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on Economics of Strategic Management |
| By: | Bashir, Sadaf; Matzat, U.; Sadowski, B. M. |
| 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. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse14:101389&r=cse |
| By: | Bjerke, Lina (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Economics, Finance and Statistics.); Johansson, Sara (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), and Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS).) |
| Abstract: | Recent literature on firm innovation emphasize the importance of combinations of different knowledge sources in innovation processes. Moreover, the literature on firm collaboration has evolved stepwise: (1) knowledge networks tend to be geographically bounded, and (2) proximity in other dimensions than physical distance, such as cognitive and organisational proximity, may influence the evolution and influences of networks. The results from this empirical study support these ideas by indicating that firms’ probability to innovate is enhanced when they collaborate. However, not all types of collaborations are as important. By using data from a survey on innovation and collaboration of 636 firms in the county of Jönköping, Sweden, we find that extra-regional collaboration matters the most for the innovation performance of these firms. Moreover, collaborations tend to be most favourable for innovation when the collaborators involved has some organisational or cognitive proximity. Collaborations that imply vertical linkages in the value added chain appear to more important than horizontal linkages. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; innovation networks; innovation survey; proximity; firm collaboration |
| JEL: | C83 O31 R10 |
| Date: | 2014–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0383&r=cse |
| By: | Hammer, Andrea |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the agglomeration of Knowledge Intensive Service (KIS) firms in urban areas. In accordance with the Regional Innovation Systems approach it is argued that cities provide crucial innovation advantages working as centripetal forces for KIS. Applying multivariate logit regressions to a company survey of the city of Karlsruhe, the second largest city of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg, shows positive effects of local cooperation and urban infrastructures on the innovation probability of KIS firms. However, the effects vary with the type of innovation pursued, thus demonstrating a high complexity of local relations conducive to KIS firm innovation. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge Intensive Services,Regional Innovation Systems,urban innovation,innovation in services,local cooperation,urban infrastructure |
| JEL: | R48 L92 Q55 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:kitwps:63&r=cse |
| By: | Iizuka M.; Thutupalli A. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | The agricultural sector has played an important role in the provision of food, foreign exchange and sustainable energy to many developing countries. This sector, however, has not been considered as a driving force of innovation as compared to other productive sectors. However, recent economics and international business literature suggests that the agricultural sector 1 has become knowledge intensive with the rise of biotechnology Bt; and 2 is a sector where firms in developing countries can play an important role in production and innovation due to their latent advantage in the context-specific or in-situ knowledge base. In this paper, we first present a conceptual framework that characterizes the knowledge required for successful agricultural innovation against the backdrop of globalization and rise of biotechnology. We then examine the case of diffusion of Bt cotton hybrids Bacillus thuringiensis, an insect resistant seed technology in India to illustrate the dynamics of knowledge creation and catching up by the local seed firms based on their interactions with global as well as other local firms. Our analysis reveals that the local firms with absorptive capacity, that is, the ability to effectively integrate location-specific in-situ knowledge and generic scientific knowledge global knowledge can catch up with global frontier technologies to gain significant domestic market shares. |
| Keywords: | Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products; Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives; Management of Technological Innovation and R&D; Agricultural R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services; |
| JEL: | O13 O31 O32 Q16 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014054&r=cse |
| By: | Lefebvre, Virginie M.; Molnàr, Adrienn; Kühne, Bianka; Gellynck, Xavier |
| Abstract: | In today business world where knowledge and resources are increasingly spread among organizations, enterprises often develop a wide variety of relationships with other organizations in order to access new technologies, know-how and resources. Increasingly, the use of external resources for innovation – also referred as inbound open innovation in literature – is seen as a key factor to remain innovative and hence competitive. While the impact of open innovation on the firm’s innovativeness and performance has received quite some attention by scholars, the mechanisms that push firm to open up their innovation process remain under investigated. The aim of this paper is to contribute to fill in this gap by developing and testing empirically a research framework on the firm specific factors impacting the firm’s degree of openness. In order to reach the research objective, an extensive literature review was performed based on which several research hypotheses were developed. A web-questionnaire was then designed and distributed to the CEOs of food SMEs in Europe. A major result of this study is that network competence – defined as the firm’s ability to establish and use relationships with other organization – drives the firm’s openness in terms of ambidexterity (i.e. new versus existing relationships) and breadth (number of external sources or search channels that the firm relies upon in its innovative activities). |
| Keywords: | Open innovation, network competence, low-tech sector, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi13:164739&r=cse |
| By: | Carraresi, Laura; Banterle, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the competitive performance of different European countries at sector level in the intra-EU market from 1995 to 2011, comparing food industry and agricultural sector. In particular, we aim to assess the effect of the EU enlargement (first period) and the economic crisis (second period) on the competitiveness of EU countries. The data come from the Eurostat database of international trade. The competitive performance of EU countries is measured through several trade indices, such as Export and Import Market Share, Revealed Comparative Advantage, Net Export Index, and Vollrath indices, analysing their values over the last fifteen years. Our analysis showed that, in the EU countries, agriculture and food industry do not reveal strong differences in competitive performance during the last fifteen years. Among big countries, France and Spain showed a continuous worsening competitive performance. A similar trend is found for Belgium. On the contrary, the Netherlands revealed the best performance, both in agriculture and in food industry, together with Italy. Nevertheless, the Netherlands has lightly lost specialisation because of a rise of total exports that have affected the value of RCA. Italy is characterised by a smaller increase, especially in the food sector. The only country showing a significant difference in competitive trends between agriculture and food industry is Germany. It became leader in the food industry of EU, with a growing performance over the period analysed, while it is not competitive nor specialised in agriculture. Among small countries, it is worth to highlight the performance of Austria. |
| Keywords: | competitive performance, agriculture, food industry, EU enlargement, global economic crisis, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Q17, F1, L66, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi13:164745&r=cse |
| By: | Sunita Desai (The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania, Health Care Management & Economics, 3640 Locust Walk, 19104 Philadelphia, PA) |
| Abstract: | As in most industries, in health care, information is a competitive asset, and we expect that health care providers may have incentive to protect their information from competitors. This study aims to understand how this incentive to protect information may be a barrier to the development of a health information network. Health information networks are designed to facilitate electronic information sharing across health care providers. The electronic exchange of health information is widely considered a promising tool to improve quality, costs, and efficiency of health care. Federal and state governments have invested over $30 billion to support the development of health information networks and electronic health information sharing. However, uptake has been slow suggesting that barriers to adoption exist. We first develop a model of firms' decisions to enter a health information network given this potential loss of competitive advantage. Guided by implications of the model, we conduct a two part empirical analysis to test for evidence that providers may be reluctant to join a health information network out of competitive concern. First, we conduct a national hospital-level analysis. Second, we construct a novel data set to conduct a physician-level analysis focused on New York State. In both analyses, we find supporting evidence that competitive pressure may be a barrier to entry by health care firms. We discuss implications for policy and network design given our findings. |
| Keywords: | health, technology, networks |
| JEL: | I18 L14 L15 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1423&r=cse |
| By: | Michal Andrle; Roberto Garcia-Saltos; Giang Ho |
| Abstract: | This paper studies economic and financial spillovers from the euro area to Poland in a two-country semi-structural model. The model incorporates various channels of macrofinancial linkages and cross-border spillovers. We parameterize the model through an extensive calibration process, and provide a wide range of model properties and evaluation exercises. Simulation results suggest a prominent role of foreign demand shocks (euro area and global) in driving Poland’s output, inflation and interest rate dynamics, particularly in recent years. Our model also has the capability for medium-term conditional forecasting and policy analysis. |
| Keywords: | Spillovers;Poland;Euro Area;Demand;External shocks;Business cycles;Cross country analysis;Econometric models;Poland, Euro area, semi-structural model, spillovers |
| Date: | 2014–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:14/186&r=cse |
| By: | Limbach, Felix |
| Abstract: | The contribution of this paper is manifold. First, it provides a cooperation taxonomy for partnerships between telecommunication operators and Over-The-Top service providers. Second, it explores the impact of cooperative service provisioning on the telecommunication operator's business model. As a result of a literature review seven types of service cooperation are identified. A business model ontology is used to assess value creation activities, customer relations and financial aspects for three generic value creation patterns. Results indicate that cooperation facilitates innovation, quality, service differentiation and tailored customer services. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse14:101388&r=cse |
| By: | Di Liberto, Adriana (University of Cagliari); Schivardi, Fabiano (Bocconi University); Sulis, Giovanni (University of Cagliari) |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of managerial practices in schools on students' outcomes. We measure managerial practices using the World Management Survey, a methodology that enables us to construct robust measures of management quality comparable across countries. We find substantial heterogeneity in managerial practices across six industrialized countries, with more centralized systems (Italy and Germany) lagging behind the more autonomous ones (Canada, Sweden, the UK, the US). For Italy, we are able to match organizational practices at the school level with students' outcomes in a math standardized test. We find that managerial practices are positively related to students' outcomes. The estimates imply that if Italy had the same managerial practices as the UK (the best performer), it would close the gap in the math OECD-PISA test with respect to the OECD average. We argue that our results are robust to selection issues and show that they are confirmed by a set of IV estimates and by a large number of robustness checks. Overall, our results suggest that policies directed at improving students' cognitive achievements should take into account principals' selection and training in terms of managerial capabilities. |
| Keywords: | management, productivity, school principals, cognitive skills |
| JEL: | L2 I2 M1 O32 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8475&r=cse |