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on Small Business Management |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (RMIT University); Karlsson, Charlie (KTH) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of regional context on innovation persistency of firms. Using five waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, we have traced firms’ innovative behaviour from 2002 to 2012, in terms of four Schumpeterian types of innovation: product, process, organizational, and marketing. Employing transition probability matrix and dynamic Probit model and controlling for an extensive set of firm-level characteristics, we find that certain regional characteristics matter for innovation persistency of firms. In particular, those firms located in regions with (i) thicker labour market or (ii) higher extent of knowledge spillover exhibit higher probability of being persistent innovators up to 14 percentage points. Such higher persistency is mostly pronounced for product innovators. |
| Keywords: | location; innovation; persistence; product innovations; process innovations; market innovations; organizational innovations; firms; Community Inno¬vation Survey |
| JEL: | D22 L20 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2017–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2017_011&r=sbm |
| By: | Brixy, Udo (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Brunow, Stephan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); D''Ambrosio, Anna |
| Abstract: | "The study analyses the impact of different ethnic compositions of start-ups in Germany on the innovativeness of the new businesses. We are able to distinguish between the ethnicity of the founders and that of the early employees following new results that demonstrate the importance of including all new firms' stakeholders for the firm's success. We make use of a measure introduced by Ruef (2002) and Ruef et al. (2003) which not only takes into account the number of different ethnicities involved, but also includes the unusualness of the ethnic compositions. Our results first reveal that foreigners are an important source of both entrepreneurs and employers. Second, we can show that only really rare combinations, of the founders and employees together, lead to more innovative businesses whereas the more common minorities are even found to have a negative impact on firms' innovativeness." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J15 J21 L26 M13 M14 |
| Date: | 2017–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201725&r=sbm |
| By: | SUZUKI Jun |
| Abstract: | The innovation policy mix is reported to be increasingly targeted and demand side-oriented in recent years. In this context, an important question for policy makers, scholars, and analysts in Japan as well as in other nations is how to provide policy support to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this study, the effects of the new generation of policy mix supporting SMEs by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan, the Sapo-In program, has been analyzed using patent data from the viewpoint of the effectiveness of financial support to firms (research and development (R&D) subsidy) and the support to build linkages (soft support) on both the supply- and demand-side (matching, brokering, and consulting). The results suggest that soft support has wider impacts in terms of patenting and internal and external network formation while financial support has very limited effects. Based on these results combined with information from the report on the follow-up monitoring survey of Sapo-In projects conducted by METI, the possibility of a better policy mix is discussed. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17098&r=sbm |
| By: | Christian Fons-Rosen; Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan; Bent E. Sorensen; Carolina Villegas-Sanchez; Vadym Volosovych |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on total factor productivity (TFP) of domestic firms using a new, representative firm-level data set spanning six countries. A novel finding is that firm-level spillovers from foreign firms to domestic companies can be significantly positive, non-existent, or even negative, depending on which sectors receive FDI. When foreign firms produce in the same narrow sector as domestic firms, the latter are negatively affected by increasing competition and positively affected by knowledge spillovers. We find that the positive spillovers dominate if foreign firms enter sectors where firms are “technologically close,” controlling for the endogeneity of their entry decision into such sectors. Positive technology spillovers also affect firms in other sectors, if those sectors are technologically close to the sectors receiving FDI. Increasing FDI in sectors that are technologically close to other sectors boosts TFP of domestic firms by twice as much as increasing FDI by the same amount across all sectors. |
| JEL: | E32 F15 F36 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23643&r=sbm |
| By: | Dirk Czarnitzki (KU Leuven, Belgium); Katrin Hussinger (CREA, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of public R&D subsidies on R&D input and output of German firms. We distinguish between the direct impact of subsidies on R&D investments and the indirect effect on innovation output measured by patent applications. We disentangle the productivity of purely privately financed R&D and additional R&D investment induced by the public incentive scheme. For this, a treatment effect analysis is conducted in a first step. The results are implemented into the estimation of a patent production function in a second step. It turns out that both purely privately financed R&D and publicly induced R&D show a positive effect on patent outcome. |
| Keywords: | R&D, Subsidies, Patents, Treatment Effects |
| JEL: | C14 C30 H23 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:17-12&r=sbm |
| By: | Brunow, Stephan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Birkeneder, Antonia; Rodriguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | "This paper examines the link between the endowment of creative and science based STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - workers and the level of the firm and firm- and city-/regional-level innovation in Germany. It also looks into whether the presence of these two groups of workers has greater benefits for larger cities than smaller locations, thus justifying policies to attract these workers in order to make German cities 'smarter'. The empirical analysis is based on a probit estimation, covering 115,000 plant-level observations between 1998 and 2015. The results highlight that firms that employ creative and STEM workers are more innovative than those that do not. However, the positive connection of creative workers to innovation is limited to the boundaries of the firm, whereas that of STEM workers is as associated to the generation of considerable innovation spillovers. Hence, attracting STEM workers is more likely to end up making German cities smarter than focusing exclusively on creative workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Date: | 2017–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201724&r=sbm |
| By: | MIYAGAWA Tsutomu; EDAMURA Kazuma; KAWAKAMI Atsushi |
| Abstract: | In endogenous growth models and mid-term business cycles as seen in the works of Romer (1987) and Comin and Gertler (2006), it is assumed that there are positive effects of product variety. Using product-firm level data, we examine these effects empirically. Using data from the Census of Manufacture, the Survey of Research and Development (R&D), and the Basic Survey of Japanese Business Structure and Activities, we construct a database that includes number of products, R&D expenditures, and data on firm performance. We find that the number of products in R&D firms is higher than that of non-R&D firms, and that R&D firms are more sensitive than non-R&D firms for product dynamics. In the Poisson regression model, we also observe positive effects of R&D activities on product dynamics in empirical studies. As the increase in product variety contributes to productivity growth, our empirical results support the government's policies for enhancing R&D activities. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17101&r=sbm |
| By: | Lach, Saul; Neeman, Zvika; Schankerman, Mark |
| Abstract: | We study the design of a government loan program for risky R&D projects that generate positive externalities, undertaken by entrepreneurs in a competitive capital market environment. With adverse selection, the optimal contract requires a high interest rate but nearly zero co-financing by the entrepreneur. This contrasts sharply with observed policies, typified by a low interest rate and high co-finanacing requirement. When we add moral hazard (endogenous success), the optimal policy consists of a menu of at most two contracts, one with high interest/zero self-finanacing and a second with a lower interest but also a co-finanacing requirement. Calibrated simulations compare the optimal policy and observed program designs in terms of innovation and welfare. |
| Keywords: | additionality; entrepreneurship; government nance; innovation; mechanism design; R&D; start-ups |
| JEL: | D61 D82 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12199&r=sbm |
| By: | Viktor Slavtchev (Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH)); Michael Wyrwich (FSU Jena) |
| Abstract: | Can TV influence the entrepreneurial decisions of individuals? To identify causal effects, we utilize a quasi-natural experiment, namely that during the division of Germany after WWI into the capitalistic West Germany and the socialistic East Germany, West TV was exogenously available only in some regions of the latter. Using regional and individual data, we show that, after the Reunification, entrepreneurship is higher among the residents of East German regions with West TV signal, indicating a direct effect of TV on the entrepreneurial mindset of exposed individuals. Moreover, we find second-order effects due to intergenerational transmission, which cause persistent differences. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, TV, Culture, Occupational choice, Institutions |
| JEL: | L26 J24 M13 P20 P30 O30 D02 D03 Z10 |
| Date: | 2017–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2017-007&r=sbm |