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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2012‒07‒29
53 papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Mozhdeh Taheri; Marina Van Geenhuizen |
| Abstract: | Abstract-The importance of new knowledge in innovative activities of firms and the impact of these activities on economic development of regions have been acknowledged in many studies. In particular, universities and firms that are established on university knowledge, spin-off firms, function as nodes and channels through which new knowledge is diffused into the wider (regional) economy. New knowledge is a strategic resource of competitive advantage for young high-tech firms. Of course, many of these firms are based on new technical knowledge but they may lack market and managerial knowledge and skills. An important way of learning on these different aspects is through social networks and business networks, with a local (national) and/or international coverage. Many studies have attempted to understand the characteristics of networks of young high-tech firms, but a detailed picture and understanding of the time and space dimension of models of learning relationships are rare. What may be true is that a well-developed local learning network performs as an important condition for establishing international learning relationships, indicating a stepwise model. The theory of ëborn globalsà indicates, however, international learning from the start of the firm. This paper explores the learning models of university spin-off firms, including some aspects of absorptive capacity, with a focus on various combinations of local and global knowledge networks and changes in these combinations by age of the firms. The analysis draws on a sample of 100 spin-offs from two universities: TU Delft University in the Netherlands and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim in Norway. Resource based views and organizational learning theory will be applied to design an analytical model of young high-tech firmsà shaping of learning connections and improving of innovation performance. The empirical part of the paper will include descriptive and explanatory results, the latter derived from correlation analysis. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1661&r=cse |
| By: | Rita Santos; Walter Leal; Evando Mirra |
| Abstract: | The innovation systems perspective is primarily concerned with the knowledge flow and diffusion and its positive impact of stimulating economic growth. In innovation systems observed at the regional level there is a tendency of technologically dynamic production to become spatially concentrated in clusters, where individuals and organizations possessing specialized knowledge and technological capabilities. Consequently, results appear as collective efficiency, competitive advantage and economic benefits. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Brazil set up an important telecommunications cluster in Campinas region, fostered by government policies, and evolved around a telecom R&D Centre. Several small high-tech firms were established, grew, competed and cooperated with the local infrastructure and multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries. These, in turn, increased their local technological efforts and engaged in joint technological programs with local partners. In this paper the relation between innovation and knowledge is illustrated by the high-technology cluster of Campinas. It also discusses clustering enabling technology for environmental sustainability issues and regional implications. Keywords: development; knowledge spillovers; region; innovation systems; sustainability |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1539&r=cse |
| By: | Markus Grillitsch; Christoph Höglinger; Franz Tödtling |
| Abstract: | The competitiveness of many of today’s industries largely depends on the ability to innovate. Innovation is nowadays regarded as a result of an open and interactive knowledge process, demanding from companies to generate, absorb and apply knowledge relying both on internal and external sources. Companies often maintain links to a large variety of knowledge sources and partner types on different geographic levels and they use different mechanisms for acquiring knowledge from these sources. In addition, the location of companies is thought to have an important impact on innovativeness through potential regional knowledge links and accessibility to interregional ones. The location of a company in a “thick” Regional Innovation System (RIS) should lead to a better performance as compared to a location in a “thin” RIS. Conceptually, the paper aims to develop a better understanding of the relationships and dynamics between internal knowledge and learning through external knowledge sourcing. The derived presumptions are tested by developing and applying a multivariate model that describes the impact of the above-mentioned factors on the innovativeness of firms. The importance of internal knowledge, the variety of knowledge sourcing on regional, national and international levels, the importance of cooperation as a transfer mechanism as well as the location of companies are identified as key determinants of innovativeness in knowledge-based sectors. The paper draws on data from the ICT sector in three regions in Austria. Overall, 110 personal interviews and questionnaires were collected from companies of this sector. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p676&r=cse |
| By: | Mircea Epure; Diego Prior; Christian Serarols |
| Abstract: | Literature highlights the importance of university spin-offs and their assistance mechanisms. However, there is little evidence on how to select and operationalize the appropriate variables for assessing this type of firms. This paper provides tools to estimate and interpret the efficiency of spinoffs embedded in university-based support mechanisms. We thus contribute to the literature in at least two ways. First, we identify the specific inputs and outputs that are required by both the organisational and regional development perspectives. Second, an application considers a unique sample of spin-offs created at Catalan universities within a regional support programme. Main descriptive results indicate that many efficient spin-offs have formal technology transfer agreements and emerge from universities with more technological background. Second stage analyses show that higher levels of innovation and specific academic knowledge or experience related with the university of origin are associated with higher efficiency. |
| Keywords: | university spin-off, regional development, efficiency, entrepreneurship, technology transfer, innovation |
| JEL: | M1 R1 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1330&r=cse |
| By: | M¬™ Jesus Santa Maria Beneyto; JosÈ Miguel Giner PÈrez |
| Abstract: | In the last decades numerous studies on industrial districts have proved how concentrations of small firms located in the same area and specialized in the production of the same products contribute to the competitiveness and the economic development of this type of areas. In the recent years several works have emphasized the innovative capacity generated in these areas, in which the proximity of related industries has sustained processes of generation and diffusion of knowledge. Specifically, the marshallian concept of industrial atmosphere, the continuous linkages among firms and the processes of cooperation and competition between firms and local agents are elements that can generate competitive advantages for the firms located inside an industrial district. In addition, these elements also promote the generation of specific knowledge and localized knowledge spillovers and innovative processes. In the plastics industry, the high level of competitiveness, the high level of diversification and the flexibility to attend the demand of different industrial sectors are factors that can explain the great innovation effort and the sector dynamism to search for new business opportunities. The aim of this work is to analyze the characteristics of the innovative plastics firms in Spain and to explore if the belonging to an industrial district promote the innovative processes and increase firms’ innovation performance. To achieve this objective, the results from a survey made it to a sample of plastics firms in Spain will be analyzed. In addition, this work investigates if there are differences in the characteristics of the innovative firms depending on their location inside or outside an industrial district. This empirical analysis contributes to enhance the knowledge about the innovative processes carried out in the industrial districts and provides evidence about the impact of the spatial agglomeration of specialized firms on the innovative capacity. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p588&r=cse |
| By: | Gary Cook; Naresh Pandit; Hans Loof; Bˆrje Johansson |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses two questions: what, if anything, is the influence of geographic concentration of economic activity on patterns of foreign direct investment; what is the relationship, if any, between geographic concentration of economic activity, multinationality and innovation. The paper identifies the consensus view which is emerging in the literature, based on both theory and evidence, that strong clusters are likely to be attractive for inward direct investment and that they promote innovation. The paper tests whether this relationship is evident in Great Britain using data derived from the UKÃs Annual Foreign Direct Investment survey and the UKÃs Community Innovation Survey 2007. It addresses a surprising gap in the emerging literature by also examining the relationship between cluster strength and outward direct investment, thereby testing PorterÃs (1990) claim in The Competitive Advantage of Nations, that advantages gained in strong clusters would be the foundations of international competitiveness. The paper also distinguishes between two different types of agglomeration economy, localisation economies based on collocation of firms in related lines of activity, and urbanisation economies based on the overall concentration of economic activity in a particular region, a distinction most of the emerging literature in International Business has not made clear. The first set of models examine the propensity to engage in outward direct investment and the geographic pattern of foreign ownership of firms active in Great Britain and find that both are positively related to cluster strength, with localisation economies being more important than urbanisation economies. T wo models of innovation are estimated, the first examines what factors influence firms to be innovative and the second what influences innovation effort as measured by R&D intensity. In both cases there is evidence that regional agglomeration promotes innovation and that there are stronger effects flowing from own industry agglomeration than from broader regional scale. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1489&r=cse |
| By: | Martin Berger; Heinz Hollenstein (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | The paper complements entry mode research by dealing with the choice of alternative modes of governance in the specific case of foreign R&D and its impact on a parent firm's performance. Firstly, we identify the factors that determine whether a firm locates abroad any R&D activities, and, if it does so, whether it chooses an equity-based rather than a non-equity co-operative mode of governance. The OLI paradigm is used as theoretical background of this analysis. Secondly, we determine the impact of foreign R&D on a parent firm's performance in terms of innovation output and labour productivity, and investigate whether this effect differs among firms using the one or the other governance mode. The study is based on separate estimations for Switzerland and Austria using comparable firm data and model specifications. The two countries are interesting cases as they strongly differ in terms of level and pattern of internationalisation. |
| Keywords: | Internationalisation of R&D, Governance of foreign R&D, International R&D cooperation |
| Date: | 2012–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2012:i:432&r=cse |
| By: | Ricardo AGUADO; Jabier MARTINEZ; Miguel Angel LARRINAGA |
| Abstract: | Research, development and innovation activities have become key sources of competitive advantage, which is one of the main factors behind the wellbeing of citizens living in a given territory. Being aware of this fact, public administrations at different administrative levels have encouraged the production of innovations through different public policies. On the other hand, firms that invest in research, development and innovation usually obtain in the long and medium terms innovative products and services that allow them to compete in favorable conditions in the local and international markets. If we focus in Europe, regional disparities in the amount of innovation inputs on one side and in the amount of innovation outputs on the other side are very high. In this paper the authors will measure the productivity of research, development and innovation activities performed by all regions in the EU. In order to do so, the authors will take into account some indicators to measure innovation inputs and outputs (related to science, technology and also to collaboration among agents in innovation activities and wealth creation) at the regional level. Using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) we will measure regional productivity in the field of R&D and innovation and we will compare this productivity outcome between regions in the EU. After explaining this first DEA model, we will use the main components analysis and then cluster analysis to achieve a typology of regions regarding their productivity in R&D and innovation activities. Once the typology of regions has been described and analyzed, the paper will end with some policy recommendations for each type of region, taking into account the regional innovation systems approach to innovation understanding and innovation policy. It may be possible to establish learning processes between different types of regions, taking into account the singularity and the unique mix of assets of each region. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p412&r=cse |
| By: | Karl Wennberg; Karin Hellerstedt |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the contextual conditions affecting the entry, growth and exit of knowledge intensive firms. On the aggregate or regional level, entry and exit are often intimately related. We suggests that the entrepreneurial process by which individuals engage in the start, the growth, and the exit of a firm is strongly path-dependent. Second, based on the importance of initial conditions at the regional level, we present empirical analysis on how characteristics of the economic milieu of regions influence firm births. The data material provides information on all knowledge intensive start-ups across the 286 Swedish municipalities between 1994 and 2002. We present an empirical model that captures both supply- and demand-side factors, with a specific emphasis on the demand side. We address the imperative role of initial conditions during firm founding, as these are strongly emphasized by I/O economics, organizational ecology, and entrepreneurship research alike. We describe and explain the substantial variation in start-up rates across municipalities and over time. The paper advanced econometric analysis where we use a number of variables derived from our theoretical framework to formulate and test a model of regional start-up rates. The model is tested on separate samples of services firms and manufacturing firms, yielding interesting results that are in line with the theories of organizational ecology and economic geography, but with somewhat stronger results for start-ups in services. Analyses of firm growth an survival further shows that the factors present during founding are strongly path-dependent, but differ for medium-growth and high-growth firms, and for firms exiting by closure and firms exiting by merger. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1585&r=cse |
| By: | Michaela Trippl |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with innovation activities and the pattern of knowledge linkages in the food industry located in the metropolitan region of Vienna. Drawing on 20 qualitative interviews with local companies and knowledge providers (universities and other research organisations) it is shown that in the Vienna food sector innovation has a high importance as competitive strategy. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Vienna’s innovative food companies embrace a wide range of different knowledge sources. Analysing the geography of linkages to these sources, reveals that most of them are extra-local in nature. This finding has to be interpreted against the background of an ongoing reconfiguration of the regional innovation system (RIS). Vienna’s RIS is in a process of transformation, becoming increasingly oriented on promoting young high-tech industries and providing only few impulses for innovation in older and more traditional sectors such as the food industry. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p133&r=cse |
| By: | Sabine Sedlacek |
| Abstract: | The question of how universities do stimulate regional economic development is mainly inquired in studies focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship. In these studies universities are seen as important actors within regional innovation systems (RIS). Within these RIS universities fulfill besides their training and education (human capital) function a knowledge production and transfer function. Studies on sustainable regional development are additionally focusing more and more on governance issues and the role of different stakeholders within governance networks and their ability to contribute to a more sustainable development at the regional level. Universities are important governance stakeholders, since their administrators and faculty members are eligible partners for regional governments. Here it is mainly their research capacity which is often used for expertise, e.g. to contribute to regional economic development plans. The role of institutions in fostering sustainable development at the regional level gained, especially in Europe, major importance since multi-level governance (MLG) is the number one concept in the European Union regional policy. The focus on institutional cooperation and how this network cooperation leads to a more effective implementation of sustainable development is the subject of several research agendas focusing on governance for sustainable development. There is a lack of knowledge and expertise with respect to the links between certain institutions and the broader society, and hence their ability to foster sustainable regional development. In this regard universities can serve as facilitators between societal and other institutional actors. In order to fill this gap the question of how the sustainable policy implementation process could be supported by universities acting in partnership with other institutional actors will be addressed. We will introduce an analytical framework which would allow us to test hypotheses extracted out of existing theoretical and empirical literature about universities as key actors in advancing sustainable development. The goal is to filter both factors enhancing sustainable development and obstacles and barriers that are hindering sustainable development. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p851&r=cse |
| By: | Tether, B.; Bascavusoglu-Moreau, E. |
| Abstract: | Introducing and innovating services is advocated as a means by which manufacturing firms in advanced economies can retain or enhance their competitiveness. But little is known about how manufacturers innovate services, nor about the impact of service innovation on manufacturers' performance. Using two consecutive waves of the UK Innovation Survey, this paper first examines how manufacturers innovate services, comparing this with how they innovate goods (i.e., material products) and production processes. We find that manufacturers tend to innovate services differently: R&D is found to be unimportant, whilst investments in marketing and training are found to be related to service innovation. The paper then examines the impact of service innovation on performance, in terms of innovative sales per employee and total sales per employee. We find that service innovation does not increase innovative sales but is associated with higher total sales per employee. |
| Keywords: | Service Innovation, Servitization, Innovation Survey, Multivariate Probit, Multinomial Logit. |
| JEL: | O30 O32 O40 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp433&r=cse |
| By: | Adli Abouzeedan; Boo Edgar; Thomas Hedner |
| Abstract: | In contrast to the Entrepreneurial Recycling Model (EREC), the Entrepreneurial Remedy Model (EREM) demands an active role of innovation to create an environment where small and medium size companies (SMEs) are developed. The EREM may provide a conceptual platform which may explain why developed regions have succeeded in maintaining a healthy entrepreneurial environment, while the less developed have failed to do that. Further, the Open Innovation concept is brought into the discussion connecting innovation to entrepreneurial environment conditions. A question which remains to be solves has to do to with the impact of innovation on the extent of entrepreneurial activities at a regional level. In this paper we will analyze and discuss this issue and provide understanding of the impact of innovation using the EREM. As such, the EREM offers an analytical tool to examine how the macroeconomic conditions impact the creation of new firms within a region or a country. Keywords: Open innovation, Entrepreneurial Remedy Model, EREM, regional development, incubators, start-ups, Small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1277&r=cse |
| By: | Michael Fritsch; Alexandra Schroeter |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of new firms’ quality on the magnitude of their employment effects. Our results clearly show that the quality of start-ups, measured by their affiliation to sectors and innovative industries, strongly influences the direct and the overall employment contribution of new firms. In particular, start-ups in manufacturing industries generate larger direct and overall growth effects than those in services. Moreover, new businesses in innovative manufacturing and in knowledge-intensive service industries make a larger direct contribution to employment than start-ups affiliated to other industries. We also find a relatively strong overall effect of new business formation in knowledge-intensive service industries. The impact of start-ups in innovative manufacturing industries on overall regional employment growth is, however, not statistically significant what may be mainly a result of their rather small share in all start-ups and due to the fact that they impact more on firms in other regions than start-ups in non-innovative manufacturing. Finally, we discuss conclusions for entrepreneurship policy, which can be derived from our findings. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1400&r=cse |
| By: | Mercedes Rodriguez; JosÈ Antonio Camacho |
| Abstract: | There is a rich debate in the innovation literature about to what extent innovation has become an international (or globalised) phenomenon, or, on the contrary, it maintains its local/regional character. As Koschatzky (2001) notes, given the fact that knowledge is commonly tied to personal capabilities; it has a clear geographical component. In the case of knowledge-intensive services (KIS) most of analyses come to the same conclusion: distance is particularly relevant when knowledge (mainly of a tacit type) is diffused. Starting from this premise, a burgeoning literature on the contribution of those knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) to regional innovation has emerged. Most of these papers adopt a national perspective, that is, analyse regions in a specific country. On the contrary, comparisons of regional features have been carried out in very few papers: Germany and the UK (Simmie and Strambach, 2006) or Germany and France (Muller and Zenker, 2001) are two examples. The objective of this paper is to take a step further and examine the distribution of knowledge-intensive services (KIS) in the European regions. For so doing we employ the data provided by the Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS) 2009. This database provides information on the innovation performance across 194 regions of the European Union and Norway. The methodology employed is known as spatial analysis and evaluates whether there are clusters in the location of KIS in the European regions, which involves three processes. First, to evaluate the existence of spatial autocorrelation by means of global statistics; the Moran’s I and the Geary’s C. Once verified the existence of positive spatial autocorrelation, it is possible to identify “clusters” of regions with high and low participations of KIS by using a local indicator of spatial autocorrelation (LISA). Finally, employing an econometric model, some potential explanatory factors for the concentration of KIS are examined. The results obtained support the hypothesis that KIS are spatially concentrated and confirm that spatial clusters are different in northern/central and southern/eastern regions. Moreover, a close relationship between location of KIS and regional innovation performance is found. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p277&r=cse |
| By: | Katalin Erdos; Attila Varga |
| Abstract: | Knowledge flows from universities to the regional economy can take different forms ranging from formal research collaborations to consultancy and informal personal connections. One of the knowledge communication channels drawing substantial interest of both researchers and regional policy makers is academic spin-off firm formation. According to the concept of the “academic entrepreneur” (Etzkowitz) university spin-off firm formation has grown naturally from the academic culture of the US where professors traditionally behave very much like entrepreneurs while setting up and maintaining research labs, hiring research assistants, “marketing” research results in conferences and publications or networking with colleagues and funding agencies. Spinning off a company is just a step forward from such entrepreneurial tasks of academics. Thus according to this concept academic motivations are main drivers in university spin-off firm formation in the US. Despite this challenging view the empirical literature pays relatively little attention to the particular “academic” features of university spin-offs and rarely considers the specificities of university entrepreneurship most notably the role of scientists as entrepreneurs. Empirical evidence suggests that Europe performs less successfully than the US in transferring knowledge from university labs to the regional economy via spin-off companies. One potential reason behind this difference is that institutions that determine the continental European research system hold back the emergence of academic entrepreneurs. Thus it is the main research question in our paper whether those specific “academic” drivers behind university spin-off firm formation are present at all in the continental European context. The related question is whether professional characteristics of the academics, their social capital, the norms of academia and the academic and business environment support or hinder these academic motivations? This paper is based on interviews carried out with university researchers who actively participate in firm formation in Hungary. Hungary is an excellent European case since the features of its university system are rooted in the continental (mainly German) tradition, but it also inherits some characteristics from the even more centralized socialist (soviet) tradition. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1451&r=cse |
| By: | Megha Mukim |
| Abstract: | Innovation is crucial to regional economic competitiveness and to productivity growth. A salient feature of the Indian economy is the geographic concentration of both, economic activity and innovation, as measured by patent activity. Theoretical models argue that the clustering of economic activity within a geographic region results in knowledge spillovers, which in turn drives innovation. The literature also posits that the presence of human capital is critical to the generation of new knowledge. This paper studies how and why economic geography and factor endowments matter for innovative activity – in other words, what is the relationship between human capital and patent generation, and crucially, how is this affected by the spatial distribution of economic activity? The paper analyses patent activity, both applications and grants, between 1995 and 2004 across districts in India. By using an econometric model, it then relates innovation to measures of agglomeration, industry-type and the size distribution of firms, and to the distribution of human capital endowments. It also uses data on employment by industrial activity, productivity and FDI flows. Understanding the magnitude of the effects of economic geography and factor endowments is vital for policy formulation aimed at encouraging innovative activity. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1356&r=cse |
| By: | Pilar Beneito (University of Valencia and ERICES); María E. Rochina-Barrachina (University of Valencia and ERICES); Amparo Sanchis (University of Valencia and ERICES) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze how industrial property rights (IPRs), measured by patents granted, affect competition at the industry level, and their induced effects on firms’ innovation incentives. We use for that purpose a panel dataset of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990-2006. Using indicators of fundamentals of competitive pressure and factor analysis techniques, we construct a new synthetic measure of competition. Our results indicate that although the use of IPRs (in terms of industry patenting intensity) reduces market competition, it may also encourage firms’ innovation incentives (in terms of firms’ R&D expenditures and the number of product innovations). |
| Keywords: | IPRs, patents, competition, innovation |
| JEL: | D22 L10 L60 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1211&r=cse |
| By: | Burak Beyhan |
| Abstract: | Although the literature on industrial clusters and districts emphasizes the role of labor mobility in the diffusion of innovation and tacit knowledge, relatively little academic effort supported by strong empirical evidences has been made in order to reveal the association between labor mobility and innovation in an appealing way. Likewise, the experimental studies outlining the spatial characteristics of labor mobility and innovation inside a cluster are nearly absent. In terms of its inner spatial configuration, the cluster itself is a black box for not only economists but also for geographers and planners especially when the interplay of labor mobility and innovation is considered. Most of the studies either tend to concentrate on a single cluster without informing us about the actual relevance of space inside the cluster or compare the clusters in a region (or country) again without developing a proper measure for the comparisons of the respective clusters in terms of the spatial characteristics of the labor mobility and innovation inside them. In this regard, the basic pursuit of this paper is both to develop and utilize simple measures in order to account for the relevance of space in different configurations of innovation and labor mobility inside an industrial cluster by making use of the parameters and analysis developed for Social Network Analysis (SNA), Space Syntax (SS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). What is especially remarkable in this study is the preference for free and open source software and establishment of author’s own algorithms. In an attempt to reveal the spatial contexts of the labor mobility and innovation occurring inside a cluster, firstly streets involved in Siteler, an industrial cluster in Ankara and specialized in furniture production, are divided into segments according to some intuitive criteria. Subsequently, a series of analysis is conducted by employing parameters of SNA, SS and GIS. What is evident from this paper is that labor mobility and innovation inside Siteler is strongly imprinted with the spatial configuration of streets in the cluster. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p421&r=cse |
| By: | Imre Lengyel |
| Abstract: | More and more scholars of regional science are interested nowadays in the question what role do clusters in city-regions play in the knowledge-based economy. This question can be dealt with from the functional or nodal regions point of view and one has to examine the factors that influence regional competitiveness. The answers are especially important for the Hungarian city-regions, since between 2007 and 2013 they are aimed with significant subsidies from EU regional development funds to improve their competitiveness. In this paper we outline our analytical framework: the pyramid model of regional competitiveness. After this the paper assesses the competitiveness types of the Hungarian functional subregions, as city-regions (LAU1). A complex methodology, with the help of multi-variable data analysing methods, is used throughout our statistical analysis to underlie the classification of city-regions. For the clusters mapping in these regions we apply the location quotient (LQ) method. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p313&r=cse |
| By: | Renato Garcia; Veneziano Araujo; Suelene Mascarini |
| Abstract: | It is widely recognized in the literature that the clustering of firms can generate benefits for the local firms, especially in terms of the creation and diffusion of knowledge among producers. One of the main sources of this new knowledge is the academic research, which can contribute to the innovative efforts of the firms, mainly when researchers in university and industry can cooperate by build joint research projects. Many authors (Audrescht and Feldman, 1996; Acs and Varga, 2005; Breschi and Lissoni, 2009) have shown that academic research is positively correlated with firms’ innovation at the geographical level. There are two reasons that are pointed out for this correlation. First, there are many ways in which knowledge generated by academic research can spill over to the firms, such as papers, patents and informal contacts. Second, geographical proximity can encourage cooperation between academic researchers and the R&D staff in the firms. Based on these statements, it was done an empirical research by using data from the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq), collected at the CNPq Directory of Research Groups of Brazilian universities. This database allows the identification of 2,151 interactive research groups, among 19,470, that declared that they have interactions with 3,068 firms. By the localization of both firms and university research groups, it was possible to gather information about the geographical pattern of university-industry linkages. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p761&r=cse |
| By: | Kingsley E. Haynes |
| Abstract: | Business support programs, represented by business incubators (BIs) and small business development centers (SBDCs), play an important role in assisting new or small firms, nurturing entrepreneurial culture, and fostering regional economic growth. For that reason, the location of these programs may interest regional planners or economic practitioners who have the incentive to create or attract these programs. Our previous studies have found that the presence of both types of business support programs is positively associated with the level of agglomeration and negatively associated with the level of business development. It is however unclear whether the local knowledge context may influence the local presence of BIs or SBDCs. This paper examines the role of knowledge in shaping the geography of BIs and SBDCs in the US using county-level data. Human capital, the university, and high technology are used as the proxies for knowledge. Their effects on the presence of BIs and SBDCs are investigated in binomial logistic regressions. We also control other county-specific characteristics by including three common factors derived via factor analysis from 27 demographic, social, and economic variables. This study highlights business support programs as the link between regional innovation systems and small or new firms. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1499&r=cse |
| By: | Florian Noseleit; Rene Söllner |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the impact of diversity on regional growth by extending the existing literature in such that we differentiate between industry diversity and human capital diversity. In order to measure human capital diversity we construct a regional measure based on individual occupational data. In fact, based on panel data for German regions we find empirical evidence that regions with higher degrees of human capital diversity exhibit higher GDP-per-capita and employment growth, as well as higher patent-output per R&D-worker. So far the empirical literature whether regional specialization or regional diversification encourage knowledge spillover and therefore promote regional growth mainly focused on the diversity of the regional industry structure and thus disregards that knowledge transmission merely occurs between individuals. This was already described by Jacobs (1969), and is also recognized by Glaeser et al. (1992) who emphasize the importance of interaction between people in close geographical distance for innovation. Nevertheless, the existing literature typically relies on the regional industry diversity as an indicator for the breadth of the local knowledge base. However, we argue that the diversity of skills and knowledge at the individual level rather than the diversity of industries reflects the scope of the local knowledge base and the potential for spillover. A more fruitful approach should therefore take a more disaggregated view on this topic by looking at the diversity of skills and abilities at the level of individuals. We apply two strategies to assure that human capital diversity is not just a proxy of the regional industrial structure. First we calculate a variable for the regional industry diversity equivalent to the occupational diversity using regional industry employment shares at the three digit industry level. Second we incorporate regional employment shares of 27 out of 28 aggregated industries as additional explanatory variables in our regression. Furthermore, skill complementarity and substitutability in production, as well as differences in the importance of knowledge spillovers should be addressed with a detailed consideration of changes in the regional industry structure. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p245&r=cse |
| By: | Marta R. Casanova; Vicente Orts |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we evaluate the spatial location patterns of Spanish manufacturing firms and we assess the different tendencies to cluster in each industry relative to the whole of manufacturing. To do this, we use a distance-based method (Marcon and Puech, 2003; Duranton and Overman, 2005), more concretely the Ripley’s K function, which measures concentration by counting the average number of neighbours of each firm within a circle of a given radius. This method allows us to treat space as continuous, analysing simultaneously multiple spatial scales and avoiding the shortcomings of the administrative scale. In addition, we employ a polygonal envelope to improve the delimitation of our area of study, substituting the rectangular shape used by other authors and thus avoiding the nuisance of empty spaces. We apply this method to Spanish manufacturing sectors at two-digit and four-digit level, isolating like this the different behaviours of spatial distribution of each subsector caused by 'spillovers' characteristic of each activity and also preventing compensation effects due to previous aggregation. Furthermore, we examine the co-localization between horizontally-linked and vertically-linked industries to assess the importance of these spillovers across industries and, finally, we try to answer what type of establishment, depending on its size, is the driver of the Spanish industrial agglomeration. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1227&r=cse |
| By: | Marie Van Looveren |
| Abstract: | The region of West Flanders scores rather low in Flanders on a number of economic indicators, such as innovation, and a number of education-related indicators such as the intake in higher education and the participation in scientific education. In order to change this situation, initiatives were taken by the province in order to reinforce the higher education as well as the socio-economic position of the region based on thorough scientific research. On the basis of the cluster theory by Porter, highlighting the importance of thematic clustering of research and socio-economic activities, analysis is made of the strengths and weaknesses of the socio-economic field as well as of the available research expertise in the higher education institutions; this in close collaboration with the socio-economic partners and employers/employees from the various provincial sub-regions. It resulted in a growth plan containing several thematic spearhead actions. In the elaboration of the growth plan, emphasis is laid on the coherence and mutual reinforcement of the entire innovation chain going from knowledge development to knowledge application and spreading. A concrete initiative contributing to the realization of this plan are the easily accessible expertise and services centres (LEDs) set up on the initiative of the province. Thematically, they complement the expertise present in the higher education institutions and meet the actual needs of small and medium entrepreneurs in the region. Entrepreneurs or organizations can appeal to the network for innovation questions and they can leave the elaboration to research groups. Both partners are in a win- win situation: the entrepreneur who often does not have the means for R&D can innovate after all and the research groups in the higher education institutions are given the possibility to accumulate and develop their scientific knowledge. It is clear that a close collaboration between higher education and the socio-economic field has a surplus value for both actors. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p72&r=cse |
| By: | Antonio Della Malva; Martin Carree; Enrico Santarelli |
| Abstract: | The anecdotal evidence provided by the literature on high tech clusters has paved the way to systematic explorations of the localized effects of academic research on technological success and economic development. Prime drivers of such development are new entrants. New entrants are more likely to embark in the risky activity of developing new products and/or new processes, they often open up new markets, restructure existing ones, replace declining industries and reshape local markets. Studies on the relation between academic R&D and business entry have found modest effects of the former on the latter. Recent empirical findings in the field of technology transfer, however, suggest that quality of academic research and the entrepreneurial attitude by faculty be the main factors explaining economic relevance of academic R&D. In this study we test the hypothesis that knowledge spilling over departments conducting cutting-edge research generates higher entry in related technology-intensive sectors than lower standing departments. We thus explore the extent to which the quantity, quality and orientation of research carried on at universities stimulates differently market entry in high-tech and low-tech sectors and the consequences of entry (high and low tech) on economic growth. We use data on business entry in 103 Italian provinces (NUTS3) between 2001 and 2006; we relate entry to a battery of measures of university presence in the province: the number of students graduated in scientific disciplines in 2001, the scientific productivity of academics between 1985 and 1999 and the number of patents invented by academics between 1978 and 2000. We apply a three-equation recursive model where in the first place we estimate the contribution of universities to entry, both in high-tech and low tech sectors and secondly the effects of entry and universities on economic growth. Additionally, we include patents and trademarks to control for the existence of innovative activities from the private sector, the presence and relevance of industrial districts to account for industrial specialization, the quality of road infrastructures and the existence of business service providers to support the creation of new ventures. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p554&r=cse |
| By: | Esa Storhammar; Timo Tohmo |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to clarify what factors affect the innovation activity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and especially the effect of regional factors. Innovations are seen as central phenomena on both micro and macro levels in economy. However, we know little about the formation, development and diffusion of innovations in different milieus. The different types of branch and enterprise structure might be the essential factor that accounts for regional differences in innovation activities. Many studies show remarkable differences between branches. Additionally, the resources of firms give an unequal starting point for innovation activities. Our study observed that the differences between regions were smaller than anticipated. It also found the innovation profiles in different areas to be fairly convergent. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p240&r=cse |
| By: | Stein Ostbye; Sylvain Barde |
| Abstract: | Knowledge spillovers have recently been analysed by Barde (2009) and Ostbye (2010) in a spatial general equilibrium framework. Both studies lack explicit micro foundations for the spillovers – spillovers just take place and depend on firm density. The models must therefore be seen as reduced forms that may potentially be consistent with several structural interpretations. In this paper, the aim is to go some way in offering plausible micro foundations. We consider two alternatives: knowledge dissemination through knowledge embodied in labour moving between firms following Combes and Duranton (2006) and knowledge creation and dissemination through research and development (R&D) following d’Asprémont and Jacquemin (1988). |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p794&r=cse |
| By: | Silvia Fernandes |
| Abstract: | This paper intends to contribute to an on-going change of perspective in territorial policies, more focused on a place-based integrative development strategy, which can be enhanced by social capital. This includes organizational and institutional learning for knowledge and skills’ transfer and governance coordination of the layers involved. Several concepts and indicators can be combined to support a conceptual framework for governance redefinition and sustainable growth. A comparison with related quantitative and qualitative indicators across countries highlights an approach for building a common culture that could facilitate governance and growth sustainability. It is less the size or the level of economic development that explains the different performances across countries/regions, than their levels of capital endowment (social, institutional, cultural) and the ability to properly exploit it. The most intangible aspects (entrepreneurship, participation, cohesiveness) are key elements in making the difference through the creation, valuation and maintenance of distinctive places and communities. Key-words: governance, social capital, institutional learning, sustainable growth, indicators, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1431&r=cse |
| By: | Paulo Neto; Maria Manuel Serrano |
| Abstract: | One of the most important aspects of current economical and social reality of each local and regional territory, and very much determinative for its economic development potential, is the nature of its territorial organization of the productive processes, as well as, the characteristics, and sophistication level of the enterprise strategies that are functioning in it. This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the role of clusters as engines of economic and social development of local and regional territories. Based on a study research methodology, we intend to answer to the following research questions: 1. What is the importance of clusters in the increment process of the local and regional conditions of governance? 2. What is the role of clusters in the development of territorial processes of collective learning? 3. What is the importance of clusters in promoting the territorial based processes of economic diplomacy and business intelligence? |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p545&r=cse |
| By: | Aliye Ahu Gulumser; Tuzin Baycan-Levent; Peter Nijkamp |
| Abstract: | Creative capacity in the field of regional sciences means the capability of any region to generate knowledge and thus to achieve innovation and the diffusion of the output of the innovative activity while obtaining the viability and sustainability of this process. Although creative capacity studies mainly focus on urban regions, the late rural studies and empirical evidences showed that rural region has a great potential capacity in terms of its five components viz. knowledge; innovation; entrepreneurship; creativity; and networks. But, these opportunities have shown by a rural specific approach rather than an urban approach. On this basis, by taking into consideration these discussions in the literature, we assume that the rural creative capacity can be evaluated by the recent changes in rural regions that show the capability of rural regions to exploit its knowledge as an output. On this purpose, in this study, we aim to evaluate which component is relatively important to identify the level of rural creative capacity. Therefore, the study focuses on 60 villages from Europe and 17 villages from Turkey by deploying the data obtained from the in-depth questionnaires. This study is a first attempt at settlement level with an optimistic approach to measure the opportunities lying at the heart of rural regions. The results of the study showed that creativity in terms of traditions is the most important component in both cases while European villages have more opportunities and do not have the latent rural problems while Turkish villages are still suffering from the well-known rural problems that their capacity exists but it is very limited. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p451&r=cse |
| By: | Roel Rutten; Irawati Dessy |
| Abstract: | The literature on trust, control and knowledge creation in seems to be moving towards a consensus. Trust is necessary to create an open atmosphere for knowledge creation while control acts as a safeguard against malfeasance. Networks that neglect either one often create less knowledge, such as new skills and products. Temporary networks, however, may have to depend more on control than on trust since their temporary nature may reduce the opportunity to develop trust. This paper contributes to the literature on trust, control and knowledge creation by empirically examining these variables in temporary innovation networks in the Eindhoven region in the Netherlands. Previous research showed that these networks contribute to regional economic development. This paper explores the mechanism through which this happens. Temporary innovation networks may lack trust in case the partners had no previously collaboration. They may therefore rely more heavily on control. On the other hand, these networks are formed with a specific purpose and may have mechanism to compensate for a lack of trust. The research question of this paper is: How do trust and control affect knowledge creation outcomes of these networks? Several factors that may affect this causal relation will be taken into account: - Previous relations among partners, - Mutual dependency among partners, - Level of agreement on project goals. The data for this research were collected in 2005. The paper develops several theoretical patterns on how trust and control affect knowledge creation among the members of the temporary networks and how this yields knowledge creation outcomes. Different levels of trust and control have different effects on the willingness to share knowledge and the use of communication modes. Control encourages formal communication that emphasizes the exchange of codified knowledge, while trust encourages informal communication that emphasizes the exchange of tacit knowledge. Both are necessary to produce knowledge creation outcomes. The paper develops several theoretical patterns that ar matched to empirical patterns derived from selected networks (cases) in the Eindhoven region. The results show that a combination of moderate control and high levels of trust produce the highest levels of knowledge creation outcomes. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p535&r=cse |
| By: | Axel Schaffer; Jan Rauland |
| Abstract: | There is broad consensus among economists that regions’ competitiveness heavily relies on their ability to produce innovative goods and services (Baumol 1967, Romer 1990, Grossman and Helpman 1991, Barro and Sala-i-Martin 1997, Los and Verspagen 2006). Main drivers of innovation include, but are not limited to, human and cognitive capital (Quelle), R&D expenditures (Quelle), industrial clusters and structure (Quelle) and foreign direct investments (Quelle). Most empirical studies confirm the presumed positive correlation of these inputs and regional innovativeness, measured for example by patent applications. At the same time, regions operating at similar input level show significant differences in the degree of innovativeness. These differences can, to some extent, be explained by the regions efficiency in using their available input factors (Quelle). The presented paper aims, in a first step, to identify this efficiency by using an outlier robust enhancement of the data envelopment analysis (DEA), the so-called order-α-frontier analysis (Daouia and Simar 2005, Daraio and Simar 2006), for a sample of more than 200 EU regions (NUTS 2). The findings of this model suggest that the regions’ efficiency is partly affected by a spatial factor. Therefore, the study foresees to decompose regional efficiency into a spatial and non-spatial part by introducing a geoadditive regression analysis based on markov fields. The spatial part reveals differences of the efficiency for greater areas. Regions located in efficient areas, for example, are likely to be efficient as well, since they benefit by the efficiency of neighboring regions. In contrast, the non-spatial effect gives an idea on a region’s efficiency compared to the neighboring and nearby regions. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1108&r=cse |
| By: | Dan Johansson; Sven-Olov Daunfeldt |
| Abstract: | Abstract: Previous examinations of the literature suggests that high-growth firms (HGFs) exist in all or most industries, are not overrepresented in high-tech, and if anything appear to be slightly overrepresented in services. In an updated overview, we find that more recent studies, employing better statistical methods, show a clear link between technological sophistication and HGFs. In a tobit model we examine what factors explain the presence of HGFs across 5-digit-NACE-industries in Sweden 1997-2005. We find that technological sophistication is crucial for the prevalence of HGFs in an industry, particularly in services. These results are in line with both current research and previous research concerning Sweden. We conclude that innovation is crucial for firm growth. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1500&r=cse |
| By: | Sven-Olov Daunfeldt; Niklas Elert; Dan Johansson |
| Abstract: | Previous examinations of the literature suggests that high-growth firms (HGFs) exist in all or most industries, are not overrepresented in high-tech, and if anything appear to be slightly overrepresented in services. In an updated overview, we find that more recent studies, employing better statistical methods, show a clear link between technological sophistication and HGFs. In a tobit model we examine what factors explain the presence of HGFs across 5-digit-NACE-industries in Sweden 1997-2005. We find that technological sophistication is crucial for the prevalence of HGFs in an industry, particularly in services. These results are in line with both current research and previous research concerning Sweden. We conclude that innovation is crucial for firm growth. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1658&r=cse |
| By: | Xavier Vence; Manuel Gonzalez |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to contribute toa better understanding of the Knowledge Intensive Services spatial distribution across the European Union(EU) regions(NUTSII), linking recent research approaches on innovation and structural change with approaches to regional economics. As a means of conducting this research, we classify economic activities according to six sectors based on their knowledge/technology intensity. Our results show that the higher the knowledge/technology content of the economic activity, the higher the concentration level of the activity. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1377&r=cse |
| By: | Giuseppe Tattara (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari) |
| Abstract: | Italian firms have recently engaged in direct investment abroad through the establishment of production facilities in China and India. Using data gathered from interviews conducted in those countries in 2009 with 16 Italian predominantly small and medium-sized firms, this article explores: the motivations behind Italian parent companies’ decisions to create subsidiaries in Asia; relations between the newly established production facilities and their local suppliers and markets; any subsequent organizational adaptations; and the cultural and administrative difficulties the enterprises have encountered. The article provides a novel perspective on how predominantly small and medium-sized manufacturing firms achieve cost and differentiation advantages by leveraging their dynamic capabilities. |
| Keywords: | Strategic management of multinational firms, Value chains, Capability-based strategies. |
| JEL: | F23 F14 L25 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2012_06&r=cse |
| By: | Alexander Kubis; Mirko Titze; Matthias Brachert |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of industrial clusters on regional growth at level of German labour market regions within a regional convergence model. It focuses on vertically connected industrial sectors, which can emerge parallel to horizontal interconnections. Based on works of Schnabl (2000) it is possible to identify three different effects of industrial clusters on regional economic performance. Beside the effects of regionally concentrated economic sectors (horizontal clusters) and value-added production chains (vertical clusters) on the region itself, the paper segregates regional spillover effects of industrial clusters. Furthermore, the study allows the isolated examination of the impact of industrial clusters while taking regional convergence into consideration. In addition to the all-German process of convergence and the specific East German process, positive growth effects of industrial clusters are detected. Therefore industrial clusters present an opportunity to explain deficits within the process of East-West convergence. The relative absence of industrial clusters in East Germany influences the growth potential in a negative way. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p459&r=cse |
| By: | Apostolos Baltzopoulos; Anders Broström |
| Abstract: | The presence of universities in a region has been found to be an important factor for regional economic growth. In search for the specific explanations of this phenomenon, the connection between universities and locally based entrepreneurship has attracted considerable attention. We investigate how universities may affect regional entrepreneurship through the localisation decisions of entrepreneurial alumni. Empirically, we use data on the background of all 35 187 young individuals who founded start-up firms in Sweden in the period 2003-2005, a third of whom attended a university, to estimate whether the choice of where to pursue tertiary education studies had significant impact on the location of their firm. Our results suggest that even when controlling for the spatial history of the individual founder, individuals have an increased propensity to set up in the region where they studied. This effect is found to substitute for both urbanisation economies and localisation economies as drivers of regional-level entrepreneurship. Thus, our analysis provides evidence on how universities affect regional economic development that complements the strong focus on spin-off activities by university researchers in previous studies. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1519&r=cse |
| By: | Nicolas Bonnet |
| Abstract: | We address the role of innovation networks on growth of territories in the Canadian space (TER WALL et BOSCHMA, 2009). We rely on an analysis of labor market areas for the period 1996 - 2008 on the basis of patent applications filed jointly by several inventors so as to develop the networks of cooperation. An analysis of such networks on the basis of these geography areas can provide some additional explanatories on the core-periphery model, which appears between the labor market areas that innovate and those that develop economically. The working hypothesis is therefore as follows. If technological change is undeniably the macro-economic factors of growth (ROMER, 1990), the level of flow of knowledge spillover between cities and particularly the degree of centrality of each of them within the collaborative network, has a differential impact on local economic development between urban areas (GORDON et McCANN, 2000). This working hypothesis is based on the observation that innovation at the local level does not necessarily lead to economic development of territories in which it operates. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1571&r=cse |
| By: | Michael Fortunato; Diane McLaughlin; Theodore Alter |
| Abstract: | New perspectives in entrepreneurship are emerging that view the concept of opportunity as central in the domain of entrepreneurship research. However, a robust understanding of how entrepreneurs and local institutions perceive opportunity in the community is still nascent in the empirical literature. We wish to contribute to the debate by presenting a testable empirical framework that views entrepreneurship in the community primarily as embedded within individual entrepreneurs, local institutions, and perceptions about local opportunity. A better understanding of this complex relationship may clarify why many local entrepreneurship assistance programs are developed in the absence of entrepreneur input, why many local entrepreneurs have little or no interaction with institutions in their community intended to help small businesspeople, and who entrepreneurs and local institutional leaders believe should be responsible for identifying and exploiting opportunity. The objective of this work is to identify differences in how individuals and entrepreneurs think about opportunity, and to develop strategies to bolster collaboration and opportunity exploitation within and between these groups in order to enhance local economic development through entrepreneurship. This paper presents the preliminary findings of face-to-face interviews and written surveys with entrepreneurs and community institutional leaders in three American states (Maine, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) about their views on entrepreneurship, opportunity enhancement, and local economic development. Results regarding the process of entrepreneurship and individual-institutional interaction are compared in high- and low-entrepreneurship areas to identify opportunity-oriented strategies that seem to be working at the local level. Finally, strategies are developed to overcome barriers between individual entrepreneurs and their institutional environment to enhance opportunity identification and exploitation. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1504&r=cse |
| By: | Alejandra Trejo |
| Abstract: | It is argued that the competitive capacities from the regional and local point of view can be constructed, that in fact are tied to territorial policies and to the development of a territorial culture that integrates the local system of companies. Moreover a process of such nature can contribute to overcome the deterioration of backward territories. The construction of territorial competitiveness has to be one along the fundamental lines of action of sub-national governments. The existence of a solid service sector and some degree of specialisation in tertiary activities are among a number of territorial diversity of factors which need to be taken into account in relation to the creation of competitive capacities. In addition globalisation has presumably played a significant role in the productive restructuring of economies; within this the service sector has had over the years an increasing quantitative and qualitative importance in economic structures. This urges to evaluate the role of the third sector, in a context of economic globalisation, in the processes of constructing regional competitive capacities. This paper aims at providing a wide-ranging assessment of efficiency of the third sector at the regional level and its sources as well as an examination of the territorial structure of services and commerce in Mexico, specialisation patterns and productive structures. Our interest is to begin a line of study to analyse the efficiency of the Mexican tertiary sector by looking at the differences in regional performance and also the geographical determinants of these differentials. We will evaluate if there are clear patterns of concentration, specialisation and regional efficiency because of its impact on regional competitiveness. The regional efficiency of the service sector in Mexico in the period of NAFTA operation will be analysed. We employ state level data to examine technical efficiency´s differentials across regions and their determinants. The methodology includes Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the efficiency of the third sector which is the dependent variable in a reduced form model that links regional performance with a number of proxies for various types of agglomeration economies such as specialisation, urbanisation and internal economies of scale. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p196&r=cse |
| By: | Dimitrios Ierapetritis; Dimitrios Lagos |
| Abstract: | The development of business and innovation potential in the countryside depends on the availability of sufficient structures providing knowledge and skills on new technologies, while the most effective training process for farmers is an education based on the principles of experiential learning and adult education. The aim of this article is, based on the results of a nation-wide research addressed to farmers, instructors and head trainers, to explore and submit specific proposals for the reinforcement of entrepreneurship in the Greek countryside. More specifically, the aims sought through the results of this research, which was conducted among five hundred and ninety (590) trainee farmers, three hundred and twenty (320) instructors and fifty-eight (58) head trainers, are to bring forward the main attributes of farmers who wish to engage in entrepreneurial activities of the secondary and tertiary sector, to explore the aspects of the educational and administrative resources in the Greek countryside, to reveal their educational needs for successful business ventures and finally to put forward specific proposals both for promoting farmers’ education and for the support of farmers who wish to enter the business field. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1510&r=cse |
| By: | Yvonne Schindele; Michael Fritsch; Florian Noseleit |
| Abstract: | Several empirical studies showed that it is not the level of entrepreneurial activity itself, but the (long-term) survival and growth of new firms that determine the direct and indirect contribution of new businesses to regional employment. To this end, the aim of this paper is to analyze the determinants of the survival of German manufacturing establishments devoting special interest to the multi-dimension approach, thus investigating business-, industry-, and region-specific survival determinants. By using a micro-panel data set of all German manufacturing establishments for the period 1992 to 2005, we employ both non-parametric and semi-parametric procedures that are specifically designed to analyze duration phenomena in order to ascertain survival determinants by explaining the time period between a firm’s start-up and its cessation of economic activity. The results enable us to give advice on how to improve the survival conditions of businesses in certain regions and industries and, thus, to enhance the number of establishments with the potential to contribute to regional employment. The main findings indicate that the probability of exit is higher for very young and rather old businesses and also for relatively small businesses. Besides the overall finding of a higher exit risk in agglomerated areas, an above-average level of highly qualified employees working in the establishments decreases the probability of exit. Accordingly, businesses in R&D intensive or high-tech industries enjoy better survival prospects than businesses in other industries. Moreover, we find evidence that that regional industry specialization is not beneficial for the survival of newcomers in a respective industry. This result adds some interesting points to the findings of Dumais, Ellison and Glaeser (2002) who discovered that closure is less likely in those regions that belong to the current geographic centers of an industry and tends to increase geographic concentration. Our results suggest that in German manufacturing industries not only a business’ entry but also its survival chances (in opposition to closure in general) are forces that reduce geographic concentration. Possible benefits from geographically bounded, within-industry spillovers seem to be of less importance than the counterforce of intensified local competition for survival. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p549&r=cse |
| By: | Emilia V√°zquez; Sofia Gomes; Elvira Vieira |
| Abstract: | The theory of economic growth covers institutional market and company internal factors that explain the disparities in well-being among countries, in a given period. It also questions welfare growth dynamics that leads to convergence or divergence of per capita wealth levels. (Solow, 1956-1957; Grilliches, 1979; Romer, 1986, 1990; Lucas, 1988; Barro, 1999; Barro e Sala-i-Martin, 1991 e 1992; Rebelo, 1991, Mankiw, Romer e Weil, 1992). The economic study of entrepreneurship is concerned with identifying factors that influence the dynamics of business creation and the consequences of these dynamics on economic growth. (Acs e Armington, 2006; Audretsch e Keilbach, 2004; Audretsch, Keilbach, Lehmann, 2006; Carree e Thurik, 2006; Van Stel, 2006). There are several studies that establish a direct relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth. Other empirical works address an indirect relationship through the establishment of an interaction between entrepreneurship and employment rate growth. With a similar approach to other works that relate entrepreneurial activity (Petrakis, 2004; Audretsch and Keilbach 2004; Wong, Ho e Autio, 2005; Acs e Varga, 2005; Stam, Suddle, Hessels e Van Stel, 2006; Van Stel, Storey e Thurik, 2009; Barros e Pereira 2008; Salas y Sánchez-Asín, 2008) this paper analyzes the effect of entrepreneurship on growth on Spanish and Portuguese regions |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1537&r=cse |
| By: | Erik Louw; Sylvia Jansen |
| Abstract: | Most studies on firm relocation focus on firms that did relocate. The reasons why they moved and why they settled somewhere else, are always seen as the location factors. The assumption behind this is that firms which did relocate assessed their former location unfavourable compared to their production requirements, while firms that did not relocate were more favourable to their location. By means of longitudinal panel survey data on firms in the Netherlands we investigate whether this assumption is valid. First we focus on the location assessment and investigate which location factors are most important in the overall assessment. Next we analyse changes of the location assessment over time. Secondly we analyse stated and revealed relocations in relation to the locations assessment and firm performance (measured in the level of employment). This paper concludes with a discussion on the notion of location factors. Particularly we will focus on their role in the relocation decision process which basically is a matching process between spatial production requirements put forward by firms and locational properties and characteristics of productions sites |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p636&r=cse |
| By: | ANDO Mitsuyo; KIMURA Fukunari |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the features of production networks of Japanese manufacturing firms and their domestic operations and export/import activities in normal periods and during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Our previous empirical studies have shown that firms that expand their operations in East Asia are more likely to expand domestic operations, particularly domestic employment, than firms that do not in normal periods. This study further verifies that such tendency stands during the GFC. Moreover, this paper expands the scope of our series of studies by introducing labor productivity as one of the performance variables and also analyzing changes in the relative and absolute size of headquarters and manufacturing activities over time in order to seek a possible sign of de-industrialization. |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:12047&r=cse |
| By: | Tomokazu Arita; Philip McCann |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explain the structure and technological relationships between the different sub-sectors of the global semiconductor industry, by analyzing firm-level micro data including production technological indices of wafer manufacturing processes and firm-alliances. Our results indicate that the economic geography and the location behavior of the global semiconductor industry are diverse and also fundamentally different to the types of location behavior commonly accepted in the past academic arena. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p997&r=cse |
| By: | Claudio Mancilla; Yancy Vaillant; Esteban Lafuente |
| Abstract: | Usually, immigrants have been studied as employed work force. However, they often choose to become entrepreneurs. According to the relevant literature, there are evidences that immigrants are more entrepreneurially active than local inhabitants. However, results from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for Spain show that this is not consistent across the urban-rural divide. Explanation for variances in entrepreneurship in rural as compared to urban areas have been linked to specific socio-institutional traits that exert a differentiated impact on the entrepreneurial activity levels of specific segments of the population. The objective of this study is to verify how the entrepreneurial activity of rural immigrants responds to socio-institutional traits that have been identified as key explanatory factors of entrepreneurial behaviour. To carry out this research, the Spanish Global Entrepreneur Monitor (GEM) data set from 2008 was used. We conduct a comparative analysis between three population groups: immigrants as compared to non-immigrant, rural immigrant as compared to urban immigrant, and rural immigrants as compared to rural non-immigrants. To do this, a rare events logit regression model was applied. The results indicate that the probability to become an entrepreneur is greater for immigrants. The same is true for an individual residing in a rural area. However, contrary to Spaniards, rural immigrants are not more likely to become entrepreneurs. We find explanation for this in the econometric analysis of the selected socio-institutional traits. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1464&r=cse |
| By: | Jichung Yang; Daeyoung Park; Changmu Jung |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the spatial distributions of firm and entrepreneurship were investigated in relation with the productivity. To analyze the effect of manufacturing firms' detailed distribution patterns on the productivity of manufacturing industries, micro geographic data were used, which avoids systematic problems relating scales and borders of box unit that is administrative territories. First of all, agglomeration distances for every sub-industries were estimated, that is spatial boundaries of localization effect. Three main variables relating spatial distribution patterns of firms in same industrial classification, that are the number of firms, the average distance to other firms and disperse index from standard deviation of firms' Euclidian coordinates, are computed from Euclidian coordinates of firms in the agglomeration boundaries. Also, we checked the relationship between Entrepreneurships and productivity. And mixed effects were checked. These tests were applied to an exhaustive manufacturing firms data-set of Korea including Seoul Metropolitan Area provided by NSO. We can predict that for most sub-industries, (i) the number of firms of the same industrial classification in the agglomeration boundary has positive effect on the productivity, (ii) the average distance to other firms has positive effect below the specific distance and negative effect beyond that, and (iii) the more disperse the firms are, productivity gets decreased |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1428&r=cse |
| By: | Hans Westlund; Kent Eliasson |
| Abstract: | Policies aiming at promoting entrepreneurship are in general formed on national levels, without any consideration to differences between urban and rural areas. Usually cities are provided with better and more modern infrastructure; cities have better supply of physical, financial and human capital and connected services, and cities have a more modern industrial structure in the sense that their shares of growing industry are higher. These circumstances indicate that policies for entrepreneurship, which in general are designed for urban areas, might not work as intended when they are implemented in rural areas. A first step to improving the efficiency of these policies could be to investigate the differences between cities and countryside regarding frequencies and types entrepreneurship. Based on a database containing socio-economic information on all residents in Sweden this paper examines a) The scope and structure of enterprise propensity in urban and rural areas respectively in Sweden. b) The importance of a number of attributes that may have an impact on individuals’ propensity to start an enterprise in the two area types. Besides total (active) populations of urban and rural areas, divisions are made in men and women, in age groups and in different manufacturing and service sectors. Variables on individual level being investigated are education, incomes and combination of incomes from various income sources. Variables on regional level being tested are population size and density, centers’ population density, average commuting distance, local employment level and demographics and relative density of firms. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1486&r=cse |
| By: | Carmen Beatrice Pauna; Nona Mihaela Chilian |
| Abstract: | Although in this part of the European continent a series of success stories developed over the last years, such as the transnational automotive sector in the middle Danubian area, there is a lack of visibility of small and medium enterprises activity on transnational level. The main aim of our work is, by using adequate statistical methodologies and instruments, to find out which are the territorial concentrations of sectoral productive skills, in order to identify and define the strategic economic sectors at transnational level within the Adriatic-Danubian Area. We believe that by using territorial marketing techniques the competitive sectors, able to attract investment inflows and to have a positive impact upon the regional disparities, may be promoted in an objective manner. We intend to prove through the obtained results of our work that the cross-border cooperation could really improve the cohesion, stability and competitiveness of the Adriatic-Danubian Area, and could contribute to the integration process in the South-East Europe and to a balanced development of the whole European territory. Keywords: Cross-border cooperation, South-East Europe, Small and Medium Enterprises. JEL Classification: O52, R12, R58 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p649&r=cse |
| By: | Simon Falck |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at analyzing location choice among foreign companies in Sweden. Using an empirical approach on micro data, their location choices are explored at the regional level and analyzed in a typology setting. Controls are made for industrial sectors and the role played by agglomeration economies. The results are consistent with the hypothesis on a strong relationship between location choice and agglomeration economies and also that industrial agglomeration play a role in location decisions. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1492&r=cse |