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2010‒07‒03
twelve papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Frankort, Johannes Theresia Wilhelmus (Maastricht University) |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:maastr:urn:nbn:nl:ui:27-23463&r=sbm |
| By: | Alcina Nunes (ESTG, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança and GEMF/Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal); Elsa Sarmento (Departamento de Economia e Gestão da Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal) |
| Abstract: | We address the post-entry performance of new Portuguese firms by investigating the structural characteristics of the hazard and survival functions, using non-parametric survival analysis. In order to approach prevalence of some stylized facts and determinants of new firm survival, we produced a new entrepreneurship database, using the administrative data of Quadros de Pessoal, following the Eurostat/OECD´s internationally comparable business demography methodology. This allowed the computation of a comprehensive array of entrepreneurship indicators on employer enterprise and survival dynamics in Portugal, over a period of 18 years, disaggregated in dimensions such as sectors, regions and size classes. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Business Demography, Business Survival, Performance Determinants, Micro-data. |
| JEL: | M13 M20 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2010-09&r=sbm |
| By: | Tomohiro MACHIKITA (Inter-disciplinary Studies Center, Japan External Trade Organization); Yasushi UEKI (Bangkok Research Centre- Japan External Trade Organization, Thailand) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a new mechanism linking innovation and networks in developing economies to detect explicit production and information linkages. It investigates the testable implications of these linkages using survey data gathered from manufacturing firms in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In-house R&D activities, internal resources, and linkages with local and foreign firms play a role in reducing the costs of product-and process innovation, and the search costs of finding new suppliers and customers. We found that firms with more variety of information linkages achieve more types of innovation. Complementarities between internal and external sources of knowledge are also found. |
| Date: | 2010–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2010-03&r=sbm |
| By: | Alcina Nunes (ESTG, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança and GEMF/Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal); Elsa Sarmento (Departamento de Economia e Gestão da Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal) |
| Abstract: | We address the post-entry performance of new Portuguese firms by investigating the structural characteristics of the hazard and survival functions, using semi-parametric survival analysis for the total economy and its broad sectors. In order to approach the prevalence of some stylized facts and determinants of new firm survival, a new entrepreneurship database was produced, using the administrative data of Quadros de Pessoal, following the Eurostat/OECD´s internationally comparable business demography methodology. In line with the literature, we find that firms that start small and experience faster post-entry growth, face a higher probability of survival. Firm’s current size dimension matters particularly for the Services sector probability of survival. In industries characterized by high entry rates, post-entry survival is more difficult. This happens mostly in Agriculture and the Construction sectors in Portugal. We find a different result from the literature, for the effect of industry growth in survival rates. Firms operating in industries which are growing faster, seem to suffer from a higher probability of failure. The combined effect of turbulence and entry and growth variables help explaining this unexpected effect of industry growth on survival probabilities. By correcting heterogeneity, we obtain stronger magnitudes of the hazard ratios found previously. |
| JEL: | M13 M20 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2010-10&r=sbm |
| By: | Pilar Beneito López (Universitat de València); Amparo Sanchis Llopis (Universitat de València); María Engracia Rochina Barrachina (Universitat de València) |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se analiza el papel del aprendizaje en el éxito innovador de las empresas, tomando en consideración la naturaleza heterogénea de las actividades innovadoras, y en particular, distinguiendo entre el aprendizaje que proviene de la realización interna de actividades de I+D y el aprendizaje que proviene de la contratación externa de estas actividades. Para este trabajo se utiliza una muestra representativa de empresas manufactureras en España durante el período 1990-2006, y dentro del marco de una función de producción de innovaciones, se estiman modelos ¿count¿ con el fin de investigar la influencia que tiene en la obtención de resultados innovadores la experiencia que proviene de la I+D realizada dentro de la empresa y de la contratada externamente. Nuestros resultados muestran que el aprendizaje tiene un papel importante en la obtención de innovaciones de producto cuando las empresas organizan sus actividades de I+D internamente, y que la experiencia que proviene de la contratación externa de actividades de I+D no influye sobre el número de innovaciones de producto. This paper analyses the role of learning in firms¿ innovation success, taking into account the heterogeneous nature of innovation activities, and in particular, distinguishing between learning arising from the internal organization of R&D activities and learning from externally contracting these activities. We use a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990-2006, and within an innovation production function approach, we estimate count data models to investigate the influence of firms¿ in-house and externally contracted R&D experience in the achievement of innovative results. Our results show that learning is important in the achievement of product innovations when the firms organize R&D activities internally, and that experience from externally contracted R&D activities does not influence the number of product innovations. |
| Keywords: | innovation, accumulation of knowledge, in-house R&D experience, externally contracted R&D experience, count data models. innovación, acumulación de conocimiento, experiencia en I+D interna, experiencia en I+D contratada externamente, modelos para datos ¿count¿. |
| JEL: | O30 O34 C23 C10 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasec:2009-11&r=sbm |
| By: | Tomohiro MACHIKITA (Inter-disciplinary Studies Center, Japan External Trade Organization); Yasushi UEKI (Bangkok Research Centre- Japan External Trade Organization, Thailand) |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the inter-firm production networks in Southeast Asian developing economies. Using firm-level data obtained from a questionnaire survey of manufacturing firms in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam in 2008, this paper presents the regional distribution of main customers and suppliers and their geographical proximity. Firm-level capabilities and transaction costs associated with specific inter-firm relationships would influence the distances between customers and suppliers. Ordered logistic estimations are carried out to examine factors affecting the spatial architecture of the production networks in the region. |
| Date: | 2010–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2010-01&r=sbm |
| By: | Denis Carré; Nadine Levratto; Messaoud Zouikri |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at measuring the productivity gap between firms located in six European countries over the period 1996-2007 and to provide some explanations of the observed differences. Our approach is original for two reasons. Firstly the value added and the productivity are valued from the BACH database that proposes harmonized balance sheets. Secondly, we take into account the influence of environment and institutional factors on the firms' performance thanks to the use of a fixed effects panel data model that allows to assess the unobserved heterogeneity in a sample. This analysis is made at the national level for the whole economy, for three industries (manufacturing industry, construction and services) and for three groups of size (small, medium and large). The results allow to highlight the existence of different productive configurations attested by the different levels of firms' productivity according to size or industry. They also point out a «country effect» that embeds a set of organizational and institutional elements besides production factors. |
| Keywords: | productivity, BACH database, country effects |
| JEL: | C23 O47 P17 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2010-11&r=sbm |
| By: | Maria Chiarvesio (Università di Udine); Eleonora Di Maria (Università di Padova); Stefano Micelli (Università di Venezia) |
| Abstract: | The paper is oriented at improving the understanding of internationalization strategies of firms by applying the global value chain studies at the firm level, in the context of SMEs. An original contribution of our paper is to apply such theoretical approach to the Italian model of economic organization mainly characterized by local manufacturing systems. Our hypothesis is that SMEs select the mechanism of governance for supplier selection and management in their international value chains consistently with their business models and the level of suppliers’ competences. The paper discusses how SMEs develop a mix of mechanisms of governance of their supply chains depending on the firm strategy and the specificities of the countries of destination of SMEs’ outsourcing strategies. By exploiting an original dataset of over 1,000 Italian firms, the paper shows that SMEs manage internationalization processes with different patterns across countries. |
| Keywords: | Global Value Chain, Internationalization, SMEs, Industrial Districts, Supply Chain Management |
| JEL: | F23 L10 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pad:wpaper:0118&r=sbm |
| By: | De Rosa, Donato; Gooroochurn, Nishaal; Gorg, Holger |
| Abstract: | Using enterprise data for the economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, this study examines the effects of corruption on productivity. Corruption is defined as a"bribe tax"and is compared with another form of institutional inefficiency, which is often believed to be closely linked with corruption: the"time tax"imposed on firms by red tape. When testing their effects in thefull sample, only the bribe tax appears to have a negative effect on firm-level productivity, while the effect of the time tax is insignificant. At the same time, there is no evidence of a trade-off between the time and the bribe taxes, implying that bribing does not emerge as a second-best option to achieve higher productivity by helping circumvent cumbersome bureaucratic requirements. When the sample is split between European Union and non-European Union countries, the time tax turns out to have a negative effect only in European Union countries and the bribe tax only in non-European Union countries. This suggests that the institutional environment influences the way in which firm behavior affects firm performance. In particular, the impact of bribing for individual firms appears to vary depending on overall institutional quality: in countries where corruption is more prevalent and the legal framework is weaker, bribery is more harmful for firm-level productivity. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Economic Theory&Research,Political Economy,Emerging Markets |
| Date: | 2010–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5348&r=sbm |
| By: | Szanyi, Miklós; Iwasaki, Ichiro; Csizmadia, Péter; Illéssy, Miklós; Makó, Csaba |
| Abstract: | In the epoch of globalization, small or medium-sized national companies have great difficulties in finding an appropriate place for themselves in global labor division systems. They most frequently apply either strategies that help them becoming part of global value chains as regular suppliers, or they try to locate in which they might cooperate with other small companies in industrial clusters to compete with larger multinational companies. In both cases, communication, knowledge transfer, and cooperative actions among companies are essential for improving competitive capacities. Since this type of cooperation relies heavily on close, regular contact and face-to-face interaction, the spatial concentration of actors can improve the chances for success. Literature on the topic of supplier networks and spillover effects, as well as that on industrial clusters, emphasizes the importance of a "critical mass" of companies and other organizations and institutions. The authors first define and describe the types of synergies that stem from co-location of cooperating market actors. In addition the potential linkages among the two types of networks, supplier chains and clusters are explained. After a brief overview of the related literature, the authors introduce a new, refined measurement method of spatial concentration with empirical survey results from Hungary. |
| Keywords: | industry cluster, supplier network, foreign direct investment, Hungary |
| JEL: | D24 F23 L14 L16 P23 R12 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:a539&r=sbm |
| By: | Iwasaki, Ichiro; Csizmadia, Péter; Illéssy, Miklós; Makó, Csaba; Szanyi, Miklós |
| Abstract: | A new empirical model is presented in this paper with respect to the productivity spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) by focusing on the concentric-circle structure of industrial organizations arising from sectoral differences among firms. In this model, the market presence of horizontal FDI in a host country is expressed using multiple variables with a nested structure corresponding to the aggregated level of industrial classification in order to identify its spillover effects on the productivity of domestic firms according to the industrial sector with different depth. We estimated the model using large-scale firm-level data from Hungary and confirmed horizontal FDI spillover effects simultaneously taking place in sectors with different depth that cannot be captured with the conventional model having a single horizontal variable. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment, spillover effects, concentric-circle model, Hungary |
| JEL: | D24 F21 F23 L16 L60 L80 O19 P23 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:a521&r=sbm |
| By: | Filippo Randelli (Diparimento di Scienze Economiche, Università degli Studi di Firenze) |
| Abstract: | The paper explores the use of open source geographic information system (GIS) applied to firms. Most data available in a company have a spatial dimension and even decisions in marketing and management often have a spatial dimension. The paper is focus on illustrating the variegated opportunities for an open source GIS based strategy for firms. We argue that open source GIS are today as good as its proprietary competitors, and under certain circumstances, they are a superior alternative to their proprietary counterparts. A GIS based strategy for firms, as any other new application of geographical knowledge, it is a prospect of a new area for geography studies. This paper can be considered an initial essay on the role that geographers can play in spatial analysis applied to business strategy. The application is an example of applied geography supporting firm strategies and it has the purpose to identify spatial customer potentials for a specific infrastructure, the inland terminal of Guasticce (Italy). |
| Keywords: | spatial analysis, open source, Geographic Information System (GIS), geography, inland port |
| JEL: | R00 R40 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2010_08.rdf&r=sbm |