nep-cse New Economics Papers
on Economics of Strategic Management
Issue of 2020‒02‒03
fifteen papers chosen by
João José de Matos Ferreira
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. The role of R&D-intensive clusters for regional competitiveness By Reinhold Kosfeld; Timo Mitze
  2. Technology & Knowledge Transfer For Entrepreneurship At Informatics & Business Institute Darmajaya Bandar Lampung By Sanusi, Anuar; , yulmaini; Yusendra, Aria Eka
  3. Subsidized to change? The impact of R&D policy on regional technological diversification By Lars Mewes; Tom Broekel
  4. Model Manajemen kelompok Usaha Mikro Kecil dan Menengah (UMKM) Usaha Tepung Tapioka By ARISTO, Jurnal; , Salahudin; , Wahyudi; Ulum, Ihyaul; Kurniawan, Yudi
  5. Strategic Decision Making Based on Information Systems for Improving the Competitiveness of SMEs in The Trade Sector By , arasy alimudin; Falani, Achmad Zakki
  6. Corporate social responsibility and value creation By Niknamian, Sorush
  7. National and international R&D support programmes and technology scouting in European small and medium enterprises (SMEs) By Radicic, Dragana
  8. The economics of international competition policy: New challenges in the light of digitization? By Budzinski, Oliver
  9. Reassessing FERA: examining British firms’ strategic responses to ‘Indianisation’ By Aldous, Michael; Roy, Tirthankar
  10. Sustainability traps: patience and innovation By Christos Karydas; Evangelos V. Dioikitopoulos
  11. COMPARING GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: A FUZZY-SET ANALYSIS By Phil KIM; Tobin IM
  12. Financial constraints and intangible investments. Do innovative and non-innovative firms differ? By Sandro Montresor; Antonio Vezzani
  13. HUMAN RESOURCE COMPETENCIES IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION By Onsardi, Onsardi
  14. Public policies, productivity and economic growth in OECD countries By Luigi Burroni
  15. Product Innovation, Product Diversification, and Firm Growth: Evidence from Japan's Early Industrialization By Serguey Braguinsky; Atsushi Ohyama; Tetsuji Okazaki; Chad Syverson

  1. By: Reinhold Kosfeld (University of Kassel); Timo Mitze (Southern University of Denmark)
    Abstract: Modern cluster theory provides reasons for positive external effects that accrue from the interaction of spatially proximate firms operating in common and related fields of economic activity. In this paper, we examine the impact of R&D-intensive clusters as a key factor of regional competitiveness on productivity and innovation growth. In analogy to the industry-oriented concepts of related and unrelated variety (Frenken, Van Oort, Verburg 2007), we differentiate between effects of cluster specialisation and diversity. The identification of R&D-intensive clusters is based on a hybrid approach of qualitative input-output analysis and spatial scanning (Kosfeld and Titze 2017). Our empirical study is conducted for a panel of German NUTS-3 regions in 2001-2011. To comprehensive account for specialisation and diversity effects of clustering we adopt a spatial econometric approach, which allows us to identify these effects beyond the geographical boundaries of a single region. After controlling for regional characteristics and unobserved heterogeneity, a robust ‘cluster strength’ effect (i.e. specialization) on productivity growth is found within the context of conditional convergence across German regions. With regard to the underlying mechanisms, we find that the presence of a limited number of R&D-intensive clusters in specific technological fields is most strongly linked to higher levels of regional productivity growth. While we also observe a positive effect of cluster strength on innovation growth once we account for spatial spillovers, no significant effects of ‘cluster diversity’ can be identified. This indicates that some but not all cluster-based regional development strategies are promising policy tools to foster regional growth processes.
    Keywords: Industry clusters, regional competitiveness, cluster specialisation, cluster diversity, correlated random effects model
    JEL: L16 R11 R15
    Date: 2020
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:202001&r=all
  2. By: Sanusi, Anuar; , yulmaini; Yusendra, Aria Eka
    Abstract: One important role of universities nowadays, is to develop the entrepreneurial culture. This article discusses on knowledge and technology transfer to society especially in developing entrepreneurship initiative and strategies (IPTEKS bagi Kewirausahaan/IbK), and also strengthening technology and business incubator (INKUBITEK) in IBI Darmajaya, one of leading university from Bandar Lampung, Indonesia to develop young entrepreneurs from among universities students and alumni. The program objectives are to improve entrepreneurship motivation of students and alumni, develop skills and proficiency for students and alumni in mastering management, business strategies, and manage the business environment, and also mentoring effective entrepreneurial business as the new business owner. The activities from the program consist of good corporate governance in business, entrepreneur training, training in an effective business plan, marketing apprentice and volunteer, field visit on developing business on Lampung, business execution and management consultancy, provision of capital for the business owner, and business mentoring from the well-established business player on Lampung.
    Date: 2017–12–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:uf5b2&r=all
  3. By: Lars Mewes; Tom Broekel
    Abstract: Previous research shows ample evidence that regional diversification is strongly path-dependent, as regions are more likely to diversify into related than unrelated activities. In this paper, we ask whether contemporary innovation policy in form of R&D subsidies intervenes in the process of regional diversification. We focus on R&D subsidies and assess if they cement existing path-dependent developments, or if they help in breaking these by facilitating unrelated diversification. To investigate the role of R&D policy in the process of regional technological diversification, we link information on R&D subsidies with patent data and analyze the diversification of 141 German labor-market regions into new technology classes between 1991 and 2010. Our findings suggest that R&D subsidies positively influence regional technological diversification. In addition, we find significant differences between types of subsidy. Subsidized joint R&D projects have a larger effect on the entry probabilities of technologies than subsidized R&D projects conducted by single organizations. To some extent, collaborative R&D can even compensate for missing relatedness by facilitating diversification into unrelated technologies.
    Keywords: regional technological diversification, relatedness, innovation, policy, R&D subsidies
    JEL: O31 O33 O38
    Date: 2020–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2003&r=all
  4. By: ARISTO, Jurnal; , Salahudin; , Wahyudi; Ulum, Ihyaul; Kurniawan, Yudi
    Abstract: Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is a buffer of the national economy that it proved able to survive during the monetary crisis in Indonesia in 1997-1998. On the one hand, MSMEs have a strong resilience to the economic crisis. On the other hand, the development of MSMEs is faced with complex problems. This research departs from the complexity of the problems faced in developing Tapioca Starch business. This study aims to understand the problems faced by SMEs in developing Tapioca Flour Business in Kediri and prepare concrete steps to solve the problem. This research used descriptive qualitative method with data collection technique of interview, observation, and documentation. The results of this study indicated that the problems faced by the Tapioca flour business in Kediri are that they have no the formation of the business in a business group, the lack of human resources skills in developing the business, the limited business capital, and the dependence of the entrepreneurs on the middlemen directly and not to the detriment of entrepreneurs. The steps proposed for such issues include the formation of business groups, strengthening cooperative networks with business groups, markets, and cassava growers, and strengthening venture capital through saving and loan systems
    Date: 2017–12–31
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:7y5tu&r=all
  5. By: , arasy alimudin; Falani, Achmad Zakki
    Abstract: The main shortcomings of micro, small and medium enterprises in Indonesia are located into its traditional management system coupled with lack of utilization of information and technology. Economic and trading growth in Surabaya, Malang and Batu are higher compared to national economic and trading growth. Information and technology are essential factor in improving strategic competitiveness of grocery since it can be used to seek information about customer to gain their trust and satisfaction. The present study shows that strategic competitiveness of grocery in Surabaya and Malang is based on service and product quality. Meanwhile, strategic competitiveness in Batu is based on pricing of the product. Utilization of information and technology in making strategic competitiveness decision obtain the same result as conventional statistics analysis.
    Date: 2018–01–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:75g3u&r=all
  6. By: Niknamian, Sorush
    Abstract: Various studies have studied the effect of corporate social responsibility on the performance of organizations. The recent studies in this field specifically have considered the measurement of corporate social responsibility. The present study is aimed to measure the different dimensions of corporate social responsibility and their impact on the performance of firms based on economic value-added and cash value added. Based on the extensive concept of corporate social responsibility, to evaluate each of economic, legal and ethical dimensions, corporate social responsibility based on Carrol theory has applied a new method to quantify this qualitative concept. The statistical sample consists of 104 firms during 2007 to 2016. To test the study hypotheses, multi-variate regression model and pooled data methods are used. It was found that there was a positive and significant relationship between economic, legal and ethical dimensions of corporate social responsibility and value-added. It means that economic value added and cash value added are affected via corporate social responsibility in different dimensions and are increased.
    Date: 2019–12–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:bj7xr&r=all
  7. By: Radicic, Dragana
    Abstract: This paper evaluates the effectiveness of national and international R&D support programmes on firms' technology scouting, defined as firms' use of external knowledge sources. Drawing on a unique dataset on R&D support programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in both manufacturing and service sectors across 28 European countries, this study reports treatment effects estimated by the copula-based endogenous switching model, which takes into account unobserved firm heterogeneity. Empirical results indicate that R&D support programmes have heterogenous effects on technology scouting, whereby a crowding out effect arises in the case of a short-run scouting, while additional effect are mostly reported for strategic external knowledge sourcing. Moreover, our results suggest that unfavourable, crowding out, effects could be reduced, if not eliminated, by a random distribution of public funding.
    Keywords: Technology scouting,External knowledge search,European SMEs,copula-based endogenous switching model
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:leafwp:1905&r=all
  8. By: Budzinski, Oliver
    Abstract: The International Competition Network (ICN) celebrates its 20th birthday in 2020. It governs global competition by providing a cooperative forum for (mostly national) competition authorities from all around the world. In the absence of binding global competition rules and antitrust laws, it attempts to coordinate national and supranational competition policies by providing best practice recommendations and exercising peer pressure on deviating regimes. While the first twenty years of the ICN have been mostly a success story, the ubiquitous process of digitization poses new challenges to the voluntary and informal coordination of decentralized competition policies governing pro- and anticompetitive arrangements and conduct on international and intercontinental markets. First, the digitization of markets and goods increases the number of cross-border, interjurisdictional cases regarding cartels, mergers and acquisitions, as well as anticompetitive market behavior. Second, digital platforms and data-based business models increase the probability of dominant companies on intercontinental scales as well as problems of economic dependency on few global player companies. Third, the economics of digital platforms and data-based competition strategies partly differ from traditional standard economics and are still being developed in the academic world. Consequently, the previous convergence of competition policy practices across jurisdictions tends to shift towards a process of divergence with respect of how to deal with innovative pro- and anticompetitive conduct in the digital world. This essay discusses the influence of the effects from digitization on the problems of (only soft-coordinated) national competition policies in international markets like cross-border externalities, costs and burden of multiple procedures, loopholes in the protection of global competition, and the diversity of societies and competition regimes. It concludes by outlining the challenges that the ICN will face in its third decade.
    Keywords: international competition policy,international antitrust,International Competition Network,global governance,digitization,industrial economics,law and economics,international economics,international organizations,international business
    JEL: F02 F53 F55 K21 L40
    Date: 2020
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuiedp:135&r=all
  9. By: Aldous, Michael; Roy, Tirthankar
    Abstract: The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, introduced in India in 1973, was the culmination of efforts to ‘Socialise’ economic policies and ‘Indianise’ corporate ownership. It resulted in a flight of foreign capital as Multinational Enterprises exited India to avoid these risks, finally driving out long-established British commercial interests. This article uses new sources to reassess how British businesses perceived the threats of Indianisation and analyses how they strategically responded to them. It shows that British-owned firms used a diverse range of strategies, some drawing on their extensive experience, knowledge and networks, built through long tenures in India, to adapt successfully.
    Keywords: British multinationals; foreign direct investment; strategy; India; post-colonial
    JEL: N0 J50
    Date: 2018–07–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:89975&r=all
  10. By: Christos Karydas (Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH), ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Evangelos V. Dioikitopoulos (King's Business School, Group of Economics, King's College London, UK)
    Abstract: This paper argues that the joint relation between long-term orientation, environmental quality and innovation plays a key role in explaining environment-poverty traps. Based on empirical observations, we allow for the subjective discount rate to negatively depend on environmental quality in an R&D-driven endogenous growth model with local pollution externalities. Our model reconciles two empirical facts: i) multiple equilibria of economic and environmental development; ii) opposite responses to technological improvements depending on the initial equilibrium. Our results suggest that -- in addition to traditional policies such as development aid and technology transfer -- policies that aim at improving both the economic and the environmental dimension of sustainability, should also focus on changing individuals' long-term views in countries that face weak environmental conditions.
    Keywords: Endogenous growth, innovation, time preference, environmental poverty traps, economic poverty traps
    JEL: D90 E21 O13 O44 Q55 Q56
    Date: 2020–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eth:wpswif:20-330&r=all
  11. By: Phil KIM (Seoul National University, South Korea); Tobin IM (Seoul National University, South Korea)
    Abstract: National governments rely on global performance indicators to grasp the current status and to build future strategies. However, no previous study has investigated pathways to government performance in terms of various indices empirically. With five possible determinants that are trait competitiveness, change-oriented citizenship behavior (CO-OCB), public service motivation (PSM), organizational identification (OI), and corruption tolerance, we try to find sufficient configurations to three representative government performance indicators which are “Government Effectiveness” (WGI), “Government Efficiency” (GCI), and “Throughput” (GC). The results indicate that three performance indicators are distinguished from one another with regard to the number of contributing factors to sufficient configurations, the role of “innovation-inclined” factors, and the role of corruption tolerance.
    Keywords: Government Performance, Performance Indicators, Fuzzy-set Analysis
    JEL: H83
    Date: 2019–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rom:tadase:4&r=all
  12. By: Sandro Montresor (School of Advanced Studies, Gran Sasso Science Institute); Antonio Vezzani (Roma Tre University)
    Abstract: We investigate the extent to which financial constraints hamper the firms’ investment in intangibles. Drawing on the extant literature, we maintain that a distinction should be kept between innovators and non-innovators. Moreover, we argue that such a distinction should be investigated along the whole spectrum of intangibles firms invest and by addressing the risks of reverse causality and simultaneity bias in the relationship. Through an original quasi-panel extension of a recent European Innobarometer survey, we estimate two sets of recursive bivariate probit models – for innovative and non-innovative firms’ investments – from which interesting results emerge. Financial barriers hamper the investment of both kinds of firms only for R&D, design, and organisation and business processes. With respect to other intangibles, instead, financial barriers act only on innovators (or non-innovators) or are even absent. Furthermore, the hampering role of financial barriers distributes differently across different intangibles between innovators and non-innovators.
    Keywords: &D, intangibles, innovation, financial barriers.
    JEL: O30 O32 O33
    Date: 2019–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201907&r=all
  13. By: Onsardi, Onsardi
    Abstract: This article discusses the competence of human resources in the era of globalization. It is aimed to analyze competencies that human resources must have in facing the era of globalization. The method used in this research was literature study. Literature studies are used to find theoretical references that are relevant to cases or problems in a study. The results of this study indicate that competences needed by human resources in the era of globalization are (1) Critical thinking, (2) Ability to solve problems, (3) Communication and collaboration, (4) Creativity and innovation, (5) Information literacy, communication, and technology (ICT), (6) social and cross-cultural skills, (7) Ability to think of entrepreneurship, (8) Respect for diversity, (9) Teamwork and interconnectedness, (10) Civic and digital citizenship, and (11) religious competence. The whole competencies can be classsified into 5 core competencies, which are: (1) Communication competence both oral and written, (2) knowledge competence, (3) informational technology competence, (4) inter-cultural competence and (5) religious competence. Keyword: Competence and globalization
    Date: 2019–11–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:dsh97&r=all
  14. By: Luigi Burroni (Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée)
    Abstract: Since mid-1990s social sciences have re-started to give attention to the role played by the state in promoting economic growth, with important contributions from economists, sociologists and political scientists. This attention further increased after the economic and financial crisis of 2007/08 with a rising strand of research that is focusing on the institutional foundations of different growth models in advanced economies. This paper is related to this wide strand of research and analyses how industrial policies can favor the emerging of institutional conditions that are conducive to economic growth. In particular, the paper analyzes the neglected relationship between public policies and labor productivity in OECD countries. The focus is on four policy arenas that have a direct impact on labor productivity: labor market, human capital, innovation and on the efficiency of public administration. The analysis underlines a strong association between labour productivity and public policies addressed to promote training and activation, tha quality of educational institutions and inter-institutional networks in innovation. Other kind of policies, such as those addressed to flexibilise the labour market or to reduce labour costs or to increase the average number of years of schooling seem to play a minor role.
    Keywords: Industrial Policies; Labour Market Regulation; Education; Labour Productivity ; Economic Growth
    Date: 2020–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5r4i3252ep948ot3ojtc37goi7&r=all
  15. By: Serguey Braguinsky (University of Maryland - Department of Management & Organization; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Osaka University - Institute of Social and Economic Research); Atsushi Ohyama (Hitotsubashi University); Tetsuji Okazaki (University of Tokyo); Chad Syverson (University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER))
    Abstract: We explore how firms grow by adding products. In contrast to most earlier work on the topic, our conceptual and empirical framework allows for separate treatment of product innovation (vertical differentiation) and diversification (horizontal differentiation). The market context is Japan’s cotton spinning industry at the turn of the last century. We find that introducing innovative products outside of the previously feasible set involves removing the “supply-side constraint” by investing in new types of machines and technologies. This process involves a high degree of uncertainty, however, so firms that take steps in this direction tend to first introduce innovative products on experimental basis. We show that conducting such experiments is a key to firm growth. It not only provides opportunities to capture the market in high-end vertically differentiated products when successful, but also facilitates horizontal differentiation of the firm’s products within its previous technical capabilities. In long-term outcomes over 20 years, the right tail of the firm size distribution becomes dominated by firms that were able to expand in both directions: moving first into technologically challenging vertically differentiated products, and then later applying their newly acquired high-end technical competence to horizontal expansion of their product portfolios.
    Keywords: Innovation, Growth
    JEL: D2 L1 N6 N8 O3
    Date: 2020
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfi:wpaper:2020-03&r=all

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