nep-cse New Economics Papers
on Economics of Strategic Management
Issue of 2008‒10‒28
nine papers chosen by
Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira
University of the Beira Interior

  1. International Expansion as Corporate Strategy: A Case Study of Hotel Industry in Iberoamérica. By Gómez Selemeneva, D; Ortigueira, Luis C.
  2. Globalization Drives Strategic Product Switching By Marialuz Moreno Badia; Veerle Slootmaekers; Ilke Van Beveren
  3. Disentangling Specific Subsets of Innovations : A Micro-Econometric Analysis of their Determinants By Andreas Ziegler
  4. The Airport Industry in a Competitive Environment: A United Kingdom Perspective By David Starkie
  5. Firms as Bundles of Discrete Resources - Towards an Explanation of the Exponential Distribution of Firm Growth Rates By Alex Coad
  6. Firms as Bundles of Discrete Resources - Towards an Explanation of the Exponential Distribution of Firm Growth Rates By Alex Coad
  7. International Competitiveness of the Mediterranean Quartet:A Heterogeneous-Product Approach By Herman Z. Bennett; Ziga Zarnic
  8. Do Strategic Substitutes Make Better Markets? A Comparison of Bertrand and Cournot Markets By Douglas D. Davis
  9. Nanotechnology Publications and Patents: A Review of Social Science Studies and Search Strategies By Huang, Can; Notten, Ad; Rasters, Nico

  1. By: Gómez Selemeneva, D; Ortigueira, Luis C.
    Abstract: The present paper is based on a case study: the Ibero-American hotel Industry and their evolution inside the process of international expansion. Through economic, sequential and strategic approaches that study the internationalization phenomenon , a theoretical-empiric analysis of strategies and entrance modalities is carried out. Being obtained a tendency toward strategic alliances through administration contracts and franchising.
    Keywords: Eclectic theory; Transaction Cost Theory; Internationalization; Hotel Sector
    JEL: D23 L8
    Date: 2007–08–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11240&r=cse
  2. By: Marialuz Moreno Badia; Veerle Slootmaekers; Ilke Van Beveren
    Abstract: Using firm-level data for Estonia for the years 1997-2005, we analyze the impact of international competition on firm dynamics, considering both firm closedown and product switching. We contribute to the literature in two important ways: (1) this is the first paper to study the determinants of exit and product switching in an emerging market; and (2) we consider explicitly the role of export opportunities. Our results indicate that globalization does not affect firm exit significantly but it is an important factor explaining product switching. Previous studies on industrial countries have shown that product switching has been a defensive strategy against low-cost imports. In contrast, our results suggest that Estonian firms have switched products as an offensive strategy to take advantage of the export opportunities created by trade liberalization.
    Date: 2008–10–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/246&r=cse
  3. By: Andreas Ziegler (CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research at ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
    Abstract: Based on a unique firm-level data set from the German manufacturing sector, this paper disentangles environmental and non-environmental product and process innovations. The multivariate probit analysis shows that the various innovation types are determined by different factors. The estimation results suggest a policy mix which comprises the encouragement of R&D activities, certified management systems, and specific management activities referring to environmentally friendly products when the implementation of all innovation types is to be supported.
    Keywords: Product and process innovations, Environmental and non-environmental innovations, Management systems, Multivariate probit models
    JEL: Q55 O31 O32 C35
    Date: 2008–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eth:wpswif:08-100&r=cse
  4. By: David Starkie
    Abstract: The paper provides an overview of UK airports from the perspective of a business enterprise. Its object is to show, through the medium of the UK industry, that effective competition between airports is possible and that a competitive industry can be financially viable. In the UK case viability is achieved at all levels of output, thus refuting the suggestion that high fixed costs are a significant barrier to positive returns, particularly for airports of limited output. This viable industry operates for the most part in the private sector of the economy and it has evolved without the imposition of a strategic plan. It is competition that has driven the dynamics of the industry, an industry that in its symbiotic relationship with the airline industry has been an economic success story helping to produce strong economic growth in the service sector of the UK economy.
    Date: 2008–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaaa:2008/15-en&r=cse
  5. By: Alex Coad (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, Max Planck Institute of Economics - Evolutionary Economics Group)
    Abstract: A robust feature of the corporate growth process is the Laplace, or symmetric exponential, distribution of firm growth rates. In this paper, we sketch out a class of simple theoretical models capable of explaining this empirical regularity. We do not attempt to generalize on where growth opportunities comme from, but rather we focus on how firms build upon growth opportunites. We borrow ideas from the self-organizing criticality literature to explain how the interdependent nature of discrete resources may lead to the triggering off of a series of additions to a firm's resources. In a first formal model we consider the case of employment growth in a hierarchy, and observe that growth rates follow an exponential distribution. In a second model we include plant and capital as resources and we are able to reproduce a number of stylized facts about firm growth.
    Keywords: Firm growth rates, exponential distribution, hierarchy, growth autocorrelation.
    Date: 2008–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00331282_v1&r=cse
  6. By: Alex Coad (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, Max Planck Institute of Economics - Evolutionary Economics Group)
    Abstract: A robust feature of the corporate growth process is the Laplace, or symmetric exponential, distribution of firm growth rates. In this paper, we sketch out a class of simple theoretical models capable of explaining this empirical regularity. We do not attempt to generalize on where growth opportunities comme from, but rather we focus on how firms build upon growth opportunites. We borrow ideas from the self-organizing criticality literature to explain how the interdependent nature of discrete resources may lead to the triggering off of a series of additions to a firm's resources. In a first formal model we consider the case of employment growth in a hierarchy, and observe that growth rates follow an exponential distribution. In a second model we include plant and capital as resources and we are able to reproduce a number of stylized facts about firm growth.
    Keywords: Firm growth rates, exponential distribution, hierarchy, growth autocorrelation.
    Date: 2008–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00331282_v1&r=cse
  7. By: Herman Z. Bennett; Ziga Zarnic
    Abstract: The real effective exchange rate (REER) is the most commonly used measure for assessing international competitiveness. We develop a methodology to estimate the REER that incorporates two distinctive elements that are not considered in the current literature and apply it to the Mediterranean Quartet (MQ) of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, whose common pattern of real appreciation has created concern in policy and academic circles. The two elements that we add to the existing literature are (i) product heterogeneity when identifying each country's international competitors and their weights and (ii) a comprehensive treatment of services exports. Our refined measure suggests a modest reduction in the observed REER gap between the MQ countries and the other euro area countries. In particular, considering product heterogeneity and services exports implies a lower real appreciation from 1998 to 2006 on the order of 2-3 percent for all MQ countries. These are difference-in-difference estimates relative to the results obtained for the rest of the euro area countries using the same methodology.
    Keywords: Competition , Greece , Italy , Portugal , Spain , Real effective exchange rates , Exports , Euro Area , Services sector ,
    Date: 2008–10–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/240&r=cse
  8. By: Douglas D. Davis (Department of Economics, VCU School of Business)
    Abstract: Recent experiments suggest that games where actions are strategic substitutes rather than strategic complements exhibit some desirable performance characteristics. This paper reports an experiment conducted to test whether these characteristics extend to differentiated product Cournot and Bertrand markets. We find that Cournot markets do not generally outperform Bertrand markets, and that the opposite is often true. Bertrand markets exhibit comparatively higher convergence levels and speeds, particularly when products are close substitutes. Bertrand sellers do engage in more signaling activity than Cournot sellers. Such efforts, however, affect market outcomes only occasionally, and only when products are differentiated. Analysis of individual decisions suggests that the observed differences in convergence levels and speeds are driven by a propensity for sellers to use forecast and inertia anchors as bases for action choices in addition to best replies. Given these propensities, Bertrand markets converge more rapidly and more completely to static Nash predictions, particularly when products are close substitutes, because the differences between the various anchors is smaller in Bertrand markets.
    Keywords: Experiments, Market Concentration, Market Power
    JEL: C9 D4 L4
    Date: 2008–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vcu:wpaper:0808&r=cse
  9. By: Huang, Can (UNU-MERIT, and Maastricht University); Notten, Ad (UNU-MERIT); Rasters, Nico (UNU-MERIT)
    Abstract: This paper provides a comprehensive review of more than 120 social science studies in nanoscience and technology, all of which analyze publication and patent data. We conduct a comparative analysis of bibliometric search strategies that these studies use to harvest publication and patent data related to nanoscience and technology. We implement these strategies on 2006 publication data and find that Mogoutov and Kahane (2007), with their evolutionary lexical query search strategy, extract the highest number of records from the Web of Science. The strategies of Glanzel et al. (2003), Noyons et al. (2003), Porter et al. (2008) and Mogoutov and Kahane (2007) produce very similar ranking tables of the top ten nanotechnology subject areas and the top ten most prolific countries and institutions.
    Keywords: nanotechnology, research and development, productivity, publications, patents, bibliometric analysis, search strategy
    JEL: O14 O31
    Date: 2008
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008058&r=cse

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