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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2013‒10‒18
nineteen papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Einar Rasmussen (Bodø Graduate School of Business (HHB), University of Nordland); Paul Benneworth (Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) at the University of the Twente); Magnus Gulbrandsen (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK), University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Some universities and departments have been very successful in stimulating university spin-off firms (USOs). This has persuaded policy makers and university administrators to devote considerable resources to improve universities' capabilities to promote USOs, but with little tangible results. Related research has considered why some universities contributes more to business innovation than others, but whether the majority of universities can become innovation hotbeds remains an open question. This paper takes a novel interdisciplinary approach integrating insights from two separate literatures, academic entrepreneurship and university management. We start by taking the firm’s perspective and seek to understand the challenges faced by USOs and how universities can assist these firms in developing their entrepreneurial competencies. The structure and main purpose of universities are very different from that of new technology businesses and the transition from being an academic research activity to become a commercial business activity poses challenges both for the university and the USO. Much research on universities’ entrepreneurial capability focuses on ‘what’ universities can do to support USOs at the expense of ‘why’ universities’ might choose to promote USOs when they are under many intense competing demands from outside. We explore not only what universities can do to support USOs, but also how universities experience USOs’ support demands, and the circumstances under which universities can develop capability to promote USOs. We address the barriers that arise between universities and USOs and discuss mitigating factors which support the competencies of USOs whilst at the same time meet the different university stakeholders’ needs. |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20131007&r=cse |
| By: | Stephan, Andreas (Ratio & JIBBS) |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this paper is to analyse whether research spin-offs, that is, spinoffs from either public research institutes or universities, have greater innovation capabilities than comparable knowledge-intensive firms created in other ways. Using a sample of about 2,800 firms from highly innovative sectors, propensity score matching is used to create a sample group of control firms that is comparable to the group of spin-offs. The paper provides evidence that the 121 research spin-offs investigated have more patent applications and more radical product innovations, on average, compared to similar firms. The results also show that research spin-offs’ superior innovation performance can be explained by their high level of research cooperation and by location factors. An urban region location and proximity to the parent institution are found to be conducive to innovation productivity. The paper also finds evidence that research spin-offs are more successful in attracting support from public innovation support programs in comparison to their peers. |
| Keywords: | Spin-Offs; Innovation Performance; Propensity Score Matching; Location Factors; Cooperation; Public R&D Subsidies |
| JEL: | M13 O18 |
| Date: | 2013–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0222&r=cse |
| By: | Wang, Lili (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG); Meijers, Huub (School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University); Szirmai, Eddy (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the role of interregional technology spillovers in the process of industrial growth in Chinese regions in the period 1990-2005. Inflows of FDI increased rapidly from 1990 till 1998, slowing down thereafter. Domestic R&D investment accelerated after 1998. Regional industrial growth benefits from both interregional R&D spillovers and after 1998 from international FDI spillovers. However, in contrast to R&D spillovers, FDI spillovers contribute conditionally, mainly in areas where local R&D stocks are high enough. Interestingly, indirect interregional FDI spillover effects are negative. Foreign investment in one region attracts resources from regions with less FDI, thus having a negative influence on growth of industrial output in neighbouring regions. |
| Keywords: | Technological spillovers, Interregional spillovers, R&D, Foreign direct investment, Industrial growth, Regional growth, Chinese industry |
| JEL: | F43 O14 O33 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2013044&r=cse |
| By: | Siping Luo; Mary E. Lovely; David Popp |
| Abstract: | We offer new evidence on indigenous innovation and intellectual returnees by estimating the relationship between patenting by Chinese photovoltaic firms and the presence of corporate leaders with international experience. Our research approach combines data from three sources: the industrial census, international and domestic patent records, and leadership biographical information. Using nonlinear methods, we find robust evidence that returnees positively influence patenting activity and also promote neighboring firm innovation. We find no tendency for export intensive firms to patent more. Controlling for R&D expenditures, we find that firms with returnees in leadership roles have more patents. |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O32 Q42 Q55 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19518&r=cse |
| By: | Nocke, Volker; Yeaple, Stephen |
| Abstract: | We present an international trade model with multiproduct firms. Firms are heterogeneously endowed with two types of capabilities that jointly determine the trade-off within firms between managing a large portfolio of products and producing at low marginal cost. The model can explain many of the documented cross-sectional correlations in firm performance measures, including why larger firms are more productive and more diversified, and yet more diversified firms trade at a discount. Globalization is shown to induce heterogeneous responses across firms in terms of scope and productivity, some of which are consistent with existing empirical work, while others are potentially testable. |
| Keywords: | multiproduct firms; trade liberalization; diversification discount; firm heterogeneity; productivity |
| JEL: | F12 F15 |
| Date: | 2013–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:408&r=cse |
| By: | Paul Nightingale (SPRU, University of Sussex, UK); Alex Coad (SPRU, University of Sussex, UK) |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Jon creation, Self-employment, New firm formation, Innovation |
| JEL: | L26 M13 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:2013-03&r=cse |
| By: | Humburg M.; Velden R.K.W. van der (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we reflect on the skills higher education graduates are expected to have in todays economy and the role of higher education in equiping graduates with these skills. First, we identify 6 trends which form the basis of the changing role of graduates in economic life. These trends are the knowledge society, increasing uncertainty, the ICT revolution, high performance workplaces, globalization, and the change of the economic structure. By changing the nature and range of tasks graduates are expected to fulfil in todays economy, we argue that these trends generate new and intensify traditional skill demands, which we summarize as professional expertise, flexibility, innovation and knowledge management, mobilization of human resources, international orientation, and entrepreneurship. Second, we draw out some key issues concerning the role of higher education institutions in equiping graduates with these skills. |
| Keywords: | Analysis of Education; Education and Economic Development; Education: Government Policy; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity; |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umagsb:2013044&r=cse |
| By: | Bode, Alexander; Müller, Katja |
| Abstract: | Enhancing a firm’s value creation is one of today’s most discussed topics in management practice and science. Many approaches start by enhancing value creation while looking at operations and/or logistics of a firm, for example, a lean production. Furthermore, there is an increasing trend for cooperation. Close business-partner relationships are necessary while facing the challenges of changing business environments, inherent complexity, and dynamics of markets. We suggest that while the trade-off between competition and cooperation has to be decided on an organizational level, the individual level is crucial for value creation and success within cooperative forms of business. According to the call for micro-foundation, we will show how value creation can be improved within business-partner relationships by looking at the social behavior of individuals and human-level approaches. Accordingly, the overarching question in this paper is: Which models can be used for improving business-partner relationships aiming at an increasing value creation within cooperation. Answering this question, we consider people-oriented management approaches as a basis for the emphasis of the human level within cooperation, arguing that social exchange theory can complement the existing resource-based and relational view. As a result, we develop a micro-foundation framework including humans and their individual assets, exchange resources, and characteristics of the relationships as impact factors for value-creating relationships. Based on this literature-based investigation, we derive implications for further research and management practice. |
| Date: | 2013–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:62232&r=cse |
| By: | Sara Santos Cruz (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto; OBEGEF) |
| Abstract: | Empirical literature on the geographic location of creative activities is mostly based on the spatial analysis of industries, disregarding the creative employment that lies outside the necessarily limited boundaries of creative industries. In this paper, we analyse agglomeration and co-location patterns of core creative activities by considering both ‘embedded’ (creative professionals working outside the creative sectors) and ‘specialized’ (creative professionals working in the creative sectors) creative employment. Using location quotients and principal component factor and cluster analyses, applied to all 308 Portuguese municipalities, for ten core creative groups, we found that the geographical agglomeration and co-location patterns of these core creative groups differ substantially. The typical arguments sustained by literature - the tendency of creative industries/ employment to agglomerate and co-locate in large metropolises - are only supported in the case of knowledge-intensive activities subjected to Intellectual Property Rights, most notably ‘Advertising/ Marketing’, ‘Publishing’, ‘TV/ Radio’, and ‘Software/ Digital Media’, densely concentrated and co-located in highly developed, large urban centres, with high levels of human capital. These arguments do not hold for the traditional creative activities of ‘Architecture’, ‘Design/ Visual Arts’ and ‘Crafts’, which, although co-located, appear mostly dispersed with small concentrations around intermediate urban centres. ‘Teaching/ training/ research’ present quite dispersed geographical patterns with some clusterization around municipalities with tertiary education institutions. ‘Film/ video/ photography’ and ‘Music/ Performing arts’ show some dispersion throughout the Portuguese territory with concentration around small urban centres and in rural areas. It is evident that, from agglomeration to co-location patterns, creative employment reveals heterogeneous characteristics across creative groups. Indeed, the results obtained show that the differentiated (co)location patterns of creative activities are mainly a regional phenomenon distinguishing regions within the same country, and not only an aspect differentiating countries in international comparisons. |
| Keywords: | Spatial economics; industrial location; creative industries |
| JEL: | C01 R12 R30 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:508&r=cse |
| By: | Korthals R.A. (GSBE) |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umagsb:2013054&r=cse |
| By: | Sara G. Castellanos; Jesus G. Garza-Garcia |
| Abstract: | The Mexican banking sector experienced a process of liberalization which aimed towards increasing the level of competition and efficiency. This paper studies the evolution of the efficiency of the Mexican banking sector from 2002 to 2012 and also analyses its relationship with the degree of banking competition. To do so, efficiency scores are estimated by applying the non-parametric methodology, Data Envelopment Analysis. Furthermore, the Boone Indicator is used to assess the degree of competition and included among other possible determinants of bank efficiency. The main results indicate increasing trends of efficiency in the banking sector during the period of study. Moreover, a direct relationship between banking competition and efficiency is observed. Besides, the capitalization index, market share and loan intensity increase efficiency whereas noninterest expenses and non performing loans decrease the level of efficiency. Lastly, in regards to the relative efficiency of local or foreign ownership of banks, it is found that the system’s average efficiency trend is observed among both local and foreign banks, but local banks are somewhat more efficient. |
| Keywords: | Panel Data, Bank Competition, Mexican Banking Sector, Boone Indicator |
| JEL: | D4 G15 G21 L11 N2 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1329&r=cse |
| By: | Allen, Stuart D. (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics); Link, Albert N. (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In the United States, as in most industrialized nations, aggregate technological advancement declined during the 1970s and early 1980s. The U.S. Congress was quick to respond to this down turn by passing a number of technology- and innovation-related initiatives, one of which was the National Cooperative Research Act (NCRA) of 1984. It has been argued that this policy response is an example of government acting as entrepreneur because the enabling legislation was both innovative and characterized by entrepreneurial risk. In this paper we examine empirically covariates with the trend in the formation of research joint ventures (RJVs) promulgated by the NCRA and with the probability that a RJV will have an international research partner. We find that RJV formations seem to increase in times when industrial investments in research and development (R&D) decrease, and we conclude that RJVs might thus be a substitute for internal R&D activity. We also find that the probability of a RJV having an international research partner increases as the membership size of the RJV increases. We conclude that as membership size increases, the ability of any one member to appropriate the collective research contributions from the other members, and thus gain a competitive advantage, decreases. Thus, the cost of including in the RJV an international partner, which we argue could represent a potential intellectual capital leakage, decreases. |
| Keywords: | Research joint venture; Strategic alliance; Technology; Innovation; Technological change; Entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 L44 O33 O34 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2013_015&r=cse |
| By: | Alberto Marzucchi (Faculty of Political Sciences, Catholic University of Milan, Italy; INGENGIO (CSIC-UPV), Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain); Sandro Montresor (JRC-IPTS, European Commission, Seville, Spain; Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy) |
| Keywords: | innovation policy, additionality, innovation system, multi-level policy |
| JEL: | R58 |
| Date: | 2013–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:2013-04&r=cse |
| By: | Francisco Parejo; Amélia Branco; João Carlos Lopes; José Rangel Preciado |
| Abstract: | The cork sector is a relevant case study given the economic importance of this industry for some regions (value added, employment and rural development). This industry is also important because of its contribution to environmental sustainability as it uses a natural renewable raw material. Portugal and Spain are the most important producers of cork and exporters of manufactured cork products (stoppers and agglomerates). The main purpose of this paper is to study the economic integration and the historical changes of cork business location choices in the Iberian Peninsula. We start by studying the historical roots, motivations and economic consequences of the delocalization of Catalonian firms to Portugal during the first quarter of the 20th century. Then a comparison is made with the recent process of delocalization of an anchor firm of Aveiro industrial district (Corticeira Amorim) to Spain. The theoretical framework of this study is the industry and cluster life cycles as well as the recent insights from the evolutionary economic geography. |
| Keywords: | Regional integration; firm location choices; cork industry; Iberian Peninsula. |
| JEL: | R32 F23 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp182013&r=cse |
| By: | Christian, Michel |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes and empirically implements a framework for analyzing industry competition and the degree of joint profit maximization of merging firms in differentiated product industries. Using pre- and post-merger industry data, I am able to separate merging firms' intra-organizational pricing considerations from industry pricing considerations. The insights of the paper shed light on a long-standing debate in the theoretical literature about the consequences of organizational integration. Moreover, I propose a novel approach to directly estimate industry conduct that relies on ownership changes and input price variation. I apply my framework using data from the ready-to-eat cereal industry, covering the 1993 Post-Nabisco merger. My results show an increasing degree of joint profit maximization of the merged entities over the first two years after the merger, eventually leading to almost full maximization of joint profits. I find that between 14.3 and 25.6 percent of industry markups can be attributed to cooperative industry behavior, while the remaining markup is due to product differentiation of multi-product firms. |
| Keywords: | Identification of Market Structure; Post-merger Internalization of Profits; Conduct Estimation; Ex-post Merger Evaluation; Estimation of Synergies |
| Date: | 2013–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:409&r=cse |
| By: | Ogutu, Sylvester O.; Okello, Julius K.; Otieno, David J. |
| Abstract: | Information asymmetry has traditionally constrained smallholder farmers’ access to markets. Past studies indicate that it inhibits adoption of modern technologies that have the capacity to enhance productivity of smallholder farms. Hence, farm productivity and agricultural transformation has been stifled, leaving smallholder famers in grinding poverty. Improved smallholder farmers’ access to markets via the recent Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platforms could reverse this scenario. This study uses Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique to evaluate the impact of participation in an ICT-based market information service (MIS) project on farm input use and productivity in Kenya. It finds strong empirical evidence on the benefits of ICT use in market linkage. Specifically, it finds that participation in the ICT-based MIS project has positive and significant impact on the usage of improved seeds and fertilizers. It also improves land and labour productivity, but has negative and significant impact on the usage of hired and family labour. These findings have vital policy implications on the use of ICT tools as a development strategy. |
| Keywords: | ICT, Impact assessment, PSM, Market Access, Input Use, Productivity, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae13:157770&r=cse |
| By: | Francesco Bripi (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of differences in local administrative burdens in Italy in the years preceding a major reform that sped up firm registration procedures. Combining regulatory data from a survey on Italian provinces before the reform (costs and time to start a business) with industry-level entry rates of limited liability firms, I explore the effects of regulatory barriers on entry across industries with different natural propensities to enter the market. Using different specifications the estimates show that lengthier and, to some extent, more costly procedures reduced the entry rate of limited liability firms in sectors with naturally high entry rates. These results also hold when I include measures of local financial development and of efficiency of bankruptcy procedures. Overall, the analysis confirms the view that administrative burdens on new start-ups matter for business creation. |
| Keywords: | entry regulation, entrepreneurship, doing business |
| JEL: | G18 G38 L51 M13 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_932_13&r=cse |
| By: | Xue, Yida |
| Abstract: | The rising demand of express delivery service (EDS) and fierce market competition motivate EDS providers to improve service quality by modifying current networks. This project-based dissertation focuses on strategic planning of a large-scale, multi-modal and time-definite EDS network for a top nationwide EDS provider in China, based on its current network. An air-ground Hub-and-Spoke (H/S) network with a fully interconnected/star shaped structure was established to provide trans-city overnight EDS among relatively developed cities in China. The corresponding models are a combination of the hub location problem with fixed cost and the hub set covering problem. The objective function is to minimize the sum of the hub-location fixed cost and transportation cost under the constraints that all demand nodes are covered by their "home" hub. First, the basic model with linear air cost was proposed. Next, the basic model was extended to include air service selection decisions (or aircraft fleet owner-ship decisions) under the consideration of a cost select function for the backbone air service. Finally, two ex-tension models were studied, one to obtain the optimal aircraft fleet composition (Ext.1) and the other under the constraints of current aircraft fleet composition (Ext.2). Due to the large scale of project instances, hybrid genetic algorithms (GAs) were applied to get desirable solutions in an acceptable time period, but without the guarantee of finding optimal solutions. In particular, the overall problem includes three kinds of decisions: 1) hub location decisions, 2) demand allocation decisions and 3) air service selection decisions. A specific algorithm was proposed for each kind of decision, namely, GAs,local search heuristics and integer programming, respectively. These three algorithms were invoked hierarchically and iteratively to solve the original problem. 5 improvement techniques were proposed to different procedures of the original algorithms in order to improve the performance of the algorithms. Computational tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms in terms of computational time and solution quality. Tests under small-scale instances with CAB data sets were conducted to evaluate the overall performance of the proposed algorithm by comparing the solutions with the optimal solutions generated by CPLEX. Tests under large-scale instances with AP data sets and project data sets were conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed improvement techniques. Since neither the optimal solutions nor solutions by other algorithms under large-scale instances were available to serve as benchmarks,the performance of the tailored algorithms and that of the un-tailored simple GAs was compared. Information about the stability of the algorithms with values of the coefficient of variation (CV) and the reliability of the results with T-tests was also provided. The models and the tailored GAs were applied to real-life instances of the project. This study introduces how the input data were collected and modified and how to deal with pertinent problems. By analyzing and com-paring the basic solutions of Ext.1 and Ext.2, the study not only reveals some important features of the net-work, but also arrives at some general conclusions and provided a dynamic aircraft fleet update strategy to guide the implementation of the project. Finally, scenario planning was executed to help decision-makers balance between costs and corresponding decision risks by identifying critical uncontrollable and controllable factors. |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:62214&r=cse |
| By: | Giulio PALOMBA (Universit… Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali); Luca RICCETTI (Universir… La Sapienza, Roma) |
| Abstract: | It is well known that investors usually assign part of their funds to asset managers who are given the task of beating a benchmark portfolio. On the other hand, the risk management office could impose some restrictions to the asset managers' activity in order to mantain the overall portfolio risk under control. This situation could lead managers to select non efficient portfolios in the total return and absolute risk perspective. In this paper we focus on portfolio efficiency when a tracking error volatility (TEV) constraint holds. First, we define the TEV Constrained-Efficient Frontier (ECTF), a set of TEV constrained portfolios that are mean-variance efficient. Second, we discuss the effects on such boundary when a VaR and/or a variance restriction is also added. |
| Keywords: | asset allocation, efficient portfolio frontiers, tracking error volatility, value at risk |
| JEL: | C61 G10 G11 G23 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:392&r=cse |