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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2013‒11‒14
six papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Heger, Diana |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of venture capital on a firm's innovation activities by using a data set of German technology-based firms founded between 1996 and 2005. Innovation is proxied by patent counts and an index of innovativeness which reflects the degree to which a young firm has developed new technologies based on its own or external resources. The results show that VC financing has a positive impact on both patenting and innovativeness, even if we account for endogeneity of VC financing. -- |
| Keywords: | innovation,venture capital,young technology-based firms,discrete choice methods,count data models,endogeneity |
| JEL: | O31 G24 C31 C35 L20 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13077&r=sbm |
| By: | Phil Cooke |
| Abstract: | This paper marks a departure in seeking to develop the conceptual and practical apparatus of a regional innovation system (RIS) for science & technology-disadvantaged regions. It is empirically based and builds on insights about the limitations of STI (The Science-Technology-Innovation Approach, which is Linear, Specialist, Exclusive, Explicit/Codified, Global) and the strengths of DUI (The Doing-Using-Interacting Approach, which is Interactive, Diversified, Inclusive, Implicit, Regional/Local). DUI is highly compatible with Schumpeterian understanding that the core process of innovation is 'knowledge recombination'. From an evolutionary economic geography perspective, which is taken in the paper, this raises interesting issues for the economics of knowledge. First it underlines the need to pay serious attention to questions of the 'proximity' imperative, suggesting not that knowledge is easily appropriable for ('open') innovation but that it may be excessively difficult to identify because it lies hidden in possibly neighbouring - but different - industries and firms. Thus, second, it makes the notion of 'knowledge spillovers' problematic because the spillovers may not be forthcoming at all or may come in unrecognisable forms. Hence, third, this means that firms likely need more than usual RIS intermediation (including knowledge demonstration and transfer services) to avoid market failures of innovation. Assistance with identification of ‘modular’ policy elements is only one of the services required for DUI product, process and policy innovation. The complexity theory notion of 'transversality' has been advanced to capture the 'emergence' of novelty out of contexts of difference, unifying a solution to the three conceptual problem-issues raised in the paper. |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1321&r=sbm |
| By: | May-Strobl, Eva; Haunschild, Ljuba |
| Abstract: | Die Mittelstandshypothese besagt, dass kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU) im Verhält-nis zur bereits bestehenden Beschäftigung einen relativ höheren Beitrag zur Schaffung neuer sozialversicherungspflichtiger Arbeitsplätze leisten als Großunternehmen. Die Ergebnisse der Analyse von Längsschnittdaten des Umsatzsteuerpanels 2001-2009 stützen die These. In der zurückliegenden Dekade waren es ausschließlich KMU, die einen Nettozuwachs an sozialversicherungspflichtiger Beschäftigung ermöglichten. Großunternehmen haben 2009 im Vergleich zu 2001 Arbeitsplätze verloren. Der Strukturwandel weg von der Industrie hin zur Dienstleistungsgesellschaft fördert diese Entwicklung. Die beschäftigungspolitische Überlegenheit bestätigte sich für alle untersuchten Sektoren ebenso wie für die innovativen Teilbereiche der Wirtschaft. Die Gültigkeit der Mittelstandshypothese ist insbesondere auf die arbeitsmarktpolitische Bedeutung der Kleinstunternehmen und speziell der Gründungen von Kleinstunternehmen zurückzuführen. -- It is often claimed that small and medium sized enterprises (SME) account for a dispropor-tionate large share of net employment growth. The results drawn from a job-turnover analysis that bases on longitudinal micro data of the German turnover tax statistics 2001-2009 confirm the thesis. We find that in the last decade SMEs were responsible for all net growth of employment reducing the negative employment effect of large enterprises. Job destruction emerged particularly in manufacturing industry whereas job creation prevails in the service sector. In all industries SME accounted for a larger share of net employment growth than large enterprises. The study highlights the important role of micro enterprises and new busi-ness creation for job creation in Germany. |
| Keywords: | KMU,Mittelstandshypothese,sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung,Arbeitsplatzeffekte,Job-Turnover,SME,employment,job creation,job turnover |
| JEL: | J63 L25 O10 O30 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifmmat:206&r=sbm |
| By: | Navas, Antonio (Department of Economics); Sala, Davide (Department of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | Recent studies have concluded that R&D grants can induce firms to export and that exporting and innovating can be complementary activities at the firm level. Yet the trade literature has paid little attention to the scope of innovation policy as a stimulus to both trade and innovation. To investigate this question we rely on a general work-horse model of trade and firm heterogeneity with firm investments in R&D activities. The multiplicity of equilibria together with the interplay of innovation and trade policies uncover novel results. In particular, we show that the effects of either policy depend on the degree of protectionism in a country. Therefore, countries can respond differently to the same policy, and similarly to different policies. In such a context, different governments may face different degrees of freedom regarding how to achieve a given target. This finding leads us to discuss the issue of policy coordination. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; innovation policy; heterogeneous firms; technology adoption; trade policy |
| JEL: | F12 F13 F15 O32 |
| Date: | 2013–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2013_018&r=sbm |
| By: | Wennberg, Karl (The Ratio Institute & Stockholm School of Economics); Pathak, Saurav (Michigan Tech University); Autio, Erkko (Imperial College London Business School) |
| Abstract: | We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness study (GLOBE) for 42 countries to investigate how the effects of individual’s self-efficacy and fear of failure on entrepreneurial entry are contingent on national cultural practices. Using multi-level methodology, we observe that the positive effect of self-efficacy on entry is moderated by the cultural practices of institutional collectivism and performance orientation. Conversely, the negative effect of fear of failure on entry is moderated by the cultural practices of institutional collectivism and uncertainty avoidance. We discuss the implications for theory and methodological development in culture and entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Culture; Entrepreneurship; Institutions; Multi-level |
| JEL: | D24 L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2013–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0223&r=sbm |
| By: | Nasr, Sahar; Rostom, Ahmed |
| Abstract: | Recent economic and political developments have highlighted a challenge shared across the Arab region of generating employment, promoting inclusive growth, and improving competitiveness. In the short run, weakened macroeconomic fundamentals in the developing economies of the Middle East and North Africa are a key challenge. The region's main challenge is to achieve sustainable growth that delivers the quantity and quality of jobs needed. An inclusive and competitive private sector has proven to be one of the most effective and long-term solutions for this challenge. This paper provides an analytical framework to diagnose and identify key challenges to the growth of small and medium enterprises that is supported by a quantitative model based on the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys database. The findings reconfirm that the route to a sustained role for small and medium enterprises in job creation requires improving the credibility of reforms, the effectiveness of policies, and equitable enforcement. Although one size fits all is infeasible for Arab countries, it is important to design policies across sectors to create productive employment and promote economic growth. Supporting innovation and enhancing access to finance are central to the development agenda for small and medium enterprises. And creating an enabling environment and setting up accountable institutions are key to ensure equal opportunity and inclusive growth. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Markets,Microfinance,Labor Policies |
| Date: | 2013–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6682&r=sbm |