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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
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Issue of 2014‒03‒22
ten papers chosen by Fulvio Castellacci Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) |
| By: | CompNet Task Force |
| Abstract: | Drawing from confidential firm-level balance sheets in 11 European countries, the paper presents a novel sectoral database of comparable productivity indicators built by members of the Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet) using a newly developed research infrastructure. Beyond aggregate information available from industry statistics of Eurostat or EU KLEMS, the paper provides information on the distribution of firms across several dimensions related to competitiveness, e.g. productivity and size. The database comprises so far 11 countries, with information for 58 sectors over the period 1995-2011. The paper documents the development of the new research infrastructure, the construction of the database, and shows some preliminary results. Among them, it shows that there is large heterogeneity in terms of firm productivity or size within narrowly defined industries in all countries. Productivity, and above all, size distribution are very skewed across countries, with a thick left-tail of low productive firms. Moreover, firms at both ends of the distribution show very different dynamics in terms of productivity and unit labour costs. Within-sector heterogeneity and productivity dispersion are positively correlated to aggregate productivity given the possibility of reallocating resources from less to more productive firms. To this extent, we show how allocative efficiency varies across countries, and more interestingly, over different periods of time. Finally, we apply the new database to illustrate the importance of productivity dispersion to explain aggregate trade results. |
| Keywords: | cross country analysis, firm-level data, competitiveness, productivity and size distribution, total factor productivity, allocative efficiency |
| JEL: | L11 L25 D24 O4 O57 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201403-253&r=tid |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Hall, Bronwyn H.; Hottenrott, Hanna |
| Abstract: | Information about the success of a new technology is usually held asymmetrically between the research and development (R&D)-performing firm and potential lenders and investors. This raises the cost of capital for financing R&D externally, resulting in financing constraints on R&D especially for firms with limited internal resources. Previous literature provided evidence for start-up firms on the role of patents as signals to investors, in particular to Venture Capitalists. This study adds to previous insights by studying the effects of firms' patenting activity on the degree of financing constraints on R&D for a panel of established firms. The results show that patents do indeed attenuate financing constraints for small firms where information asymmetries may be particularly high and collateral value is low. Larger firms are not only less subject to financing constraints, but also do not seem to benefit from a patent quality signal. -- |
| Keywords: | Patents,Quality Signal,Research and Development,Financial Constraints,Innovation Policy |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:133&r=tid |
| By: | Basir, Nada (Schulich School of Business, York University.); Beyhaghi, Mehdi (College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio); Mohammadi, Ali (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Drawing on the reputation literature and signaling theory, this article builds on work that looks at patents as reputation signals. We build a multi-industry database of patents that expire due to lack of maintenance fee payments and test for a relationship between these patents and the firm’s IPO date. We find a significant and positive relationship between the likelihood of patents expiring due to lack of maintenance fee payments and the time to IPO. We also find that patents associated with firms which are not venture capital backed, are more likely to expire. Our findings suggest that patents that are used for signaling intentions are more likely to be underutilized. Implications for research and policy are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Patents; reputation signal; innovation; IPO; intellectual property |
| JEL: | O30 O34 |
| Date: | 2014–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0348&r=tid |
| By: | Ming Liu (Deptartment of Finance, Nankai University); Sumner La Croix (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | We use dynamic panel data regressions to investigate whether the strength of a country’s patent protection for pharmaceuticals is associated with more pharmaceutical patenting by its residents and corporations in the United States. Using the Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Protection (PIPP) Index to measure patent strength, we run dynamic probit and Poisson regressions on panels from 25 developing and 41 developed countries over the 1970-2004 period. Results vary, depending on whether we examine partial effects at the mean or average partial effects for the PIPP Index. APEs for the PIPP Index are positive but statistically insignificant in both developed and developing country samples. |
| Keywords: | Patent; pharmaceutical; innovation; TRIPS; intellectual property |
| JEL: | O1 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201407&r=tid |
| By: | Alireza Naghavi; Julia Spies; Farid Toubal |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how the Intellectual Property Right (IPR) regime in destination countries influences the way multinationals structure the international organization of their production. In particular, we explore how multinationals divide tasks of different complexities across countries with different levels of IPR protection. The analysis studies the decision of firms between procurement from related parties and from independents suppliers at the product level. It also breaks down outsourcing into two types by distinguishing whether or not they involve technology sharing between the two parties. We combine data from a French firm-level survey on the mode choice for each transaction with a newly developed complexity measure at the product level. Our results confirm that firms are generally reluctant to source highly complex goods from outside firm boundaries. By studying the interaction between product complexity and the IPR protection, we obtain that (i) for technology-sharing-outsourcing IPRs promote outsourcing of more complex goods to a destination country by guaranteeing the protection of their technology, (ii) for non-technology-related-outsourcing IPRs attract the outsourcing of less complex products that are more prone to reverse engineering and simpler to decodify and imitate. |
| Keywords: | Outsourcing;Product complexity;Intellectual Property Rights;Technology Sharing |
| JEL: | F12 F23 O34 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2014-07&r=tid |
| By: | Audretsch, David B.; Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Teruel, Mercedes |
| Abstract: | This article aims to analyze the different impact that some factors may exert on the probability that a small young firm invests intensively in R&D. Recently, an increasing amount of the literature makes reference to the vital role played by a small number of young firms in generating jobs and increasing efficiency levels. However, not all new firms invest in R&D. Departing from the definition of YICs (firms younger than 6 years old, fewer than 250 employees and with more than 15% of their revenues invested in R&D activities), and with an extensive sample of the Spanish Community Innovation Survey between 2004- 2010, we try to determine: i) those factors that cause firms to become YICs (innovative young small firms) or YNICs (moderately innovative young small firms); ii) what is the difference in the impact of those factors between YICs and YNICs. Our results show that factors such as initial innovation capacity and cooperation in R&D projects enhance the probability of becoming a YIC. Nevertheless, factors such as export potential and market uncertainty may influence the decision to invest moderately and become a YNIC. Keywords: Innovation, Policy, YICs. JEL Classifications: O31, D21 |
| Keywords: | Empreses -- Innovacions tecnològiques, Innovacions tecnològiques -- Política governamental, Investigació, Conducta organitzacional, Empreses petites i mitjanes, Empreses -- Creació, 65 - Gestió i organització. Administració i direcció d'empreses. Publicitat. Relacions públiques. Mitjans de comunicació de masses, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/225296&r=tid |
| By: | Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Nabavi , Pardis (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides estimates of negative binomial regressions for high-leveraged and non-high-leveraged exporting firms in Sweden over a business cycle that contains two boom periods and two recession periods. The contemporaneous cash flow coefficients are positive and statistically significantly associated with patent applications for non-high-equity firms in recession periods when all exporters are considered. No corresponding correlation is found among persistent exporters. Taking the firms’ geographical location into account, we find a significant difference in cash flow sensitivity between firms in metropolitan areas and firms located in other places. |
| Keywords: | Exporting; Innovation; Financing constraints; Firm level; Panel data |
| JEL: | C16 F14 G32 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0346&r=tid |
| By: | Erika Raquel Badillo (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Rosina Moreno (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence on the dynamics in firms’ R&D cooperation behaviour. Our main objective is to analyse if R&D collaborative agreements are persistent at the firm level, and in such a case, to study what are the main drivers of this phenomenon. R&D cooperation activities at the firm level can be persistent due to true state dependence, this implying that cooperating in a given period enhances the probability of doing it in the subsequent period and it can also be a consequence of firms’ individual heterogeneity, so that certain firms have certain characteristics that make them more likely to carry out technological alliances. A second contribution of the paper deals with the differentiated persistence pattern of collaboration agreements for three different types of partners: customers and/or suppliers, competitors and institutions. We specifically explore the degree of the persistence in R&D collaborative activities when considering them separately as well as the possibility of finding crossed-persistence across these different partner types. |
| Keywords: | R&D cooperation; Persistence; Innovative Spanish firms; Technological partners. JEL classification: L24; O32; D22; C23 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201410&r=tid |
| By: | Bodas Freitas , Isabel Maria; Geuna, Aldo; Lawson, Cornelia; Rossi, Federica (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | We investigate under what circumstances firms (industry inventors) are more likely to engage in interactions where governance of the relationship is shared between the firm and the university, as opposed to interactions where the relationship is governed unilaterally by the firm. Using PIEMINV, an original dataset of European industry patents in the Italian region of Piedmont, we analyse the characteristics of inventors with diverse experience in projects involving interactions with universities, governed by institutional contracts or personal contracts. Our results suggest that reliance among inventors of the two forms of governance is almost equal, and that unilateral governance forms are preferred when there are high levels of trust among the parties based on embeddedness in local social and education networks. This is likely because it involves less cumbersome and more direct interactions. We find also that knowledge characteristics are not particularly important discriminants of the choice between governance forms: the advantage of shared governance seems to reside mainly in the possibility to mitigate monitoring and asymmetric information problems in contexts of relatively low levels of mutual knowledge and trust. |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201402&r=tid |
| By: | Baldwin, John R. Yan, Beiling |
| Abstract: | The paper examines whether the integration of Canadian manufacturing firms into a global value chain (GVC) improves their productivity. To control for the self-selection effect (more productive firms self-select to join a GVC), propensity-score matching and difference-in-difference methods are used. Becoming part of a GVC can enhance firms' productivity, both immediately and over time. The magnitude and timing of the effects vary by industrial sector, internationalization process, and import source/export destination country in a way that suggests the most substantial advantages of GVC participation are derived from technological improvements. |
| Keywords: | Manufacturing, Labour, Economic accounts, Globalization and the labour market, Productivity accounts |
| Date: | 2014–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp5e:2014090e&r=tid |