|
on Economics of Strategic Management |
|
Issue of 2010‒10‒16
twelve papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Geuna Aldo; Bodas Freitas Isabel Maria; Rossi Federica (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This analysis is based on a representative sample of firms in the Italian region of Piedmont, and investigates the nature and intensity of collaborations between regional firms and universities in different locations. It contributes to the literature on university industry knowledge transfer in investigating institutional collaborations, typically mediated by the university through its administrative structures such as departments or dedicated units such as technology transfer offices, and contractual personal collaborations between firms and individual academics, involving formal and binding contractual agreements, but carried out without the direct involvement of the university.We explore and compare the characteristics of firms involved in these two different governance forms of knowledge transfer, with those of firms that do not collaborate with universities. Our analysis shows that firms that use contractual personal collaborations are generally smaller and more often interested in the acquisition of external embodied and disembodied knowledge and open innovation strategies. |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201013&r=cse |
| By: | Mercedes Delgado; Michael Porter; Scott Stern |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of regional clusters in regional entrepreneurship. We focus on the distinct influences of convergence and agglomeration on growth in the number of start-up firms as well as in employment in these new firms in a given region-industry. While reversion to the mean and diminishing returns to entrepreneurship at the region-industry level can result in a convergence effect, the presence of complementary economic activity creates externalities that enhance incentives and reduce barriers for new business creation. Clusters are a particularly important way through which location-based complementarities are realized. The empirical analysis uses a novel panel dataset from the Longitudinal Business Database of the Census Bureau and the U.S. Cluster Mapping Project (Porter, 2003). Using this dataset, there is significant evidence of the positive impact of clusters on entrepreneurship. After controlling for convergence in start-up activity at the region-industry level, industries located in regions with strong clusters (i.e. a large presence of other related industries) experience higher growth in new business formation and start-up employment. Strong clusters are also associated with the formation of new establishments of existing firms, thus influencing the location decision of multiestablishment firms. Finally, strong clusters contribute to start-up firm survival. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Industry Clusters, Dynamic Economies of Agglomeration |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:10-31&r=cse |
| By: | Lucia Foster; Cheryl Grim |
| Abstract: | Innovation drives economic growth and productivity growth, and as such, indicators of innovative activity such as research and development (R&D) expenditures are of paramount importance. We combine Census confidential microdata from two sources in order to examine the characteristics of the top R&D performing firms in the U.S. economy. We use the Survey of Industrial Research and Development (SIRD) to identify the top 200 R&D performing firms in 2003 and, to the extent possible, to trace the evolution of these firms from 1957 to 2007. The Longitudinal Business Database (LBD) further extends our knowledge about these firms and enables us to make comparisons to the U.S. economy. By linking the SIRD and the LBD we are able to create a detailed portrait of the evolution of the top R&D performing firms in the U.S. |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:10-33&r=cse |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin |
| Abstract: | This paper suggests a holistic framework for assessing farm competitiveness, and analyses competitiveness of different type of Bulgarian farms. First, it present a new approach for assessing farm competitiveness defining farm competitiveness and its three criteria (efficiency, adaptability and sustainability), and identifying indicators for assessing the individual aspects and the overall competitiveness of farms. Next, it analyzes evolution and efficiency of farming organizations during post communist transition and EU integration in Bulgaria, and assesses levels and factors of farms competitiveness in the conditions of CAP implementation. |
| Keywords: | efficiency; adaptability; sustainability; and competitiveness of farms; transitional agriculture; EU integration; CAP; Bulgaria |
| JEL: | L25 L11 Q12 Q18 L14 D23 Q13 Q15 L22 Q10 |
| Date: | 2010–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25626&r=cse |
| By: | Fardad Zand; Cees van Beers |
| Abstract: | Despite the ubiquitous proliferation and importance of Enterprise Systems (ES), little research exists on their post-implementation impact on firm performance, especially in Europe. This paper provides representative, large-sample evidence on the differential effects of different ES types on performance of European enterprises. It also highlights the mediating role of innovation in the process of value creation from ES investments. Empirical data on the adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Knowledge Management System (KMS), and Document Management System (DMS) is used to investigate the effects on product and process innovation, revenue, productivity and market share growth, and profitability. The data covers 29 sectors in 29 countries over a 5-year period. The results show that all ES categories significantly increase the likelihood of product and process innovation. Most of ES categories affect revenue, productivity and market share growth positively. Particularly, more domainspecific and simpler system types lead to stronger positive effects. ERP systems decrease the profitability likelihood of the firm, whereas other ES categories do not show any significant effect. The findings also imply that innovation acts as a full or partial mediator in the process of value creation of ES implementations. The direct effect of enterprise software on firm performance disappears or significantly diminishes when the indirect effects through product and process innovation are explicitly accounted for. The paper highlights future areas of research. |
| Keywords: | Enterprise Systems; ERP; SCM; CRM; KMS; DMS; IT Adoption; Post-implementation Phase; IT Business Value; Innovation; Firm Performance; Europe |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:10-26&r=cse |
| By: | Keld Laursen; Francesca Masciarelli; Toke Reichstein |
| Abstract: | External knowledge acquisition represents a precondition for firms’ competitive advantage. However, young firms find it particularly difficult to gain access to external sources of knowledge: young firms suffer from a liability of newness by exhibiting significantly lower propensities to invest in external R&D than their older counterparts. We explore the role of geographically bound social capital in moderating this liability. By employing a Nested Logit approach, our findings show that geographically bound social capital moderates the liability of newness related to R&D acquisition, suggesting that the liability exists only in regions associated with low levels of social capital. |
| Keywords: | Research and development; social capital; liability of newness; geography |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:10-25&r=cse |
| By: | Maja Vidović (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the link between the quality of knowledge management and financial performance of an organization, using the data from the research conducted in Croatia. The theoretical part of the paper presents the literature review on research concerning the link between knowledge management and financial performance. The empirical part of the paper investigates the before mentioned link using the quality of knowledge management success factors as a measure of knowledge management, and ROS and ROA as measures of organizational performance. Based on performed correlation tests, this research confirms that there is a link between knowledge management and financial performance. |
| Keywords: | knowledge management, knowledge management success factors, measuring knowledge management success factors, financial performance, Croatia |
| JEL: | M20 |
| Date: | 2010–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zag:wpaper:1003&r=cse |
| By: | Akio Kawasaki; Ming Hsin Lin; Noriaki Matsushima |
| Abstract: | We investigate a multi-market Cournot model with strategic process R&D investments wherein a multi-market monopolist meets entrants that enter one of the markets. We find that entry can enhance the total R&D expenditure of the incumbent firm. That is, entry can stimulate R&D effort. Moreover, the incumbent's profit nonmonotonically changes as the number of entrants increases. Depending on the fixed entry costs and R&D technologies, both insufficient and excess entrycan appear. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0796&r=cse |
| By: | Almeida, Rita K. |
| Abstract: | This paper asks whether the increased openness and technological innovation in East Asia have contributed to an increased demand for skills in the region. The author explores a unique firm level data set across eight countries. Results strongly support the idea that greater openness and technology adoption have increased the demand for skills, especially in middle income countries. Moreover, while the presence in international markets has been skill enhancing for most middle income countries, this has not been the case for manufacturing firms operating in China and in low-income countries. If international integration in the region intensifies further and technology continues to be skilled biased, policies aimed at mitigating skills shortages in the region should produce continual and persistent increases in skills. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Technology Industry,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:51254&r=cse |
| By: | Karreman, B.; Knaap, G.A. van der |
| Abstract: | This study examines the changing competitiveness of financial centres in mainland China and Hong Kong based on the geography of equity listing of mainland Chinese firms. Pre-listing firm characteristics are used to explore firms’ motives for listing on a particular exchange and whether these motives have changed over time. The results show that Hong Kong’s prominence as an international financial centre is attracting the largest and, recently, also the best performing mainland Chinese state-owned enterprises to go public. Less differentiation exists between the competitiveness of Shanghai and Shenzhen, although the renewed strategy of the Shenzhen stock exchange to attract smaller firms appears to be successful. |
| Keywords: | financial centre competition;stock listing;Hong Kong;China |
| Date: | 2010–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765020447&r=cse |
| By: | Kunal Dasgupta |
| Abstract: | We develop a two sector growth model to understand the relation between inequality and growth. Agents, who are endowed with different levels of knowledge, select either into a retail or a manufacturing sector. Agents in the manufacturing sector match to carry out production. A by-product of production is creation of ideas that spill over to the retail sector and improve productivity, thereby causing growth. Ideas are generated according to an idea production function that takes the knowledge of all the agents in a firm as arguments. We go on to study how an increase in the inequality of the knowledge distribution affects the growth rate. A change in the distribution not only affects the occupational choice of agents, but also the way agents match within the manufacturing sector. We show that if the idea generation function is sufficiently convex, an increase in inequality raises the growth rate of the economy. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, growth, idea generation, matching, knowledge |
| JEL: | O30 O40 O41 |
| Date: | 2010–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-411&r=cse |
| By: | Johannes Pöschl (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Robert Stehrer (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Roman Stöllinger (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we provide detailed evidence on the importance and performance of exporters compared to non-exporters in Austrian manufacturing industries based on firm-level data. The centrepiece of the study is the issue of the export premium, i.e. the size and performance advantages of exporting firms compared to their purely domestic peers. We find evidence for the existence of large export premia for all seven size and performance premia considered. These results are largely in line with the results found for other European countries. When estimating the export premium at the level of individual industries, we find significant differences with respect to the magnitude of the export premia. Significant export premia are still found when controlling for other firm characteristics such as employment and R&D-related variables where we find lower but more plausible magnitudes for the size and performance premia of exporters. We further test the robustness of the export premium results using random and also fixed effects estimators. The random effects model delivers statistically significant export premia for all measures as well. Care has to be taken when interpreting the estimated coefficients in the firm fixed effects model as the coefficients signal differences in size and productivity for 'export switchers', i.e. firms changing their export status. Finally we employ a probit model to investigate the impact of past firm characteristics on the probability to export. The major result is that while lagged firm productivity and size matter, the most important factor influencing this probability is the past export status pointing to a strong persistence of exporting. |
| Keywords: | exports, firm heterogeneity, export premium, Austrian manufacturing firms |
| JEL: | F14 L25 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:67&r=cse |