|
on Small Business Management |
|
Issue of 2012‒12‒10
eight papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Alberto Marzucchi (Catholic University of Milan); Davide Antonioli (University of Ferrara); Sandro Montresor (JRC-IPTS) |
| Abstract: | The paper aims to show how policy makers can stimulate firms' cooperation with research organisations in innovation. We argue that the administration of an R&D subsidy can be effective. Furthermore, this should be more so for extra-regional than intra-regional cooperation. The firms' propensity to extend cooperation across the region is assumed to increase with the amount of support. However, the support must overcome a threshold, for firms to cover the fixed costs of distant interactions. These research hypotheses are tested with respect to a sample of firms in a region of Italy. Propensity score matching is applied to identify the impact of the subsidy receipt. A generalised propensity score technique is employed to investigate the effect of an increasing amount of support. All the hypotheses are not rejected. Firms' cooperation is policy sensitive, but the size of the support is crucial for its effects. |
| Keywords: | Industry-Research Cooperation, Regional Innovation Systems, Behavioural Additionality |
| JEL: | O32 O38 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201204&r=sbm |
| By: | Metaxas, Theodore; Economou, Athina |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the importance of territorial characteristics/assets (i.e. agglomeration economies, urban infrastructure, factors of labor and cost, development policies, qualitative factors, inter alia) on small- and medium-sized firms’ competitiveness. The analysis uses primary data from 204 small- and medium-sized firms located in Thessaloniki (Greece). These firms operate in the sectors of industry, commerce and services. Through the use of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, the importance of particular factors for the competitiveness of firms has been analyzed, coming out in valuable conclusions not only for the firms and the city of Thessaloniki considered but also for firms and areas with similar characteristics in Greece and the wider area of Balkans. |
| Keywords: | firms’ competitiveness; territorial characteristics/assets; Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis; Greece |
| JEL: | R50 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42794&r=sbm |
| By: | Sonobe, Tetsushi; Higuchi, Yuki; Otsuka, Keijiro |
| Abstract: | Poor management has long been suspected as a major constraint on job creation in the manufacturing sector in low-income countries. In this sector, countless micro and small enterprises in industrial clusters account for a large share of employment. This paper examines the roles of industrial clusters, managerial capacities, and entrepreneurship in improving productivity and creating jobs, by reviewing the literature and case studies, including recent experiments. It finds that managerial capacities are a major determinant of firms'employment sizes and productivity growth, and that it is high innovative capacities, accompanied by high managerial capacities, that boost cluster-based industrial development. |
| Keywords: | Labor Policies,Labor Markets,E-Business,Microfinance,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2012–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6280&r=sbm |
| By: | Marco Marini (Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"); Maria Luisa Petit (Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"); Roberta Sestini (Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza") |
| Abstract: | We present a model of endogenous formation of R&D agreements among firms in which also the timing of R&D investments is made endogenous. The purpose is to bridge two usually separate streams of literature, the endogenous formation of R&D alliances and the endogenous timing literature. This allows to consider the formation of R&D agreements over time. It is shown that, when both R&D spillovers and investment costs are sufficiently low, firms may find difficult to maintain a stable agreement due to the strong incentive to invest noncooperatively as leaders. In such a case, the stability of an R&D agreement requires that the joint investment occurs at the initial stage, thus avoiding any delay. When instead spillovers are sufficiently high, cooperation in R&D constitutes a profitable option, although firms also possess an incentive to sequence their investment over time. Finally, when spillovers are asymmetric and the knowledge mainly leaks from the leader to the follower, to invest as follower becomes extremely profitable, making R&D alliances hard to sustain unless firms strategically delay their joint investment in R&D. |
| Keywords: | R&D Investment; Spillovers; Endogenous Timing; R&D Alliances; Endogenous Research Cartels |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aeg:report:2012-07&r=sbm |
| By: | Claudio Bravo-Ortega; Jose Miguel Benavente; Álvaro González |
| Abstract: | Since long ago economists have shown that research and development (R&D) and business innovation are key factors for the growth of firms and the development of the economies. There is also some consensus that greater degrees of trade openness are beneficial for the long-term growth of countries. Nonetheless, there is still no evidence on the combined impact of both factors even though the link between them seem of particular relevance, especially for developing countries. This article examines the relationship between productivity, expenditure in R&D and exports at a plant level for the case of Chile. The main results show that firms that actually spend on R&D are considerably more likely to export but the reverse is not true. Moreover, we observe that both R&D and exports have a joint effect on the improvement in productivity in the Chilean plants. These results allow us to recover the private return to R&D and to learning by exporting across different sectors. |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp371&r=sbm |
| By: | Martin Falk |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the determinants of bilateral Greenfield FDI projects and flows in knowledge intensive business services from OECD/BRIC countries to the EU countries for the period 2003-2010. Greenfield FDI projects are distinguished by type of activity: (i) business services, (ii) design, development and testing activities, (iii) headquarters activities and (iv) R&D services. Another aim of this study is to provide new empirical evidence on the patterns of Greenfield investments in knowledge intensive business services over time, source country and destination country. For Austria, the number of Greenfield investments in headquarter functions remains stable over time whereas Greenfield investments in R&D and related activities declined during the sample period. The same holds true for the number of jobs generated through greenfield investments. The results using panel count data models show that wage costs, tertiary education, corporate taxes, having a common border and sharing a common language all play a significant role in determining bilateral Greenfield FDI projects in knowledge intensive services. However, the impact of corporate taxation and labour costs differs widely across the functions and does not play a role in Greenfield investments in R&D and development, design and testing services. |
| Keywords: | Greenfield foreign direct investment, knowledge intensive business services, headquarter functions, R&D activities, gravity equation, panel data, FDI determinants |
| JEL: | F23 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsr:ecbook:2010:i:iv-002&r=sbm |
| By: | López-Estornell,Manuel; Barberá-Tomás,David; García-Reche,Andrés; Mas-Verdú,Francisco |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evolution of regional innovation policy in Emilia-Romagna, and Valencia, regions with similar economic features that implemented similar innovation policies in the 1970s and 1980s. We investigate whether their similarities have led to similar targets, policy tools and governance developments. We show that innovation policy in both regions suffered from the effects of privatization, budget constraints and changes to manufacturing during the 1990s and highlight the consequences. Although Emilia-Romagna experienced deeper change to its innovation policy, privatizations and/or the replacement of public funds promoted commercial approaches and induced market failures in both regions. The worst effects of these policies were the implementation of less risky innovation projects, the shift towards extra-regional projects and markets, and the favouring of large firms. |
| Keywords: | innovation policy, industrial district |
| Date: | 2012–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ing:wpaper:201210&r=sbm |
| By: | Musca, Maria; Schilirò, Daniele |
| Abstract: | The paper provides an investigation of medium-sized Italian industrial enterprises that have become multinational companies. It concetrates on the set of medium and medium-large enterprises who seem to grow more in foreign markets, either through exports or through foreign direct investment. The work also offers an empirical descriptive picture of the performance of medium-sized Italian multinationals, which is compared with the performance of large corporations. From this analysis, which is based on a number of sources, it is possible to outline a profile regarding the medium-size italian multinational enterprises, as to understand the complex strategy towards internationalization of these companies, where the dimension of production is important and, therefore, innovation has a key role. But where also the commercial dimension is crucial, because it leads to point to the direct supervision of foreign markets and to look very carefully to customers, offering them a wide range of services. Finally, the paper points out some critical issues that the medium sized multinational enterprises have to face to compete such as the stagnant productivity, the high taxation, the insufficient institutional support for internationalization, the bureaucracy and its high costs, the lack of skilled human capital available in the labor market due to inadequate policy training. |
| Keywords: | medium-sized Italian enterprises; multinational companies; innovation; internationalization |
| JEL: | L16 F23 O30 L10 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43012&r=sbm |