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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2014‒03‒22
twelve papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Otello Ardovino; Luca Pennacchio; Giuseppe Piroli |
| Abstract: | Firm innovation capacity depends not only on internal capabilities, but also on external expertise and knowledge acquired through cooperation. This paper analyzes direct and indirect effect of R&D cooperation on the innovation of Italian firms. Using a multivariate probit model to account for the complementarity of four different types of innovation activity and the heterogeneity in the choice of cooperation partners, we find strong and positive direct effects of collaborations with some non-competitive partners (suppliers, clients, private research institutes and consultants). Also R&D cooperation with competitors shows a relevant direct effect on firm innovation. On the contrary, collaborations with university have weaker effects; this could perhaps be due to the short-term perspective adopted in the study. These findings suggest that it is important to look at the specific type of R&D collaborations because they have a different impact on the success of innovative activities. On the other hand, indirect effects are scant and restricted to cooperation with some non-competitive partners. Such a result suggests that absorptive capacity of firms and R&D spillovers are quite weak in Italian context. Lastly, firm size and sector-specific features also affect innovation propensity. |
| Keywords: | R&D collaboration, absorptive capacity, moderating variable, innovation, equation probit model, community innovation survey. |
| JEL: | L13 O30 O32 |
| Date: | 2014–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2014_03&r=sbm |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Hall, Bronwyn H.; Hottenrott, Hanna |
| Abstract: | Information about the success of a new technology is usually held asymmetrically between the research and development (R&D)-performing firm and potential lenders and investors. This raises the cost of capital for financing R&D externally, resulting in financing constraints on R&D especially for firms with limited internal resources. Previous literature provided evidence for start-up firms on the role of patents as signals to investors, in particular to Venture Capitalists. This study adds to previous insights by studying the effects of firms' patenting activity on the degree of financing constraints on R&D for a panel of established firms. The results show that patents do indeed attenuate financing constraints for small firms where information asymmetries may be particularly high and collateral value is low. Larger firms are not only less subject to financing constraints, but also do not seem to benefit from a patent quality signal. -- |
| Keywords: | Patents,Quality Signal,Research and Development,Financial Constraints,Innovation Policy |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:133&r=sbm |
| By: | Audretsch, David B.; Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Teruel, Mercedes |
| Abstract: | This article aims to analyze the different impact that some factors may exert on the probability that a small young firm invests intensively in R&D. Recently, an increasing amount of the literature makes reference to the vital role played by a small number of young firms in generating jobs and increasing efficiency levels. However, not all new firms invest in R&D. Departing from the definition of YICs (firms younger than 6 years old, fewer than 250 employees and with more than 15% of their revenues invested in R&D activities), and with an extensive sample of the Spanish Community Innovation Survey between 2004- 2010, we try to determine: i) those factors that cause firms to become YICs (innovative young small firms) or YNICs (moderately innovative young small firms); ii) what is the difference in the impact of those factors between YICs and YNICs. Our results show that factors such as initial innovation capacity and cooperation in R&D projects enhance the probability of becoming a YIC. Nevertheless, factors such as export potential and market uncertainty may influence the decision to invest moderately and become a YNIC. Keywords: Innovation, Policy, YICs. JEL Classifications: O31, D21 |
| Keywords: | Empreses -- Innovacions tecnològiques, Innovacions tecnològiques -- Política governamental, Investigació, Conducta organitzacional, Empreses petites i mitjanes, Empreses -- Creació, 65 - Gestió i organització. Administració i direcció d'empreses. Publicitat. Relacions públiques. Mitjans de comunicació de masses, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/225296&r=sbm |
| By: | Iritié, B. G. Jean-Jacques |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the issues of innovation clusters-based industrial policy through the economic issues of three industrial dynamics, i. e. R and D (or innovation), location of innovation activities and technology cooperation. It appears that the key elements that justify these new policies are the production and sharing of knowledge, sharing of indivisibility and economic growth. Then, we focuse on the french poles of competitiveness. |
| Keywords: | Clusters, innovation, industrial location, technology cooperation |
| JEL: | O25 O30 R10 |
| Date: | 2014–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:54429&r=sbm |
| By: | Erika Raquel Badillo (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Rosina Moreno (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence on the dynamics in firms’ R&D cooperation behaviour. Our main objective is to analyse if R&D collaborative agreements are persistent at the firm level, and in such a case, to study what are the main drivers of this phenomenon. R&D cooperation activities at the firm level can be persistent due to true state dependence, this implying that cooperating in a given period enhances the probability of doing it in the subsequent period and it can also be a consequence of firms’ individual heterogeneity, so that certain firms have certain characteristics that make them more likely to carry out technological alliances. A second contribution of the paper deals with the differentiated persistence pattern of collaboration agreements for three different types of partners: customers and/or suppliers, competitors and institutions. We specifically explore the degree of the persistence in R&D collaborative activities when considering them separately as well as the possibility of finding crossed-persistence across these different partner types. |
| Keywords: | R&D cooperation; Persistence; Innovative Spanish firms; Technological partners. JEL classification: L24; O32; D22; C23 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201410&r=sbm |
| By: | Aiello, Francesco; Castiglione, Concetta |
| Abstract: | The aim of this work is to study the efficiency of firms operating in Calabria, a small and economically-lagging Italian region. The analysis is carried out by estimating a stochastic production frontier for an unbalanced panel of manufacturing firms which are observed over the 1998-2006 period. Results show that the efficiency score is, on average, about 60%. A declining trend is observed over the last three-year period, 2004-2006. Moreover, firm efficiency increases with firm age and when firms export. Inconclusive evidence is found for the role of investments in ICT and R&D. This is not very surprising given that private effort in technological activities is extremely low in Calabria (private R&D intensity was less than 0.075% of regional GDP in 2010). |
| Keywords: | Efficiency; ICT, R&D, Stochastic Frontier, Calabria, Manufacturing firms |
| JEL: | D22 D24 L63 O33 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:54366&r=sbm |
| By: | Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Nabavi , Pardis (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides estimates of negative binomial regressions for high-leveraged and non-high-leveraged exporting firms in Sweden over a business cycle that contains two boom periods and two recession periods. The contemporaneous cash flow coefficients are positive and statistically significantly associated with patent applications for non-high-equity firms in recession periods when all exporters are considered. No corresponding correlation is found among persistent exporters. Taking the firms’ geographical location into account, we find a significant difference in cash flow sensitivity between firms in metropolitan areas and firms located in other places. |
| Keywords: | Exporting; Innovation; Financing constraints; Firm level; Panel data |
| JEL: | C16 F14 G32 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0346&r=sbm |
| By: | Uwe Cantner (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Wolfgang Gerstlberger (University of Southern Denmark, Department of Marketing and Management); Ipsita Roy (Graduate College "The Economics of Innovative Change" (DFG-GK-1411), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Building on the notion of general and specific human capital proposed by Becker (1962), the paper highlights the importance of employee training practices undertaken in firms as an important tool for human resource and knowledge management and focuses on the role of works councils as a specific form of employee representation system therein. Using establishment data on various aspects of training practices and innovation activities in Germany, the paper examines the degree, type and extent to which establishments invest in employee training and finds significant differences for firms with and without works councils. Specifically, findings suggest that works councils are related more with the provision of generalized training rather than in firm-specific technical training of employees. In addition, the paper finds strong support for using works councils as an instrument for a firm's total training activities that correlate with innovation, and weak support when we consider only generalized training and innovation. Finally, no significant relation is found between training practices and radical innovativeness of firms after accounting for reverse causality. |
| Keywords: | employee training practices, knowledge management, generalized training, firm-specific technical training, works councils, innovation, radical innovation |
| JEL: | J5 M53 O3 |
| Date: | 2014–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2014-006&r=sbm |
| By: | Kristoffer Moeller |
| Abstract: | Knowledge based firms like IT companies do neither have a capital- nor a land intensive production. They predominantly rely on qualified labour and increasingly depend on the location of its (potential) employees. This implies that it is more likely that firms follow workers rather than the other way around. Contributing to the literature of firm location and consumer cities I empirically test the amenity oriented firm location hypothesis. In particular I investigate whether Berlin internet start-up firms, representing a footloose knowledge-based service industry, locate in urban amenity-rich places. Identification builds on the sudden fall of the Berlin Wall. The intra-city analysis yields a significant impact of urban amenities on the location of internet start-up. A comparison with other service industries suggests that amenities are significant to the location choice of creative sectors whereas no effect can be observed for non-creative firms. |
| Keywords: | Firm location, urban amenities, consumer city, internet start-ups, entrepreneurs, Berlin |
| JEL: | R30 D22 L26 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0157&r=sbm |
| By: | Basir, Nada (Schulich School of Business, York University.); Beyhaghi, Mehdi (College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio); Mohammadi, Ali (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Drawing on the reputation literature and signaling theory, this article builds on work that looks at patents as reputation signals. We build a multi-industry database of patents that expire due to lack of maintenance fee payments and test for a relationship between these patents and the firm’s IPO date. We find a significant and positive relationship between the likelihood of patents expiring due to lack of maintenance fee payments and the time to IPO. We also find that patents associated with firms which are not venture capital backed, are more likely to expire. Our findings suggest that patents that are used for signaling intentions are more likely to be underutilized. Implications for research and policy are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Patents; reputation signal; innovation; IPO; intellectual property |
| JEL: | O30 O34 |
| Date: | 2014–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0348&r=sbm |
| By: | Calá, Carla Daniela; Manjón Antolín, Miguel C.; Arauzo Carod, Josep Maria |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the regional determinants of exit in Argentina. We find evidence of a dynamic revolving door by which past entrants increase current exits, particularly in the peripheral regions. In the central regions, current and past incumbents cause an analogous displacement effect. Also, exit shows a U-shaped relationship with respect to the informal economy, although the positive effect is weaker in the central regions. These findings point to the existence of a core-periphery structure in the spatial distribution of exits. Key words: firm exit, count data models, Argentina JEL: R12; R30; C33 |
| Keywords: | Economia regional, Localització industrial, Argentina, Anàlisi de dades de panel, Anàlisi de sèries temporals, 332 - Economia regional i territorial. Economia del sòl i de la vivenda, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/225299&r=sbm |
| By: | Enrico Botta (IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to provide relevant insights to policy makers interested in developing a green innovative industry. In order to shed lights on the process of building a competitive green industry, the paper leverages the conceptual framework of innovation systems. Therefore, the first paragraph reviews the theory of innovation system, explaining the reason behind the choice to use a sectoral approach. The second paragraph exploits the industry life cycle perspective to describe the evolution of the wind turbine technology. Then, within the next two paragraphs the key constituting elements of the Chinese and Danish systems are described. Finally, building on our understanding of the evolution of the wind turbine technology and of the configuration of the two sectoral innovation systems, the differences and similarities between the two cases are discussed and the key conclusions from the perspective of a policy maker are presented. Our main argument is that the stage of technological evolution together with the maturity of the domestic sector is one of the main explanatory variables that allows to understand which functions (and how) should be activated by the policies aiming at developing a green SIS. |
| Keywords: | Sectoral innovation system, Green growth, Renewable energy, Wind turbines industry, Denmark, China |
| JEL: | O30 O25 Q48 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp53&r=sbm |