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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2012‒01‒25
eight papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Daria Ciriaci (JRC-IPTS) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses whether European firms’ innovative performance is impacted by investments in training directly aimed at developing and/or introducing innovation, in addition to the scale of a firm's investments in innovation proxied by the number of R&D personnels. In particular, it explores the complementarity between these two factors (in the presence of a well-trained workforce, the knowledge created by a firm’s R&D personnel can be better exploited), and their dependence on a firm's knowledge intensity (high versus low % of tertiary-educated workforce) and size (SMEs versus large firms). Using European CIS non-anonymised data for the period 1998-2000, this paper estimates a system of simultaneous equations in which investments in training and stock of R&D personnel are treated as endogenous in relation to the innovative sales on which they are presumed to have an effect. The choice to use this time period rather than more recent ones – to which I had access at the Eurostat Safe Centre – is data-driven. It has better information on training expenditures and it is the last period to provide firm-level information on the number of employees with tertiary education. Unlike the majority of CIS-based studies, the main variables of interest are continuous ones, while dummy variables are used as controls only. Empirical evidence confirms most previous results – investment in training and stock of R&D personnel positively affects firms' innovativeness – but also provides some important additional insights. Ceteris paribus, returns to training and R&D personnel are not affected by the knowledge intensity of the firm, while are always statistically significantly higher in large than in small and medium sized firms. However, while in the case of training the differences in returns between SME and large firms are small, in the case of R&D personnel are quite pronounced. |
| Keywords: | Intangibles, R&D investment, human capital, CIS, CDM model |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O32 D83 D62 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201106&r=sbm |
| By: | Esther Goya (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Esther Vayá (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Jordi Suriñach (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This article analyses the impact that innovation expenditure and intrasectoral and intersectoral externalities have on productivity in Spanish firms. While there is an extensive literature analysing the relationship between innovation and productivity, in this particular area there are far fewer studies that examine the importance of sectoral externalities, especially with the focus on Spain. One novelty of the study, which covers the industrial and service sectors, is that we also consider jointly the technology level of the sector in which the firm operates and the firm size. The database used is the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC), which includes 12,813 firms for the year 2008 and has been little used in this type of study. The estimation method used is Iteratively Reweighted Least Squares method (IRLS), which is very useful for obtaining robust estimations in the presence of outliers. The results confirm that innovation has a positive effect on productivity, especially in high-tech and large firms. The impact of externalities is more heterogeneous because, while intrasectoral externalities have a positive and significant effect, especially in low-tech firms independently of size, intersectoral externalities have a more ambiguous effect, being clearly significant for advanced industries in which size has a positive effect.. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, innovation, sectoral externalities, firm size. JEL classification:D24, O33 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201126&r=sbm |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (JRC-IPTS); Matteo Lucchese (University of Urbino); Mario Pianta (University of Urbino) |
| Abstract: | The patterns and mechanisms of job creation in business services are investigated in this article by considering the role of innovation, demand, wages and the composition of employment by professional groups. A model is developed and an empirical test is carried out with parallel analyses on a group of selected business services, on other services and on manufacturing sectors, considering six major European countries over the period 1996-2007. Within technological activities, a distinction is made between those supporting either technological competitiveness, or cost competitiveness. Demand variables allow identifying the special role of intermediate demand. Job creation in business services appears to be driven by efforts to expand technological competitiveness and by the fast growing intermediate demand coming from other industries; conversely, process innovation leads to job losses and wage growth has a negative effect that is lower than in other industries. Business services show an increasingly polarised employment structure. |
| Keywords: | Business Services, Innovation, Employment. |
| JEL: | J20 J23 O30 O33 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201104&r=sbm |
| By: | Abraham Garcia (JRC-IPTS) |
| Abstract: | The effect of the EU Research Framework Programme (FP) on European company innovation performance is analysed for the period 1998-2000. The possibility of applying for the grant might make companies engage in new projects which they would not have considered if the fund was not there. In addition, the FP programme increases collaboration with other innovation agents (e.g., universities, research labs, governments and other firms). Both the existence of FP and collaboration are simultaneously modelled when innovation performance is studied. To measure innovation performance, an input indicator (level of R&D expenditure) is used in combination with an output indicator (increase in the innovation sales). Following Crepon et al. (1998) a simultaneous equations system is used with four equations (FP, collaboration, R&D and Innovation sales). The paper finds a positive impact for the FP on collaboration, and both factors positively affect the innovation performance (R&D and Innovation sales) of European firms. No crowding-out effect is found in the analysis. |
| Keywords: | Funding, Framework Programme, R&D investment, CIS, CDM model |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201107&r=sbm |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (JRC-IPTS); Matteo Lucchese (University of Urbino) |
| Abstract: | Financial constraints for young and small firms can prevent them from supporting innovation and employment creation. We analyze two of the various institutional mechanisms which have been proposed to circumvent it: the development of venture capital market and the stock market access. We will use the information provided by two Scoreboards - used to monitor innovative activity in Europe: the Innovation Union Scoreboard and the R&D Scoreboard. With the first, we study the determinants of the venture capital/GDP intensity in Europe. With the second, we try to assess the contribution of stock market to R&D investment. In the first part, we show that venture capital market complements structural feature such as R&D intensity and market capitalization, is more volatile and seems not affected by anticompetitive regulations. In the second part, we show that unlisted SMEs are more research intensive. |
| Keywords: | Venture Capital, R&D, European Policy, Random Effect, Propensity Score Matching. |
| JEL: | M13 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201105&r=sbm |
| By: | Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Nabavi, Pardis (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the relationship between exporters, spin-outs and firm performance. A large body of research has shown that exporters perform better than non-exporters. But are also firms spawn out from exporters better than other new firms in terms of survival, productivity and growth? Using a panel of about 2,000 ex-employee starts ups, their parent companies and 10 000 other new firms in Sweden observed over a sequence of 5 years, we provide new evidence on spinouts as a channel of transferring knowledge from exporting firms to new ventures. |
| Keywords: | Exports; new firms; spin-out; spillovers; productivity |
| JEL: | J24 L26 M13 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2012–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0262&r=sbm |
| By: | Bönte, Werner (Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Germany); Dienes, Christian (Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the relationship between energy and material efficiency innovations (EMEIs) and innovation strategies employed by manufacturing firms to develop their process innovations. Firms may mainly develop process innovations in-house, let them mainly develop by other enterprises or institutions, or they or they may develop them jointly with external partners. The empirical analysis is based on data of European manufacturing firms obtained from the fourth Community Innovation Survey. Our results suggest that EMEIs are related to process innovation strategies. Firms which let mainly develop their process innovations by other enterprises or institutions tend to be less likely to introduce EMEIs at all and these firms are also less likely to introduce EMEIs with stronger efficiency effects. Moreover, our results do not suggest that firms following the 'cooperation strategy' are more likely to introduce EMEIs and to reach a higher EMEI performance than firms following the 'in-house strategy'.Hence, our results do not confirm the results of previous research pointing to a positive relationship between environmental innovations and cooperation with external partners. |
| Keywords: | energy and material efficiency, process innovations, innovation strategy |
| JEL: | D22 O32 O33 Q55 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwu:schdps:sdp12001&r=sbm |
| By: | Jacques Brook (Faculty of Strategy, Marketing and International Business, Maastricht School of Management, The Netherlands.); Albert Plugge (Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.) |
| Abstract: | The outsourcing of the R&D function is an emerging practice of corporate firms. In their attempt to reduce the increasing cost of research and technology development, firms are strategically outsourcing the R&D function or repositioning their internal R&D organisation. By doing so, they are able to benefit from other technology sources around the world. So far, there is only limited research on how firms develop their R&D sourcing strategies and how these strategies are implemented. This study aims to identify which determinants contribute to the success of R&D sourcing strategies. The results of our empirical research indicate that a clear vision of how to manage innovation strategically on a corporate level is a determinant of an effective R&D strategy. Moreover, our findings revealed that the R&D sourcing strategy influences a firm’s sourcing capabilities. These sourcing capabilities need to be developed to manage the demand as well as the supply of R&D services. The alignment between the demand capabilities and the supply capabilities contributes to the success of R&D sourcing. |
| Keywords: | Sourcing strategies, R&D, outsourcing, capabilities. |
| JEL: | O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2011/06&r=sbm |