|
on Small Business Management |
|
Issue of 2016‒06‒14
fifteen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Berlemann, Michael; Jahn, Vera |
| Abstract: | Despite of the deeply rooted belief of politicians from all over the world in the important role of Mittelstand firms, there has been surprisingly little empirical research on this issue, yet. This article contributes to the literature by studying whether the relative regional importance of Mittelstand firms has an effect on regional innovation performance. Using a cross section of German NUTS-3-regions, a significantly positive relation between the relative importance of owner-managed SMEs and patent applications is identified. This finding is highly robust when controlling for spatial correlations as they often occur in highly disaggregated regional analyses. |
| Keywords: | Innovation,Mittelstand firms,Owner-management,SMEs,Germany |
| JEL: | O31 C21 D23 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vswi15:140884&r=sbm |
| By: | Serafica, Ramonette B. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evidence on service innovation using the 2012 Census of Philippine Business and Industry and the 2009 Pilot Survey of Innovation Activities. It reveals the wide variation in R&D intensities and differences in innovation behavior between the manufacturing and services sectors, for example, with respect to information sources and innovation activities. Many similarities were also detected in terms of service product innovation, the popularity of organizational innovation, and the preference for training activities, among others. Looking at structural factors, the probit regression analyses indicate that the size of the firm is a good determinant for all types of innovation. Ownership and age were also significant for certain innovation outputs, which could help inform policies on foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship. The results of this paper reveal the importance of service innovation not only for the services sector but also for the manufacturing sector consistent with servicification. In general, different types of innovation are undertaken by industries for various reasons, and the technological and nontechnological forms of innovation complement each other. If the government aims to promote economy-wide upgrading, support for innovation should not favor only one type of innovation output or activity. Further research on innovation behavior to cover more industries will be useful in developing a comprehensive and more nuanced approach to innovation policy. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, services, research and development (R&D), innovation, manufacturing, servicification |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:dp_2016-20&r=sbm |
| By: | Cozza, Claudio; Rabellotti, Roberta; Sanfilippo, Marco |
| Abstract: | Using a new firm-level database, EMENDATA, this paper investigates the effects on Chinese multinational enterprises of Outward FDI (OFDI) into advanced European countries. Propensity score matching is combined with a difference-in-difference estimator to reduce the problems of self-selection of treated firms in foreign markets and to eliminate time-invariant and unobservable differences between those firms and the controls. The results provide robust evidence in support of the view that China’s OFDI had so far a positive impact on domestic activities in enhancing firms’ productivity and scales of operation, as measured by assets, sales and employment. Distinguishing among such investments on the basis of entry mode shows that acquisitions facilitate early access to intangible assets but are detrimental to financial performance, whereas greenfield investments have a positive impact on the scale and productivity of Chinese investors. Publication keywords: outward FDI, reverse spillovers, performance, Chinese multinationals |
| JEL: | F45 |
| Date: | 2014–12–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bof:bofitp:2014_024&r=sbm |
| By: | Alon Brav; Wei Jiang; Song Ma; Xuan Tian |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how hedge fund activism reshapes corporate innovation. Firms targeted by hedge fund activists experience an improvement in innovation efficiency during the five-year period following the intervention. Despite a tightening in R&D expenditures, target firms experience increases in innovation output, measured by both patent counts and citations, with stronger effects seen among firms with more diversified innovation portfolios. We also find that the reallocation of innovative resources and the redeployment of human capital contribute to the refocusing of the scope of innovation. Finally, additional tests refute alternative explanations attributing the improvement to mean reversion, sample attrition, management’s voluntary reforms, or activists’ stock-picking abilities. |
| JEL: | G23 G3 G34 O31 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22273&r=sbm |
| By: | Massón-Guerra, José Luis; Ortín-Ángel, Pedro |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship capital has been considered in the literature to be a public good, so it will positively affect the total factor productivity of the firms in a certain region. There is evidence confirming a positive relationship between entrepreneurship capital measures and regional production. This paper argues that this evidence could also be explained by the presence of decreasing returns to scale in firms’ production technology. So previous evidence may be mixing both effects: returns to scale and public goods. This paper provides a simple methodological benchmark for distinguishing between and measuring both effects. The analysis conducted using a sample of 52 Spanish provinces for eleven years confirms the presence of decreasing returns to scale. In our data, previous interpretations of the evidence overestimate the effect of regional entrepreneurship capital as a public good on the economy. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship Capital, Regional Productivity, Scale Economies. |
| JEL: | L26 O4 O40 R11 |
| Date: | 2016–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71587&r=sbm |
| By: | Ji?í Blažek; David Marek; Viktor Kv?to? |
| Abstract: | The aim of this article is twofold. First, on the basis of a review of recent literature on related variety, it shows that there are not only differences between ex-ante and ex-post conceptualisations of relatedness, but also several striking methodological differences within this research stream. Therefore, it is argued, the growing number of studies on relatedness using different conceptualisations and methodologies can result in a “hollowing-out” of the original explanatory power of the concept. Second, this paper aims to open the black box of relatedness among industries by exploring one of the main channels through which the effects of relatedness can operate by simultaneous application of both ex-ante and ex-post approaches to measuring relatedness. In particular, joint R&D projects among companies represent a vigorous mechanism of knowledge exchange and mutual learning, but, as of yet, these studies have not been systematically linked to the concept of related variety. Our results prove that R&D collaboration according to technological distance is indeed far from random, but, contrary to our expectation, the results show that R&D collaboration occurs most frequently among unrelated companies. Thus, the search for partners in R&D projects seems to be driven by the novelty of knowledge rather than by probabilities of its comprehension. Conceptually, these findings suggest that in reality there might be various processes that require vastly different level of relatedness. This could lead to important policy implications as overreliance upon support for related industries might be misleading. |
| Keywords: | related variety, inter-firm collaboration, research and development, Czechia |
| JEL: | R11 O14 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1611&r=sbm |
| By: | Singh, Lakhwinder; Gill, Anita |
| Abstract: | The recent phase of globalization has witnessed increasing influence of Asian countries in the global economy. This is supported by the rise of Asian firms and their increasing presence in economic activities across the globe through innovations in manufacturing. This paper attempts to trace the rise of Asian firms and their innovation capabilities while examining the theory of the growth of the firm and empirical literature. The comparative analysis of innovations across innovative manufacturing firms of seven Asian countries-Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, China and India is based on data collected through Oslo manual approach survey conducted and compiled by UNESCO in 2013. This unique data set covers technological and social innovations which is more comprehensive and expands the scope of the concept of innovations. Important empirical evidence that has emerged from the analysis is that Asian manufacturing firms are having higher level of social innovations than technological innovations. Level of economic development is positively correlated to transition from process to product innovations across firms of both developed and developing countries. The low variations across active innovative firms in product and process innovations imply that technological innovations are stable and rising in Asia. This is supported by high degree of intensity of in-house R&D expenditure. The most important barrier to innovative and non innovative manufacturing firms is the deficiency of internal and external finances except firms of Japan and South Korea. The innovation environmental constraints are more visible across Asian firms where the national innovation system is at nascent phase. The finding based public policy suggestion is that the public policy should accord high priority in investing higher proportion of resources in innovations to relieve the firms from such constraints. |
| Keywords: | Systems of innovations, rise of Asian firms, technological innovations, social innovations, public policy, Asia, Manufacturing innovations, internationalization of firms. |
| JEL: | D2 D21 D7 L6 O1 O3 |
| Date: | 2016–02–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71148&r=sbm |
| By: | Hasan, Iftekhar; Jackowicz, Krzysztof; Kowalewski, Oskar; Kozlowski, Lukasz |
| Abstract: | In this paper, by employing a novel approach, we study the relationship between bank type and small-business lending in a post-transition country. Using a unique dataset on bank branches and firm-level data, we find that local cooperative banks lend more to small businesses than do large domestic banks and foreign-owned banks, even when controlling for the financial situation of the cooperative banks. Additionally, our results suggest that cooperative banks provide loans to small businesses at lower costs than foreign-owned banks or large domestic banks. Finally, we show that small and medium-sized firms perform better in counties with a large number of cooperative banks than in counties dominated by foreign-owned banks or large domestic banks. Our results are important from a policy perspective, as they show that foreign bank entry and industry consolidation may raise valid concerns for small firms in developing countries. Keywords: small-business lending, cooperative banks, foreign banks, post-transition countries |
| JEL: | G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2014–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bof:bofrdp:2014_022&r=sbm |
| By: | Colombelli, Alessandra; Quatraro, Francesco (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | There is wide consensus about the importance of green technologies for achieving superior economic and environmental performances. The literature on their determinants has neglected the creation of green start-ups as a channel to bring about green technologies in the market. Drawing upon the knowledge spillovers theory of entrepreneurship, we test the relevance of local knowledge stocks, distinguishing between clean and dirty stocks, for the creation of green start-ups. Moreover, the effects of the technological composition of local stocks is investigated, by focusing on technological variety, both related and unrelated, as well as on coherence. Consistently with recent literature, green start-ups are associated to higher levels of variety, pointing to the relevance of diverse and heterogeneous knowledge sources, but in related and complementary technological fields. |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201606&r=sbm |
| By: | Tsipouri Lena (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens); Athanasopoulou Sophia (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens); Gampfer Robert (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | The 2015 series of RIO Country Reports analyse and assess the policy and the national research and innovation system developments in relation to national policy priorities and the EU policy agenda with special focus on ERA and Innovation Union. The executive summaries of these reports put forward the main challenges of the research and innovation systems. |
| Keywords: | R&I system, R&I policy, ERA, innovation union, Semester analysis, Cyprus |
| JEL: | I20 O30 Z18 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc101174&r=sbm |
| By: | Pierfederico Asdrubali; Simone Signore |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the economic impact at final beneficiary level of the Multi-Annual Programme for enterprises and entrepreneurship EU SME Guarantee Facility in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European (CESEE) Countries in the period 2005-2012. Data on SME beneficiaries has been collected from administrative records and enriched with information on firms’ financial accounts taken from the Orbis database. The paper combines propensity scores and difference-in-differences estimation in order to evaluate the effect of having received a MAP-guaranteed SME loan on firm performance (employment, production, profitability and factor productivity) against a control group of comparable firms. Our results offer several insights. We find that the EU SME Guarantee Facility in the CESEE region had, on average, a significant positive effect on firms’ employment: beneficiary firms were able to increase their workforce by 17.3%, compared to the control groups, within the first 5 years following the issuance of the guaranteed loan. Moreover, by the fifth year after the signature date, the turnover of MAP beneficiaries had increased by 19.6%, compared to non-beneficiary companies. However, MAP beneficiaries faced a temporary setback in productivity, with respect to their peers, an effect that could be due to allocative inefficiencies following the MAP-induced increase in their production factors. Such gap was, however, partially absorbed over the medium run. By breaking down our sample by country, signature year, size and age classes, we observe that micro and young SMEs have benefited the most from MAP-guaranteed loans in terms of economic additionality. Overall, our findings suggest that the EU SME Guarantee Facility has been successful in bringing significant positive effects on beneficiary firms in CESEE Countries. |
| JEL: | O52 F33 E50 E63 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:dispap:002&r=sbm |
| By: | Gianluca Misuraca (European Commission - JRC - IPTS); Csaba Kucsera (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Fiorenza Lipparini (The Young Foundation); Christian Voigt (ZSI - Zentrum für Soziale Innovation); Raluca Radescu |
| Abstract: | This report presents the analysis of the Mapping 2015 of the project 'ICT-enabled Social Innovation to support the Implementation of the Social Investment Package' (IESI). It provides an enriched picture of the existing knowledge base and evidence of how ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives that promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery can contribute to the policy objectives of the EU Social Investment Package (SIP) to support the achievement of the goals of the EU 2020 strategy in terms of inclusive growth and employment. After having introduced the policy and research background outlining the overall objectives and scope of the IESI research and the aim of the mapping 2015, the report provides an overview of the methodology followed for enriching the IESI inventory of ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives through a structured dynamic database and by conducting the mapping and analysis of a selected sample of 210 initiatives. The report then updates the review of the literature and practice in domains related to the role and impact of ICT-enabled social innovation promoting social investment, with a specific focus on the area of active and healthy ageing and long-term care for older people, particularly the theme: prevention, health promotion and rehabilitation. In reviewing the state of the art the report discusses the degree of deployment of ICT-enabled social innovations that promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services provision in terms of geographical spread and different areas of social services covered, providing insight into the levels and types of deployment achieved. Further, the IESI conceptual framework which underpins the research and which has been used to guide the mapping and analysis of initiatives is discussed, proposing additional dimensions in order to enrich the framework of analysis itself. Evolving theoretical approaches are taken into account, the aim being to better explain the implications ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives have or may have for social policy reforms. This is followed by an overview of the consolidated results of the analysis of the initiatives collected as part of the IESI mapping exercise in 2014 and 2015. The analysis presents the IESI Knowledge Map 2015, which aims to provide a better understanding of the main characteristics and patterns of the initiatives identified, according to the IESI conceptual framework. Reference is also made to the different welfare systems and social services delivery models which characterise various EU countries in order to contextualise the potential role played by ICT-enabled social innovation to promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery. The findings of specific thematic analyses conducted on a set of selected topics: 1) the role of social enterprise-driven ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives in support of social services delivery; and the implications of ICT-enabled social innovation that promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery in support of: 2) active inclusion of young people; and 3) active and healthy ageing and long-term care for older people, particularly as regards prevention, health promotion and rehabilitation are then presented. Finally, the main conclusions deriving from the analysis of the mapping in terms of the contribution made by ICT-enabled social innovation promoting social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery to the implementation of the SIP are outlined. This is complemented by an analysis of the gaps identified; the limitations of the current mapping exercise and recommendations for future research, as well as implications and possible directions for policy. |
| Keywords: | Social policy, Innovation, ICTs, Welfare, Mapping, EU |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc101042&r=sbm |
| By: | Sabrina D'Orsi; Elena Rocco |
| Abstract: | Le opportunitˆ dischiuse dalla rivoluzione digitale coinvolgono ogni settore economico, compreso il Terzo settore. Scopo di questa ricerca proporre una riflessione che evidenzi, attraverso un framework interpretativo, le relazioni tra produzioni culturali, tecnologie, resilienza e benessere. Nella seconda parte del lavoro, il framework applicato al caso Radio Magica, una piattaforma culturale dedicata alla letteratura per lÕinfanzia inclusiva, il cui business model si ispira ai principi della sharing economy. |
| Keywords: | resilience, cultural industry, inclusion, social innovation |
| JEL: | M40 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:notric:9&r=sbm |
| By: | Antonelli, Cristiano; David, Paul (University of Turin) |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201513&r=sbm |
| By: | MARCELO DE CARVALHO PEREIRA; GIOVANNI DOSI; MARIA ENRICA VIRGILLITO |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anp:en2015:162&r=sbm |