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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Koutroumpis, Pantelis; Leiponen, Aija; Thomas, Llewellyn D W |
| Abstract: | Although innovation opportunities within the ICT industry are assumed high in comparison with other industries because of their rapidly evolving technological trajectory, little empirical research systematically investigates the distribution of returns to R&D investment across industries and types of firms. Building on the technological opportunity framework, we examine the effect of R&D on firm revenues in a large panel of European firms and study its variation with the age, size, and sub-sector of firms. We confirm that R&D investments in ICT firms have a larger effect on their revenue performance when compared to non-ICT firms and that the effect is higher for small firms and for firms in Internet services and ICT component manufacturing. At the firm level, our results suggest that smaller and, surprisingly, older ICT firms are technologically opportunistic and exhibit the flexibility and adaptability to both identify and respond to technological opportunities and develop innovative products and services. We highlight some implications for R&D investment and policy. |
| Keywords: | ICT, R&D, firm performance, technological opportunity, firm age, firm size |
| JEL: | O31 O32 D24 |
| Date: | 2017–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:wpaper:51&r=tid |
| By: | Sofie Cabus (Maastricht University); Eszter Nagy (Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and ELTE University) |
| Abstract: | Hungarian legislation provides firms with financial incentives to train apprentices from vocational training schools. In line with these incentives, it is observed that firms increasingly train apprentices over the period 2003-2011, in particular, in the sectors manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail and hotels and restaurants. However, at the same time, it is observed that firms decreasingly retain the trained apprentices in these four sectors. This finding leads to the hypothesis that apprentices are not profitable in the long run. The formulated hypothesis is known in the previous literature as the ‘substitution strategy’. This recruiting strategy is particularly observed among firms that replace their low-skilled labour with apprentices in order to reduce the cost of wages. For these firms it is not beneficial to hire an apprentice after accomplishing his training, because then he becomes a low-skilled worker paid at higher wages. This paper investigates the effect of the share of days worked by apprentices on productivity and gross profits of Hungarian firms by using a unique matched employer-employee dataset. Different approaches that allow us to estimate the effect are discussed among which fixed effects first-difference models and system GMM. The results indicate that apprentices decrease productivity and gross profits of Hungarian firms. These negative effects on firm performance were more prominent and robust before (2003-2007) than after the financial crisis (2008-2011). |
| Keywords: | apprenticeship training, firm performance, panel data |
| JEL: | I21 J24 L25 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:bworkp:1706&r=tid |
| By: | Maiko Koga (Bank of Japan); Haruko Kato (Bank of Japan) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence that firms exhibit behavioral biases in their growth expectations. Using firm-level survey data, we document that optimism and pessimism biases are generated by the business cycle, financial market conditions, and firm-specific factors including firms' past experiences. We also demonstrate that biases affect the real business decisions of firms. Firms' fixed investment and R&D spending are raised by optimism and hampered by pessimism. The above findings imply that behavioral biases generated by the firms can be an alternative mechanism on how macroeconomic and financial conditions affect their investment behavior in addition to the traditional optimization mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Behavioral bias, Expectation, Firm, Investment, Optimism bias, Pessimism bias, Survey data |
| JEL: | D84 E03 E22 |
| Date: | 2017–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boj:bojwps:wp17e09&r=tid |
| By: | Bin Ni (Faculty of Business Administration,Toyo University); Hayato Kato (Faculty of Economics, Keio University) |
| Abstract: | Developing countries are eager to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to gain positive technology spillovers for their local firms. However, which type of foreign firm is desirable for a host country looking for beneficial spillovers? At first sight, foreign firms with higher productivity may seem of more benefit by transferring their advanced knowledge; however, their technological and managerial knowledge may be too advanced for local firms to learn. To address this question, we use firm-level panel data from Vietnam to investigate whether foreign Asian investors in downstream sectors affect the productivity of local Vietnamese firms in upstream sectors according to the foreign firms' differing productivity levels. Using the method of endogenous structural breaks, we divide Asian investors into low, middle, and high productivity groups.The results suggest that the middle group has the strongest and most significant positive impact on local suppliers' productivity. |
| Keywords: | Technology spillover, Productivity gap, Firm-level data, Vietnam |
| JEL: | D22 F21 |
| Date: | 2017–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:keo:dpaper:2017-022&r=tid |
| By: | Claudius Graebner (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria); Philipp Heimberger (Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies); Jakob Kapeller (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria); Bernhard Schuetz (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses economic developments in the Eurozone over the period 1999-2016 by developing a theoretical framework that traces divergent path developments across Eurozone countries to the times before the financial crisis. We argue that macroeconomic divergence between core and periphery countries is driven by 'structural polarization' in industrial structures: the emergence of export-driven growth in the core and debt-driven growth in the periphery is linked to the micro level of technological capabilities and firm performance. Pushing for convergence within Europe requires the simultaneous implementation of three intertwined policy programs: coordinated macroprudential financial regulation, active industrial policies aiming at a catching-up process in terms of innovative activity and technological capabilities for firms in the European periphery, and progressive re-distributional policies. |
| Keywords: | Polarization, European Monetary Union, industrial policy, financial regulation, growth trajectories |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ico:wpaper:64&r=tid |
| By: | Jorge Britto (UFF, Brazil); Leonardo Costa Ribeiro (Inmetro, Brazil); Lucas Araújo (UFF, Brazil); Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque (CEDEPLAR/UFMG, Brazil) |
| Abstract: | In a knowledge economy, the creation, distribution and use of knowledge become decisive factors to reinforce firms' competitiveness. At the firm level, the process of innovation involves, fundamentally, the creation of new knowledge, which implies the integration and recombination of existing knowledge that may come from different sources and locations. The analytical difficulties to deal with this subject generate a literature that tries to quantify and analyze knowledge flows between economic agents using patent citations. Those citations may provide clues for intra and inter-firms knowledge flows. The paper analyses information about patents granted by IBM in the USPTO, which is used to map knowledge flows and to correlate these flows with the evolution of IBM competences and growth strategies. |
| Keywords: | Patent Citations; Knowledge flows; Firms Competences, IBM Competences; IBM Strategy |
| JEL: | O32 O34 O39 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td561&r=tid |
| By: | Chiara Conti (Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering Antonio Ruberti (DIAG), University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy); Marco A. Marini (Department of Social and Economic Sciences, University of Rome La Sapienza and CREI) |
| Abstract: | This paper focusseses on the strategic use of firm's R&D agreements to overcome R&D inefficiencies in presence of asymmetric information and research spillovers. We introduce a duopoly game where initially one firm is not fully informed on its rival's R&D productivity.We show that, without R&D agreements, the usual underinvestment problem can be exacerbated by the presence of asymmetric information. However, by proposing a R&D agreement,the uninformed firm may not only gain from the internalization of R&D investment spillovers,but also use it strategically as a screening device to assess the true type of its rival. According to the model, firms are more likely to pursuit R&D agreements in presence of similar productivity and less when their productivity gap is high. This is consistent with the empirical findings highlighting the importance of firm's similarities for R&D collaborations. |
| Keywords: | Asymmetric Information ; Screening ; Duopoly ; R&D investments ; R&D Spillover ; R&D agreements |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aeg:report:2017-09&r=tid |
| By: | Rudi Bekkers; Christian Catalini; Arianna Martinelli; Cesare Righi; Timothy Simcoe |
| Abstract: | Many standard setting organizations (SSOs) require participants to disclose patents that might be infringed by implementing a proposed standard, and commit to license their “essential” patents on terms that are at least fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND). Data from these SSO intellectual property disclosures have been used in academic studies to provide a window into the standard setting process, and in legal proceedings to assess parties’ relative contributions to a standard. We develop a simple model of the disclosure process to illustrate the link between SSO rules and patent-holder incentives, and examine some of the model’s predictions using a novel dataset constructed from the disclosure archives of thirteen major SSOs. The central message of the paper is that subtle differences in the rules used by different SSOs can influence which patents are disclosed, the terms of licensing commitments, and ultimately long-run citation and litigation rates for the underlying patents. |
| JEL: | D22 K2 K21 L15 L17 L24 L63 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23627&r=tid |
| By: | Philipp Pfeiffer (Technische Universität Berlin) |
| Abstract: | The macroeconomic experience of the last decade stressed the importance of jointly studying the growth and business cycle fluctuations behavior of the economy. To analyze this issue, we embed a model of Schumpeterian growth into an estimated medium-scale DSGE model. Results from a Bayesian estimation suggest that investment risk premia are a key driver of the slump following the Great Recession. Endogenous innovation dynamics amplifies financial crises and helps explain the slow recovery. Moreover, financial conditions also account for a substantial share of R&D investment dynamics. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:324&r=tid |
| By: | Caiani, Alessandro; Russo, Alberto; Gallegati, Mauro |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at investigating the interplay between inequality, innovation dynamics, and investment behaviors in shaping the long-run patterns of development of a closed economy. By extending the analysis proposed in Caiani et al. (2017) we explore the effects of alternative wage regimes under different investment and technological change scenarios. Experiments results seem to de-emphasize the role of technological progress as a possible source of greater inequality. Overall, simulation results are consistent with the predominance of a wage-led growth regime in most of the scenarios analyzed: a faster growth of low and middle level workers’ wages, relative to managers’, generally exert beneficial effects on the economy and allows to counteract the labor-saving effects of technological progress. Furthermore, contrary to what is sometimes argued in the academic and political debate, a distribution more favorable to workers does not compromise firms’ profitability, but rather strengthen it creating a more favorable macroeconomic environment which encourages further innovations, stimulates investment, and sustains economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Investment; Inequality; Agent-Based Macroeconomics; Stock Flow Consistent Models |
| JEL: | E22 E64 O41 |
| Date: | 2017–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80439&r=tid |
| By: | Caliendo, Lorenzo; Monte, Ferdinando; Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of exporting on the organization of production within firms. Using French employer-employee matched data together with data on a firm's exporting activity, we find that firms that enter the export market and expand substantially reorganize by adding layers of management, hiring more and paying, on average, lower wages to workers in all pre-existing layers. In contrast, firms that enter the export market and expand little do not reorganize and pay higher average wages in all pre-existing layers. We then present some evidence that these effects are causal using pre-sample variation in the destination composition of exports, in conjunction with real exchange rate variation across countries. Our results are consistent with a growing literature using occupations to study the internal structure of firms and how their organization responds to opportunities in export markets. |
| Keywords: | exports; firm organization |
| JEL: | D22 F16 J24 J31 L23 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12177&r=tid |
| By: | Brunow, Stephan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Hammer, Andrea; Mc Cann, Philip |
| Abstract: | "Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are widely perceived as being important drivers of technological progress and innovation. KIBS are generally understood as depending, driving and thriving on knowledge exchanges and therefore, geographical proximity to markets, customers and suppliers would be expected to be a critical factor in their performance. This paper investigates how the innovation performance and processes of KIBS firms are related to their distance from the nearest city and also to the size of the nearest city. For this purpose we make use of detailed firm level data and consider Germany as a research field. While most current evidence on this topic emerges from Canada, we complements and add to this existing literature on the geography of KIBS by examining these issues in the German spatial setting which largely conforms to a textbook type of spatial urban hierarchy. Our probit results indeed find that there are very strong distance decay and city size effects, and these also vary according to the innovation type." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Innovation, unternehmensbezogene Dienstleistungen, Wissensarbeit, regionale Faktoren, Stadt-Umland-Beziehungen |
| JEL: | D22 L84 O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201722&r=tid |