|
on Economics of Strategic Management |
|
Issue of 2013‒12‒06
thirty-one papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Luca Colombo (Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Herbert Dawid (Universität Bielefeld) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates firms' optimal location choices explicitly accounting for the role of inwards and outwards knowledge spillovers in a dynamic Cournot oligopoly with firms that are heterogeneous in their ability to carry out cost-reducing R\&D. Firms can either locate in an industrial cluster or in isolation. Technological spillovers are exchanged between the firms in the cluster. It is shown that a technological leader has an incentive to locate in isolation only if her advantage exceeds a certain threshold, which is increasing in firms' discount rate, in industry dispersion, and in the intensity of knowledge spillovers. Scenarios are identified where although it is optimal for the technological leader to locate in isolation, from a welfare perspective it would be desirable that she locates in the cluster. |
| Keywords: | Location Choice, Knowledge Spillovers, Technological Leadership, Markov-perfect Equilibrium |
| JEL: | L13 C73 O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie1:def1&r=cse |
| By: | Schubert , Torben (Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) And CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden); Andersson , Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden and Blekinge Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | There is consistent evidence in the literature that average employee age is negatively related to firm-level innovativeness. This observation has been explained by older employees working with outdated technological knowledge and being characterized by reduced cognitive flexibility. We argue that firms can mitigate this effect through employee turnover. In particular turnover of R&D workers is deemed a vehicle for transfer of external knowledge to the firm, which can compensate for lower cognitive flexibility and up-to-date knowledge among older workers. We use a matched employer-employee dataset based on three consecutive CIS surveys for Sweden to test our predictions. Our results suggest a) that overall employee age impacts negatively on product innovation activities (both in terms of propensity and success), b) that the effect of em-ployee staying rate (measured by the share of employees that remain in the firm from one year to the next) on innovation follows an inverted U-shape implying an ‘optimal’ level of employment turnover, and c) that this ‘optimal’ value is lower for firms with older employees. The latter suggests that firms with older employees can at least partially compensate an aged workforce by increased employment turnover. |
| Keywords: | ageing; employee age; innovation; firm performance; R&D; human capita |
| JEL: | D22 J21 J24 L25 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_029&r=cse |
| By: | Johansson, Börje (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Center of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS) KTH, and Center for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE), Sweden); Warda, Peter (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Center of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS) KTH, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how firms’ internal and external knowledge sources affect the introduction of new export products with regard to value, number, average unit price and average quantity. Previous studies of this kind suggest that firms’ export performance is influenced by internal knowledge, and the knowledge potential in the local and regional environment. In the present study the knowledge milieu of the exporting firm is the local and regional knowledge potential that is represented by the presence of Knowledge-Intensive Manufacturing Industries (KIMI). The empirical analysis demonstrates that a firm’s internal knowledge has a positive effect on the value, number, average unit price, and average quantity of new export products. The knowledge milieu of the exporting firm, represented by the access to local and intra-regional KIMI-employment, has: i) a negative effect on the value and the average quantity, and ii) a positive effect on the number and the average unit price, of new export products, respectively. |
| Keywords: | New export products; accessibility; manufacturing; knowledge; human capital |
| JEL: | D21 D24 F23 L60 R30 |
| Date: | 2013–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0331&r=cse |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (CSIR, Blekinge Inst of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes how the influence of firm-level innovation determinants varies over the industry life cycle. Two sets of determinants are distinguished: (1) determinants of a firm’s innovation propensity, i.e. the likelihood of being innovative and (2) determinants of its innovation intensity, i.e. innovation sales. By combining the literature emphasizing firms’ internal resources (micro level) with the research strand on the role of the industry context (meso-level), the paper develops hypotheses about the relative importance of firm-level innovation determinants over the industry life cycle. Estimation of a firm-level model of innovation in Sweden, while acknowledging the stage of the life cycle of the industry a firms belongs to, shows that the importance of the determinants of innovation propensity and intensity are not equal over the stages of an industry’s life cycle. |
| Keywords: | Determinants of innovation; innovation intensity; innovation propensity; Industry Life Cycle (ILC); Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) |
| Date: | 2013–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bthcsi:2012-011&r=cse |
| By: | Olaf Merk; Jing Li |
| Abstract: | This working paper offers an evaluation of the performance of the port of Hong Kong, an analysis of the impact of the port on the territory and an assessment of policies in this field. It examines port performance over the last decades and identifies the principal factors that have contributed to it. The effect of the port on economic and environmental questions is studied and quantified where possible. The major policies governing the port are assessed, along with policies governing transport and economic development, the environment and spatial planning. Based on the report’s findings, recommendations are proposed with a view to improving port performance and increasing the positive effects of the port of Hong Kong. |
| Keywords: | transportation, regional development, ports, regional growth, inter-regional trade, urban growth |
| JEL: | D57 L91 R11 R12 R15 R41 |
| Date: | 2013–11–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2013/16-en&r=cse |
| By: | Zhen Hong; Olaf Merk; Zhao Nan; Jing Li; Xu Mingying; Xie Wenqing; Du Xufeng; Wang Jinggai |
| Abstract: | This working paper offers an evaluation of the performance of the port of Shanghai, an analysis of the impact of the port on its territory and an assessment of policies in this field. It examines port performance over the last decades and identifies the principal factors that have contributed to it. The effect of the port on economic and environmental questions is studied and quantified where possible. The major policies governing the port are assessed, along with policies governing transport and economic development, the environment and spatial planning. Based on the report’s findings, recommendations are proposed with a view to improving port performance and increasing the positive effects of the port of Shanghai. |
| Keywords: | transportation, regional development, ports, regional growth, inter-regional trade, urban growth |
| JEL: | D57 L91 R11 R12 R15 R41 |
| Date: | 2013–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2013/23-en&r=cse |
| By: | Carbonara, Nunzia (CSIR, Blekinge Inst of Technology); Tavassoli, Sam (CSIR, Blekinge Inst of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate concerning the role of heterogeneity for the innovative capability of industrial districts. With this aim, using a knowledge-based approach, the paper focuses on different sources of industrial district knowledge heterogeneity and studies how the different level of heterogeneity affects the innovative capability of industrial districts. Four theoretical hypotheses concerning the effects of knowledge and knowledge heterogeneity on the Industrial District innovativeness are formulated. To test the hypotheses, an econometric analysis on 32 Italian District Provinces is applied. Empirical results show that knowledge heterogeneity matter for increasing the innovative capability of industrial districts. |
| Keywords: | Industrial district; innovative capability; knowledge heterogeneity |
| JEL: | F14 O32 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bthcsi:2012-010&r=cse |
| By: | Merlevede, Bruno (BOFIT); Schoors, Koen (BOFIT); Spatareanu , Mariana (BOFIT) |
| Abstract: | This study measures the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the productivity of local firms. Unlike earlier studies, our empirical approach does not require that FDI manifests immediate or permanent effects. We find that foreign entry initially affects productivity of local competitors negatively, but is more than offset by a permanent positive effect on local competitors once majority-foreign-owned firms have been present for a while. The effect on the productivity of local suppliers, in contrast, is transient. The entry of majority-foreign-owned firms boosts productivity of local suppliers after a short adaption period, but then fades. The positive impact of minority-foreign-owned firms on local suppliers is immediate, but smaller and transient. |
| Keywords: | FDI; spillovers; dynamics; timing |
| JEL: | F23 |
| Date: | 2013–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofitp:2013_027&r=cse |
| By: | Cantner, Uwe; Günther, Jutta; Hassan, Sohaib Shahzad; Jindra, Björn |
| Abstract: | The location determinants of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) have received extensive attention in contemporary literature, largely from the perspective of advanced economies. Less attention has been focused on OFDI from emerging economies. This applies, in particular, to Central and East European Countries (CEEC). Apart from traditional OFDI motives such as market-seeking, there is a growing debate regarding the relevance of knowledge-seeking as an investment motive for firms from catch-up economies. We apply a conditional-logit approach to assess OFDI location factors at the host country level for a sample of 1,036 firms from 10 CEEC that entered the EU between 1995 and 2010. We find that firms from CEEC primarily target economies characterized by high growth rates and geographic proximity, i.e., often other transition economies within the EU. The impact of market size increases significantly after EU accession, when more firms are located in advanced economies (EU15 countries). In terms of knowledge-seeking, we find that firms from CEEC seem to be primarily attracted by human capital endowment rather than by the R&D intensity of other EU economies. |
| Keywords: | Outward FDI, Conditional-logit, Location Choice, Transition Economies, Knowledge Seeking, CEEC |
| JEL: | F23 |
| Date: | 2013–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51817&r=cse |
| By: | Ksenia Gonchar (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Philipp Marek (Institute for Economic Studies – Halle) |
| Abstract: | This paper conducts an empirical study of the factors that affect the spatial distribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) across regions in Russia; in particular, this paper is concerned with those regions that are endowed with natural resources and market-related benefits. Our analysis employs data on Russian firms with a foreign investor during the 2000-2009 period and linked regional statistics in the conditional logit model. The main findings are threefold. First, we conclude that one theory alone is not able to explain the geographical pattern of foreign investments in Russia. A combination of determinants is at work; market-related factors and the availability of natural resources are important factors in attracting FDI. The relative importance of natural resources seems to grow over time, despite shocks associated with events such as the Yukos trial. Second, existing agglomeration economies encourage foreign investors by means of forces generated simultaneously by sector-specific and inter-sectoral externalities. Third, the findings imply that service-oriented FDI co-locates with extraction industries in resource-endowed regions. The results are robust when Moscow is excluded and for subsamples including only Greenfield investments or both Greenfield investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment, location, regional development |
| JEL: | F23 R11 Q34 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:26/ec/2013&r=cse |
| By: | Thomas Grebel (Economics Deprtment, TU Ilmenau); Lionel Nesta (Ofce) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the conditions under which R&D investment by rival firms may be negatively or positively correlated. Using a two-stage game the influence of spillovers and product substitution is investigated. It is shown that under Cournot competition, the sign of the R&D reaction function depends on four types of environments in terms of the level of product substitution and of spillovers. We then test the prediction of the model on the world’s largest manufacturing corporations. We assume that firms make oblivious R&D investments based on the R&D decision of the average rival company. We then develop a dynamic panel data model that accounts for the endogeneity of the decision of the mean rival firms. Results corroborate the validity of the theoretical model. |
| Keywords: | Process R&D, Spillovers, Product substitution, Reaction function, GMM |
| JEL: | D43 L13 O31 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1322&r=cse |
| By: | Chaminade , Cristina (CIRCLE, Lund University); Plechero , Monica (IRPPS-CNR, Italy and CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | Abstract Access to global innovation networks (GINs) has been unequal across the regions of the world. While certain regions are considered knowledge hubs in GINs, others still remain marginalized; this points to the role of regional innovation systems in the emergence and development of GINs. Using firm-level data collected through a survey and case studies in 2009–2010, this article systematically compares the patterns of global networks in the ICT industry in a selection of European, Chinese and Indian regions. The results show that GINs are more common in regions which are not organizationally and institutionally thick, suggesting that GINs may be a compensatory mechanism for weaknesses in the regional innovation system. |
| Keywords: | globalization; innovation networks; regions; Europe; India; China |
| JEL: | O30 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_032&r=cse |
| By: | Huang Vogel, Eleonore (CSIR, Blekinge Inst of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Academic Entrepreneurship has drawn large research interest over the last decade. However, few research focus on the processes behind entrepreneurial behavior in favor of more “linear” perspectives such as the individuals´ transformation from an academic to an entrepreneur measured by e.g. number of start-ups. This paper focuses on entrepreneurial opportunities, its nature and source, and speaks for the usefulness of a social network perspective on academic entrepreneurship. Inter-disciplinary literature is reviewed for research on the significance of social network to entrepreneurial behavior of academics, or more precisely; social networks significance to opportunity recognition, evaluation and exploitation among entrepreneurial academics. Academic entrepreneurial actions are viewed as non-isolated, non-deterministic, and dynamic co-creations through social networks. Finally concluding remarks, hypotheses and research ideas are presented in which the commercialization process may not be seen as a linear but dynamic process, the opportunity may be created or originate in new knowledge and in turn may be recognized by any member within the academic´s social network and that encouragement and various resources necessary for entrepreneurial action may be added by yet others within the network. |
| Keywords: | academic entrepreneurship; networks; opportunity recognition; innovation; co-creation |
| JEL: | I23 I24 L26 O31 |
| Date: | 2013–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bthcsi:2012-009&r=cse |
| By: | Amarante, M; Ghossoub, M; Phelps, E |
| Date: | 2013–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imp:wpaper:12241&r=cse |
| By: | Yuezhou Cai; Aoife Hanley |
| Abstract: | The standard indicators used to compare cross-country innovation are in the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR). But there are problems with aggregation and response bias with these largely self-reported measures (Hollanders and van Cruysen, 2008). We propose a theory-based metric using Data Envelopment Analysis which corrects for sample bias and considers Returns to Scale. The derived ranking compares well to components of the GCR. Moreover, in second-stage estimations, our corrected efficiency score correlates well with standard Growth Theory indicators |
| Keywords: | Data Envelopment Analysis, Efficiency Indicators, Global Competitiveness Report |
| JEL: | C61 C14 O38 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1882&r=cse |
| By: | Claire Nauwelaers; Karen Maguire; Giulia Ajmone Marsan |
| Abstract: | Estonia and Finland have centuries of collaboration, mainly between the capital areas of Tallinn and Helsinki that currently account for 2 million inhabitants and USD 76 billion in economic output. The entry of Estonia into the European Union and, since the mid-2000s, a two-hour ferry trip, have both facilitated flows of people and merchandise across the Gulf of Finland. The different levels of development between Helsinki and Tallinn result in many asymmetric flows (workers to Helsinki, tourists to Tallinn). Beyond infrastructure and labour market issues, there are interesting opportunities for joint innovation policy efforts given their shared strengths such as in ICT, a dynamic start-up environment and technologically sophisticated public services. Cross-border collaboration can help build an “entrepreneurial knowledge region” brand. This case study is part of the project Regions and Innovation: Collaborating Across Borders. A summary of this working paper appears in a report of the same name. |
| JEL: | L52 L53 O14 O18 O38 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2013/19-en&r=cse |
| By: | Wixe, Sofia (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE), Jönköping International Business School); Andersson, Martin (Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE), Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a conceptual discussion of relatedness, which suggests a focus on individuals as a complement to firms and industries. The empirical relevance of the main arguments are tested by estimating the effects of related and unrelated variety in education and occupation among employees, as well as in industries, on regional growth. We show that for regional productivity growth, occupational and educational related variety matter over and above industry relatedness. This supports the conceptual discussion put forward. The potential of productive interactions between employees in a region is greater when there is related variety in their ‘knowledge base’. We also find that related variety in industries is positive for employment growth but negative for productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Relatedness; variety; occupation; education; regional growth |
| JEL: | J24 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0332&r=cse |
| By: | Juan Alcácer (Harvard Business School, Strategy Unit); Minyuan Zhao (Ross School of Business – University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | This paper takes a close look at the reasons, procedures, and results of cluster identification methods. Despite being a popular research topic in strategy, economics, and sociology, geographic clusters are often studied with little consideration given to the underlying economic activities, the unique cluster boundaries, or the appropriate benchmark of economic concentration. Our goal is to increase awareness of the complexities behind cluster identification, and to provide concrete insights and methodologies applicable to various empirical settings. The organic cluster identification methodology we propose is especially useful when researchers work in global settings, where data available at different geographic units complicates comparisons across countries. |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:14-042&r=cse |
| By: | Wacker, Konstantin M. |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the different concepts of measuring multinational corporations' activities to provide empirical researchers helpful guidelines about which measures to use in their work. I discuss which economic relations exist between the measures and show that a tight relationship can be established in theory and is indeed present in the actual data. A main conclusion is that foreign direct investment (FDI) stock data is generally recommendable to measure the importance of multinational firms but the preferred measure depends on the analytical question under investigation. The second part of the paper argues that estimating the determinants of multinational firms by using static equilibrium models can be quantitatively misleading and hence be problematic for our understanding of multinational firms and for the design of policy. In this context, I suggest some guidelines how data on multinationals could and should be used for empirical estimation. JEL Classification: C51, F2, E01 |
| Keywords: | balance of payments, FDI, measurement, multinationals |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20131614&r=cse |
| By: | Riccardo Crescenzi; Max Nathan; Andrés Rodríguez-Pose |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how physical, organisational, institutional, cognitive, social, and ethnic proximities between inventors shape their collaboration decisions. Using a new panel of UK inventors and a novel identification strategy, this paper systematically explores the net effects of all these ‘proximities’ on co-patenting. The regression analysis allows us to identify the full effects of each proximity, both on choice of collaborator and on the underlying decision to collaborate. The results show that physical proximity is an important influence on collaboration, but is mediated by organisational and ethnic factors. Over time, physical proximity increases in salience. For multiple inventors, geographic proximity is, however, much less important than organisational, social, and ethnic links. For inventors as a whole, proximities are fundamentally complementary, while for multiple inventors they are substitutes. |
| Keywords: | innovation, patents, proximities, regions, knowledge spillovers, collaboration, ethnicity, |
| JEL: | O31 O33 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1324&r=cse |
| By: | Poschke, Markus (McGill University) |
| Abstract: | Developing and emerging economies have high entrepreneurship rates and relatively many small firms. There is enormous heterogeneity among these firms and entrepreneurs. This paper presents a simple occupational choice model that captures motives for entrepreneurship at both edges of the size distribution. The model is then used to analyse the effects of productivity growth, distortions, financial and labor market frictions, and risk. Capturing entrepreneurship across the size distribution allows for different reactions of high- and low-ability entrepreneurs to changes in policies and the environment. These may result in powerful general equilibrium effects. In particular, policies affecting high-ability entrepreneurs potentially running large firms can indirectly have a strong effect on entry by low-ability entrepreneurs and thus on the prevalence of small firms. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, firm entry and exit, development, labor market regulation |
| JEL: | J24 L26 O11 O17 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7757&r=cse |
| By: | Svetlana Grigorieva (Svetlana Grigorieva, researcher, Corporate Finance Center, assistant professor, Department of Finance at National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow); Tatiana Petrunina (Tatiana Petrunina, junior researcher, Corporate Finance Center, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia) |
| Abstract: | Researchers have long tried to define the impact of corporate mergers and acquisitions on company performance. We contribute to the existing literature by examining the influence of M&A deals on company value in the short-run using the event study method and in the long-run based on economic profit concept. Examining a sample of 80 deals initiated by companies from emerging capital markets over 2002-2009, we find that M&As are value-destroying deals for the combined firms. Results from the long-run analysis prove the negative industry-adjusted differences between post-acquisition and pre-acquisition performance measures. The difference is equal to a significant -3.3% for the EBITDA/Sales ratio. The Economic Profit approach demonstrates a similar result. Our findings from the short-run analysis indicate that the announcements of M&A deals generate significant high returns for target shareholders, while the returns to bidder shareholders are not significant. We also analyze the determinants of M&A performance, such as method of payment, business similarity, and the target’s country. |
| Keywords: | Mergers and Acquisitions, Value Creation, Economic Profit, Company Performance |
| JEL: | G34 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:20/fe/2013&r=cse |
| By: | Peters, Bettina; Roberts, Mark J.; Vuong, Van Anh; Fryges, Helmut |
| Abstract: | Using firm-level data from the German manufacturing sector, we estimate a dynamic, structural model of the firm's decision to invest in R&D and quantify the cost and longrun benefit of this investment. The model incorporates and quantifies linkages between the firm's R&D investment, product and process innovations, and future productivity and profits. The dynamic model provides a natural measure of the long-run payoff to R&D as the difference in expected firm value generated by the R&D investment. For the median productivity firm, investment in R&D raises firm value by 3.0 percent in a group of hightech industries but only 0.2 percent in low-tech industries. Simulations of the model show that cost subsidies for R&D can significantly affect R&D investment rates and productivity changes in the high-tech industries. -- |
| Keywords: | R&D demand,Innovation,Productivity,Dynamic structural model |
| JEL: | L60 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13089&r=cse |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University, Sweden and Blekinge Institute of Technology); Larsson , Johan P. (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE), Department of Economics, Finance and Statistics, Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Jönköping) |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurial activity is significantly predicted by the presence of other entrepreneurs in the residential neighborhood. One plausible source of such spatial clustering is local peer effects, where individuals’ decisions to become entrepreneurs are influenced by entrepreneurial neighbors. Using geo-coded matched employer-employee data for Sweden, we find that sharing residential neighborhood with established entrepreneurs has a statistically significant and robust influence on the probability than an individual leaves employment for entrepreneurship. An otherwise average neighborhood with a 5 percentage point higher entrepreneurial intensity all else equal produces between 7 and 8 more entrepreneurs per square kilometer, each year. Local peer effects appear as important in explaining local clusters of entrepreneurs, and imply a local feedback-effect in which the presence of established entrepreneurs in a neighborhood breeds new local entrepreneurs |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; clusters; peer effects; local social interactions; role models; neighborhood; social network externalities; path dependence |
| JEL: | J24 L26 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_030&r=cse |
| By: | Sjöholm, Fredrik (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Foreign direct investment has been of large importance in economic growth and global economic integration over the last decades. South East Asia has been part of this development with rapidly increasing inflows of FDI. However, there are large variations over time and between countries in the region as regard to the policies towards FDI, and in actual inflows of FDI. This chapter aims at examining the size of FDI in South East Asia and the trends in it. The main determinants of FDI in Southeast Asia as well as their effect on the host countries are also discussed and examined. |
| Keywords: | Foreign direct investment; multinational firms; Southeast Asia; economic development |
| JEL: | F21 F23 O53 |
| Date: | 2013–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2013_037&r=cse |
| By: | Claire Nauwelaers; Karen Maguire; Giulia Ajmone Marsan |
| Abstract: | Hedmark County (Norway) and Dalarna County (Sweden) are both rural, with the border being remote from regional centres. The total population of less than half a million inhabitants spans across almost 58 800 km², with an economic output of USD 22 billion. Efforts to support collaboration at the border focus on the sector of tourism that both share, and which would be facilitated by the construction of one airport to serve both sides. As most science and technology-related assets are located far from the border, the region does not seem to have the relevant conditions for a broad cross-border regional innovation policy since urban centres are perhaps better served by looking towards other locations rather than this border. On the border, efforts for innovation in other forms, such as in marketing and organisational methods in tourism, are more relevant. This case study is part of the project Regions and Innovation: Collaborating Across Borders . A summary of this working paper appears in a report of the same name. |
| JEL: | L52 L53 O14 O18 O38 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2013/18-en&r=cse |
| By: | Borell, Mariela; Heger, Diana |
| Abstract: | This article documents a new value creation function of private equity investors who carry out buy-and-build strategies. Buy-and-build strategies constitute an initial acquisition of a firm, serving as a 'platform', by a private equity investor and follow-on private equity-backed acquisitions ('add-ons'). The investor merges the platform and add-ons into a single entity. Additionally to the selection of well performing firms by the investors prior to the transaction, we identify value-enhancing potentials which private equity investors explore through buy-and-builds. The investors bring together platforms with lower capacity utilization and lower returns, and add-ons with higher utilization and higher returns in order to allocate resources and capacity more efficiently and to improve firms' performance. However, the buy-and-build strategies only have a positive impact on the profitability of firms with increasing industry adjusted utilization. Consequently the more efficient deployment of assets for the generation of sales drives the improved performance after buy-and-builds. -- |
| Keywords: | Private Equity,Buy-and-Build |
| JEL: | G24 G34 L14 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13094&r=cse |
| By: | AMBASHI Masahito |
| Abstract: | This study mainly investigates the causal relation between the degree of competition, which is measured by the Lerner index, and the total factor productivity (TFP) growth rate on the basis of the Japanese industry-level panel data (Japan Industrial Productivity (JIP) Database) from 1980 to 2008. The central finding indicates that, although a positive effect of competition on the TFP growth rate is clearly observable in the manufacturing industries throughout the sample period, such effect in the non-manufacturing industries may be slightly negative in the latter half of the sample period (1995-2008). This finding of a negative competition effect may lend support to the claim that the Schumpeterian hypothesis can be applied in the case of the non-manufacturing industries. Furthermore, a weak inverted-U shape relation between the competition measure and TFP growth proposed by Aghion et al. (2005) can be seen limitedly almost exclusively in all industries. |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13098&r=cse |
| By: | Timmer, Marcel P.; Los, Bart; Stehrer, Robert; de Vries, Gaaitzen |
| Abstract: | Increasing fragmentation of production across borders is changing the nature of international competition. As a result, conventional indicators of competitiveness based on gross exports become less informative and new measures are needed. In this paper we propose an ex-post accounting framework of the value added and workers that are directly and indirectly related to the production of final manufacturing goods, called "manufactures GVC income" and "manufactures GVC jobs". We outline these concepts and provide trends in European countries based on a recent multi-sector input-output model of the world economy. We find that since 1995 revealed comparative advantage of the EU 27 is shifting to activities related to the production of non-electrical machinery and transport equipment. The workers involved in manufactures GVCs are increasingly in services, rather than manufacturing industries. We also find a strong shift towards activities carried out by high-skilled workers, highlighting the uneven distributional effects of fragmentation. The results show that a GVC perspective is needed to better inform the policy debates on competitiveness. JEL Classification: F6, J2, O47, O57 |
| Keywords: | European competitiveness, fragmentation, incomes and jobs |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20131615&r=cse |
| By: | Alexandra Tabova |
| Abstract: | In this paper I explore the role of portfolio diversification in explaining the distribution of foreign investment across countries. I capture the portfolio diversification motive by a measure of country-specific riskiness, “covariance risk”, which I construct as how countries' growth rates covary with the stochastic discount factor of a representative international investor. My key new empirical finding is a strong and significant correlation between this new measure of country riskiness and foreign investment allocations. Less risky countries, i.e. countries whose growth rates are more highly correlated with the investor's stochastic discount factor, receive larger investment shares than more risky countries. I interpret this result as evidence that investors do take into account diversification opportunities, not only for portfolio investment decisions, but also for foreign direct investment decisions. My empirical results confirm the theoretical predictions of standard portfolio allocation models. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgif:1091&r=cse |
| By: | Daniel H. Weinberg |
| Abstract: | Firms rely heavily on their investments in human capital to achieve profits. This research takes advantage of detailed information on worker performance and confidential information on firm revenue and operating costs to investigate the relationship between talent migration and firm profitability in major league sports. One key problem that firms have is identifying performance measures for its workforce, especially for potential employees (recruits). In contrast to nearly all other industries, in the industry of professional team sports, detailed information about the past performance of each individual worker (athlete) is known to all potential employers. First, I demonstrate using public data that worker (athlete) statistics aggregated to the establishment (team) level correlate with success on the field (measured in win percentage). Second, I use confidential data from the 2007 Economic Censuses, and from the 2007 and 2008 Service Annual Surveys to investigate the link between individual worker performance and team profitability, controlling for many other aspects of the sports business, specifically taking account of the mobility of athletic “stars” and “superstars” from one team to another. The investigations in this paper provide support for the hypothesis that hiring talented individuals (stars) will increase a firm’s profit. However, there is not convincing support for the incremental benefit of hiring superstars. The mixed evidence suggests a benefit on balance. |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-54&r=cse |