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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2014‒03‒22
twenty papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Otello Ardovino; Luca Pennacchio; Giuseppe Piroli |
| Abstract: | Firm innovation capacity depends not only on internal capabilities, but also on external expertise and knowledge acquired through cooperation. This paper analyzes direct and indirect effect of R&D cooperation on the innovation of Italian firms. Using a multivariate probit model to account for the complementarity of four different types of innovation activity and the heterogeneity in the choice of cooperation partners, we find strong and positive direct effects of collaborations with some non-competitive partners (suppliers, clients, private research institutes and consultants). Also R&D cooperation with competitors shows a relevant direct effect on firm innovation. On the contrary, collaborations with university have weaker effects; this could perhaps be due to the short-term perspective adopted in the study. These findings suggest that it is important to look at the specific type of R&D collaborations because they have a different impact on the success of innovative activities. On the other hand, indirect effects are scant and restricted to cooperation with some non-competitive partners. Such a result suggests that absorptive capacity of firms and R&D spillovers are quite weak in Italian context. Lastly, firm size and sector-specific features also affect innovation propensity. |
| Keywords: | R&D collaboration, absorptive capacity, moderating variable, innovation, equation probit model, community innovation survey. |
| JEL: | L13 O30 O32 |
| Date: | 2014–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2014_03&r=cse |
| By: | Iritié, B. G. Jean-Jacques |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the issues of innovation clusters-based industrial policy through the economic issues of three industrial dynamics, i. e. R and D (or innovation), location of innovation activities and technology cooperation. It appears that the key elements that justify these new policies are the production and sharing of knowledge, sharing of indivisibility and economic growth. Then, we focuse on the french poles of competitiveness. |
| Keywords: | Clusters, innovation, industrial location, technology cooperation |
| JEL: | O25 O30 R10 |
| Date: | 2014–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:54429&r=cse |
| By: | Erika Raquel Badillo (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Rosina Moreno (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence on the dynamics in firms’ R&D cooperation behaviour. Our main objective is to analyse if R&D collaborative agreements are persistent at the firm level, and in such a case, to study what are the main drivers of this phenomenon. R&D cooperation activities at the firm level can be persistent due to true state dependence, this implying that cooperating in a given period enhances the probability of doing it in the subsequent period and it can also be a consequence of firms’ individual heterogeneity, so that certain firms have certain characteristics that make them more likely to carry out technological alliances. A second contribution of the paper deals with the differentiated persistence pattern of collaboration agreements for three different types of partners: customers and/or suppliers, competitors and institutions. We specifically explore the degree of the persistence in R&D collaborative activities when considering them separately as well as the possibility of finding crossed-persistence across these different partner types. |
| Keywords: | R&D cooperation; Persistence; Innovative Spanish firms; Technological partners. JEL classification: L24; O32; D22; C23 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201410&r=cse |
| By: | Audretsch, David B.; Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Teruel, Mercedes |
| Abstract: | This article aims to analyze the different impact that some factors may exert on the probability that a small young firm invests intensively in R&D. Recently, an increasing amount of the literature makes reference to the vital role played by a small number of young firms in generating jobs and increasing efficiency levels. However, not all new firms invest in R&D. Departing from the definition of YICs (firms younger than 6 years old, fewer than 250 employees and with more than 15% of their revenues invested in R&D activities), and with an extensive sample of the Spanish Community Innovation Survey between 2004- 2010, we try to determine: i) those factors that cause firms to become YICs (innovative young small firms) or YNICs (moderately innovative young small firms); ii) what is the difference in the impact of those factors between YICs and YNICs. Our results show that factors such as initial innovation capacity and cooperation in R&D projects enhance the probability of becoming a YIC. Nevertheless, factors such as export potential and market uncertainty may influence the decision to invest moderately and become a YNIC. Keywords: Innovation, Policy, YICs. JEL Classifications: O31, D21 |
| Keywords: | Empreses -- Innovacions tecnològiques, Innovacions tecnològiques -- Política governamental, Investigació, Conducta organitzacional, Empreses petites i mitjanes, Empreses -- Creació, 65 - Gestió i organització. Administració i direcció d'empreses. Publicitat. Relacions públiques. Mitjans de comunicació de masses, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/225296&r=cse |
| By: | Bodas Freitas , Isabel Maria; Geuna, Aldo; Lawson, Cornelia; Rossi, Federica (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | We investigate under what circumstances firms (industry inventors) are more likely to engage in interactions where governance of the relationship is shared between the firm and the university, as opposed to interactions where the relationship is governed unilaterally by the firm. Using PIEMINV, an original dataset of European industry patents in the Italian region of Piedmont, we analyse the characteristics of inventors with diverse experience in projects involving interactions with universities, governed by institutional contracts or personal contracts. Our results suggest that reliance among inventors of the two forms of governance is almost equal, and that unilateral governance forms are preferred when there are high levels of trust among the parties based on embeddedness in local social and education networks. This is likely because it involves less cumbersome and more direct interactions. We find also that knowledge characteristics are not particularly important discriminants of the choice between governance forms: the advantage of shared governance seems to reside mainly in the possibility to mitigate monitoring and asymmetric information problems in contexts of relatively low levels of mutual knowledge and trust. |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201402&r=cse |
| By: | Amani Elnasri (School of Economics, Australian School of Business, the University of New South Wales); Kevin J. Fox (School of Economics, Australian School of Business, the University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of investment in research and innovation on Australian market sector productivity. While previous studies have largely focused on a narrow class of private sector intangible assets as a source of productivity gains, this paper shows that there is a broad range of other business sector intangible assets that can significantly affect productivity. Moreover, the paper pays special attention to the role played by public support for research and innovation in the economy. The empirical results suggest that there are significant spillovers to productivity from public sector R&D spending on research agencies and higher education. No evidence is found for productivity spillovers from indirect public support for the business enterprise sector, civil sector or defence R&D. These findings could have implications for government innovation policy as they provide insights into possible productivity gains from government funding reallocations. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, Innovation, Intangible assets, Public support |
| JEL: | O3 O4 H4 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2014-08&r=cse |
| By: | Uwe Cantner (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Wolfgang Gerstlberger (University of Southern Denmark, Department of Marketing and Management); Ipsita Roy (Graduate College "The Economics of Innovative Change" (DFG-GK-1411), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Building on the notion of general and specific human capital proposed by Becker (1962), the paper highlights the importance of employee training practices undertaken in firms as an important tool for human resource and knowledge management and focuses on the role of works councils as a specific form of employee representation system therein. Using establishment data on various aspects of training practices and innovation activities in Germany, the paper examines the degree, type and extent to which establishments invest in employee training and finds significant differences for firms with and without works councils. Specifically, findings suggest that works councils are related more with the provision of generalized training rather than in firm-specific technical training of employees. In addition, the paper finds strong support for using works councils as an instrument for a firm's total training activities that correlate with innovation, and weak support when we consider only generalized training and innovation. Finally, no significant relation is found between training practices and radical innovativeness of firms after accounting for reverse causality. |
| Keywords: | employee training practices, knowledge management, generalized training, firm-specific technical training, works councils, innovation, radical innovation |
| JEL: | J5 M53 O3 |
| Date: | 2014–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2014-006&r=cse |
| By: | CompNet Task Force |
| Abstract: | Drawing from confidential firm-level balance sheets in 11 European countries, the paper presents a novel sectoral database of comparable productivity indicators built by members of the Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet) using a newly developed research infrastructure. Beyond aggregate information available from industry statistics of Eurostat or EU KLEMS, the paper provides information on the distribution of firms across several dimensions related to competitiveness, e.g. productivity and size. The database comprises so far 11 countries, with information for 58 sectors over the period 1995-2011. The paper documents the development of the new research infrastructure, the construction of the database, and shows some preliminary results. Among them, it shows that there is large heterogeneity in terms of firm productivity or size within narrowly defined industries in all countries. Productivity, and above all, size distribution are very skewed across countries, with a thick left-tail of low productive firms. Moreover, firms at both ends of the distribution show very different dynamics in terms of productivity and unit labour costs. Within-sector heterogeneity and productivity dispersion are positively correlated to aggregate productivity given the possibility of reallocating resources from less to more productive firms. To this extent, we show how allocative efficiency varies across countries, and more interestingly, over different periods of time. Finally, we apply the new database to illustrate the importance of productivity dispersion to explain aggregate trade results. |
| Keywords: | cross country analysis, firm-level data, competitiveness, productivity and size distribution, total factor productivity, allocative efficiency |
| JEL: | L11 L25 D24 O4 O57 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201403-253&r=cse |
| By: | Toshihiro Okubo (Keio University, Japan); Pierre Picard (CREA, Université de Luxembourg); Jacques-François Thisse (Université catholique de Louvain) |
| Abstract: | We study how the level of trade costs and the intensity of competition interact to explain the nature and intensity of trade within a given industry and the location of firms across countries. As trade costs decrease from very high to very low values, the global economy moves from autarky to two-way trade, through one-way trade from the larger to the smaller region. By exploring the intensive and extensive margins of exports, we investigate how the intensity of trade reacts to the degree of competitiveness. Furthermore, when firms are free to change location, they flow from the small to the large country, and the larger country is always a net exported on the manufactured good. Firms located in the big country have a bigger size than those located in the small one. Under one-way trade, the relocation of firms changes their attitude toward export. |
| Keywords: | trade, competition, firm location, capital mobility |
| JEL: | F12 H22 H87 R12 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:14-05&r=cse |
| By: | Yaya Li; Yongli Li; Yulin Zhao; Fang Wang |
| Abstract: | Industry evolution caused by various reasons, among which technology progress driving industry development has been approved, but with the new trend of industry convergence, inter-industry convergence also plays an increasing important role. This paper plans to probe the industry synergetic evolution mechanism based on industry convergence and technology progress. Firstly, we use self-organization method and Haken Model to establish synergetic evolution equations, select technology progress and industry convergence as the key variables of industry evolution system; then use patent licensing data of china's listed ICT companies to measure industry convergence rate and apply DEA Malmquist index method to calculate technology progress level; furthermore apply simultaneous equation estimation method to investigate the synergetic industry evolution process. From 2002 to 2012, China's ICT industry develops rapidly; it has the most obvious convergence and powerful technology progress compared with other industries. We choose china's listed ICT industry to make empirical analysis. Our main findings are: a) technology progress is the order parameter which dominates industry system evolution. Moreover, industry convergence is the control parameter which is influenced by technology progress; b) Development of technology progress is the core factor for causing evolution of industry system, and industry convergence is the outcome of technology progress; c) Especially, it is important that the dominated role of technology progress will be sustained, even though in the environment of convergence, companies also need focus on self-innovation, rather than only adapt to the new industry evolution trend. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1403.4305&r=cse |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Hall, Bronwyn H.; Hottenrott, Hanna |
| Abstract: | Information about the success of a new technology is usually held asymmetrically between the research and development (R&D)-performing firm and potential lenders and investors. This raises the cost of capital for financing R&D externally, resulting in financing constraints on R&D especially for firms with limited internal resources. Previous literature provided evidence for start-up firms on the role of patents as signals to investors, in particular to Venture Capitalists. This study adds to previous insights by studying the effects of firms' patenting activity on the degree of financing constraints on R&D for a panel of established firms. The results show that patents do indeed attenuate financing constraints for small firms where information asymmetries may be particularly high and collateral value is low. Larger firms are not only less subject to financing constraints, but also do not seem to benefit from a patent quality signal. -- |
| Keywords: | Patents,Quality Signal,Research and Development,Financial Constraints,Innovation Policy |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:133&r=cse |
| By: | Enrico Botta (IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to provide relevant insights to policy makers interested in developing a green innovative industry. In order to shed lights on the process of building a competitive green industry, the paper leverages the conceptual framework of innovation systems. Therefore, the first paragraph reviews the theory of innovation system, explaining the reason behind the choice to use a sectoral approach. The second paragraph exploits the industry life cycle perspective to describe the evolution of the wind turbine technology. Then, within the next two paragraphs the key constituting elements of the Chinese and Danish systems are described. Finally, building on our understanding of the evolution of the wind turbine technology and of the configuration of the two sectoral innovation systems, the differences and similarities between the two cases are discussed and the key conclusions from the perspective of a policy maker are presented. Our main argument is that the stage of technological evolution together with the maturity of the domestic sector is one of the main explanatory variables that allows to understand which functions (and how) should be activated by the policies aiming at developing a green SIS. |
| Keywords: | Sectoral innovation system, Green growth, Renewable energy, Wind turbines industry, Denmark, China |
| JEL: | O30 O25 Q48 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp53&r=cse |
| By: | Widad Guechtouli |
| Abstract: | The development of New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) in particular brought considerable changes in the management of codified knowledge. Nevertheless, the management of such a capital quickly appears problematic. In fact, a great quantity of knowledge is not transmitted this way; it is rather diffused by means of social interactions. We focus here on communities of practice and wish to know what impact does the cognitive distance that may exist between different members of a community have on the process of knowledge creation. We use agent-based modelling and preliminary results show that the cognitive distance that may, or may not, exist between the different members of a community does not seem to have an impact on the process of knowledge creation. |
| Keywords: | innovation, knowledge, cognitive distance, agent-based simulations |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-149&r=cse |
| By: | Kristoffer Moeller |
| Abstract: | Knowledge based firms like IT companies do neither have a capital- nor a land intensive production. They predominantly rely on qualified labour and increasingly depend on the location of its (potential) employees. This implies that it is more likely that firms follow workers rather than the other way around. Contributing to the literature of firm location and consumer cities I empirically test the amenity oriented firm location hypothesis. In particular I investigate whether Berlin internet start-up firms, representing a footloose knowledge-based service industry, locate in urban amenity-rich places. Identification builds on the sudden fall of the Berlin Wall. The intra-city analysis yields a significant impact of urban amenities on the location of internet start-up. A comparison with other service industries suggests that amenities are significant to the location choice of creative sectors whereas no effect can be observed for non-creative firms. |
| Keywords: | Firm location, urban amenities, consumer city, internet start-ups, entrepreneurs, Berlin |
| JEL: | R30 D22 L26 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0157&r=cse |
| By: | Angela Cheptea; Charlotte Emlinger; Lionel Fontagné; Gianluca Orefice; Olga Pindyuk |
| Abstract: | We revisit competitiveness issues using recent data and show that the global financial crisis has taken a toll on European producers that before 2007 were maintaining their market positions. The EU competitiveness in goods has recently deteriorated, even in the upper and high-tech segments of the world market. The decline recorded by European exporters is attributable purely to performance and not to adverse orientation of their exports. However, European exports are predominantly "Made in Europe" and include an increasing share of services. The within Europe advantages in manufacturing seem to have been exhausted and further gains imply moves outside the EU with an enhanced focus on the competitiveness in services as an important determinant of future European industry. |
| Keywords: | Competitiveness;trade in value added |
| JEL: | F14 F15 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2014-06&r=cse |
| By: | Benjamin Miranda Tabak; Daniel Oliveira Cajueiro; Marina V. B. Dias |
| Abstract: | This study investigates to which extent results produced by a single frontier model are reliable, based on the application of data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier approach to a sample of Chinese local banks. Our findings show they do produce a consistent trend on efficiency scores over the years. However, rank correlations indicate they diverge with respect to individual performance diagnosis. This shows that these models provide steady information on the efficiency of the banking system as a whole, but they become inconsistent at individual level |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcb:wpaper:346&r=cse |
| By: | Krishnendu Ghosh Dastidar |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the incentives to adopt cost-reducing technology by firms in a horizontally differentiated industry. In our model there are several suppliers of a new technology. The extent of the cost reduction depends on the quality of the new technology. A firm has to buy the technology in a 'scoring auction'. This means that both the price and the quality (which affects marginal cost of production) of this new technology are no longer given but depend on the equilibrium outcome in the 'scoring auction'. We show that the nature of competition (Cournot or Bertrand) has no effect on the equilibrium decision of the firms to adopt the new technology when the quality of the new technology offered by the suppliers lies in the interior of the feasible range of qualities. In this case, both firms adopt new technology. However, when there is a corner solution, then it is possible to have equilibria where only one firm (or no firm) adopts the new technology. With corner solution the nature of competition (Cournot or Bertrand) makes a difference to the equilibrium outcomes. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0895&r=cse |
| By: | Cassi, Lorenzo; Morrison, Andrea; Rabellotti, Roberta |
| Abstract: | International collaboration among researchers is a far from linear and straightforward process. Scientometric studies provide a good way of understanding why and how international research collaboration occurs and what are its costs and benefits. Our study investigates patterns of international scientific collaboration in a specific field: wine related research. We test a gravity model that accounts for geographical, cultural, commercial, technological, structural and institutional differences among a group of Old World (OW) and New World (NW) producers and consumers. Our findings confirm the problems imposed by geographical and technological distance on international research collaboration. Furthermore, they show that similarity in trade patterns has a positive impact on international scientific collaboration. We also find that international research collaboration is more likely among peers, in other words, among wine producing countries that belong to the same group, e.g. OW producers or newcomers to the wine industry. |
| Keywords: | Proximity, International scientific collaboration, Wine industry, Gravity model, Scientometrics, Emerging countries, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aawewp:164649&r=cse |
| By: | Manelle Guechtouli |
| Abstract: | This paper is about human and organizational issues of a Competitive Intelligence (CI) system. The idea here is to help managers who want to implement/refresh CI activities in their companies. After a literature review, we suggest to analyze organizational issues in BI systems by considering their formal and informal aspects. Results are widely discussed. |
| Keywords: | Business Intelligence, organization, formal, informal. |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-146&r=cse |
| By: | Cuong Le Van; Anh Ngoc Nguyen; Ngoc-Minh Nguyen |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of social capital in both simple theoretical and em- pirical model with the main assumption is the price of physical capital is a decreasing function of social capital. In our theoretical model, there exists a critical value such that ffrm will not invest in social capital if its saving is lower than the critical value and otherwise. Moreover, the output depends positively and non-linearly on the social capital. Our empirical model that captures the impact of physical capital, human capital, and social capital using the database from Survey of Small and Medium Scale Manufactur- ing Enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam 2011, conffrms the conclusions of the theoretical model. |
| Keywords: | Social Capital, Optimal Growth Classification-JEL : Z1, E2, O00 |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-109&r=cse |