nep-sbm New Economics Papers
on Small Business Management
Issue of 2014‒12‒08
nine papers chosen by
João Carlos Correia Leitão
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. A territorial approach to R&D subsidies: Empirical evidence for Catalonian firms By Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Teruel, Mercedes; Bové Sans, Miquel Àngel
  2. The Cost of Knowledge By Antonelli, Cristiano; Colombelli, Alessandra
  3. “Does absorptive capacity determine collaborative research returns to innovation? A geographical dimension” By Erika Raquel Badillo; Rosina Moreno
  4. Innovation in creative cities: Evidence from British small firms By Neil Lee; Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
  5. Innovation and export in SMEs: the role of relationship banking By Serena Frazzoni; Maria Luisa Mancusi; Zeno Rotondi; Maurizio Sobrero; Andrea Vezzulli
  6. Young Firms and R&D subsidies in Catalonia By Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Teruel, Mercedes
  7. Appropriability Mechanisms, Innovation and Productivity: Evidence from the UK By Bronwyn H. Hall; Vania Sena
  8. Allocation of human capital and innovation at the frontier: Firm-level evidence on Germany and the Netherlands By Bartelsmann, Eric; Dobbelaere, Sabien; Peters, Bettina
  9. European Innovation Dynamics and US Economic Impact: Theory and Empirical Analysis By Welfens, Paul J. J.; Irawan, Tony

  1. By: Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Teruel, Mercedes; Bové Sans, Miquel Àngel
    Abstract: Using a database of 2,263 responses to R&D public calls in Catalonia, during the period 2007–2010, this paper proceeds to analyse the potential interaction of the territorial and policy dimensions with the propensity to apply for, and be awarded, a public R&D subsidy. Controlling for characteristics at the firm and project level, we estimate models using a two-step procedure. In the first step, our results suggest that large firms which export and which belong to high-tech manufactures are more likely to participate in a public R&D call. Furthermore, both urban location and past experience of such calls have a positive effect. Our territorial proxy of information spillovers shows a positive sign, but this is only significant at intra-industry level. Membership of one of the sectors prioritized by the Catalan government, perhaps surprisingly, does not have a significant impact. In the second step, our results show that cooperative projects, SMEs or old firms shows a positive effect on the probability of obtaining a public subsidy. Finally, the cluster policy does not show a clear relationship with the public R&D call, suggesting that cluster policies and R&D subsidies follow different goals. Our results are in line with previous results in the literature, but they highlight the unequal territorial distribution of the firms which apply and the fact that policymakers should interlink the decision criteria for their public call with other policies. Keywords: Evaluation, R&D policies, territorial approach, clusters JEL Classifications: L53, L25, O38
    Keywords: Innovacions tecnològiques -- Política governamental, Sistemes productius locals, Política industrial, Empreses -- Dimensió -- Catalunya, 332 - Economia regional i territorial. Economia del sòl i de la vivenda,
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/242275&r=sbm
  2. By: Antonelli, Cristiano; Colombelli, Alessandra (University of Turin)
    Abstract: This paper contributes the economics of knowledge and innovation with the analysis of the knowledge cost function and sheds light on the determinants of the large variance in the cost of innovation across firms. The amount and the structure of external knowledge and the internal stocks of knowledge that firms can access and use in the generation of new technological knowledge help firms to reduce the costs of innovations. The empirical section is based upon a panel of companies listed on UK and the main continental Europe financial markets (Germany, France and Italy) for the period 1995 – 2006, for which information about patents have been gathered. The econometric analysis of the costs of knowledge considers the unit costs of patents on the right hand side, and on the left hand side next to R&D expenditures, the stock of knowledge internal and external to each firm. In order to articulate the different facets of the external knowledge that is made accessible by proximity with firms co-localized in the same region (NUTS2), we further include other variables proxying for regional variety, complementarity and similarity. The results confirm that the stock of internal knowledge and the access to external knowledge play a key role in reducing the actual cost of the generation of new technological knowledge at the firm level.
    Date: 2014–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201427&r=sbm
  3. By: Erika Raquel Badillo (Department of Econometrics. University of Barcelona); Rosina Moreno (Department of Econometrics. University of Barcelona)
    Abstract: This paper aims to estimate the impact of research collaboration with partners in different geographical areas on innovative performance. By using the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel, this study provides evidence that the benefits of research collaboration differ across different dimensions of the geography. We find that the impact of extra-European cooperation on innovation performance is larger than that of national and European cooperation, indicating that firms tend to benefit more from interaction with international partners as a way to access new technologies or specialized and novel knowledge that they are unable to find locally. We also find evidence of the positive role played by absorptive capacity, concluding that it implies a higher premium on the innovation returns to cooperation in the international case and mainly in the European one.
    Keywords: Innovation cooperation; Technological partners; Geographical location; Performance; Absorptive Capacity; Spanish firms JEL classification: L25; O31; O33; R1
    Date: 2014–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201416&r=sbm
  4. By: Neil Lee; Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
    Abstract: Creative cities are seen as important sites for the generation of new ideas, products and processes. Yet, beyond case studies of a few high-profile cities, there is little empirical evidence on the link between local creative industries concentration and innovation. This paper addresses this gap with an analysis of around 1,300 UK SMEs. The results suggest that firms in local economies with high shares of creative industries employment are significantly more likely to introduce entirely new products and processes than firms elsewhere, but not innovations which are simply new to the firm. This effect is not exclusive to creative industries firms and seems to be largely due to firms in medium sized, rather than large, cities. The results imply that creative cities may have functional specialisations in new content creation and so firms are more innovative in them.
    Keywords: Creativity, Creative Cities, Creative Industries, Cities, Innovation
    JEL: O31 O38 R1 R11 R58
    Date: 2014–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1422&r=sbm
  5. By: Serena Frazzoni; Maria Luisa Mancusi (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Zeno Rotondi; Maurizio Sobrero; Andrea Vezzulli
    Abstract: This paper assesses the role of relationship lending in explaining simultaneously the innovation activity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), their probability to export (i.e. the extensive margin) and their share of exports on total sales conditional on exporting (i.e. the intensive margin). We adopt a measure of informational tightness based on the ratio of firm’s debt with its main bank to firm’s total assets. Our results show that the strength of the bank-firm relation has a positive impact on both SME’s probability to export and their export margins. This positive effect is only marginally mediated by the SME’s increased propensity to introduce product innovation. We further discuss the financial and non-financial channels through which the intensity of bank-firm relationship supports SMEs’ international activities.
    Keywords: margins of export, bank-firm relationships, innovation, localized knowledge spillovers
    JEL: F10 G20 G21 O30
    Date: 2014–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie1:def18&r=sbm
  6. By: Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Teruel, Mercedes
    Abstract: Based on four different public R&D calls from the Catalan government, this article evaluates the propensity of entrants and young firms to apply for R&D public grants and, as compared to their counterparts, their capacity for obtaining subsides. This analysis is particularly relevant since entrants and young firms encounter greater market difficulties. Our sample contains 22,139 firms and corresponds to a merge of two databases: one from the Catalan agency responsible for promoting private innovation (ACC1Ó) and the other from the Mercantile Register. Merging these databases has two advantages. Firstly, participants and non-participants in the public R&D call (“InnoEmpresaâ€) are included and, secondly, it provides us with information at firm and project level. The period of observation is between 2006 and 2010, since some explanatory variables are lagged by one period. We apply a two-step methodology. Our results show that entrants and young firms show a lower propensity to apply for R&D subsidies and to obtain R&D public grants. Firm size, exports and participation in a previous call show a positive impact on the likelihood of applying, and firms located in the Barcelona metropolitan area have a greater propensity to apply. Additionally, project quality and R&D cooperative reports presented jointly with other partners have a positive impact on the likelihood of obtaining the R&D subsidy. Finally, firms that have previously obtained an R&D subsidy do not exhibit a greater propensity for obtaining subsequent grants. Keywords: R&D subsidies, entrants and young firms Classification JEL: L53, L25, O38
    Keywords: Subvencions, Empreses -- Creació, Política industrial, Empreses -- Dimensió -- Catalunya, Innovacions tecnològiques -- Política governamental, 332 - Economia regional i territorial. Economia del sòl i de la vivenda,
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/242276&r=sbm
  7. By: Bronwyn H. Hall; Vania Sena
    Abstract: We use an extended version of the well-established Crepon, Duguet and Mairesse model (1998) to model the relationship between appropriability mechanisms, innovation and firm-level productivity. We enrich this model in several ways. First, we consider different types of innovation spending and study the differences in estimates when innovation spending (rather than R&D spending) is used to predict innovation in the CDM model. Second, we assume that a firm simultaneously innovates and chooses among different appropriability methods (formal or informal) to protect the innovation. Finally, in the third stage, we estimate the impact of the innovation output conditional on the choice of appropriability mechanisms on firms' productivity. We find that firms that innovate and rate formal methods for the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) highly are more productive than other firms, but that the same does not hold in the case of informal methods for the protection of a firm's IP, except possibly for large firms as opposed to SMEs. We also find that this result is strongest for firms in the services, trade, and utility sectors, and negative in the manufacturing sector.
    JEL: L25 O30 O34
    Date: 2014–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20514&r=sbm
  8. By: Bartelsmann, Eric; Dobbelaere, Sabien; Peters, Bettina
    Abstract: This paper examines how productivity effects of human capital and innovation vary at different points of the conditional productivity distribution. Our analysis draws upon two large unbalanced panels of 6,634 enterprises in Germany and 14,586 enterprises in the Netherlands over the period 2000-2008, considering 5 manufacturing and services industries that differ in the level of technological intensity. Industries in the Netherlands are characterized by a larger average proportion of high-skilled employees and industries in Germany by a more unequal distribution of human capital intensity. In Germany, average innovation performance is higher in all industries, except for low-technology manufacturing, and in the Netherlands the innovation performance distributions are more dispersed. In both countries, we observe non-linearities in the productivity effects of investing in product innovation in the majority of industries. Frontier firms enjoy the highest returns to product innovation whereas for process innovation the most negative returns are observed in the best-performing enterprises of most industries. We find that in both countries the returns to human capital increase with proximity to the technological frontier in industries with a low level of technological intensity. Strikingly, a negative complementarity e¤ect between human capital and proximity to the technological frontier is observed in knowledge-intensive services, which is most pronounced for the Netherlands. Suggestive evidence suggests an interpretation of a winner-takes-all market in knowledge-intensive services.
    Keywords: Human capital,innovation,productivity,quantile regression
    JEL: C10 I20 O14 O30
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14064&r=sbm
  9. By: Welfens, Paul J. J. (University of Wuppertal); Irawan, Tony (University of Wuppertal)
    Abstract: The role of product innovations is growing in the world economy, and the EU and the US are key players here. The analysis presented herein explains product innovations in the EU25 for the period 2006-2012, namely through lagged R&D (relative to GDP), cumulated FDI inflows (relative to the host country capital stock) and cumulated FDI inflows (relative to the host country capital stock), joint internet intensity, broadband intensity and potential competition. For the first time we can offer a broad analysis of product innovation dynamics in Europe which should be the basis for not only better supply-side policy in EU countries and growth policy, respectively, but it also suggests a strong role for international digital communication in relation to product innovation dynamics. Moreover, the approach provides new important arguments in favor of the TTIP negotiations between the US and the EU and it suggests a broader analytical link between trade, FDI, innovation, employment and output growth.
    Keywords: innovation, foreign direct investment, TTIP negotiation
    JEL: F21 F15 O31
    Date: 2014–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8507&r=sbm

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