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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2012‒10‒13
47 papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Veneziano Araujo; Renato Garcia |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to exam the spatial patterns of innovative performance in Brazilian industry, taking into account its regional interdependencies, and the impact of the main innovative inputs. There is a huge literature concerning regional innovation and the importance of local inputs in innovative performance. However, most of the studies use data from developed countries. This paper verifies if the role played by innovative inputs in developed countries remain important in developing ones, in which patents are proportionally rare. In this sense, it’s applied an empirical model based in the Jaffe’s (1989) knowledge production function to Brazilian regions. The model uses patents as a proxy for the innovative output and includes regional variables of local industrialand academic R&D, agglomeration characteristics and some spatial elements such as neighborhood’s innovative activities. The main results show the importance of local industrial R&D to regional innovation measured by patents, and, similarly, a relation between patenting activity of the firms and local academic research. With the purpose of evaluate which externality is more important to innovation in Brazilian regions, marshallian or jacobian externalities; the Krugman specialization-diversification index of industrial employment is adopted in the model. The importance of been close to the most innovative regions is assessed with the commonly used spatial lagged variables and the estimation results corroborates the relevance of technological spillovers spatial mediated. Finally, some efforts are made to exam other kinds of proximity as proposed by Boschma (2005) and a network weight matrix based on university-industry collaborative links, such as Ponds et al (2010), is added to the model to test the importance of non spatial proximity. The overall conclusion suggests that in Brazilian case, main innovative inputs seemed in developed countries remain important, but presents also some specificity such as a strong concentration of innovative activities in the Southeast related with the industrial agglomeration and different relative magnitude importance in some local determinants of innovation. JEL Code: O18 ;O33; R11. Key-words: Regional innovation – Patents – Spatial analysis – Brazil Area: D. Entrepreneurship, networks and innovation |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p782&r=cse |
| By: | Boeing, Philipp; Mueller, Elisabeth; Sandner, Philipp |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how in-house R&D as well as access to national and foreign knowledge sources influences the productivity of Chinese firms. For our main analysis we use data for 1,140 patenting firms listed at mainland China stock exchanges over the time-period 2001-2010. In-house R&D based on indigenous knowledge does indeed improve productivity as does engaging in joint research projects with national partners. In order to benefit from international knowledge, Chinese firms are dependent on an organizational integration of the knowledge source. Joint ventures with foreign partners, acquisitions of foreign firms, and employing foreign researchers inside China contribute to firm productivity, whereas international joint research projects are not sufficient. Our results indicate that at the current stage of China's economic development the absorptive capacity of most firms is sufficient to benefit from foreign sources of knowledge only if an enduring, deep relationship supports the absorption of the knowledge. -- |
| Keywords: | indigenous innovation,China,knowledge sources,productivity,absorptive capacity,patents |
| JEL: | O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fsfmwp:196&r=cse |
| By: | Luisa Carvalho (School of Business Administration, ESCE/Polytechnic Institute of Setubal); Teresa Costa (School of Business Administration, ESCE/Polytechnic Institute of Setubal); Jorge Caiado (CEMAPRE, School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Technical University of Lisbon) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses logistic regression analysis to examine how intramural and extramural R&D, acquisition of machinery, equipment and software, acquisition of external knowledge, training, market introduction and other procedures and technical preparations determine the innovation behaviour of manufacturing and service firms. We adopt a multidimensional view of innovation by considering product, process, organizational and marketing innovations as dependent variables separately. The study reports on the Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) of a small open-economy country. The empirical results indicate that intramural R&D has a positive impact on innovation. In contrast, the influence of extramural R&D on innovation is unclear. All innovation activities contribute towards organizational innovation. The study also suggests that there are no significant differences between services and manufacturing firms concerning the propensity to innovation. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, manufacturing firms, service firms, CIS |
| JEL: | L60 L80 O30 O32 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cma:wpaper:1201&r=cse |
| By: | Andreas P. Cornett; Nils Karl Soerensen |
| Abstract: | Innovation and entrepreneurship are key factors in current regional development initiatives, derived from the concepts of new economic growth theory. The aim of this paper is to combine an assessment of innovative and entrepreneurial performance with the spatial distribution and functional linkages of certain types of economic clusters. The hypothesis is that clustered regions with high entrepreneurial and innovative performance have higher growth than non- innovative/entrepreneurial regions or regions with a more scattered economic structure. The clustering and in some cases even the polarization of economic activities metropolitan regions can lead to excess growth, and contribute to a process of convergence between nations, but will also turn regional economic divergence back on the national economic development agenda. The purpose of this paper is to provide in deep information on these processes in an international and perspective based on European empirical evidence. The first part of the paper addresses the development and growth issue in a theoretical development policy perspective. The impacts of innovation (measured by innovation scoreboard data) and entrepreneurship (GEM data etc.) on regional growth are estimated individual and combined as well as dummies for various levels of industrial clustering (measured by location quotients and the change of LQ) are included. Within these groups we study the process of convergence by use of the traditional measures of convergence. The findings are compared with traditional geographical convergence results, enabling an analysis based both on traditional geographical adjacent regions, often characterized by a common institutional framework, and regions characterized by common features in economic performance terms. Based on the empirical results and the findings of the literature survey in the first part of the paper the final section provides an assessment of the overall trends in economic convergence and disparities and the drivers behind this process. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p631&r=cse |
| By: | Reinhold Kosfeld |
| Abstract: | In recent times, there has been a renewed interest in cluster policies for supporting industrial and regional development. Prominent economics like Porter and Krugman emphasise the role of clusters in regional competition and show in which way clusters can positively affect competition by increasing productivity and innovation. Because of the linkage between growth and innovation, R&D intensive industries play a crucial role in cluster development strategies. Empirical cluster research has to contribute to the understanding the process of cluster formation. In particular for developing profound clusters strategies and assessing the limits cluster policy, knowledge of existing structures and tendencies is necessary. In these strategies, high-tech and research-intensive industries play a crucial role. Audretsch and Feldman argue that industries with high innovation activity tend to cluster for exploiting benefits from tacit knowledge flows. Krugman stresses that information flows and knowledge spillovers may be sensitive to geographic impediments. Since obstacles tend to rise with increasing distance, spatial clusters may be localised. If, however, geographic barriers are less relevant, the reach of tacit knowledge flows may be much larger. For regional policy the geographical level at which clusters occur is of prominent interest. Traditional concentration indices like the Gini coefficient, Theils’s inequalitiy index or the Ellison-Glaeser index are ‘aspatial’ by construction. This means that these indices disregard relevant spatial information on the distribution of a geo-referenced variable. In particular, attribute values of adjacent regions are completely ignored. Moreover, the spatial scale of clustering formation is not taken into account. First experiences with methods of exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) like local Moran’s I and Getis-Ord Gi statistics in pattern recognition are available. Le Gallo and Ertur (2003) utilise local indicators of spatial association to analyse the distribution of regional GDP per capita in Europe. Feser et al. (2005), Lafourcade and Mion (2007) and Kies et al. (2009) demonstrate the potential of these ESDA techniques in identifying economic clusters and spatial heterogeneity in geographical space. However, while usually local Moran’s I and Getis-Ord Gi statistics are applied in detecting economic clusters, up to now spatial scan techniques are largely ignored (Kang, 2010). In this paper, advantages and pitfalls of spatial scan tests in identifying R&D clusters are examined. Some essentials in implementing spatial scan techniques in economic clusters research are worked out. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p232&r=cse |
| By: | Jonatan Paton; Jaime Del Castillo; Belen Barroeta |
| Abstract: | Clusters and cluster policy has become a widespread phenomena. The general thought shows that, somehow, clusters are directly related to business competitiveness and regional growth. In this context, the Spanish Ministry of Industry has implemented a cluster policy since 2007 known as the AEIs Programme. The aim of this paper is to present the main results of the Spanish cluster policy case as well as an innovative evaluation methodology for clusters and cluster policy. After five years, 165 clusters have become AEIs. These AEIs represent 3,934 firms and 529 institutions (universities, R&D centres, public bodies etc.). These organizations account for a total of 750,797 jobs, making up 4.3% of the total Spanish employment. This total raises to 11.8% (2.1 million jobs) considering the knock-on effect over their value chains (direct and indirect employment). The Programe itself has financed the AEIs with more than 23.5 million Euros distributed across four different action lines focused on strategic plans definition, cluster operational structure, R&D and innovation collaborative projects and interclusters collaboration at national and international level. The knock-on effect of the Programme in increasing the return from other public support schemes raises to 44.7 million Euros for horizontal projects and 1,132 million Euros for R&D and innovation collaborative projects. But one of the innovative features in this final evaluation was the exercise on the identification of clusters and cluster policy impacts on business competitiveness. The survey shows that apparently, the competitiveness factors addressed by clusters-AEIs and AEIs Programme can represent up to 32.77% of total cost reduction of a company annually. On the other side, the same factors can contribute up to 28.21% of the total sales increases of a company annually. But there are still some weaknesses that must be addressed. The interrelations between clusters are still in their first stage. Globalization is an imperative that Spanish economy must face and considering the scope and the scale of global competition this must necessarily rest on coordinated and systematic actions where clusters can play a central role. The challenge for the Spanish cluster policy will be base on how to support cluster consolidation; on how to reinvent the activities exploiting local and regional related variety; on how to manage it into a Global Value Chain through interclusters collaboration; and finally on how to evolve into knowledge and innovation intensive specialization patterns fueled by Spanish World-Class Clusters. Although it can seem quite ambitious, regarding 2020 period, the Smart Specialization Framework enhanced by the Commission can be an opportunity to rethinking the Spanish cluster model into these terms. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p663&r=cse |
| By: | Carmen Beatrice Pauna; Nona Mihaela Chilian |
| Abstract: | Analyzing the competitive performance of Romanian industry, one may say that Romania has an economy based mainly on the manufacturing industry, characterized by features such as: • high labor intensity, especially in industries such as textiles, knitwear, apparel, leather and footwear; • high capital intensity, especially in industries such as metallurgy, yarns and fibers, cement, petrochemicals, milling; • high energy consumption in almost all industries. The result is a manufacturing industry with quite low level of labor skills and low level of the research-innovation-development triad. However, due to structural changes one may witness, on the one hand, the decline of the Romanian traditional industrial specializations and, on the other hand, the creation of modern industrial entities similar to the economic clusters promoted in the European economies. In this line of argument, the current paper attempts to answer questions such as: to what extent do clusters impact on territorial competitiveness in Romania and, in which areas of activity. The correct identification of the current and potential comparative and competitive advantages and of their factors (costs, diversification, technological level, labor skills, innovation, etc.) at national, regional and intra-regional level and their use as bases for future actions, measures and policies in the domain of competitiveness are, in our opinion, some of the employable instruments required by the current economic crisis. An adequate diagnosis of the internal resources and competencies (especially of potential and underdeveloped advantages), of external opportunities and threats, and of their inter-linkages is necessary to set the competitiveness policies, strategies and actions on more sound foundations. Keywords: economic crisis, clusters, SME, competitiveness, regional development JEL Classification: O25, R38, R58 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p713&r=cse |
| By: | Bernd Ebersberger; Sverre Herstad |
| Abstract: | Research on territorial innovation systems has traditionally put a very strong emphasis on intra-economy collaborative linkages as they allow valuable tacit knowledge to flow between co-located firms and institutions. Frequent face-to-face contact between producers and demanding users combined with institutionalized trust nurtured by proximity has been seen as conducive to advanced new knowledge development, structural change and growth. This is visible not least in the literature on knowledge-intensive business services, which emphasizes the role of proximity between providers and a demanding client base. However, collaborative linkages can span large distances and are increasingly regarded as a mechanism by which firms overcome local supply and demand side limitations. The rapid diffusion of ICTs has increased the scope for service firm, by increasing tradability and by allowing more efficient international market search. At the same time, regions remain important as ‘containing social structures’ for labor flows and information diffusion through interpersonal networks, for new firm formation based on localized knowledge assets, and as platforms for growth and internationalization. The locus of innovation is therefore shifting away from individual firms, towards territorial economies and the distributed innovation networks by which they are linked. Knowledge intensive business services are important in this context, as they are positioned at the intersection between corporate demand for specialized knowledge, and the supply of this knowledge from various actors and locations. Yet, the literature on internationalization in services focuses primarily on demand side enablers in the form of trade liberalization and modern ICTs, and drivers in the form of larger and more diverse markets. Consequently, it has yet to acknowledge the embeddedness of knowledge-intensive business services in international innovation collaboration networks more broadly. This paper starts from the recognition that collaborative linkages may be conditioned by contexts of location, in particular when they are extended into distant business communities. This paper analyses the link between urban locations, and the involvement of knowledge-intensive business service firms in international innovation collaboration. It extends current research on the internationalization of business services by distinguishing between demand and supply side linkages in international innovation collaboration. The empirical analysis uses establishment level innovation data available from the Sixth Norwegian Community Innovation Survey (CIS2008) to investigate whether urban location affects a firm’s involvement in global innovation collaboration. Everything else equal knowledge-intensive business service firms located in the Norwegian capital region are found to be more involved in international collaboration than establishments located at any other level of centrality. This is not driven by the more intense interaction with clients and customers. Rather, it is most distinctively driven by broader linkages with knowledge supplying actors. Keywords: Internationalization of innovation, KIBS, urban location JEL: R11 F20 L80 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p438&r=cse |
| By: | Gianni Guastella; Frank van Oort |
| Abstract: | Regional economies are continuously evolving shifting from more traditional manufacturing toward more service-oriented production systems. Despite the increasing relevance of services, however, the analysis of innovation at the regional aggregate level has mainly focused on manufacturing, gathering the attention on the role of R&D expenditure as input in the production process and, in some cases, accounting for research-based knowledge externalities. In this paper the role of Knowledge Intensive Business Services is studied and their contribution to the regional aggregate innovation is evaluated. The aim is twofold. First is to provide insights on the role covered by KIBS as a second knowledge infrastructure. Second is to examine the extent to which KIBS operate as bridges between the general purpose analytical knowledge produced by scientific universities and more specific requirement of innovative firms. A role commonly acknowledged to KIBS is in fact that of knowledge transferors. If on the one side it is however clear to whom they transfer knowledge, their client firms, on the other it is not as clear from whom the knowledge is originally transferred. For this reason a major attention in this work is dedicated to scientific universities considered as a primary source of knowledge. Being this knowledge analytical and highly codified, it probably can be more easily accessed by nearby located firms having higher opportunities of research collaboration and less easily by firms located in different regions. It is argued that KIBS, in transferring knowledge from universities to firms, are therefore specially important in the latter case. To test hese hypothesis a knowledge production function is estimated for a sample of 200 EU NUTS II regions including also information of university research and KIBS concentration. Parameters are estimated using the heteroschedasticity-consistent G2SLS estimator for spatial models and the evidence suggests that the contribution of KIBS to regional innovation is considerable. In fact accounting for the knowledge embedded in business services can considerably contribute to explain the cross-regional variation in innovative activities. Furthermore it is find that the KIBS contribution is more sizeable in regions in which there are not scientific universities. The highlighted results have important policy implications asking to rethink to how much effective an R&D-centered innovation strategy could be, at least in some regions. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p424&r=cse |
| By: | Katharina Bechtloff |
| Abstract: | The paper aims to examine the role of academic institutions in the development of the ICT cluster of the Waterloo Region in Ontario, Canada. The regional economic impact of clusters as well as academic institutions relies heavily on its ability to innovate. The ICT sector with its analytical knowledge base depends on radical innovations which are developed through research and development with scientific input from academic institutions. However, the pure existence of technical universities does not automatically result in the development of an ICT cluster. In the region of Waterloo three academic institutions - the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning - shape and stimulate the regional ICT cluster, which now includes up to 700 stakeholders from global market leaders like Research in Motion and Google to SMEs. The paper demonstrates by drawing on 7 qualitative interviews with local ICT companies and supporting organisations that the ICT cluster would not exist without the academic institutions which act as engines of growth for the cluster. The paper shows that the cluster has benefited from the strong ties with the predominantly technically oriented University of Waterloo, which significantly supported the agglomeration of ICT related companies in the region and enhanced the reputation of the Waterloo region. Since the beginning of the evolution of the cluster the University of Waterloo has played a leading role through its openness to patent disclosure, support of spin-off collaborations and partnerships with ICT stakeholders. In recent years, Conestoga College has expanded and upgraded its academic programme especially in ICT related fields to meet the demand of the region and thus has become another success factor for the cluster. Together with the Wilfrid Laurier University, which is located right next to the University of Waterloo and excelling in the fields of social science and business, the three academic institutions are attracting ambitious human capital to the region through their strong reputations. They are educating students and have created a highly successful cooperative education programme, which incorporates mainly regional companies in the education of the students through demanding internships and embeds the university in the cluster. The paper shows that the universities and the college are influencing the cluster by an exchange of knowledge and developing human capital and act as incubators for new companies. Keywords: cluster, university, ICT, regional development JEL classification: O18, O30, R11 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p648&r=cse |
| By: | Reveiu Adriana |
| Abstract: | Regional clusters and entrepreneurship have become very popular subjects in economics, regional science, and economic geography. In the last decade, a large number of scientific papers investigate the empirical evidence for clusters, their definition, and their implications for economic policy. Also, a series of working tools for regional cluster analyses have been proposed. Entrepreneurial attitudes and activities interact and their characteristics are normally bound to the region. Local entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial activities can be the starting-point for the evolution of a regional cluster. There are lots of arguments for the hypothesis that existing regional clusters have positive impacts on entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial activities. But, exist only few analyses refering to the relationship between clusters attributes of a region and the entrepreneurial activities in the same region. From our knoledge, it is not such of analyses about Romania. This paper aims to identify regions with functional or potential industrial clusters, from Romania, and to analyse their impact on the entrepreneurial environment. Data about all the companies acting in Romania in 2011 is used to elaborate the spatial clusters in the most concentrated Romania industries. A second data set, collected as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), serves to assess the relationship between regional clusters and entrepreneurial activities and attitudes. GEM intends to measure the level of entrepreneurial activities and to identify the individual factors and the entrepreneurial framework conditions that may explain differences in the levels between the regions of Romania and the entire country.The paper tests the empirically proven hypothesis which stipulates that the existence of one or several industrial clusters in a region has a positive impact on the number of start-ups and attitudes in the same region. The results obtained from descriptive and regression analyses have shown that there is a positive relationship between the number of clusters and the number of employees in clusters in Romanian regions on the one hand and entrepreneurial activities and entrepreneurial attitudes like the assessment of good start-up opportunities on the other. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p1075&r=cse |
| By: | Roberta Capello; Camilla Lenzi |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we aim at re-assessing the undisputed positive relationship between innovation and economic growth by questioning the view that R&D (and formal knowledge in general) equates innovation and innovation equates regional growth. We rather propose that these linkages are strongly mediated by local territorial assets and explore this relationship at the regional level (NUTS2) for 262 regions of the European Union. In doing so, we rely upon an original database encompassing several knowledge and innovation indicators, ranging from R&D expenditures, patent data, to newly released data on different types of innovation: product, process and marketing and/or organizational innovation, derived from the Community Innovation Survey 2002-2004 wave. The data set also includes several variables aimed at capturing different elements characterizing possible different attitudes and patterns of innovation that we control for, such as regional preconditions for knowledge and innovation creation and acquisition (namely, accessibility, trust, structural funds funding, foreign direct investments). The results of the analysis confirm that R&D is an important driver of economic growth. However, this result hides a larger territorial heterogeneity and needs some qualifications. Firstly, only regions strongly endowed with elements supporting knowledge creation processes are likely to benefit from the positive returns to R&D; a critical mass of R&D investments is therefore needed in order to exploit the eventual benefits arising from increasing returns to research expenditures. Secondly, once controlling for innovative behavior, R&D does not show anymore a significant impact on GDP growth. In fact, whereas the growth benefits accruing from R&D look rather selective and concentrated in a relatively small number of regions, the benefits accruing from innovation look not only of greater magnitude but more pervasive and beneficial for a larger number of regions. From these findings, we ultimately draw ad-hoc policy suggestions. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p187&r=cse |
| By: | Jose L. Gonzalez-Pernia; Iñaki Peña-Legazkue |
| Abstract: | The emergence of new ventures that from inception use resources and sell their goods and services in multiple foreign markets has challenged traditional theories explaining the internationalization of a firm as a stage process (Oviatt & McDougall, 1994). Different factors have been identified to explain this phenomenon, including individual-related factors (Andersson & Evangelista, 2006; Bloodgood, Sapienza, & Almeida, 1996; Harveston, Kedia, & Davis, 2000; Orser, Spence, Riding, & Carrington, 2010), and organization-related factors (Bloodgood, et al., 1996; Dhanaraj & Beamish, 2003; Hollenstein, 2005). However, no emphasis has been placed on the regional forces influencing the early international expansion activities carried out by some entrepreneurs and their young businesses. In this study, we analyze the extent to which differences in FDI and technological knowledge across regions affect the propensity of early-stage entrepreneurs to be export-oriented. Based on Spanish GEM data and other secondary sources for the period 2005-2009, we found that the exposure to higher flows of inward FDI at regional level significantly raises the probability of an early-stage entrepreneur to be export-oriented, while the exposure to higher flows of outward FDI or higher levels of accumulated knowledge at regional level has no impact. The results also show that the exporting behaviour of early-stage entrepreneurs is driven by individual and organization factors that have been analyzed by previous studies. Our findings on the antecedents of export-oriented entrepreneurs complement those of prior studies which have suggested that the exposure to international activities of other organisations located in the same environment influences the propensity of a new venture to export (De Clercq, et al., 2008; Fernhaber & Li, 2010; Lu, 2002). However, our paper adds to the extant literature on international entrepreneurship by analyzing the role of FDI at individual level, considering both foreign and domestic firms involved in international investment activities in the same region. Keywords: Export Orientation; Entrepreneurial Activity; FDI Spillovers; Knowledge Spillovers. JEL Codes: F23, M13, O33, R12 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p912&r=cse |
| By: | Jacob A. Jordaan |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I present novel empirical evidence in support of the idea that FDI firms can act as an important driver of regional growth, by acting as a source of new knowledge and technologies to local suppliers in a host economy. For the analysis, I use unique firm level data that I obtained from applying several purpose built surveys among FDI and domestic producer firms as well as local suppliers in the regional economy of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. With this data, I assess the scale and nature of technology transfers between FDI firms and local suppliers and I identify statistically factors that influence the spillover impact that arises from these transfers. The main findings are threeÂ]fold. Firsts, I find clear and robust evidence that FDI firms are significantly more involved than domestic producer firms in various knowledge transfer activities, activities with a direct positive impact on production processes of the local suppliers. As a result, suppliers of FDI firms are more likely to experience large positive technological improvements. Second, the analysis shows that a large technology gap between FDI and local suppliers fosters rather than hinders this positive impact among local suppliers of material inputs. This effect persists even when I control for both the level and nature of support that FDI firms provide, suggesting that in particular local suppliers that have a large potential to improve can benefit from their business dealings with FDI firms. Third, I also find that several indicators of the level of absorptive capacity of local suppliers are positively associated with the technology impact that FDI firms create, indicating that there is scope for local policymaking to enhance the positive impact that foreignÂ]owned firms generate in their local host economy. Key Words: FDI, Local Suppliers, Regional Growth, Technology Transfers, Technology Gap, Absorptive Capacity JEL Classification: C21, F23, O18, O33 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p1166&r=cse |
| By: | Michaela Trippl; Helen Lawton Smith; Tanja Sinozic |
| Abstract: | There is a broad and growing literature on the changing role of universities in regional development. What is still missing, however, is a precise understanding of the “third function†of universities in regions. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a nuanced view of the role of universities in regional development. Based on a literature review and a comparison of different conceptual approaches we intend to enrich our knowledge about the multifaceted activities performed by universities at the regional level. Four conceptualisations of the “third function†of universities and regions are considered. In the first, the university “third function†is conceptualised as part of the changing nature of knowledge production and innovation. In this conceptualisation, universities are seen as producers of new types of “Mode 2†knowledge which is trans-disciplinary and generated with a variety of stakeholders in a context of application. In the second, the university is conceptualised as having a changing role in regional economic development. In this view, universities are seen as central in the emergence, growth, and anchoring of local industry and in local knowledge transfer. In the third set of approaches, the university is viewed as having a social and environmental role, as societal beneficiary providing direct services for the region via, for example, training relevant to immediate communities and considering local environmental sustainability. In the fourth, the “third function†is conceptualised as an emergent evolutionary process of interactions arising from differing conditions, actors, operations and outcomes over time. In this view, the “third function†is conceptualised as an outcome of dynamically evolving “Triple Helix†interactions, where overlapping interests, organisations, and networks between academia, government and industry create conditions for new networks and dynamics with changing degrees of determinism over time. Drawing on an analysis of the theoretical and empirical literature, we will highlight that the four approaches outlined above differ strongly with respect to (i) the conceptual explanations they provide for increasing levels of universities’ engagement in regional development; (ii) the specific mechanisms and activities by which universities are seen to contribute to regional growth and innovation; (iii) the identification of potential beneficiaries of such activities; and (iv) the main driving forces and barriers to “third function†activities and related policy implications. Taken together, these approaches allow for a view of universities in regions which captures a broad range of old and new functions, interactions, cumulative processes, actors, unpredictability and contextual specificities in line with an evolutionary view. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p61&r=cse |
| By: | Roberto Camagni; Roberta Capello |
| Abstract: | This paper presents conceptual and empirical reasons for moving from a thematically-regionally neutral innovation policy to a thematically and regionally focused innovation policy, in line with the smart specialization approach of the new cohesion policy framework. The paper starts by claiming that the pathways towards innovation and modernization are differentiated among regions according to local specificities. In fact, territorial innovation patterns exist, that differ one another in terms of the different modes of combining knowledge and innovation, due to different territorial (context) conditions that support the creation / diffusion of knowledge and innovation. A single overall strategy is likely to be unfit to provide the right stimuli and incentives in the different contexts; it is instead on these different territorial innovation patterns that thematically/regionally focused, ad-hoc, innovation policies have to be built. Two main kinds of policies can be foreseen; policies for the reinforcement of territorial innovation patterns, devoted to the enhancement of the virtuous aspects that characterise a pattern, with the aim to reinforce its efficiency, and evolutionary policies, devoted instead to stimulate the most dynamic regions belonging to a pattern to move to a new and more efficient one. The paper goes in depth in suggesting which policies should be developed. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p188&r=cse |
| By: | Ana Paula Bastos; Leandro Almeida; Marcia Diniz; Marcelo Diniz |
| Abstract: | The role of universities for the innovation process of countries or regions had been widely explored. In lagged regions becomes a reference not only for qualification and research but concentrates brains and fixes qualified people. This paper analyses innovation and especially the interaction of firms with universities and research institutes, as strategy to face the low internal investment capacity in innovation. Our focus is the ultra-peripheral region of Brazilian Amazon and it is part of a larger research project which investigates these interactions internationally. The interest in studying these interactions in Brazil are based on findings that the investments in R&D by the private sector are low, and the national (and thus regional) innovation systems are immature (Albuquerque, 1998). Data was collected based on a questionnaire applied to firms, adapted by Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil from the Carnegie Mellon (Cohen, 2002) and Yale Surveys (Klevorick, 1995) on firms’ interaction. The sample was taken from a database of university-based research groups registered in CNPq (national agency of research funding), that declared some kind of innovative relationship with firms. Although, the interaction between universities and firms has been considered crucial for the development of innovation, we found very few interactions resulting in a low complementary role or even substitute R&D efforts of these firms. Results show that the continuous interactions between firms and university are restricted to agronomy, energy, electrical and mining engineering. And that the role of university in leading the process is not sufficient to suppress the peripheral condition of the Amazon region. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p1092&r=cse |
| By: | ISOGAWA Daiya; OHASHI Hiroshi |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates a dynamic oligopoly model of product innovation to evaluate an equilibrium effect of public policy on firms' innovation activities. The model considers a multi-agent Markov-Perfect Nash Equilibrium, allowing for firms' dynamic decision making on innovation activities and entry and exit. The estimation results obtained by using Japanese firm-level data on product innovation identify net positive spillovers among firms' dynamic innovation activities. Simulation exercises based on the obtained estimates indicate that, while the existing subsidies indeed encourage firms' innovation activities, they are far from optimal. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:12034&r=cse |
| By: | Roberto Antonietti |
| Abstract: | In this paper I assess the existence, and the magnitude, of technological externalities in the form of creativity spillovers that affect individual firms' innovative intensity. Relying on a large sample of Italian manufacturing firms, I first estimate a knowledge production function through a zero-inflated beta regression model and a generalized Tobit model. From these, I extract the residuals, which represent the unexplained part of the actual observed share of innovative sales, namely innovativeness. Then, I regress such a measure of firm innovativeness on a set of occupation-based, as well as density-based, indicators of creativity at the NUTS3 level, while controlling for firm localization, size and industry. I also control for endogeneity and non-linearity by estimating a two-stage least squares model and a generalized additive model respectively. My estimates show that: (i) there is a positive and highly statistically significant effect of creativity on innovativeness; (ii) the effect of creativity on actual innovative sales is weak, while I find a stronger effect played by the availability of R&D labour within the firm; (iii) occupation-based measures of creativity outperform education-based measures of human capital; (iv) when controlling for the education content of jobs, firms' innovativeness is affected more by the local availability of non-graduated creative workers than of graduated ones; (v) rather, relying on NUTS3 regional data, I find that a higher local availability of graduated creative workers affects the invention intensity of a city; (vi) the relationship between firm innovativeness and the local density of creative people is U-shaped, so that proximity-based knowledge externalities emerge only after a certain density threshold is reached, this occurring typically in larger urban areas, typically hosting design and service-based creative industries. From the policy point of view, increasing the availability of creative jobs and people can help regions and cities to be more innovative, especially in the absence of large R&D departments and formal agreements with external partners. In this respect, my results are in line with the literature on innovative milieux, where social learning phenomena, rather than formal R&D activities, help explaining the processes of knowledge creation and diffusion within and between firms, clusters and territories. Keywords: creativity; innovativeness; innovative sales; knowledge production function; proportions JEL: L60; O31; R10 Please do consider the paper for these two alternative Special Sessions: ZS. SS and ZC.SS |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p423&r=cse |
| By: | Ann Karin Holmen; Arild Farsund |
| Abstract: | Innovation policy in city-regions: internationalization strategies as policy instruments Keywords: city-region, policy instruments, regional public support system, regional innovation JEL-code: R58 The globalization of the economy has led to increased competition between regions when it comes to innovation and business development. Recent research in southwest Norway shows that companies that have a wide range of international partners are significantly more likely to develop new products and generate radical innovation than companies without these kinds of networks (Fitjar and Rodriguez-Pose 2011: 556). In Norway regional authorities have taken an active role trying to make the conditions favorable for companies competing internationally. A portfolio of policy instruments has been introduced and offered regional companies, still there are both empirically and theoretically gaps in our knowledge regarding how these policy instruments are developed and made use of. Ruud, Smits and Kuhlmann (2004) argue that portfolios are heavily dominated by financial instruments and that there is a need to develop new types of instruments in order to tune them to the needs of actors involved in innovation processes. In line with this argument the main question posed in this paper is: To what degree is policy tools developed and adapted to companies needs in the regional innovation system? This study investigates how regional authorities in Southwest Norway develop policy tools in order to offer regional companies support in the processes of internationalisation. More specific, the study focus at city-regional public support systems and how they combine and coordinate policy instruments according to assumed needs in the regional innovation systems. Recent findings from surveys, interviews and in depth studies of two specific policy instruments will be presented in the paper. The findings contribute to the discussion of regional development policy in several ways. First, the principal discussion on the public role and the strategic development of public support system containing new institutions and instruments. Second, the rational behind developing the policy instruments. Are they based on companies’ actual needs, or is it based on public strategic priorities? Third, the study contributes with in the discussion on what kind of instruments companies use and how the policy instruments are combined both by the companies themselves but also the public support system. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p255&r=cse |
| By: | Viroj Jienwatcharamongkhol; Mohammad Hossein Tavassoli |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effect of innovation on the well-established productivity-export association in the literature. Here, we argue that actively innovative firms have a higher productivity, which make them more likely to become exporters. Moreover, exporting firms learn from their trading experiences and accumulate the necessary knowledge in order to innovate further, which may facilitate future productivity. We use the micro-data from two waves of Swedish Community Innovation Survey (CIS) to provide empirical evidences to test our argument concerning this interrelation between innovation, productivity, and export. The main finding is that firms which become innovative are more likely to also become an exporter, especially when they do not have prior export experiences. JEL Classification: D22, D24, F14, O39 Keywords: innovation, productivity, export, Swedish CIS, micro-data |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p885&r=cse |
| By: | Argentino Pessoa |
| Abstract: | Nowadays, policy makers in charge of designing innovation policies, especially at the regional level, are more and more adopting the cluster approach either with a view to accelerate the existing clusters or for providing the basis for the emergence of new ones. In fact, not only as a consequence of their appeal as an interactive and territorially embedded vision of innovation but also owing to a lot of other reasons, clusters are usually considered as key instruments for promoting competitiveness, industrial development, innovation and growth. But, although cluster policies have a potential for generating benefits, they also entail costs and risks. Additionally, as clustering is something that has been happening spontaneously during time, the presence of potential benefits from cluster initiatives is not per se a sufficient foundation or a validation for policymakers to get involved. The key question is whether and how policymakers can add value through appropriate measures, beyond the outcomes that markets and market players produce on their own. Furthermore, if clusters are so valuable for regional productivity, and surge of particular historic, cultural and societal circumstances, why are policies needed? Which policies? Undertaken by whom, and how? In this paper we’ll search answers to these questions. However, this is not an easy task as there is a lot of confusion around the cluster concept. First, as some authors have highlighted, there is a vulgarisation and a tendency to oversimplify the definition of “cluster†and, so, part of the popularity of clusters lies in its vagueness and definitional elusiveness. Second, in today’s policy world, clusters are acquiring “the discreet charm of obscure objects of desireâ€. Third, these particularities prevent an accurate policy evaluation. Furthermore, while there is an extensive literature that focuses on the cluster analysis, the connection between clusters and policy has been mainly ignored. Finally, if cluster policies differ from related and partly overlapping approaches, such as Industrial Districts, Innovation Systems and Triple Helix there may be, in practice, a conflict in the application of these different perspectives. Given the above problems, this paper aims at contributing for identifying the key features of the innovative clusters and addresses the most critical issues in the cluster policy, contributing in this way for filling the existent gap between cluster analysis and policy. Keywords: agglomeration, clusters, cluster policy, innovation, competitiveness, externalities, regional economic development. JEL classifications: L25; L26; R11; R58. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p250&r=cse |
| By: | Guido Sechi; Jurgis Skilters; Dino Borri; Caterina De Lucia |
| Abstract: | The role of ICT accessibility in enhancing regional innovation through knowledge and information exchange is a recently popular and controversial topic in regional science. Opposing views exist, related to the bigger or lesser importance of geographical proximity in knowledge exchange in an age dominated by virtual global channels. Existing studies primarily focus on regions (macro level) as units of analysis, without investigating socio-cognitive dynamics in detail, and rely on doubtful epistemological assumptions (i.e. the equation of information with knowledge). It may be hypothesized that the debate would benefit from: a) analyses focused on the micro (individual) level; b) a more complex formalization of social dynamics, by means of adequate sociological frameworks; and c) a deeper reflection on the nature of cognitive factors at stake. The present paper is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of physical (geographical) and virtual communities on information and knowledge sharing and enrichment in the republic of Latvia. Which kind of links – physical or virtual ones – are more efficient and psychologically real and important is additionally analyzed. The theoretical framework draws on social and cognitive science, combining social capital theory and cognitively oriented semantics. The theoretical model to be tested empirically relies on a complex taxonomy of social capital and a complex epistemology of shareable knowledge. The former takes into account both physical / virtual structural (network) assets and social resources which are embedded in such networks; the latter encompasses relevant dichotomies in applied epistemology history (description / experience; information / belief). Causal links between social capital dimensions (related to physical / virtual channels) and forms of knowledge are hypothesized. The empirical analysis is based on a methodological approach relying on advanced econometrics (structural equation modelling), able to encompass both measurement problems related to the intangible nature of variables under exam, and an assessment of complex cause-effect dynamics. The analysis, which is carried out at the individual level, helps to compare the effect of physical vs virtual networks in enhancing social resources and hence knowledge exchange and enrichment. The obtained results are tested against control variables accounting for social and cultural differences within the national community, in order to verify the sensitivity of results according to intra-society gaps. Such clusters are identified on the basis of considerations related to community and identity views among the citizenship. Keywords: social capital; knowledge sharing; communities; structural equation modelling JEL codes: O3; Z1; C30 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p381&r=cse |
| By: | Michael Barber; Thomas Scherngell |
| Abstract: | An overarching concern in regional science is the characterization of interactions—such as commuter flows, transport, migration, or knowledge flows—within and between subnational spatial units. In this work, we use techniques from social network analysis to address the quality, rather than the quantity, of such interactions. Given the great current interest in European R&D networks, in which organizations from the science and the industry sector distributed across European regions perform joint R&D, we focus on interactions constituting knowledge flows in the European R&D network, as inferred from Framework Programme (FP) data. To assess a specific quality of these region-to-region interactions, we make use of the concept of edge betweenness centrality, which assesses the power of a relation based on the load placed on the corresponding network edge. Betweenness centrality is calculated using the geodesic paths between all distinct pairs of network vertices. Those vertices and edges required by relatively many of the paths thus often lie between other vertices; the fraction of the shortest paths on which an edge occurs is defined as the edge betweenness centrality. Edges with high betweenness centrality have the greatest load, are strategically positioned, and potentially can act as bottlenecks for the flows. We use this idea to evaluate knowledge flows between organizations in the European R&D network, considering several ways to relate the betweenness centrality at the level of FP project participants to knowledge flows at the NUTS2 regional level. We do so by aggregating betweenness centrality values calculated using bipartite graphs linking organizations to the FP projects in which they participate, considering annual FP data between the years 1999 and 2006. We determine the most central inter-regional knowledge flows, describe how this changes over time, and consider the implications for knowledge flows in European R&D networks. We model the centrality of the flows by means of spatial interaction models, estimating how geographical, technological, and social factors influence which region pairs become bottlenecks in the flow of knowledge. The results have meaningful implications to European R&D policy, in particular concerning which region pairs constitute the core in European R&D networks and which mechanisms drive the formation of this regional core. Keywords: European R&D networks, social network analysis, betweenness centrality, Framework Programmes JEL codes: L14, O31, R12 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p460&r=cse |
| By: | Kentaro Nakajima; Yukiko Saito; Iichiro Uesugi |
| Abstract: | Using a unique dataset of more than 140,000 manufacturing firms in Japan containing information on their suppliers and customers, this paper looks at the physical distances be- tween transaction partners to examine the localization of transaction relationships. We find the following. First, based on a counterfactual that controls for the location of firms and their potential partners, transaction relationships in about 90-95% of the 150 three-digit manufacturing industries can be labelled as localized at distances of 40km or less. This indi- cates that physical distance is a key factor in firmsÂf choice of transaction partners. Second, based on a counterfactual that controls for the average distance of transaction relationships in the manufacturing sector as a whole, we find that in about 40% of industries transaction relationships are localized at short distances of up to 40km. Third, the extent of industrial localization and the extent of the localization of transaction relationships are positively cor- related. However, there are a number of exceptions and we provide potential explanations for these. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p503&r=cse |
| By: | Peter Warda; Urban Gråsjö; Charlie Karlsson |
| Abstract: | In this paper we focus on one type of externality, namely knowledge spillovers. Empirical studies on effects of knowledge spillovers in Europe have normally focused on localized effects, either on total factor productivity or knowledge production in terms of patent output. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively review the empirical literature on spatial knowl-edge spillovers in Europe by means of meta-analysis. Our aim is to determine the extent to which such spillovers have been empirically documented as well as the spatial reach of these spillovers. In addition, we will apply meta-regression-analysis to analyze the determinants of observed heterogeneity across and between publications. Our results show that if total local R&D expenditure in a European region increases by 1%, the number of patents in that region increases, on average, by 0.482%. Spatial knowledge spillovers induce a positive effect on local knowledge production, however, this effect proves to be marginally small. Spatial weighting regime seems to matter. If R&D expenditures in other regions are weighted by distance in kilometers or minutes (instead of a binary contiguity matrix) then the spillover effect will on average be larger. Also, public R&D expenditure is found to have a lower impact on local patent production compared to private R&D expenditure. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p622&r=cse |
| By: | Neil Reid; Michael Carroll; Bruce Smith |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the initial measures that have been developed to evaluate the success of an industrial cluster that is focused on the greenhouse industry in northwest Ohio, USA. The firms that make up the core of this cluster are family-owned SMEs that are in the mature stage of the industrial life cycle. As such they are facing some significant competitive challenges that are threatening their future viability. Researchers from three local universities have been working with firms in the cluster to help them address these competitive challenges collectively. Success is defined as the benefits that the cluster has generated for the participating firms and the local industry. An assessment of the impact of the cluster on the regional economy is outside the domain of this presentation. The work reported in this paper is only the beginning phases of a longer-term, on-going effort to track the progress and success of the cluster. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p831&r=cse |
| By: | Ioannis Katsikis; Garyfallos Fragidis; Dimitrios Paschaloudis |
| Abstract: | Although neighboring countries and both members of the EU, Greece and Bulgaria have very different social and economic environments in which entrepreneurial activities take place. At the same time, there are strong entrepreneurial ties between private firms of the two countries, initiated by organizations how see those different environments as opportunities to further develop their business by operating across the borders. This fact has result to a large number of private and public firms, mainly from the Greek side, that have moved their operations in Bulgaria as well as to many Bulgarian citizens who commute to the Greek side looking for work. Although this phenomenon has been well descripted in the literature, the research on understanding the actual reasons is only minimal. In this paper, we map the entrepreneurial and investment activities between the two countries in order to better understand cross-border activities of the firms. In order to do so, we use quantitative data covering both entrepreneurial activities, such as joint ventures and the direct investments between the two countries in an effort to understand the direction, the spatial concentration and the sectoral dissemination of the entrepreneurial activities undertaken. We analyze data relevant to the existing cross border entrepreneurial activities and their orientation and both quantitative and qualitative information for the firms, joint ventures, public - private partnerships and other forms of formal collaborations. Our analysis provides interesting results for the specific organizations, the conditions and targets for which they choose to cross the borders. Furthermore, our research sheds light on the competences and the competitive advantages those firms try to gain. Based on those results, our paper concludes by providing insights on the regional and organizational strategies for the internationalization and the development of bilateral collaboration between the organizations of the two countries that could contribute positively in responding to the current economic crisis in Greece. Keywords: cross border cooperation, international entrepreneurship, Greece, Bulgaria JEL Codes: L26, F23, F21 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p779&r=cse |
| By: | Jordi Jofre-Monseny; Raquel MarÃn-López; Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of industry characteristics on the localization and urbanization agglomeration patterns of new firm location. To this end, we analyze the location decisions of new manufacturing firms in Spain. First, for a 3-digit level, we identify for each industry which type of agglomeration economies –localization or urbanization- explain new firm’s location. And second, using the coefficients obtained in these estimations for both agglomeration economies, we analyse which industry characteristics are the sources that explain differences in the strength of these economies. We focus on industry characteristics related to the three microfoundations of agglomeration that have been most prominent in the theoretical literature: labor market pooling, input sharing and knowledge spillovers. Our results point out that for industries with high influence of localization economies on their location patterns what matters is the labour market pooling mechanism. For the industries with higher effect of urbanization economies on their location patterns, knowledge spillovers and output sharing are the sources of agglomeration. The dependence of natural resources affects negatively the incidence of urbanization agglomeration economies on firm location. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p820&r=cse |
| By: | Juan Alcacer; Mercedes Delgado |
| Abstract: | We explore the impact of geographically bounded intra-firm spillovers (internal agglomeration economies) and geographically bounded inter-firm spillovers (external agglomeration economies) on firms’ location strategies. Using data from the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Business Database and the U.S. Cluster Mapping Project, we analyze organic expansions of biopharmaceutical firms (by both new establishments and employment increase in existing establishments) in the U.S. in 1993-2005. We consider all activities in the value chain and allow location choices to vary by R&D, manufacturing, and sales. Our findings suggest that (1) internal and external agglomeration economies have separate, positive impacts on location, with relevant differences by activity; (2) internal economies of agglomeration arise within an activity (e.g., among plants) and across activities (e.g., between manufacturing and sales); (3) the effects of internal economies across and within activities vary by activity and type of organic expansion; and (4) across-activity internal economies are asymmetric. |
| Keywords: | Location choices, agglomeration economies, value chain, organization theory |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:12-33&r=cse |
| By: | Slavomir Hidas; Martyna Wolska; Manfred M Fischer; Thomas Scherngell |
| Abstract: | The focus of this study is on regional knowledge production activities in Europe, with special emphasis on the interplay between agglomeration and network effects. As increasingly considered in economic geography and regional science in the recent past, regional knowledge production activities, on the one hand, still remain geographically bounded; on the other hand, knowledge production activities have become increasingly interwoven and internationalized, emphasizing the crucial importance of region-external knowledge sources for a region’s knowledge production capacity. The objective of the study is to estimate to what extent agglomeration and network effects influence knowledge production activities at the level of European regions. We use an extended regional knowledge production function framework as basis for the study, and derive a spatial Durbin model (SDM) relationship that can be used for empirical testing. The European coverage is achieved using 241 NUTS-2 regions covering the EU-25 member states. The dependent variable, knowledge production activity, is measured in terms of patent counts at the regional level in the time period 1998-2008, using patents applied at the European Patent Office (EPO). The independent variables include an agglomeration index, measured in terms of population density, and the regional participation intensity in the European network of R&D cooperation, measured in terms of the number of participations of a region in R&D joint ventures funded by the European Commission under the heading of the EU Framework programs (FPs). By this we are able to estimate the distinct effects of network participation and agglomeration on regional knowledge production. In our modeling framework, we further control for total regional R&D expenditures as widely used in regional knowledge production function frameworks and its empirical applications. In estimating the effects, we implement a panel version of the standard SDM that controls for spatial autocorrelation as well as individual heterogeneity across regions. The specification incorporates a spatial lag of the dependent variable as well as spatial lags of the independent variables. This allows for the estimation of spatial spillovers of agglomeration and network effects from neighboring regions by calculating scalar summary measures of impacts. The estimation results are expected to provide sketches of policy implications in a European and regional policy context. JEL Classification: R11, O31, C21 Keywords: Regional knowledge production, Agglomerations effects, R&D networks, European Framework Programs, knowledge production function, panel spatial Durbin model |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p393&r=cse |
| By: | Peter Burger |
| Abstract: | In the last two decades the support of clusters has become a useful and frequently used tool for the improvement of country, and especially regional competitiveness in many countries. Nowadays, clusters are often supported from the public sources through cluster programs in multiple European countries, as well as in the USA, in Japan and South Korea, and in many other countries. The length of clusters support duration is various and usually depends on the conditions of the cluster program which provides this support. This paper deals with the influence of innovation performance of European countries, which is measured with the composite index called “Summary Innovation Indexâ€, on the optimal length of clusters support duration in these countries. The paper works with the assumption that the countries with higher levels of innovation performance, where generally powerful and well-established clusters are active, tend to consider shorter periods of time as an optimal length of support duration from public sources in comparison with the countries having lower levels of innovation performance, where clusters do not have such a long tradition and where their economical background is on lower levels. In order to be able to accept or to reject this hypothesis, a primary research with the participation of 122 different clusters from 24 European countries was carried out. The clusters themselves, they consider the problem of optimal length of clusters support duration from public sources as very important and moreover, some clusters answered in the survey that they do not consider the lack of financial resources, but the short length of support duration to be the important problem of their funding. Considering that in the long term Slovakia belongs to the countries with the lowest support of clusters in the European Union, an another goal of the paper and the research itself has been the question what length of clusters support duration from public sources consider Slovak clusters as optimal and if the opinions of Slovak clusters on this optimal length of support duration from the public sources are different from the point of view of clusters in the countries, where clusters have a strong position and are supported simultaneously on the national, regional, and local levels. Keywords: clusters, optimal length of clusters support duration, cluster programs. JEL codes: R120 - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity R580 - Regional Development Planning and Policy |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p447&r=cse |
| By: | Teemu Makkonen |
| Abstract: | The positive impacts of social and human capital on individual, firm and geographical level are well known. Accordingly, the literature on social capital has advocated the impacts of social networks, norms and trust in securing individual and mutual benefits. Already, the early literature on human capital was concentrated on the economic advantage of individuals, that is, on the impact of education on wage levels. Recent economic studies underline the importance of human capital in creating firm-level innovations and fostering regional economic development. The role of universities has been highlighted in this discussion. However, it seems that this educated human capital is geographically concentrated on the largest urban regions. Whether, this imposes difficulties for firms located in more peripheral regions is discussed here with a case study from a small university town of Joensuu situated in peripheral Eastern Finland. The proposition presented here is that the negative impacts of locational factors, in the periphery, and having a small labour pool will be partially compensated with close social ties and worker immobility. First, the question is approached through official statistics showing that the mobility of educated workforce is smaller in more rural and peripheral regions compared to that of the capital and other densely-populated regions of Finland. Second, the tentative picture drawn from the statistics is deepened with data from semi-structured thematic interviews conducted in Joensuu. The main stakeholders interviewed were chosen, according to the framework of regional innovation systems, from both public and private organizations (n = 15). The results confirm that although a peripheral location of firms does impose limitations to the availability of human capital at hand, the negative impact is compensated with low outmigration of educated workers due to existing well-knit social ties. Furthermore, employee loyalty to their employers is high in Joensuu, that is, the thinner possibilities for other employment renders the educated workforce in Joensuu relatively immobile even in intraregional scale. Although, worker immobility can be seen as a drawback for a region it can also be considered as a regional asset for firms that have decided to locate their activities in Joensuu, as it saves the firms from the mandatory allocation of resources to the training and introductory procedures of new employees. Accordingly, a local university both attracts and supplies educated workers in the region for the benefit of local enterprises and is an important partner in cooperation for local firms. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p621&r=cse |
| By: | VICTOR RAUL LOPEZ RUIZ; DOMINGO NEVADO PEÑA; JOSE LUIS ALFARO NAVARRO |
| Abstract: | New Decisional Support Systems (DSS) are necessary at regional (local) level. DSS have to be able to estimate and control intangible capitals as the main source of wealth creation. Traditional analysis of internal accounting based on economic and financial models for companies, or supported by the economic analysis of income and employment, provides a short-term picture. In other words, the long term is not at the forefront and the value of the entity being studied is not conveniently quantified. Therefore, tools and approaches that provide a full future vision of any organization or institution should be a strategic priority for economic development. In this line, both the Lisbon Strategy and Leipzig Charter (2007) on Sustainable European Cities recognize that cities are 'centers of knowledge and sources of growth and innovation'. The exploitation of this knowledge depends on factors such as: training, existence of social and cultural networks, cultural excellence in research centers and the networks of exchange between science and industry. For this reason, integrated urban development policies are necessary. These policies support communication networks and optimize location structures as strategies that provide opportunities for social and democratic participation for the citizens. In order to achieve the above objectives, it is necessary to have tools to measure a territory's knowledge, that is, to design models to identify measure and monitor the different elements of this knowledge. This work proposes a approach to measure and evaluate this knowledge using the concept of intellectual capital for territories, but applied to cities. The measure of this intellectual capital enables us to determine what we must take into account to make cities a source of wealth, prosperity, welfare and future growth. Furthermore, local intellectual capital provides a measure of hidden wealth of the city and a new indicator with a long run vision. This capital is essential for the economic growth of cities, but estimation in cities depends on the level of information available. Thus, in this paper we develop and explain how to implement a model to estimate intellectual capital in cities. In this sense, our proposal is to provide a model for measuring and managing intellectual capital using socio-economic indicators for cities. These indicators offer a long term picture supported by a comprehensive strategy for those who occupy the local space, infrastructure for implementation and management of the environment for its development. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p315&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 during EU CAP implementation. First, it presents 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. Third, it assesses the impact of EU CAP on income, efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness of Bulgarian farms. |
| Keywords: | efficiency; adaptability; sustainability; and competitiveness of farms; transitional agriculture; EU integration; impacts of EU CAP; Bulgaria |
| JEL: | D21 L11 O13 Q12 D14 Q18 D23 L14 L16 Q17 O17 Q13 Q14 |
| Date: | 2012–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:41657&r=cse |
| By: | Rafael Lata; Thomas Scherngell; Thomas Brenner |
| Abstract: | The focus of this study is on integration processes in European R&D by analyzing the spatio-temporal dimension of three different R&D collaboration networks across Europe. These networks cover different types of knowledge creation, namely co-patent networks, project based R&D networks within the EU Framework Programmes (FPs) and co-publication networks. Integration in European R&D – one of the main pillars of the EU Science Technology and Innovation (STI) policy – refers to the harmonization of fragmented national research systems across Europe and to the free movement of knowledge and researchers. The objective of this study is to describe and compare spatio-temporal patterns of the observed networks at a regional level, and to estimate the evolution of separation effects over the time period 1999-2006 that influence the probability of cross-region collaborations in the distinct networks under consideration. By separation effects we refer to geographical, technological, institutional and cultural barriers between the regions under consideration. The study adopts a spatial interaction modeling perspective, econometrically specifying a panel generalized linear model relationship taking into account spatial autocorrelation among flows by using Eigenfunction spatial filtering methods to address the research questions. The European coverage is achieved by using 255 NUTS-2 regions of the 25 pre-2007 EU member-states, as well as Norway and Switzerland. For the construction of the three dependent variables that describe collaboration intensities between all region pairs in the three different types of R&D networks, we use data from the OECD Regpat database to capture cross-region co-patent networks, the AIT EUPRO database to capture cross-region project based R&D networks in the FPs, and the Scopus database to capture cross-region co-publication networks. The independent variables consist of one origin measure, one destination measure and seven separation measures. The separation variables focus on barriers that may hamper cross-region collaboration probability, accounting for spatial effects, cultural and institutional hurdles and economic or technological barriers. The results will provide novel and valuable empirical insight into ongoing integration processes in different types of R&D, reflecting knowledge diffusion in form of R&D collaborations from a longitudinal and comparative perspective. By this, the study will produce important implications regarding past success or failure of European R&D integration policies, and, thus, for future STI policy design. JEL Classification: C23, O38, L14, R15 Keywords: R&D Networks, European Framework Program, Patents, Publications, Large-Scale Networks, Spatial Interaction Modelling, Panel Econometrics, Eigenvector Spatial Filtering, Social Network Analysis |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p836&r=cse |
| By: | William Dunkelberg (Department of Economics, Temple University); Carmen Moore (Department of Business Administration, Morgan State University); Jonathan Scott (Department of Finance, Temple University); William Stull (Department of Economics, Temple University) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on how entrepreneurial goals affect the resource allocation of new firm owners. It connects research in psychology and management that examines the core motivations of entrepreneurs with research in economics that models the behavior of owner-managers as utility-maximizing rather than profit-maximizing. We hypothesize that new owners with nonmonetary goals allocate their resources differently than do owners with monetary goals and that the differences are meaningful in size. To test these hypotheses, we estimate firm level equations based on economic theories of factor demand that show how input quantities depend on owner goals. Data come from a national survey of new U.S. business owners. We find owner goals have both a statistically and substantively significant effect on resource allocation for new firms. Owners with nonmonetary goals put in more of their own and family hours rather than hiring outside employees. Implications for research and policy are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Small Business, New Firms, Owner Goals, Resource Allocation |
| JEL: | L26 M12 M14 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tem:wpaper:1203&r=cse |
| By: | Stefan Rehak; Martin Chovanec |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on the analysis of spatial clusters of creative industries in Slovakia using micro-geographic data. The notion of spatial clustering of creative industries is deeply embedded in the literature, showing that firms in creative industries tend to cluster mostly in large cities or directly in city centres. Recent improvements in geo-coded firm datasets resulted in re-discovery of sets of analytic techniques for identification of clusters based on distance metric. These techniques overcome the problems related with borders and scales. The paper starts with the theoretical background of creative industries, which are usually defined as a range of economic activities have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent which have a potential for job and wealth creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property (DCMS 2001). Later we present main arguments of spatial concentration of firms in creative industries and methodology for identifying clusters. In our analysis we analyse 46 434 firms from the INFOSTAT registry (2010), which were geo-coded by their address. We use Nearest Neighbour Analysis and Ripley K to test the spatial concentration of firms and Nearest Neighbour Hierarchical Spatial Clustering to find clusters of creative firms. Clusters of creative industries are rather small in size and very dense. The Ripley L index was between 6.64 and 12.55 km, which indicate the urban type clusters. Our analysis showed that 44.4 % of firms are clustered in totally 86 clusters. Most of the firms in creative industries are concentrated in Bratislava and Ko¹ice, which are two largest cities in Slovakia. Even that the micro-geographic locational analysis has still some limitation, this paper explores new promising ways of testing the spatial concentration of firms. Keywords: clusters, creative industries, micro-geographic data, Slovakia JEL Classification: R00, R12 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p562&r=cse |
| By: | Arno van der Zwet; Irene McMaster; John Bachtler |
| Abstract: | Historically, cooperation across borders was an area of activity dominated by central government actors. However, in the EU some of the earliest institutionalised forms of territorial cooperation are based on bottom-up initiatives involving border municipalities. Current territorial cooperation arrangements continue to be strongly based upon local and regional institutions and actors. Theoretical work on Europeanisation, multi-level governance and new regionalism highlights the increased role of sub-national actors in driving economic development and participating in external networking and cooperation activities. However, the scope and diversity of programmes mean that the opportunities for local and regional partners in terms of influencing the outcomes of programmes are equally varied. There have been significant differences in governance dimensions of programmes. Key questions this paper explores are to what extent bottom-up or top-down approaches are used as well as differences in terms of centralised or localised management or implementation structures. The first part of this paper explores which actors influence key processes in the territorial cooperation cycle at which stage and how these can vary across programmes in order to assess the existence of governance dimensions. The second part of the paper builds on the first section and will specifically focus on the impact that macro-regional strategies have had and can expected to have in the future. These strategies have the potential to significantly affect established territorial cooperation programmes (such as INTERREG). However, its full implications are not fully understood. This section will also explore how these macro-regional strategies may lead to changes in governance approaches and have an impact on the types of partners that European territorial cooperation attracts. The paper’s overall aim is to assess to what extent the multi-level governance paradigm extents to the operationalization of territorial cooperation programmes and how future developments will affect it. The paper focuses INTERREG A and B strands of European territorial cooperation but its findings can be applied more broadly. It draws from data collected in relation to a major ESPON study (ESPON TERCO). The paper makes use of data from 8 broad case studies that are based on 224 in depth interviewees as well as 5 in-depth case studies that examined issues of governance, coordination, management and implementation of territorial cooperation. For these 5 in depth case studies a total of 35 respondents were interviewed. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p337&r=cse |
| By: | Jana Kourilova; Rene Wokoun; Milan Damborsky; Nikola Krejcova |
| Abstract: | The competitiveness of EU regions This paper results from the project financed by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (GA ÈR). The project was carried out by the research team consisting of both The Centre of Regional and Administrative Studies and The Regional Studies Department´s members in 2009 -2011. The introductory part of the paper is focused on the theoretical background with a special emphasis on the concept definition and determination of factors of the regional competitiveness. The concept of competitiveness is relatively new in the economics and the economic geography. In fact, there are no general definitions, the concept is mostly related to a specific issue. Micro-oriented definitions consider the competitiveness as a success in selling products or services on open markets. The macro-economic view is much more variable. It is often associated with an economic development of a sustainable character. The social and environmental aspect is also closely observed as well as the impact of the regional economic growth on other regions, in the sense of whether or not the economic growth is realized at the expense of other regions. The following part of the paper, based on the methodology and index defined for this purpose, assesses the competitiveness of EU regions on the NUTS II level. The regional competitiveness index was compiled on the basis of available Eurostat data. Next part of the paper presents the key factors of the regional competitiveness. Factors are classified as universal and specific. Concerning universal factors, regions with a high level of competitiveness mostly have an important economic centre; these are often metropolitan regions of member states (London, Stockholm, Paris, Prague) with a significant share of services and existence of both public and private decision-making headquarters. In non-metropolitan regions with a high level of competitiveness, there is an economic centre- city with a share of services, R&D and innovation sector. Competitive regions (or their centres) are mostly well connected with the transport infrastructure, especially TEN-T, national highways and international airports. Such regions are important air, rail, road or water transport junctions. One of the key aspects of the regional competitiveness is the concentration of scientific, R&D and innovative institutions often linked to tertiary educational institutions. In general, the educational structure with a high proportion of tertiary or higher secondary educated population (corresponding to the Czech system of secondary education with the school-leaving examination-maturita) is another aspect of a competitive region. The institutional conditions also determine the regional competitiveness and development. Specific factors of the regional competitiveness are the tourism potential, natural sources and the technical infrastructure. Keywords: region, competitiveness, factors, European Union, NUTS II JEL code: R11 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p788&r=cse |
| By: | Emilia Madudova |
| Abstract: | Creativity is typically thought of in the singular – as an attribute. Creativity and imagination are the most important ingredients for coping with post-normal times. This paper looks at the way creativity itself is being transformed in ICT sector. Creativity researchers tend to refer to creativity as an attribute of a person. But it may be a set of multiple attributes. How those multiple attributes might be arrayed in ICT sector is, as yet, an open question. Paper also describes an importance of creative thinking and the place of ICT in creative industries. People might show consistent individual differences in processes, domains, and styles of creative thinking. To be effective in innovation efforts, ICT sector has to take into account the nature of the strategy and organizational processes of innovation as a mixture of creativity, irrationality and feasibility. Innovation is not similar to performing regular „business as usual“. Innovation is to a large extent unpredictable, complex, dynamic, non-routine-based, and involves creativity and risk. Innovation is difficult to control and is extentialy an entrepreneurial process as such. People within a highly technical area have their ideas formed by technical possibilities, difference is important. Nevertheless, the idea can be used as a provocation from which to move forward. Without some emphasis on 'difference' there is the danger that all new ideas will immediately drain back to the traditional ideas. It is important to keep all the above points in mind. Otherwise people in a highly technical area will not accept that the basic tools of creativity can indeed be applied in their area. ICT sector is a rapidly changing sector. If there are more than one forms of creativity, what forms might they take in ICT sector? This paper also answers questions on the subject of enhancing the creativity in ICT sector, environment supporting creativity in ICT sector, cognitive, personality and motivational constituents of creativity in ICT sector, relation of creativity to knowledge and expertise in ICT sector, role of technology and development enhancing creativity in ICT sector. This article has proposed some different ways in which creativity in ICT sector might be multiple. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p720&r=cse |
| By: | Federico Pablo; Antonio GarcÃa-Tabuenca; MarÃa Teresa Gallo; Juan Luis Santos; Tomás Mancha |
| Abstract: | The location of new establishments is a major issue from the perspective of economic activity and the analysis of the territory. Although both its determinants and consequences are multiple and complex, most studies are focused on single factors or aggregate approaches. This paper presents an agent-based model (ABM) with the main objective to analyze, with high spatial accuracy, the effects of public policies on the behaviour and performance of firms. The starting point is the building, trough statistical matching techniques making use of microdata sources, of a database that replicates the attributes and location of all individuals and companies that are located in a specific spatial context. Then, individual behaviours are established for both companies and human beings who are interacting according to their preferences and endowments. Individuals are an essential part of the model as they operate as consumers, workers and entrepreneurs, conditioning the carrying out of firms, their entries and closures. In addition to these agents we include a raster of locations, built through with downscaling techniques, that includes for each cell the number of individuals, establishments or land use as well as other key variables such as distance to transport networks, land price or GDP generated. Patterns of mobility and consumption are identified with the matching of several sources of data and the building of relationships between agents. Furthermore, the current situation of different policies is displayed, in order to measure properly the changes later introduced to do simulations. Then we are able to forecast the growth of agglomeration economies and simulate the impact of changes in public policies on SMEs location and performance. A new contribution of this work is the inclusion of a complete modeling of entrepreneurial activity, from the generation of the idea to the decision of the location and the final implementation of the project. That is, it is possible a more realistic approach to the behaviour of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in which location decisions is related more to personal conditions of the employer that to business efficiency criteria. The model is implemented in MASON and the results are presented in stochastic terms thus enabling a better assessment of both policy outcomes and their risks. JEL: L25, L26, R12, R58 Keywords: Agent-based model, entrepreneurship, business location |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p551&r=cse |
| By: | Florian Reinold; Manfred Paier; Manfred M. Fischer |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to explore the determinants of joint knowledge generation within European networks of R&D collaboration. This study distinguishes between two types of joint knowledge generation: scientific and commercially relevant knowledge generation. Joint generation of scientific knowledge is measured by co-authored scientific publications, while joint commercially relevant knowledge is measured by co-owned patents and artefacts. Unit of analysis are dyads of organisations jointly participating in projects of the 5th EU Framework Programme (FP5). The data for carrying out this study is taken from a survey among FP5 participants and the EUPRO database. 23 EU member countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta and Rumania are excluded) plus Switzerland and Norway are included. Regression methods for discrete choice (logit and probit) are employed to meet the objective. The independent variables taken into consideration encompass the types of organisations involved in the dyad, geographical and cultural obstacles, relational factors and project characteristics. Results show that dyads involving universities have the highest probability not only to jointly generate scientific knowledge but also to jointly generate commercially relevant knowledge, whereas the involvement of an industry organisation results in a low probability for both types of knowledge generation. Perhaps, this can be attributed to the fact that joint knowledge generation entails disclosure of own knowledge, which is actually a task of universities but is problematic for industry organisations. Another important result is that crossing national border has a significant positive rather than negative effect on joint scientific knowledge generation, which is essentially a consequence of how the Framework Programmes had been set up. Similarly, crossing EU-15 external border has a positive effect on joint knowledge generation, indicating that the FPs work well in achieving their aim of supporting the catching up process of CEE countries. But, joint generation of commercially relevant knowledge is negatively influenced by language borders. This can be explained by the fact that the co-development of patentable knowledge or artefacts requires more intensive and complex interactions than to co-author a scientific publication where English is the lingua franca anyway. Results on relational factors and project characteristics satisfy expectations: Duration of collaboration and the existence of previous collaboration have a positive effect on joint knowledge generation, whereas the project size, measured by number of participants, affects joint knowledge generation negatively. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p253&r=cse |
| By: | Jose Belso-Martinez |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a nuance picture of the mechanisms through which temporary and permanent spatial co-location simultaneously sustain firm’s innovation. Using a large sample of footwear clustered firms, results suggest that, on the one hand, intra-cluster Vertical relationships contribute to innovation through firm’s internal resources. On the other hand, temporary collocation outside the cluster boundaries (in our case: Trade shows) enhances the mediating role of firm’s internal resources. Further than supporting recent research on temporary proximity and trade shows, our findings contribute to fill the research gap with regard to the effects of combining both forms of spatial proximity. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p44&r=cse |
| By: | Ioannis Katsikis; Garyfallos Fragidis; Dimitrios Paschaloudis |
| Abstract: | Although neighboring countries and both members of the EU, Greece and Bulgaria have very different social and economic environments in which entrepreneurial activities take place. At the same time, collaborative activities and research on economic and social cohesion and development between the organizations of Greece and Bulgaria is only minimal. In this empirical paper, we study the collaborative projects initiated by the organizations of the countries in order to understand the collaborative status of the two nations, their priorities and targets. Thus, we analyse the 34 research project proposals funded by the European Territorial Cooperation Program Greece-Bulgaria 2007-2013, (Interreg IV). Interreg IV is an EU initiative which aims to stimulate interregional cooperation in the EU between the years 2007-13. It is financed under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This phase of the Interreg initiative is designed to strengthen economic and social cohesion throughout the EU, by fostering the balanced development of the continent through cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. Special emphasis has been placed on integrating remote regions and those which share external borders with the candidate countries. The eligible areas of the programme in the case of Greece and Bulgaria, contains seven Regional Units (former Prefectures) on the Greek side (Evros, Kavala, Xanthi, Rodopi, Drama, Thessaloniki and Serres) and four Districts on the Bulgarian side (Blagoevgrad, Smolyan, Kardjali, Haskovo), covering an area of 40.202 km2 and 2.812.236 inhabitants. In our work we performe a network analysis in order to examine data relevant to the project¢s priority axis, the number of the partners involved, the type of the partners and their nationality. Our analysis provides interesting results for the specific organizations, the conditions and the targets of the projects for which they choose to collaborate under the specific EU funded scheme. Furthermore, our research sheds light on the competences and the competitive advantages for the partner¢s selection process. Based on those results, our paper concludes by providing insights on the regional and organizational strategies for the internationalization and the development of bilateral collaboration between the organizations of the two countries that could contribute positively in responding to the current economic crisis in Greece. Keywords: cross border cooperation, international entrepreneurship, Greece, Bulgaria JEL Codes: L26, F23, F21 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p862&r=cse |
| By: | Roberto Antonietti; Giulio Cainelli |
| Abstract: | A recent strand of the economic literature has emphasised the role of services, and in particular knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), as a primary source of knowledge creation and diffusion. Since this transferring process often occurs through strong face-to-face interactions, the role of spatial proximity becomes crucial. Theoretical and empirical literature show that the geographic concentration of industry induces firms to vertically disintegrate their production, due to the lowering of transport and governance costs as well as to the reduction of opportunism in managing transactions. However, the evidence is primarily based on manufacturing firms, whereas little or no attention is given to service firms. In this paper we try to fill this gap by estimating the effects of urban agglomeration on knowledge intensive business service firms’ vertical disintegration in a longitudinal context, with reference to the Lombardy region in Italy. Data used in this work are drawn from AIDA, a commercial database collected by Bureau Van Dijck gathering information on balance sheets data as well as the geographical position of Italian joint stock companies. Relying on this rich firm-level dataset, we build a sample of almost 17.000 KIBS firms located in Lombardy over the period 2004-2009, and we estimate both a first difference and an instrumental variable GMM model in which, as dependent variable, we use both the share of purchased business services and the share of material inputs, while, as explanatory variables, we include firm size, age and population size at the municipality and local labour system level. In so doing, we estimate the impact that the short-run variations in urban size have on the short-run variations in the degree of vertical disintegration of KIBS, while controlling for potential endogeneity issues due to unobserved heterogeneity and simultaneity, and for the robustness of our measure of urban size to alternative specifications. Our results complement previous cross-sectional evidence and point to a positive and statistically significant effect of urban size on the degree of vertical disintegration. In addition, we find that this effect is particularly strong for professional KIBS and for the purchase of business services rather than for technological KIBS and for the purchase of material inputs. Keywords: agglomeration, KIBS, urban size, vertical disintegration JEL: C33; D22; R12; L24 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p666&r=cse |
| By: | Gülden Demet Oruç; Ferhan Gezici; Ebru Kerimoğlu |
| Abstract: | Istanbul metropolitan region is the economic heart of Turkey, which is generally listed among the emerging economies of the last decade. Although compared to other European regions foreign capital and investment are underrepresented in Istanbul, economic growth and the stability of Turkey in the last decade made of Istanbul the most developed region and the most attractive for foreign capital not only in Turkey but also in a wider regional context, with a notable effect on the attraction of human flows into the city. Istanbul has been one of the main destinations of internal migration in Turkey, since the beginning of industrialization process in the 1960s. The main motivation for the people who migrate (especially the unskilled) has been traditionally related to employment and emancipation. However, the recent changes of the Turkish economy – and the policy objectives that are attached to it – are transforming Istanbul into a new hub for other types of migration, like high skilled foreign workers from OECD countries and other forms of short-to-medium term mobilities, which overlap and interact with the traditional opportunity-driven migration. In this paper we will especially focus on Istanbul’s current situation and proactive strategy of attracting foreign investments and companies, looking for factors that may explain the performance of Istanbul in terms of flows attracted. First, we perform an assessment of the situation of Istanbul in terms of attractiveness. On this basis, we develop an in-depth profile of Istanbul as an attractive city characterized by an increased capacity to attract specific flows. The profile of the region is analyzed through the existing position, potentials and obstacles. In the second part, we address the questions as the main factors that explain the attraction of foreign investors and labor to Istanbul, the characteristics of specific successful mobilization strategies, the expectations concerning the future development of Istanbul’s attractiveness, using qualitative analysis obtained though face-to face interviews with stakeholders. Keywords: Attractiveness, foreign investment, Istanbul Jel codes: J11 O19 R28 R58 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p608&r=cse |