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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2010‒05‒29
sixteen papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Abraham, Vinoj; Sasikumar, S.K. |
| Abstract: | The implementation of the Agreement on Textile and Clothing (ATC) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) renders both threats and opportunities to India’s Textile and Clothing (T&C) industry in the wake of liberal international trade in the sector. Firms acquire greater international competitiveness through various cost cutting and efficiency enhancing strategies. The question we try to ponder on is, what route does Indian firms take to join the international export market in T&C. Empirical analysis, using Tobit estimation techniques, supported the view that increasing the share of low cost labour was an important route through which export performance of the Indian firms in T&C was enhanced. Further, the use of this means to perform better in the international market aggravated in the period after the implementation of the ATC. On the other hand, capital and technology based factors did not have any perceptive effect on the export performance of Indian firms in the international market. This endorses the view that the Indian T&C firms by and large utilized the low road to competitiveness, rather than the other. Also the importance of the import intensity in export performance suggests that Indian T&C is increasingly getting integrated within the global value chain. |
| Keywords: | Export performance; Textile and clothing industry; Labour cost; Tobit Model; Agreement on Textile and Clothing |
| JEL: | F16 J3 F14 |
| Date: | 2010–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22784&r=cse |
| By: | Denise Tsang (School of Management, University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the institutional sources of innovation, with reference to the role of institutions in generating creativity within knowledge-intensive entertainment industry. Despite growing importance of innovation in the knowledge industry, including interactive games, the ‘informal’ source of innovation has attracted relatively little attention. We have attempted to fill this gap with a comparative case study of indigenous UK and Korean online gaming firms. By closely looking at the idea exploration, generation and selection process where creativity plays a major role, we intend to find out why and how values and norms contribute to firm innovation. This study shows that both Korean and UK’s firm value, regardless of their different socio-economic contexts, plays an important role in generating innovation. An additional point suggested in this paper is that the Korean game development firms are likely to take advantage of governmental policy support, in order to overcome inadequate institutional settings, in conjunction with the initial conditions of online gaming development. |
| Keywords: | Online gaming industry, Institution, Innovation, Firm culture, Public policy |
| Date: | 2010–05–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2009-08&r=cse |
| By: | Barua, Alokesh; Chakraborty, Debashis; Hariprasad , C. G. |
| Abstract: | The industry and trade policy regimes in India have witnessed drastic changes since 1991. The dismantling of the industrial licensing system and thereby allowing free entry to and exit from the industry of firms in 1991 followed by the WTO induced trade liberalization leading to substantial reduction in tariffs and gradual softening of foreign investment regulations, particularly in the context of foreign direct investment since 1995, may have had significant impact on the state of competitiveness in India industries. In this paper an attempt has been made to evaluate the effects of trade and industrial policy changes on domestic competitiveness for select Indian industries during post-liberalization period. Though there exists a pool of empirical literature focusing on the state of competitiveness in India, the link between theoretical models underlying the empirical analysis is not often strong. Moreover, a section of the literature focuses on a combination of firm and industry data for drawing conclusions on firm behavior, which may not reflect the actual scenario. Given this background, the present paper attempts to provide a unified approach to examine the inter-relationships between entry and competitiveness within a consistent oligopolistic market framework. The empirical analysis of the present study, carried out on the basis of firm data for 14 sectors over 1990-2008, indicates that Indian industry have shown considerable changes over the last decade in terms of entry and competitiveness. An overall decline in concentration is witnessed between the two end points, which signify the importance of newer entry in the markets. The Price-Cost Margin however behaves differently for different sectors, which could be explained by the differing level of spillover of technical changes as a result of increased pressure of competition due to liberalization. Demand curve is generally found to be inelastic and declines over the period. The relationship between the size of the firms and their export volume turns out to be significantly positive. |
| Keywords: | Competitiveness; entry; industrial liberalization; trade liberalization |
| JEL: | F12 L50 |
| Date: | 2010–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22738&r=cse |
| By: | Wiel, H.P. van der (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | This PhD thesis deals with competition and innovation as drivers of productivity. According to literature, competition and innovation seem to be indivisibly connected to each other. Competition stimulates innovation by firms, and firms that innovate try to beat their competitors otherwise they will be swallowed by them. Competition as well as innovation are main drivers of productivity growth, but according to recent insights a trade-off may exist between these drivers. In fact, the relationship could look like an inverted U suggesting that competition is not always positively correlated with innovation. If competition is too intense, it has a negative effect on innovation (and productivity). This thesis has two main goals. First, it sheds more light on how to measure competition on product markets. In that respect, it elaborates on a new competition measure, the profit elasticity (PE). Chapter 2 extensively discusses this indicator and explicitly focus on what is meant by ‘competition’. Chapter 3 provides a guide for researchers how to measure PE in practice. The second goal of this thesis is to analyze the relationship between competition, innovation and productivity. As empirical evidence for this relationship is hardly available for the Netherlands, chapter 4 fills this gap by using Dutch (aggregate) firm level data. Chapter 5 examines the link between competition and product innovation at the firm level. It particularly analyzes the effect of product differentiation related to making products less close substitutes, and hence making markets less competitive. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:tilbur:urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-3959784&r=cse |
| By: | Francesco Aiello; Paola Cardamone (Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica, Università della Calabria) |
| 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: | O33 L29 C23 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:201010&r=cse |
| By: | Aminda do Paço (Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Universidade da Beira Interior); João Ferreira, Mário Raposo, Ricardo G. Rodrigues e Anabela Dinis (Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Universidade da Beira Interior) |
| Abstract: | It is assumed that entrepreneurship education encourage the growth of new businesses, exploiting the entrepreneurial spirit within higher education sector. Additionally, entrepreneurship higher education is supposed to play a relevant role in the development of enterprising citizens and in the development regions through an ongoing process of knowledge creation and delivery. In this research we will explore what roles are attributed to entrepreneurship education in the literature with regard to regional development as well as the influence and relationship of the main intervening stakeholders. The aim is to present a conceptual model which integrate the contributions of both strands of literature and, at the same time, highlight the interplay between the several stakeholders involved in HEI’s entrepreneurship education and regional development. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship education, university, regional development, stakeholders |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csh:wpecon:td02_2010&r=cse |
| By: | Kravtsova, V.; Radošević, S. |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the determinants of the productivity in the countries of Eastern Europe (EE) through the perspective of ‘narrow’ and ‘broad’ national systems of innovation (NSI). Based on panel econometrics it examines the extent to which systems in EE could be considered ‘(in)efficient’. Our results suggest that the EE countries have lower levels of productivity than might be expected given their research and development (R&D), innovation and production capabilities. The inefficiencies of ‘broad’ NSI are compounded by the inefficiencies of ‘narrow’ NSI in terms of generating numbers of science and technology publications and resident patents relative to R&D employment, compared to the rest of the world. Our results point to an important distinction between technology and production capability as the drivers of productivity improvements, and provide some policy implications. |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/18816/&r=cse |
| By: | Marla Ripoll; Shuichiro Nishioka |
| Abstract: | . . . |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pit:wpaper:394&r=cse |
| By: | Helen Simpson (CMPO University of Bristol, IFS and Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the structure of firms’ outward FDI and their behaviour at home in both manufacturing and business services sectors. UK multinationals with overseas affiliates in low-wage economies invest simultaneously in a large number of high-wage countries. I find that more productive multinationals operate in a greater number of countries, consistent with their being able to bear the fixed costs of investing in numerous locations abroad. UK manufacturing plants owned by large-scale, low-wage economy outward investors display lower domestic employment growth, in particular in low-skill activities, consistent with low-wage economy labour substituting for low-skill labour in the UK. |
| Keywords: | multinational enterprises; skills; globalisation |
| JEL: | F2 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:btx:wpaper:1009&r=cse |
| By: | Fazio, G.; Mickiewicz, T. |
| Abstract: | We analyse the determinants of high growth expectations entrepreneurial entry (HGE) using individual data drawn on working age population, based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) surveys for the 1998-2004 period. Individual level explanatory variables are combined with country-level factors. Our results suggest that availability of venture capital and intellectual proper rights protection are strong predictors of HGE. In addition, we also find that innovative start-ups are associated with highest growth expectations in countries with extensive supply of venture capital and strongest intellectual property rights. Once we introduce venture capital, we detect no significant effects of other elements of financial systems on high-powered entry. |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/19251/&r=cse |
| By: | Paulo Duarte (Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Universidade da Beira Interior); Ana Rita Pais (Universidade da Beira Interior) |
| Abstract: | Businesses and communities in rural areas face increased challenges to compete in the globalized tourism market. Rural areas and small communities often have rich endogenous natural resources, which may appeal to a stressed urban public, however, simply possessing these attributes is not sufficient, the must be communicated and promoted to the right people. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of Internet and online marketing tools to improve the competitiveness of small-scale rural tourism companies. The paper presents an overview of the perception, knowledge and use of Internet as a marketing toll by small-scaled rural tourism companies located in Portugal centre region and discusses the challenges and motivations involved in promoting rural tourism in a globalized market. A sample of small-scaled rural tourism companies was inquired about their attitudes toward the use of Internet marketing tools. The results show that Rural Tourism companies have limited knowledge of web marketing tools potential to support the rural tourism and highlight the need to increase the use of Internet as a marketing tool to globally communicate, promote and positioning rural tourism in order to leverage resources and create sustainability. |
| Keywords: | Rural tourism, SMEs, Internet, Marketing, e-Commerce |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csh:wpecon:td05_2010&r=cse |
| By: | Estrin, S.; Korosteleva, J.; Mickiewicz, T. |
| Abstract: | This paper contrasts the determinants of entrepreneurial entry and high-growth aspiration entrepreneurship. Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) surveys for 42 countries over the period 1998-2005, we analyse how institutional environment and entrepreneurial characteristics affect individual decisions to become entrepreneurs and aspirations to set up high-growth ventures. We find that institutions exert different effects on entrepreneurial entry and on the individual choice to launch high-growth aspiration projects. In particular, a strong property rights system is important for high-growth aspiration entrepreneurship, but has less pronounced effects for entrepreneurial entry. The availability of finance and the fiscal burden matter for both. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/17484/&r=cse |
| By: | Maria Rosa Pires da Cruz (NECE, Universidade da Beira Interior); António Nunes e Paulo Pinheiro (Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Universidade da Beira Interior) |
| Abstract: | Tendo por objectivo apresentar algumas considerações sobre sobre a liderança contingencial, esta investigação centra-se na teoria de Fiedler, cuja premissa básica é de que o desempenho do grupo é contingencial na medida em que depende da interacção dos estilos de liderança e das situações favaoráveis para o líder. A liderança é um tema que tem suscitado muito interesse entre as pessoas, sendo provavelmente uma das preocupações mais antigas da humanidade. Fiedler utiliza a distinção entre estilos de liderança com diferentes tipos de situação com vista a determinar quais as contingências que tornam eficaz um ou outro estilo. Tendo por base a teoria de Fiedler, elaborou-se um estudo de caso aplicado à associação CABOUBI a fim de verificar a aplicabilidade de uma das medidas preconizadas por esta teoria (Least Prefered Co-Worker). |
| Keywords: | Liderança, Teoria Contingencial, Fiedler, LPC |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csh:wpecon:td08_2010&r=cse |
| By: | Emerson W. Mainardes (NECE, Universidade da Beira Interior); João Ferreira e Gerson Ontini (Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Universidade da Beira Interior; Universidade Regional de Blumenau) |
| Abstract: | A presente investigação teve como objetivo propor e testar um modelo conceptual que avalie a gestão estratégica de uma instituição de ensino superior (IES). Neste sentido, o estudo procurou unir três tracionais abordagens teóricas ligadas a estratégias empresariais, adaptando-as ao setor educacional: as Teorias de Competitividade, a Teoria dos Recursos e Capacidades e a Teoria dos Stakeholders. Com o apoio teórico destas três teorias, identificou-se os públicos ligados a estas instituições e os fatores internos e externos às organizações educacionais que influenciam a identificação das vantagens competitivas. O modelo desenvolvido foi testado e validado em um estudo de caso realizado com uma universidade brasileira. Os dados evidenciam uma adequação das variáveis de medição propostas no modelo à instituição estudada. A principal contribuição do estudo foi a descoberta de indicadores de medição de cada variável do modelo proposto. |
| Keywords: | Vantagens competitivas, Competitividade educacional, Serviço educacional, Ensino Superior, Gestão de universidades |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csh:wpecon:td06_2010&r=cse |
| By: | Helena Alves (Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Universidade da Beira Interior); |
| Abstract: | Higher education institutions increasingly need to establish long term relationships with their clients through the provision of high value services. Hence, understanding how the provision of education is viewed by recipients along with the means to reliably measure perceived value are both fundamental. This paper deals with perceived value as a higher order construct making recourse to a unidimensional approach. The results indicate that the perceived value construct can be measured with a high degree of robustness when incorporating the trade-off between price and quality and a comparison with other alternatives. The results also show that image is an important influence on perceived value and that satisfaction is the main consequence. |
| Keywords: | Perceived value, higher education, unidimensional approach |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csh:wpecon:td04_2010&r=cse |
| By: | Emile du Plessis (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | International trade in higher education services provides opportunities for stimulating economic development and fostering the mobility of knowledge, leading to increased intellectual capital, which is vital for a country to remain competitive in a globalising world. The aim of this paper is to explore the nature and scope of the delivery of higher education export services at the University of Stellenbosch. To this end, a questionnaire was constructed and distributed among 109 international students at the University of Stellenbosch during 2009. This pilot study investigates the factors that motivate international students to further their studies at the University of Stellenbosch. In addition, it provides an estimate of the associated economic impact on the hosting country of exporting higher education services. |
| Keywords: | Trade in Education Services, Comparative Advantage, Higher Education Services |
| JEL: | F10 F20 I23 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers107&r=cse |