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on Economics of Strategic Management |
| By: | Ipsita Roy (Graduate College "The Economics of Innovative Change", Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and Max Planck Institute of Economics.) |
| Abstract: | While significant attention is given to the concept of absorptive capacity as a source of competitive advantage in firms, a major drawback exists in the way it is unidimensionally defined in micro-level analysis. The paper addresses this limitation and reconceptualizes absorptive capacity as a strategic human resource construct in firms, which in turn, provide important conditions for R&D cooperation and innovation. I begin by providing a "beyond-R&D" definition of absorptive capacity constituting employment practices and incentive-based compensation programs. Next, I exploit the relationship between these practices and heterogeneity in firms' R&D cooperation and partner selection strategies distinguishing between different types of external collaboration partners- horizontal, institutional and consulting-based. Further, I examine the impact of such cooperative R&D on incremental product, process and radical innovation. Employing the IAB Establishment Panel Survey on about 1200 German innovation-based establishments during 2007-2011, findings demonstrate that adoption of employment practices positively affects R&D cooperation irrespective of the type of collaboration partner, while compensation programs positively affect only horizontal R&D cooperation. Significant differences in the patterns of research collaboration are found between manufacturing and service sector firms, with respect to importance of human resource management, educational structure of the workforce and internal R&D. Finally, cooperative R&D with research institutes and consulting firms are found to have significantly positive impact on the likelihood of coming up with incremental product, process and radical innovation, but the effect is relatively weak in case of horizontal R&D cooperation. |
| Keywords: | Absorptive capacity, strategic human resource, employment practices, compensation programs, R&D cooperation, innovation |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J33 L20 M12 |
| Date: | 2015–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2015-018&r=cse |
| By: | Christopher F Baum (Boston College; DIW Berlin); Hans Lööf (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm); Pardis Nabavi (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines variations in productivity growth due to innovation within a given location and between different locations. Implementing a dynamic panel data approach on Swedish micro data, we test the sepa- rate and complementary effects of internal innovation efforts and spillovers from the local milieu. Measuring the potential knowledge spillover by ac- cess to knowledgeintensive services, the estimation results produce strong evidence of differences in the capacity to benefit from external knowledge among persistent innovators, temporary innovators and non-innovators. The results are consistent regardless of whether innovation efforts are measured in terms of the frequency of patent applications or the rate of R&D investment. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, spillovers, TFP growth, panel data |
| JEL: | C23 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2015–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:885&r=cse |
| By: | Sasan Bakhtiari (Australian National University); Antonio Minniti (University of Bologna); Alireza Naghavi (University of Bologna and Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano) |
| Abstract: | This research sheds light on the role of multinational production on the type of innovation per-formed by firms. We construct matched firm-patent data to measure the scope of innovation, that is the extent to which the output of R&D can be spread across different product lines. We focus on two features of multinational production: (i)core knowledge is geographically more difficult to transfer abroad to foreign production sites, (ii) learning spillovers can occur from international op-erations. The results reveal that the second effect is more likely to dominate when a firm is active in more product lines. We argue that a more diversified portfolio of products increases a firm’s span of learning from international operations, thereby enhancing its ability to engage in more fundamental research. In contrast, firms with fewer product lines that geographically separate production from innovation focus on more specialized types of R&D. |
| Keywords: | Multinational production, Fundamental innovation, Multiproduct firms, Knowledge spillovers |
| JEL: | F12 F23 O31 O32 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:378&r=cse |
| By: | Thomas Bolli (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Ursula Renold (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Martin Wörter (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses panel data of Swiss firms to analyze the impact of education-level diversity in the workforce on innovation performance, addressing endogeneity by exploiting within-firm variation as well as variation in labor supply across regions. We find that vertical educational diversity increases the extensive margin of R&D and product innovation, particularly new product innovation. However, the relationship with process innovation, R&D intensity, and product innovation intensity is insignificant or even negative. These results are in line with the idea that vertical educational diversity enhances the creative moment of the invention phase, while it might affect the commercialization phase negatively due to the dominance of coordination and communication costs relative to the gains in creativity. |
| Keywords: | Vertical educational diversity, innovation performance, R&D, product innovation, process innovation |
| JEL: | O3 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:15-395&r=cse |
| By: | Kurosaki, Takashi; Lal, Kaushalesh; Mangal, A. K.; Banerji, Asit; Mishra, S. N. |
| Abstract: | To deepen our understanding of the urban informal sector and small enterprises in developing countries, we conducted a baseline study of micro and small entrepreneurs in northeastern areas of Delhi, India. The questionnaire-based survey was implemented during November-December 2014, in which 506 entrepreneurs were surveyed who ran enterprises in the manufacturing or service sector. The sample was drawn from a business directory and all fell in the category of micro or small enterprises as defined in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act of 2006. In this paper, we present details of the baseline survey implemented under this project and describe the key variables collected. Out of 506 sample entrepreneurs, 97% were owned by single individuals, and 46% were unregistered with the government. In addition to the standard list of questions, some questions on trust were also included in the General Social Survey style. The trust level towards relatives and friends, neighbors, and business buyers/sellers was found to be significantly higher than the trust level toward government officials, the police, and law officers. |
| JEL: | O17 O14 L26 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2015-7&r=cse |
| By: | Ruan, Jianqing; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | An industrial cluster is a locality with a high concentration of firms in related businesses. Although relatedness and concentration are the two defining features of an industrial cluster, the commonly used measures of clustering often fail to simultaneously capture both dimensions. Based on the product space literature, we first compute the degree of relatedness based on the concept of industrial proximity. Next, we develop a clustering index that takes into account both proximity and concentration. Finally, we calculate this new proximity-based index using the 1995 China Industrial Census and the 2004 and 2008 China Economic Census. The new index predicts China’s top 100 industrial clusters much more accurately than existing cluster measures. |
| Keywords: | economic development, industrial sector, industrial development, markets, regulations, economic policies, industrial clusters, proximity, concentration, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1468&r=cse |
| By: | Eliasson, Kent (Growth Analysis and Department of Economics, Umeå University,); Hansson, Pär (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Lindvert, Markus (Growth Analysis) |
| Abstract: | Using Swedish micro data we find no evidence for the concerns circulating in the public debate that foreign acquisitions lead to reductions in R&D expenditures and high-skilled activities in targeted domestic firms, neither in MNEs nor in non-MNEs. Previous studies have only focused on larger firms. In this paper we are able to study the impact on smaller firms (less than 50 employees). This is important since 90 percent of the firms acquired by foreign enterprises have less than 50 employees. For this group of firms there is no information on R&D, but by using the register of educational attainment we have data on the share of high-skilled labor in all Swedish firms, irrespective of size. Interestingly, we find that among smaller firms foreign enterprises tend to acquire high-productive, skill-intensive firms (cherry-picking) and after the acquisitions skill upgrading appears in acquired smaller, non-MNE firms. |
| Keywords: | foreign acquisitions; skill upgrading; R&D intensity; propensity score matching |
| JEL: | F23 J24 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2015–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2015_002&r=cse |
| By: | Eliasson, Kent (Umeå University and Growth Analysis); Hansson, Pär (Örebro University School of Business); Lindvert, Markus (Growth Analysis) |
| Abstract: | Using Swedish micro data we find no evidence for the concerns circulating in the public debate that foreign acquisitions lead to reductions in R&D expenditures and high-skilled activities in targeted domestic firms, neither in MNEs nor in non-MNEs. Previous studies have only focused on larger firms. In this paper we are able to study the impact on smaller firms (less than 50 employees). This is important since 90 percent of the firms acquired by foreign enterprises have less than 50 employees. For this group of firms there is no information on R&D, but by using the register of educational attainment we have data on the share of high-skilled labor in all Swedish firms, irrespective of size. Interestingly, we find that among smaller firms foreign enterprises tend to acquire high-productive, skill-intensive firms (cherry-picking) and after the acquisitions skill upgrading appears in acquired smaller, non- MNE firms. |
| Keywords: | foreign acquisitions; skill upgrading; R&D; intensity; propensity score matching |
| JEL: | F23 J24 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2015–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2015_010&r=cse |
| By: | Katherina Kuschel (School of Business and Economics, Universidad del Desarrollo) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores decision-making for motherhood in the tech industry, and if there is an optimal context regarding their startup. The low female participation rate is a public concern in this extreme environment of long working hours, time pressure, and high competitiveness. Eighteen interviews were conducted to female founders and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Findings suggest two sources of “mumpreneur” in technology: 1) mothers that created a startup while young and childless, and 2) mothers that created a technology venture as a strategy to leave the corporate world. The first group is highly work-role salient while the second is highly family-role salient. Three subcategories divide the first category, that can be conceived as continuous stages: “not thinking about motherhood”, “wishing to be a mother”, and “mother”. Those codes are associated with the business stage, team size, and team gender diversity of the startup. Flexibility and autonomy allow work-family balance. Work-role salient mothers acknowledge a huge family sacrifice towards achieving business success. Further research directions are discussed as a way of extending the knowledge among this profile. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, New high-technology ventures, Female founders, Motherhood, Decision-making, Role salience |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dsr:wpaper:25&r=cse |
| By: | Vincent Van Roy (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Varese, Italy); Daniel Vertesy (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Varese, Italy); Marco Vivarelli (DISCE, Università Cattolica - SPRU, University of Sussex - Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA), Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003-2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labour-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services. |
| Keywords: | Technological change, innovation, patents, employment, GMM-SYS |
| JEL: | O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie5:ispe0075&r=cse |
| By: | Fochmann, Martin; Haak, Marcel |
| Abstract: | We investigate the strategic decision making of audit firms in a tendering process. In particular, we are interested in how audit firms behave to acquire audit clients and which audit quality is ensured. Our main findings are manifold. First, if two big audit firms are competing, we do not observe that each firm tries to acquire all clients. However, if one big and one small audit firm are competing, we find evidence that the big audit firm generally apply strategies to acquire all available clients. In contrast, the small audit firm uses a clear "Guerilla Strategy" which means that the firm concentrates only on few clients whereas the other clients are almost ignored. Second, small audit firms are better off if more clients do exist in the tendering process. Thus, the legislator should ensure that more audit clients are tendered if the competitiveness of smaller audit firms should be enhanced. Third, in a situation in which the competitive advantage of big audit firms increases over-proportionally, we do not observe that big audit firms are able to decrease the market share of small audit firms markedly or are even able to push small audit firms out of the market. Fourth, we find that the quality level of an audit is higher if the client is acquired by a small audit firm. This implies that increasing the number of smaller audit firms could increase the quality level of the audit market. |
| Keywords: | tendering process,behavioral accounting,experimental economics |
| JEL: | M42 C91 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:arqudp:197&r=cse |
| By: | Bogner, Kristina |
| Abstract: | Analyzing the effect of Direct Project Funding (DPF) on innovative performance of economic agents is a major challenge for innovation economists and policy makers who must give valid policy recommendations and decide on the allocation of financial resources. An approach that becomes more and more important is the use of agent-based modeling in analyzing innovative performance of market players. In this paper, an agentbased percolation model is used to investigate the effects of project funding on innovative performance in terms of the maximum technological frontier that can be reached as well as in terms of the number of innovations generated by firms. The model results show that firms which participate in subsidized projects outperform firms that do not participate in subsidized projects, especially in increasingly complex technological fields. However, the worse performance of firms that do not participate in subsidized projects can be offset by an increase in the firms' financial resources. Hence, the model indicates, the effect of project funding is a purely financial one and might even have negative effects on innovative performance. This is the case if, for instance, a high number of funded research projects disturbs firms' paths through the technology space. Following the results of the model, project funding is most effective and important in increasingly complex technology spaces and less effective and important in less complex technology spaces. Moreover, the model results show, other financial resources as venture capital can substitute for direct project funding. |
| Keywords: | project funding,innovation,technology space,agent-based simulation |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:102015&r=cse |
| By: | Nuri Ersahin; Rustom M. Irani; Hanh Le |
| Abstract: | We examine the within-firm resource allocation effects of creditor interventions and their relationship to performance gains at firms violating financial covenants. By linking firm-level data to establishment-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we show that covenant violations are followed by large reductions in employment and more frequent establishment sales and closures. These operational cuts are concentrated in violating firms' noncore business lines and unproductive establishments. We conclude that refocusing activities and improving productive efficiency are important mechanisms through which creditors enhance violating firms' performance. |
| Keywords: | Creditor Rights; Covenant Violations; Employment; Asset Sales; Firm Value |
| JEL: | D22 D24 G21 G31 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:15-39&r=cse |
| By: | Emiko Inoue |
| Abstract: | Innovation is now expected to play an important role to overcome difficult issues of climate change more than ever. To examine how to induce innovation, the relationship between environmental policy and innovation has been focused on. Still few researches, however, have examined the impact of the EU emission trading scheme on innovation based on econometric analysis. This study scrutinises how corporate responses towards the EU ETS influence R&D investments of EU major corporations. Using firm-level panel data, which is constructed based on the data of corporate responses to the Carbon Disclosure Project, EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, and corporationsf CSR reports, I estimate two dynamic panel models using system GMM estimator. Endogeneity issue is addressed in these models. The results show that corporations which have a policy or a strategy to comply with the EU ETS or to react proactively before being regulated by the EU ETS are more likely to encourage R&D investment. The process of reacting towards the EU ETS may provide an opportunity for corporations to recognise the importance of R&D investment for their future strategy. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; EU ETS; R&D investment |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kue:epaper:e-15-008&r=cse |
| By: | Bonfiglioli, Alessandra; Crinò, Rosario; Gancia, Gino A |
| Abstract: | We study the equilibrium determinants of firm-level heterogeneity in a model in which firms can affect the variance of their productivity draws at the entry stage and explore the implications in closed and open economy. By allowing firms to choose the size of their investment in innovation projects of unknown quality, the model yields a Pareto distribution for productivity with a shape parameter that depends on industry-level characteristics. A novel result is that export opportunities, by increasing the payoffs in the tail, induce firms to invest in bigger projects with more spread-out outcomes. Moreover, when more productive firms also pay higher wages, trade amplifies wage dispersion by making all firms more unequal. These results are consistent with new evidence on how firm-level heterogeneity and wage dispersion vary in a panel of U.S. industries. Finally, we use patent data across U.S. states and over time to provide evidence in support of a specific mechanism of the model, namely, that export opportunities increase firm heterogeneity by fostering innovation. |
| Keywords: | firm heterogeneity; international trade; productivity dispersion; wage inequality |
| JEL: | E24 F12 F16 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10938&r=cse |
| By: | Bjuggren, Per-Olof (The Ratio institute and Jönköping School of Economics.); Nordström, Louise (louise.nordstrom@jibs.hj.se); Palmberg, Johanna (Entreprenörskapsforum and Royal School of Technology (KTH)) |
| Abstract: | Female leadership is an expanding area of research. It is a popular topic discussed frequently in both academia and in the popular press. Despite this, comparative studies of the impact of female leadership on firm level performance between family and non-family firms are rare. The present study has the ambition to fill this gap. This paper investigates female leadership in family firms and how it affects firm profitability. A unique database of ownership and leadership in private Swedish firms makes it possible to analyze difference in firm performance due to female leadership in family and non-family firms. Even though much has been written regarding the role of women in family firms we do not know so much about how female leadership in family firms affect the profitability of the firm. The analysis indicates that female leadership makes much more of a positive difference for performance in family firms. The effect is negative in non-family firms. |
| Keywords: | Family firms; Female Representation; Financial Performance |
| JEL: | G34 J31 L25 |
| Date: | 2015–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0259&r=cse |
| By: | Sabri, Yasmine (Department of Industrial Economics and Management, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, & Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy); Nuur, Cali (Department of Industrial Economics and Management, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm); Micheli, Guido J.L. (Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy) |
| Abstract: | Physical supply chains are the medium where innovation practices are usually implemented, whether in the case of introducing new products/processes, or when improving existing designs of products/processes, radically or incrementally. Thus, process and product innovation practices have become an integral part of decisions relating to the management and design of supply chains. This study investigates how innovation implementation is a cornerstone in the decision making process of supply chain configuration. Furthermore, it examines how this relation is manifested with respect to performance. The paper explores the configuration profiles of two major manufacturers based in Italy and Sweden, with globally designed upstream and downstream chains, demonstrating the differences and similarities, while investigating the innovation practices within each firm. The paper draws conclusions on the relation between innovation implementation and supply chain management, in addition to configuration and re-configuration decision making process. |
| Keywords: | Supply Chain Configuration; Innovation practices; Performance |
| JEL: | L25 O32 |
| Date: | 2015–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:kthind:2015_012&r=cse |
| By: | Tim Buyse; Freddy Heylen; Ruben Schoonackers (-) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the drivers of business funded and performed R&D in a panel of 14 OECD countries since 1981. More specifically, we investigate the e ects of public R&D related policies and wage formation. Following Pesaran (Econometrica, 2006) and Kapetanios et al. (Journal of Econometrics, 2011), our empirical strategy allows for cross-sectionally correlated error terms due to the presence of unobserved common factors, which are potentially non-stationary. We find that tax incentives are effective. Public funding (subsidization) of R&D performed by firms can also be effective if subsidies are not too low, neither too high. R&D performed within the government sector and within institutions of higher education is basically neutral with respect to business R&D. We find no evidence for crowding out, nor for complementarity. Using an indicator for wage pressure developed by Blanchard (Economic Policy, 2006), we find that wage moderation may contribute to innovation, but only in fairly closed economies and in economies with flexible labour markets. In highly open economies and economies with rigid labour markets rather the opposite holds. In these economies high wage pressure may enhance creative destruction and force firms to innovate as competitive strategy. Our results show that a careful treatment of the properties of the data is crucial. |
| Keywords: | R&D, technology policy, wage formation, panel cointegration |
| JEL: | E22 J30 O31 O38 O57 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:15/911&r=cse |
| By: | Brenner T.; Capasso M.; Duschl M.; Frenken K.; Treibich T.G. (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the causal relations between regional employment growth in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services KIBS and overall regional employment growth using German labour-market data for the period 1999-2012. Adopting a recently developed technique, we are able to estimate a structural vector autoregressive model in which the causal directions between KIBS and other sectors are examined including various time lags. One main finding holds that although regional growth has a negative short-term effect on KIBS, KIBS growth has a long-term positive effect on the whole regional economy. This result confirms the claim that KIBS can play a key role in regional policies. Distinguishing between financial and non-financial KIBS, we find that financial KIBS have a procyclical effect on regional growth underlining the potential de-stabilizing effect of a large financial sector. |
| Keywords: | Forecasting and Prediction Methods; Simulation Methods ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes; General Regional Economics (includes Regional Data); |
| JEL: | C53 O33 R10 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2015029&r=cse |
| By: | Aga,Gemechu A.; Francis,David C.; Rodriguez Meza,Jorge Luis |
| Abstract: | The subject of which firms are the key employers?and which of these create or destroy jobs at a faster rate?is eminently important for academics and policy makers. The relative importance of small versus large firms and old versus young firms has in particular been extensively debated and studied. Nevertheless, the results often hinge on the questions that are asked. Moreover, the categorical definitions used to define firm size and age, and the nature and coverage of the data used have important effects. This paper lays out the relevant definitions and metrics that are central to the debate, reviewing the main findings to date on the subject (with particular emphasis on results in developing economies). The paper adds updated results for 117 developing economies using the World Bank?s Enterprise Survey Data, finding that (i) small and medium enterprises and older establishments are the dominant employers in the nonagricultural private sector labor force in developing economies, and (ii) net job creation is negatively correlated with establishment age and, although the effect of size is also negative, its significance is sensitive to the definition and methods used. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Management and Relations,Small Scale Enterprises,Microfinance,Labor Policies |
| Date: | 2015–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7493&r=cse |
| By: | Angela Cheptea; Charlotte Emlinger; Karine Latouche |
| Abstract: | This paper questions the impact of the globalization of the retail sector on the export activity of origin country agrifood firms. In a previous paper (Cheptea et al. 2015), we showed that the overseas expansion of a country's retailers fostered its exports to foreign markets. This effect can be explained by a reduction in trade costs for retailers' supplying firms in the origin country, or to a change in consumer preferences in the host country that benefits all origin country firms. In this paper, we evaluate which of the two mechanisms dominates. For that, we use an original firm-level database of French agri-food exports, identifying the domestic suppliers of French retailers through certification with the private IFS standard. We find that IFS certified French firms are more likely to export and export larger volumes than non-certified firms to markets where French retailers established outlets. We also show that when French retailers close down their activities in a market, IFS firms face a drop in exports to this market in the subsequent years. The results are robust to the use of different sets of firm- and country-specific fixed effects, are unaffected by possible selection and endogeneity biases, and by the presence in export markets of other retailers. The difference in behavior for certified and non-certified exporting firms on markets where French retailers operate confirms the trade cost advantage of retailers' suppliers, which is lost when French retailers exit from the destination country. |
| Keywords: | Multinational retailers;Firm-level exports;Private standards |
| JEL: | F12 F14 F23 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2015-21&r=cse |
| By: | Prempeh, Kwadwo Boateng |
| Abstract: | Given the important contributions of the manufacturing sector to the Ghanaian economy, this research deems it necessary to evaluate the impact of efficient inventory management on the profitability of manufacturing firms in Ghana. A cross sectional data from 2004 to 2014 was gathered for the analysis from the annual reports of four manufacturing firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Measures of profitability were examined and related to proxies for efficient inventory management by manufacturers. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) stated in the form of a multiple regression model was applied in the analysis. The study revealed that the main variable raw materials inventory management designed to capture the effect of efficient management of raw material inventory by a company on it’s profitability is significantly strong and positive and impacts on the profitability of the manufacturing firms in Ghana. Therefore, efficient management of raw material inventory is a major factor to be considered by Ghanaian manufacturers in enhancing or boosting their profitability. |
| Keywords: | Manufacturing firms, inventory management, Ghana Stock Exchange, profitability |
| JEL: | M10 M11 |
| Date: | 2015–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67889&r=cse |
| By: | Renata Karkowska (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this study is to identify empirically how non-traditional activities affect directly the risk profiles and profitability of the banking sector. Through a dataset that covers 2678 European banks spanning the period 1996–2011 and the methodology of panel regression, the empirical findings document that investment banks have a negative effect on systemic risk in the banking sector. To show the heterogeneity of systemic risk determinants, the study sample was divided according to the economic development of a country into two groups: advanced and developing countries. We examine the implications of banks’ activity and risk-taking that manifest themselves as spreading and growing instability in the banking system. Then we explore the implications of the interaction between banking risk and structural, macroeconomic and financial market determinants. The findings have implications for both bank risk management and regulators. This paper advances the agenda of making macroprudential policy operational. |
| Keywords: | systemic risk, investment banking, emerging markets, credit risk, liquidity, bank solvency, instability |
| JEL: | F36 G21 G32 G33 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgm:fmuwwp:22015&r=cse |