|
on Economics of Strategic Management |
|
Issue of 2010‒04‒17
thirty papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Bettina Riedel (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin) |
| Abstract: | In the present study we combine cluster theory with a value chain approach, with the aim of discovering elements of the European fresh vegetable business that could enable local producers to gain competitive advantages in a global market. European producers of fresh vegetables are under pressure to improve their performance and increase their competitiveness. Competitive advantage can be gained through innovation and by using unique resources stemming from cooperation between producers and complementary actors in local clusters. However, locally clustered producers do not sell to open markets but need access to value chains governed by lead firms, the large European retail chains, which set the rules and conditions of participation. The study presents first results from a multiple case-study analysis involving three different European regions in Germany, Italy and Spain specialized in fresh vegetable production. In-depth interviews with practitioners allowed us to confirm some main trends in business organization in the European fresh vegetable industry, but also to point out some interesting peculiarities of this industry. Local fresh vegetable producers become competitive due to their integration both in local production and wider marketing networks, where unique knowledge is created and interchanged by personal relationships. Further concentration on the local level is claimed to countervail power imbalances that usually favor buyers. The need for leading supermarket chains to build up direct relationships with key suppliers disturbs the functioning of existing relationship patterns in the local cluster. Creation of exclusive relationships with retail chains is pursued by entrepreneurs of innovative producing farms who treat their special knowledge and capacities as competitive advantages in the sharp competition in world markets and do not share it with other cluster actors. |
| Keywords: | Fresh vegetables, value chains, clusters, competitiveness |
| JEL: | Q13 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bag:deiawp:9001&r=cse |
| By: | Juan Alcacer (Harvard Business School, Strategy Unit); Wilbur Chung (R.H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | Geographically concentrated industry activity creates pools of skilled labor and specialized suppliers, and increases opportunities for knowledge spillovers. The strategic value of these agglomeration economies may vary by firm, depending upon the relative value of each economy, and upon firm and agglomeration economy traits. To better determine when a firm will be attracted to agglomeration economies, we develop a three-layer framework. The first layer assesses the relative importance of skilled labor, suppliers, and knowledge spillovers. The second layer considers whether firms can benefit from geographic concentration without co-locating. The final layer examines why some firms are more inclined to co-locate than others based upon firm and agglomeration economy traits. We test our framework on the U.S. location choices of new manufacturing entrants between 1985 and 1994 and find that firms are far more attracted to skilled labor and specialized suppliers than they are to potential knowledge spillovers, even in R&D intensive industries. We also find that leading firms will be more attracted to pools of labor, suppliers, and potential knowledge spillovers when their own contributions are less fungible, and cannot be easily leveraged for strategic advantage by proximate competitors. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration economies, location choice, firm strategy |
| JEL: | R30 R12 L21 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:10-071&r=cse |
| By: | Flavio Lenz-Cesar; Almas Heshmati (Technology Management, Economics and Policy Program(TEMEP), Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | R&D cooperation has received great attention among industrialists, decision makers and researchers as it facilitates research collaboration, information sharing, reduced R&D cost, and affects R&D resource allocation, advancement and competitiveness of the national industry, employment and survival of firms. This paper introduces an econometric approach for identifying the factors that lead firms to cooperative innovation. The determinants of firms cooperation in innovation were defined according to empirical findings on a dataset from the internationally standardized Korean Innovation Survey 2005, captured in a multivariate probit regression model. The model identified the determinants on firms¡¯ likelihood to participate in cooperation with other organizations when conducting innovation activities. The aim of this model was to subsidize further research applying agent-based modeling to simulate innovation networks in the Korean manufacturing sector in order to test different policy strategies on fostering cooperation in innovation. |
| Keywords: | Collaborative R&D, multivariate probit models, Korean innovation survey |
| JEL: | C35 C71 D20 L20 O31 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snv:dp2009:200927&r=cse |
| By: | Michael Peneder (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an integrated set of innovation taxonomies for firms and sectors. It discards the practice of representing industries by some average behaviour, instead characterising them by the distribution of diverse innovation modes at the firm level. The theoretical focus is on (i) Schumpeter's distinction between "creative" and "adaptive response", and (ii) differences regarding technological opportunities, appropriability conditions and the cumulativeness of knowledge. Applying statistical cluster analysis, the empirical identification is based on the micro-data of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) for 22 European countries. The final cluster validation highlights the simultaneous diversity and contingency of firm behaviour with distinct technological regimes exhibiting systematic differences in the distribution of heterogeneous firms. |
| Keywords: | Technological regimes, innovation modes, sectoral taxonomy, industry classification, cluster analysis |
| Date: | 2010–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2010:i:362&r=cse |
| By: | Antonelli Cristiano (University of Turin); Krafft Jackie; Quatraro Francesco (University of Turin) |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201001&r=cse |
| By: | Christian Cordes; Peter J. Richerson; Georg Schwesinger |
| Abstract: | This paper shows how cognitive human dispositions that take effect at the level of an individual firm’s corporate culture have repercussions on an industry’s evolution. In our theory, the latter is attributable to evolving corporate cultures coupled with changes in a firm’s business environment. With the help of a formal model of evolving corporate cultures, we demonstrate how firms can establish a cooperative cultural regime that yields competitive advantages in an innovative, fast changing environment. Depending on within-firm social learning processes and cognitive constraints of human agents, organizations then reach a critical cognitive firm size in their development beyond which the level of cooperation deteriorates rapidly – they systematically face a growth crisis. Organizations successful in such an environment and reaching a critical technological size may, however, reap economies of scale in a later, mature and stable business environment with altered corporate culture. Furthermore, we relate these findings to empirical evidence on firm survival and performance in different industries, the evolution of organizational structures, technological advancements in production technologies, and identify some determinants of market structures. |
| Keywords: | Industry Evolution, Critical Firm Sizes, Firm Growth, Corporate Culture, Human Cognition Length 17 pages |
| JEL: | D21 L10 M13 M14 C61 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2009-21&r=cse |
| By: | Zeqiri, Izet |
| Abstract: | This work provides a useful emphasis on the interactions between entrepreneurship and strategic management. The causes of individual entrepreneurial action and strategic management process constitute the primary interest of the researcher. Both the individual entrepreneur and the environment as it relates to the motives of individual entrepreneurial behavior are considered. Strategic management is the process of assessing the corporation and its environment in order to meet the long-term objectives of the organization. It refers to the series of decisions taken by management to determine the long-term objectives of the organization and the means to achieve these objectives. Once a mission has been established, strategies are developed to pursue it. An organization must develop a form of strategic management to control these strategies. Through strategic management, an organization can handle its mission while at the same time assessing the relationship of the organization to its environment. The convergence of entrepreneurship and strategic management is being driven partly by time and responsiveness – speed of innovation and actions taken in the marketplace. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; management; organization; strategy; strategic management; strategic management process; entrepreneurial behavior. |
| JEL: | M0 M1 M12 M13 |
| Date: | 2010–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:21943&r=cse |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (Universidad EAFIT); Mario Pianta (University of Urbino) |
| Abstract: | The diversity of technological activities that contribute to growth in labour productivity is examined in this paper for manufacturing and services industries in eight major EU countries. We test the relevance of the two major strategies of technological competitiveness (based on innovation in products and markets) or cost competitiveness (relying on innovation in processes and machinery) and their impact on economic performances. We propose models for the determinants of changes in labour productivity and we carry out empirical tests both for both the whole economy and for the four Revised Pavitt classes that group manufacturing and services industries with distinct patterns of innovation. Tests are carried out by pooling industries, countries and three time periods, using innovation survey data from CIS 2, 3 and 4, linked to economic variables.The results confirm the strong diversity of the mechanisms leading to productivity growth in Europe, with different roles of sector-specific technological activities developed in the pursuit of the strategies of technological competitiveness and cost competitiveness. In all empirical tests, for all industries as well as for each revised Pavitt class, we find a presence of both strategies, with a relevance and impact that is specific for each subgroup of industries. Economic performances in European industries appear as the results of different innovation models, with strong specificities of the four Revised Pavitt classes (i.e. "Science Based industries", "Scale and Information Intensive industries", "Specialised Suppliers industries" and "Suppliers Dominated industries").A number of policy lessons emerge from our findings. Policies aiming at greater labor productivity growth may have to take into account the different mechanisms resulting from technological and cost competitiveness strategies, and the different relevance that they have in industry groups. Efforts to introduce new processes have emerged as a strong aspect of innovative activities in all industries, but their impact on productivity growth is likely to be inferior to that of a search for new products and markets, typical of "Science Based" and "Specialised Suppliers" industries alone. Policies may be more effective when they focus on the latter type of efforts. As the dynamics of demand plays a strong role in the potential for productivity growth, innovation policies should also develop a stronger integration with industrial and macroeconomic policies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Labour Productivity, Industry Taxonomies, Technological and Cost Competitiveness |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O41 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:200913&r=cse |
| By: | José García-Quevedo (Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB) and Dpt. of Political Economy and Public Finance, University of Barcelona); Francisco Mas-Verdú (Dpt. of Economics and Social Sciences, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB)); José Polo-Otero (CYD Foundation and Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB)) |
| Abstract: | PhD graduates hold the highest education degree, are trained to conduct research and can be considered a key element in the creation, commercialization and diffusion of innovations. The impact of PhDs on innovation and economic development takes place through several channels such as the accumulation of scientific capital stock, the enhancement of technology transfers and the promotion of cooperation relationships in innovation processes. Although the placement of PhDs in industry provides a very important mechanism for transmitting knowledge from universities to firms, information about the characteristics of the firms that employ PhDs is very scarce. The goal of this paper is to improve understanding of the determinants of the demand for PhDs in the private sector. Three main potential determinants of the demand for PhDs are considered: cooperation between firms and universities, R&D activities of firms and several characteristics of firms, size, sector, productivity and age. The results from the econometric analysis show that cooperation between firms and universities encourages firms to recruit PhDs and point to the existence of accumulative effects in the hiring of PhD graduates. |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2010-2&r=cse |
| By: | Hagedoorn, John (UNU-MERIT, and Maastricht University); Wang, Ning (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | The mixed picture of extant research on the relationship between internal and external R&D prompts us to ask such a question: under what conditions is there complementarity or substitutability between different R&D strategies? The goal of this paper is to contribute to the empirical literature by advancing and testing the contingency of the relationship between internal and external R&D strategies in shaping firms‘ innovative output. Using a panel sample of incumbent pharmaceutical firms covering the period 1986-2000, our empirical analysis suggests that the level of in-house R&D investments, which is characterized by decreasing marginal returns, is a contingency variable that critically influences the nature of the link between internal and external R&D strategies. In particular, internal R&D and external R&D, through either R&D alliances or R&D acquisitions, turn out to be complementary innovation activities at higher levels of in-house R&D investments, whereas at lower levels of in-house R&D efforts internal and external R&D are substitutive strategic options. These findings are robust to alternative specifications and estimation techniques, including a dynamic perspective on firm innovative performance. |
| Keywords: | Complementarity, Substitutability, Internal R&D, External R&D, Innovative Output, Pharmaceutical Industry, Biotechnology |
| JEL: | O32 L24 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010005&r=cse |
| By: | Horst Raff (Kiel Institute for the World Economy and Department of Economics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel); Joachim Wagner (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an oligopoly model with heterogeneous firms to examine how an industry adjusts to rising import competition. The model predicts that in the short run the least efficient firms in the industry become inactive, surviving firms face a fall in output, mark-ups and profits, and the average productivity of survivors increases. These pro-competitive effects of import penetration on the domestic industry disappear in the long run. The predictions for the short run are confirmed in an empirical study of the German clothing industry. |
| Keywords: | international trade, firm heterogeneity, productivity, clothing industry |
| JEL: | F12 F15 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:144&r=cse |
| By: | Julian P. Christ |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes with empirical findings to European co-inventorship location and geographical coincidence of co-patenting networks. Based on EPO co-patenting information for the reference period 2000-2004, we analyze the spatial configuration of 44 technology-specific co-inventorship networks. European co-inventorship (co-patenting) activity is spatially linked to 1259 European NUTS3 units (EU25+CH+NO) and their NUTS1 regions by inventor location. We extract 7.135.117 EPO co-patenting linkages from our own relational database that makes use of the OECD RegPAT (2009) Files. The matching between International Patent Classification (IPC) subclasses and 44 technology fields is based on the ISI-SPRU-OST-concordance. We confirm the hypothesis that the 44 co-inventorship networks differ in their overall size (nodes, linkages, self-loops) and that they are dominated by similar groupings of regions. The paper offers statistical evidence for the presence of highly localized European co-inventorship networks for all 44 technology fields, as the majority of linkages between NUTS3 units (counties and districts) are within the same NUTS1 regions. Accordingly, our findings helps to understand general presence of positive spatial autocorrelation in regional patent data. Our analysis explicitly accounts for different network centrality measures (betweenness, degree, eigenvector). Spearman rank correlation coefficients for all 44 technology fields confirm that most co-patenting networks co-locate in those regions that are central in several technology-specific co-patenting networks. These findings support the hypothesis that leading European regions are indeed multi-field network nodes and that most research collaboration is taking place in dense co-patenting networks. |
| Keywords: | co-patenting, co-inventorship, networks, linkages, co-location, RegPAT |
| JEL: | C8 O31 O33 R12 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:old:wpaper:y:2010:i:31:p:1-40&r=cse |
| By: | Alex Coad; Werner Hölzl (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | Recent research has led to the empirical regularity that firm growth rate distributions are heavy tailed. This finding implies that a few firms experience spectacular growth rates and decline, but that most firms have marginal growth rates. The literature on high-growth firms shows that high-growth firms are the central drivers of job creation in the economy but are neither clustered in high technology sectors nor are necessarily young and small. The evidence on the determinants of firm growth confirms that firm growth is difficult to predict. The finding that firm growth is well approximated by a random process does not only reflect the heterogeneity at the firm level but is also associated with the low persistence of growth rates over time. |
| Keywords: | firm growth |
| Date: | 2010–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2010:i:361&r=cse |
| By: | Carliss Y. Baldwin (Harvard Business School, Finance Unit) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes how entrepreneurial firms can use superior architectural knowledge of a technical system to gain strategic advantage. The strategy involves, first, identifying "bottlenecks" in the existing system, and then creating a new architecture that isolates the bottlenecks in modules. An entrepreneurial firm with limited financial resources can then focus on supplying superior bottleneck components, and while outsourcing non-bottleneck components. I show that a firm pursuing this strategy will have a higher return on invested capital (ROIC) than competitors with a less modular design. Over time, the focal firm can drive the ROIC of competitors below their cost of capital, causing them to shrink and possibly exit the market. The strategy was used by Sun Microsystems in the 1980s and Dell Computer in the 1990s. |
| Keywords: | architecture, innovation, knowledge, modularity, dynamics, competition, industry evolution |
| JEL: | D23 L22 L23 M11 O31 O34 P13 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:10-063&r=cse |
| By: | Oberhofer, Harald (University of Salzburg); Pfaffermayr, Michael (Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Innsbruck) |
| Abstract: | This paper formulates an econometric firm growth model that explicitly accounts for interdependence of growth performance within multinational corporate networks. We apply a recently introduced IV-estimation procedure for peer group effects to directly test for externalities within multinational corporate networks. Using European firm level data, our results reveal positive externalities within vertically organized multinational networks, while they are negative for horizontally organized ones. In the former case, multinational corporate groups are more stable and adjust faster on average. In the latter case, externalities lead to more heterogeneity in the firm growth processes within the network and slower average size adjustment. |
| Keywords: | Firm growth; Size Adjustment; Multinational Corporate Groups; Peer Group Effect Estimation |
| JEL: | C21 F23 L23 L25 |
| Date: | 2010–03–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sbgwpe:2010_007&r=cse |
| By: | Carvalho, Flavia (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University); Costa, Ionara (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University); Duysters, Geert (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, and Eindhoven University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This chapter discusses general patterns of internationalization of Brazilian firms. It highlights the main determinants for internationalization, the main destinations, as well as the modes of entry that Brazilian firms employ overseas. The paper also discusses some aspects related to the technological capabilities of Brazilian firms that are related to their internationalization strategies, in terms of both the exploitation of such advantages and the search for technological assets abroad. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investments, multinationals, emerging markets, internationalization strategies |
| JEL: | F23 O19 O54 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010016&r=cse |
| By: | Athreye, Suma (UNU-MERIT, and Brunel University) |
| Abstract: | It is commonly believed that the business environment in developing countries does not allow productive technology-based entrepreneurship to flourish. In this paper, we draw on the experience of Indian software firms where entrepreneurial growth has belied these predictions. This paper argues that the business models chosen by Indian firms were those that best aligned the country's abundant labour resources and advantages to global demand. Many potentially higher value added opportunities struggled to attain success, but the qualitative value of experimental failures and the capability gaps they exposed was invaluable for collective managerial learning in the industry. Second, the paper also shows that the presence of growth opportunities and the success of firms stimulated institutional evolution to promote entrepreneurial growth. Last we show that the distinctive aggregate contribution of entrepreneurial firms was that they outperformed business houses and multinational subsidiaries in their more productive use of available capital resources whilst achieving similar levels of growth in output and employment. This paper draws upon an earlier shorter paper co-authored with Mike Hobday and titled 'Overcoming Development Adversity: How Entrepreneurs Led Software Development in India'. |
| Keywords: | technology entrepreneurship, institutions and economic development, Indian software, intellectual property rights |
| JEL: | L26 L86 O10 O34 I28 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2010008&r=cse |
| By: | Qin Yang (Robert Morris University); Crystal X. Jiang (Bryant University); Sali Li (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the impact of intangible resources on firm performance in an emerging economy context. Intangible resources are considered essential to firms? competitive advantage; however, we argue that firms? intangible resources can be negatively related with performance in emerging economies, due to their weak intellectual property rights protection. Furthermore, we incorporate the resource-based view and geographical agglomeration perspective to propose that geographical locations with dense foreign direct investment can affect the appropriability of intangible resources, thereby moderating the relationship between intangible resources and firm performance. We find empirical evidence to support our argument by examining 70 semiconductor firms in China from 1999 to 2006 period. |
| Keywords: | intangible resources, intellectual property, agglomeration, foreign direct investment, emerging economy |
| JEL: | M0 M1 M2 |
| Date: | 2010–03–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pil:wpaper:56&r=cse |
| By: | Braunerhjelm, Pontus (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Considerable advances, even breakthroughs, have been made during the last decades in our understanding of the relationship between knowledge and growth on one hand, and entrepreneurship and growth on the other. Similarly, more profound insights have also been gained as to how entrepreneurship, innovation and knowledge are interrelated. Yet, a comprehensive understanding is still lacking concerning the interface of all of those variables: knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurship and growth. The link between the micro-economic origin of growth and the macro-economic outcome is still too rudimentary modeled to grasp the full width of these complex and intersecting forces. The main objective of this paper is hence to shed light on recent advances in our understanding of the forces that underpin the creation of knowledge, its diffusion and commercialization through innovation, and the role of the entrepreneur in the growth process. The policy implications of recent research findings conclude this survey. Particularly important policy implications refer to the design of regulation influencing knowledge production, ownership, entry barriers, labor mobility and (inefficient) financial markets. They all have implication for the efficient diffusion of knowledge through entry. Knowledge creation has to be matched by incentives that induce mechanisms to convert knowledge into societal and useful needs. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurs; knowledge; innovation; growth; policy |
| JEL: | O31 |
| Date: | 2010–04–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0224&r=cse |
| By: | Seong-Sang Lee; Yeonbae Kim (Technology Management, Economics and Policy Program(TEMEP), Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | With the premise that patent data are reliable indicators of innovativeness, the empirical analysis of R&D?patents relationship is useful for monitoring the efficiency of the innovation process. This paper extends the research on the relationship between R&D spending and patent counts by estimating the impact of efficiency parameters. A data set from 1255 firms with nonzero R&D expenditures in Korea was studied. Results show that the difference in firms¡¯ innovative performance is attributable to firm-specific characteristics, including propensity to patent and firm size, and differences in efficiency parameters. They also indicate that firms that conduct patent searches before starting R&D activities obtain an average of 13.9% more patents with an increase of one unit on the ¡®patent search¡¯ scale. Results also show the importance of the role of IP managers and revenue splitting policy for employee-inventors in the innovation process. |
| Keywords: | Incentive for employee-inventor, Innovation process, Innovative performance, IP manager, preliminary patent search, R&D-patents relationship |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snv:dp2009:200924&r=cse |
| By: | Melinda Smahó (Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre for Regional Studies, West-Hungarian Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | Economic growth and development theories have neglected the role of knowledge and space for a long time. However, it is widely accepted that knowledge has played a more and more important role in economic development, and – due to its spatial characteristics – also in regional development. The aim of this paper is to explore the role and some spatial characteristics of knowledge, as well as their impact on regional development, also in regard to border regions. After some theoretical considerations, the paper investigates some features and cross-border cooperations of knowledge holders in the Austrian-Hungarian border region. |
| Keywords: | knowledge, universities, cross-border cooperation, Austrian-Hungarian border region |
| Date: | 2010–01–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2010:i:355&r=cse |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Johansson, Börje (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a framework to appreciate the observed heterogeneity of firm size distributions and the entry and exit of products and firms associated with it. It is based on a model where new products are introduced by innovating firms in a quasi-temporal setting of monopolistic competition. The rate at which a firm innovates, according to a firm-specific Poisson process, is assumed to be influenced by the firm’s past experience and cumulated knowledge assets. The model assigns a fundamental role to entrepreneurship of existing and potential firms. The empirical analysis is based on detailed firm-level export data, which describes firm size in terms of products and markets, and firm dynamics in terms of changes in the supply pattern (varieties and markets) of existing firms in combination with entry/exit of firms. The empirical results are consistent with the model. First, the modeled innovation process imply a persistent distribution of heterogeneous firms. Second, the invariant size distribution of firms is associated with significant micro-dynamics, where firms continuously add and subtract varieties from their product mix, and new firms may enter while some exit. Third, an econometric analysis where firms’ introduction of new varieties is explained by firm attributes provides support for the assumption of a firm-specific and state-dependent stochastic innovation process. |
| Keywords: | innovation; firm heterogeneity; size distribution; entry; exit; dynamics; |
| JEL: | F12 L11 L26 O31 |
| Date: | 2010–02–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0211&r=cse |
| By: | Christophe Torset (GREG - CRC - Groupe de recherche en économie et en gestion – Centre de recherche en comptabilité - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers); Stéphanie Dameron (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS : UMR7088 - Université Paris Dauphine - Paris IX) |
| Abstract: | Referring to the conceptual framework for strategy-as-practice (Whittington 2006, Jarzabkowski et al. 2007), this paper aims at investigating the practioners-practices couple, by analysing the main and recurrent individual characteristics of practitioners and the way they interact with their troubled environment and the strategy formation process of the organization (formalization, intuition, market or organization-focused, communication mode, ...). Hence, we focus on strategists and their strategizing practices. |
| Keywords: | strategizing; strategists |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00469431_v1&r=cse |
| By: | Raquel Ortega-Argilés (JRC-IPTS); Peter Voigt (JRC-IPTS) |
| Abstract: | This report discusses business R&D in SMEs in the light of a systematic review of publicly available information on industrial R&D, its common trends and related emerging issues. A number of factors towards better understanding of SME trajectories, specifics in terms of their R&D activities, and the attendant main challenges of SMEs are thus examined along their main boundaries. Company size, the life cycle stage of individual firms, the lack of entrepreneurial spirit in the EU, the lack of access to finance in Europe compared to the US, limited capabilities of SMEs, internationalisation/globalisation effects, intellectual property rights, and the effect of administrative burdens are considered in particular. In general, achieving a suitable support mix for business R&D in SMEs and embedding it in local, regional, national and European research and innovation systems remains an open but crucial question on the way towards achieving the Lisbon objectives. |
| Keywords: | business R&D, SMEs |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:20097&r=cse |
| By: | Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto); Luís Pinheiro (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | Existing studies on University-Firm (U-F) relations do not highlight, at least in an explicit way, the issue of open innovation. Such studies are still too centred on the advantages which the Firms are able to obtain from the relation with the Universities, failing taking into account the value that potentially goes to Universities from such links. The present paper intends to fill in this gap by empirically studying the process of emergency, evolution, and sustainability of the U-F relations in an open innovation context. Resorting to the case study methodology, we empirically demonstrate how the relations of a firm (Brisa) with the Universities (namely, ISEL) emerged, how they evolved and became sustained through time, giving special emphasis to the issue of mutual benefits derived from these relationships. Face-to-face interviews with the key-players at Brisa and ISEL, complemented with an extensive analysis of secondary sources, allowed us to conclude that the establishment of a connection between the two entities is a more complex and time consuming process (requiring a large relational and resources investment on both parts) than what the existing literature assumes. Besides the recognized gains for firms from adopting a more open-led perspective of innovation, namely based on U-F relations, our work (also) highlights the benefit deriving to the Universities from the link to companies. It is mainly due to the existence of mutual benefits that U-F relations are preserved in the long term; in other words, are sustainable. |
| Keywords: | Open Innovation; University-Firm relations; Emergency; Sustainability; Benefits |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:366&r=cse |
| By: | Michael Dietrich (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield Author-Person=pdi94) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of transaction costs on performance at firm and industry levels using a sample of 7350 UK manufacturing firms. This is achieved by estimating a profit function with estimated transaction costs as a right hand side variable. The discussion has two specific objectives. (1) To show how firm and average industry transaction costs can be estimated using a stochastic frontier method. (2) To examine a central claim of transaction cost theory that links these costs to performance. In addition the different impacts of static and dynamic transaction costs are emphasised, with the different impacts being respectively negative and positive on profitability. Broadly speaking it is shown that such costs do impact on performance in a way consistent with both static and dynamic costs, in different industries, and that the impacts hold after a series of robustness checks. In addition it is shown that the impacts can depend on monopoly power, firm scale, and firm growth. |
| Keywords: | Transaction costs, Stochastic frontier analysis, profitability analysis, UK manufacturing |
| JEL: | C21 D23 L60 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2009011&r=cse |
| By: | João Bernardino; Tanya Araújo |
| Abstract: | Positional behavior is a source of externalities and sets limits to wellbeing. Remedies against this market failure are defended by some authors and rejected by others, while the core of the discussion rests on the benefits and costs of applying economic instruments. One of the issues discussed is the role that the competition for positional goods may have in generating technological innovation. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of this process by analyzing an agent-based model. We observe a plausible structure of the dynamics behind the process of generation of technological innovation by positional consumption and obtain results on the influence of some key factors on the pace of innovation, particularly those of income inequality, the Hirsch conjecture of relative increase of positional consumption with affluence, and consumer network and social neighborhood sizes. |
| Keywords: | Positional consumption, innovation, agent-based models, Robert Frank |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp42010&r=cse |
| By: | Burak Dindaroglu |
| Abstract: | I test the hypothesis that the mobility of scientific and technical personnel is a conduit for knowledge spillovers among innovative firms. Using a variant of the standard Tobin's Q equation, I show that firms who have access to large pools of externally created knowledge in their industrial and technological neighborhoods enjoy additional market value as a result of higher scientific labor mobility, while they suffer from higher mobility whenever external knowledge is limited. Specifically, a percentage point increase in the mobility rate (one additional job change for each 100 scientists) increases market value by 1% to 3.1% through spillovers for a firm that has access to the mean spillover pool. This effect is largely offset by the standalone negative impact of labor mobility on market value, thus the firm breaks even in terms of the net private value of increased labor turnover. These results are consistent with previous findings and anecdotal evidence, and provide further insight into why innovative firms cluster in industrial districts. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nya:albaec:10-01&r=cse |
| By: | Liliana Doganova (Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Mines ParisTech) |
| Abstract: | Clarifies the potentials of the notion of exploration for the analysis of the uncertain and collective nature of entrepreneurship, and provides detailed examination of a case study on a French academic spin-off. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, exploration, opportunity recognition, partnerships |
| JEL: | L14 L24 L26 M13 O32 Z13 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emn:wpaper:017&r=cse |
| By: | Campoy, Juan Cristobal; Negrete, Juan Carlos (Departamentos y Servicios::Departamentos de la UMU::Fundamentos del Análisis Económico) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the interrelations between budget deficits and structural reforms in a monetary union. The analysis considers the international spillovers generated by both policies. We show that efforts to achieve fiscal policy coordination within the Eurozone reduce member countries’ incentives to carry out much-needed structural reforms. As a consequence, this cooperation can turn out to be welfare-reducting if it not extended to the implementation of structural reforms. |
| Keywords: | Structural reforms, Budget deficits, Externalities, Coordination |
| JEL: | D12 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mur:wpaper:5504&r=cse |