nep-ppm New Economics Papers
on Project, Program and Portfolio Management
Issue of 2014‒05‒09
six papers chosen by
Arvi Kuura
Parnu College - Tartu University

  1. Exogenous vs. endogenous governance in innovation communities: Effects on motivation, conflict and justice - An experimental investigation By Störmer, Niclas; Herstatt, Cornelius
  2. Fiscal policy as an instrument of investment and growth By Basu, Kaushik
  3. Fostering University‐Industry R&D Collaborations in European Union Countries By Cunningham, James; Link, Albert
  4. R&D employee's intention to exchange knowledge within open innovation projects By Nedon, Verena; Herstatt, Cornelius
  5. The impact of R&D subsidies on firm innovation By Raffaello Bronzini; Paolo Piselli
  6. Unhappily non-cooperative: Do development research and practice ignore each other? By Kleemann, Linda; Neumann, Maximilian

  1. By: Störmer, Niclas; Herstatt, Cornelius
    Abstract: In this study we examine the effects of exogenous vs. endogenous governance rules on a virtual community handling an innovative task. Specifically we investigate the relationship between the two modes (exogenous vs. endogenous) and factors such as motivation, conflict and justice. We conducted an experiment with 70 students, divided into teams of five. We manipulated procedural legitimacy by allowing one group to choose a set of rules and giving the other group the same rules exogenously. Our study indicates, that letting a team choose its own governance rules leads to increasing level of conflict negatively impacting motivation. --
    Keywords: Governance,Collaborative Innovation Communities
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuhtim:82&r=ppm
  2. By: Basu, Kaushik
    Abstract: This paper investigates the role of fiscal guarantees in promoting infrastructure investment. Infrastructure is a critical driver of economic growth, but infrastructure entails significant up-front costs that yield benefits after a time lag. Investors hesitate to put their money down on private infrastructure ventures because of the long lag and governments do not give guarantees for reasons of fiscal prudence. The paper argues that governments and large investment guarantee agencies can in many situations give suitably-calibrated guarantees to private projects by exploiting the fact that a guarantee on one project can reduce the risk of another one failing. The paper works out the architecture of such guarantees, which can be fiscally prudent and yet boost investment, especially in infrastructure, and thereby promote growth.
    Keywords: Debt Markets,Access to Finance,Emerging Markets,Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress,Non Bank Financial Institutions
    Date: 2014–05–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6850&r=ppm
  3. By: Cunningham, James (National University of Ireland); Link, Albert (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics)
    Abstract: This paper advances our understanding of university-industry research and development (R&D) collaborations. These strategic relationships are a dimension of entrepreneurial activity, and they are thus important drivers of economic growth and development. Business collaboration with universities increases the efficiency and effectiveness of industrial investments. Previous studies have found that universities are more likely to collaborate with industry if the business is mature and large, is engaged in exploratory internal R&D, and there are not major intellectual property (IP) issues between both parties. Businesses gain from such collaborations through increased commercialisation probabilities and economies of technological scope. Based on publicly available data collected by the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre of Germany as part of a European Commission project, our paper focuses on two key questions. First, why are there cross-country differences in the extent to which universities collaborate with business in R&D? Second, are there covariates with these differences that might offer insight into policy prescriptions and policy levers for enhancing the extent to which such collaboration takes place? We find that access is positive and statistically significant in relation to fostering university business R&D collaborations. Our results, albeit that they are tempered by a small sample of data, have implications how national innovation systems support further harmonization of IP regimes across universities and how universities priorities its own investments and incentives.
    Keywords: R&D collaborations; entrepreneurship; university-industry partnerships; European Union
    JEL: O31 O32 O33 O38
    Date: 2014–04–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2014_003&r=ppm
  4. By: Nedon, Verena; Herstatt, Cornelius
    Abstract: The existing literature on open innovation strongly emphasizes on the organizational level, while neglecting the people side and especially the perspective of employees working in OIprojects. This study analyzes determinants of R&D employees' knowledge exchange in OIprojects by means of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and a literature review regarding motivational factors influencing individuals' attitude toward knowledge exchange. An online survey amongst 133 R&D employees was conducted and data was analyzed through variancebased structural equation modeling (PLS). In our sample, subjective norm had by far the strongest impact on employees' intention to exchange their knowledge in OI-projects, although attitude and perceived behavioral control also showed highly significant and positive effects on intention. From all five identified motivational factors, enjoyment in helping was found to have the strongest influence on attitude, followed by intrinsic rewards and sense of self-worth. Extrinsic rewards and reciprocity did not show any effect on attitude. --
    Keywords: open innovation,interorganizational cooperation,R&D partnerships,knowledge exchange,knowledge sharing,R&D employees,theory of planned behavior,TPB,motivation,structural equation modeling
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuhtim:83&r=ppm
  5. By: Raffaello Bronzini (Bank of Italy); Paolo Piselli (Bank of Italy)
    Abstract: This paper evaluates the impact of an R&D subsidy program implemented in a region of northern Italy on innovation by beneficiary firms. In order to verify whether the subsidies enabled firms to increase patenting activity, we exploit the mechanism used to allot the funds. Since only projects that scored above a certain threshold received the subsidy, we use a sharp regression discontinuity design to compare the number of patent applications, and the probability of submitting one, of subsidized firms with those of unsubsidized firms close to the cut-off. We find that the program had a significant impact on the number of patents, more markedly in the case of smaller firms. Our results show that the program was also successful in increasing the probability of applying for a patent, but only in the case of smaller firms.
    Keywords: research and development, investment incentives, regression discontinuity design, patents
    JEL: R0 H2 L10
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_960_14&r=ppm
  6. By: Kleemann, Linda; Neumann, Maximilian
    Abstract: Successful cooperation between development researchers and development policy makers and practitioners translates into better development policies, projects and programmes. Research is relevant if it can provide meaningful input for the practitioners. At the same time, practitioners have to be willing and able to use these findings to improve their work. Through continuous communication, evaluation and feedback cycles both parties should be able to gain additional insights and improve future outcomes. But how close is reality to this ideal state of collaboration between theory and practice? Development researchers are often said to be working in ivory towers - doing research for the sake of publications with results that are hardly relevant or applicable in practice. But is this necessarily so and is it the only reason for the lack of cooperation between research and practice? What role do personal communication, time horizons and the researchers fear of losing their academic reputation play? To answer this question, we developed two surveys, one among development researchers and one among development practitioners in Germany, asking them about the intensity and quality of cooperation and feedback linkages between research and practice. We also asked about the main obstacles and the expectations about the future of cooperation between the two groups. The questionnaires were published on the PEGNet website and contained 27 questions. The researcher questionnaire was sent to about 2000 development researchers in Germany and abroad in early 2014. Within three weeks 145 researchers answered the questionnaire. The practitioner questionnaire was distributed in 2013 (Kleemann and Böhme 2013). Although the results are not representative for the development research sector as a whole they provide some interesting insights into existing problems and what can be done about them. The results show that both researchers and practitioners are interested in cooperating more. Researchers in particular believe that better collaboration would be mutually beneficial, resulting in additional insights for their research and better development outcomes. From their point of view the current state of cooperation is unsatisfactory because of four main reasons: different interests, different time frames, poor communication and mistrust. The practitioners and researchers opinion on the main obstacles for cooperation coincide to a large extent, and in particular on the question of timing. Practitioners complain about the slowness of research wherefore they have to make decisions before the researchers can provide them with their findings (Bell and Squire 2014). Moreover, practitioners claim that researchers are mainly aiming at publishing their results and are therefore neglecting the applicability of their research. Hence, in order to improve the cooperation environment researchers and practitioners have to learn how to trust and respect each other, to communicate better and to find ways to handle differences in timing. --
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkpb:74&r=ppm

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