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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2017‒11‒05
eight papers chosen by João José de Matos Ferreira Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Vanessa Tchamyou (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Paul Acha-Anyi (Pretoria/South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study assesses the knowledge economy (KE) performance of lagging African countries vis-à-vis their frontier counterparts with regard to the four dimensions of the World Bank’s knowledge economy index (KEI). The empirical exercise is for the period 1996-2010. It consists of first establishing leading nations before suggesting policy initiatives that can be implemented by sampled countries depending on identified gaps that are provided with the sigma convergence estimation approach. The following are established frontier knowledge economy countries. (i) For the most part, North African countries are dominant in education. Tunisia is overwhelmingly dominant in 11 of the 15 years, followed by Libya which is a frontier country in two years while Cape Verde and Egypt lead in a single year each. (ii) With the exception of Morocco that is leading in the year 2009, Seychelles is overwhelmingly dominant in ICT. (iii) South Africa also indomitably leads in terms of innovation. (iv) While Botswana and Mauritius share dominance in institutional regime, economic incentives in terms of private domestic credit are most apparent in Angola (8 years), the Democratic Republic of Congo (3 years) and Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Malawi (each leading in one year). |
| Keywords: | Knowledge economy; Benchmarks; Policy syndromes; Catch-up; Africa |
| JEL: | O10 O30 O38 O55 O57 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:17/043&r=cse |
| By: | Heiwai Tang; Yifan Zhang |
| Abstract: | We study the global diffusion of culture through multinationals, focusing on gender norms. Using data on manufacturing firms in China over 2004-2007, we find that foreign affiliates from countries with a more gender-equal culture tend to employ proportionally more women and appoint female managers. They also generate cultural spillovers, increasing domestic firms’ female labor shares in the same industry or city. Based on a multi-sector model with firm heterogeneity in productivity, gender biases, and learning, we perform counterfactual exercises. Hypothetically eliminating firms’ gender biases raises China’s aggregate total factor productivity by 5%, of which spillovers from multinationals account for 19%. |
| Keywords: | cultural spillover, gender inequality, FDI, misallocation |
| JEL: | F11 F21 J16 L22 O47 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6295&r=cse |
| By: | Suzanne Jones and Tony Hooper |
| Abstract: | The global financial crisis of 2007–08 encouraged governments to exploit information and communication technologies. The New Zealand government responded by developing an Information and Technology Strategy to 2017. This investigation surveyed middle managers awareness of the Strategy, the level of collaboration and innovation they engaged in and what they considered the barriers and enablers to be. These data were triangulated with the perceptions of senior public officials. While there was a disconnect between what senior managers expected of middle managers and how middle managers perceived their role and responsibilities, there was agreement among senior and middle managers on the barriers to innovation based on agency responsibilities and priorities. Ingrained corporate behavior has incentivised low risk, stable, reliable and accountable staff, while risk taking and entrepreneurial capabilities have not been rewarded. The Strategy was revised and simplified, and senior manager views gathered again to see if their initial perceptions had changed. |
| Keywords: | innovation, collaboration, public sector, information and communication technology, middle managers |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:201735&r=cse |
| By: | Giammario Impullitti; Omar Licandro; Pontus Rendahl |
| Abstract: | We study the gains from trade in an economy with oligopolistic competition, firm heterogeneity, and innovation. Oligopolistic competition together with free entry make markups responsive to firm productivity and trade costs. Lowering trade costs reduces markups on domestic sales but increases markups on export sales, as firms do not pass the entire reduction in trade costs onto foreign consumers. Nevertheless, the downward pressure dominates and the average markup declines, deterring firms from entering the market and leading to higher market concentration. Neither the increased concentration nor the incomplete pass-through of trade costs to export markups are strong enough to compensate for the increase in competition on domestic sales. Thus the overall effect of trade on markups is pro-competitive and a key source of the associated welfare gains. In addition to markups, selection and innovation provide additional channels through which the trade-induced effect on competition impacts welfare. In a quantitative exercise, we decompose the total gains from trade into these three contributing channels; we find that innovation plays a small but non-negligible role, while the main component is equally split between the pro-competitive and the selection channel. |
| Keywords: | Gains from Trade, Heterogeneous Firms, Oligopoly, Innovation, Endogenous Markups, Endogenous Market Structure. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notgep:17/14&r=cse |
| By: | Laura Alfaro; Paul Antràs; Davin Chor; Paola Conconi |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, advances in information and communication technology and falling trade barriers have led firms to retain within their boundaries and in their domestic economies only a subset of their production stages. A key decision facing firms worldwide is the extent of control to exert over the different segments of their production processes. We describe a property-rights model of firm boundary choices along the value chain that generalizes Antràs and Chor (2013). To assess the evidence, we construct firm-level measures of the upstreamness of integrated and non-integrated inputs by combining information on the production activities of firms operating in more than 100 countries with Input-Output tables. In line with the model's predictions, we find that whether a firm integrates upstream or downstream suppliers depends crucially on the elasticity of demand for its final product. Moreover, a firm's propensity to integrate a given stage of the value chain is shaped by the relative contractibility of the stages located upstream versus downstream from that stage, as well as by the firm's productivity. Our results suggest that contractual frictions play an important role in shaping the integration choices of firms around the world. |
| Keywords: | global value chains, sequential production, incomplete contracts |
| JEL: | F14 F23 D23 L20 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1507&r=cse |
| By: | Badi H. Baltagi (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244); Peter H. Egger (ETH Zurice, CEPR, CESifo, GEP); Michaela Kesina (ETH Zurich) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the determinants of firm-level revenues, as a measure of the performance of firms in China's domestic and export markets. The analysis of the determinants of the aforementioned outcomes calls for a mixed linear-nonlinear econometric approach. The paper proposes specifying a system of equations, which is inspired by Basmann's work and recent theoretical work in international economics and conducts comparative static analyses regarding the role of exogenous shocks to the system to flesh out the relative importance of transmissions across outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Econometrics, Spillovers, Panel-Data Econometrics, Nonlinear Systems, Firm- Level Sales, Chinese Firms |
| JEL: | C23 C31 D24 L65 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:209&r=cse |
| By: | Tamas Gerocs (Institute of World Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes a critical assessment of Indian companies’ internationalization experience. It introduces a new theoretical framework in order to go beyond classical notion based on western companies’ global aspirations. Besides the theoretical modifications the paper provides an empirical collection about those successful Indian internationalization projects that sought to enter the European market. The question to be answered here is whether Indian firms are able to compete out dominant western companies in an increasingly multipolar world economy in the future. By applying the modified method on the question of internationalization from developing companies’ point of view, the aim of the paper is to detect future world economic trends to which Indian companies will need to accommodate themselves. |
| Keywords: | FDI, Indian multinationals, multipolar world-system, investment development path, developing countries |
| JEL: | F02 O25 O53 P45 P48 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwe:workpr:234&r=cse |
| By: | Gavrilova, T.; Alsufiev, A.; Pleshkova, A. |
| Abstract: | This paper is bringing the focus on knowledge management elements and analyses their influence on the performance of the company. Namely knowledge management practices are considered the key element for enhanced innovative performance. The main research method is exploratory factor analysis with preliminary analysis of covariations among variables. Research bases on results of survey conducted among Russian companies during 2017 and intends to reveal interrelationships among KM and Performance constructs that are peculiar for Russian market. |
| Keywords: | knowledge management, organization performance, KM practices, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sps:wpaper:8598&r=cse |