nep-cse New Economics Papers
on Economics of Strategic Management
Issue of 2023‒07‒24
six papers chosen by
João José de Matos Ferreira
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. Skills Shortage and Innovation Openness By Paolo Carioli; Dirk Czarnitzki
  2. Do regional innovation strategies meet societal challenges? A comparative analysis across regions in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Finland By Suarsana, Laura; Schneider, Tina; Warsewa, Günter
  3. The Illusive Slump of Disruptive Patents By Macher, Jeffrey; Rutzer, Christian; Weder, Rolf
  4. Technological Innovations and Obsolescence: Leveling the Playing Field for Remanufacturing By Pedro H. Albuquerque; Kiara S Winans
  5. Globalise to Localise: Exporting at Scale and Deepening the Ecosystem are Vital to Higher Domestic Value Addition in Electronics By Deepak Mishra; Neha Gupta; Sanya Dua; Sanjna Agarwal
  6. Women and Trade: Towards an Enabling Ecosystem in India By Nisha Taneja; Sanjana Joshi; Shravani Prakash

  1. By: Paolo Carioli; Dirk Czarnitzki
    Abstract: Skills shortage has become a key policy issue in highly developed and innovationoriented economies, with non-negligible consequences on firms’ innovation activities. We investigate the effect of skills shortage on firms’ innovation openness, which is considered to be one of the key drivers of innovation performance. We hypothesize that scarcity of personnel causes firms to cooperate more broadly with external partners. Using cross-sectional data from the German contribution to the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), and exploiting detailed information on the extent to which firms could fill their job vacancies, we find that, on average, a one standard deviation increase in skills shortage more than doubles a firm’s cooperation breadth. We contribute to the literature on human capital in relation to open innovation by characterizing the necessity of openness as a way to mitigate the scarcity of skills.
    Keywords: open innovation, R&D collaboration, skills shortage
    Date: 2023–05–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ecoomp:720361&r=cse
  2. By: Suarsana, Laura; Schneider, Tina; Warsewa, Günter
    Abstract: In addition to traditional, cluster-oriented approaches, both cross-sectional technologies ("key enabling technologies") and societal challenges ("grand challenges") are becoming increasingly important for regional innovation strategies. A more complex, multi-dimensional approach of regional innovation strategies requires but a number of adaptations, which need to adjust to various, different regional preconditions. The article raises the research question how societal demands are considered and implemented by regional innovation strategies in four case study regions: Pirkanmaa/Tampere region in Finland, Groningen region in the Netherlands, West Flanders in Belgium, and the Federal State of Bremen in Germany. The four regional case studies are comparable European regions in terms of their innovation capacity and their level of innovation (all are classified "highly innovative" or "strong innovator" by the European Union). In order to address global societal goals and challenges - in particular climate change and its consequences as well as demographic change - a multidimensional innovation policy spanning sectors and technologies and a close interlinking of technological and societal innovation objectives and strategies, seems inevitable. The analyses revealed that governance structures and the innovation infrastructures in the regions indeed start to adapt to societal needs and to the increasing complexity of regional innovation strategies, though the speed as well as the intensity of transition and adjustment varies greatly across the regions. Interregional learning as is intended by the European Interreg programme could offer meaningful support for the progress of regional measures towards multi-dimensional innovation policies.
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iawsch:402023&r=cse
  3. By: Macher, Jeffrey (University of Basel); Rutzer, Christian (University of Basel); Weder, Rolf (University of Basel)
    Abstract: Despite tremendous growth in the volume of new scientific and technological knowledge, the popular press has recently raised concerns that disruptive innovative activity is slowing. These dire prognoses were mainly driven by Park et al. (2023), a Nature publication that uses decades of data and millions of observations coupled with a novel quantitative metric (the CD index) that characterizes innovation in science and technology as either consolidating or disruptive. We challenge the Park et al. (2023) methodology and findings, principally around concerns of truncation bias and exclusion bias. We show that 88 percent of the decrease in disruptive patents over 1980-2010 reported by the authors can be explained by their truncation of all backward citations before 1976. We also show that this truncation bias varies by technology class. We update the analysis to 2016 and account for a change in U.S. patent law that allows for citations to patent applications in addition to patent grants, which is ignored by the authors in their analysis. We show that the number of highly disruptive patents has increased since 1980---particularly in IT technologies. Our results suggest caution in using the Park et al. (2023) methodology as a basis for research and decision making in public policy, industry restructuring or firm reorganization aimed at altering the current innovation landscape.
    Keywords: Disruptive Innovation, Truncation Bias, Exclusion Bias, U.S. Patent Law Change
    JEL: O30 O32 O33
    Date: 2023–06–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2023/06&r=cse
  4. By: Pedro H. Albuquerque (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Kiara S Winans (UC Davis - University of California [Davis] - UC - University of California)
    Abstract: In a linear economy, manufacturing is less costly and more profitable than remanufacturing because of reduced private costs of utilization and production. However, manufacturing also involves higher resource extraction and waste as externalized costs than remanufacturing. We use a vintage capital framework to assess technological innovations in remanufacturing and their potential benefits to society and human occupations. Our study shows that replacing manufacturing with remanufacturing technologies creates positive static and dynamic circular economy externalities. These externalities can be quantified to assess improvements in social outcomes. A smartphone remanufacturing innovation case study is presented as an illustration of the article's main ideas. Future research should investigate additional specific cases to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing the impact of remanufacturing innovations on social outcomes. This will provide valuable insights into the broader implications of remanufacturing practices.
    Keywords: manufacturing, externalities, occupational meaning, circular economy, sustainability, national accounting systems
    Date: 2023–06–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-04127754&r=cse
  5. By: Deepak Mishra (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)); Neha Gupta (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)); Sanya Dua (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)); Sanjna Agarwal
    Abstract: The study proposes that India should adopt the mantra of first globalise, then localise, a strategy also pursued by China and Vietnam. Implementing it will require two fundamental changes in the existing policy regime. First, the electronics sector should be able to source inputs from the lowest cost suppliers anywhere in the world until it achieves a global scale, which implies temporarily suspending localisation requirements, removing duties on intermediate items, and accelerating integration through bilateral and regional FTAs.Second, the priority of the industrial policy should be about creating a competitive domestic ecosystem of ancillary suppliers – by improving business climate, removing unnecessary regulations, helping with technology transfer and supporting services, training of workers, better sharing of market information, investment in R&D, and targeted fiscal incentives – through cooperative collaboration with the state governments and the private sector.
    Keywords: Electronics Trade, FTA, Global-Value-Chains, icrier, ICEA, digital India
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdc:report:22-r-07&r=cse
  6. By: Nisha Taneja (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)); Sanjana Joshi (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)); Shravani Prakash
    Abstract: In recent years India has increasingly come to recognize the importance of empowering women and promoting gender equality in its growth story. However, the multitude of schemes and initiatives supporting entrepreneurship among women are primarily focussed on handholding early-stage development. The focus is on capacity building, mentoring and small value collateral free starting loans. Support for internationalization of women-owned enterprises through targeted measures to boost women’s participation in international trade has lagged. This policy brief identifies the key gaps and recommends an active affirmative strategy of gender mainstreaming across three composite elements of the enabling ecosystem for trade – a clear guiding vision, institutional set-up and international cooperation. It is recommended that the upcoming Foreign Trade Policy which is slated for 2021-2026 be used to mainstream gender in the national trade agenda. The recognition of the gender specific impediments and vulnerabilities that women entrepreneurs face should be reflected in both the vision and strategy, with a holistic focus on export promotion, integration in global value chains (GVCs), ease of doing business, and trade facilitation. Secondly, there is need for a robust institutional set-up underpinned by support programs and incentives, regular gender consultation, timely collection of gender disaggregated data and impact assessment. With gender equality considerations gaining traction in bilateral and multilateral trade discussions and agreements, India should also include women entrepreneurs as important stakeholders in domestic consultations on free trade agreements and their aspirations and concerns should be reflected in the final texts through gender responsive provisions.
    Keywords: creative economy, culture, employment, output, intellectual property, G20
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdc:ppaper:12&r=cse

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