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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2016‒08‒14
twelve papers chosen by João José de Matos Ferreira Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Barra, Cristian; Maietta, Ornella Wanda; Zotti, Roberto |
| Abstract: | According to the National Innovation System (NIS) approach, the innovative capabilities of a firm are explained by its interactions with other national agents involved in the innovation process and by formal and informal rules that regulate the system. This paper intends to verify how product and process innovation in the European food and drink industry are affected by: i) the NIS structure in terms of universities vs public research labs, faculties/department mix and size; ii) the NIS output in terms of WoS indexed publications vs the supply of graduates; iii) the NIS fragmentation and coordination and iv) the NIS scientific impact and specialisation.The source of data on firm innovation is the EU-EFIGE/Bruegel-UniCredit dataset supplemented by information from the International Handbook of Universities, Eurostat and the bibliometric analysis of academic research quality. The results obtained suggest that large size of public research institutions are detrimental to interactions between university and industry and the indicators used for public research assessment are not appropriate proxies of local knowledge spillovers. |
| Keywords: | university–industry interaction, firm R&D collaboration, product and process innovation, academic research quality, university education, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O3, I23, D22, R1, |
| Date: | 2016–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea16:242320&r=cse |
| By: | Denise do Carmo Direito (IPC-IG); Natália Massaco Koga (IPC-IG); Elaine Cristina Lício (IPC-IG); Jeniffer Carla de Paula N. Chaves (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | "This paper reviews and discusses the potential of the Brazilian federal government's Single Registry for Social Programmes (Cadastro Único para Programas Sociais) as a tool for the coordination of social policies. The paper consists of four sections. The introductory section describes the trajectory of the Single Registry since its inception in 2001 and offers concepts to help categorise the over 30 user programmes that leverage its database and implementation network. Subsequently, a review is made of the extent to which the inclusion of new programmes in the Registry (i.e. in addition to the Bolsa Família programme) brings new challenges and affects various aspects of its management. In the third section, the Single Registry is placed (in terms of its management and objectives) within the typology developed by Barca and Chirchir (2014). The fourth and final section summarises the main challenges faced by the Single Registry and envisages possible strategic roles it may play in the current scenario". (?) |
| Keywords: | single registry, tool, coordination, social policies |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:145&r=cse |
| By: | Nathan Goldschlag; Stefano Bianchini; Julia Lane; Joseba SanMartin Sola; Bruce Weinberg |
| Abstract: | Public support of research typically relies on the notion that universities are engines of economic development, and that university research is a primary driver of high wage localized economic activity. Yet the evidence supporting that notion is based on aggregate descriptive data, rather than detailed links at the level of individual transactions. Here we use new micro-data from three countries - France, Spain and the United States - to examine one mechanism whereby such economic activity is generated, namely purchases from regional businesses. We show that grant funds are more likely to be expended at businesses physically closer to universities than at those farther away. In addition, if a vendor has been a supplier to a grant once, that vendor is subsequently more likely to be a vendor on the same or related grants. Firms behave in a way that is consistent with the notion that propinquity is good for business; if a firm supplies a research grant at a university in a given year it is more likely to open an establishment near that university in subsequent years than other firms. |
| Keywords: | Science policy, innovation, regional economic development, UMETRICS |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-32&r=cse |
| By: | Thierry Mayer; Marc J. Melitz; Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano |
| Abstract: | We document how demand shocks in export markets lead French multi-product exporters to re-allocate the mix of products sold in those destinations. In response to positive demand shocks, those French firms skew their export sales towards their best performing products; and also extend the range of products sold to that market. We develop a theoretical model of multi-product firms and derive the specific demand and cost conditions needed to generate these product-mix reallocations. Our theoretical model highlights how the increased competition from demand shocks in export markets – and the induced product mix reallocations – induce productivity changes within the firm. We then empirically test for this connection between the demand shocks and the productivity of multi-product firms exporting to those destinations. We find that the effect of those demand shocks on productivity are substantial – and explain an important share of aggregate productivity fluctuations for French manufacturing. |
| JEL: | D24 F12 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22433&r=cse |
| By: | Tyrefors Hinnerich, Björn (Department of economics, Stockholm University); Vlachos, Jonas (Department of economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Sweden has a school voucher system with universal coverage and full acceptance of corporate providers. Using a value added approach, we find that students at upper-secondary voucher schools on average score 0.06 standard deviations lower on externally graded standardized tests in first year core courses. The negative impact is larger among lower achieving students (but not among immigrant students), the same students who are most prone to attend voucher schools. For high achieving students, the voucher school impact is around zero. Comparing internal and external evaluations of the same standardized tests, we find that voucher schools are 0.14 standard deviations more generous than municipal schools in their internal test grading. The greater leniency in test grading is relatively uniform across different groups, but more pronounced among students at academic than vocational programs. The findings are consistent with voucher schools responding more to differences in educational preferences than municipal schools. |
| Keywords: | voucher schools; student achievement; granding standards |
| JEL: | H40 I21 I22 |
| Date: | 2016–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2016_009&r=cse |
| By: | Hau, Harald; Huang, Yi; Wang, Gewei |
| Abstract: | The large regional variation of minimum wage changes in 2002-08 implies that Chinese manufacturing firms experienced competitive shocks as a function of firm location and their low-wage employment share. We find that minimum wage hikes accelerate the input substitution from labor to capital in low-wage firms, reduce employment growth, but also accelerate total factor productivity growth--particularly among the less productive firms under private Chinese or foreign ownership, but not among state-owned enterprises. The heterogeneous firm response to labor cost shocks can be explained by differences in governance or management practice, but is difficult to reconcile with the idea that competitive pressure is a substitute for governance quality. |
| Keywords: | Firm productivity; management quality; minimum wage policy |
| JEL: | D24 G31 J24 J31 O14 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11429&r=cse |
| By: | Claudio F. Loderer (University of Berne - Institute for Financial Management; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Swiss Finance Institute); Urs Waelchli (Rochester-Bern Executive Programs; University of Rochester - Simon Business School); Jonas Zeller (University of Berne – Institute for Financial Management) |
| Abstract: | Even though firms’ innovation efforts dwindle in reaction to weaker employment protection legislation (EPL), we show that the value of their investment opportunities actually increases. The reason is that weaker EPL discourages innovation efforts only in firms with little comparative advantage at innovation. At the same time, however, weaker EPL increases the financial and operating flexibility of firms. This flexibility gain can explain why Tobin’s q increases in reaction to weaker EPL. |
| Keywords: | employment protection, innovation, investment opportunities, financial flexibility, operating flexibility |
| JEL: | G30 L20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp1607&r=cse |
| By: | T. M. A. Fink; M. Reeves; R. Palma; R. S. Farr |
| Abstract: | We introduce a model of innovation in which products are composed of components and new components are adopted one at a time. We show that the number of products we can make now gives a distorted view of the number we can make in the future: the more complex a product is, the more it gets under-represented. From this complexity discount we derive a strategy for increasing the rate of innovation by choosing components on the basis of long-term growth rather than just short-term gain. We test our model on data from language, gastronomy and technology and predict the best strategy for innovating in each. |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1608.01900&r=cse |
| By: | Ben Dkhil, Inès |
| Abstract: | The regulation has the greatest role in forcing the introduction and the establishment of competition in the fixed telecom markets by facilitating the entrants’ access conditions to the incumbent’s infrastructure facilities (the local loop). Recently, the sole way to ensure the development of telecom industry consists to promote innovation and investment in network infrastructure technologies. This paper provides a critical review of both recent theoretical and empirical literature that address the issues of regulation on innovation and investment in the fixed telecommunication in-frastructures. |
| Keywords: | bottleneck, access regulation policies, investment in network upgrade, service-based competition, facility-based competition. |
| JEL: | K21 L1 L12 L51 |
| Date: | 2014–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72910&r=cse |
| By: | Prosperi, Maurizio; Lopolito, Antonio |
| Abstract: | Agroenergy, a relatively simple and mature technology to convert biomass into heat and electric energy, may represent a good opportunity to introduce the biorefinery schemes in rural areas. However, to guarantee the feasibility of new investments in this innovative sector, the commitment of all relevant players, and the sharing of their embedded knowledge of local conditions will play a crucial role. In this paper, we propose a modified neural network model to analyse the knowledge extracted from different groups of actors, in order to prevent the definition of strategic plans which may not be not fully consistent. We propose a methodology to support the strategic planning of the agroenergy innovation deployment in rural areas, based on the logical framework of the SWOT analysis, through which the most relevant factors affecting the expectations of local informed actors are identified. Subsequently, a modified multilayered feed-forward neural network is proposed to analyse the qualitative data, in order to verify their consistency. The results obtained from a case study in the province of Foggia (Italy) show that the level of consistency between the perceived factors affecting the deployment of the technology and the expectations towards the successful adoption of agroenergy at local level may vary depending on the degree of involvement and commitment of local players. This may represent a relevant issue for the definition of long-term strategic planning. |
| Keywords: | embedded knowledge, multilayered feed-forward neural networks, SWOT analysis, agroenergy, strategic planning, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, D83, O32, Q42, |
| Date: | 2016–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea16:242444&r=cse |
| By: | Thomas Cooper Patriota (IPC-IG); Francesco Maria Pierri (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | "The recently launched Policy in Focus special edition on Public Policies for Family Farming in the Global South aims to follow up on the celebration of the United Nations International Year of Family Farming (IYFF 2014), as well as on the recent adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Both of these events have given unprecedented visibility and recognition to the real and potentially greater role of family farmers worldwide in contributing to poverty reduction, food and nutrition security and the sustainable management of natural resources". (?) |
| Keywords: | increasing recognition, family farming, achieving, sustainable development |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:321&r=cse |
| By: | Antonio R. Andrés (Barranquilla, Colombia); Voxi Amavilah (Arizona, USA); Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon) |
| Abstract: | Using data for 49 African countries over the years spanning 2000-2012, and controlling for a wide range of factors, this study empirically assesses the effects of formal institutions on ICT adoption in developing countries. It deploys 2SLS and FE regression models, (a) to estimate what determines ICT adoption and (b) to trace how ICT adoption affects inclusive development. The results show that formal institutions affect ICT adoption in this group of countries, with government effectiveness having the largest positive effect and regulations the largest negative effect. Generally, formal institutions appear more important to ICT adoption in low income countries than middle income countries, whereas population and economic growth tend to constrain ICT adoption with low income countries more negatively affected than middle income countries. The results further demonstrate that ICT adoption affects development strongly, and that such effects are comparable to those of domestic credit and foreign direct investment. Ceteris paribus, external factors like foreign aid are more limiting to inclusive development than internal factors. This suggests that developing countries can enhance their ICT adoption for development by improving formal institutions and by strengthening domestic determinants of ICT adoption. Both represent opportunities for further research. |
| Keywords: | Formal institutions, ICT adoption, panel data models, cross-country analysis |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:16/026&r=cse |