nep-tid New Economics Papers
on Technology and Industrial Dynamics
Issue of 2007‒07‒07
seven papers chosen by
Rui Baptista
Technical University of Lisbon

  1. The Adoption and Diffusion of Organizational Innovation: Evidence for the U.S. Economy By Lisa M. Lynch
  2. Industry Diversity and Its Impact on the Innovation Performance of Firms: An Empirical Analysis Based on Firm-level Panel Data By Martin Wörter
  3. External technology sourcing: The effect of uncertainty on governance mode choice By Duysters, Geert; Vanhaverbeke, Wim; Vrande, Vareska van de
  4. Production Outsourcing, Organizational Governance and Firm’s Technological Performance: Evidence from Italy By Roberto Antonietti; Giulio Cainelli
  5. Collusion and research joint ventures By Kaz Miyagiwa
  6. Technological Spillovers and Productivity in Italian Manufacturing Firms By Claudio A. Piga; Giuseppe Medda
  7. The Labour Market Effects of Technology Shocks By Canova, Fabio; Lopez-Salido, Jose David; Michelacci, Claudio

  1. By: Lisa M. Lynch (Tufts University, NBER and IZA)
    Abstract: Using a unique longitudinal representative survey of both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing businesses in the United States during the 1990’s, I examine the incidence and intensity of organizational innovation and the factors associated with investments in organizational innovation. Past profits tend to be positively associated with organizational innovation. Employers with a more external focus and broader networks to learn about best practices (as proxied by exports, benchmarking, and being part of a multi-establishment firm) are more likely to invest in organizational innovation. Investments in human capital, information technology, R&D, and physical capital appear to be complementary with investments in organizational innovation. In addition, non-unionized manufacturing plants are more likely to have invested more broadly and intensely in organizational innovation.
    Keywords: organizational innovation, productivity, human capital, technological change
    JEL: D2 J24 M5 O3
    Date: 2007–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2819&r=tid
  2. By: Martin Wörter (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich)
    Abstract: This paper investigates empirically the impact of diversity on the innovation performance of a firm. We created a measure for diversity that mirrors differences in the resource base of firms within an industry and tested its impact on innovation in addition to more traditional factors like technology-push, demand-pull, and firm-size, based on panel data stemming from three representative cross sectional surveys carried out in the years 1996, 1999, and 2002 respectively. In fact, diversity has a significant positive impact on the innovation intensity of firms and thus supports more theoretical findings in this area. We also find empirical evidence for the technology push and the demand pull hypotheses as well as the importance of competition for innovation.
    Keywords: Diversity, Innovation Performance, Evolution of Industries, Jacobs Externalities, Panel data,
    JEL: O30
    Date: 2007–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:07-165&r=tid
  3. By: Duysters, Geert (UNU-MERIT); Vanhaverbeke, Wim (Technical University Eindhoven); Vrande, Vareska van de (Technical University Eindhoven)
    Abstract: This study examines the effect of external and relational uncertainty on the governance choice for inter-organizational technology sourcing. We develop a number of hypotheses about the impact of environmental turbulence, technological newness, technological distance and prior cooperation on the choice between different governance modes. Data about external technology sourcing transactions in the pharmaceutical industry do not provide evidence for a continuum from less to more integrated sourcing modes. However, we find that the ranking depends on the type of uncertainty, indicating that firms tackle different types of uncertainty with different governance modes.
    Keywords: Open Innovation, Corporate Venture Capital, Mergers and Acquisitions
    JEL: O32 O31 G34 G24
    Date: 2007
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2007019&r=tid
  4. By: Roberto Antonietti (University of Bologna); Giulio Cainelli (University of Bari)
    Abstract: Aim of this paper is to study whether and how the firm’s decision to outsource production activities affects its technological performance. In particular, we look at how the alignment between the firm’s governance strategy and the underlying attributes of the transactions affects the capacity of the firm to introduce new products and processes. Using microeconomic data on a repeated cross-section of Italian manufacturing firms for the period 1998-2003, we develop a two-stage approach: first, we estimate the determinants of the firm’s organizational governance (production outsourcing); second, we incorporate a measure of governance misalignment into a technological performance relation. We find (i) that firms not aligned with the optimal organizational governance perform less well in terms of process innovation than more aligned competitors, but (ii) that misalignment has a positive effect on product innovation. However, this counterintuitive result is strongly characterized by non-linear effects that reverse the latter correlation for high values of governance misfit.
    Keywords: Production Outsourcing, Organizational Governance, Misalignment, Technological Performance, Non-Linearity
    JEL: L23 L24 L25 O31
    Date: 2007–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.58&r=tid
  5. By: Kaz Miyagiwa
    Abstract: We examine whether cooperation in R&D leads to product market collusion. Suppose firms compete in a stochastic R&D race while maintaining the collusive equilibrium in a repeated-game framework. Innovation creates a cost asymmetry and destabilizes the collusive equilibrium. Firms forming an R&D joint venture can maintain cost symmetries through technology sharing agreement, thereby stabilizing collusion. The stability of post-discovery collusion makes collusion stable in pre-discovery periods. However, formation of R&D cooperatives may increase social welfare because firms share an efficient technology. Interestingly, a welfare improvement is less likely if innovation leads to a large cost reduction.
    Date: 2007–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emo:wp2003:0705&r=tid
  6. By: Claudio A. Piga (Dept of Economics, Loughborough University); Giuseppe Medda (DEIR, University of Sassari, Italy.)
    Abstract: We study whether a firm’s total factor productivity dynamics is positively influenced by its own R&D activity and by the technological spillovers generated at the intra- and inter-sectorial level. Our approach corrects simultaneously for the endogeneity and the selectivity biases introduced by the use of a firm’s own R&D as a regressor. A firm’s involvement in R&D activities accounts for significant productivity gains. Firms also benefit from spillovers originating from their own industries, as well as from innovative upstream sectors.
    Keywords: R&D, TFP, selectivity, treatment effect
    JEL: C21 C80 D24 O30
    Date: 2007–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lbo:lbowps:2007_17&r=tid
  7. By: Canova, Fabio; Lopez-Salido, Jose David; Michelacci, Claudio
    Abstract: We analyze the effects of neutral and investment-specific technology shocks on hours worked and unemployment. We characterize the response of unemployment in terms of job separation and job finding rates. We find that job separation rates mainly account for the impact response of unemployment while job finding rates for movements along its adjustment path. Neutral shocks increase unemployment and explain a substantial portion of unemployment and output volatility; investment-specific shocks expand employment and hours worked and mostly contribute to hours worked volatility. We show that this evidence is consistent with the view that neutral technological progress prompts Schumpeterian creative destruction, while investment specific technological progress has standard neoclassical features.
    Keywords: creative destruction; Search frictions; technological progress
    JEL: E00 J60 O33
    Date: 2007–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6365&r=tid

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