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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2021‒04‒19
five papers chosen by João José de Matos Ferreira Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Matthies, Eike; Haverkamp, Katarzyna; Thomä, Jörg; Bizer, Kilian |
| Abstract: | While an increasing number of conceptual studies postulate that vocational education and training (VET) activities have a positive impact on the innovative capacity of training companies, empirical evidence on the subject remains scarce. This study exploits establishment data from a representative survey of German companies to estimate the effects of firms' participation in initial VET on their innovation outcomes. The results based on linear probability models and instrumental variable regressions with entropy balancing show that the impact of VET activity on innovation is more ambiguous than postulated. Overall, the participation in initial VET has virtually no effect on product innovation and radical novelties. For the total population of all German companies, the positive impact of VET activities is only observable in case of process innovation. However, our results point to significant causal effects on the innovative capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We conclude that companies' participation in the VET system facilitates organizational learning in training companies and knowledge transfer from VET institutions to those enterprises, which are otherwise more likely to be detached from modern technology networks. The paper concludes with implications for policy and research. |
| Keywords: | education,apprenticeship training,modes of innovation,innovation without R&D,SMEs |
| JEL: | I20 J24 O31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifhwps:302021&r=all |
| By: | Woroch, GA |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the empirical relationship between concentration in mobile carriers’ holdings of radio spectrum and the performance of the U.S. wireless industry. Reduced-form regressions that use a 2012–2013 cross-section of approximately 700 Cellular Market Areas reveal a robust inverted-U relationship between spectrum HHIs and subscriber penetration rates—a measure of consumer welfare. The marginal effect of spectrum concentration is positive throughout the range of sampled markets—contrary to the conventional concentration-performance hypothesis. This pattern persists when spectrum concentration is separately measured for bands below 1 GHz and for rural areas. It is also shown not to be biased by the potential endogeneity of spectrum HHIs. This paper is distinguished by relating subscriber penetration rates to the quality and coverage of operator networks that supports efficiency explanations for operator size, and hence the benefits of structural concentration. These findings cast doubt on federal policies adopted as early as the 1927 Radio Act that attempt to equalize ownership of spectrum. Instead, our empirical results recommend measures that promote investment in wireless infrastructure and other non-spectrum factors. |
| Keywords: | Spectrum concentration, Industry performance, Mobile wireless services, Applied Economics, Economics |
| Date: | 2020–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:econwp:qt8vv381jt&r=all |
| By: | Mattie Landman; Sanna Ojanper\"a; Stephen Kinsella; Neave O'Clery |
| Abstract: | Despite the key role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in both international markets and domestic economies, there is no consensus on whether or how they positively impact their host economy. In particular, do MNEs foster the creation of new domestic firms through knowledge spillovers? In this study, we look at the impact of the presence of related MNE industries on the entry and exit of domestic export industries in Irish regions before, during, and after the 2008 financial crisis. Specifically, we are interested in whether the presence of MNEs in a region results in knowledge spillovers and the creation of new domestic export activities in related sectors. To quantify how related an industry is to a region's current export basket we deploy an existing cohesion variable, closeness, that measures the relatedness of a new industry to existing industries within a region. We also introduce a new variable, strategic closeness, which captures not only the relatedness of industries within a region but their own connectivity or embeddedness. We use a dataset containing all government-supported export firms in Ireland between 2006-2018. We find that the presence of related MNE industries is associated with the entry of new domestic activity, suggesting that Irish regions benefited from domestic-MNE linkages. However this relationship was temporarily lost after the financial crisis and only recently re-established, with domestic entry dependent on the presence of highly embedded MNE sectors. Furthermore, we find that related MNEs help protect domestic industries against exit after the crisis and thereby play a role in enhancing regional resilience. |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2104.05754&r=all |
| By: | Julian D. Cortes; Liliana Rivera; Katerina Bohle Carbonell |
| Abstract: | The mission statement(s) (MS) is one of the most-used tools for planning and management. Universities worldwide have implemented MS in their knowledge planning and management processes since the 1980s. Research studies have extensively explored the content and readability of MS and its effect on performance in firms, but their effect on public or nonprofit institutions such as universities has not been scrutinized with the same intensity. This study used Gunning's Fog Index score to determine the readability of a sample of worldwide universities' MS and two rankings, i.e., Quacquarelli Symonds World University Ranking and SCImago Institutions Rankings, to determine their effect on performance. No significant readability differences were identified in regions, size, focus, research type, age band, or status. Logistic regression (cumulative link model) results showed that variables, such as universities' age, focus, and size, have more-significant explanatory power on performance than MS readability. |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2104.07438&r=all |
| By: | Sandro Montresor (Gran Sasso Science Institute); Gianluca Orsatti (Università di Torino); Francesco Quatraro (Università di Torino) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the local endowment of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) drives the regions’ capacity to create technological novelty. Looking at regional innovations as re-combinations of preexisting knowledge, we propose two indicators of regional technological novelty (absolute and local), based on patents that originally draw on still unexplored prior-art knowledge connections. We argue that KETs have inherent re-combinatorial properties of the regional knowledge base and that their local endowment drives technological novelty. We test for this argument by focusing on a sample of 1,255 NUTS3 EU regions over the period 2000-2014 in an original instrumental variable setting. With some nuances, results confirm our main hypotheses. KETs do drive significantly the introduction of local technological novelty, but this mainly occurs for an absolute kind of novelty. The development, use or eventually external acquisition of KETs is thus an important policy priority for regions willing to compete at the technological frontier. |
| Keywords: | technological novelty, knowledge combination, key enabling technologies (KETs) |
| JEL: | R11 R58 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahy:wpaper:wp5&r=all |