|
on Small Business Management |
|
Issue of 2021‒08‒23
thirteen papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Daan Freeman (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Leon Bettendorf (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Harro van Heuvelen (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Gerdien Meijerink (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the declining firm dynamism in the Netherlands, which may explain part of the slowdown in productivity growth. We use a rich microdata set including nearly all corporations in the Netherlands during 2006-2016, which enables us to evaluate the TFP growth contributions of exiting firms, start-ups and new firms resulting from mergers & acquisitions in different industries. We use a Melitz and Polanec (2015) decomposition to assess TFP growth contributions. We find that in service industries, start-ups, new firms created by M&As and exiting firms all contribute to overall TFP growth, in line with the creative destruction hypothesis. In manufacturing industries, TFP growth is driven mostly by incumbent firms. Here, entry and exit dynamics contribute relatively little or even negatively to TFP growth. In addition, young firms in the manufacturing industries tend to have higher TFP growth than older firms, while in service industries this is not the case. Finally, in general, relatively low productivity entrants are more likely to exit in the first five years after entry, which is in line with an `up-or-out' dynamic. |
| JEL: | F16 J31 R11 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:427.rdf&r= |
| By: | Paul Lavery; José María Serena Garralda; Marina-Eliza Spaliara |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of private equity buyouts on the export activity of target firms. We exploit data on UK firms over the 2004-2017 period, and use difference-in-differences estimations on matched target versus non-target firms. Following private equity buyouts, non-exporting firms are more likely to begin exporting, and target firms are likewise more likely to increase their value of exports and their export intensity. Evidence from split-sample analysis further suggests that these patterns are consistent with private equity investors relaxing financial constraints and inducing productivity improvements. |
| Keywords: | private equity buyouts, exporting, financial constraints, transactions |
| JEL: | G34 G32 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:961&r= |
| By: | Zinsou Nakou (ESP - École Supérieure Polytechnique de Dakar - UCAD - Université Cheikh Anta Diop [Dakar, Sénégal]); Serge Francis Simen Nana (ESP - École Supérieure Polytechnique de Dakar - UCAD - Université Cheikh Anta Diop [Dakar, Sénégal]) |
| Abstract: | The appropriation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) through the innovation of managers in small and medium-sized Beninese enterprises has been the subject of a thematic content analysis whose perspective is inspired by a qualitative methodology aimed at understanding. The data collected emanate from semi-structured interviews carried out on the basis of an interview guide drawn up and sent to a sample made up of 25 managers of 15 SMEs and working in various sectors of activity. The processing of this data was assisted by MAXQDA software and produced reliable results revealing a very close relationship between CSR and innovation. Likewise, taking CSR into account in process innovations focuses on finding solutions to reduce the environmental footprint. The results also revealed that the location of the SME derives the socio-economic context and the culture of the area which can in turn influence its behavior in terms of CSR. Also, the constraints that SMEs face are economic and technical, then digital helps interviewed managers to take into account the environmental aspect of CSR by playing the role of facilitator to document/quantify the aspects. CSR of innovation (means of monitoring). |
| Abstract: | L'appropriation de la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) par l'innovation des dirigeants dans les petites et moyennes entreprises béninoises a fait l'objet d'une analyse de contenu thématique dont la perspective s'inspire d'une méthodologie qualitative à visée compréhensive. Les données recueillies émanent d'entretiens semi-directifs réalisés sur la base d'un guide d'entretiens établi et adressé à un échantillon constitué de 25 dirigeants de 15 PME et exerçant dans des secteurs d'activités variés. Le traitement de ces données a été assisté par le logiciel MAXQDA et a produit des résultats fiables révélateurs d'une relation très étroite entre la RSE et l'innovation. De même, la prise en compte de la RSE dans les innovations de procédé porte sur la recherche de solutions pour réduire l'empreinte environnementale. Les résultats ont également révélé que de la localisation de la PME découlent le contexte socioéconomique et la culture du milieu qui peuvent à leur tour influencer son comportement en matière de RSE. Aussi, les contraintes auxquelles sont-elles confrontées les PME sont d'ordre économique et d'ordre technique puis le digital aide les dirigeants interviewés à prendre en compte le volet environnemental de la RSE en jouant un rôle de facilitateur pour documenter/quantifier les aspects RSE de l'innovation (moyen de monitoring). |
| Keywords: | managers,SMEs,thematic content analysis,CSR,analyse de contenu thématique,dirigeants,PME,innovation,RSE |
| Date: | 2020–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03318797&r= |
| By: | Maksim Belitski; Christina Guenther; Alexander S. Kritikos; Roy Thurik |
| Abstract: | The existential threat to small businesses, based on their crucial role in the economy, is behind the plethora of scholarly studies in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining the 14 contributions of the special issue on the “Economic Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses,” the paper comprises four parts: a systematic review of the literature on the effect on entrepreneurship and small businesses; a discussion of four literature strands based on this review; an overview of the contributions in this special issue; and some ideas for post-pandemic economic research. |
| Keywords: | Small businesses, entrepreneurs, COVID-19 pandemic, economic effects |
| JEL: | L26 J38 I18 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1961&r= |
| By: | Vlados, Charis (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics); Koutroukis, Theodore (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics); Chatzinikolaou, Dimos (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics); Demertzis, Michail (Democritus University of Thrace, School of Law) |
| Abstract: | This chapter aims to conceptualize the general framework of policies to support entrepreneurship and competitiveness by indicating a move from a dispersive comprehension of competitiveness towards an integrated micro-meso-macro perspective, by taking as a case study the European South. First, it presents theoretical contributions to entrepreneurship policies, which mostly suggest that intervention can be effective in a fragmentary and relatively incoherent way. Then, it counter-proposes the “competitiveness web” approach, which gives an integrated policy framework for the competitive strengthening and evolution of a socioeconomic system. In the framework of competitiveness web, we analyze and propose a micro-meso level policy via the Institutes of Local Development and Innovation (ILDI), which is a policy for empowering the local and regional business ecosystems through the enhancement of business innovation. Finally, by using the competitiveness web filter, we propose the structuration of a mechanism that could identify the level at which the socioeconomic entities in different spatial levels can articulate their policies for entrepreneurship enhancement in the micro-meso-macro integrated approach. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship Enhancement Policies; Competitiveness Web; Institutes of Local Development and Innovation (ILDI); Macro-Meso-Micro Analysis; European South; Socioeconomic Development |
| JEL: | L26 L53 |
| Date: | 2021–08–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:duthrp:2021_004&r= |
| By: | Belitski, Maksim (University of Reading); Guenther, Christina (WHU Vallendar); Kritikos, Alexander S. (DIW Berlin); Thurik, Roy (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | The existential threat to small businesses, based on their crucial role in the economy, is behind the plethora of scholarly studies in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining the 14 contributions of the special issue on the "Economic Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses," the paper comprises four parts: a systematic review of the literature on the effect on entrepreneurship and small businesses; a discussion of four literature strands based on this review; an overview of the contributions in this special issue; and some ideas for post-pandemic economic research. |
| Keywords: | small businesses, entrepreneurs, COVID-19, economic effects |
| JEL: | L26 J38 I18 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14630&r= |
| By: | Vlados, Charis (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics); Koronis, Epaminondas (University of Westminster, London, UK); Chatzinikolaou, Dimos (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In economies where most firms are family-owned, there is a risk of poor management and problematic strategic and technological comprehension. Multiple cases prove the existence of a series of socio-economic pathologies in such firms that undermine an economy’s ability to overcome economic crises through innovative and entrepreneurial thinking and adaptability. The paper aims to present the relationship between entrepreneurship and “development and crisis” from the perspective of Greece’s current socio-economic crisis. It first analyzes the neo-Schumpeterian entrepreneurship theory and the structures that allow innovative and competitive models to appear and then links this context with Greece’s case. The “Stra.Tech.Man” theoretical framework of physiological types of entrepreneurship is suggested as the analytical base for elaborating a local development policy instrument for economies where such less competitive businesses prevail. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; socio-economic crisis; Greek crisis; neo-Schumpeterian perspective; Stra.Tech.Man physiology; entrepreneurship types; less competitive firms; local development |
| JEL: | B52 L26 |
| Date: | 2021–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:duthrp:2021_001&r= |
| By: | Damian Grimshaw (King's Business School, King's College London); Marcela Miozzo (King's Business School, King's College London) |
| Keywords: | productivity, human capital, skill, innovation |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anj:wpaper:006&r= |
| By: | Chatzinikolaou, Dimos (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics); Demertzis, Michail (Democritus University of Thrace, School of Law); Vlados, Charis (Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In today’s unprecedented transformation in the global socio-economic system caused by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the escalating fourth industrial revolution, reinforcing innovative entrepreneurship appears a significant policy objective that can lead to overall socio-economic development. In this drastically changed context, entrepreneurship support policies seem that they need to be both conceptually and practically readjusted, simultaneously at the macro, meso, and micro levels. This paper investigates the case of public entrepreneurship policies in the European Union (EU), aiming to find specific patterns and suggest a new multilevel policy framework. Initially, the article offers a brief overview of the related trends created in the emerging post-COVID-19 era. Next, the “competitiveness web” perspective in terms of “macro-meso-micro” level synthesis is presented, considering that it can function as a theoretical framework for entrepreneurship reinforcement. Recent EU entrepreneurship support policy guidelines are then explored, emphasizing the latest trends and the development opportunities arising with the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility establishment to deal with the consequences of the current health and socio-economic crisis. Upon this basis, the paper concludes in a proposal for an integrated “macro-meso-micro” policy, placing at the epicenter the mechanism of the Institutes of Local Development and Innovation (ILDI). This policy aims to strengthen the spatially-located firms to reposition and readapt the “Stra.Tech.Man” potential they have and activate in their local business ecosystem (strategy-technology-management synthesis). |
| Keywords: | Competitiveness web; Entrepreneurship support policy; EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF); European integration; European public policy; ILDI; Macro-meso-micro; Post-COVID-19 era; Stra.Tech.Man approach |
| JEL: | L26 L53 O52 |
| Date: | 2021–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:duthrp:2021_005&r= |
| By: | Carvalho, Vasco M. (University of Cambridge); Draca, Mirko (University of Warwick and CAGE Research Centre); Kuhlen, Nikolas (University of Cambridge and The Alan Turing Institute) |
| Abstract: | How do firms and inventors move through ‘knowledge space’ as they develop their innovations? We propose a method for tracking patterns of ‘exploration and exploitation’ in patenting behaviour in the US for the period since 1920. Our exploration measure is constructed from the text of patents find involves the use of ‘Bayesian Surprise’ to measure how different current patent-based innovations are from existing portfolios. Our results indicate that there are distinct ‘life-cycle’ patterns to firm and inventor exploration. Furthermore, exploration activity is more geographically concentrated than general patenting, but this concentration is centred outside the main hubs of patenting. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1366&r= |
| By: | Ardito, Chiara (University of Turin); Berton, Fabio (University of Turin); Pacelli, Lia (University of Turin); Passerini, Filippo (Catholic University Milan) |
| Abstract: | We measure the impact of employment protection reduction in an uncertain framework on firms' hires and performance, exploiting the Italian 2015 Jobs Act. Results indicate that firms (1) stabilize workforce mainly through contract transformations of low-tenure and low-human-capital incumbent workers performing high-physical and low-intellectual tasks; (2) apply a cost-saving strategy that increases profits and decreases value added per-head. Effects are stronger among non-exporting and non-innovative firms. Our evidence casts doubts on the effectiveness of employment protection reductions in enhancing productivity in the long run. |
| Keywords: | employment protection, human capital, productivity, tenure, tasks |
| JEL: | J08 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14613&r= |
| By: | Qin, Fei; Mickiewicz, Tomasz; Estrin, Saul |
| Abstract: | Conceptualising early-stage new venture informal investors as co-entrepreneurs whose actions are socially embedded, we examine the role of social influence and how it interplays with entrepreneurial experience at the individual level leading to informal investment. We extend theories of social homophily and social influence to argue that informal investment decisions are influenced by shared experience and entrepreneurism in peer groups. We test our hypotheses with a multi-level model using first a large cross-country dataset and next in depth within a country. Our analysis reveals that both individual entrepreneurship experience and peer group-embedded experience significantly influence the likelihood that an individual becomes an early-stage investor. Furthermore, these social effects substitute for the lack of individual entrepreneurial experience. |
| Keywords: | informal investors; entrepreneurial experience; social homophily; peer influence; entrepreneurship capital; global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM); angel investors; Springer deal |
| JEL: | J1 F3 G3 R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2021–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:110890&r= |
| By: | Kritikos, Alexander S. (DIW Berlin); Schiersch, Alexander (DIW Berlin); Stiel, Caroline (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | In Germany, the productivity of professional services, a sector dominated by micro and small firms, declined by 40 percent between 1995 and 2014. This productivity decline also holds true for professional services in other European countries. Using a German firm-level dataset of 700,000 observations between 2003 and 2017, we analyze this largely uncovered phenomenon among professional services, the 4th largest sector in the EU15 business economy, which provide important intermediate services for the rest of the economy. We show that changes in the value chain explain about half of the decline and the increase in part-time employment is a further minor part of the decline. In contrast to expectations, the entry of micro and small firms, despite their lower productivity levels, is not responsible for the decline. We also cannot confirm the conjecture that weakening competition allows unproductive firms to remain in the market. |
| Keywords: | business services, labor productivity, productivity slowdown |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14610&r= |