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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2017‒03‒26
twenty-two papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Zoltan J. Acs; Pontus Braunerhjelm; Charlie Karlsson |
| Abstract: | Professor Philippe Aghion is the 2016 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research, consisting of 100,000 Euros and a statuette designed by the internationally renowned Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. He is one of the most influential researchers worldwide in economics in the last couple of decades. His research has advanced our understanding of the relationship between firm-level innovation, entry and exit on the one hand, and productivity and growth on the other. Aghion has thus accomplished to bridge theoretical macroeconomic growth models with a more complete and consistent microeconomic setting. He is one of the founding fathers of the pioneering and original contribution referred to as Schumpeterian growth theory. Philippe Aghion has not only contributed with more sophisticated theoretical models, but also provided empirical evidence regarding the importance of entrepreneurial endeavours for societal prosperity, thereby initiating a more nuanced policy discussion concerning the interdependencies between entrepreneurship, competition, wealth and growth. |
| Keywords: | global award; entrepreneurship; economic growth; innovation; firm entry; finance; regulation |
| JEL: | D02 D86 G30 L20 L50 O30 O40 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:69852&r=sbm |
| By: | Philippe Aghion |
| Abstract: | This lecture is the story of an intellectual journey, that of elaborating a new—Schumpeterian—theory of economic growth. A theory where (i) growth is generated by innovative entrepreneurs; (ii) entrepreneurial investments respond to incentives that are themselves shaped by economic policies and institutions; (iii) new innovations replace old technologies: in other words, growth involves creative destruction and therefore involves a permanent conflict between incumbents and new entrants. First, we motivate and then lay out the Schumpeterian paradigm and point to a set of empirical predictions which distinguish this paradigm from other growth models. Second, we raise four debates on which the Schumpeterian approach sheds new light: the middle income trap, secular stagnation, the recent rise in top income inequality, and firm dynamics. Third and last, we show how the paradigm can be used to think (or rethink) about growth policy design. (This article is based on the author’s presentation at the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, May 10, 2016.) |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; creative destruction; R&D; entry; exit; competition; technology frontier; firm dynamics |
| JEL: | O10 O11 O12 O30 O31 O33 O4 O47 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:69824&r=sbm |
| By: | Mitsutoshi Hirano (Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University); Atsushi Yogo (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Okayama University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the crossover effect of work-life balance (WLB) in the relationship between the management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their employees. SMEs are smaller in scale and have fewer employees than large enterprises, resulting in a close relationship between management and employees. In SMEs, it is easier for employees to observe the daily behavior of the management. Therefore, if management's WLB satisfaction is high, the positive attitude of the management will be transmitted to the employees, and it is thought that this will improve employee WLB satisfaction and motivation. In this study, business managers (90 people) in Osaka Prefecture and the matched data of employees (1,054 people) were used for analysis. The results showed that the management's WLB satisfaction level had an influence on the degree of work engagement of both male and female employees. However, a crossover effect between management and employees' WLB satisfaction while observed in men, was not observed in women. It is suggested that the fixed ideas and paternalism of male management toward female employees may work to suppress the crossover effect on women. |
| Keywords: | work-life balance (WLB); spillover effect; crossover effect; work engagement; small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kbb:dpaper:2017-04&r=sbm |
| By: | Helen Lawton Smith (Birkbeck, University of London. Oxfordshire Economic Observatory, Oxford University) |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:img:wpaper:36&r=sbm |
| By: | Margherita Russo (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia); Annalisa Caloffi (University of Padua); Federica Rossi (Birkbeck College, University of London); Riccardo Righi (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:img:wpaper:34&r=sbm |
| By: | Laurent Scaringella (ESC Rennes School of Business - ESC Rennes School of Business); Jean-Jacques Chanaron (CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, GEM - Grenoble Ecole de Management - Grenoble École de Management (GEM)) |
| Abstract: | Over the past decades, the EU heavily invested in Research Infrastructures (RI). What are the expected returns of such investments? In the present article we address the question of returns on public funds/public infrastructures. We consider the role of RI and universities from an economic, social, and entrepreneurial perspective from various Territorial Innovation Models (TIMs): Italian industrial districts, innovative milieus, regional innovation systems, new industrial spaces, and regional clusters. We conducted our empirical study on Grenoble Isère Alpes Nanotechnologies (GIANT), which is composed of large scientific instruments, universities, and engineering and management schools. Our microeconomic methodology measured the socioeconomic and entrepreneurial effects of GIANT with respect to budget, employment, and spin-off generation. We contribute to the existing body of knowledge on TIMs by comparing the long-term investments to the generation of wealth, the creation of employment, and the development of start-ups; adding new insights to the debate opposing positive and negative impacts empirical studies; and offering recommendations for the use of public resources. In our discussion, we compare the GIANT model as a very localized RI-university club to the Grenoble model as localized cluster. |
| Keywords: | Return on investment,Socioeconomic impact,Start-up,University,Research infrastructure,Territorial Innovation Models |
| Date: | 2016–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemptp:hal-01472878&r=sbm |
| By: | Nesma Ali (Universiti Paris-Est, France.); Boris Najman |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of the competition stemmed from informal firms on formal firms productivity in Egypt. Using the World Banks Enterprise Surveys, we update the two-step methodology of Guiso et al. (2004) to build a regional indicator of informal competition intensity. Our estimation reports a positive effect of this indicator on formal firms productivity that remains valid to the instrumental variable approach and to multiple robustness check. This result is subject to factors accounting for the characteristics of the firm and is segmented by formal firms size. We also identify informal firms cost advantage as the main channel through which this effect occurs. Our results call on the importance of tax reforms and effective regulation to be implemented in Egypt. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1025&r=sbm |
| By: | Andrea Morrison; Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the spatial evolution of the Italian motor cycle industry during the period 1893-1993. We find support for both the heritage theory of Klepper and the agglomeration thesis of Marshall. Indeed, being a spinoff company or an experienced firm enhanced the survival rates, but we also found a positive effect of being located in the Motor Valley cluster in Emilia Romagna. Interestingly, this beneficial effect of a cluster could not be found outside the Emilia Romagna region. This might indicate the importance of a favourable local institutional environment, as propagated by the Emilian district literature. |
| Keywords: | spinoff dynamics, agglomeration economies, clusters, industrial districts, Emilian model, evolutionary economic geography |
| JEL: | B15 B52 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1707&r=sbm |
| By: | Pajarinen, Mika; Rouvinen, Petri |
| Abstract: | In this brief, we study the cultural dimension of new entrepreneurial activity in Finland. One in ten nascent entrepreneurs in Finland consider themselves to possess (also) a non-Finnish background. The ventures of these multicultural entrepreneurs are more networked and more likely to locate within the Helsinki metropolitan region than other, non-multicultural, ventures. In terms of firm survival and growth, these two groups of ventures are largely similar. |
| Date: | 2017–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:briefs:55&r=sbm |
| By: | Kavitha P (Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode); Pankaj Kumar Baag (Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode) |
| Abstract: | Banks are one of the mediums of implementing Government schemes that facilitate easy access to capital for small businesses and entrepreneurs. We for the first time analyze the bank’s efficiency in implementing a government scheme that promotes entrepreneurship. We empirically study the relative technical and scale efficiency of 42 Indian banks including a comparative efficiency between private and public sector banks in providing loans under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana PMMY scheme launched by the Government of India to promote entrepreneurship and facilitate easy access to capital for small and micro units including the start-ups under the scheme using data on the number of loans sanctioned and amount of loan disbursed under the scheme as on March 2016. We have used the Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) - a non-parametric technique for measuring the relative efficiencies of the Indian banks. We found that while Indian banks have been less efficient in implementing the PMMY, in comparison the public sector banks are more efficient in providing loans under the scheme and providing loans to start-ups under the scheme than the private sector banks. The study implies that the banks’ efficiency scores give the policy makers a better picture of their relative performances it takes into account the differences in size, branch network, back end technology and profitability unlike the number of loans sanctioned. The efficiency levels provide information to the policy makers on how many more loans can be sanctioned by each bank with their existing resources. The lower efficiency of private sector banks mandates separate and stricter norms for implementation of PMMY for private banks. |
| Keywords: | Bank Efficiency, Entrepreneurship, DEA, Government scheme, Start-up |
| JEL: | G21 L26 C14 M13 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iik:wpaper:206&r=sbm |
| By: | Hala El-Said; Mahmoud Al-Said; Chahir Zaki (Cairo University) |
| Abstract: | Limited resources and barriers to entry are critically higher for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) than for large companies. One of the reasons explaining why the resources of SMEs are scarce is their limited access to financial services. This, in turn, reduces their likelihood of exporting. With this in mind, using the census of SMEs done by the Central Bank of Egypt and the Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI), we try to examine the impact of access to finance on SMEs’ export performance. We measure the latter by the extensive margin that means the probability of becoming an exporter and the probability of serving several markets. We found a significant and positive impact on the probability of exporting and that of exporting to more than one destination from dealing with banks and having banking facilities. Thus, wider and more efficient financial services are likely to increase the number of exporters and boost exports diversification. |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:903&r=sbm |
| By: | Alexander Tübke (European Commission - JRC); Fernando Hervás Soriano (European Commission - JRC); Nicola Grassano (European Commission - JRC); Lesley Potters (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This eleventh survey on industrial R&D investment trends is based on 157 responses of mainly large firms from a subsample of the 1000 EU-based companies in the 2015 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. These 157 companies are responsible for €59.3 billion R&D investment, constituting one third of the total R&D investment by the 1000 EU Scoreboard companies. The responding companies expect to increase their nominal R&D investment by 1.4% per year during 2016–17. This is only half of our previous survey (3.0%) and mainly due to the lack of R&D investment growth expectations of a few very large companies in the automobiles & parts sector. Without this, the expected R&D investment growth of the sample would be 3.8% and thus slightly higher than in the previous survey. Very similar to last year’s survey, the EU-based companies in the sample carry out one-fourth of their R&D outside the EU. The responding companies’ expectations for R&D investment for the next three years show the ongoing participation of European companies in the global economy. While maintaining the focus of their R&D investment in the EU, they reap opportunities for growth in emerging economies. |
| Keywords: | R&D investment, business, survey, innovation |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc102607&r=sbm |
| By: | Barge-Gil, Andrés; López, Alberto; Núñez-Sánchez, Ramón |
| Abstract: | Using Spanish firrm-level data, we estimate productivity effects of spillovers from foreign multinationals to domestic firms in both manufacturing and service sectors. We find evidence of a positive productivity effect from multinationals on domestic firms operating in the same industry. Analyzing inter-industry linkages, we find evidence consistent with positive productivity spillovers from forward linkages (i.e., from suppliers to buyers) and negative productivity spillovers from backward linkages (i.e., from buyers to suppliers). Our main results hold when analyzing differences between multinational and domestic firms, and for periods of economic growth and recession, although some differences arise. Interestingly, we find evidence supporting a positive role of spillovers during the last recession period. |
| Keywords: | Multinational firms, FDI, spillovers, economic recession. |
| JEL: | F23 L53 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77348&r=sbm |
| By: | Belen Barroeta; Javier Gomez Prieto (European Commission - JRC); Jonatan Paton; Manuel Palazuelos Martinez (European Commission - JRC); Marcelino Cabrera Giraldez (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The Smart Specialisation concept, currently implemented in the European Union, is being widely considered by several countries and regions of Latin-America. The interest towards this approach, highly based on the enhancement of regional innovation capacities, is motivating territorial dialogues, participatory processes and collective vision related to the innovation perspectives of Latin-American regions. This article highlights how policy makers of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina are considering the smart specialisation concept as an inspirational driver of regional innovation and specialisation. Understanding the socio-economic and contextual differences between EU and Latin-America, this working paper does not seek to elaborate value judgements on the way in which smart specialisation is being (or should be) adapted beyond the EU. Instead, the analysis seeks to emphasise the common tendencies of the concept implementation as a way to frame cooperation between regions of the EU and Latin-America. |
| Keywords: | Smart Specialisation, Regional Innovation, Cooperation, European Union, Latin America |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc106043&r=sbm |
| By: | ANNE MARIE KNOTT; CARL VIEREGGER |
| Abstract: | Since Schumpeter, there has been a lively debate regarding the optimal firm size for innovation. Empirical results have settled into a puzzle: R&D spending increasing with scale, while R&D productivity decreases with scale. Thus large firms appear irrational. We propose and test two alternative resolutions of the puzzle: 1) that it arises from measurement problems, and 2) that firm size endogenously drives R&D strategy, and that the returns to R&D strategies depend on scale. To test both propositions we use recently available NSF BRDIS survey data of firms R&D practices (strategies) as well as a broader measure of R&D productivity. Using the broader measure, we find that both R&D spending and R&D productivity increase with scale—thus offering one resolution to the puzzle. We further find that while large firms and small firms differ in the types of R&D they conduct, there is no type whose returns decrease in scale—there are merely types for which the small firm penalty is less severe. Thus Schumpeter appears to be correct--large firms are the major engine of growth, they both spend more in aggregate than small firms, and are more productive with that spending. |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-20r&r=sbm |
| By: | Bruno Dallago (Dipartimento di Economia e Management, University of Trento) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the findings of academic studies and research on entrepreneurship and looks at what explains the evolution of entrepreneurship in post-transformation countries. Posttransformation countries include Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and other former socialist countries in Europe and former Soviet Asia. The paper shows that there are differences between these countries, even those integrated in the European Union (EU), and the most developed countries of Western Europe and North America. Perhaps less obvious, differences are significant and growing between the countries that are now integrated in the European Union and those that follow a different path. The paper shows that these differences are only in part of policy nature and tend to acquire systemic nature and have great influence over the features and role of entrepreneurship. The paper stresses the importance of entrepreneurship for former transformation countries and shows that the features and role of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur are not invariant to the context where they arise and act. This is true in general, but is particularly so in the case of systemic change and is largely dependent on the quality of institutions. The study of entrepreneurship is important to highlight similarities and assess and explain differences and divergence among countries. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, institutions, post-transformation, transformation, Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States Selection Bias, Russia |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:968&r=sbm |
| By: | Emma Tredgett (Department of Management, Birkbeck College University of London); Alex Coad (SPRU, Freeman Centre, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | In this paper a comparison is made between data on the US Small Business Innovation Research programme (SBIR) and UK Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) (Tredgett & Coad 2013). Quantitative data on the first three years of the UK SBRI (2009 – 2013) was compared to data on the first three years of the US SBIR (1983 – 1987) from the US Small Business Administration. The data includes numbers of competitions, applicants and money spent on research contracts. Some key differences in implementation of the two initiatives are identified and discussed in relation to the quantitative data. Quantitative data shows that while the US SBIR had steady growth, the UK SBRI has had a shaky start. Possible explanations for these results are suggested. Further work to strengthen the data and improve the validity of the evaluation is then outlined. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:img:manwps:10&r=sbm |
| By: | Luisa Gagliardi (London School of Economics and Political Science); Simona Iammarino (London School of Economics and Political Science) |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:img:wpaper:37&r=sbm |
| By: | Sara Moreira |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how the state of the economy when businesses begin operations affects their size and performance over the lifecycle. Using micro-level data that covers the entire universe of businesses operating in the U.S. since the late 1970s, I provide new evidence that businesses born in downturns start on a smaller scale and remain smaller over their entire lifecycle. In fact, I find no evidence that these differences attenuate even long after entry. Using new data on the productivity and composition of startup businesses, I show that this persistence is related to selection at entry and demand-side channels. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:17-29&r=sbm |
| By: | Margherita Balconi; Valeria Lorenzi |
| Abstract: | The role played in the last decades by contract research organizations (CROs) has been almost completely neglected by the economic and managerial literature. At most they are presented as firms performing routine clinical tasks, a portrait which is largely outdated and misleading. Thus the main objective of this paper is to highlight the evolution of the CRO segment of the biopharma industry, discuss the foundations of CROs' comparative advantage and underline the consequences of their growth for the effective functioning of the industry. We suggest that the increased role acquired by CROs in performing fundamental phases of R&D has made the anatomy of the biopharma system more functional. In fact even if the turbulence and mortality of IP-based biotech firms is extremely high, if they rely to a great extent on CROs, the experience acquired to carry out their projects - which mostly fail - does not get lost but cumulatively enhances CROs' capabilities, a resource that can be tapped to carry out further projects. |
| Keywords: | Evolution of industries, R&D outsourcing, tacit knowledge, biopharma industry |
| Date: | 2017–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2017/10&r=sbm |
| By: | Ikuo Kuroiwa (Institute of Developing Economies Japan External Trade Organization(IDE-JETRO)); Kriengkrai Techakanont (Thammasat University, Thailand) |
| Abstract: | The development of the local supplier base and the formation of industrial clusters are important for industries, especially the automotive industry. This study focuses on local supplier development and the formation of automotive clusters in Thailand. Using the Thailand Automotive Industry Directory 2014, the study investigates the type of parts produced by the respective suppliers, as well as the geographical distribution of suppliers in the automotive clusters. The study finds that the number of firms producing each type of parts is different, depending on the ownership structure. Also, the location of automotive establishments has changed over time, reflecting the changes in location advantages of the respective regions as well as government policy. |
| Keywords: | Automotive industry, industrial cluster, Location of firms |
| JEL: | L62 O53 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2016-32&r=sbm |
| By: | Valeri, Marco |
| Abstract: | The aim of the paper is to study the factors influencing the development of networked collaboration between small and medium-sized businesses in the Italian tourist industry. These businesses are obliged to choose networking when faced with difficulties of growth and the need to improve their offer for increasingly discerning customers. The paper aims to add to the recent studies on the management and governance of small and medium- sized tourism businesses, and to pinpoint new development processes to deal with the notable difficulties that the sector is subjected to. A survey was carried out by administering a questionnaire to a sample of Italian travel agencies and tour operators, specialising in incoming and outgoing activities. The sample consisted of 2,200 enterprises (or 70% of the total operating in Italy) and was addressed only to small or medium-sized businesses (with less than 250 employees and a turnover less than 40 million euros a year). The narrowness of the sample analysed constitutes a limit to the work, and eventual future studies should try to analyse all tourism companies with a view to discovering new business opportunities, relieve critical situations and above all, call attention to appropriate issues of governance. |
| Keywords: | Small and medium-sized enterprises, innovation, competitive advantage |
| JEL: | L83 M1 O1 |
| Date: | 2015–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77465&r=sbm |