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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2013‒12‒15
seventeen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Fernández Gual, Verónica; Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates relationships between cooperation, R&D, innovation and productivity in Spanish firms. It uses a large sample of firm-level micro-data and applies an extended structural model that aims to explain the effects of cooperation on R&D investment, of R&D investment on output innovation, and of innovation on firms’ productivity levels. It also analyses the determinants of R&D cooperation. Firms’ technology level is taken into account in order to analyse the differences between high-tech and low-tech firms, both in the industrial and service sectors. The database used was the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for the period 2004-2010. Empirical results show that firms which cooperate in innovative activities are more likely to invest in R&D in subsequent years. As expected, R&D investment has a positive impact on the probability of generating an innovation, in terms of both product and process, for manufacturing firms. Finally, innovation output has a positive impact on firms’ productivity, being greater in process innovations. Keywords: innovation sources; productivity; R&D Cooperation |
| Keywords: | Tecnologia -- Innovacions, Indústria -- Productivitat, Investigació industrial, 338 - Situació econòmica. Política econòmica. Gestió, control i planificació de l'economia. Producció. Serveis. Turisme. Preus, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/220761&r=sbm |
| By: | Birgit Aschhoff; Georg Licht; Paula Schliessler |
| Abstract: | Europe’s innovation potential is currently dominated by well-established large companies. In most member countries the bulk of R&D expenditures is spend by large companies. Following OECD data, SME’s share in total R&D spending amount to 8% in Germany or Japan, around 15% in US, France, Korea or Italy, about 20% in Sweden, Finland or Switzerland, about 30% in Netherlands, Austria or Poland, and about 50% in Poland, Ireland, Slovakia or Greece. First of all, these figures point to a considerable heterogeneity with regard to the importance of SMEs in national R&D activities. However, young companies are said to be the driving force behind radical innovation which will be a source of employment and growth in future. In addition, the weakness of Europe is not only the small number of hightech startups but more specifically the number of hightech startups which accomplish continuing, rapid growth. However, there might be significant technology specific heterogeneity with regard to the contribution of SMEs and young firms to innovation. The central question of the paper is whether SMEs and young firms might be agents with a special contribution to new growth path in Europe. We took new renewable energy technologies as an example at test whether the contribution of SMEs and young firms is larger in this technology area compared to invention as measured by patenting. In order to focus on the most valuable patents we use patent applications at the European Patent Office which were also applied for patent production at the USPTO and the Japanese Patent Office (“triadic patent applications”). The analysis proceed in two steps: The paper looks first at trends in international patenting and compares triadic patent application in the field of energy with all triadic patent application by country of inventors. The idea is to highlight the role of EU and its member states in invention activity in a technology-field which is of special relevance for a new, sustainable growth path. In the second step we look at the contribution for SMEs and young firms to such a new growth path by a detail analyses of triadic patent application by German companies as the SMEs share to R&D is the smallest compared to all other EU member states as well as compared to OECD member states (except Japan). The focus on Germany is motivated for two reasons - to ease the analysis and to focus on the most extreme case of the firm-size R&D distribution which is observed in EU and OECD member states. The study employs the WIPO “Green Inventory” classification to identify energy-related patents via the international patent classification used by all patent offices to assign patents by technology and potential fields of application. This classification comprise as main technology classes alternative energy production, transportation, energy storage, waste management, agriculture/forestry, regulatory and design aspects, and nuclear power generation. The number of green inventory patents increased from 1991 to 2007 by a factor of 2.5 to 12.500 patent applications. The majority of this increase is observable in renewable energy product, storage of energy, design and management of energy systems, and waste management. Patents related to nuclear power account for 4% of green inventory patents and this share declined even more to 1% in 2007. Surprisingly, the increase of green inventory patent applications at the EPO more or less equals the increase in overall patent applications at the EPO. Hence, the share of green inventory patents in total patent application at EPO was constant and fluctuating always between 8-10% with not visible trend. Similarly, albeit the increase in the number of triadic patents is less impressive (only by a factor of 1.4) the structural features are the same. Overall, the importance of green patent activities does not greatly vary between countries or regions. In 2007, the share of green patent applications in all patent applications at the EPO lies between 7% and 12%. Interestingly, the new member states and southern Europe are at the upper end of the range (12% and 10%, respectively) - besides Japan (11%) and the US (10%). Green patents are slightly less important for Northern Europe and China (both 7%). Focusing on more valuable patent application (“triadic patent application”), green technologies become more important in Germany, Korea and China and lose importance in Southern Europe. The second step linked sustainable growth to the “entrepreneurial” economy by examining to which degree small and young firms are driving sustainable patenting. We find SMEs to be responsible for about 15% of all patent applications. This is the same for the WIPO Green Inventory classified “green” patents. Around half of patent applications of SMEs are made by young firms. About one half of all patent applications by SMEs are filed by micro firms. When narrowing down the analysis to triadic patents, we find the contribution of SMEs to decrease to about 9% of all patent applications which is probably caused by the larger costs of applying and maintaining triadic patents than EPO patents. The contribution to green patenting is even lower for triadic patents with only 6% of all green patents coming from SMEs. In the third step of the analysis, based on the link of German firm data to patent applications at the European Patent Office, we analyzed at the firm level whether small and young firms are more or less likely to file sustainable patents than other firms. The results show that large firms are significantly more likely to file both patents in general and green patents. We do find that, for micro, small and medium size firms, the negative effect on patenting compared to the reference category of a large firm is less strong for the younger firms. This effect exists both for the generation of patents in general and the generation of green patents. Therefore there does not seem to be a particular advantage for small or young firms in producing sustainable, green patents. Even more, SMEs and young firms seem to face larger obstacles to start inventing in green energy technologies than in other technology fields. In any case SMEs and young firms will probably not an important driver of new technologies like in some other fields of technology. Of course we have to admit that our same only covers international patent applications for the priority year 2007 or earlier. Hence, things might have changed in the meantime due to e.g. extended government support for innovation in green energy fields. However, this question can only be examined with future editions of the PATSTAT data which fully covers more recent years. In addition, we cannot rule out the SMEs and/or young firms are especially important for patents which are radical driver of technological change. To address this question several measurement issues need to be solved and/or existing measurement approaches need verification. However, this is beyond the limits of our study. What might be the contribution to the central questions of the wwwforEurope project? First of all, young and small firms might not able to drive the technology development towards a more sophisticated use of energy resources and renewable energies. Like in most other fields of technology the direction of technical change is determined by established large firms. Hence, under the current framework of innovation and industrial policies, the development of the “more entrepreneurial economy” will probably not form forerunners on the ways towards a new growth path. Secondly, private sector’s production of invention activities became not stronger directed towards technologies which aim at production, storage, distribution, and management of new energy technologies compared to other fields of technology. Given the societal need for new energy technologies the paper speaks in favor of government regulation, invention and incentives to stimulate research, development, and implementation new energy technologies. However, we do not find arguments that such stimuli should favor SMEs or young firms. |
| Keywords: | Green patents, sustainable patenting, SMEs, young firms |
| JEL: | O31 M13 C81 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2013:m:11:d:0:i:47&r=sbm |
| By: | Backman, Mikaela (Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS), Jönköping International Business School, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE), & Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)); Kohlhase, Janet (University of Houston) |
| Abstract: | Our paper investigates how diversity of the labor force influences the rate of new firm formation and the performance of new firms in urban areas. A diversified labor force within the firm and in the external environment influences the formation, survival and growth of firms. We explore these issues with both aggregate data at the municipal level and individual data at the firm level for the years 1993-2010. We measure diversity using entropy measures that account for a wider range of differences than is typically used. Our empirical analysis finds a positive influence of diversity of the labor force on the rate of new firm formation at the municipal level. At the level of an individual firm, we find that the diversity of the firm’s labor force is positively associated with the survival and growth of new firms. Our results add to the literature on the workings of agglomeration economies through variations in human capital, information spillovers and innovation. |
| Keywords: | Diversity; labor force; education; occupation; industry; new firms; formation; survival; growth |
| JEL: | C31 C33 L25 L26 R10 |
| Date: | 2013–12–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0337&r=sbm |
| By: | Ioannis Bournakis; Sushanta Mallick; David Kernohan; Dimitris A.Tsouknidis |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the direct effects of corporate tax on firm productivity along with the interaction effects of tax policy and R&D activity on productivity at firm level for over 13,062 firms during 2004-2011. Our main findings are first, that there is evidence for productivity convergence and we find that there is a positive robust relationship between R&D and firm productivity, whereas tax policy has a negative distortionary effect on TFP. Second, firms with greater export orientation do not seem to achieve much improvement in productivity, whereas the favourable productivity effect in the case of R&D-based firms suggests that if there are tax incentives in place for R&D type activity, it can promote innovation and drive productivity convergence (lagging firms closing the technology gap with those at the frontier), particularly so when there is a continued decline in overall economic activity. The results also show a significant non-linear effect of tax rate on firm-level productivity, identifying an inverse U-shaped relationship |
| Keywords: | Total Factor Productivity, Catch-Up, Effective Tax Rate, Firm-level Productivity Convergence, UK. |
| JEL: | O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgs:wpaper:45&r=sbm |
| By: | Uwe Jirjahn |
| Abstract: | Based on data from Germany, this study finds a positive link between using knowledge spillovers from rivals and innovation success in establishments without R&D but not in establishments with R&D. This supports the hypothesis that rivals’ knowledge is more valuable to establishments that are below the frontier of technology and product development. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Spillover asymmetry, R&D, Learning, Product innovation |
| JEL: | L60 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trr:wpaper:201204&r=sbm |
| By: | Patrícia Bogas (Universidade do Minho); Natália Barbosa (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses high-growth firms in Portugal and aims at assessing the impact of region-specific characteristics on the probability of the firm being high-growth. Using a sample of active firms registered in the database Quadros de Pessoal between 2002 and 2006, the result suggest that high-growth firms is not a random phenomenon and that the region-specific characteristics determine significantly the probability of the firm being high-growth. In particular, industrial diversity, services agglomeration and diversity of employees qualifications in a region explain in a significantly way the probability of a firm being high-growth. |
| Keywords: | high-growth firms, region-specific characteristics |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:19/2013&r=sbm |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (CSIR, Blekinge Inst of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the role of innovation on the export behavior of firms. Using two waves of Swedish CIS data merged with register data on firm-specific characteristics. I estimate the influence of the innovation output of a firm on its export propensity and intensity, respectively. I find that the innovation output of firms (measured as sales due to innovative products) has a positive and significant effect on export behavior of firms. The results also show that it is indeed innovation output, rather than innovation input (innovative efforts), that matters for export behavior of firms. Specifically, innovation output leads to increase in later export propensity and intensity of firms. Moreover, there is also strong association of productivity and ownership structure of firms with export propensity and intensity of firms. The results are robust when unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity of firm and also potential endogeneity of innovation-export are taken into accounted. |
| Keywords: | Innovation output; innovation input; export propensity; export intensity |
| JEL: | F14 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bthcsi:2013-005&r=sbm |
| By: | Akcigit, Ufuk (University of Pennsylvania and NBER); Kerr, William R. (Harvard University and NBER) |
| Abstract: | We study how exploration versus exploitation innovations impact economic growth through a tractable endogenous growth framework that contains multiple innovation sizes, multi-product firms, and entry/exit. Firms invest in exploration R&D to acquire new product lines and exploitation R&D to improve their existing product lines. We model and show empirically that exploration R&D does not scale as strongly with firm size as exploitation R&D. The resulting framework conforms to many regularities regarding innovation and growth differences across the firm size distribution. We also incorporate patent citations into our theoretical framework. The framework generates a simple test using patent citations that indicates that entrants and small firms have relatively higher growth spillover effects. |
| Keywords: | endogenous growth; innovation; exploration; exploitation; research and development; patents; citations; scientists; entrepreneurs |
| JEL: | L16 O31 O33 O41 |
| Date: | 2013–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofrdp:2013_028&r=sbm |
| By: | Wagner, Joachim (Leuphana University Lueneburg and CESIS, Stockholm) |
| Abstract: | Business managers are well aware of the fact that credit constraints can hamper or even prevent exporting. Economists only recently started to incorporate these arguments in theoretical models of heterogeneous firms and to test the implications of these models econometrically with firm-level data. Starting with the pioneering study by Greenaway, Guariglia and Kneller (Journal of International Economics, 2007) a growing number of empirical papers looked at the links between financial constraints and export activities using data at the level of the firm. This paper presents a tabular survey of 32 empirical studies that cover 14 different countries plus five multi-country studies. The big picture can be summarized as follows: Financial constraints are important for the export decisions of firms – exporting firms are less financially constrained than non-exporting firms. Studies that look at the direction of this link usually report that less constraint firms self-select into exporting, but that exporting does not improve financial health of firms. The paper argues that the results at hand should not be considered as stylized facts that can guide policy makers in an evidence-based way and suggests a strategy to further improve our knowledge in this area. |
| Keywords: | Credit constraints; exports; empirical studies; literature survey |
| JEL: | F14 |
| Date: | 2013–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0334&r=sbm |
| By: | Tomohiro MACHIKITA (Institute of Developing Economies and Stanford University); Yasushi UEKI (Institute of Developing Economies) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between firm-level upgrading and buyer-seller business networks in order to better understand how and to whom technology transfer occurs. Using firm’s self-reported buyer and supplier network data from business–to–business (B2B) markets in Southeast Asia, this paper finds the following results: (1) Firms are more likely to achieve product and process innovation if they invest in inhouse R&D and transfer technology from their production partners; (2) product and process innovation varies considerably across different types of buyers and suppliers; (3) negative impacts of local suppliers suggest the importance of input quality for product and process innovation; and (4) large differences in product and process innovations among firms with similar buyers and suppliers can be explained by differences in embodied technology transfer even within narrowly defined production partners’ ownership. Data from technology transfer in buyer-seller business networks provide the basis for detecting the key drivers of industrial upgrading in the context of B2B markets in emerging economies. |
| Keywords: | embodied technology transfer; linked manufacturer–supplier analysis. |
| JEL: | O12 O14 O32 L14 F14 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2013-26&r=sbm |
| By: | Danakol, Seçil Hülya (Utrecht University); Estrin, Saul (London School of Economics); Reynolds, Paul (Aston University); Weitzel, Utz (Radboud University Nijmegen) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the effects of foreign direct investment, measured by mergers and acquisitions, on domestic entrepreneurial entry. We use a micro‐panel of more than two thousand individuals disaggregated by industry in seventy countries including both developed and developing economies, 2000‐2009. The theory yields ambiguous predictions about the relationship between FDI and entrepreneurship; positive spillovers via dissemination of technology or negative because of crowding out. Our empirical analysis is conducted at three levels of aggregation. We find the relationship between FDI and domestic entrepreneurship in aggregate and intra‐industry to be negative. Policies need to consider how to counteract this effect. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment, entrepreneurship, new firm entry, spillovers |
| JEL: | F23 M13 L26 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7796&r=sbm |
| By: | Crescenzi, Riccardo (London School of Economics); Nathan, Max (London School of Economics); Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how physical, organisational, institutional, cognitive, social, and ethnic proximities between inventors shape their collaboration decisions. Using a new panel of UK inventors and a novel identification strategy, this paper systematically explores the net effects of all these 'proximities' on co-patenting. The regression analysis allows us to identify the full effects of each proximity, both on choice of collaborator and on the underlying decision to collaborate. The results show that physical proximity is an important influence on collaboration, but is mediated by organisational and ethnic factors. Over time, physical proximity increases in salience. For multiple inventors, geographic proximity is, however, much less important than organisational, social, and ethnic links. For inventors as a whole, proximities are fundamentally complementary, while for multiple inventors they are substitutes. |
| Keywords: | innovation, patents, proximities, cities, regions, knowledge spillovers, collaboration, ethnicity |
| JEL: | O31 O33 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7797&r=sbm |
| By: | Muñoz, Félix (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.); Encinar, María Isabel (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.); Otamendi, Francisco Javier (Departmento de Economía Aplicada I, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid.) |
| Abstract: | The problem to allocate effort to innovation activities is defined and modelled for any single entrepreneur according to its propensity to innovate, which combines pure innovation and rent-seeking strategies. The allocation problem is solved both analytically and via simulation. The individual decisions measured in units of innovation are then aggregated to calculate the innovation quantity for a given population based on the distribution of heterogeneous entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurship rate and the implications for economic growth are also quantified. Consequently, policy makers should focus on reducing the entry barriers and the costs of production in order to stimulate the entrepreneurial activity and maximize the innovation quantity. They should also foster the attitude and propensity towards innovation. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurial heterogeneity; propensity to innovate; endogenous growth |
| JEL: | M13 O12 O40 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpaper:201306&r=sbm |
| By: | Oriana Bandiera; Andrea Prat; Raffaella Sadun |
| Abstract: | CEOs affect the performance of the firms they manage, and family CEOs seem to weaken it. Yet little is known about what top executives actually do, and whether it differs by firm ownership. We study CEOs in the Indian manufacturing sector, where family ownership is widespread and the productivity dispersion across firms is substantial. Time use analysis of 356 CEOs of listed firms yields three sets of findings. First, there is substantial variation in the number of hours CEOs devote to work activities, and longer working hours are associated with higher firm productivity, growth, profitability and CEO pay. Second, family CEOs record 8% fewer working hours relative to professional CEOs. The difference in hours worked is more pronounced in low competition environments and does not seem to be explained by measurement error. Third, difference in diffrences estimates with respect to the cost of effort, due to weather shocks and popular sport events, reveal that the observed difference between family and professional CEOs is consistent with heterogeneous preferences for work versus leisure. Evidence from six other countries reveals similar findings in economies at different stages of development. |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:stieop:49&r=sbm |
| By: | Tom Broekel; Pierre-Alexandre Balland; Martijn Burger; Frank van Oort |
| Abstract: | The importance of network structures for the transmission of knowledge and the diffusion of technological change has been emphasized in economic geography. Since network structures drive the innovative and economic performance of actors in regional contexts, it is crucial to explain how networks form and evolve over time and how they facilitate inter-organizational learning and knowledge transfer. The analysis of relational dependent variables, however, requires specific statistical procedures. In this paper, we discuss four different models that have been used in economic geography to explain the spatial context of network structures and their dynamics. First, we review gravity models and their recent extensions and modifications to deal with the specific characteristics of networked relations. Second, we discuss the quadratic assignment procedure that has been developed in mathematical sociology for diminishing the bias induced by network dependencies. Third, we present exponential random graph models that not only allow dependence between observations, but also model such network dependencies explicitly. Finally, we deal with dynamic networks, by introducing stochastic actor oriented models. Strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches are discussed together with domains of applicability for the analysis of (knowledge) network structures and their dynamics. |
| Keywords: | Economic geography, knowledge networks, network models, quadratic assignment procedure, gravity model, exponential random graph model, stochastic actor-oriented model |
| JEL: | R11 O32 D85 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1325&r=sbm |
| By: | Popescul, Daniela |
| Abstract: | The present paper proposes a new way of thinking regarding the relation between innovation and knowledge using a Physics-borrowed model, trying to prove whether knowledge resources can „flow” (be percolated) in a network or a grid, in order to be transformed in technological innovation. In the Knowledge Flow Percolation Model centre, human beings are seen as thinking electrons, both consuming and generating knowledge flow. Through the inter-dependent actions of individuals, knowledge circulates inside different types of organisations, allowing functioning and innovating in order to obtain competitive advantages. The model can be extended also at a national level, and some assumptions of self similarity appear in this process of extension. The model must be seen as a proposal for the research community and as a basis for future observations regarding the importance of knowledge flows in innovation. |
| Keywords: | technological innovation, knowledge, knowledge flows, knowledge flows percolation model |
| JEL: | D83 M12 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2012–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51746&r=sbm |
| By: | Ramiro De Elejalde (Facultad de Economía y Negocios, Universidad Alberto Hurtado); David Giuliodori (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba); Rodolfo Stucchi (Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence about the effect of innovation on employment in Argentina in the period 1998-2001. In particular we quantify the impact of process and product innovations on employment growth and the skill composition. Our result show that (i) Product innovations have a positive impact on employment growth biased towards skill labor (ii) Process innovations do not effect employment growth or composition. (iii) There are no heterogeneous effects in technology intensity and size. (iv) Most of the contraction in employment in this period was explained by non-innovations. |
| Keywords: | process innovation, Product innovation, Employment Growth, Argentina |
| JEL: | D2 J23 L1 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ila:ilades:inv291&r=sbm |