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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2013‒02‒16
fifteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Luca Berchicci; Jeroen P.J. de Jong; Mark Freel |
| Abstract: | It is generally recognized that firms’ innovative performance can be enhanced by collaborating with remote partners. However, remote collaborations are not without challenges, as geographical distance may frustrate tacit knowledge transfer and inter-organizational learning. We investigate the moderating role of absorptive capacity by proposing that the higher firms’ R&D intensity, the stronger the relationship between remote collaboration and their share of new product revenues. Drawing on survey data of 250 Dutch high-tech small firms, it is confirmed that remote collaboration is associated with innovative performance, but at low values of R&D intensity this relationship disappears. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:13-01&r=sbm |
| By: | Spyros Arvanitis (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Martin Wörter (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Pierre Mohnen (Maastricht University); Boris Lokshin (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | There is growing evidence that firms increasingly adopt open innovation practices. In this paper we investigate the impact of two such external knowledge acquisition strategies, ‘buy’ and ‘cooperate’, on firm’s product innovation performance. Taking a direct (productivity) approach, we test for complementarity effects in the simultaneous use of the two strategies, and in the intensity of their use. Our results based on large panels of Dutch and Swiss innovating firms, suggest that while both ‘buy’ and ‘cooperate’ have a positive effect on innovation, there is little statistical evidence that using them simultaneously leads to higher innovation performance. Results from the Dutch sample provide some indication, that there are positive economies of scope in doing external and cooperative R&D simultaneously conditional on doing internal R&D. |
| Keywords: | Open innovation, R&D collaboration, make, buy strategies |
| JEL: | O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:13-325&r=sbm |
| By: | Becker, Sascha (University of Warwick); Hvide, Hans V (University of Bergen) |
| Abstract: | In the large literature on firm performance, economists have given little attention to entrepreneurs. We use deaths of more than 500 entrepreneurs as a source of exogenous variation, and ask whether this variation can explain shifts in firm performance. Using longitudinal data, we find large and sustained effects of entrepreneurs at all levels of the performance distribution. Entrepreneurs strongly affect firm growth patterns of both very young firms and for firms that have begun to mature. We do not find significant differences between small and larger firms, family and non-family firms, nor between firms located in urban and rural areas, but we do find stronger effects for founders with high human capital. Overall, theresults suggest that an often overlooked factor –individual entrepreneurs –plays a large role in affecting firm performance. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, Örm performance, human capital. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:warwcg:108&r=sbm |
| By: | Bastian Rake |
| Abstract: | Recent empirical contributions emphasize the importance of (potential) market size for the development of new pharmaceuticals. At the same time many scholars point out the importance of of scientific advances for the industry’s R&D activities. Against this background I analyze the relationship between (potential) market size, technological opportunities, and the number of new pharmaceuticals in the United States. Technological opportunities are operationalized as growth rates of the relevant knowledge stock as proposed by Andersen (1999, 1998). I analyze a unique dataset by using an “entry stock” Poisson quasi-maximum likelihood estimator. The results reveal a rather robust and significantly positive response of the number of new pharmaceuticals, i.e., new molecular entities or new drug approvals, to market size and technological opportunities. |
| Keywords: | Determinants of Innovation; Pharmaceuticals; Demand; Technological Opportunities |
| JEL: | O31 J10 J20 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:13-03&r=sbm |
| By: | ITO Banri; TANAKA Ayumu |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically examines the relation between a firm's productivity and its joint decision of research and development (R&D) strategy and exporting, based on Japanese firm-level data and the simple theoretical framework that extends the firm heterogeneity model so that both internal and external (outsourcing or technology purchase) R&D strategies are taken into account. The empirical results from nonparametric and semiparametric methods show that exporting firms engaged in R&D activities are more productive than non-exporters and exporters with no R&D, regardless of whether internal or external R&D strategy is adopted, and that exporters which employ both R&D strategies are the most productive. The results suggest that an open innovation strategy is complementary to an in-house R&D strategy and is crucial for further promoting innovation for internationalized firms. |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13006&r=sbm |
| By: | Dutz, Mark A.; O'Connell, Stephen D. |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of key business environment indicators on productivity, innovation, and growth in Sri Lanka through a cluster-level productivity analysis, a firm-level total factor productivity analysis, and a firm-level innovation analysis. For the cluster-level productivity analysis (as measured by output and value added per worker), it combines two established data sources in a novel way by importing average'industry-size-location'cluster-level business environment variables from the World Bank Enterprise Survey to the comprehensive Sri Lanka Census of Industry productivity data available for similar clusters of enterprises. For the firm-level total factor productivity analysis, it compares data from the 2011 World Bank Enterprise Survey with those from 2004. For the firm-level innovation analysis, it compares findings from the 2011 World Bank Enterprise Survey with a representative sample of enterprises collected as part of the Sri Lanka Longitudinal Survey of Enterprises. The empirical findings highlight the importance -- for cluster-level productivity, firm-level total factor productivity, and innovation -- of connectivity to global knowledge (reflected by one or more of export participation, directly imported inputs, foreign ownership, and use of the internet), availability of skills, access to finance, and competition. The paper also presents evidence, under the assumption that the samples are statistically representative, that both allocative and average technical efficiency have improved, with allocative efficiency increasing roughly four-fold between 2003 and 2010, and accounting for the overwhelming share of the aggregate increase in total factor productivity over this time period. Most of the improvement in allocative efficiency has occurred among larger firms, and in large rather than small cities. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics&Policies,E-Business,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Knowledge for Development |
| Date: | 2013–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6354&r=sbm |
| By: | Giulio Bottazzi; Marco Grazzi |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of size on labor cost and productivity for Italian man- ufacturing firms. The distributions of both labor cost and productivity display a wide support, even when disaggregated by sector of industrial activity. Further, both labor cost and productivity, when considered alone, are growing with the size of the firm. We investigate this relationship on a new set of data and we are able to show that once ac- counted for productivity differences among firms, size still retains a positive effect on cost of labor in most of the sectors considered. |
| Keywords: | Size-wage effect; Labor productivity |
| Date: | 2013–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2013/02&r=sbm |
| By: | Marco Ceccagnoli; Matthew J. Higgins; Vincenzo Palermo |
| Abstract: | Even though management consultants increasingly recommend that in-house research be outsourced, little is known about the conditions favoring substitution or complementarity between internal R&D and external technology acquisition. In this paper, we attempt to provide a deeper understanding of the firm-level drivers of complementarity between these two types of investments through the structural estimation of a flexible innovation production function, such as the translog. Our empirical analysis is based on a unique panel dataset on the R&D and in-licensing expenditures of 94 global pharmaceutical firms active in drug development between 1997 and 2005. Our results suggest that internal R&D and in-licensing in the pharmaceutical industry were neither complements nor substitutes during the study period. However, we find that the degree of complementarity is enhanced for firms with stronger absorptive capacity, economies of scope, and past licensing experience. |
| JEL: | L24 L65 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18795&r=sbm |
| By: | Huergo, E.; Trenado, Mayte / M.; Ubierna, Andrés / A. |
| Abstract: | Our objective is to estimate the effect of low-interest loans for R&D projects on business R&D. We take into account that the participation of firms in this kind of public programme probably depends on the same characteristics that determine their investment decisions. We also consider the possibility of persistence in R&D expenditures over time. The estimations provide evidence of the effectiveness of low-interest loans, being the stimulus effect larger for SMEs than for large firms and also higher for manufacturing than for services. Participants are approximately 25 percentage points more likely to self-finance their R&D investments than non-supported firms. The effect is quite relevant if we consider that the probability of self-financing R&D activities is 53.2 percentage points higher when the firm has invested in R&D activities in the previous year. This result suggests that firms can be induced persistently to perform R&D activities by means of loans. |
| Keywords: | Low-interest credits; R&D projects; impact analysis |
| JEL: | O38 H81 L24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:44221&r=sbm |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Rammer, Christian; Toole, Andrew A. |
| Abstract: | The creation of spinoff companies is often promoted as a desirable mechanism for transferring knowledge and technologies from research organizations to the private sector for commercialization. In the promotion process, policymakers typically treat these 'university' spinoffs like industry startups. However, when university spinoffs involve an employment transition by a researcher out of the not-for-profit sector, the creation of a university spinoff is likely to impose a higher social cost than the creation of an industry startup. To offset this higher social cost, university spinoffs must produce a larger stream of social benefits than industry startups, a performance premium. This paper outlines the arguments why the social costs of entrepreneurship are likely to be higher for academic entrepreneurs and empirically investigates the existence of a performance premium using a sample of German startup companies. We find that university spinoffs exhibit a performance premium of 3.4 percentage points higher employment growth over industry startups. The analysis also shows that the performance premium varies across types of academic entrepreneurs and founders' academic disciplines. -- |
| Keywords: | Academic Entrepreneurship,Startups,Firm performance,Technology Transfer,Open Science,University Spinoff Policy,Human Capital,Social Capital |
| JEL: | L25 L26 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13004&r=sbm |
| By: | Jose-Luis Hervas-Oliver; Jose Albors-Garrigos |
| Abstract: | The economic geography literature assumes that large leading firms (technology gatekeepers) (TGs) with high absorptive capacity and high-intensity R&D expenditures, shape the district learning process. However, there is an absence in the literature of a dynamic analysis of the role of the TG. Instead, most of the evidence provided is set at a single point in time and considers only one stage of the cluster life cycle (CLC). This paper challenges the aforementioned assumption, and introduces into the discussion two important influences on outcomes: the type of knowledge created (whether it be disruptive or not) in the cluster by technology gatekeepers, and the stage of the cluster life cycle (CLC) at which that knowledge is created. This work addresses the roles of the TG and the CLC together, responding to the gap that not much is known about the role and the persistence of the TG dynamically across different stages of the cluster life cycle. Using qualitative longitudinal case-study research, a world-class cluster is analysed over the last eighteen years. The results show that there are temporary technological gatekeepers across cluster life cycles which assume the (temporary) role of leaders when it is a question of bringing in disruptive knowledge. The study’s findings have important implications for scholars and policymakers. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:13-04&r=sbm |
| By: | Heinrichs, Simon; Walter, Sascha |
| Abstract: | This study examines how different organizational learning strategies (i.e., exploration or exploitation) impact the sales growth of technology spin-outs, and the role of the parent firm in this context. Using knowledge-based and learning views of the firm, we propose that spin-out performance benefits from exploration, but suffers from exploitation. Results based on a sample of 134 spin-outs support these arguments. Additionally, parent goodwill reinforced the positive effect of exploration, whereas high market similarity to the parent firm increased the negative effect of exploitation. -- |
| Keywords: | Spin-outs |
| JEL: | M13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:68591&r=sbm |
| By: | Walter, Sascha; Heinrichs, Simon; Walter, Achim |
| Abstract: | We investigated how and when parent hostility (degree to which a parent firm disapproves the spawning of an own spin-out) affects spin-out performance and how spin-outs can effectively react to it. Analyses of 144 technology spin-outs support our arguments that spin-outs suffer from hostility. Hostility consequences are, however, less severe if market turbulence is high or if the spin-out pursues effective network development. -- |
| Keywords: | parent-child relationship |
| JEL: | M13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:68592&r=sbm |
| By: | Uwe Cantner (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Holger Graf (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Susanne Hinzmann (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena) |
| Abstract: | The last decades saw a pronounced shift in innovation policy in Germany and many other countries towards increased funding of cooperative R&D. Over the last years, competitions between regional initiatives pushed this trend even further by adding a regional perspective, by increasing the scope of funding, and by fostering interaction between a large number of actors. In 2008 the German ministry for education and research (BMBF) started the "Leading-Edge Cluster competition" ("Spitzencluster-Wettbewerb") in which 15 clusters were selected in three waves (2008, 2010, 2012) and are funded for a five-year period with up to 40 million Euro each. Our paper presents selected results regarding the influence of government funding on cooperation networks within five of the clusters that were successful in the first wave of the "Spitzencluster- Wettbewerb". More specifically, we analyse the extent of policy influence on the network of most important cooperation partners, its geographic reach, and the changes of network structure in general. Our empirical analysis is based on original data that was collected in 2011 with cluster actors (firms and public research) who received government funding. Our results indicate that the program was quite effective in initiating new cooperations between cluster actors and in intensifying existing linkages. The vast majority of the linkages which are influenced by the cluster competition are between actors located in the cluster region. With respect to the influence of the cluster competition on network structure, we find an increase in network centralization. Small and medium sized enterprises used the chance to connect with the local 'stars', but not as much among each other. |
| Keywords: | Cluster, Innovation Policy, Evaluation, Social Network Analysis |
| JEL: | O3 O38 L14 R1 |
| Date: | 2013–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2013-008&r=sbm |
| By: | Tom Broekel (Institue of Economic and Cultural Geography, Leibnitz-University of Hannover); Matte Hartog (Section of Economic Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the usefulness of exponential random graph models (ERGM) to analyze the determinants of cross-regional R and D collaboration networks. Using spatial interaction models, most research on R and D collaboration between regions is constrained to focus on determinants at the node level (e.g. R and D activity of a region) and dyad level (e.g. geographical distance between regions). ERGMs represent a new set of network analysis techniques that have been developed in recent years in mathematical sociology. In contrast to spatial interaction models, ERGMs additionally allow considering determinants at the structural network level while still only requiring cross-sectional network data. The usefulness of ERGMs is illustrated by an empirical study on the structure of the cross-regional R and D collaboration network of the German chemical industry. The empirical results confirm the importance of determinants at all three levels. It is shown that in addition to determinants at the node and dyad level, the structural network level determinant “triadic closure†helps in explaining the structure of the network. That is, regions that are indirectly linked to each other are more likely to be directly linked as well. |
| Keywords: | cross-regional R and D collaboration, exponential random graph models, network |
| JEL: | R11 O32 D85 |
| Date: | 2013–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pum:wpaper:2013-04&r=sbm |