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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2017‒02‒26
twelve papers chosen by João José de Matos Ferreira Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Stefano Bianchini (BETA, University of Strasbourg); Gabriele Pellegrino (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne & IEB) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of persistence in product and process innovations on the employment dynamics of a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms observed over more than 20 years. We build on a conceptual framework that links innovation persistence, employment growth and the persistence of this growth in the long-run. Using dynamic panel GMM and survival analysis techniques, we find that persistence in product innovation affects both employment growth and the sustainability of job creation over time significantly, whilst persistence in process innovation does not play any relevant role. The evidence we provide supports the notion that product innovation is more effective in spurring sustained employment growth when carried out systematically. |
| Keywords: | Firm growth, job creation, innovation, persistence in innovation, path-dependence |
| JEL: | D22 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2017-03&r=cse |
| By: | Broekel, Tom; Boschma, Ron |
| Abstract: | Firms’ embeddedness in knowledge networks has received much attention in literature. However, little is known about the structure of firms’ knowledge exchange with respect to different types of proximities. Based on survey data of 295 firms in 8 European regions, we show that firms’ knowledge exchange systematically differs in their geographical and cognitive dimensions. We find that firms’ innovation performance is enhanced if the firm primarily links to technologically related as well as technologically similar organizations. Connecting with organizations at different geographical levels yields positive effects as well. |
| Keywords: | geographical proximity knowledge networks technological relatedness innovation performance |
| JEL: | D85 O18 O33 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76805&r=cse |
| By: | Maria Teresa Costa-Campi (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB); Néstor Duch-Brown (Institute for Prospective Technological Studies); José García-Quevedo (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB) |
| Abstract: | Investment by energy firms in innovation can have substantial economic and environmental impacts and benefits. Internal R&D is the main input and driver of the innovation process, but innovation involves other activities, including capital purchases and other current expenditures. While the R&D activities of energy firms have been analysed, few studies have examined the typology of their innovation activities. Here, we analyse the impact of the main characteristics of the sector’s firms on their decisions to invest in each of three types of innovation activity: namely internal R&D; external R&D; and, the acquisition of advanced machinery, equipment or software. In conducting this analysis, we take the potential persistence of innovation activities into account. We also examine the role that different innovation objectives have on firms’ investment decisions. Given that engagement in a specific type of innovation may result from decisions that are not taken independently of each other, we analyse whether there is any complementarity between the three innovation activities. In carrying out the empirical analysis, we draw on data for private energy firms included in the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for Spanish firms for the period 2004-2013. We use panel triprobit models to examine potential complementarity. |
| Keywords: | Energy, R&D, innovation, regulation, complementarity |
| JEL: | L94 Q40 O32 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2016-28&r=cse |
| By: | Ferrante, Francesco; Federici, Daniela; Parisi, Valentino |
| Abstract: | Start-ups founded by university students and graduates play a substantial role in bringing new knowledge to the market and in employment creation; a role that appears to be even more important than the one played by the typical technology transfer activities carried out by universities, i.e. patenting and licensing activities, or spin-offs founded by academic staff. Indeed, robust empirical evidence suggests that entrepreneurs’ education is a good predictor of firms’ performance. Unfortunately, data show that the share of Italian entrepreneurs with tertiary educations is quite small, and this is especially the case of the younger generation. In this paper, we use a population-based approach to explore entrepreneurship among 61,115 graduates, alumni of the 64 Italian universities that belong to the AlmaLaurea consortium, in the second half of 2014, at the time when they completed their academic experience. We detect various levels of engagement and intentions to be involved in entrepreneurship, and we assess which factors appear to weigh more in a positive or negative manner. The bad news is that also our analysis finds that the share of Italian graduates who have started a business after their enrolment at university (1.3%) or who have taken concrete actions to start a business (4.5%) is quite small. The good news is that the number of intentional, i.e. potential highly educated, entrepreneurs among university students is much larger (at least 23%). On the basis of our results, we argue that the provision by universities of entrepreneurial education and training, internships, and ICT skills can be effective tools with which to cultivate entrepreneurial attitudes and skills, thereby fostering entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship among university graduates and enhancing their employability. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, university, start up, students, education |
| JEL: | I23 J21 J24 L26 |
| Date: | 2017–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76980&r=cse |
| By: | Armand, Alex; Mendi, Pedro |
| Abstract: | Fluctuations in aggregate demand can influence the decision to invest in innovation. This paper focuses on this choice when fluctuations are heterogeneous across productive strata of the economy. To guide the empirical analysis, we model firms’ decision to invest in innovation. In our framework, firms are heterogeneous and demand shocks are exogenous. We show that drops in aggregate expenditure reduce the proportion of firms investing in innovation. We then study investment behaviour in a panel of Spanish innovative manufacturing firms. These firms are all investing in internal R&D in 2004 and are yearly surveyed until 2013. During the Great Recession, firms experienced large contractions in aggregate consumption. The reduction reached 10% of its pre-crisis trend. We proxy heterogeneous fluctuations in demand with entry and exit rates in the productive stratum of each firm. Rates incorporate all firms, including non-innovative firms. Higher exit rates are associated with reductions of 2 to 3% in the share of firms investing in innovation. The drop is larger for smaller firms, which also experience larger decreases in sales. These results are in line with our theoretical predictions. Our estimates are robust to the inclusion of indicators of time-varying credit constraints. For these constraints, we observe a marginal role among innovative firms. |
| Keywords: | R&D, Innovation, Firm entry, Firm exit, Great Recession. |
| JEL: | L22 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2017–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76884&r=cse |
| By: | Tortia, Ermanno C. |
| Abstract: | Contemporary literature dealing with the governance of the exploitation of common-pool natural resources was initiated by Elinor Ostrom in 1990, and has been growing fast ever since. On the contrary, within the same research stream, the study of the presence and economic role of common resources in entrepreneurial-organizational is, to date, under-researched. This work endeavours some attempt to fill this gap by: first, spelling out a new-institutionalist framework for the analysis of the accumulation and governance of common capital resources within organizational boundaries; second, by considering co-operative enterprises as the organizational form that, on the basis of historical record, and of behavioural and institutional characteristics, demonstrated to be the most compatible with a substantial role for common and non-divided asset-ownership and with its governance thereof. The economic forces influencing the optimal level of self-financed common capital resources in co-operatives are enquired. Also their governance is brought under the spotlight, evidencing: (i) the constraints that need to be fulfilled, and the potential benefits arising out of their presence; (ii) the compatibility and mutual adaptability between democratic governance in co-operatives and the governance of non-divided assets. |
| Keywords: | co-operative enterprises; indivisible reserves; common resources; rivalry; non-excludability; capital accumulation; governance |
| JEL: | B52 J54 K11 P12 P13 P14 |
| Date: | 2017–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76735&r=cse |
| By: | Shai Bernstein; Emanuele Colonnelli; Xavier Giroud; Benjamin Iverson |
| Abstract: | How do different bankruptcy approaches affect the local economy? Using U.S. Census microdata at the establishment level, we explore the spillover effects of reorganization and liquidation on geographically proximate firms. We exploit the random assignment of bankruptcy judges as a source of exogenous variation in the probability of liquidation. We find that within a five-year period, employment declines substantially in the immediate neighborhood of the liquidated establishments, relative to reorganized establishments. Most of the decline is due to lower growth of existing establishments and, to a lesser extent, reduced entry into the area. The spillover effects are highly localized and concentrate in the non-tradable and service sectors, particularly when the bankrupt firm operates in the same sector. These results suggest that liquidation leads to a reduction in consumer traffic to the local area and to a decline in knowledge spillovers between firms. The evidence is inconsistent with the notion that liquidation leads to creative destruction, as the removal of bankrupt businesses does not lead to increased entry nor the revitalization of the area. |
| JEL: | G33 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23162&r=cse |
| By: | E. Avisoa |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the technical efficiency of European co-operative banks compared to European commercial banks from 2006 to 2014. For this we use the B-convexity method, an innovative approach in frontier efficient models estimation, to measure banks’ technical efficiency; we also analyse the influence of certain variables on the level of efficiency. Our findings show that: a) a principal component analysis indicates that cooperative banks’ balance sheet are oriented towards lending activities while commercial banks are more oriented towards securities and derivatives activities; b) on average, the technical efficiency of the banks in our sample significantly decreased between 2007 and 2009, before recovering markedly between 2010 and 2012 and stabilizing over the period 2013-2014; c) there is no significant difference in technical efficiency between European cooperative banks and commercial banks, although we observe a slight superiority of commercial banks; d) French cooperative banks have higher levels of technical efficiency than their European peers; and (e) technical efficiency is positively impacted by the banks’ size, suggesting that large banks tend to have higher technical efficiency than smaller banks. This is in line with a trend towards concentration to improve technical efficiency in the European banking sector. |
| Keywords: | European banking; cooperative banks; technical efficiency; B-convexity; non-parametric frontier approach. |
| JEL: | C14 C67 G21 G30 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:decfin:25&r=cse |
| By: | Horbach, Jens; Janser, Markus |
| Abstract: | The environmental sector is supposed to yield a dual benefit: its goods and services are in-tended to tackle environmental challenges and its establishments should create new jobs. However, it is still unclear in empirical terms whether that really is the case. This paper investigates to what extent employment growth in establishments with green products and services is higher compared to other establishments. Furthermore, the main factors determining labor demand in this field are analyzed. We use linked employment and regional data for Germany. The descriptive results show that the environmental sector is characterized by disproportionately high employment growth. The application of a generalized linear mixed model reveals that especially innovation and industry agglomeration foster employment growth in establishments in the environmental sector. Establishments without green products and services show a smaller increase in employment, even if they are also innovative. |
| JEL: | J21 Q55 R23 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145500&r=cse |
| By: | HAMAGUCHI Nobuaki; GOKAN Toshitaka; HAYAKAWA Kazunobu; KAMEYAMA Yoshihiro; MARUYA Toyojiro; MATSUURA Toshiyuki; SHIRAMATA Shuji; ZHANG Xu |
| Abstract: | Internationalized firms are more intensively concentrated in three mega-metropolitan regions than in the rest of the population in Japan. Although the firms in the Hokuriku region are relatively more internationalized compared to firms of other non-mega regions, they are significantly smaller in size and lower in productivity than the internationalized firms of the three mega-metropolitan regions. In fact, the productivity of internationalized firms is not significantly higher than that of the non-internationalized firms in the Hokuriku region. Hokuriku firms benefit from the positive externality from the agglomeration of firms in the same industry. Local technological organizations such as public industrial research centers and university technology licensing offices play a certain role. Yet, exporting is a challenge for Hokuriku firms with its local business conditions. Our empirical findings suggest that they tend not to internationalize with a sufficient level of productivity, which would induce firms to internationalize under better business conditions. It is also found that, although not internationalized themselves, Hokuriku firms that are indirectly internationalized through selling products to internationalized firms exhibit higher productivity than those that are neither internationalized directly nor indirectly. Because Hokuriku lacks a major international port within the region but has good connections to all three mega-metropolitan regions through highways and railways, firms may find it more advantageous to be suppliers for exporting firms rather than exporters themselves. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:17002&r=cse |
| By: | Giovanni Dosi; Marco Faillo; Virginia Cecchini Manara; Luigi Marengo; Daniele Moschella |
| Abstract: | This work offers an overview of recent formalizations of organizational capabilities and learning. We first present the main characteristics both of NK models and of the approach based on Classifier Systems, focusing on their early applications to organization studies. We then discuss how the use of these models has contributed, in the recent years, to the formal analysis of the development and change of firmùs dynamic capabilities by improving our understanding of processes of organizational learning and adaptation, and of the relationship between cognitive and governance issues. |
| Keywords: | Capabilities, Decomposability, Organizational structure, Problem-solving |
| Date: | 2017–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2017/08&r=cse |
| By: | Sachapon Tungsong; Fabio Caccioli; Tomaso Aste |
| Abstract: | We report on time-varying network connectedness within three banking systems: North America, the EU, and ASEAN. The original method by Diebold and Yilmaz is improved by using exponentially weighted daily returns and ridge regularization on vector autoregression (VAR) and forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD). We compute the total network connectedness for each of the three banking systems, which quantifies regional uncertainty. Results over rolling windows of 300 days during the period between 2005 and 2015 reveal changing uncertainty patterns which are similar across regions, with common peaks associated with identifiable exogenous events. Lead-lag relationships among changes of total network connectedness of the three systems, quantified by transfer entropy, reveal that uncertainties in the three regional systems are significantly causally related, with the North American system having the largest influence on EU and ASEAN. |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1702.05944&r=cse |