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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2021‒04‒19
nineteen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert W; Miranda, Javier; Zolas, Nikolas |
| Abstract: | The field of entrepreneurship is growing rapidly and expanding into new areas. This article presents a new compilation of administrative panel data on the universe of business start-ups in the United States, which will be useful for future research in entrepreneurship. To create the US start-up panel data set, the authors link the universe of non-employer firms to the universe of employer firms in the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD). Start-up cohorts of more than five million new businesses per year, which create roughly three million jobs, can be tracked over time. To illustrate the potential of the new start-up panel data set for future research, the authors provide descriptive statistics for a few examples of research topics using a representative start-up cohort. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, start-ups, administrative panel data, job creation, survival, Applied Economics, Business and Management, Sociology, Industrial Relations |
| Date: | 2019–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt7p90k10t&r=all |
| By: | Matthies, Eike; Haverkamp, Katarzyna; Thomä, Jörg; Bizer, Kilian |
| Abstract: | While an increasing number of conceptual studies postulate that vocational education and training (VET) activities have a positive impact on the innovative capacity of training companies, empirical evidence on the subject remains scarce. This study exploits establishment data from a representative survey of German companies to estimate the effects of firms' participation in initial VET on their innovation outcomes. The results based on linear probability models and instrumental variable regressions with entropy balancing show that the impact of VET activity on innovation is more ambiguous than postulated. Overall, the participation in initial VET has virtually no effect on product innovation and radical novelties. For the total population of all German companies, the positive impact of VET activities is only observable in case of process innovation. However, our results point to significant causal effects on the innovative capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We conclude that companies' participation in the VET system facilitates organizational learning in training companies and knowledge transfer from VET institutions to those enterprises, which are otherwise more likely to be detached from modern technology networks. The paper concludes with implications for policy and research. |
| Keywords: | education,apprenticeship training,modes of innovation,innovation without R&D,SMEs |
| JEL: | I20 J24 O31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifhwps:302021&r=all |
| By: | Fatime Barbara Hegyi (European Commission - JRC); Francesco Prota (University of Bari "Aldo Moro") |
| Abstract: | This policy insight provides an overview of the 2020 assessment on how and to what extent Smart Specialisation monitoring and evaluation systems put in place across Europe allow and contribute to a cyclical policy learning process for improved policy design and implementation. In view of the 2021-2027 programming period, a new cultural change is needed to enable monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and practices to address the shortcomings and challenges observed in the previous period and allow it to fully exert its supporting purpose to Smart Specialisation policy makers and practitioners. Based on the evidence gathered through a survey and through case studies covering 13 regions and 4 Member States, a number of recommendations have been drawn. The practice of policy monitoring and evaluation continues to lag behind, which in turn limits learnings and an updated strategy that is based on S3 policy outcomes and impact. It is necessary to identify a dedicated team responsible for S3 monitoring and evaluation within the public administration in order to have an evaluation of the S3 results and the effectiveness of the policy intervention logic. To support evaluation activities, it is important to collect data relating to the behaviour of innovation actors, even those not represented in regional calls. While in view of the next programming period, it is necessary to make use of analytical and informative tools (big data, web semantics, etc.) able to provide different kind of data and faster return. |
| Keywords: | mart specialisation, monitoring, evaluation, assessment, research and innovation, policy implementation, policy evaluation |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc123920&r=all |
| By: | Zarina Adilkhanova (NAC Analytica, Nazarbayev University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of spatial agglomeration on firms' total factor productivity in Kazakhstan using panel data from 2009 to 2017. We employ a two-stage estimation strategy and control for endogeneity biases by making use of the GMM approach. The results suggest that productivity increases with clustering: a 10% increase in the number of employees of the neighboring firms inside the same industry increases firm-level productivity by 1.36%, while a 10% increase in the employment in other industries enhance firm performance by 1.95%. The productivity gains are higher at the 2-digit regional level rather than at the 9-digit sub-regional level of geographical aggregation, implying that the denser geography increases firms' performance more than in the observed geography. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration economies; Total Factor Productivity; Spatial Concentration; Clusters |
| JEL: | C23 R10 R11 R12 R15 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajx:wpaper:14&r=all |
| By: | Keim-Klärner, Sylvia; Bernard, Josef; Bischof, Susann; van Dülmen, Christoph; Klärner, Andreas; Steinführer, Annett |
| Abstract: | The aim of this Working Paper is to introduce a conceptual model and study design for researching social disadvantage in rural peripheries, focusing on the interplay of social disadvantage and spatial disadvantage. The paper presents the theoretical concepts, understandings, and definitions, as well as the research design we draw on in the international research project 'Social disadvantage in rural peripheries in Czechia and eastern Germany: opportunity structures and individual agency in a comparative perspective.' The project investigates the multifaceted relationships between social disadvantage, local and regional opportunity structures, and individual agency in rural peripheries in Czechia and eastern Germany from a comparative perspective. It focuses on two sets of research questions. The first set concerns the quantitative patterns of social disadvantage and spatial disadvantage in rural areas. The second set asks about the impact of opportunity structures as part of the residential context on particularly disadvantaged groups in four case study regions. The project applies theories of peripheralization and rural restructuring, and considers social networks and individual agency. Area-level secondary data and accessibility analyses and qualitative case studies, including ego-centered network analyses and GPS mapping of time-space activity patterns, are used. |
| Keywords: | Social disadvantage,peripheralization,rural areas,rural peripheries,rural restructuring,opportunity structure,social networks,agency |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:jhtiwp:170&r=all |
| By: | OKUBO Toshihiro |
| Abstract: | China has seen dramatic economic growth in the last decades and attracted foreign capital and human resources. This paper studies firm characteristics of the Japanese firms investing in China. We combine several sources of micro-data and construct panel data on Japanese manufacturing firms from 1995 to 2009. As a result we find that the number of firms investing in China steadily increased over time and FDI in China increased domestic sales, productivity, wages and number of employees of Japanese firms, rather than increasing technological development. |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:21023&r=all |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert |
| Abstract: | Social-distancing restrictions and health- and economic-driven demand shifts from COVID-19 are expected to shutter many small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures, but there is very little early evidence on impacts. This paper provides the first analysis of impacts of the pandemic on the number of active small businesses in the United States using nationally representative data from the April 2020 Current Population Survey-the first month fully capturing early effects. The number of active business owners in the United States plummeted by 3.3 million or 22% over the crucial 2-month window from February to April 2020. The drop in active business owners was the largest on record, and losses to business activity were felt across nearly all industries. African-American businesses were hit especially hard experiencing a 41% drop in business activity. Latinx business owner activity fell by 32%, and Asian business owner activity dropped by 26%. Simulations indicate that industry compositions partly placed these groups at a higher risk of business activity losses. Immigrant business owners experienced substantial losses in business activity of 36%. Female business owners were also disproportionately affected (25% drop in business activity). Continuing the analysis in May and June, the number of active business owners remained low-down by 15% and 8%, respectively. The continued losses in May and June, and partial rebounds from April were felt across all demographic groups and most industries. These findings of early-stage losses to small business activity have important implications for policy, income losses, and future economic inequality. |
| Keywords: | Economics, Applied Economics |
| Date: | 2020–08–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt1n60b6p6&r=all |
| By: | Fatime Barbara Hegyi (European Commission - JRC); Francesco Prota (University of Bari "Aldo Moro") |
| Abstract: | Besides providing a literature review on monitoring and evaluation of Smart Specialisation, this publication offers an overview of a research project run by the Smart Specialisation platform to gain insight on the Smart Specialisation policy experience across the EU in its 7th year of implementation. In particular, this project has analysed whether the principles of Smart Specialisation as regards to monitoring and evaluation hold true in practice from the experiences gained during the 2014-2020 programming period. Thus, our analysis aims to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation systems of national and regional authorities implementing Smart Specialisation strategies. In addition, based on the literature review and on the evidence gathered by the project, this publication draws some policy lessons with reflections for the 2021-2027 European Union Cohesion policy as regards to monitoring and evaluation. The importance of assessing the experience of the 2014-2020 programming period and the approach adopted by national and regional authorities in charge of Smart Specialisation derives from the consideration that Smart Specialisation has been the largest place-based policy experiment attempting to boost economic growth through prioritisation of research and innovation domains and through diversification. Smart Specialisation has been defined as an ex-ante conditionality for using European Development Funds (ERDF) under Thematic Objective 1 (research and innovation). Over 120 Smart Specialisation strategies have been implemented during the 2014-2020 programming period, having had guided the investment of over EUR 40 billion from ERDF (over EUR 65 billion including national co-financing). Various sources of primary information have been used to perform this analysis: a survey addressed to S3 implementing authorities, analysis of implementation measures and case study reports. Out of the 120 existing Smart Specialisation strategies, the survey has been filled out by 79 national or regional implementing authorities from nineteen countries while the case studies cover thirteen regional and 4 national strategies and their implementation practices. Four main themes have been explored besides this publication: impact of smart specialisation on the governance of research and innovation policy systems (Guzzo and Gianelle), entrepreneurial discovery process (Perianez-Forte and Wilson, 2021) and policy implementations (Gianelle et al., 2021). From the evidence on monitoring and evaluation, we could deduct that Smart Specialisation represent a cultural change for most regions, whether developed and already well acquainted with regional innovation policy practices or less developed with lower innovation performance. S till, the practice of policy monitoring and evaluation continues to lag behind, which in turn limit learnings and an updated strategy that is based on S3 policy outcomes and impact. It is necessary to identify a dedicated team responsible for S3 monitoring and evaluation within the public administration (equipped with adequate human and financial resources), in order to have an evaluation of the S3 results and the effectiveness of the policy intervention logic. In order to support evaluation activities, it is important to collect data relating to the behaviour of innovation actors, even those not represented in regional calls. While in view of the next programming period, it is necessary to make use of analytical and informative tools (big data, web semantics, etc.) able to provide different kind of data and faster return. |
| Keywords: | mart specialisation, monitoring, evaluation, assessment, research and innovation, policy implementation, policy evaluation |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc123734&r=all |
| By: | HAMANO Masashige; OKUBO Toshihiro |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to reproduce the past landscape of the economy with the help of evidence and structural models. For that purpose, we built a theoretical model consisting of endogenous firm entry and firm selection. Given the distribution of firm age and firm sales that we see today, we simulated age-specific technologies and fixed costs for operation. With these simulated parameters, we then reestablished the macroeconomic dynamics of each historical firm. With Japanese data from over 126 years, despite the massive presence of firms created after the Second World War until the oil crisis in the 1970s, we found that these historical firms show relatively low productivity. Old historical firms are subject to high fixed costs and high productivity. Finally, we demonstrated that our counterfactual fixed costs dramatically change the landscape of historical firms, as well as their characteristics. |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:21015&r=all |
| By: | Pierre Courtioux (PSB - Paris School of Business, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Antoine Reberioux (UP Médecine Paris Centre - Université de Paris - Faculté de Médecine Paris Centre - UP - Université de Paris, LADYSS - Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces - UP - Université de Paris - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne); François Métivier (UP Médecine Paris Centre - Université de Paris - Faculté de Médecine Paris Centre - UP - Université de Paris, IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris - INSU - CNRS - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers - IPG PARIS - UR - Université de La Réunion - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP - Université de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the private return on R&D tax credit, defined as the ratio of total tax reliefs obtained by a firm through R&D tax credit to real R&D spending. Based on a dataset merging different sources for French companies, we first show that the distribution of this private return is dispersed. We then use clustering analyses to identify six mutually exclusive types of firms' R&D strategies. We finally show in a regression setting that these strategies explain part of the variance in the private return on R&D tax credit. This study contributes to a better understanding of the heterogeneity of firms' R&D strategies. It also seeks to open new directions in debates surrounding the proper design and reforms of R&D tax credit schemes. |
| Keywords: | firm heterogeneity,R&D,tax credit,firm strategies |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03182771&r=all |
| By: | Javier Barbero (European Commission - JRC); Giovanni Mandras (European Commission - JRC); Ernesto Rodríguez-Crespo (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid); Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The quality of government and institutions is crucial in determining the socio-economic impact of policies. The European Commission is increasingly underlining the value of good governance and, in 2010, the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) started funding research to gather data on the regional quality of government in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg. The analysis reported here presents, for the first time, evidence on the impact of government quality on regional trade flows in the European Union. The returns to trade depend on the quality of government, meaning that the implementation of place-based territorial policies becomes relevant to maximise economic growth, regional development and the gains from trade. |
| Keywords: | quality of government, institutions, regional policy, gravity model of trade, structural estimation, rhomolo |
| JEL: | E2 F15 R10 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc124475&r=all |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert W |
| Date: | 2020–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt89w827c9&r=all |
| By: | Marta Gancarczyk; Marta Najda-Janoszka; Jacek Gancarczyk; Robert Hassink |
| Abstract: | The Małopolska region in southern Poland has a long tradition of mature and heavy industries, but more recently also new, unrelated industries have been emerging in this region, such as knowledge intensive business services. At the same time, innovation policies have been decentralizing over the last 20 years in Poland and in the Małopolska region, therefore, the effects of regional innovation policies on regional industrial transformation (RIT) have grown. Against this background, the paper aims to explain the role of regional innovation policies in regional industrial transformation from a co-evolutionary perspective. For this purpose, it extends the common co-evolutionary theoretical framework with interaction mechanisms, i.e. the processes underlying policy-industry mutual influences, and thus explaining their co-evolution. Interaction mechanisms allow us to better understand the major directions in industrial development and in policy approach, namely, the exploitation of extant capabilities and the exploration of new economic areas. The role of innovation policy in the Małopolska RIT can be described as predominantly assisting and adjusting to industrial change with some level of proactive promotion of new industrial opportunities. Overall, we observe reciprocal relationships with regional industry rather than unidirectional influence of this policy. We find this dynamic interaction a positive phenomenon that enabled the evolution of policy to balance the exploitative and explorative approaches to industrial development. |
| Keywords: | regional innovation policies, regional industrial transformation, co-evolution, Małopolska, Poland |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwpeg:geo-disc-2021_03&r=all |
| By: | Ben Ramalingam; Benjamin Kumpf |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how innovation in low and middle-income countries is enhancing their local and national responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper also analyses how innovation could further address locally relevant development challenges by mobilising resources, improving processes and catalysing collaboration. Lastly it examines how international development organisations can improve their support for local and national innovation efforts. |
| Keywords: | Frugal Innovation, Grassroots Innovation, Innovation, Innovation Ecosystems, Innovation Policy, International Development, SDGs, Social Entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | F35 L31 O19 |
| Date: | 2021–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dcdaab:39-en&r=all |
| By: | Marco Due\~nas; V\'ictor Ortiz; Massimo Riccaboni; Francesco Serti |
| Abstract: | By interpreting exporters' dynamics as a complex learning process, this paper constitutes the first attempt to investigate the effectiveness of different Machine Learning (ML) techniques in predicting firms' trade status. We focus on the probability of Colombian firms surviving in the export market under two different scenarios: a COVID-19 setting and a non-COVID-19 counterfactual situation. By comparing the resulting predictions, we estimate the individual treatment effect of the COVID-19 shock on firms' outcomes. Finally, we use recursive partitioning methods to identify subgroups with differential treatment effects. We find that, besides the temporal dimension, the main factors predicting treatment heterogeneity are interactions between firm size and industry. |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2104.04570&r=all |
| By: | Philippe Larrue (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This report assesses the potential for mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIPs) to contribute to the sustainable transition in Japan, and examines the challenges and opportunities that MOIPs would present. As part of a series of MOIP national case studies, the report finds that the ongoing ambitious and top-down MOIPs led by the center-of-government build upon a long history of proactive and goal-oriented policy intervention. MOIPs in Japan are the latest step of decades of efforts to reduce the fragmentation and lack of holistic coordination of Japan’s science, technology and innovation policy in order to proactively address societal challenges. Available evaluations of these policies demonstrate very encouraging results in that regards. The study concludes with recommendations to pursue these efforts, including by mainstreaming these policy initiatives across the government structure and complementing them with more bottom-up challenge-based initiatives. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Science and technology, Societal challenges |
| JEL: | O14 O25 O38 Q55 |
| Date: | 2021–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:106-en&r=all |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert W |
| Date: | 2020–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt21f993s2&r=all |
| By: | Mattie Landman; Sanna Ojanper\"a; Stephen Kinsella; Neave O'Clery |
| Abstract: | Despite the key role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in both international markets and domestic economies, there is no consensus on whether or how they positively impact their host economy. In particular, do MNEs foster the creation of new domestic firms through knowledge spillovers? In this study, we look at the impact of the presence of related MNE industries on the entry and exit of domestic export industries in Irish regions before, during, and after the 2008 financial crisis. Specifically, we are interested in whether the presence of MNEs in a region results in knowledge spillovers and the creation of new domestic export activities in related sectors. To quantify how related an industry is to a region's current export basket we deploy an existing cohesion variable, closeness, that measures the relatedness of a new industry to existing industries within a region. We also introduce a new variable, strategic closeness, which captures not only the relatedness of industries within a region but their own connectivity or embeddedness. We use a dataset containing all government-supported export firms in Ireland between 2006-2018. We find that the presence of related MNE industries is associated with the entry of new domestic activity, suggesting that Irish regions benefited from domestic-MNE linkages. However this relationship was temporarily lost after the financial crisis and only recently re-established, with domestic entry dependent on the presence of highly embedded MNE sectors. Furthermore, we find that related MNEs help protect domestic industries against exit after the crisis and thereby play a role in enhancing regional resilience. |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2104.05754&r=all |
| By: | Nathalie Fabry (DICEN-IDF - Dispositifs d'Information et de Communication à l'Ère du Numérique - Paris Île-de-France - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM] - Université Gustave Eiffel); Sylvain Zeghni (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Gustave Eiffel) |
| Date: | 2021–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03186425&r=all |