|
on Economics of Strategic Management |
|
Issue of 2014‒03‒08
sixteen papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Sadaf Bashir; Uwe Matzat; Bert Sadowski |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes processes and effects of ICT enabled innovation in the Dutch design sector. Although the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is considered as vital in the design sector, little is known about whether and how ICTs affect the firm performance of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the industry. In introducing a conceptual distinction between ICT supporting the information processing and communication, the paper first examines the determinants of ICT adoption. Next, we analyze the effects of ICT adoption on product and process innovation as well as on firm performance, focusing on the mediating role of the innovation processes. The analyses rest on survey data of a sample of 189 Dutch companies in the Web, Graphic, and Industrial Design Sector in the Netherlands. The results indicate that information processing role of ICT supports the exploitation and communication role facilitates the exploration in organizational learning. The exploitation enables process innovation while exploration enables product innovation. Lastly, Information processing technologies and product innovation are important determinants of superior firm performance. |
| Keywords: | ICT, design, innovation |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ein:tuecis:1401&r=cse |
| By: | Tor Eriksson (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark); Zhihua Qin (Renmin University, China,); Wenjing Wang (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between employee turnover, HRM practices and innovation in Chinese firms in five high technology sectors. We estimate hurdle negative binomial models for count data on survey data allowing for analyses of the extensive as well as intensive margins of firms’ innovation activities. Innovation is measured both by the number of ongoing projects and new commercialized products. The results show that higher R&D employee turnover is associated with a higher probability of being innovative, but decreases the intensity of innovation activities in innovating firms. Innovating firms are more likely to have adopted high performance HRM practices, and the impact of employee turnover varies with the number of HRM practices implemented by the firm. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, HRM Practices, Employee Turnover |
| JEL: | L22 M50 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2014-09&r=cse |
| By: | Tannista Banerjee; Ralph Siebert |
| Abstract: | Our study puts special attention to the fact that R&D cooperations in the pharmaceutical industry are formed at different stages throughout the drug development process. We study if the timing to engage in R&D cooperations in the pharmaceutical industry has different impacts on the technology and product markets. Using a comprehensive dataset on the pharmaceutical industry, and estimating a heterogeneous treatment effects model (Heckman et al., 2006) our results show that R&D cooperations formed at the early stages increase the number of R&D projects and the number of drugs launched on the product market. Most interestingly, late stage R&D cooperations significantly reduce the number of drugs launched on the market, even though they increased firms’ activity in the technology markets. This result highlights the fact that firms re-optimize their drug development portfolio to avoid wasteful duplication and cannibalizing the sales of the jointly developed drug in R&D cooperations. Our study show that firms cooperating in late stage collaborations re-optimize their individual drug development portfolios, which significantly reduces the number of drugs offered on the market. |
| Keywords: | drug development, dynamics, co-development, pharmaceutical industry, product variety, product market competition, Research and Development cooperation |
| JEL: | L24 L25 L65 D22 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4567&r=cse |
| By: | Benjamin Rene Kern (University of Marburg); Juan Manuel Mantilla Contreras |
| Abstract: | The firms that compete with one another in terms of innovation do not necessarily coincide with the relevant competitors on pre-innovation product markets. As a consequence, the findings about the ambiguous interrelation between (product) market concentration and innovation cannot be transferred one-to-one to the interrelationship between innovation competition and innovation. By identifying and classifying the most relevant effects, which are decisive for the impact of mergers on the incentives to invest in product innovation oriented R&D, we will demonstrate that the interrelation between innovation competition and innovation is not always as unclear as it seems. Hence, by analyzing the model-theoretic industrial organization literature, this article aims to contribute to the discussion about the development of a decision theoretic assessment framework for analyzing the impact of mergers on innovation and is therefore also in line with the idea of a rule-based competition policy which is, from a law and economics perspective, ought to reduce error costs, give legal guidance and reduce legal uncertainty. |
| JEL: | K21 L12 L41 O31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201417&r=cse |
| By: | Foders, Federico; Vogelsang, Manuel Molina |
| Abstract: | The German economy has been outperforming other member countries of the European Union during the recent Great Recession and the still ongoing European debt crisis. What are the determinants of this outcome? This paper sets out to empirically analyze the trade and technology specialization and the price/cost performance of the German economy over the period 1990 - 2011. Furthermore, we apply the unit value approach to determine whether the competitiveness of German manufacturing products is related to price or quality advantage. Also, we estimate the degree of vertical specialization characterizing the German export sector in order to assess the role global value chains play in strengthening Germany's position in manufacturing. All indicators are calculated for Germany, the Republic of Korea, the People's Republic of China, Japan and the United States. Our results confirm that Germany is specialized in medium-range technology products and show that quality is the main driver of Germany's international success, that price and cost advantage determines competitiveness in some product groups and that R&D efforts have contributed to develop and maintain German competitiveness in manufactured products. -- |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkpb:69&r=cse |
| By: | Fabrizio Antonioli (Dipartimento di Economia Istituzioni Territorio, Facoltà di Economia, Università degli Studi di Ferrara.); Simone Borghesi (Università degli Studi di Siena, Facoltà di Scienze Politiche.); Massimiliano Mazzanti (Departiment of Economics, Università di Ferrara (italy).) |
| Abstract: | The adoption and diffusion of environmental innovations (EIs) is crucial to greening the economy and achieving win-win environmental – economic gains. A large and increasing literature has focused on the levers underlying EIs that are external to the firm, such as stakeholder’s pressure and policy pressure. Little attention, however, has been devoted so far to the possible role of local spatial spillovers. The latter can be very relevant since growth depends on strong idiosyncratic regional factors – such asagglomeration economies - that must be integrated with the challenges posed by global markets. To overcome this drawback of the existing literature, we analyse here a rich dataset that covers the innovative activities and economic performances of firms in the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy, a manufacturing district-rich area. We analyse firms’ performances through a two-step procedure. First, we look at the relevance of spatial levers, namely whether the agglomeration of EIs induces EIs in a given firm. Second, we test whether EIs have significantly increased firms’ economic performances. As to the importance of spatial levers, the role of agglomeration turns out to be fairly local in nature:we find that spillovers are significantly inducing innovation within municipal boundaries, which is coherent with the district-based Marshallian economies of north- eastern Italy. Regarding economic performances, firms' productivity is positively related to EI adoption; in particular,firms that adopt EIs and organizational change show a better economic performance.Our findings suggest that EIscanbe a key source of growth for regional systems, particularly when spurred by local spillovers, and an important way outof the ongoing crisis. |
| Keywords: | environmental innovations, firm economic performances, local spillovers, manufacturing, agglomeration |
| JEL: | O38 Q55 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:0414&r=cse |
| By: | Vassilis Monastiriotis |
| Abstract: | The process of approximation between the EU and its ‘eastern neighbourhood’ has created conditions for deepening economic interactions and market integration, giving to the EU – and to EU businesses– an elevated role in the process of economic modernisation and transition in the neighbourhood countries. This raises the question as to whether European business activity in these countries produces indeed measureable economic advantages both in absolute and in relative terms (e.g., compared to business activity from other parts of the world). Similarly, a question arises as to whether European business activity reduces or amplifies spatial imbalances within the partner countries. This paper examines these issues for the case of capital flows (foreign ownership) and the related productivity spillovers, using firm-level data from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS)covering 28 transition countries over the period 2002-2009. We estimate the direct and intraindustry productivity effects of foreign ownership and examine how these differ across regional blocks (CEE, SEE and ENP), according to the origin of the foreign investor (EU versus non-EU), across geographical scales (pure industry versus regional spillovers) and for different types of locations (capital-city regions versus the rest). Our results suggest that FDI of EU origin plays a distinctive role in the countries concerned helping raise domestic productivity significantly more than investments from outside the EU. However, this process appears to operate in a spatially selective manner, thus enhancing regional disparities and spatial imbalances. This, then, assigns a particular responsibility for EU policy, as it continues to promote economic integration (and FDI flows) to its eastern neighbourhood, to devise interventions that will help redress these problems. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:55267&r=cse |
| By: | Sumon K. Bhaumik; Ying Zhou |
| Abstract: | Business groups, which are ubiquitous in emerging market economies, balance the advantages of characteristics such as internal capital markets with the disadvantages such as inefficient internal distribution of resources and suppression of technological and other forms of innovativeness. In this paper, we examine, in the Indian context, whether business group affiliation provides an advantage over unaffiliated (or private independent) firms with respect to technological progress, which lies at the heart of wider economic growth and prosperity. Our results suggest that while business group affiliation did provide an advantage over private independent firms at the start of the sample period (2000), this advantage was more than offset by the turn of the century. We discuss the implications of our results for economic growth rates in emerging market economies. |
| Keywords: | Business groups; Technological progress; India |
| JEL: | D24 L21 L22 O12 |
| Date: | 2014–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2014-1066&r=cse |
| By: | Tano, Sofia (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | The spatial distribution of human capital plays a fundamental role for regional differences in economic growth and welfare. This paper examines how individual ability indicated by the grade point average (GPA), from comprehensive school, affects the probability of migration among young university graduates in Sweden. Using detailed micro data available from the Swedish population registers, the study examines two cohorts of individuals who enrol in tertiary education. The results indicate that individual abilities reflected by the GPA are strongly influential when it comes to completing a university degree and for the migration decision after graduation. Moreover, there is a positive relationship between the GPA and the choice of migrating from regions with a relatively low tax base and a relatively small share of highly educated people in the population. Analogously, individuals with a high GPA tend to stay at a higher rate in more flourishing regions. |
| Keywords: | Bivariate probit; individual ability; migration; regional clustering; university graduates |
| JEL: | I23 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0879&r=cse |
| By: | Poschke, Markus (McGill University) |
| Abstract: | How and why does the firm size distribution differ across countries? Using two datasets covering more than 30 countries, this paper documents that several features of the firm size distribution are strongly associated with income per capita: the entrepreneurship rate and the fraction of small firms fall with per capita income across countries, while average firm employment, the median and higher percentiles of the firm size distribution, and the dispersion and skewness of employment all rise with per capita income. The paper broadens existing evidence on the first three facts to cover more countries and newly introduces the last three to the literature. It then proposes a simple theory of skill-biased change in entrepreneurial technology motivated by recent microeconomic literature that fits with the evidence. For this, it introduces two additional features into an otherwise standard occupational choice, heterogeneous firm model a la Lucas (1978): technological change does not benefit all potential entrepreneurs equally, and there is a positive relationship between an individual's potential payoffs in working and in entrepreneurship. If some firms consistently benefit more from technological progress than others, they stay closer to the frontier, while others fall behind. Because wages rise for all workers, marginal entrepreneurs exit and become workers. Quantitatively, the model fits both the U.S. time series experience and cross-country patterns well. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, entrepreneurship, firm size, skill-biased technical change |
| JEL: | E24 J24 L11 L26 O30 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7991&r=cse |
| By: | Berck, Peter (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Policy); Tano, Sofia (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics); Westerlund, Olle (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | Migration rates are highest among young adults, especially students, and their location choices affect the regional distribution of human capital, growth and local public sector budgets. Using Swedish register data on young adults, the choice of whether to enroll in education and the choice of location are estimated jointly. The results indicate a systematic selection into investment in further education based on school grades and associated preferences for locations with higher per capita tax bases. For students, the estimates indicate lower preferences for locations with higher shares of older people. The importance of family networks for the choice of location is confirmed. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration; human capital; local public sector; location choice |
| JEL: | J24 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0878&r=cse |
| By: | Drobetz, Wolfgang; von Meyerinck, Felix; Oesch, David; Schmid, Markus |
| Abstract: | We analyze the valuation effect of board industry experience and channels through which industry experience of outside directors affects firm value. Firms with more experienced outside directors are valued at a premium compared to firms with less experienced outside directors. Additional tests indicate that our results stem from within-firm variation and that board industry experience causes higher firm values. Firms with experienced boards exhibit lower investment-cash flow sensitivities, build up valuable financial slack by holding cash, shape operating policies, and provide better incentivized compensation packages to CEOs. Our results suggest that board industry experience is a valuable corporate governance mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Board of directors, Director skills and experience, Corporate governance |
| JEL: | G32 G34 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:sfwpfi:2014:01&r=cse |
| By: | Duarte, Pablo |
| Abstract: | The empirical evidence on the linkage of the informal economy and GDP is ambiguous. It depends on the method used to estimate the size of the informal economy. I propose a common factor of four different approximations of the size of the informal economy as an alternative. Using Spain as an example I find that GDP Granger-causes informality, but not the other way around. I also find that positive GDP shocks induce positive and statistically significant responses of the size of the informal economy. -- |
| Keywords: | informal economy,dynamic factor model |
| JEL: | C38 O17 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:leiwps:127&r=cse |
| By: | O.A. Carboni; P. Russu |
| Abstract: | Economic and environmental efficiency has being receiving growing attention among researchers. In general terms, this concept is related to the capability of the economic systems to employ natural resources efficiently, so as to increase economic and human wealth. This clearly implies that both the economic and ecological aspects of decisions ought to be considered. Bearing this in mind, this paper considers economic and ecological performance together, by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to investigating the efficiency of the 20 Italian regions from 2004 to 2011. The results reveal that the northern regions have been more efficient than the southern ones, highlighting the strong geographical differences between the two. Furthemore this paper uses the Grey System Theory to forecast regional economic and environmental efficiency. The results of the forecasting analysis show that the North-south duality remains strong and will possibly increase since the regions in the south get worse in term of environmental and economic efficiency. |
| Keywords: | panel data, forecasting, Data envelopment analysis (DEA), Malmquist productivity index (MPI), Grey system theory |
| JEL: | E17 C61 C23 C14 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201401&r=cse |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Francisco A. Gallego; James A. Robinson |
| Abstract: | In this paper we revisit the relationship between institutions, human capital and development. We argue that empirical models that treat institutions and human capital as exogenous are misspecified both because of the usual omitted variable bias problems and because of differential measurement error in these variables, and that this misspecification is at the root of the very large returns of human capital, about 4 to 5 times greater than that implied by micro (Mincerian) estimates, found in some of the previous literature. Using cross-country and cross-regional regressions, we show that when we focus on historically-determined differences in human capital and control for the effect of institutions, the impact of institutions on long-run development is robust, while the estimates of the effect of human capital are much diminished and become consistent with micro estimates. Using historical and cross-country regression evidence, we also show that there is no support for the view that differences in the human capital endowments of early European colonists have been a major factor in the subsequent institutional development of these polities. |
| Keywords: | Economic Development, Institutions, Human Capital |
| JEL: | I25 P16 O10 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ioe:doctra:449&r=cse |
| By: | Marcela Eslava (Universidad de Los Andes); John Haltiwanger (University of Maryland and NBER); Adriana Kugler (Georgetown University, NBER, and Department of Labor.); Maurice Kugler (UNDP) |
| Abstract: | We assess the impact, on workforce contract composition, employment adjustment dynamics and productivity, of a combination of changes in the Colombian labor legislation which increased firm’s ability of using contracts of a temporary nature, and posterior changes that increased the costs associated with longer term contracts. Until 1990, labor regulations in Colombia practically banned the possibility of using fixed-term contracts for horizons of less than one year (see, e.g. Kugler, 2004). The labor market component of a broad package of market reforms adopted at the beginning of the nineties opened the possibility of hiring under fixed term contracts of different types. Some of these contracts not only free employers of potential dismissal costs, but are also subject to reduced, or even zero, non-wage costs. Regulatory changes occurred in the decade that followed further increased incentives to use fixed term contracts. |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0154&r=cse |