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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2018‒01‒01
eleven papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Christine Lewis; Boingotlo Gasealahwe |
| Abstract: | Lowering high levels of unemployment and inequality are amongst the largest challenges facing South Africa. More entrepreneurs and thriving small businesses would contribute to inclusive growth. Measures of entrepreneurial activity are lower in South Africa than in other emerging economies. Barriers to entrepreneurship include bureaucratic procedures and licensing, which are also an ongoing burden on small firms. Public procurement is being used to overcome the dominance of large incumbents, but so far its net effect on small firms is not clear. An education system that better equipped students with basic skills as well as entrepreneurial skills would grow the pipeline of entrepreneurs. New forms of financing are slowly emerging in a system that is dominated by banks. A better evidence base is crucial for more effective financial and non-financial support programmes to boost start-up rates and small firms’ growth. |
| Keywords: | business regulation,, entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurship, micro and small business, small business taxation, South Africa |
| JEL: | H25 I25 K2 L26 O55 |
| Date: | 2017–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1449-en&r=sbm |
| By: | Eugster, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between ownership structure, analyst coverage, and forecast error for the entire population of non-financial companies listed on the Swiss Exchange for the period 2003-2013. The results show a negative association between concentrated ownership and analyst coverage for both family firms and firms held by a nonfamily blockholder. Furthermore, forecasts of analysts are shown to be more accurate for family firms than for other firms. These results suggest that family ownership improves the quality of the firm’s information environment. This situation can be explained by a better alignment of interests between majority and minority shareholders among family firms. |
| Keywords: | Ownership structure; concentrated ownership; family firms; nonfamily blockholder; widely held firms; analyst coverage; forecast error; information environment |
| JEL: | G32 G34 |
| Date: | 2017–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fri:fribow:fribow00491&r=sbm |
| By: | Nicola Cortinovis (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Frank van Oort (ESE EUR, IHS EUR, Utrecht University) |
| Abstract: | Productivity across European regions is related to three types of networks that mediate R&D-related knowledge spillovers: trade, co-patenting and geographical proximity. Both our panel and instrumental variable estimations for European regions suggest that network relations are crucial sources of R&D spillovers, but with potentially different features. While co-patenting relations appear to affect local productivity directly, regions that link up to innovative leader regions via imports gain in productivity only when they have relatively high levels of human capital and absorptive capacity. From a policy perspective, this may frustrate recent European policy initiatives, such as Smart Specialization, that are designed to benefit all regions in Europe. |
| Keywords: | productivity; economic networks; regions; Europe; trade; knowledge |
| JEL: | R11 R12 O33 O47 |
| Date: | 2017–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170118&r=sbm |
| By: | Ajay Bhaskarbhatla (Erasmus School of Economics, ERIM); Deepak Hegde (New York University); Thomas (T.L.P.R.) Peeters (Erasmus School of Economics, ERIM; Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | Are differences in inventor productivity due to differences in inventors’ skills or differences in the capabilities of the firms they work for? We analyze a 37-year panel that tracks the patenting of U.S. inventors and find strong evidence for serial correlation in inventors’ productivity. We apply an econometric technique developed by Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis (1999) to decompose the contributions of inventors’ human capital and firm capabilities for productivity. Our estimates suggest human capital is 4-5 times more important than firm capabilities for explaining the variance in inventor productivity. High human capital inventors work for firms that have (i) other high human capital inventors, (ii) superior financial performance, and (iii) weak firm-specific invention capabilities. On the margins, managers should emphasize selecting talent rather than training workers to enhance innovation performance. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital; Capabilities; Innovation; Matching; Competitive Advantage |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O32 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170115&r=sbm |
| By: | Pellens, Maikel; Licht, Georg |
| Abstract: | Europe faces a conundrum. Despite high levels of research investment and leading the market in many industries, disruptive and radical innovation typically does not come from European startups. One of the reasons for this is financial constraints: most innovative European start-ups do not manage to attract institutional funders or venture capitalists to invest in their growth, and hence do not fulfill their growth potential. Business angels, individual investors who support early-stage firms with capital and experience, are believed to be able to fill this gap in the funding landscape and thus help boost European innovation. However, relatively little is known about business angel activities in Europe. In this policy brief, we summarize recent research conducted at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), highlight trends in the German and European business angel markets, and discuss implications for the design of policies aimed at fostering the development of markets for business angel investment. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewpbs:52017&r=sbm |
| By: | Natalia Dobryagina (Department of Social Sciences and Economics - Sapienza University of Rome (Italy)) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates opportunities of decision theory application in agricultural entreprenership promotion, it considers behavioral characteristics of entrepreneurs in the sphere of agriculture, identifies the common biases in potential entrepreneurs’ decision making process and suggests a number of decision theory approaches (including NUDGE instruments), applicable in debiasing entrepreneurial decisions as well as in motivating entrepreneurship in agriculture. The paper demonstrates the issue of limited attention to the differences between hereditary and non-hereditary entrepreneurs decision making process in agricultural policies. In order to investigate the effect of non-pecuniary instrument on potential entrepreneurs’ behaviour, a model of a policy effect on entrepreneurial decision was created and a new classification of entrepreneurial decision criteria was developed. The experiment was conducted in the University of Barcelona with 253 participants and has proven that the suggested non-pecuniary instrument of agricultural entrepreneurship promotion has significant positive effect on the attractiveness of the agricultural sphere of entrepreneurship. Experiment results has also demonstrated that non-pecuniary factors play greater role in decision making process of individuals, who are more attracted by the agricultural sphere of entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Non-hereditary Entrepreneurship, Policy, Decision Theory, Agriculture, Bias. |
| JEL: | Q18 D91 L26 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:saq:wpaper:11/17&r=sbm |
| By: | Montmartin, B.; Herrera, M.; Massard, N. |
| Abstract: | Using a unique database containing information on the amount of R&D tax credits and regional, national and European subsidies received by firms in French NUTS3 regions over the period 2001-2011, we provide new evidence on the efficiency of R&D policies taking into account spatial dependency across regions. By estimating a spatial Durbin model with regimes and fixed effects, we show that in a context of yardstick competition between regions, national subsidies are the only instrument that displays total leverage effect. For other instruments internal and external effects balance each other resulting in insignificant total effects. Structural breaks corresponding to tax credit reforms are also revealed. |
| Keywords: | ADDITIONALITY;FRENCH POLICY MIX;R&D INVESTMENT;SPATIAL PANEL;STRUCTURAL BREAK |
| JEL: | H25 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gbl:wpaper:2017-06&r=sbm |
| By: | Iferd, Younes; Schubert, Torben |
| Abstract: | The existing literature shows that interdepartmental collaboration within companies en-hances innovativeness due to easier access to and integration of knowledge spread over dispersed actors. As companies are well aware of these benefits they also use competi-tion between innovation projects to organize their innovation projects. Such competitive mechanisms have often been regarded as problematic because of their adverse effects on collaboration and knowledge sharing. At the same time, they have the power to expe-dite innovation processes. Based on German CIS data, we use a stochastic frontier ap-proach to show that competition across innovation projects tends to increase innovation efficiency for firms faced by predatory product market competition, while interdepartmental collaboration is efficiency increasing when competition is low. Furthermore, we were also able to show that with increasing innovation radicalness interdepartmental collaboration enhances the innovation process and that with increasing innovation incrementality com-petition across innovation projects becomes beneficial. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:56&r=sbm |
| By: | Sabine D’Costa; Enrique Garcilazo; Joaquim Oliveira Martins |
| Abstract: | Using a panel of 265 regions from 24 OECD countries from 1997 to 2007, we explore the impact of nation-wide macroeconomic and structural policies on the productivity growth of subnational regions. We find that average relationships between nation-wide policies and the growth of regions can hide strong differentiated effects according to the distance to the frontier: relaxing employment protection legislation on temporary contracts, lowering barriers to trade and investment as well as increasing trade openness enhances productivity growth in lagging regions, whereas reducing barriers to entrepreneurship or higher levels of government debt has a positive effect on regions that are closer to the productivity frontier. |
| Keywords: | structural reforms; regional growth; lagging regions |
| JEL: | R11 R58 O18 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgs:wpaper:86&r=sbm |
| By: | Claudio Agostini (Escuela de Gobierno, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez) |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uai:wpaper:wp_049&r=sbm |
| By: | da Silva, Luiz Eduardo; Karabag, Solmaz Filiz; Berggren, Christian |
| Abstract: | Firms increasingly use choose collaborative arrangements to get access to the most recent and advanced technologies instead of trying to develop them in-home. Several emerging economies use such arrangements particularly in the defence industry as a vehicle for technology transfer to the local industry. The effectiveness of technology transfer, however, is affected by many factors. This paper analyzes international technology transfer as a challenge of inter-firm collaboration and a challenge of cross-boundary knowledge management, and highlights the role of boundary objects to mitigate problems of knowledge boundaries such transfers. Building on a comparative case study of two international technology transfer projects, the paper contributes to the understanding of how collaboration problems can affect the transfer of knowledge across knowledge boundaries and how the use of appropriate boundary objects may improve collaboration management and the knowledge transfer. |
| Keywords: | technology transfer; international collaboration; knowledge management; knowledge boundaries; boundary objects |
| JEL: | L20 L64 O25 O30 O32 |
| Date: | 2017–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:83094&r=sbm |