nep-sbm New Economics Papers
on Small Business Management
Issue of 2019‒12‒02
24 papers chosen by
João Carlos Correia Leitão
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. Unintended side effects: stress tests, entrepreneurship, and innovation By Sebastian Doerr
  2. Training, Human Capital, and Gender Gaps in Entrepreneurial Performance By Brixiova, Zuzana; Kangoye, Thierry
  3. Challenges in Implementing the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: The Case of Viet Nam By Dang, Le Ngoc; Chuc, Anh Tu
  4. What Makes an Employer? By Caliendo, Marco; Fossen, Frank M.; Kritikos, Alexander S.
  5. Ownership structure and governance of the Italian firms: new evidence and effects on firm performance By Audinga Baltrunaite; Elisa Brodi; Sauro Mocetti
  6. Do Local Bank Branches Reduce SME Credit Constraints? Evidence from Public-Private Bank Interaction By Gustafsson, Anders; Manduchi, Agostino; Stephan, Andreas
  7. Youth Drain Entrepreneurship and Innovation By Massimo Anelli; Gaetano Basso; Giuseppe Ippedico; Giovanni Peri
  8. Former Communist Party Membership and Present-Day Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe By Ivlevs, Artjoms; Nikolova, Milena; Popova, Olga
  9. Technical Efficiency Analysis Of Indonesian Small And Micro Industries: A Stochastic Frontier Approach By Hery Purnomo Tunggal; Tati Suhartati Joesron
  10. Former Communist party membership and present-day entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe By Artjoms Ivlevs; Milena Nikolova; Olga Popova
  11. Weathering an Unexpected Financial Shock: The Role of Cash Grants on Household Finance and Business Survival By Gallagher, Justin; Hartley, Daniel; Rohlin, Shawn M.
  12. Structural Change in Firm Dynamics: From Inter-Firm Network and Geospatial Perspectives By Gee Hee HONG; OGURA Yoshiaki; SAITO Yukiko
  13. Leverage over the Firm Life Cycle, Firm Growth, and Aggregate Fluctuations By Dinlersoz, Emin M.; Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem; Hyatt, Henry; Penciakova, Veronika
  14. Asymmetric Information, Dynamic Debt Issuance, and the Term Structure of Credit Spreads By Benzoni, Luca; Garlappi, Lorenzo; Goldstein, Robert S.
  15. Innovation and Entrepreneurs’ Subjective Well-being The mediation effect of job satisfaction and satisfaction with work-life balance. By Jiequn Liu; Francis Munier
  16. Do agglomeration economies are lower for polluting sectors? By Emmanuelle Leturque; Mathieu Sanch-Maritan
  17. Firms' export decisions: Selection versus trial-and-error By Movahedi, Mohammad; Shahbazi, Kiumars; Abdessalam, Ahmed Haidara Ould
  18. Urban agglomerations and firm access to credit By Amanda Carmignani; Guido de Blasio; Cristina Demma; Alessio D'Ignazio
  19. The impact of international financial institutions on small and medium enterprises: The case of EIB lending in Central and Eastern Europe By Gereben, Áron; Rop, Anton; Petriček, Matic; Winkler, Adalbert
  20. Collaborative Innovation Blocs – A Meso Perspective to Achieve Antifragility By Elert, Niklas; Henrekson, Magnus
  21. Innovation and Strategic Network Formation By Krishna Dasaratha
  22. International knowledge flows between industry inventors and universities: The role of multinational companies By Fassio, Claudio; Geuna, Aldo; Rossi, Federica
  23. Linking opportunity types and value creation: A relational analysis of entrepreneurship in war-affected communities. By Castellanza, Luca
  24. Corporate Headquarters as a Resource for Diversification (Japanese) By KAWAKAMI Atsushi

  1. By: Sebastian Doerr
    Abstract: Post-crisis stress tests have helped to enhance financial stability and to reduce banks' risk-taking. In order to quantify their overall impact, regulators have turned to evaluating the effects of stress tests on financing and the real economy. Using the U.S. as a laboratory, this paper shows that stress tests have had potentially unintended side effects on entrepreneurship and innovation at young firms. Banks subject to stress tests have strongly cut small business loans secured by home equity, an important source of financing for entrepreneurs. Lower credit supply has led to a relative decline in entrepreneurship during the recovery in counties with higher exposure to stress tested banks. The decline has been steeper in sectors with a higher share of young firms using home equity financing, i.e. where the reduction in credit hit hardest. Counties with higher exposure have also seen a decline in patent applications by young firms. I provide suggestive evidence that the decline in credit has negatively affected labor productivity, reflecting young firms' disproportionate contribution to growth. My results do not imply that stress tests reduce welfare, but highlight a possible trade-off between financial stability and economic dynamism. The effects of stress tests on entrepreneurship should be taken into account when evaluating their effectiveness.
    Keywords: stress tests, small business lending, entrepreneurship, innovation, productivity slowdown
    JEL: G20 G21 L26
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:823&r=all
  2. By: Brixiova, Zuzana (University of Economics Prague); Kangoye, Thierry (African Development Bank)
    Abstract: In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, policymakers have been increasingly striving to support female entrepreneurship as a possible growth driver. This paper contributes to reconciling mixed findings in the literature on the effectiveness of entrepreneurial training with an analysis that links training and human capital, including tertiary education and non-cognitive skills, with gender gaps in entrepreneurial performance in Africa. We have found that while financial literacy training directly benefits men, it does not raise the sales level of women entrepreneurs. Instead, tertiary education has a direct positive link with the performance of women. Consistent with our theoretical model where different skills are complements, tertiary education can act as a channel that makes training effective. Regarding non-cognitive skills, evidence shows that women entrepreneurs who are tenacious achieve stronger sales performance. Our results underscore the importance of incorporating tertiary education and entrepreneurial training programs focused on a balanced set of skills, including non-cognitive skills, among policies for women entrepreneurs.
    Keywords: female entrepreneurship, training, non-cognitive skills, tertiary education
    JEL: L53 O12 J4
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12777&r=all
  3. By: Dang, Le Ngoc (Asian Development Bank Institute); Chuc, Anh Tu (Asian Development Bank Institute)
    Abstract: Access to credit is still one of the greatest obstacles to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Viet Nam. To date, only 39% of SMEs have bank loans. To cater to SMEs’ need for financial sources, especially formal sources such as the banking system, the Vietnamese government has implemented a large number of supporting programs, including the credit guarantee scheme (CGS) for SMEs, which it established in 2001. Through collecting, synthesizing, and analyzing data, we aim to study the challenges involved in implementing CGSs for SMEs as well as the causes of their poor performance. The fundamental reasons we find include the strict and impractical conditions for issuing credit guaranteed loans; the lack of adequate professional competence of staff involved in the credit guaranteeing task; the fragmented relationship between the credit institution and the CGS; and the lack of a credit database platform that facilitates access to finance for SMEs by providing comprehensive and reliable creditworthiness.
    Keywords: credit for SMEs; Vietnamese business environment; SMEs in Viet Nam
    JEL: E51 G23 G28 H81
    Date: 2019–04–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0941&r=all
  4. By: Caliendo, Marco (University of Potsdam); Fossen, Frank M. (University of Nevada, Reno); Kritikos, Alexander S. (DIW Berlin)
    Abstract: As the policy debate on entrepreneurship increasingly centers on firm growth in terms of job creation, it is important to better understand which variables influence the first hiring decision and which ones influence the subsequent survival as an employer. Using the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP), we analyze what role individual characteristics of entrepreneurs play in sustainable job creation. While human and social capital variables positively influence the hiring decision and the survival as an employer in the same direction, we show that none of the personality traits affect the two outcomes in the same way. Some traits are only relevant for survival as an employer but do not influence the hiring decision, other traits even unfold a revolving door effect, in the sense that employers tend to fail due to the same characteristics that positively influenced their hiring decision.
    Keywords: employer, entrepreneurship, business venturing, recruitment, firm growth, employment growth, personality
    JEL: J22 J23 L26
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12742&r=all
  5. By: Audinga Baltrunaite (Bank of Italy); Elisa Brodi (Bank of Italy); Sauro Mocetti (Bank of Italy)
    Abstract: The paper examines the evolution of the ownership structures and governance of Italian firms, from the second half of the 2000s to the present, with a triple objective. First, it provides an up-to-date, census-based, descriptive analysis of the ownership structure and governance of Italian firms. Second, it examines the effects of the reduction of entry costs on firm demography and the characteristics of those entering the market. Third, it shows the correlations between institutional context, governance structures and company performance.
    Keywords: ownership structure, governance, family firms, firm performance
    JEL: G32 G34 G38
    Date: 2019–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_514_19&r=all
  6. By: Gustafsson, Anders (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Manduchi, Agostino (Jönköping International Business School); Stephan, Andreas (Jönköping International Business School)
    Abstract: In the past few decades, commercial banks have substantially reduced the number of their branch offices. We address the question of whether or not the increased distance from the lenders correspondingly faced by many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) translates into a lower volume of loans. We use a unique dataset on loans from a state owned Swedish bank designed to support credit-constrained SMEs and interact their loan portfolio with the number of nearby commercial bank offices at the firm level along with an IV strategy to account for endogeneity. The estimation results strongly indicate that a larger number of local bank offices increases the local credit supply, and decreases the credit constraints of nearby SMEs.
    Keywords: Credit constraints; Relationship banking; State owned bank; Small business
    JEL: G28 H81 L26 L52 O38
    Date: 2019–11–20
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1305&r=all
  7. By: Massimo Anelli (Bocconi Univerity); Gaetano Basso (Bank of Italy); Giuseppe Ippedico (University of California, Davis); Giovanni Peri (University of California, Davis)
    Abstract: Migration outflows, especially of young people, may deprive an economy of entrepreneurial energy and innovative ideas. We exploit exogenous variation in emigration from Italian local labor markets to show that between 2008 and 2015 larger emigration flows reduced firm creation. The decline affected firms owned by young people and innovative industries. We estimate that for every 1,000 emigrants, 100 fewer young-owned firms were created cumulatively over the whole period. A simple accounting exercise shows that about 60 percent of the effect is generated simply by the loss of young people; the remaining 40 percent is due to a combination of selection of emigrants among highly entrepreneurial people, negative spillovers on the entrepreneurship rate of locals, and negative local firm multiplier effect.
    Keywords: emigration, demography, brain drain, entrepreneurship, innovation
    JEL: J61 H7 O3 M13
    Date: 2019–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1240_19&r=all
  8. By: Ivlevs, Artjoms (University of the West of England, Bristol); Nikolova, Milena (University of Groningen); Popova, Olga (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS))
    Abstract: After the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, former party members were particularly likely to start businesses and become entrepreneurs. However, it remains unclear whether this entrepreneurial activity was driven by the resources, information and opportunities provided by former party membership or because people with specific individual attributes were more likely to become party members (self-selection). This study is the first to separate the causal effect of former Communist party membership from self-selection. Using individual-level Life in Transition–III survey and instrumental variables analysis, we find that, in Central and Eastern European countries, membership of former Communist party has facilitated business set-up but not business longevity. Our results also suggest evidence of negative self-selection, meaning that people who joined the former ruling party tended have fewer of the traits associated with entrepreneurship such as motivation, risk tolerance, and entrepreneurial spirit. We show that former Communist party membership still matters for business practices, business ethics, and the nature of doing business in transition economies.
    Keywords: communism, communist party, elite networks, entrepreneurship, post-socialist countries
    JEL: L26 P20 P31
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12761&r=all
  9. By: Hery Purnomo Tunggal (Master of Applied Economics, Padjadjaran University); Tati Suhartati Joesron (Master of Applied Economics, Padjadjaran University)
    Abstract: Indonesian small and micro industries (SMIs) grow rapidly, followed by the shifting of the agricultural sector to manufacturing sector. However, its low contribution to national economy indicates there are encountered problems of productivity and efficiency. The goal of this study is analyzing technical efficiency of Indonesian SMIs categorized by size and five subsectors classified by Indonesia Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC). This study examines crosssectional data from survey of Indonesian small and micro industries (VIMK) in 2014 estimated statistically using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The results show that SMIs are labor intensive business, yet it faces diseconomies of scale. Hence, the role of capital increase should not be ignored. The key findings are mainly female ownership in the food processing industry positively contribute to efficiency improvement, the greater the sales the more efficient the business will function, younger entrepreneur is more efficient to manage several subsectors and access to financial sources positively contribute to efficiency improvement in clothing industry. Empowerment strategy to improve technical efficiency of SMIs should emphasis on intensively vocational/entrepreneurial training particularly for female and younger entrepreneurs, promotion for network building activity and deregulating microcredit scheme, especially for clothing industry.
    Keywords: small and micro industries, efficiency, stochastic frontier analysis
    JEL: L0
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unp:wpaper:201903&r=all
  10. By: Artjoms Ivlevs (University of the West of England); Milena Nikolova; Olga Popova
    Abstract: After the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, former party members were particularly likely to start businesses and become entrepreneurs. However, it remains unclear whether this entrepreneurial activity was driven by the resources, information and opportunities provided by former party membership or because people with specific individual attributes were more likely to become party members (self-selection). This study is the first to separate the causal effect of former Communist party membership from selfselection. Using individual-level Life in Transition–III survey and instrumental variables analysis, we find that, in Central and Eastern European countries, membership of former Communist party has facilitated business set-up but not business longevity. Our results also suggest evidence of negative self-selection, meaning that people who joined the former ruling party tended have fewer of the traits associated with entrepreneurship such as motivation, risk tolerance, and entrepreneurial spirit. We show that former Communist party membership still matters for business practices, business ethics, and the nature of doing business in transition economies.
    Keywords: communism, communist party, elite networks, entrepreneurship, post-socialist countries
    JEL: L26 P20 P31
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:384&r=all
  11. By: Gallagher, Justin (Montana University); Hartley, Daniel (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago); Rohlin, Shawn M. (Kent University)
    Abstract: We estimate the causal effect of cash grants on household finance and business survival following a natural disaster. Disaster-affected individuals in high damage blocks with access to cash grants have 17% less credit card debt following the disaster than those without access to cash grants. Grants do not reduce negative financial outcomes, but do decrease migration. The grants play a role in mitigating the effects of the shock to businesses; resulting in 18% more establishments and 29% more employees post-disaster in disaster-affected neighborhoods where residents receive grants, relative to disaster-affected neighborhoods where they do not receive grants. These effects are concentrated among small non-manufacturing establishments that rely on local demand.
    Keywords: Natural disasters; households finance; regional economic activity
    JEL: D14 Q54 R11
    Date: 2019–10–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2019-10&r=all
  12. By: Gee Hee HONG; OGURA Yoshiaki; SAITO Yukiko
    Abstract: This paper examines how unprecedented population aging affects firm dynamics in Japan, using the panel data from 2007 to 2016. Our analysis confirms that during this time, average firm age increased due to low rates of firm entry and exit. Average age of CEOs also increased with population aging and low turnover of CEOs. Aging of firms and CEOs is more salient in rural areas than urban areas. Furthermore, as voluntary firm exits are positively correlated with the age of CEOs, more exits are likely to occur as population aging intensifies. In rural areas, low density of firms may imply higher search costs in finding new transaction partners. Firm exit induced by exit of transaction partners is more likely to happen for rural areas. Our results suggest that policies aimed at supporting business succession and addressing increases in voluntary exists should cater to the lifecycle of firms as well as the geographic location of firms.
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:polidp:19031&r=all
  13. By: Dinlersoz, Emin M. (U.S. Census Bureau); Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem (University of Maryland); Hyatt, Henry (U.S. Census Bureau); Penciakova, Veronika (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta)
    Abstract: We study the leverage of U.S. firms over their life cycles and the connection between firm leverage, firm growth, and aggregate shocks. We construct a new dataset that combines private and public firms’ balance sheets with firm-level data from U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Business Database for the period 2005–12. Public and private firms exhibit different leverage dynamics over their life cycles. Firm age and size are systematically related to leverage for private firms but not for public firms. We show that private firms, but not public ones, deleveraged during the Great Recession and that this deleveraging is associated with a reduction in firm revenue and employment growth. Exploiting sectoral variation, we find that the leverage dynamics of firms is also relevant for aggregate fluctuations.
    Keywords: leverage; firm dynamics; firm growth; firm life-cycle; financial constraints; borrowing limits; short-term debt; aggregate shocks
    JEL: E23 G32
    Date: 2019–11–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2019-18&r=all
  14. By: Benzoni, Luca (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago); Garlappi, Lorenzo (University of British Columbia, School of Business); Goldstein, Robert S. (University of Minnesota)
    Abstract: We propose a tractable model of a firm’s dynamic debt and equity issuance policies in the presence of asymmetric information. Because “investment-grade” firms can access debt markets, managers who observe a bad private signal can both conceal this information and shield shareholders from infusing capital into the firm by issuing new debt to service existing debt, thus avoiding default. The implication is that the “asymmetric information channel” can generate jumps to default (from the creditors’ perspective) only for those "high-yield" firms that have exhausted their ability to borrow. Thus, our model deepens the “credit spread puzzle” for investment-grade firms.
    Keywords: Credit spreads; Capital structure; Corporate Default; Debt; Jumps to Default; Investments
    JEL: G12 G32 G33
    Date: 2019–09–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2019-08&r=all
  15. By: Jiequn Liu; Francis Munier
    Abstract: The aim of the article is to study the relationship between the subjective well-being of the entrepreneur and innovation according to the mediation effect of job satisfaction and satisfaction with work-life balance. we define the concepts and interpret theoretical contributions to identify our assumptions. The research design based on correlational relationship, mediation effect and interaction effect to explore relationship among innovation, life satisfaction, job satisfaction and satisfaction with work-life balance of the entrepreneur.
    Keywords: entrepreneur, subjective well-being, innovation, work life balance, job satisfaction.
    JEL: M13 O31 L29
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2019-42&r=all
  16. By: Emmanuelle Leturque (LEDi - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dijon - UB - Université de Bourgogne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Mathieu Sanch-Maritan (CREAM - Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquée à la Mondialisation - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - IRIHS - Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Homme et Société - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université)
    Abstract: This article explore how the relation between productivity and local city-size can be mitigated by pollution. More specifically, we estimate agglomeration economies considering a new source of heterogeneity among industries: the degree of pollution. Due to pollution perception acting as a dispersion force, we expect net agglomeration economies to be lower for polluting firms. In fact, polluting firms may anticipate that households and other firms are reluctant to locate near sources of pollution. In this paper, we exploit spatial data on sectoral emissions for a large number of air pollutants. We define a continuous variable of pollution that varies across sectors and employment zones. Our finding are twofold. First we find that agglomeration economies are lower for polluting sectors. Second we find that negative agglomeration are observed for some key pollutant such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead or sulfur dioxide.
    Keywords: Agglomeration economies,Polluting sectors,Negative externalities
    Date: 2019–11–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02347595&r=all
  17. By: Movahedi, Mohammad; Shahbazi, Kiumars; Abdessalam, Ahmed Haidara Ould
    Abstract: In this paper, an original and simple theoretical model is developed to better integrate various dimensions of the firms' decision to export. The model sheds light on the affirmations of the founding models of the "new theory of international trade", in particular the role of productivity and sunk costs of exporting in the firms' export decisions. It can also explain stylized facts that seem difficult to reconcile with the implications of the founding models: 1) flows of export market entry and exit are substantial; 2) entry into export markets would be rather gradual in the sense that firms start exporting small quantities and, if they survive, quickly expand their exports.
    Keywords: firm heterogeneity,self-selection,sequential exporting
    JEL: F10
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201958&r=all
  18. By: Amanda Carmignani (Bank of Italy); Guido de Blasio (Bank of Italy); Cristina Demma (Bank of Italy); Alessio D'Ignazio (Bank of Italy)
    Abstract: The paper investigates whether firms have better access to bank credit in areas with a larger degree of urbanization. It uses bank-firm data drawn from the Credit Register maintained at the Bank of Italy to devise an indicator of ease of access to credit. The paper proposes an instrumental variable strategy that uses as instruments past population density and urbanization driven by considerations of political economy. The results show that urbanization affects access to credit positively for construction firms, whose collateral greatly benefits from thicker real estate markets. No impact is found for service and manufacturing firms.
    Keywords: surbanization, access to credit
    JEL: G21 R11 R51
    Date: 2019–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1222_19&r=all
  19. By: Gereben, Áron; Rop, Anton; Petriček, Matic; Winkler, Adalbert
    Abstract: Does IFI funding provide support to SMEs receiving such funding? We assess the impact of funding by the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the performance of 5,223 SMEs in eight countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) during 2008-2014. Our results, derived from propensity score matching and difference-in-difference estimation exercises, indicate that EIB lending has a positive effect on employment, revenues and profitability. This positive effect holds irrespective of the economy entering a prolonged crisis or a seeing a recovery in the years following EIB funding. Overall, our results provide support to the view that IFI funding makes a difference in a period characterized by financial and economic turmoil.
    Keywords: International financial institutions,SMEs,impact,financial crisis
    JEL: G01 H81 L25
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:eibwps:201909&r=all
  20. By: Elert, Niklas (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))
    Abstract: We present the theory of the collaborative innovation bloc (CIB), an evolving system of innovation within which activity takes place over time. We show how the application of the CIB perspective can help make institutional and evolutionary economics more concrete, relevant, and persuasive, especially regarding policy prescriptions. Such policy actions should strive to improve the antifragility of CIBs and the economic system as a whole, thus enabling individual CIBs and the broader economic system to thrive when faced with macroeconomic shocks. With this in mind, we develop diagnostic tools to evaluate antifragility at the micro, meso, and macro levels before identifying a set of institutional areas where reform can be undertaken to improve antifragility.
    Keywords: Evolutionary economics; Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Institutional Economics; Institutions; Schumpeterian entrepreneurship
    JEL: B53 D20 G32 L23 L26 O33
    Date: 2019–11–20
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1306&r=all
  21. By: Krishna Dasaratha
    Abstract: We study a model of innovation with a large number of firms that create new technologies by combining several discrete ideas. These ideas can be acquired by private investment or via social learning. Firms face a choice between secrecy, which protects existing intellectual property, and openness, which facilitates social learning. These decisions determine interaction rates between firms, and these interaction rates enter our model as link probabilities in a resulting learning network. Higher interaction rates impose both positive and negative externalities on other firms, as there is more learning but also more competition. We show that the equilibrium learning network is at a critical threshold between sparse and dense networks. A corollary is that at equilibrium, the positive externality from interaction dominates: the innovation rate and even average firm profits would be dramatically higher if the network were denser. So there are large returns to increasing interaction rates above the critical threshold---but equilibrium remains critical even after natural interventions. One policy solution is to introduce informational intermediaries, such as public innovators who do not have incentives to be secretive. These intermediaries can facilitate a high-innovation equilibrium by transmitting ideas from one private firm to another.
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1911.06872&r=all
  22. By: Fassio, Claudio; Geuna, Aldo; Rossi, Federica (University of Turin)
    Abstract: We investigate the determinants of industry researchers’ interactions with universities in different localities, distinguishing between local and international universities. We analyze the extent to which local and international interactions are enabled by different types of individual personal networks (education, career based), and by their access to different business networks through their employer companies (local vs. domestic or international multinational company networks). We control for selection bias and numerous other individual and firm-level factors identified in the literature as important determinants of interaction with universities. Our findings suggest that industry researchers’ personal networks play a greater role in promoting interactions with local universities (i.e. in the same region, and other regions in the same country) while researcher employment in a multinational is especially important for establishing interaction with universities abroad.
    Date: 2019–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201905&r=all
  23. By: Castellanza, Luca
    Abstract: Are entrepreneurial opportunities objectively discovered or subjectively created? In a relational ontology, the question is moot. Through an ethnography of 104 entrepreneurs operating subsistence, agricultural, and non-farm activities in war-affected African communities, we show that discovery and creation processes are nothing but ideal types differing in the interactions between the entrepreneur and her context. Surprisingly, we find that contextual rigidity determines not only the availability of different opportunity types but also the value-creating potential of each opportunity. The study bridges contrasting perspectives on the nature of entrepreneurial opportunities and introduces contextual dynamics linking opportunity types and value creation.
    Date: 2019–01–23
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:hmj7k&r=all
  24. By: KAWAKAMI Atsushi
    Abstract: This paper investigated the role of corporate headquarters in diversification of products using "the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Basic Survey of Japanese Business Structure and Activities." Following Bernard, Redding and Schott (2010) and Kawakami and Miyagawa (2013), diversified firms are more productive than firms producing single products. Empirical studies of this paper showed the same results in Japanese firms including service sectors after 2005. Based on the above result, we investigated the relationship between organizational capital and diversification following the framework of the model of Nocke and Yeaple (2014) and adopted the number of employees in managerial segments, research and planning segment and international segments in corporate headquarters offices as a proxy indicator of organizational capital. The Logit model and OLS support the hypothesis for organizational capital from Nocke and Yeaple (2014). But the fixed effect model and dynamic panel model suggested the research and planning segment plays the entrepreneurial role of a headquarters office in stimulating diversification by decreasing business withdrawals. Otherwise, the estimations suggested that organizational efficiency prompted both entry and exit of businesses.
    Date: 2019–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:19061&r=all

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