|
on Economics of Strategic Management |
|
Issue of 2012‒12‒22
nineteen papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Pfeifer, Christian (Leuphana University Lüneburg); Wagner, Joachim (Leuphana University Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | This empirical research note documents the relationship between composition of a firm's workforce (with a special focus on age and gender) and its performance with respect to innovative activities (outlays and employment in research and development (R&D)) for a large representative sample of enterprises from manufacturing industries in Germany using unique newly available data. We find that firms with a higher share of older workers have significantly lower proportions of R&D outlays in total revenues and of R&D employment in total employment, whereas firms with a higher share of female employment seem to be more active in R&D. |
| Keywords: | ageing, firm performance, gender, Germany, innovation, R&D |
| JEL: | D22 D24 J21 J24 L25 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7050&r=cse |
| By: | Marco Vivarelli (DISCE, Università Cattolica) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to provide a microeconomic investigation of the concept of entrepreneurship; in particular, it discusses the following issues: 1) the alternative ways of looking at entrepreneurship, distinguishing “creative destruction” from simple “turbulence”; 2) the different microeconomic determinants of new firm formation, distinguishing “progressive” from “regressive” drivers; 3) the relationship between ex-ante characteristics (of the founder) and postentry performance (of the new firm); and 4) the possible scope for an economic policy aimed at maximizing the impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth. Where possible and appropriate, the paper devotes particular attention to the specific features characterizing entrepreneurship in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; new firm; innovation, development. |
| JEL: | L26 O12 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie2:dises1286&r=cse |
| By: | Machikita, Tomohiro (Asian Development Bank Institute); Ueki, Yasushi (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a simple model of industrial upgrading as a result of backward and forward information linkages between upstream and downstream relations. It also serves as an empirical investigation of the impact of mutual knowledge exchange on the knowledge production function using data on firms' self-reported customers and suppliers. Evidence from interconnected firms in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Viet Nam suggests that there are strong spillover effects between downstream and upstream firms in terms of international standard certification. The degree of product and process innovation is quite diverse across manufacturing firms within a local supply chain and within a global supply chain. |
| Keywords: | innovation; international production organization; backward forward linkages |
| JEL: | O31 O32 R12 |
| Date: | 2012–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0399&r=cse |
| By: | Eleonora Cavallaro; Piero Esposito; Alessia Matano; Marcella Mulino |
| Abstract: | In the paper we focus on emerging market economies’ pattern of trade, with a view to explaining the different features of competitiveness for high skill- and low skill-intensive firms. We consider a theoretical dynamical setup where high-skill firms engage in innovation activity and gain market shares in high-income â€quality dominated†markets thanks to technological catching up, whereas low-skill firms face price competition for their exports. On the basis of the theoretical model, we run econometric estimations for trade between CEECs and EU economies over the period 2000-2007. In the econometric analysis we first test the assumption that UVR is an adequate indicator of quality in trade, showing that in high skill-intensive firms it is systematically correlated to domestic and foreign technological variables; we then use the fitted UVR in the estimation of the role of preference for quality in the evolution of CEECs’ market shares. The estimations support the results of the theoretical model as to the role of non-price competitiveness stemming from quality-supply as well as quality-demand factors. |
| Keywords: | Vertical innovation, Knowledge spillovers, Product quality, International competitiveness. |
| JEL: | F12 F14 F15 O32 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp158&r=cse |
| By: | Ana Rincon; Michela VECCHI; Francesco VENTURINI |
| Abstract: | We analyse the impact of ICT spillovers on productivity in the uptake of the new technology using company data for the U.S. We account for inter- and intra-industry spillovers and assess the role played by firm’s absorptive capacity. Our results show that intra-industry ICT spillovers have a contemporaneous negative effect that turns positive 5 years after the initial investment. By contrast, inter-industry spillovers are important both in the short and in the long run. In the short run, companies’ innovative effort is complementary to ICT spillovers, but such complementarity disappears with the more pervasive adoption and diffusion of the technology. |
| JEL: | D22 D24 D62 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pia:wpaper:103/2012&r=cse |
| By: | Eva Yamila Catela; Mario Cimoli; Gabriel Porcile |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the evolution of firmsù productivity and structural heterogeneity (SH) in the Brazilian manufacturing industry in the 2000s. SH is defined (following the Latin American structuralist tradition) as a situation in which a large share of total firms is in the lowest productivity groups of the production structure, and there are very large differences in labour productivity between groups and firms. The paper combines and makes compatible several databases on manufacturing production, innovation and micro-social data for Brazil, in order to measure productivity and SH, to analyze its evolution between 2000 and 2008, and to discuss its determinants. Econometric analyses (k-means cluster methodology to identify productivity groups, and ordered probit models to analyse the determinants of SH) show that increasing returns in innovation and learning prevailed in the 2000s, while policies failed to encourage the catching up process by laggard firms. As a result, SH did not fall in the Brazilian manufacturing sector. |
| Keywords: | Structural heterogeneity; technological change; productivity growth; technological asymmetries |
| Date: | 2012–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2012/20&r=cse |
| By: | Duso, Tomaso; Röller, Lars-Hendrik; Seldeslachts, Jo |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether upstream R&D cooperation leads to downstream collusion. We consider an oligopolistic setting where firms enter in research joint ventures (RJVs) to lower production costs or coordinate on collusion in the product market. We show that a sufficient condition for identifying collusive behavior is a decline in the market share of RJV-participating firms, which is also necessary and sufficient for a decrease in consumer welfare. Using information from the U.S. National Cooperation Research Act, we estimate a market share equation correcting for the endogeneity of RJV participation and R&D expenditures. We find robust evidence that large networks between direct competitors - created through firms being members in several RJVs at the same time - are conducive to collusive outcomes in the product market which reduce consumer welfare. By contrast, RJVs among non-competitors are efficiency enhancing. -- |
| Keywords: | Research Joint Ventures,Innovation,Collusion,NCRA |
| JEL: | K21 L24 L44 D22 O32 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:79&r=cse |
| By: | Georgios Efthyvoulou (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield); Priit Vahter (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu, Estonia) |
| Abstract: | How do the effects of financial constraints on innovation performance vary by sector and firm characteristics? This paper uses innovation survey data from eleven European countries to examine the heterogeneity of these effects. So far, there has been a lack of cross-country micro-level studies exploring the effects of financial constraints on innovation performance in Western Europe and only little research about the variability of such effects between the broad sectors of production and services. Our results suggest that the impact of direct measures of financial barriers differs in production and services sectors, and also by the firm’s export orientation. In particular, financial constraints appear to have more pronounced negative effects in the production sector than in the services sector. Among different types of firms, the response to financial constraints seems to be stronger for non-exporters. |
| Keywords: | financial constraints; innovation |
| JEL: | L1 L2 O1 O3 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2012030&r=cse |
| By: | Davide CASTELLANI; Valentina MELICIANI; Loredana Mirra |
| Abstract: | The paper accounts for the determinants of inward foreign direct investment in business services across the EU-27 regions. Together with the traditional variables considered in the literature (market size, market quality, agglomeration economies, labour cost, technology, human capital), we focus on the role of forward linkages with manufacturing sectors and other service sectors as attractors of business services FDI at the regional level. This hypothesis is based on the evidence that the growth of business services is mostly due to increasing intermediate demand by other services industries and by manufacturing industries and on the importance of geographical proximity for forward linkages in services. To our knowledge, there are no studies investigating the role of forward linkages for the location of FDI. This paper aims therefore to fill this gap and add to the FDI literature by providing a picture of the specificities of the determinants of FDI in business services at the regional level. The empirical analysis draws upon the database fDi Markets, from which we selected projects having as a destination NUTS 2 European regions in the sectors of Business services over the period 2003-2008. Data on FDI have been matched with data drawn from the Eurostat Regio database. Forward linkages have been constructed using the OECD Input/Output database. By estimating a negative binomial model, we find that regions specialised in those (manufacturing) sectors that are high potential users of business services attract more FDI than other regions. This confirms the role of forward linkages for the localisation of business service FDI, particularly in the case of manufacturing. |
| Keywords: | FDI, Business Services, Regional Specialisation, Forward linkages |
| JEL: | R12 L80 F23 |
| Date: | 2012–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pia:wpaper:104/2012&r=cse |
| By: | Marlis Monsberger |
| Date: | 2012–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwneu:neurusp154&r=cse |
| By: | Maximilian Benner |
| Abstract: | Cluster policy has become a method of choice for policymakers in many countries. Promoting strong localized industries is an appealing perspective for practitioners, as it can be seen as a way to anchor economic activity in regions in an era of globalization. If cluster policy is successful, it can contribute to the creation of employment and to the initiation of growth processes in urban regions and even in some rural ones. This makes cluster policy an interesting tool for economic policy in developing countries. This article offers some theoretical considerations on the use of cluster policy and presents case studies from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. |
| Keywords: | economic development, economic growth, industrial policy, regional policy, development policy, cluster policy, cluster theory, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria |
| JEL: | O14 O18 O25 O30 O43 O53 O55 O57 P25 R11 R12 R38 R58 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:255&r=cse |
| By: | Rafael Domenech; Monica Correa-Lopez |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that the variation in the world export share and the internationalisation process that the Spanish economy has experienced since the establishment of EMU have been determined by a broad set of factors that go beyond the evolution of international relative prices. Firms’ decisions on factor inputs (company size, investment in physical capital, quality of human capital, or R&D expenditure and technology adoption) and on market and financial strategies (product diversification, reliance on non-banking finance or expansion via outward foreign direct investment) have shaped the internationalisation process. Given the variety of determinants, economic policy must be multidimensional and have a dual objective: to improve the functioning of the markets for factor inputs (capital and labour markets, access to finance and to new production technologies and innovations) and to foster competition in the markets for goods and services. |
| Keywords: | price competitiveness, export quotas, export companies |
| JEL: | D22 F14 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1230&r=cse |
| By: | Nicole Stanga |
| Date: | 2012–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwneu:neurusp155&r=cse |
| By: | Yoshitsugu Kitazawa (Faculty of Economics, Kyushu Sangyo University) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes a lucid theoretical ground for the linear feedback model proposed by Blundell et al. (2002) and further proposes the indicator on the initial knowledge storage in the framework of the linear feedback model. The values of the indicator are calculated with the estimation results conducted by Blundell et al. (2002). Further, the GMM estimations of the linear feedback model are conducted by using the stationarity moment conditions customized to needs of count panel data, in order to calculate the values of the indicator. |
| Keywords: | linear feedback model, knowledge production, initial knowledge storage, patents-R&D relationship, GMM |
| JEL: | C23 C25 O30 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyu:dpaper:58&r=cse |
| By: | Alexandra Bibbee |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses how to improve Canada’s business innovation in order to boost labour productivity and output growth. Many general framework conditions are highly favourable to business risk-taking and innovation, including macro stability, openness, strong human capital, low corporate tax rates, low barriers to firm entry and flexible labour markets. However, they can be improved further by reduced external and interprovincial barriers in network and professional service sectors, more efficient capital markets, fewer capital tax distortions and improved patent protection. A second focus should be on ensuring that incentives arising from government subsidies are targeted on actual market failures. The very high level of support to business R&D via the federal Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit and provincial top-ups may affect the incentives of small firms to grow and should be redesigned. A plethora of small, fragmented granting programmes, mainly geared to SMEs, should be streamlined for better government-business collaboration. The large public share in venture capital should be wound down, as it may crowd out more productive private finance. A final focus should be on boosting manager and worker skills that are intrinsic to all forms of innovation, by filling gaps in training, mentoring and education. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 OECD Economic Review of Canada (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Canada).<P>Libérer l'innovation des entreprises au Canada<BR>Cette étude se penche sur la manière de renforcer l’innovation dans les entreprises canadiennes afin de stimuler la productivité de la main-d’oeuvre et la croissance de la production. De nombreuses conditions-cadres canadiennes sont très propices à la prise de risques et à l’innovation dans les entreprises : stabilité macroéconomique, ouverture sur l’extérieur, solidité du capital humain, faible imposition des bénéfices des sociétés, rareté des obstacles à l’entrée des entreprises sur le marché, flexibilité des marchés du travail. Ces conditions-cadres peuvent toutefois s’améliorer encore grâce à une diminution des barrières extérieures et interprovinciales dans les secteurs des réseaux et des services professionnels, à une plus grande efficience des marchés financiers, à de moindres distorsions de l’imposition du capital et à une meilleure protection des brevets. Un deuxième axe pourrait consister à s’assurer que les incitations découlant des subventions de la puissance publique ciblent bien les carences effectives du marché. Il se peut que le très fort soutien à la R-D des entreprises représenté par le crédit d’impôt fédéral pour la RS&DE (recherche scientifique et développement expérimental) et par ses compléments provinciaux entame le désir de croissance des petites entreprises ; peut-être donc faudrait-il redessiner ces aides. La kyrielle de petits programmes fragmentaires de subventionnement visant principalement les PME devrait être rationalisée pour améliorer la coopération entre le milieu universitaire et le monde de l’entreprise. Il faudrait réduire la trop grande place des fonds publics dans le capital-risque, car il se peut qu’elle évince des financements privés plus productifs. Un dernier axe devrait, par des actions cherchant à combler les lacunes de formation, de tutorat et d’enseignement, privilégier la stimulation des compétences de l’encadrement et du personnel qui s’appliquent à toutes les formes d’innovation. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE du Canada 2012 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/Canada). |
| Keywords: | productivity, venture capital, competition, innovation, vouchers, subsidies, research and development, business taxes, intellectual property rights, multifactor productivity, entrepreneurship, patents, technology transfer, intangibles, angel investing, R&D tax credits, academic research grants, productivité, capital-risque, innovation, concurrence, subvention, productivité multifactorielle, entrepreneuriat, brevets, transfert de technologie, impôt sur les sociétés, recherche et développement, biens immatériels, tutorat-investissement, crédits d’impôt pour la R-D, subventions pour la recherche universitaire, bons, droits de propriété intellectuelle |
| JEL: | H25 I23 O31 O32 O34 O38 |
| Date: | 2012–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:997-en&r=cse |
| By: | Petra Moog (University of Siegen); Arndt Werner (Institute for SME Research Bonn (IfM Bonn)); Stefan Houweling (University of Siegen); Uschi Backes-Gellner (Department of Business Administration (IBW), University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | To date, little is known about the effects of the composition of skills on academic entrepreneurship. Therefore, in this paper, following Lazear’s (2005) jack-of-all-trades approach, we study how his or her composition of skills affects a scientist’s intention of becoming an entrepreneur. Extending Lazear, we examine how the effect of balanced entrepreneurial skills is moderated by a balanced working time allocations and peer effects. Using unique data collected from 480 life sciences researchers, we provide the first evidence that scientists with more balanced skills are more likely to have higher entrepreneurial intentions, particularly when they are in contact with entrepreneurial peers. Furthermore, we find even higher entrepreneurial intentions when balanced skill sets are combined with balanced working time allocations. Thus, to encourage the entrepreneurial intentions of life scientists, one has to ensure that they are exposed to diverse work experiences, have balanced working time allocations across different activities and work with entrepreneurial peers; i.e., collaborating with colleagues or academic scientists who have started new ventures in the past is important. |
| Keywords: | Jack-of-all-Trades, Skills, Entrepreneurial Intentions, Academic Entrepreneurship, Peer Effects, Working Time Balance |
| JEL: | O32 M13 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zrh:wpaper:325&r=cse |
| By: | Langenmayr, Dominika; Haufler, Andreas; Bauer, Christian J. |
| Abstract: | Heterogeneous firm productivity seems to provide an argument for governments to pursue 'pick-the-winner' strategies by subsidizing highly productive firms more, or taxing them less, than their less productive counterparts. We appraise this argument by studying the optimal choice of effective tax rates in an oligopolistic industry with heterogeneous firms. We show that the optimal structure of tax differentiation depends critically on the feasible level of corporate profit taxes, which in turn depends on the degree of international tax competition. When tax competition is moderate and profit taxes are high, favoring high-productivity firms is indeed the optimal policy. When tax competition is aggressive and profit taxes are low, however, the optimal tax policy is reversed and low-productivity firms are tax-favored. |
| Keywords: | business taxation; firm heterogeneity; tax competition |
| JEL: | H25 H87 F15 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:14277&r=cse |
| By: | Andrea Ariu (FNRS; IRES, Universite catholique de Louvain, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present for the first time a qualitative and quantitative comparison between trade in services and trade in goods at firm level for the same country. We focus first on static features of trade such as participation rates, firms’ characteristics, heterogeneity, concentration and trade variation. Secondly, we explore dynamic aspects focusing on entry, exit, firm survival and growth strategy. On the one hand, our results reveal qualitative similarities between services and goods trade at firm level, suggesting that heterogeneous models of trade can be a good starting point for the analysis of trade in services. On the other hand, we highlight dramatic differences in quantitative terms and in some key characteristics that pose new challenges to current trade models. |
| Keywords: | Trade in Services; Trade in Goods, Trade Dynamics |
| JEL: | F10 F14 L80 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201212-237&r=cse |
| By: | Antonio De Socio (Bank of Italy); Valentina Nigro (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the relation between firm leverage and taxation of corporate income using a dataset of mostly unlisted European corporations, highly representative of medium-sized and large firms. We use a correlated random effect approach in order to take into account unobserved heterogeneity and to assess the contribution of cross-sectional variation of the regressors. We also apply quantile regressions to evaluate a possible differential impact of taxation on leverage across firms. Our results suggest that corporate income taxation is positively related to leverage and explains part of the cross-country variability, showing a stronger effect for less levered firms. In accordance with the theory of the debt tax shield, the relation between debt and taxation is stronger for highly profitable firms. These findings are robust to the inclusion of different measures of the financial development and characteristics of the legal system of the country where firms are located. |
| Keywords: | leverage, corporate taxation, financial structure |
| JEL: | G32 H32 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_889_12&r=cse |