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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2025–05–26
five papers chosen by João José de Matos Ferreira, Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Robert, Marc |
| Abstract: | This review examines the pivotal role of entrepreneurship in fostering innovation within manufacturing industries. This article synthesises theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented insights. I explore how entrepreneurial activities, whether through independent start-ups, SMEs, or intrapreneurship within established firms, act as critical catalysts for technological upgrading in manufacturing sectors. The analysis integrates innovation theory, the knowledge spillover perspective, and entrepreneurial ecosystem frameworks, while also emphasising the embedding of entrepreneurship within institutional contexts. Our findings reveal that the effectiveness of entrepreneurial-led manufacturing innovation is highly contingent on factors such as ecosystem health, networks, policy design, and cultural milieu. The review identifies key debates regarding the quality versus quantity of entrepreneurship, the optimal role of the state in ecosystem development, and contextual nuances influencing entrepreneurial outcomes. Emerging research frontiers including digital manufacturing entrepreneurship, comparative ecosystem studies, and multi-level dynamic analyses are proposed as promising avenues for future inquiry. In conclusion, the article asserts that entrepreneurship remains a linchpin of manufacturing innovation, but realising its full potential requires a nuanced orchestration of formal institutions, social capital, firm-level capabilities, and policy interventions aligned with sustainable development goals. |
| Keywords: | Manufacturing innovation; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial ecosystems; Sustainable entrepreneurship; Industry 4.0. |
| JEL: | L6 M2 M21 |
| Date: | 2025–02–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:124608 |
| By: | Patrick Llerena; Corentin Lobet; André Lorentz |
| Abstract: | We propose a disaggregated representation of production using an agent-based fund-flow model that emphasizes inefficiencies, such as factor idleness and production instability, and allows us to explore their emergence through simulations. The model incorporates productivity dynamics (learning and depreciation) and is extended with time-saving process innovations. Specifically, we assume workers possess inherent creativity that flourishes during idle periods. The firm, rather than laying off idle workers, is assumed to harness this potential by involving them in the innovation process. Results show that a firm’s organizational and managerial decisions, the temporal structure of the production system, the degree of workers’ learning and forgetting, and the pace of innovation are critical factors influencing production efficiency in both the short and long term. The coevolution of production and innovation processes emerges in our model through the two-sided effects of idleness: the loss of skills through forgetting and the deflection of time from the production of goods to the production of ideas giving birth to idleness-driven innovations. In doing so, it allows us to question the status of labour as an adjustment variable in a productive organisation. The paper concludes by discussing potential solutions to this issue and suggesting avenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | Production Theory; Firm Theory; Agent-based model; Idleness; Innovation; Fund-flow. |
| JEL: | D21 D24 D83 J24 L25 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2024-45 |
| By: | Andrea Borsato; Patrick Llerena |
| Abstract: | Contributing to the fast-growing Economics of Artificial Intelligence (AI), this paper examines the close relationship between university and industry for what concerns to the research and development of AI technologies in the USA. Recalling the history of the university-industry relationships in the several phases of the US national system of innovation (NSI), we argue that current collaborations resemble in some respects what happened during the prewar NSI. Yet, the AI R&D presents some peculiarities. Universities are changing their positioning in the innovation process and turning to a research-based training model in the domains concerned by AI. This could potentially change the trajectory of university-industry links, since it is very much in line with the typical Humboldtian perspective that was at work in some European institutes in XVIII century up to US early XX century. At the same time, if the way in which the production of knowledge and the training of the workforce envisages a return to the origins, differences arise in the definition of the main goals, e.g., Sustainable Development Goals, and in the role of stakeholders. The overall discussion also bears some implications for the link between division of knowledge and division of labour. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence, AI research, University-industry relationship, US national innovation system. |
| JEL: | I2 L2 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2024-46 |
| By: | Ku, Hyejin (University College London); Mu, Tianrui (University College London) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how China’s growing research capabilities impact global research universities across scientific fields. Using bibliometric data from 1980 to 2020, we assess the effects of the “China shock” on high-impact publications, novel concepts, and citation patterns. Our analysis reveals a positive net effect in Chemistry and Engineering & Materials Science (EMS), but a negative effect in Clinical & Life Sciences (CLS). In other fields, the effects are mostly positive but imprecise. We highlight the coexistence of competition and spillover effects, with their relative strength shaped by field characteristics, such as expansion potential and the quality of China’s research. |
| Keywords: | ideas, knowledge production, China shock in science, competition, spillovers |
| JEL: | J24 I23 O31 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17866 |
| By: | Okeke, Clement Ejiofor |
| Abstract: | Studies on corporate attributes and the financial performance of firms are increasingly gaining momentum. However, most of the past studies in this area have concentrated on sectors such as banking, agriculture, oil and gas, and consumer goods with limited reviews on the relationship between corporate attributes and financial performance of the industrial goods sector. This study examined the effect of Corporate Attributes on Financial Performance of Listed Industrial Goods Firms in Nigeria. The study used an ex post facto research approach and secondary data were retrieved from the annual financial reports of selected industrial goods firms in Nigeria for eleven years from 2013-2023. E-views version 12 was used to carry out the regression analysis of the direct effect of relevant variables. The study found that corporate attributes do not have a significant effect on the financial performance of listed industrial goods firms in Nigeria.. The study recommends that managers and board members in the industrial goods sectors in Nigeria should consider moderating/reducing their size to control the negative effect such action holds for their financial performance. The study also recommended that the management of industrial goods firms in Nigeria should invest more in activities and programs that promote their management efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Attributes, Earning Per Share, Financial Performance, Firm Size, Industrial Goods Firms |
| JEL: | F0 F60 L0 M0 |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123031 |