|
on Innovation |
| By: | Hottenrott, Hanna; Lopes-Bento, Cindy |
| Abstract: | R&D collaboration facilitates pooling of complementary skills, learning from the partner as well as sharing risks and costs. Research therefore repeatedly stressed the positive relationship between collaborative R&D and innovation performance. Fewer studies addressed potential drawbacks of collaborative R&D. Collaborative R&D comes at the costs of coordination and monitoring, requires knowledge disclosure and involves the risk of opportunistic behaviour by the partners. Thus, while the net gains from collaboration can be high initially, cost may start to outweigh those benefits if firms engage in multiple collaborative projects simultaneously. This study explicitly considers a firm's collaboration intensity, that is, the share of collaborative R&D projects in the firms' total R&D project portfolio. For a sample of 2,891 firms located in Germany, active in abroad range of manufacturing and service sectors and of which 86% are SMEs, we indeed find that increasing the share of collaborative R&D projects in total R&D projects is associated with a higher probability of product innovation and with a higher market success of new products. While we can confirm previous findings in terms of gains for innovation performance, we also find that collaboration has decreasing and even negative returns on product innovation if its intensity increases above a certain threshold. Consequently, the relationship between collaboration intensity and innovation has an inverted-U shape. In particular, costs start outweighing benefits if a firm pursues more than about two thirds of its R&D projects in collaboration. This result is robust to conditioning market success to the introduction of new products and to accounting for the selection into collaborating. |
| Keywords: | innovation performance,product innovation,R&D partnerships,collaboration intensity,financing constraints,collaboration complexity,transaction costs,selection model,endogenous switching |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14108r&r=ino |
| By: | Acemoglu, Daron (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and CIFAR); Akcigit , Ufuk (University of Pennsylvania); Hanley, Douglas (University of Pittsburgh); Kerr, William R. (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | We develop a microeconomic model of endogenous growth where clean and dirty technologies compete in production and innovation–in the sense that research can be directed to either clean or dirty technologies. If dirty technologies are more advanced to start with, the potential transition to clean technology can be difficult both because clean research must climb several rungs to catch up with dirty technology and because this gap discourages research effort directed towards clean technologies. Carbon taxes and research subsidies may nonetheless encourage production and innovation in clean technologies, though the transition will typically be slow. We characterize certain general properties of the transition path from dirty to clean technology. We then estimate the model using a combination of regression analysis on the relationship between R&D and patents, and simulated method of moments using microdata on employment, production, R&D, firm growth, entry and exit from the US energy sector. The model’s quantitative implications match a range of moments not targeted in the estimation quite well. We then characterize the optimal policy path implied by the model and our estimates. Optimal policy makes heavy use of research subsidies as well as carbon taxes. We use the model to evaluate the welfare consequences of a range of alternative policies. |
| Keywords: | carbon cycle; directed technological change; environment; innovation; optimal policy |
| JEL: | C65 O30 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2015–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofrdp:2015_026&r=ino |
| By: | Yatang Lin; Yu Qin; Zhuan Zie |
| Abstract: | How does the transfer of advanced technology spur innovation in developing countries? This paper exploits the large-scale introduction of high-speed railway (HSR) technology into China in 2004 as a natural experiment to address this question. The experiment is unique in the sense that this wave of technology transfer is large, abrupt and arguably exogenous in timing, covering a variety of technology classes and a large number of geographically-dispersed railway-related firms. With detailed information on the types of technology transferred and the identities of the receiving firms, as well as their product market specializations, we are able to depict a clear picture of how foreign technology is digested and spurs follow-up innovation in and out of directly receiving firms. Our findings suggest that technology transfer leads to significant growth in HSR-related patents in cities with direct receivers of imported technology after 2004 in a triple-difference estimation. We also observe sizable spillovers to firms that are not directly related to the railway industry. Technology similarity plays an important role in technology diffusion, but we do not observe any significant impacts of geographic proximity. Previous university research strength in relevant fields is also conducive to stronger technology spillovers. |
| Keywords: | innovation, foreign technology transfer, knowledge spillover, China |
| JEL: | O25 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1393&r=ino |
| By: | Roberta De Santis; Cecilia Jona Lasinio |
| Abstract: | In this paper we test the weak Porter hypothesis on a sample of European economies in the period 1995-2008. We focus on the channels through which tighter environmental regulation affects productivity and innovation. Our findings suggest that the “weak” Porter hypothesis cannot be rejected and that the choice of policy instruments is not neutral. In particular, market based environmental stringency measures seem to be the most suitable to stimulate innovation and productivity growth. Consistently with the strategic reorientation of environmental policies in the European Union since the end of the eighties, our results indicate that the EU might privilege market based instruments in order to meet more effectively the 2030 targets, especially through the channels of innovation and productivity enhancement. |
| Keywords: | environmental regulation, productivity, innovation, Porter hypothesis |
| JEL: | D24 Q50 Q55 O47 O31 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eiq:eileqs:100&r=ino |
| By: | Bournakis, Ioannis; Vecchi, Michela; Venturini, Francesco |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether off-shoring promotes technological specialization by reallocating resources towards high-tech industries and/or stimulating within industry R&D. Using data for the US, Japan and Europe, our results show that material off-shoring promotes high-tech specialization through input reallocation between sectors, while service off-shoring favours technologically advanced production by increasing within-industry productivity, mainly via its positive impact on R&D. Conversely, we find that the increasing fragmentation of core production tasks, captured by narrow off-shoring, has adverse effects on technological specialisation, which suggests that this type of off-shoring is mainly pursued for cost-reduction motives. |
| Keywords: | High-tech specialization, off-shoring, productivity, R&D, OECD industries |
| JEL: | F14 L16 O30 |
| Date: | 2015–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:68382&r=ino |
| By: | Carlino, Gerald (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Kerr, William R. (Harvard University, Bank of Finland, and NBER) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews academic research on the connections between agglomeration and innovation. We first describe the conceptual distinctions between invention and innovation. We then discuss how these factors are frequently measured in the data and note some resulting empirical regularities. Innovative activity tends to be more concentrated than industrial activity, and we discuss important findings from the literature about why this is so. We highlight the traits of cities (e.g., size, industrial diversity) that theoretical and empirical work link to innovation, and we discuss factors that help sustain these features (e.g., the localization of entrepreneurial finance). |
| Keywords: | agglomeration; clusters; innovation; invention; entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | J20 J60 L10 L20 L60 O30 R10 R30 |
| Date: | 2015–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofrdp:2015_027&r=ino |
| By: | O.A. Carboni; G. Medda |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of research activity and other micro determinants, on firms' investment behaviour. The empirical analysis is based on a large representative and cross-country comparative sample of manufacturing firms across seven European countries. Given the potential simultaneity between investment decision and R&D spending, we used an instrumental variable procedure to overcome the problem of endogeneity and an instrument was constructed to cope with this issue. We find that R&D positively affects investment decisions. The analysis highlights the importance of financial factors, particularly with respect to firms’ internal resources, and also sensible cross-country effects, in determining the investment level. |
| Keywords: | r&d, investment, firm behavior, IV model |
| JEL: | C31 O32 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201515&r=ino |
| By: | Gallini, Nancy |
| Abstract: | The paper examines technology agreements and the standards process from which they emerge when members supply inputs to the alliance while simultaneously competing with it. Under this overlapping ownership structure, pool members are horizontally related. I show that strategic complementarity between the downstream products owned by a member and those arising from the collaboration is sufficient for a pool to be pro-competitive. Although patent pools are more efficient than uncoordinated pricing, consumers are better off if an outside firm rather than a pool member owns the non-pool competing product. Antitrust rules facilitating efficient IP agreements under overlapping ownership and their implications for the direction of technological change are derived. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Organization, Patent Pools, Intellectual Property, Antitrust Policy |
| Date: | 2015–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:bricol:nancy_gallini-2015-22&r=ino |
| By: | Mariotto, Carlotta (MINES ParisTech, PSL - Research University); Verdier, Marianne (Université Paris 2 Panthéon Assas, CRED (TEPP) and MINES ParisTech, PSL - Research University) |
| Abstract: | Over the recent years, the development of Internet banking and mobile banking has had a considerable impact on competition in the retail banking industry. In some countries, the regulatory framework has been adapted to allow non-banks to operate in retail payments and compete with banks for deposits. Several platforms or large retailers have started to offer innovative financial products to their customers. In this paper, we survey the issues related to innovation and competition in Internet banking and mobile banking and discuss some perspectives for future research. |
| Keywords: | bank competition; bank regulation; non-banks; payment systems; Internet banking; mobile banking; platform markets |
| JEL: | E42 G21 L96 |
| Date: | 2015–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofrdp:2015_023&r=ino |
| By: | Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa |
| Abstract: | The vast majority of the literature on ethnicity and entrepreneurship focuses on the construct of ethnic entrepreneurship. However, very little is known about how ethnic heterogeneity affects entrepreneurship. This study attempts to fill the gap, and thus examines the effect of ethnic heterogeneity on entrepreneurial activities in a cross-section of 90 countries. Using indices of ethnic and linguistic fractionalization, we show that ethnic heterogeneity negatively influences entrepreneurship. We argue that potential channels that can explain the negative effect of fractionalization on entrepreneurship include trust, social network, social capital, innovation, and discrimination among others. Results are robust to several checks. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship,ethnic diversity,fractionalization |
| Date: | 2015–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:123723&r=ino |
| By: | Sara Amoroso (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | A basic assumption in the economic literature is the one of diminishing marginal returns to labour. However, theoretical studies on knowledge and labour specialization assume that an increase in the knowledge investment embodied in the human capital of workers raises the marginal product of labour. In this paper, we propose a structural approach to test the hypothesis of non-diminishing returns to labour for a panel data set of R&D investing companies, and we explore how the marginal returns to labour vary with their level of knowledge capital (R&D) intensity. Our econometric analysis provides a number of results. First, we find that more knowledge intensive firms have non-diminishing returns to labour, while less knowledge intensive companies exhibit diminishing returns. Second, independently from the knowledge capital intensity, returns to labour increase with size. Relatively smaller firms have diminishing returns, while larger companies have non-diminishing to increasing returns to labour. However, we show that more knowledge intensive firms can attain the threshold of non-diminishing returns faster than their counterparts. |
| Keywords: | size, specialization, profitability, profit function |
| JEL: | J24 L10 L25 O30 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201510&r=ino |
| By: | Schmidt, Tobias Sebastian; Lehnen, Jens; Herstatt, Cornelius |
| Abstract: | Lead User führen Bedarfstrends an und liefern dabei nicht nur Informationen zur Frage, was benötigt wird, sondern auch wie Lösungen umgesetzt werden können. Diese Lösungsinformationen sind im Innovationprozess von sehr großem Wert für ein Unternehmen, insbesondere wenn sie Monate oder Jahre vor dem Aufkommen des Bedarfs in der breiten Masse des Zielmarkts existieren. Das Unternehmen gewinnt Zeit für eine adäquate Entwicklung von Produkten und Dienstleistungen zur Bedarfsbefriedigung und profitiert gemäß dem Open Innovation-Ansatz vom Wissen und den Erfahrungen der Lead User. Obwohl die Lead User-Methode, die dem Unternehmen zur Identifikation von Lead Usern und deren Nutzbarmachung dient, sehr vielversprechende Eigenschaften aufweist, kommt sie in der Praxis vergleichsweise selten zum Einsatz. Dies lässt sich auf eine problematische Organisation und Durchführung der Methode in der Praxis zurückführen. Problematisch sind vor allem der hohe Arbeitsaufwand, die Wissensasymmetrie sowie involvierte Risiken, die den Erfolg und teilweise die Sinnhaftigkeit der Methodendurchführung in Frage stellen. Projektmanagement bietet ein umfangreiches Instrumentarium zur Bewältigung dieser Probleme. Dieses Arbeitspapier stellt deshalb einen Versuch dar, identifizierte Verbesserungspotentiale mit Hilfe des Projektmangements auszuschöpfen. Die Untersuchung versteht die Lead User-Methode daher nicht als Vorgehensbeschreibung, sondern als Projekt, das einer leistungsmaximierenden und risikominimierenden Handhabung bedarf. Eine explorative Fallstudienanalyse dient dazu, neue Einflussfaktoren auf diesem Gebiet offenzulegen und eine Praxisorientierung herzustellen. Das Hauptergebnis der Untersuchung ist ein Managementmodell für Lead User-Projekte als Hybrid aus agilem Projektmanagement und dem Stage Gate-Ansatz. Es verbessert die Leistungsfähigkeit des Innovationsprozesses mit eingebetteter Lead User-Methode und schafft eine Beherrschbarkeit der besonderen Rahmenbedingungen im Fuzzy Front End, ohne die erfolgskritische Kreativität negativ zu beeinflussen. Experten verifizieren schließlich die Praxistauglichkeit und -relevanz des Hybrids. Es stellt sich in der Untersuchung heraus, dass sich eine professionelle Projektierung der Lead User-Methode lohnt. Vor allem die agilen Prinzipien erweisen sich als besonders vorteilhaft und praktisch anwendbar. |
| Keywords: | Lead User-Methode,Projektmanagement,Agile Methoden,Agile/Stage Gate-Hybrid |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuhtim:90&r=ino |