|
on Small Business Management |
|
Issue of 2011‒09‒22
nine papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Ceren Ozgen (Department of Spatial Economics, VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Due to the growth in international migration in recent decades, the workforce of firms in host countries has become considerably more diverse, both demographically and culturally. It is an important question for firms and for governments to ask whether there are some productivity-enhancing externalities gained from this growing diversity within firms. In recent years migration research has demonstrated positive economic impacts of cultural diversity on productivity and innovation at the regional level. However, there is a dearth of research on the links between innovation and migrant diversity at the firm level. In this paper we construct and analyse a unique linked employer-employee micro-dataset of 4582 firms, based on survey and administrative data obtained from Statistics Netherlands. Excluding firms in the hospitality industry and other industries that employ low-skilled migrants, we use the local number of restaurants with foreign cuisines and the historical presence of migrant communities as valid instruments of endogenous migrant settlement. We find that firms in which foreigners account for a relatively large share of employment are somewhat less innovative. However, there is strong evidence that firms that employ a more diverse foreign workforce are more innovative, particularly in terms of product innovations. |
| Keywords: | immigration, innovation, cultural diversity, knowledge spillovers, linked employer-employee data, Netherlands |
| JEL: | F22 O31 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011013&r=sbm |
| By: | Gallié, Emilie-Pauline; Legros, Diego |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the effects of human capital and technological capital on innovation. While the role of technological capital as measured by research and development (R&D) expenditure has been intensively investigated, few studies have been made on the effect of employee training on innovation. This article explores the relationship between innovation and firm employee training. Our methodological approach contributes to the literature in three ways. We propose various indicators of firm employee training. We build a count data panel with a long time-data series to deal with the issue of firms’ heterogeneity. We propose a dynamic analysis. Using dynamic count data models on French industrial firms over the period 1986–1992, we find positive and significant effects of R&D intensity and training on patenting activity. Whatever the indicators of training our results show that the firm employee training has a positive impact on technological innovation. |
| Keywords: | Patents; R&D; Employee training; Count panel data; Linear feedback model; |
| JEL: | C23 C25 J24 L60 O31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/6962&r=sbm |
| By: | José Albors-Garrigos (Dpto. Organización de Empresas); José L. Hervas-Oliver (Dpto. Organización de Empresas) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to use an integrated theory based on a firm’s internal and external sources of knowledge framework to analyze how different are R&D from non-R&D activities to innovate, specially in a context of low and medium low tech (LMT) sectors where most of the firms are SMEs. Simultaneously, the paper also explores the key differences between R&D and non-R&D innovators. The empirical analysis is based on a representative panel of 2023 Spanish manufacturing firms for 2005 and 2006 from the Spanish Ministry of Industry. Innovation in product and process is explained using non-R&D variables such as in Marketing, Design or hiring tertiary degree employees. Only innovation in product is explained by R&D expenditures. Addressing innovation in process, R&D variables work in few cases and neither R&D expenditures but occasionally R&D employees and are specially relevant the non-R&D variables. The interaction (moderating) effect is specially negative and significant, addressing the substitution effect with different implications regarding product or process innovation. Therefore, innovation can be explained using non-R&D variables such as investments in Marketing, Design, and other routines linked to human resources, technology monitoring committees or the existence of a formal plan to innovate. The firms with more internal resources, those which conduct R&D activities present a better AC and it leads to engage in cooperation agreements and access to external flows of knowledge. The paper has important implications for policymakers due to the fact that most of policies for R&D are based on R&D programmes, while there are other realities: non-R&D factors which also explain innovation, specially when considering low tech sector contexts. El presente artículo usa la teoría de recursos y capacidades para, a través de los recursos internos y externos de las empresas, analizar las actividades de R&D y las actividades de no-R&D en su impacto sobre la performance de innovación de la empresa, en un contexto sectorial de baja y media tecnología. Asimismo, el artículo explora el rol innovador de las empresas que hacen R&D y las que no lo hacen. Con una muestra de 2023 empresas manufactureras españolas, obtenemos un comportamiento innovador para la innovación en producto y en proceso y, sobre todo, observando que las actividades de R&D tienen muy poco peso explicativo sobre el resultado de innovación. El artículo presenta implicaciones para la Academia y los policymakers, sobre todo por el hecho de que la mayoría de las políticas de innovación se basan en actividades de R&D. |
| Keywords: | fuentes de innovación, estrategias de búsqueda de conocimiento externo, cooperación tecnológica, capacidad de absorción. innovation sources, technology cooperation, absorptive capacity, search strategies. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasec:2011-06&r=sbm |
| By: | Rachel Griffith (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Manchester); Helen Miller (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | <p><p><p>In 2010 China was the world's fourth largest filer of patent applications. This followed a decade of unprecedented increases in investment in skills and Research and Development. If current trends continue China could rank first in the very near future. We provide evidence that the growth in Chinese patenting activity has been accompanied by a growth in Chinese inventors creating technologies that are near to the science base. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Part of the success of China has been to attract the investment of foreign multinationals. This is also true for a number of other Emerging Economies. Europe's largest multinational firms increasingly file patent applications that are based on inventor activities located in emerging economies, often working alongside inventors from the firm's home country. </p></p></p> |
| Keywords: | China; innovation; offshoring; patents. |
| JEL: | F21 F23 O3 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:11/15&r=sbm |
| By: | Luis Aguiar (Departamento de Economía - Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Philippe Gagnepain (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to assess the impact on the performance of firms that participate in Research Joint Ventures (RJVs) funded by the Fifth European Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (EU-FP5). A special emphasis is made on the User-friendly Information Society (IST) programme, one of the most important thematic programmes of the EU-FP5. We use the funding available to the firms as an instrumental variable to account for self-selection and estimate the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) of participation by considering labor productivity and profit margin as performance measures. Our results show a large and positive impact of participation on the labor productivity of the firms, whereas the effect on profit margin is weaker. When taking into account the size of the RJV, we find that the positive impact on labor productivity comes mainly from participation in large projects and that participation in smaller RJVs has a negative effect on the profit margin. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-00622969&r=sbm |
| By: | Bastié Françoise, University of Caen Basse-Normandie, CREM (UMR CNRS); Cieply Sylvie, University of Caen Basse-Normandie, CREM (UMR CNRS); Cussy Pascal, University of Caen Basse-Normandie, CREM (UMR CNRS) |
| Abstract: | In this article, we explore the issue of whether the financial conditions into which a firm is born have an effect on its survival chances. After both correction of the omitted variables bias and introduction of time varying covariates, we show two distinctive effects of banking debt on the survival of new firms in function of the time horizon: an insignificant or negative impact of banking debt in the short term (less than 2 years) and a persistently positive effect in the medium term (more than 2 years). Founding financial conditions have long-lasting effects upon survival. |
| Keywords: | Survival, New firms, Banking debt, Screening, Duration. |
| JEL: | M13 D82 G21 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201110&r=sbm |
| By: | Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role that the entry and exit of heterogeneous firms plays in shaping aggregate fluctuations in economic activity. In so doing, it develops a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model in which procyclical entry and countercyclical exit along a real business cycle lead to endogenous cyclical movements in average firm productivity. These movements stem from a composition effect due to the reallocation of market shares among firms with different levels of efficiency and affect the propagation of exogenous technological shocks. Numerical analysis suggests that existing models with representative firms may overstate the actual role of procyclical entry and exit in imperfectly competitive markets as a propagation mechanism of exogenous technology shocks. The reason is that procyclical entry and countercyclical exit disproportionately involve less efficiency firms whose impact on aggregate economic activity is hampered by their smaller size. |
| JEL: | E20 E32 L11 L16 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17433&r=sbm |
| By: | Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb (Civil Service College); Tetsushi Sonobe (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies) |
| Abstract: | The export-oriented garment industry in Bangladesh has grown rapidly for the last three decades and now ranks among the largest garment exporters in the world. While its early success is attributed to the initial technology transfer from South Korea, such a one-time infusion of knowledge alone is insufficient to explain the sustained growth for three decades. This paper uses primary data collected from knitwear manufacturers and garment traders to explore the process of the continuous learning of advanced skills and know-how. It finds, among other things, that the high profitability of garment manufacturing due to the initial infusion of specific human capital attracted a number of highly educated entrepreneurs to the industry, that the division of labor between manufacturers and traders has facilitated the expansion of the industry, and that enterprise growth has lasted long because of the continuous learning from abroad by the highly educated entrepreneurs. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:11-10&r=sbm |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to present a further contribution to the analysis of absolute convergence, associated with the neoclassical theory, of the manufactured industry productivity at regional level and for the period from 1986 to 1994 (1)(Martinho, 2011a). This paper pretends, also, to analyze the importance which the natural advantages and local resources are in the manufacturing industry location, in relation with the "spillovers" effects and industrial policies. To this, we estimate the Rybczynski equation matrix for the various manufacturing industries in Portugal, at regional level (NUTS II) and for the period 1986 to 1994 (2)(Martinho, 2011b). |
| Keywords: | convergence; geographic concentration; panel data; manufactured industries; Portuguese regions |
| JEL: | O18 C23 R11 L60 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33411&r=sbm |