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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Sigurd Mølster Galaasen (Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway)); Alfonso Irarrazabal (Norwegian Business School (BI)) |
| Abstract: | This paper quantifies the determinants of heterogeneity in R&D investment and its implications for growth. Using a panel of Norwegian manufacturing firms we document a negative correlation between R&D intensity and firm size, driven mainly by small firms with high R&D intensity. We estimate a Schumpeterian growth model with heterogeneous firms, that differ with respect to innovation efficiency. The estimated model fits the shape of the R&D investment distribution as well as the negative correlation between R&D intensity and firm size. A larger selection effect contribution to aggregate growth is found when we include R&D moments in the estimation. Finally, we study the link between firm heterogeneity and R&D subsidies, and show that the growth effects of subsidies depend crucially on how the policy influences the equilibrium distribution of firms. |
| Keywords: | R&D, Heterogeneous Firms, Subsidies, Growth |
| JEL: | L11 O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2016–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bno:worpap:2016_15&r=tid |
| By: | Ferguson, John-Paul (Stanford University); Carnabuci, Gianluca (University of Lugano) |
| Abstract: | Theories of innovation and technical change posit that inventions that combine knowledge across technology domains have greater impact than inventions drawn from a single domain. The evidence for this claim comes mostly from research on patented inventions and ignores failed patent applications. We draw on insights from research into institutional gatekeeping to theorize that, to be granted, patent applications that span technological domains must be better than otherwise-comparable, narrower applications. Using data on failed and successful patent applications, we estimate an integrated, two-stage model that accounts for differential selection. We find that more domain-spanning patent applications are less likely to be approved, and that controlling for this differential selection reduces the estimated effect of knowledge recombination on innovation impact by about a third. By conceptualizing the patent-approval process as a form of institutional gatekeeping, this paper highlights the institutional underpinnings of and constraints on the innovation process. |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:3437&r=tid |
| By: | Crass, Dirk; Garcia Valero, Francisco; Pitton, Francesco; Rammer, Christian |
| Abstract: | This paper tests a number of hypotheses on the use and effectiveness of patents and trade secrets designed to protect innovation. While previous studies have often considered patents and trade secrets as substitutes for one another, we investigate the complementary role of the two protection methods. We identify protection strategies for single innovation firms and hence overcome the assignment problem of existing empirical studies, i.e. whether firms using both protection methods do so for the same innovation or for different innovations. Employing firm panel data from Germany, we find fairly few differences between the determinants for choosing secrecy and patenting. Single innovators that combine both strategies, 39% of the group, tend to aim at a higher level of innovation and act in a more uncertain technological environment. Firms combining both protection methods yield significantly higher sales with new-to-market innovations. Using only secrecy has slightly stronger positive impacts on firm profitability. |
| Keywords: | Patents,Trade Secrets,Performance Impacts,Single Innovation |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O34 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16061&r=tid |
| By: | MOTHE Caroline; NGUYEN Thi Thuc Uyen |
| Abstract: | The antecedents of environmental innovation and the impact of openness on technological innovation have been well studied, yet the role of external knowledge search remains largely unknown. This study explores whether six dimensions of open search (external R&D, acquisition, R&D cooperation, and three types of external information sourcing) enhance firms? environmental innovation (EI) when used either sporadically or persistently. It shows that the temporal dimension of openness matters. Persistent open knowledge search efforts are associated with a firm?s propensity to introduce EI, more so than sporadic search. Furthermore, the different types of knowledge search have heterogeneous effects on different types of EI. It also shows that persistent innovation is more relevant in the case of radical EI. |
| Keywords: | Environmental innovation; Incremental/radical; Openness; Persistence; Search |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2016-13&r=tid |
| By: | Lucia Foster; Cheryl Grim; Nikolas Zolas |
| Abstract: | We focus on the evolution and behavior of firms that invest in research and development (R&D). We build upon the cross-sectional analysis in Foster and Grim (2010) that identified the characteristics of top R&D spending firms and follow up by charting the behavior of these firms over time. Our focus is dynamic in nature as we merge micro-level cross-sectional data from the Survey of Industrial Research and Development (SIRD) and the Business Research & Development and Innovation Survey (BRDIS) with the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD). The result is a panel firm-level data set from 1992 to 2011 that tracks firms’ performances as they enter and exit the R&D surveys. Using R&D expenditures to proxy R&D performance, we find the top R&D performing firms in the U.S. across all years to be large, old, multinational enterprises. However, we also find that the composition of R&D performing firms is gradually shifting more towards smaller domestic firms with expenditures being less sensitive to scale effects. We find a high degree of persistence for these firms over time. We chart the history of R&D performing firms and compare them to all firms in the economy and find substantial differences in terms of age, size, firm structure and international activity; these differences persist when looking at future firm outcomes. |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-41&r=tid |
| By: | José García-Quevedo (IEB, Universitat de Barcelona); Agustí Segarra-Blasco (GRIT, Universitat Rovira i Virgili); Mercedes Teruel |
| Abstract: | Theoretical and empirical approaches have stressed the existence of financial constraints in firms’ innovative activities. Although a large number of innovation projects are abandoned before their completion, the empirical evidence has focused on the determinants of innovation while failed projects have received little attention. This paper analyses the role of financial obstacles on the likelihood of abandoning an innovation project by using panel data of potential innovative Spanish firms for the period 2005–2013. Our analysis differentiates between internal and external barriers on the probability of abandoning a project and we examine whether the effects are different depending on the stage of the innovation process. Controlling for potential endogeneity, we use a bivariate probit model to take into account the simultaneity of financial constraints and the decision to abandon an innovation project. Our results show that financial constraints most affect the probability of abandoning an innovation project during the concept stage. |
| Keywords: | barriers to innovation, failure of innovation projects, financial constraints |
| JEL: | O31 D21 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2016-02&r=tid |
| By: | Kristel Jacquier (PSE - Paris School of Economics, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of reforms on employment protection for temporary contracts on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) using panel data of industries across 14 European countries. Within-industry variation over the period 1992-2007 is exploited to capture reforms. The legislation on temporary contracts (EPT) affects the use of such contracts, making it a valid instrument to prove a causal relationship between a change in legislation and macroeconomic performances. Indeed, the two stage estimates emphasize the negative relationship between the share of temporary employment and TFP at the industrial level. Marginal effects prove that increasing regulation on temporary jobs has a strong negative impact on the use of fixed-term contracts if employment protection on regular contract (EPR) is low. When employment protection on open-ended contract reaches its highest level; this effect is stronger. Our study shows that asymmetric institutional change might indeed leads to lower productivity growth through a surge in temporary employment. |
| Keywords: | productivity,employment protection |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01169260&r=tid |
| By: | Pekkala Kerr, Sari; Maczulskij, Terhi; Maliranta, Mika |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes occupational polarization within and across firms using comprehensive matched employer-employee panel data from Finland. The occupational distribution in Finland has been polarizing over the last few decades, with mid-level production and clerical jobs eroding while low-skill service occupations and high-skill specialist occupations gain share. We find that the phenomenon is taking place within existing firms, as well as due to firm entry and exit. Service jobs are increasing through the entry-exit dynamics, but also via establishment level restructuring among continuing firms. Routine jobs, including mid-level plant operating jobs, are being destroyed both among continuing firms and at the entry-exit margin. The share of high-level occupations increases largely within continuing firms. Within the continuing firms the job polarization appears to be related to the trade of goods and services, as well as the outsourcing of tasks. Firms with high R&D expenditures and ICT use are more prone to lay off process and production workers. |
| Keywords: | Job polarization, offshoring, international trade, firm, establishment, technology, R&D, ICT |
| JEL: | J24 J31 O33 |
| Date: | 2016–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:wpaper:41&r=tid |