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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2009‒11‒27
four papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Werner, Arndt; Moog, Petra |
| Abstract: | Based on the finding that entrepreneurs who found new firms tend to work as employees of small rather than large firms prior to start-up, we test how different working conditions, which enhance entrepreneurial learning, affect their decision to become entrepreneurs when moderated by firm size. Based on data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we find a significant relationship between entrepreneurial learning (extracted in an orthogonal factor analysis based on twelve working conditions as proxy for entrepreneurial human capital and work experience) and firm size when predicting the probability of leaving paid employment for self-employment. We think, that this is a special kind of knowledge spillover. We also control for other aspects such as gender, age, wage, etc. – factors that may potentially influence the decision to become self-employed. Thus, our analysis sheds new light onto the black box of SMEs as a hotbed of new start-ups. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Occupational Choice; Working Conditions; Human Capital |
| JEL: | J28 M54 J24 M13 C33 |
| Date: | 2009–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:18826&r=sbm |
| By: | Zoltan J. Acs; Claire Economidou; Mark Sanders |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present an endogenous growth model in which we investigate the implications of knowledge spillovers between knowledge creators (inventors) and commercializers (innovators). We then turn to the question how such knowledge spillovers affect value creation within and among organizations as well as at the aggregate level and discuss how the internalization of these knowledge spillovers can help improve economic performance at both levels. |
| Keywords: | knowledge spillovers; innovation management; strategic entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:0932&r=sbm |
| By: | Keller, Wolfgang |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how international flows of technological knowledge affect economic performance across industries and firms in different countries. Motivated by the large share of the world's technology investments made by firms that are active across borders, we focus on international trade and multinational enterprise activity as conduits for technological externalities, or spillovers. In addition to reviewing the recent empirical research on technology spillovers, the discussion is guided by a new model of foreign direct investment, trade, and endogenous technology transfer. We find evidence for technology spillovers through international trade and the activity of multinational enterprises. The analysis also highlights challenges for future empirical research, as well as the need for additional data on technology and innovation. |
| Keywords: | Intra-firm trade; Learning-by-exporting; Multinational firms; Tacit knowledge; Technological externalities; Technology diffusion; Total factor productivity |
| JEL: | F1 F2 O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7503&r=sbm |
| By: | Lofstrom, Magnus (Public Policy Institute of California) |
| Abstract: | More than half of the foreign born workforce in the U.S. have no schooling beyond high school and about 20 percent of the low-skilled workforce are immigrants. More than 10 percent of these low-skilled immigrants are self-employed. Utilizing longitudinal data from the 1996, 2001 and 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation panels, this paper analyzes the returns to self-employment among low-skilled immigrants. We compare annual earnings and earnings growth of immigrant entrepreneurs to immigrants in wage/salary employment as well as native born business owners. We find that the returns to low-skilled self-employment among immigrants is higher than it is among natives but also that wage/salary employment is a more financially rewarding option for most low-skilled immigrants. An exception is immigrant men, who are found to have higher earnings growth than immigrants in wage/salary employment and are predicted to reach earnings parity after approximately 10 years in business. We also find that most of the 20 percent male native-immigrant earnings gap among low-skilled business owners can be explained primarily by differences in the ethnic composition. Low-skilled female foreign born entrepreneurs are found to have earnings roughly equal to those of self-employed native born women. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, low-skill, earnings, self-employment, entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J31 L26 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4560&r=sbm |