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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2016‒12‒18
eight papers chosen by João José de Matos Ferreira Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Crass, Dirk; Rammer, Christian; Aschhoff, Birgit |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes how geographical clustering of beneficiaries might affect the effectiveness of public innovation support programs. The geographical proximity of firms operating in the same industry or field of technology is expected to facilitate innovation through knowledge spillovers and other localization advantages. Public innovation support programs may leverage these advantages by focusing on firms that operate in a cluster. We investigate this link using data from a large German program that co-funds R&D projects of SMEs in key technology areas called 'Innovative SMEs'. We employ three alternative cluster measures which capture industry, technology and knowledge dimensions of clusters. Regardless of the measure, firms located in a geographical cluster are more likely to participate in the program. Firms being part of a knowledge-based cluster significantly increases their chance of receiving public financial support. We find no effects, however, of geographical clustering on the program's effectiveness in terms of input or output additionality. |
| Keywords: | Innovation,Government Policy,Regional Government Analysis |
| JEL: | C35 H50 O31 O32 O38 R59 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16083&r=cse |
| By: | Rammer, Christian; Kinne, Jan; Blind, Knut |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the micro-location pattern of innovative and non-innovative firms in Berlin using detailed information on the firms' addresses and their local environment. The study employs a unique, representative panel data set of Berlin-based firms from manufacturing and services covering a five-year period (2011-2015) and applying the standard concepts and measurement approaches used in the Community Innovation Surveys. While controlling for firm size, age and sector, we find product innovators and R&D performing firms located closer to research infrastructures, start-ups and other firms from the same industry. They tend to prefer more dynamic neighbourhoods and avoid very densely populated areas. For process innovators, no significant differences from non-process innovators are found. Firms are more likely to introduce new-to-market innovations if other firms in their direct neighbourhood had introduced such innovations in the previous period, but also if firms with such innovations have moved out of their neighbourhood. The 'creative environment' of a firm in terms of bars, cafes, clubs, leisure facilities or cultural locations does not seem to be linked to the innovative activity of firms. |
| Keywords: | Microgeography,Innovation,Location Decision,Berlin,Knowledge Spillovers |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 R12 R39 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16080&r=cse |
| By: | Joaquim José Martins Guilhoto; Paulo César Morceiro, Milene Simone Tessarin |
| Abstract: | The defense and security sector engages in a series of production and service activities that, beyond their contribution to national security and sovereignty, play an important role in terms of technological development, labor qualification, and social and economic impact. In this study, we measure the GDP of the defense and security complex in Brazil, including the upstream and downstream links of the value chain, comprising unpublished information of the country. We also assess the socioeconomic impacts of 23 investment projects of the Brazilian armed forces. We find that the Defense and security complex of Brazil corresponded to 3.7% of the country’s GDP in 2014, indicating a high potential to generate jobs paying wages above the economy average. Investment projects of the Brazilian armed forces have significant impacts on the national economy. The sectors directly affected by the investment projects are the medium-high and high technology industries and knowledge-intensive services. These sectors contribute to structural changes in Brazil once the country’s current production structure concentrates in low-intensive knowledge services sectors and commodities. Brazil lacks in studies and evaluations of public policies pertaining to the defense and security sector, and this study is an attempt to reduce these gaps. |
| Keywords: | productive complex of defense and security; projects of investment; technological spillovers; value chain; input-output analysis. |
| JEL: | H56 O22 O14 C67 |
| Date: | 2016–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2016wpecon28&r=cse |
| By: | Hagedoorn, John (Organisation and Strategy; Mt Economic Research Inst on Innov/Techn); Lokshin, Boris (Organisation and Strategy); Malo, Stéphane (american university of paris) |
| Abstract: | We explore the innovation performance benefits of alliances for spin-off firms, in particular spin-offs from either other firms or from public research organizations. During the early years of the emerging combinatorial chemistry industry, the industry on which our empirical analysis focuses, spin-offs engaged in alliances with large and established partners, partners of similar type and size, and with public research organizations, often for different reasons. We seek to understand to what extent alliances of spin-offs with other firms (either large or small and medium sized firms) affected their innovation performance and also how this performance may have been affected by their corporate or public research background. We find evidence that in general alliances of spin-offs with other firms, in particular alliances with large firms, increased their innovation performance. Corporate spin-offs that formed alliances with other firms outperformed public research spin-offs with such alliances. This suggests that, in terms of their innovation performance, corporate spin-offs that engaged in alliances with other firms seemed to have benefitted from their prior corporate background. Interestingly, it turns out that the negative impact of alliances on the innovation performance of public research spin-offs was largely affected by their alliances with small and medium sized firms. |
| Keywords: | alliances, spin-offs, entrepreneurial firms, innovation performance |
| JEL: | L24 L26 L65 M13 O32 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2016041&r=cse |
| By: | Giordano Mion; Luca David Opromolla; Alessandro Sforza |
| Abstract: | Better managers and managerial practices lead to better firm performance. Yet, little is known about what happens when managers move across firms. Does a firm hiring a good manager improve its performance? If yes is there some valuable knowledge the manager has acquired and successfully diffused to the new firm? In order to answer these questions we use information related to specific activities the manager was involved in when working for previous firms. More specifically, we use information on whether the manager has worked in the past for firms exporting to a specific destination country or a specific product. Our data is rich enough to allow controlling for both manager and firm unobservables and wash out any time-invariant ability of the manager as well as overall firm performance. We find that the export experience gained by managers in previous firms leads their current firm towards higher export performance, and commands a sizable wage premium for the manager. We use several strategies to deal with endogeneity including an exogenous event study: the sudden end of the Angolan civil war in 2002. We further refine our analysis by looking at different types of managers (general, production, financial and sales) and show how specific export experience interacts with the degree of product differentiation and/or the financial vulnerability of a firm's products as well as with rising import competition from China. |
| Keywords: | managers, knowledge diffusion, firm performance, job mobility export experience |
| JEL: | M2 L2 F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1458&r=cse |
| By: | Mion, Giordano; Opromolla, Luca David; Sforza, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | Better managers and managerial practices lead to better firm performance. Yet, little is known about what happens when managers move across firms. Does a firm hiring a good manager improve its performance? If yes is there some valuable knowledge the manager has acquired and successfully diffused to the new firm? In order to answer these questions we use information related to specific activities the manager was involved in when working for previous firms. More specifically, we use information on whether the manager has worked in the past for firms exporting to a specific destination country or a specific product. Our data is rich enough to allow controlling for both manager and firm unobservables and wash out any time-invariant ability of the manager as well as overall firm performance. We find that the export experience gained by managers in previous firms leads their current firm towards higher export performance, and commands a sizable wage premium for the manager. We use several strategies to deal with endogeneity including an exogenous event study: the sudden end of the Angolan civil war in 2002. We further refine our analysis by looking at different types of managers (general, production, financial and sales) and show how specific export experience interacts with the degree of product differentiation and/or the financial vulnerability of a firm's products as well as with rising import competition from China. |
| Keywords: | export experience; firm performance; job mobility; knowledge diffusion; Managers |
| JEL: | F16 J31 L2 M2 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11706&r=cse |
| By: | Taran Thune (TIK Center for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo, Norway); Magnus Gulbrandsen (TIK Center for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo, Norway) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the question of how hospital employees contribute to the generation of innovations and to what extent hospitals function as a conducive environment for innovative work. The motivation behind this exploratory study was primarily to identify the diversity of innovation activities in hospitals, with the goal of developing and testing a survey tool that can adequately capture this diversity. Although conceptual and empirical research on the characteristics of medical and health related innovations has been carried out, the role of hospitals in such innovations is more often assumed rather than empirically tested. We argue that innovation in public hospitals is still not well understood and contribute to understanding through a pilot study carried out in four public hospitals in Norway. A preliminary analysis indicates that there are different modes of innovative work in hospitals, as suggested by some of the literature, and that different kinds of employees are involved in distinct sets of activities. The survey tool that we developed seems to be able to capture the diversity of innovation-related activities, but there were problematic aspects related to the sampling and recruitment of respondents. Suggestions for further exploration and testing are discussed. |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20161211&r=cse |
| By: | Yao Amber Li (Hong Kong University of Science and Tech); Joseph Kaboski (University of Notre Dame); Wyatt Brooks (University of Notre Dame) |
| Abstract: | Industrial clusters are generally viewed as good for growth and development, but clusters can also enable non-competitive behavior. This paper studies the presence of non-competitive pricing in geographic industrial clusters. We develop, validate, and apply a novel identification strategy for collusive behavior. We derive the test from the solution to a partial cartel of perfectly colluding firms in an industry. Outside of a cartel, markups depend on a firm’s market share but not on the total market share of firms in the agglomeration, but in the cartel, markups are constant across firms and depend only on the overall market share of the agglomeration. Empirically, we validate the test using plants with a common owner, and we then test for collusion using data from Chinese manufacturing firms (1999-2009). We find strong evidence for non-competitive pricing within a subset of industrial clusters, and we find the level of non-competitive pricing is roughly four times higher in China’s “special economic zones†. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed016:1697&r=cse |