nep-tid New Economics Papers
on Technology and Industrial Dynamics
Issue of 2016‒06‒14
eight papers chosen by
Fulvio Castellacci
Universitetet i Oslo

  1. Knowledge recombination along the technology life cycle By Martin Kalthaus
  2. Eco-innovation, sustainable supply chains and environmental performance in European industries By Valeria Costantini; Francesco Crespi; Giovanni Marin; Elena Paglialunga
  3. The Variety of Related Variety Studies: Opening the Black Box of Technological Relatedness via Analysis of Inter-firm R&D Cooperative Projects By Ji?í Blažek; David Marek; Viktor Kv?to?
  4. Emergence of Innovative Manufacturing Firms across Asian Countries By Singh, Lakhwinder; Gill, Anita
  5. Green startups and local knowledge bases: Newborn suppliers of energy-related technologies in Italian Provinces By Colombelli, Alessandra; Quatraro, Francesco
  6. Macroeconomic Regimes, Technological Shocks and Employment Dynamics By Tommaso Ferraresi; Andrea Roventini; Willi Semmler
  7. Manufacturing as the Key Engine of Economic Growth for Middle-Income Economies By Su, Dan; Yao, Yang
  8. Service Innovation in Philippine Industries By Serafica, Ramonette B.

  1. By: Martin Kalthaus (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena)
    Abstract: The emergence and evolution of a technology is intimately related to it's knowledge base. A knowledge base shows certain dynamics and evolves over time. Knowledge accumulation, especially the in-flow of knowledge from sources external to an industry, is crucial for the technology's knowledge base evolution in terms of initiating, redirecting and refreshing the knowledge accumulation processes. This analysis shed light on how a technology's knowledge base is influenced by inventors who contribute to the knowledge base. Using patent data for wind power and photovoltaics, the technological contribution of an invention to the knowledge base is measured by the patent's forward citation. The inventors of these patents are categorized based on their previous inventive experience. It is tested, if the technological contribution of an inventor, in terms of the forward citation the patent receives, is correlated with his previous inventive activity. Results indicate that there are differences between the technologies. In photovoltaics, the inventor's experience does not matter, while in wind power experienced inventors contribute most, but also inventors with no previous experience and inventors in related fields contribute. The separation of the observation period according to the technologies' life cycle reveals that in early and emerging phases unrelated knowledge plays an important role for both technologies and experience and related knowledge in the case of wind power only in the later stage.
    Keywords: Patent data, Knowledge recombination, renewable energy, inventive activity, technology life cycle, rolling window regression
    JEL: O31 O32 O33 Q42
    Date: 2016–05–27
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2016-012&r=tid
  2. By: Valeria Costantini; Francesco Crespi; Giovanni Marin; Elena Paglialunga
    Abstract: The introduction and adoption of green technologies are considered the most cost effective way to reduce environmental pressure without compromising economic competitiveness. The scientific literature has emphasized the crucial role played by diffusion pathways of green technologies along the supply value chain, but empirical quantitative findings on the effectiveness of green technologies in improving environmental performance are scarce. The objective of this paper is to highlight the role of inter-sectoral linkages in shaping the influence played by eco-innovations on sectoral environmental performance. Empirical findings show that both the direct and indirect effects of eco-innovations help reduce environmental stress and that the strength of these impacts varies across the value chain depending on the technology adopted and the type of pollutant under scrutiny. The main implications we can deduce are that, first both corporate and policy governance strategies should specifically address the goal of maximizing environmental gains that can be achieved through the development and adoption of clean technologies along the supply chain, and second both strategies should be coordinated in order to minimize the costs for reducing environmental pressures.
    Keywords: eco-innovation, environmental performance, inter-sectoral linkages, international spillovers, value chain, sustainable production, governance systems
    Date: 2016–04–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2016/19&r=tid
  3. By: Ji?í Blažek; David Marek; Viktor Kv?to?
    Abstract: The aim of this article is twofold. First, on the basis of a review of recent literature on related variety, it shows that there are not only differences between ex-ante and ex-post conceptualisations of relatedness, but also several striking methodological differences within this research stream. Therefore, it is argued, the growing number of studies on relatedness using different conceptualisations and methodologies can result in a “hollowing-out” of the original explanatory power of the concept. Second, this paper aims to open the black box of relatedness among industries by exploring one of the main channels through which the effects of relatedness can operate by simultaneous application of both ex-ante and ex-post approaches to measuring relatedness. In particular, joint R&D projects among companies represent a vigorous mechanism of knowledge exchange and mutual learning, but, as of yet, these studies have not been systematically linked to the concept of related variety. Our results prove that R&D collaboration according to technological distance is indeed far from random, but, contrary to our expectation, the results show that R&D collaboration occurs most frequently among unrelated companies. Thus, the search for partners in R&D projects seems to be driven by the novelty of knowledge rather than by probabilities of its comprehension. Conceptually, these findings suggest that in reality there might be various processes that require vastly different level of relatedness. This could lead to important policy implications as overreliance upon support for related industries might be misleading.
    Keywords: related variety, inter-firm collaboration, research and development, Czechia
    JEL: R11 O14
    Date: 2016–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1611&r=tid
  4. By: Singh, Lakhwinder; Gill, Anita
    Abstract: The recent phase of globalization has witnessed increasing influence of Asian countries in the global economy. This is supported by the rise of Asian firms and their increasing presence in economic activities across the globe through innovations in manufacturing. This paper attempts to trace the rise of Asian firms and their innovation capabilities while examining the theory of the growth of the firm and empirical literature. The comparative analysis of innovations across innovative manufacturing firms of seven Asian countries-Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, China and India is based on data collected through Oslo manual approach survey conducted and compiled by UNESCO in 2013. This unique data set covers technological and social innovations which is more comprehensive and expands the scope of the concept of innovations. Important empirical evidence that has emerged from the analysis is that Asian manufacturing firms are having higher level of social innovations than technological innovations. Level of economic development is positively correlated to transition from process to product innovations across firms of both developed and developing countries. The low variations across active innovative firms in product and process innovations imply that technological innovations are stable and rising in Asia. This is supported by high degree of intensity of in-house R&D expenditure. The most important barrier to innovative and non innovative manufacturing firms is the deficiency of internal and external finances except firms of Japan and South Korea. The innovation environmental constraints are more visible across Asian firms where the national innovation system is at nascent phase. The finding based public policy suggestion is that the public policy should accord high priority in investing higher proportion of resources in innovations to relieve the firms from such constraints.
    Keywords: Systems of innovations, rise of Asian firms, technological innovations, social innovations, public policy, Asia, Manufacturing innovations, internationalization of firms.
    JEL: D2 D21 D7 L6 O1 O3
    Date: 2016–02–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71148&r=tid
  5. By: Colombelli, Alessandra; Quatraro, Francesco (University of Turin)
    Abstract: There is wide consensus about the importance of green technologies for achieving superior economic and environmental performances. The literature on their determinants has neglected the creation of green start-ups as a channel to bring about green technologies in the market. Drawing upon the knowledge spillovers theory of entrepreneurship, we test the relevance of local knowledge stocks, distinguishing between clean and dirty stocks, for the creation of green start-ups. Moreover, the effects of the technological composition of local stocks is investigated, by focusing on technological variety, both related and unrelated, as well as on coherence. Consistently with recent literature, green start-ups are associated to higher levels of variety, pointing to the relevance of diverse and heterogeneous knowledge sources, but in related and complementary technological fields.
    Date: 2016–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201606&r=tid
  6. By: Tommaso Ferraresi; Andrea Roventini; Willi Semmler
    Abstract: In this work, we investigate the interrelations among technology, output and employment in the different states of the U.S. economy (recessions vs. expansions). More precisely, we estimate different threshold vector autoregression (TVAR) models with TFP, hours, and GDP, employing the latter as threshold variable, and we assess the ensuing generalized impulse responses of GDP and hours as to TFP shocks. We find that positive productivity shocks, while spurring GDP growth, display a negative effect on hours worked at least on impact, independently of the state of the economy. In the 1957-2011 period, the effects of productivity shocks on employment are abundantly negative in downturns, but they are not significantly different from zero in good times. However, the impact of TFP shocks in different business cycle regimes depends on the chosen sample: after the mid eighties (1984-2011), productivity shocks increase hours during recessions. Finally, we express and test some conjectures that might have caused the changes in the responses in different time periods.
    Keywords: technology shocks, employment, threshold vector autoregression, generalized impulse response functions
    Date: 2016–05–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2016/23&r=tid
  7. By: Su, Dan (Asian Development Bank Institute); Yao, Yang (Asian Development Bank Institute)
    Abstract: This paper revisits the role of the manufacturing sector during the middle-income stage. By exploiting a large dataset that covers internationally comparable sectoral information, we prove that the manufacturing sector is imbued with three important characteristics. First, for middle-income economies, manufacturing pulls along services, instead of the other way around. A decline in the manufacturing sector growth rate will negatively affect the growth rate of the services sector, in both the short-run and long-run meanings. Second, we show that manufacturing development not only promotes the incentives of savings, but also accelerates the pace of technological accumulation. Third, an increased share of the manufacturing sector in middle-income economies can enhance the utilization of human capital and economic institutions. Our empirical findings indicate that the manufacturing sector is still the key engine of economic growth for middle-income economies.
    Keywords: manufacturing sector; middle-income status; middle-income economies; empirical research; dataset; economic growth; growth engine; services; savings; technological accumulation; human capital; economic institutions
    JEL: L16 O14 O47
    Date: 2016–05–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0573&r=tid
  8. By: Serafica, Ramonette B.
    Abstract: This paper examines the evidence on service innovation using the 2012 Census of Philippine Business and Industry and the 2009 Pilot Survey of Innovation Activities. It reveals the wide variation in R&D intensities and differences in innovation behavior between the manufacturing and services sectors, for example, with respect to information sources and innovation activities. Many similarities were also detected in terms of service product innovation, the popularity of organizational innovation, and the preference for training activities, among others. Looking at structural factors, the probit regression analyses indicate that the size of the firm is a good determinant for all types of innovation. Ownership and age were also significant for certain innovation outputs, which could help inform policies on foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship. The results of this paper reveal the importance of service innovation not only for the services sector but also for the manufacturing sector consistent with servicification. In general, different types of innovation are undertaken by industries for various reasons, and the technological and nontechnological forms of innovation complement each other. If the government aims to promote economy-wide upgrading, support for innovation should not favor only one type of innovation output or activity. Further research on innovation behavior to cover more industries will be useful in developing a comprehensive and more nuanced approach to innovation policy.
    Keywords: Philippines, services, research and development (R&D), innovation, manufacturing, servicification
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:dp_2016-20&r=tid

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