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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2010‒05‒15
ten papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Dirk Dohse (Kiel Institute for the World Economy); Sascha G. Walter (Kiel University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how the extent of entrepreneurship education within university departments influences students’ entrepreneurial intentions in three careers: computer science, electrical engineering, and business. Specifically, it proposes that the effect of such education is (1) contingent on its mode (active, e.g. business plan seminars, vs. reflective, e.g. theory lectures), (2) contingent on the regional context and (3) complemented by individual-level influences such as role models or work experience. Results show that active modes of entrepreneurship education directly increase intentions and attitudes, whereas the impact of reflective modes depends on the regional context. Parental role models and work experience are found to complement entrepreneurship education in different ways. The findings have important implications for theory building as well as for the practice of teaching entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intentions, regional economy, knowledge spillover |
| JEL: | L26 M13 M59 R12 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2010/5/doc2010-18&r=cse |
| By: | Patricia Deflorin (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich); Helmut Dietl (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich); Markus Lang (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich); Maike Scherrer-Rathje (Institute for Technology Management, University of St. Gallen) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effectiveness of knowledge transfer between research and development (R&D) and intra-firm production units. Specifically, two distinct network structures are compared: the lead factory concept and traditional networks of R&D and production. Based on an analytical two-stage decision model for prototype and serial production, we highlight relevant factors that determine the relative advantages and disadvantages of the lead factory concept in comparison to a traditional network structure. In particular, the lead factory concept is more cost-efficient than the traditional network if there are a high number of production plants, the adaptation costs for implementing the transferred prototype from the lead factory to the plant are low, the manufacturing costs for the prototype are high, and the manufacturing processes are not highly specific or knowledge intensive. |
| Keywords: | Operations Management, Manufacturing, Lead Factory, Knowledge Transfer, Cost Benefit Analysis |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:wpaper:0127&r=cse |
| By: | Maria D.M. Oliveira (UPIN, Universidade do Porto); Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto; OBEGEF) |
| Abstract: | The diversity found in the various Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs), besides being a consequence of the capacities and motives of the different stakeholders involved (public research organisations, industry, consulting firms and public authorities) also reflects the specificities of public incentives or policies and their differing degrees of commitment to technology transfer. Notwithstanding the fact that the literature on technology transfer is voluminous, few studies (up to the present date) have investigated the role of innovation policy on TTOs efficiency and the instruments available for governments to improve technology transfer from publicly funded research. The present paper surveys the literature on the determinants of TTOs efficiency, highlighting in particular the role of innovation policy. Additionally, evidence within the context of the European Union on innovation policies for technology transfer improvement is detailed. |
| Keywords: | Technology transfer, innovation policies, technology transfer efficiency |
| JEL: | O31 O34 O38 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:375&r=cse |
| By: | Aiello, Francesco; Cardamone, Paola |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact of R&D efforts on production in the North and Centre-South of Italy by using a panel of 1203 manufacturing firms over the period 1998-2003. The estimations are based on a nonlinear translog production function augmented by a measure of R&D spillovers. This measure combines the geographical distance between firms, the technological similarity within each pair of firms and the technical efficiency of each firm. The estimation method takes into account the endogeneity of regressors and the potential sample selection issue regarding firms’ decision to invest in R&D. Results show that the external stock of technology exerts a higher impact in the Centre-South of Italy. Finally, it emerges that R&D capital and R&D spillovers are substitutes for Northern firms and complements for Centre-Southern firms. |
| Keywords: | R&D spillovers; Italian economic divide; translog production function; technical efficiency |
| JEL: | C23 O33 L29 |
| Date: | 2010–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22572&r=cse |
| By: | Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov (The Ratio Institute and Dalarna University); Elert, Niklas (The Ratio Institute); Johansson, Dan (The Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | Prior studies have defined high-growth firms (HGFs) in terms of sales or employment, and analyzed their contribution to employment growth. We define HGFs by employment and sales and add definitions of value added and productivity. We examine the contribution of HGFs to employment growth, economic growth, productivity growth, and sales growth. All HGFs give a disproportionately large positive contribution to economic growth and most also give large positive contributions to growth in employment, productivity and sales. Although HGFs of different definitions are usually not the same firms, young firms are more likely to be HGFs irrespective of definition. |
| Keywords: | Gazelles; Firm growth; High-impact firms |
| JEL: | D24 L25 L26 |
| Date: | 2010–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0151&r=cse |
| By: | Fergal McCann |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses how international outsourcing affects plant productivity. The results point to a striking pattern: the status of being an outsourcer matters strongly for firms that are indigenous and not exporting, while for exporters and foreign affiliates, tfp increases are lower, insignificant and sometimes negative. On the other hand, higher intensity of outsourcing matters for both exporters and foreign affiliates. Similarly, in dynamic analysis, indigenous non-exporters are found to increase tfp for two periods after entering into international outsourcing, while indigenous exporters experience one more weakly significant period of growth. The message is clear: international outsourcing’s effect on tfp is most pronounced when it serves as a first exposure to international markets. |
| Keywords: | International outsourcing; heterogeneous firms; productivity; firm structure |
| JEL: | F23 L23 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2010-06&r=cse |
| By: | Salvadori, Neri; Signorino, Rodolfo |
| Abstract: | We compare and analyse two different conceptions of market competition: the walrasian notion of perfect competition and the Classical notion of free competition: while the former may be described as an equilibrium state in which atomistic agents treat prices parametrically, the latter is a situation in which agents, endowed by market power, fix prices strategically. We show that price undercutting or outbidding are the typical phenomena that, for the Classical authors, may be observed in a market characterized by free competition. We investigate some problematic aspects of the neoclassical notion of perfect competition and we reconstruct the Classical theory of free competition, as developed, in particular, by Adam Smith and Karl Marx, in the light of the modern notion of mixed strategies equilibria. |
| Keywords: | Classical Economics; Competition; Adam Smith; Karl Marx; mixed strategies |
| JEL: | B12 L11 |
| Date: | 2010–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22499&r=cse |
| By: | Alfonso Arpaia; Gilles Mourre |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a selective survey of the recent literature on labour market institutions and performance and offers new empirical EU-based evidence on the impact of labour market reforms on employment and labour market adjustment. While the literature traditionally treats labour market institutions as exogenous, attention shifted recently towards understanding the underlying causes of specific institutional arrangements. As a consequence, the literature highlights the great importance of an efficient policy design exploiting these interactions wisely and identifies general principles for achieving an efficient policy design at both macro and micro levels. While empirical evidence does no show a major change in terms of intensity of labour market reform after the setting of the Economic and Monetary Union and the creation of the euro, the reforms aiming at strengthening the labour market attachment of vulnerable groups tend to have been successful both in raising their employment and increasing labour market adjustment. |
| Keywords: | 'Institutions and Performance in European Labour Markets', 'labour market functioning; political economy; endogeneity; institutions; policy design'; Arpaïa, Mourre |
| JEL: | J20 J50 J64 K31 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0391&r=cse |
| By: | Andrew Atkeson; Ariel Burstein |
| Abstract: | We present a general equilibrium model of the response of firms' decisions to operate, innovate, and engage in international trade to a change in the marginal cost of international trade. We find that, although a change in trade costs can have a substantial impact on heterogeneous firms' exit, export, and process innovation decisions, the impact of changes in these decisions on welfare is largely offset by the response of product innovation. Our results suggest that microeconomic evidence on firms' responses to changes in international trade costs may not be informative about the implications of changes in these trade costs for aggregate welfare. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:444&r=cse |
| By: | Enrique Fatas (ERI-CES); Miguel A. Melendez Jimenez (University of Malaga); Hector Solaz (ERI-CES) |
| Abstract: | Experimental and empirical evidence highlights the role of networks on social outcomes. In this paper we test the properties of exogenously fixed networks in team production. Subjects make the same decisions in a team-work environment under four different organizational networks: The line, the circle, the star, and the complete network. In all the networks, links make information available to neighbors. This design allows us to analyze decisions across networks and a variety of subjects’ types in a standard linear team production game. Contribution levels differ significantly across networks and the star is the most efficient incomplete one. Moreover, our results suggest that subjects act as conditional cooperators with respect to the information received from the network. |
| Keywords: | public goods, networks, experiments |
| JEL: | H41 C92 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbe:wpaper:0310&r=cse |