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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | T. Ciarli; R. Leoncini; S. Montresor; M. Valente |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:609&r=tid |
| By: | Franco Malerba (Department of Economics and CESPRI, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy..); Maria Luisa Mancusi (Department of Economics and CESPRI, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.); Fabio Montobbio (Department of Economics, Insubria University, Varese and CESPRI, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the relative effects of national and international, intra-sectoral and intersectoral spillovers on innovative activity in six large, industrialized countries (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and US) over the period 1981-1995. We use patent applications at the European Patent Office to measure innovation and their citations to trace knowledge flows within and across 135 narrowly defined technological fields. We find that, in addition to international ones, intra-sectoral spillovers are an important determinant of innovation. |
| Keywords: | R&D spillovers, Knowledge flows, Patent citations. |
| JEL: | F0 O3 R1 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp204&r=tid |
| By: | Arghya Ghosh (University of New South Wales); Takao Kato (Colgate University, Columbia Business School, University of Tokyo, Aarhus School of Business and IZA); Hodaka Morita (University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | Does competitive pressure foster innovation? In addressing this important question, prior studies ignored a distinction between discrete innovation aiming at entirely new technology and continuous improvement consisting of numerous incremental improvements and modifications made upon the existing technology. This paper shows that distinguishing between these two types of innovation will lead to a much richer understanding of the interplay between firms’ incentives to innovate and competitive pressure. In particular, our model predicts that, in contrast to previous theoretical findings, an increase in competitive pressure measured by product substitutability may decrease firms’ incentives to conduct continuous improvement, and that an increase in the size of discrete innovation may decrease firms’ incentives to conduct continuous improvement. A unique feature of this paper is its exploration of the model’s real-world relevance and usefulness through field research. Motivated by recent declines in levels of continuous improvement in Japanese manufacturing, we conducted extensive field research at two Japanese manufacturing firms. After presenting our findings, we demonstrate that our model guides us to focus on several key changes taking place at these two firms; discover their interconnectedness; and finally ascertain powerful underlying forces behind each firm’s decision to weaken its investment in traditional continuous improvement activities. |
| Keywords: | competitive pressure, continuous improvement, discrete innovation, field research, location model, product substitutability, small group activities, technical progress |
| JEL: | L10 L60 M50 O30 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3132&r=tid |
| By: | Alessandra Catozzella (Universita degli Studi di Pavia); Marco Vivarelli (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena; Institute for Prospective Technological Studies-European Commission, Seville; Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan; and Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA), Bonn) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to test the possible catalysing role of in-house R+D in fostering the complementarity of innovative inputs on a sample of 3045 manufacturing firms drawn from the third Italian Community Innovation Survey (1998-2000). The interactions between four different sources of innovation - internal and external R+D, embodied and disembodied technological acquisitions - have been simultaneously explored through the two (direct and indirect) testing frameworks for complementarity. Results from both the approaches show that the innovative process is a phenomenon combining within itself both complementarity and substitutability relationships, depending both on the typology of the targeted innovation output and on the particular combination of innovative inputs we focus on. In particular, it is in-house R+D that seems to create the precondition allowing firms to enjoy complementarity effects. Indeed, the possibility of exploiting synergies between different innovative inputs turns out to be subordinated to having undertaken a minimum amount of internal R+D. The implication of this result is that a role for in-house R+D emerges, beyond its direct effect in generating an innovative output: even if internal research is not a necessary precondition for a firm to be innovative, it should still be carried out because of its important role in the generation of synergies that amplify the impacts of the other innovative inputs it interacts with. |
| Keywords: | R+D, innovation, complementarity, supermodularity, substitutability |
| JEL: | O31 |
| Date: | 2007–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-087&r=tid |
| By: | Ricardo Paes Mamede (GEE, Ministério da Economia e da Inovação; Faculdade de Economia, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa - ISCTE); Daniel Mota (Instituto Nacional de Estatística); Manuel Mira Godinho (Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa) |
| Abstract: | The concept of «knowledge-based industries» (KBIs) has been widely used both in the academy and in policy-making over the last decade, due to the increasing role those industries play – both in terms of value added and employment – in contemporary, advanced economies. In this paper we discuss the extent to which KBIs differ from other industries in what concerns some of the stylised facts and regularities of industry dynamics usually found in the literature. In particular, we analyse the patterns and the determinants of firm entry and post-entry performance (measured in terms of survival of new firms), comparing KBIs groups with the remaining industries, using data for the Portuguese economy in the second half of the 1990s. We find that KBIs and the firms within them show some signs of distinctiveness in their dynamics as compared to the general case. In particular, on average, KBIs firms have higher survival chances, and entry within the KBIs groups is less responsive to incentives. |
| Keywords: | knowledge-based industries; market entry; firm survival |
| JEL: | L29 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mde:wpaper:0003&r=tid |