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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2016‒12‒18
sixteen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Uwe Cantner (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Tina Wolf (University of Southern Denmark, Department of Marketing and Management) |
| Abstract: | Earlier studies have shown that entrepreneurs play a key role in shaping regional development. Innovator networks where these entrepreneurs are members of have been identified as one among many critical factors for their firms' success. This paper intents to go one step further and analyses in how far differing characteristics of these networks lead to different firm performances along the early stages of the organizational life cycle (nascent stage, emergent stage, early growth stage). A sample of 149 patenting (innovative) firms in Thuringia is analysed, using data from the commercial register and the German patent office. The results show that there is an inverted u-shaped relationship between the chances of a firm to survive and the connectivity of the network the firms are connected to but only in the later stage of the early organizational life cycle; while the structure of the ego-network never plays a role. A quite central position in the network shows-up to be unfavourable. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Networks, Inventor, Patents, Survival |
| JEL: | L25 L26 O30 L14 |
| Date: | 2016–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2016-021&r=sbm |
| By: | Crass, Dirk; Rammer, Christian; Aschhoff, Birgit |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes how geographical clustering of beneficiaries might affect the effectiveness of public innovation support programs. The geographical proximity of firms operating in the same industry or field of technology is expected to facilitate innovation through knowledge spillovers and other localization advantages. Public innovation support programs may leverage these advantages by focusing on firms that operate in a cluster. We investigate this link using data from a large German program that co-funds R&D projects of SMEs in key technology areas called 'Innovative SMEs'. We employ three alternative cluster measures which capture industry, technology and knowledge dimensions of clusters. Regardless of the measure, firms located in a geographical cluster are more likely to participate in the program. Firms being part of a knowledge-based cluster significantly increases their chance of receiving public financial support. We find no effects, however, of geographical clustering on the program's effectiveness in terms of input or output additionality. |
| Keywords: | Innovation,Government Policy,Regional Government Analysis |
| JEL: | C35 H50 O31 O32 O38 R59 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16083&r=sbm |
| By: | Rammer, Christian; Kinne, Jan; Blind, Knut |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the micro-location pattern of innovative and non-innovative firms in Berlin using detailed information on the firms' addresses and their local environment. The study employs a unique, representative panel data set of Berlin-based firms from manufacturing and services covering a five-year period (2011-2015) and applying the standard concepts and measurement approaches used in the Community Innovation Surveys. While controlling for firm size, age and sector, we find product innovators and R&D performing firms located closer to research infrastructures, start-ups and other firms from the same industry. They tend to prefer more dynamic neighbourhoods and avoid very densely populated areas. For process innovators, no significant differences from non-process innovators are found. Firms are more likely to introduce new-to-market innovations if other firms in their direct neighbourhood had introduced such innovations in the previous period, but also if firms with such innovations have moved out of their neighbourhood. The 'creative environment' of a firm in terms of bars, cafes, clubs, leisure facilities or cultural locations does not seem to be linked to the innovative activity of firms. |
| Keywords: | Microgeography,Innovation,Location Decision,Berlin,Knowledge Spillovers |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 R12 R39 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16080&r=sbm |
| By: | Hagedoorn, John (Organisation and Strategy; Mt Economic Research Inst on Innov/Techn); Lokshin, Boris (Organisation and Strategy); Malo, Stéphane (american university of paris) |
| Abstract: | We explore the innovation performance benefits of alliances for spin-off firms, in particular spin-offs from either other firms or from public research organizations. During the early years of the emerging combinatorial chemistry industry, the industry on which our empirical analysis focuses, spin-offs engaged in alliances with large and established partners, partners of similar type and size, and with public research organizations, often for different reasons. We seek to understand to what extent alliances of spin-offs with other firms (either large or small and medium sized firms) affected their innovation performance and also how this performance may have been affected by their corporate or public research background. We find evidence that in general alliances of spin-offs with other firms, in particular alliances with large firms, increased their innovation performance. Corporate spin-offs that formed alliances with other firms outperformed public research spin-offs with such alliances. This suggests that, in terms of their innovation performance, corporate spin-offs that engaged in alliances with other firms seemed to have benefitted from their prior corporate background. Interestingly, it turns out that the negative impact of alliances on the innovation performance of public research spin-offs was largely affected by their alliances with small and medium sized firms. |
| Keywords: | alliances, spin-offs, entrepreneurial firms, innovation performance |
| JEL: | L24 L26 L65 M13 O32 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2016041&r=sbm |
| By: | Brixy, Udo; Murmann, Martin |
| Abstract: | Recent research suggests that employment in young firms is more negatively impacted during economic downturns than employment in incumbent firms. This questions the effectiveness of policies that promote entrepreneurship to fight crises. We complement prior research that is mostly based on aggregate data by analyzing cyclical effects at the firm level. Using new linked employer-employee data on German start-ups we show that under constant human capital of the firms' founders, employment growth in less than 11=2-year-old start-ups reacts countercyclically and employment growth in older start-ups reacts procyclically. The young start-ups realize their countercyclical growth by hiring qualified labor market entrants who might be unable to find employment in incumbent firms during crises. This mechanism is highly important in economic and management terms and has not been revealed by prior research. |
| Keywords: | Firm growth,Entrepreneurship,Business cycle,Crisis |
| JEL: | E32 J23 L26 M13 L25 L11 D22 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16079&r=sbm |
| By: | Freund, Caroline; Pierola, Denisse |
| Abstract: | This paper uses firm-level data on manufacturing trade from 40 developing countries to explore how the five largest exporters in a country contribute to export growth and diversification. The origins of these firms are also studied. The data show that the top five exporters account for on average one third of exports, over half of export growth, and almost all of export diversification over a five-year period. Controlling for country and industry-fixed effects, the share of exports in the top five firms increases significantly as exports grow. Most top five exporters were already large five years ago or are new firms; it is extremely rare for these export super- stars to emerge from the bottom half of the firm-size distribution. They are producers, not traders, and are primarily foreign owned. |
| Keywords: | comparative advantage; export growth; firm size distribution; power law |
| JEL: | D22 F14 L11 L25 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11687&r=sbm |
| By: | Nathan Goldschlag*; Javier Miranda† |
| Abstract: | Modern market economies are characterized by the reallocation of resources from less productive, less valuable activities to more productive, more valuable ones. Businesses in the High Technology sector play a particularly important role in this reallocation by introducing new products and services that impact the entire economy. Tracking the performance of this sector is therefore of primary importance, especially in light of recent evidence that suggests a slowdown in business dynamism in High Tech industries. The Census Bureau produces the Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS), a suite of data products that track job creation, job destruction, startups, and exits by firm and establishment characteristics including sector, firm age, and firm size. In this paper we describe the methodologies used to produce a new extension to the BDS focused on businesses in High Technology industries. |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-55&r=sbm |
| By: | Diego d'Andria (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | A temporary change in pay to employed inventors around the time of patent application has been observed in a number of countries. A theoretical model is here developed to provide an explanation to said findings based on the idea that inventors may be able to use the knowledge previously generated while working in a firm, in a rival company. The model features firms who hire workers in R&D functions to make product innovations. The innovation process consists of distinct phases separated by a patent application. Firms compete to attract workers, and workers can transfer part of the generated new knowledge to a new employer. Results suggest that the capital intensity of R&D investments, and the type and size of knowledge spillovers, may affect the probability to observe bonus pay at the time of a patent application. Different tax incentives and subsidies are then studied as a means to correct for possible under-investment of capital. We study the effect of a patent box, a subsidy to R&D capital investments, and a subsidy to bonus pay. When market rivalry prevails over positive knowledge externalities, a bonus pay incentive was found to obtain the social first-best while a patent box or a subsidy to capital investment would cause overinvestment. When positive knowledge externalities prevail, either a patent box or a subsidy to capital investment obtain the social optimal level of capital investments. |
| Keywords: | innovation, bonus pay, moving researchers, patents, R&D tax incentives |
| JEL: | O3 J31 H23 H25 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:taxref:201602&r=sbm |
| By: | Calá, Carla Daniela; Manjón-Antolín, Miguel; Arauzo-Carod, Josep-Maria |
| Abstract: | We analyse the determinants of exit in a developing country using Argentina as an illustrative case. We focus on regional determinants but estimate panel count data models for firms of different size, thus indirectly controlling for a major firm-level determinant. We find that most of the determinants used in previous studies analysing developed countries are also relevant here. The fit of the model improves, however, when variables that proxy for the specificities of developing economies are considered. We also find that while the exit of micro-small firms seem to be mostly driven by factors that are commonly found in developed countries, large firms are more influenced by factors that are typically not considered in developed countries' studies. These results raise doubts about the usefulness of public policies based on evidence from developed countries and show the importance of a differentiated analysis across firm size. |
| Keywords: | Dinámica Empresarial; Cese de Actividad; Tamaño de la Empresa; Modelo de Panel; Argentina; |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:2548&r=sbm |
| By: | Halkos, George; Skouloudis, Antonis |
| Abstract: | Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) pose unprecedented threats to modern societies and represent a much-debated issue strongly interlinked with current development policies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that constitute a driving force of economic growth, employment and total value-added remain highly vulnerable to and ill-prepared for such environmental perturbations. This study assesses barriers to SMEs’ resilience to EWEs in an attempt to shed light on enabling factors which can define effective SMEs responses to nonlinear environmental stimuli. Relying on an exploratory quantitative survey, the assessment offers essential research findings for practitioners on SME management and sets forth linkages with current mechanisms for policy interventions towards an appropriate resilience agenda for SMEs. |
| Keywords: | Extreme weather events; organizational resilience; small and medium-sized enterprises; climate change; environmental perturbations. |
| JEL: | Q01 Q50 Q54 Q56 Q59 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75562&r=sbm |
| By: | Gianluca Misuraca (European Commission – JRC); Fiorenza Lipparini (PlusValue); Csaba Kucsera (European Commission – JRC) |
| Abstract: | Social enterprises play an important role in tackling societal challenges. Their numbers have grown significantly over recent years, becoming a strong engine of social innovation in the EU. This trend is confirmed by results of the JRC-led IESI project, which supports the implementation of the EU Social Investment Package through the analysis of ICT-Enabled Social Innovation initiatives in Member States. This issue of the ‘JRC Insights’ presents results from the study of these initiatives, assessed against the three main objectives of the Social Investment Package: implementing active inclusion strategies, investing in individuals throughout their lives and modernizing social protection systems. Evidence gathered shows that social enterprises are crucial in realising these policy goals. Their capacity to identify emerging or unmet needs, engage stakeholders and turn their governance model into a sustainable production process makes them particularly apt to contribute to social investment approaches. Social enterprises are the most innovative forms of social economy and their action tends to be flexible and responsive, thanks to their capacity to involve users and understand their needs. Their governance structures, their roots in local communities, and the fact that they are often multi-stakeholder partnerships contribute to greater social innovation. Nevertheless, more comprehensive socio-economic impact evaluations are required to understand what initiatives could and should be fostered and scaled-up. |
| Keywords: | Social investment, social policy innovation, SIP, Social Investment Package, social economy, social enterprise, ICT enabled social innovation, ICT, services, social protection, social welfare |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc104054&r=sbm |
| By: | Elert, Niklas (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to nuance the widely held view that well-functioning institutions are the ultimate prerequisite for innovation and entrepreneurship. This is done by putting the spotlight on the role that formal and informal institutions have in serving the economic status quo, conserving old habits and incumbent economic interests. Therefore, existing institutions often act as impediments to entrepreneurship and innovation. We argue that a common yet underappreciated source of institutional change arises when individuals deviate from the behavior stipulated by existing institutions. All types of deviations are certainly not beneficial, but when they take the form of innovations introduced by entrepreneurs, they can be a particularly powerful source of economic and institutional change. An institutional setup should strike a balance between the need for stability that protects people’s expectations and flexibility and adaptability to innovations and the ensuing entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Regulation; Norms; Innovation; Entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L50 M13 O31 |
| Date: | 2016–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1144&r=sbm |
| By: | Taran Thune (TIK Center for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo, Norway); Magnus Gulbrandsen (TIK Center for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo, Norway) |
| Abstract: | Difficult and problematic aspects of collaborative innovation are rarely explicit objects of study (Bozeman el al., 2013), but there is good reasons to assume that problems and tensions are an inherent feature of partnerships, and that many partnerships are not successful due to the inability in dealing with tensions. This paper will address this issue by looking at sources and impacts of tensions on partnership development. We do so by performing a qualitative analysis of research and innovation partnerships between hospitals, universities and firms. The analysis, based on three longitudinal case studies, reveal major differences in how alliance stakeholders perceive sources of tensions and impact of tensions. The study demonstrates that tensions are rarely reduced over time and become more visible and permanent characteristics of partnerships. But not all kinds of tensions have a negative impact on partnership development, and we discuss how different tensions influence partnership development. |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20161210&r=sbm |
| By: | Isaac Kwame Essien Obeng (Department of Economics, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel university in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates economic impact of delayed payments caused by liquidity crisis in the European Union. Using micro data sets on financial statements of 54,277 firms for the period of 2005 to 2014 inclusive, we perform panel data analysis by estimating fixed effects regression models with selected macroeconomic shocks. The results show a high variability of late payments during the financial crisis compared to period of relative stable economic situation and late payments is significantly evident across countries under different economic conditions. Additionally, we identify a positive relationship between the response variable, late payments, and firm profitability measured with returns on assets, but a negative relationship with firm total assets as it depends on the speed of collections from receivables. The results suggest delays in payment of invoices beyond the given credit period across the different European Union member countries. |
| Keywords: | late payments, accounts receivable, accounts payable, credit collection, credit period, financial crisis, macroeconomic shocks |
| JEL: | M21 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:men:wpaper:66_2016&r=sbm |
| By: | Dutta, Sourish |
| Abstract: | The crucial and growing role performed by different financial intermediaries such as venture capitalists and angel investors as well as more traditional intermediaries such as commercial banks in developing entrepreneurial or innovative firms and boosting product market innovations has led to great research interest in the economics of innovation and entrepreneurial finance. Besides this, there are some important factors or developments which have affected the entrepreneurial finance in general as well as its influence upon different entrepreneurial or innovative firms. Indeed, it is also true that the financial and ownership structures of the different entrepreneurial firms and the legal as well as institutional environment, in which they operate, itself affects the product market innovations (Chemmanur and Fulghieri, 2014). .Therefore, in this paper I want to target a broad theme i.e. analysis of the mechanisms behind this scenario, especially, in the context of Indian market system. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Financing Frictions, Entrepreneurial Finance |
| JEL: | G11 G24 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75584&r=sbm |
| By: | Timothy Besley; Maitreesh Ghatak |
| Abstract: | When social benefits cannot be measured, an organization that selects managers based on pro-social motivation can be used to balance profits with a social purpose. This paper develops a model of social enterprise based on selection of citizen-managers to run firms with flexible missions. We analyze organizational choice between social enterprise, for-profits, and non-profits. The paper also develops the implications of matching between founders and managers based on their preferences for the mission. |
| JEL: | N0 J50 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68572&r=sbm |