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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2014‒05‒24
eight papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Gabriele Pellegrino (Barcelona Institute of Economics - University of Barcelona, Barcelona); Mariacristina Piva (DISCE, Università Cattolica) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of the choice of different types of innovative input (R&D and technological acquisitions) and their relationship with different innovative outputs (product and process innovation), distinguishing between firms of different ages (mature vs young). In order to do so we apply a nonlinear structural model estimated on the third and fourth waves of the Italian Community Innovation Survey (CIS). We find that firm and market characteristics play a distinct role in boosting different types of innovation activities for firms of different ages. In particular, while methods of appropriability and international market exposure are relevant for both forms of innovative input, cooperation in innovation activities appears to be important for increasing the level of investment in R&D but not for technological acquisition. Moreover, young firms show a higher level of sensitivity than their mature counterparts to sources of information regarding innovation when we consider the magnitude of their innovative effort. On the contrary, factors such as methods of appropriability and support for innovation appear to be more important for enhancing the level of investment in both R&D and technological acquisitions for the mature firms only. Finally, the two innovative inputs appear to be equally important in determining both forms of innovative output for the two sub-samples of firms. |
| Keywords: | R&D; Technological acquisition; Innovative outputs; Young firms |
| JEL: | O31 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie2:dises1497&r=sbm |
| By: | Cristhian Seminario; Edgar Salgado; Eduardo Morón |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the relationship between regional financial development and firm growth in the Peruvian manufacturing sector. In order to control for mutual causality between credit availability and firm growth, industry differences in financial dependence on external funds are exploited. The 1994 and 2008 rounds of the National Economic Census are used, permitting analysis at the firm level as well as the activity level. Results suggest a significant and positive effect of financial deepening on surviving firms` growth. However, this effect is smaller for micro enterprises, suggesting that the cost of external funding decreases with financial development mainly for large firms. The conclusions remain unchanged when entering and exiting firms are included. The paper further finds that credit expansion have encouraged not only firm growth but also firm entry. The results are robust using an alternative measure of financial dependence. |
| Keywords: | Production & Business Cycles, Business Development, Financial Services, Firm growth, Manufacturing, Financial development |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:82162&r=sbm |
| By: | Rosina Moreno (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Jordi Suriñach (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The idea in this paper is to provide an empirical verification of the relationship between innovation adoption and productivity growth. After a brief revision of the literature about the concept and main determinants of innovation adoption/diffusion, the paper provides empirical evidence of the above-mentioned relationship through means of descriptive statistics and subsequently, we study the impact that innovation adoption may have on productivity growth through a regression analysis. The analysis is made with the statistical information provided by the Community Innovation Survey in its third and fourth waves, which concern innovative activities carried out between 1998 and 2000 and between 2002 and 2004 respectively. The countries covered are the 25 EU Member States plus Iceland and Norway as well as Turkey. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Innovation adoption, Productivity, Europe, Community Innovation Survey. JEL classification: C8, J61, O31, O33, R0 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201408&r=sbm |
| By: | Arito Ono; Ryo Hasumi; Hideaki Hirata |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the ex-post performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that obtained small business credit scoring (SBCS) loans, using a unique Japanese firm–bank matched dataset. The ex-post probability of default after the SBCS loan was provided significantly increased for SMEs that obtained an SBCS loan from a transactional lender. Also, the lending attitude of relationship lenders during the recent global financial crisis was more severe if a firm had received an SBCS loan from a transactional lender. These findings suggest that SBCS loans by transactional lenders are more prone to type II errors and detrimental to relationship lenders’ incentive to provide “liquidity insurance. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:164441&r=sbm |
| By: | MArco Bee; Massimo Riccaboni; Stefano Schiavo |
| Abstract: | The proper characterization of the size distribution of business firms represents an important issue in economic literature, with the most common reference distribu- tions being the lognormal and the Pareto varieties. This analysis is related to some methodological issues that are rarely properly addressed in applied work, and may significantly affect the results: the major difficulties arise from low power of the tests caused by limited sample size and the common practice of binning the data. In this paper we contribute to this body of literature by analyzing the size distribu- tion of all French companies, strongly rejecting the hypothesis that it is a Pareto distribution. Moreover, we argue that the lognormal distribution is a more reason- able first-cut benchmark for the entire population of firms. This is especially true for single-product firms, while we show the emergence of a Zipf tail for the class of multi-product companies. Our findings are in strong agreement with some recent theoretical contributions, which predict that the size distribution depends on a set of industry specific determinants. |
| Keywords: | Firm size distribution, multi-product firms, Pareto, ZipfÕs law, lognormal |
| JEL: | C46 L11 L25 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpem:2014/03&r=sbm |
| By: | Backman, Mikaela (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE) Center for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS), Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden); Karlsson, Charlie (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE) Center for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS), Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyse the determinants of the decision to become self-employed among commuters and non-commuters. In the entrepreneurship literature it is claimed that the rich-ness and quality of an individual’s business, professional and social networks play an im-portant role for the decision to become self-employed. People that commute between localities in the same region or between localities in different regions will most proba¬bly be able to develop richer personal networks than non-commuters, since they can develop network links both in the locality where they live and in the locality where they work. In this paper, we test this hypothesis using micro-data for around three million individuals in Sweden. As far as we know, this is the first time this hypothesis is tested. In our empirical analysis, we make a distinction between three groups of individuals: non-com¬muters, intra-regions commuter and inter-region commuters. For each of this groups we test how the probability of becoming self-employed is influenced by a number of characteristics of individuals, characteristics of home and work localities and regions. Our results indicate a significant difference between non-commuters and commuters in terms of the role of networks for becoming self-employed. On the one hand, we find for non-commuters that living and working in a locality with rich business networks reduce the probability of becoming self-employed. For commuters, on the other hand we find that working in a locality with rich business networks increase the probability to become self-employed. In this latter case, living in a municipality with rich business networks has a non-significant effect on the probability of becoming self-employed. Our results indicate that it is the business networks where people work, rather than where they live that exerts a positive influence on the probability of becoming self-employed. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; individual attributes; regional attributes; networks; micro-level data |
| JEL: | C21 J24 L26 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0365&r=sbm |
| By: | Jose Claudio Linhares Pires; Tulio Cravo; Simon Lodato; Caio Piza |
| Abstract: | Industrial clusters, which are commonly targeted to receive financial support allocated to locally based development projects, are seen as an effective industrial policy tool for improving productivity and generating employment. Nevertheless, identifying clusters and assessing their economic performance is a challenge for policymakers. This paper aims to address this challenge by identifying the location of clusters based on neighbor relationships and specialization in Brazil and providing some insights on their effects on employment generation. The paper uses both Location Quotient and Local Indicator of Spatial Association to identify potential clusters in 27 industrial sectors in 5564 Brazilian municipalities. In addition, it uses annual municipal panel data for 2006-2009 to assess whether the presence of potential clusters is correlated with employment generation. The results show that clusters located in municipalities whose neighbors have similar industrial structures perform better than those that present industry specialization only. |
| Keywords: | Industrial clusters |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:83486&r=sbm |
| By: | Ryo Hasumi; Hideaki Hirata |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the Japanese credit scoring market using data on 2,000 small and medium-sized enterprises and a small business credit scoring (SBCS) model widely used in the market. After constructing a model for determining a bank's profit maximization, some simulation exercises are conducted, and pitfalls of lending based on SBCS are indicated. The simulation results suggest that the reason why SBCS loan losses occur would be the combination of adverse selection and window-dressing problems. In addition, omitted variable bias and transparency of financial statements are important. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:164471&r=sbm |