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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2010‒09‒18
twelve papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Börje, Johansson (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Hans, Lööf (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | There are systematic long-run differences in the performance of firms explained by the R&D-strategy that each firm employs. Controlling for unobservable heterogeneity, past performance and other firm characteristics, this paper shows that labour productivity is, on average, 13 percent higher among firms with persistent R&D commitment and 9 percent higher among firms which make occasional R&D efforts when compared with non-R&D-firms. Furthermore, firms which employ a strategy with persistent R&D efforts are rewarded with a productivity growth rate that on average is about 2 percent higher than for other firms. The results are similar when firm performance is measured as total sales or exports per labor input. |
| Keywords: | R&D; Innovation-strategy; productivity; export; dynamic panel-data |
| JEL: | C23 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2010–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0240&r=sbm |
| By: | Shirokova, Galina V.; Kulikov, Alexander V. |
| Abstract: | The results of survey of specific sets of deliberate intra-firm activities called intra-firm orientations are discussed in current research paper. The authors distinguish entrepreneurial orientation, change orientation and knowledge orientation. Factor analysis and structure equation modelling methods are used to test the hypotheses of the very existence of intra-firm orientations, their positive influence on firm growth. Also the orientations that dominate in different industries (Retail/Wholesale, HoReCa, IT) are analyzed. The results of the empirical research of 500 Russian SMEs show that at least three orientations exist in each firm. Knowledge orientation and change orientation have positive effect on firm growth. In addition, different orientations are manifested in firms belonging o different industries. Executive Summary is available at page 42. |
| Keywords: | intra-firm orientations, firm growth, entrepreneurship, organizational changes, knowledge management, factor analysis, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sps:wpaper:162&r=sbm |
| By: | Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer; Jonathan Potter; Alain Fayolle; Magnus Gulbrandsen; Paul Hannon; Rebecca Harding; Åsa Lindholm Dahlstrand; Phillip H. Phan |
| Abstract: | This report brings together findings from the case studies in Berlin and Rostock on how entrepreneurship support is organised, the activities in entrepreneurship education and start-up support, and the strategy behind. In addition, the report provides in its “fishing ideas from international good practice” section 13 short descriptions of how places and universities collaborate elsewhere in mobilising their talents for entrepreneurial action. These short case studies are intended to provide inspiration for both policy and local action on the key issues in making places conducive to entrepreneurship and innovation, in entrepreneurship education, and in making university entrepreneurship support systems work. |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2010/9-en&r=sbm |
| By: | Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer; Austin Delaney |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship is considered a key driver of economic growth and job creation all over OECD countries. Within this framework, promoting youth entrepreneurship is an area of growing policy interest for OECD national and local governments. Public policy can play an important role in stimulating motivations and entrepreneurial attitudes in young people and to provide the right set of skills to start-up and run a business. For framework conditions conducive to fostering the development of talents and youth entrepreneurship, taking appropriate action at the local level is of crucial importance… |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2010/11-en&r=sbm |
| By: | Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer; Jonathan Potter |
| Abstract: | Eastern Germany is well on its way to becoming a modern economy and developing its high growth potential. Start-ups and young businesses have become key contributors to the region’s growth due to their dynamism and their capacity to renew the local knowledge base. In the context of a global economic crisis, we need to reflect upon the role of start-ups and their capacity to contribute to local economic development. Over the last years, the entrepreneurship activity gap between western and eastern Germany has been significantly reduced, leading to almost equal levels in both parts of the country. The total business start-up rate in Germany, amongst the age group 18 to 64 years, was 1.7 percent in 2007. The entrepreneurial potential however, especially amongst the highly qualified, is far from being exhausted. |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2010/10-en&r=sbm |
| By: | Sami Basly (CEROS - Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur les Organisations et la Stratégie - Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense : EA) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to contribute to the new stream of literature dealing with knowledge in family firms by analyzing the role of organizational knowledge in the internationalization of this type of firm. First, the study will try to emphasize the specificity of family firms as for double-loop learning, knowledge sharing, knowledge tacitness and emergence of internationalization strategy. Then, the influence of these variables on internationalization organizational knowledge and finally on firms' internationalization degree will be assessed. |
| Keywords: | Family business, internationalization, knowledge |
| Date: | 2010–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00516300_v1&r=sbm |
| By: | Wagner, Joachim (Leuphana University Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | Heterogeneous firms are at the heart of both the New New International Trade Theory and the Micro-econometrics of International Firm Activities. One important aim of micro-econometric studies is to uncover stylized facts that hold over space and time, and that can both inspire theoretical models that are based on “realistic” assumptions, and inform policy debates in an evidence-based way. Which results from the thousands of empirical estimates reported in the literature on the micro-econometrics of international firm activities do we consider as convincing? Based on my own experience from the last twenty years I use the opportunity of this lecture to make twelve recommendations that, hopefully, will help to find the right way on the thorny road from estimation results to stylized facts. I will deal with the following topics: comparisons of means vs. comparisons of distributions; extremely different firms, or outliers; unobserved heterogeneity; simultaneous occurrence of differences across quantiles, outliers, and unobserved heterogeneity; heterogeneous effects of international firm activities on firm performance; replication; within-study replication by international research teams; meta-analysis; and talking to practitioners. |
| Keywords: | international firm activities, heterogeneous firms, stylized facts, robust statistics, replication, meta anaysis |
| JEL: | F14 C21 C23 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5175&r=sbm |
| By: | Yama Temouri (Aston Business School); Alexander Vogel (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany); Joachim Wagner (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This study reports results from an empirical investigation of business services sector firms that (start to) export, comparing exporters to firms that serve the national market only. We estimate identically specified empirical models using comparable enterprise level data from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Exporters are more productive and pay higher wages on average in all three countries. Results for profitability differ across borders – profitability of exporters is significantly smaller in Germany, significantly larger in France, and does not differ significantly in the UK. The results for wages and productivity hold in the years before the export start, which indicates self-selection into exporting of more productive services firms that pay higher wages. The surprising finding of self-selection of less profitable German business services firms into exporting does not show up among firms from France and the UK where no statistically significant relationship between profitability and starting to export is found. |
| Keywords: | Business services firms, exports, self-selection, France, Germany, UK |
| JEL: | F14 D21 L80 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:183&r=sbm |
| By: | Yanrui Wu (UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to examine indigenous innovation and draw implications for sustainable economic growth in China. It investigates China’s capacity and achievements in indigenous innovation at both the macro and micro levels. China’s indigenous innovation is also compared to that in other major economies in the world. It is found that China’s innovation development is well ahead of other economies at the similar stage of development but there is a gap between China and the world’s leading innovative economies. Both aggregate and disaggregate evidence shows that China is catching up rapidly with the world’s innovation leaders. If current growth momentum is maintained, China is well positioned to become one of the most innovative economies in the world in the coming decade. There are however some serious issues to be resolved before China’s innovation potential could be realized. |
| Keywords: | Indigenous innovation, R&D, Chinese economy |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:10-18&r=sbm |
| By: | Kroll, Henning |
| Abstract: | As regularly stated by both international scholars and confirmed by the Chinese government itself socio-economic development in China remains highly uneven both sociologically and regionally. Conventional wisdom holds that the prevailing economic trend remains one of divergence rather than convergence. While the world-market oriented coastal provinces develop dynamically, the inland and certainly the Western provinces keep lagging behind. Nonetheless, after a number of years with increasing government proclamations regarding the objective of a harmonious society and efforts to develop the inland provinces there is no longer a unanimous trend, particularly with regard to activities under the direct or indirect control of government. Hence, it appears reasonable to analyse to what extent these general trends with regard to the regional distribution of socio-economic development affect the different dimensions of relevance to science and innovation. Consequently, it will be a key aspect of this study to focus on the development of the regional concentration of different R&D activities, thus addressing the question whether the Chinese innovation system is becoming more heterogeneous or less so. The following sections will follow the R&D process through from R&D-related investments to its eventual possible effects on the national export performance. In detail, it will analyse the regional dimension of R&D activities... -- |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:25&r=sbm |
| By: | Mili Shrivastava (Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena); T.V.S.Ramamohan Rao (Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur) |
| Abstract: | Spinoff firms are exceptional performers across industries. The causes for the emergence of spinoff firms are widely investigated in the literature. However, the role of teams for spinoffs has received little scholarly attention. On one hand, talented individuals may find it necessary to team up with others to utilize complementary knowledge and generate synergies. On the other hand, some types of team production environments may have dissonance and motivate individuals to leave the team. The present study demonstrates that organizational synergies and dissonance can be incorporated into appropriate specifications of team production functions. This framework explains the necessity to form a team, stability of teams, and the emergence of different types of spinoffs depending on specific organizational arrangements. |
| Keywords: | Organizational synergy, Production functions, Spinoffs |
| JEL: | D23 D85 D02 |
| Date: | 2010–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-060&r=sbm |
| By: | Vigneswara Ilavarasan; Mark R Levy |
| Abstract: | The research reported here was guided by three questions: (1) What are the current and potential patterns of mobile phone, landline, PC, and Internet café use among urban microentrepreneurs? (2) Are mobile phones, PCs, and Internet cafés related to the stability or growth of urban microenterprises? (3) Can we identify those urban microentrepreneurs and/or microenterprises for which ICT use is associated with economic growth? |
| Keywords: | economic development, mobile phone, landline, PCs, internet cafe, ICTs, urban, micro entrepreneurs, stability, growth, potential, patterns, mumbai city, india, communication, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2819&r=sbm |