|
on Entrepreneurship |
| By: | COMPANO Ramon (European Commission - JRC); TESTA Giuseppina; FAKO Peter (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This report compares and contrasts the characteristics of unicorns to those of start-up companies in general in Europe, with a particular focus on the influence on the trajectory of these companies of location, industry, and the reputation of venture capitalists investing in them. The analysis is based on a sample of 16, 004 start-up companies headquartered in Europe. Our results shows that unicorns mostly emerge in a limited number of countries and metropolitan areas. They primarily operate in high-technology sectors and tend to attract venture capitalists with established and reputable backgrounds. In contrast, the geographical incidence of lower valued startup companies is less concentrated though still predominantly located in major entrepreneurial hubs. These start-ups are often funded by local VC funds and many of them receive government support. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc132791 |
| By: | Richard Sylla (New York University Stern School of Business); Robert E. Wright (Augustana University, South Dakota) |
| Abstract: | Fortune magazine began publishing annual rankings of U.S. corporations by revenue in 1955. Ever since, scholars and forecasters have analyzed changes in the Fortune 500 to help inform their judgments about industry concentration and the relative importance of different sectors of the economy. Unfortunately, earlier data are scarce, especially before the Civil War. Through extensive research we have created a sort of historical "Fortune 500" going back to 1812, ranked by corporate capitalization, which we share here. Numerous insights can be drawn from this dataset, including the historical dominance of the banking and finance sectors and the early importance of manufacturing. Perhaps the larger significance of being able to come up with a Fortune 500 for 1812, though, is the fact that even with a population of only about 7.5 million, U.S. already had more business corporations than any other country, and possibly more than all other countries put together, securing its role as the world's first "corporation nation." The ease of incorporating businesses released a lot of entrepreneurial energy that helped to build an ever-expanding economy and by the end of the 19th century, the U.S. would be the world's largest national economy with tens of thousands of corporations. |
| Keywords: | Early American Business History, Fortune 500, Structure of US Economy. |
| JEL: | B10 B15 G32 |
| Date: | 2024–08–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:inetwp224 |
| By: | Thiemo Fetzer; Christina Palmou; Jakob Schneebacher |
| Abstract: | We study how businesses adjust to significant rises in energy costs. This matters for both the current energy crisis and the longer-term shift towards Net Zero. Using firm-level real-time survey and administrative data backed by a pre-registered analysis plan, we examine how firms respond to the energy price shock triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along output, price, input, process and survival margins. We find that, on average, firms pass on some cost increases, build up cash reserves, and face higher debt, but do not yet see layoffs or bankruptcies. However, effects are highly heterogeneous by size and industry: for instance, small firms tend to increase cash reserves and prices, while large firms invest more in capital. We estimate separate elasticities for many small industry cells and subsequently use k-means clustering techniques on the estimated effects to identify high-dimensional firm-adaptation archetypes. These estimates can help tailor firm support in the energy transition both in the short and the long term. More generally, the machinery developed in this paper enables policymakers to evaluate and adjust economic policy in near-real time. |
| Keywords: | energy price shock, firm dynamics, climate change, high-dimensional analysis |
| JEL: | D22 D24 H23 L11 O30 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11367 |
| By: | Andrea Ascani (Gran Sasso Science Institute); Lakshmi Balachandran Nair (LUISS Guido Carli University) |
| Abstract: | Whilst most governments’ supportive measures have kept businesses afloat during the most depressing stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, these massive liquidity injections can also hide the risk of keeping financially fragile firms alive artificially, thus starting a process that turns them into zombie firms (zombies). In this article, we investigate whether and under what circumstances the presence of zombies in an industry constitutes a barrier to the innovativeness of non-zombies in the same sector. By analysing matched patent-firm data from Bureau van Dijk ORBIS Intellectual Property on 426, 130 Italian firms from 2012 to 2018, we find evidence in favour of negative intraindustry spillovers. Nonetheless, this general relationship is subject to various contingencies connected to both industry and firm characteristics. Specifically, we highlight that the retention of zombies can congest the innovative activities of healthy firms, especially when they depend on external sources of finance, operate in highly competitive markets, are more exposed to the erosion of their market shares, and do not possess a pre-existing strong knowledge base. Our findings have relevant policy and managerial implications. |
| Keywords: | zombie firms, innovation, Italy, spillovers, poisson, instrumental variable |
| JEL: | O31 L20 D22 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahy:wpaper:wp40 |
| By: | Santiago Caicedo; Jeremy Pearce |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how the speed-quality tradeoff in innovation interacts with firm dynamics, concentration, and economic growth. Empirically, we document long-run trends in the increasing speed of innovation alongside declining quality at large firms. Leveraging variation from an exogenous policy change, we document the existence of the speed-quality tradeoff both at the firm and aggregate level. We develop an endogenous growth model that incorporates the speed-quality tradeoff and show that allocating less labor towards speed increases growth, particularly in the presence of private benefits to innovation and spillovers from heterogeneous innovations. We quantify the model to link firms’ decisions across speed and quality to aggregate outcomes. Quantitatively, the recent growth slowdown is mainly due to changes in the innovation production function, while the allocation of inventors between speed and quality within firms has a modest impact. When spillovers across firms are taken into account, the effect becomes significantly larger; the shift to speed over the last 30 years explains up to one-quarter of the decrease in growth. |
| Keywords: | innovation; economic growth; slowdown; inventors; firm dynamics |
| JEL: | J63 O30 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–10–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:98928 |
| By: | Duc Anh Nguyen (Université Paris-Saclay, UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne, LITEM - Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management (EA 7363) - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - Université Paris-Saclay - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris]); Liliana Mitkova (LITEM - Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management (EA 7363) - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - Université Paris-Saclay - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris], UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne) |
| Abstract: | Open innovation (OI) has captured the attention of both academics and practitioners since its inception. However, research on OI in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Our research aims to scrutinize the evolution of scientific production and emerging research themes of OI in SMEs. The study employs a bibliometric analysis using the Scopus database and the ARTIREV software. The findings indicate a considerable increase in the scientific production of research on OI in SMEs, with the last five years contributing the most. Additionally, the most relevant and involved constituents of research on OI in SMEs are illuminated alongside the most productive and influential publications and authors. The study also sheds light on several divergent research themes concerning firm and innovation performance, business model innovation, OI practices, OI challenges, OI in crisis times, entrepreneurship, economic growth, and sustainable innovation. Our study provides a detailed overview of the research contexts of OI in SMEs for future research investigations. |
| Keywords: | Open innovation, Small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, Performance analysis, Bibliometric analysis, Document bibliographic coupling analysis |
| Date: | 2024–05–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04712830 |
| By: | Sebastiano Cattaruzzo (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice); Giancarlo Corò (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice); Roshan Borsato (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between technological complexity and international performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using data from a 2023 survey of firms in the Veneto region. We develop a Technological Complexity Index (TCI) to capture firms' adoption of advanced Industry 5.0 technologies. Our results reveal that higher TCI is associated with greater export intensity, broader geographical diversification, and reduced market concentration. Firms that adopt more comprehensive organizational strategies, such as product customization and post-sale services, also perform better internationally. Policy recommendations include targeted support for SMEs to enhance technological adoption through financial incentives and skills development programs. |
| Keywords: | Technological complexity, international organization, export diversification |
| JEL: | F14 F23 L25 O33 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2024:16 |
| By: | WOOLFORD Jayne (European Commission - JRC); LALANNE Marie (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programming in the 2021-2027 financial period rec-ognises the role of human capital in place-based approaches to territorial development and innova-tive transformation, allowing for investment in skills for smart specialisation, industrial transition and entrepreneurship. This research quantifies the amount of investment earmarked across the EU-27 for this, alongside similar investments under the temporary Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), acknowledging the importance, and yet complexity, of ensuring complementarity between the funding streams. Whilst the legal basis for both resides in the Union’s goal of strengthening eco-nomic, social and territorial cohesion and reducing disparities, the design and implementation of the two instruments reflects different governance models, performance frameworks, policy priorities and actors. The analysis aims to capture how these two instruments support skills development rel-evant to the twin transitions and smart specialisation domains across heterogeneous socio-economic and institutional territories within the context of the European Semester recommenda-tions. However, it provides an overview of proposed investment at the point of adoption of the two sets of programmes in 2022 and 2023, recognising that the results and impact of the allocations, and their integration and connection with their local innovation ecosystem, will depend upon the ter-ritorial context, the projects and beneficiaries selected and implementation approaches. |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc139050 |
| By: | Yoga Affandi (Bank Indonesia); Masagus M. Ridhwan (Bank Indonesia); Irwan Trinugroho (Universitas Sebelas Maret); Danny Hermawan (Bank Indonesia) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the factors affecting digital adoption by ultra-micro, micro, and small enterprises (UMSEs) based on a survey of 5, 035 UMSEs in 17 major provinces in Indonesia. Utilizing the survey data, we also construct a digital adoption index that can be used to evaluate the regional adoption level variations. The result shows that several factors notably owner demographic characteristics, firm-specific factors, business environment, connectivity infrastructure quality, and culture are associated with the disparity in digital adoption by UMSEs. Our finding also shows a positive and significant correlation between digital adoption on business performance (sales growth). We further found strong evidence of the impact of digital adoption on the level of financial literacy of UMSEs’ owners. The latter result suggests that improving digital adoption among micro businesses (UMSEs) could be a lever to enhance their financial literacy. All in all, these findings suggest the vital role of digital transformation for micro-businesses in achieving growth and competitiveness in the global market, undoubtedly requiring robust support from policymakers. |
| Keywords: | Digital Adoption, Ultra-Micro, Micro and Small Enterprises, Firm Performance, Financial Literacy. |
| JEL: | L25 O33 R11 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idn:wpaper:wp132023 |
| By: | Haris Zuan; Muhammad Faliq Abd Razak; Intan Murnira Ramli (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)) |
| Date: | 2024–09–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:pb-2024-03 |