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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Daria Ciriaci (Inter-American Development Bank); Pietro Moncada-Paterno-Castello (JRC-IPTS); Peter Voigt (University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This study examines serial correlation in employment, sales and innovative sales growth rates in a balanced panel of 3,300 Spanish firms over the years 2002-2009, obtained by matching different waves of the Spanish Encuesta sobre Innovacion en las Empresas, the Spanish innovation survey conducted annually by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). The main objective is to verify whether the changes (increase/decrease) in these figures are persistent over time, whether such persistence (if any) differs between SMEs and larger firms, and if it is affected by a firm's age. To do so, we adopted a semi-parametric quantile regression approach. This methodology is well suited to cases where outliers (high-growth firms) are the subject of investigation and/or when they have to be assumed as being very heterogeneous. Empirical results indicate that among those innovative firms experiencing high employment growth, the smaller and younger grow faster than larger firms, but the jobs they create are not persistent over time. However, while being smaller and younger helps growing more in terms of employment and sales, it is not an advantage when innovative sales growth is considered: in this case larger firms experience faster growth. |
| Keywords: | Serial correlation; quantile regression model; Spanish firms; firm size, firm age; job creation; fast growing firms. |
| JEL: | L11 L25 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc74052&r=tid |
| By: | Peter Voigt (University of Barcelona); Pietro Moncada-Paterno-Castello (JRC-IPTS) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates how sector composition and the magnitude of R&D investment in the EU may differ in 2020 in comparison to the past, if a selection of top R&D-investing SMEs were assumed to be on a fast growth track while the top R&D-investing large-scale companies continue to grow as before. The background of this research objective is the emerging focus on SMEs – and in particular the fast-growing among them – with regard to the "Europe 2020" policy strategy. The study relies on the sample of top R&D-investing firms as given by the latest available "EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" editions, building there from an unbalanced panel. Scenarios were developed by distinguishing SMEs' assumed growth paths vs. that of large scale companies. A lin-ear prediction model has been used to calculate the scenario simulations. Overall, the study indicates that if one expects the (R&D-intensive) small firms to be a driving force for a substantial structural change in the EU economy, from being driven by medium-tech sectors towards a high-tech based economy, it requires either a significant longer-term horizon of the assumed fast growth track than the simulated 10 years, or small firms' growth figures which even exceed the assumed annual 30% (as in the most optimistic scenario). Neither case appears to be particularly realistic. Hence, we need more top R&D investors in Europe to further intensify their engagement in R&D (increasing volume and R&D intensity) as well as numerous small firms that start and/or significantly increase their existing R&D activities and thus seek to become large firms and (global) leading R&D investors. Accordingly, a broad R&D and innovation (policy) strategy is needed with policy interventions which also target well all these options; i.e. stimulating firm growth and R&D and innovation-intensity across firm-sized classes. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Economics, Corporate R&D and innovation; productivity; business trends; technological innovation; intangible assets; competitiveness; growth and employment; company growth; Europe 2020 strategy. |
| JEL: | L11 L25 R38 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc69761&r=tid |
| By: | d'Artis Kancs (JRC-IPTS); Boriss Siliverstovs (ETH Zurich - KOF Swiss Economic Institute) |
| Abstract: | The present paper studies the relationship between R&D investment and firm productivity growth by explicitly accounting for non-linearities in the R&D-productivity relationship and inter-sectoral firm heterogeneity. In order to address these issues, we employ a two step estimation approach, and match two firm-level panel data sets for the OECD countries, which allows us to relax both the linearity and homogeneity assumptions of the canonical Griliches (1979) knowledge capital model. Our results suggest that: (i) R&D investment increases firm productivity with an average elasticity of 0.15; (ii) the impact of R&D investment on firm productivity is differential at different levels of R&D intensity – the productivity elasticity ranges from -0.02 for low levels of R&D intensity to 0.33 for high levels of R&D intensity; (iii) the relationship between R&D expenditures and productivity growth is non-linear, and only after a certain critical mass of R&D is reached, the productivity growth is significantly positive; (iv) there are important intersectoral differences with respect to R&D investment and firm productivity – high-tech sectors’ firms not only invest more in R&D, but also achieve more in terms of productivity gains connected with research activities. |
| Keywords: | R&D investment, firm productivity, generalised propensity score |
| JEL: | C14 C21 D24 F23 O32 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc77247&r=tid |
| By: | Lilian Santos (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto; OBEGEF; UTEN) |
| Abstract: | The acknowledged importance of innovation and the increasingly decisive role played by the service sector make innovation an issue of major relevance to the economy. Using a sample of 6593 companies that answered the Community Innovation Survey 2008, we assessed the determinants of innovation of Portuguese companies by comparing the service sector and other sectors of activity (specifically, manufacturing industry, utilities and construction). Among the main results obtained, we highlighted: 1) the non-linear impact of human capital on the innovation performance of companies – Master degree emerges as a critical factor in corporate innovation, whereas the PhD level is negatively related to companies innovation performance; 2) knowledge-sourcing activities (systematic R&D achievements, innovation-based training, purchase of machinery and equipment for innovation) appear as central to firms’ innovation process; 3) although university-company relationships are weak and have a neglible impact on the generality of companies’ propensity to innovate, they tend to be rather important for the innovation performance of services companies; 4) participation in innovation activities in cooperation with foreign partners appears as a key factor in the innovative performance; 5) companies in the service sector in general, and in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in particular, that effectively and continuously invest in R&D activities are most innovative. |
| Keywords: | Innovation performance; Services; Types of innovations; Innovation determinants; Portugal |
| JEL: | O31 O32 L25 L80 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:494&r=tid |