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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2014‒02‒08
nine papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Joana Reis (Faculdade de Economia do Porto); Rosa Forte (Faculdade de Economia do Porto) |
| Abstract: | The process of globalization of economies and markets has led firms to consider entry into foreign markets. Exporting is the simplest foreign market entry mode, but also the most common, not requiring high financial and human resources. Hence it is important to study the factors that can affect the firm’s export intensity, measure commonly used to assess the export performance. Several authors have studied the factors that influence the firm’s export performance, but few have addressed the relationship between industry characteristics and export intensity. Thus, the objective of the present study is to analyze the impact of industry characteristics (capital intensity, R&D intensity, labor productivity, export orientation, and concentration level) on the firm’s export intensity, seeking to add empirical evidence to this relatively neglected research area. Based on a sample of 1,425 Portuguese firms during the period 2008-2010, and using panel data estimation, the empirical results show that some industry characteristics (labor productivity, export orientation, concentration), as well as firm characteristics (labor productivity, size) are important determinants of a firm’s export intensity. In particular, we conclude that firm export intensity is positively affected by labor productivity (at industry and firm level), corroborating the idea that firms and governments need to direct their policies towards increased productivity in order to improve competitiveness in foreign markets. |
| Keywords: | Export performance, export intensity, Portuguese firms, industry characteristics |
| JEL: | L25 L69 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:524&r=cse |
| By: | Beatrice D'Ippolito (MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - Grenoble École de Management (GEM)) |
| Abstract: | Scholars dedicated increasing attention towards appreciating how design has changed individuals' perception of new products, firms' understanding and formulation of strategy, or other relevant actors' approach to innovation and technology management. By emphasising the importance of design for the definition of consumers' needs, the restructuring of firms' organisational structures and strategies, and the evolution of firms' value creation processes, this review paper identifies relevant research gaps and questions that would benefit from future scholarly attention. In particular, it is suggested that such effort should address the analysis of: how design consumption can help better comprehend consumers' needs; what are the implications of design thinking on the skill sets of design professionals; the organisational structure of firms, including the reconfiguration of other business functions, and their strategy; and whether and how design thinking can shape firms' value creation processes and contribute to the formalisation of design tasks. |
| Keywords: | Design; strategy making; consumers' needs; value creation; literature review; firm competitiveness; research gaps |
| Date: | 2014–01–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00936947&r=cse |
| By: | Diaz-Mayans, M.Angeles; Sánchez, Rosario/R |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the relationship between exports, innovative activities and size and their effect over firms’ technical efficiency and then over their productivity. The analysis takes, also, into account other variables that could affect productivity as industrial sector, or firms’ financial conditions. We use a micro panel data set of Spanish manufacturing firms, during the period 2004–2009, to simultaneously estimate a stochastic frontier production function and the inefficiency determinants. The data source is published in the Spanish Industrial Survey on Business Strategies (Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales, ESEE), collected by Fundación SEPI. Our results show that exporting firms are more efficient than non-exporting firms; and that small and medium-sized firms’ tent to be more efficient when they focus on international markets. |
| Keywords: | exports, firms, technical efficiency, productivity, innovative activities, R&D expenditures |
| JEL: | F14 L25 L60 |
| Date: | 2014–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53230&r=cse |
| By: | Covi, Giovanni |
| Abstract: | The paper aims at investigating the possible trajectories of regional clusters (industrial districts or local systems) in order to depict feasible strategies to cope with globalization. First, same relevant stylized facts on the new structure of global market are presented in order to illustrate the new competitive framework the SME must face. Second, the concept of ‘complete productive process’ is introduced to characterize the special setting is necessary for the survival of the regional systems of SME. Said briefly, a local cluster needs to co-produce values, capabilities, institutions: its very identity. Since local systems are essentially ‘cognitive systems’, they need to go global not as single firm but as a system. To accomplish this difficult task they must resort to a collective and cooperative behaviour. The paper tries to fill this gap introducing the concept of ‘Collective Local Entrepreneurship’, a reference point, a device to whom anchor the strategic pragmatism necessary to regional clusters to cope with globalization. The renewal of the local ‘ecosystems’ within the international networks (at all different levels) appears to be a general objective. A strong public-private partnership emerges as a strategic commitment. In this perspective the paper tries to capture, as a conclusion, the potential dynamics of the four evolutionary trajectories, which the regional clusters are called upon to deal with. |
| Keywords: | Industrial clusters; innovation; knowledge; industrial policy; entrepreneurship. |
| JEL: | L22 L26 O25 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53334&r=cse |
| By: | Shimizu, Hiroshi; Wakutsu, Naohiko |
| Abstract: | By exploring the patterns of laser-diode technological development in the U.S. and Japan and theoretically examining market conditions and institutions that promote entrepreneurial spin-outs from a parental company, this study reveals how the existence and absence of entrepreneurial spin-out influence the ways in which technological trajectories emerge. It shows that vibrant entrepreneurial spin-out could hinder technological development, since the cumulative effects of incremental innovations on the technological trajectories could vanish if many firms spun out to target untapped sub-markets. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Entrepreneurial Spin-Outs, Technological Trajectory, R&D Competition, Sub-markets, General Purpose Technology |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:iirwps:13-21&r=cse |
| By: | Andrés Rodríguez-Pose; Marco Di-Cataldo |
| Abstract: | Although it has frequently been argued that the quality of institutions affects the innovative potential of a territory, the link between institutions and innovation remains a black box. This paper aims to shed light on how institutions shape innovative capacity, by focusing on how regional government quality affects innovative performance in the regions of Europe. By exploiting new data on quality of government (QoG), we assess how government quality and its components (control of corruption, rule of law, government effectiveness and government accountability) shape patenting capacity across the regions of the European Union (EU). The results of the analysis – which are robust to controlling for the endogeneity of institutions – provide strong evidence of a causal link between the quality of local governments and the capacity of territories to generate innovation. In particular, low quality of government becomes a fundamental barrier for the innovative capacity of the periphery of the EU, strongly undermining any potential effect of any other measures aimed at promoting greater innovation. The results have important implications for the definition of innovation strategies in EU regions. |
| Keywords: | Institutions, Quality of government, Innovation, Regions, Europe |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1406&r=cse |
| By: | Eriksson, Tor; Ortega, Jaime |
| Abstract: | A question largely left unanswered in previous studies of firms’ use of HRM practices, and the consequences thereof, is why some firms adopt these practices while others do not. We examine empirically the determinants of firms’ demand for HRM pay, work and training practices with a special focus on the role of differences in the organizational structure of firms. For this purpose we merge data from a detailed questionnaire study of Danish private sector firms’ use of HRM practices with workforce information from linked employer-employee data. We find that firms with a Multi-divisional or a Hybrid structure have a greater demand for (incentive) pay practices and new work practices than companies with a Unitary (functional) form. Moreover, M- and H-firms train more of their employees than the U-firms do, suggesting that employer provided training is linked to the adoption of pay and work practices. |
| Keywords: | Organizational structure, Firm choice, Pay and work practices |
| JEL: | D22 L22 M51 M52 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2013-09&r=cse |
| By: | Alexander Eickelpasch |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates to what extent the R&D behavior of manufacturing companies was influenced by the 2008/09 crisis. Based on a broad official data set for German manufacturing companies, only a few companies that engaged in R&D during 2008 gave it up in the following year. Some companies even started R&D during crisis. R&D expenditures declined in 2009 compared to 2008, but expanded in 2010. The development of R&D expenditures was less volatile than sales. Probit analyses show that the occurrence of R&D in 2009 is very much determined by engagement in R&D in 2008 and that changes in demand are not relevant. However, fluctuation in demand proved to be relevant in the regressions computed where the intensity of R&D expenditures was the dependent variable. This result suggests that companies reacted counter cyclically in 2008/09, i.e. the reduction in R&D was smaller than the decline in demand, or the expansion of R&D expenditures was greater than the change in demand. Similar regressions for using R&D staff as the dependent variable did not find any influence of changes in demand. The results suggest that companies see R&D as a longer term task necessary to retain competitiveness. |
| Keywords: | Research and development, Business cycle, Manufacturing |
| JEL: | E32 L60 O31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1357&r=cse |
| By: | Andrea Morrison; Roberta Rabellotti |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1404&r=cse |