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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2007‒08‒18
five papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Dalia Marin (University of Munich, Department of Economics, Ludwigstr. 28, 80539 Munich, Germany +49-89-2180-2446, dalia.marin@lrz.uni-muenchen.de); Thierry Verdier (Paris School of Economics, 48 Boulevard Jourdan 75014 Paris, France +331 43 13 63 08, verdier@pse.ens.fr) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theory which investigates how firms’ choice of corporate organization is affecting firm performance and the nature of competition in international markets. We develop a model in which firms’ organisational choices determine heterogeneity across firms in size and productivity in the same industry. We then incorporate these organisational choices in a Krugman cum Melitz and Ottaviano model of international trade. We show that the toughness of competition in a market depends on who - headquarters or middle managers - have power in firms. Furthermore, we propose two new margins of trade adjustments: the monitoring margin and the organizational margin. International trade may or may not lead to an increase in aggregate productivity of an industry depending on which of these margins dominate. Trade may trigger firms to opt for organizations which encourage the creation of new ideas and which are less well adapt to price and cost competition. |
| Keywords: | international trade with endogenous firm organizations and endogenous toughness of competition, firm heterogeneity, power struggle in the firm. |
| JEL: | F12 F14 L22 D23 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:207&r=cse |
| By: | Van De Woestyne, M.; Devos,G.; Van den Broeck, H. (Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School) |
| Abstract: | Building on prior theory and research on organizational innovation, this paper aims to examine the linkages between context and process factors. We examined how two contingency factors (i.e. type of organization and type of innovation) and determinants of an organization’s culture interact and work together within six innovative companies. We used a multiple-case study approach through a combination of direct observations, document transcripts, and in-depth interviews with key informants. Three archetypes of innovators emerged, depending on the sector in which companies act, the type of innovative activity, the strategy, and the established culture and structure of the organization. Interestingly, as every category consisted of a large company and an SME, our findings give little support to the size-specific nature of innovation. |
| Keywords: | innovation process, multiple-case study, organizational culture, organization size, sector, semistructured interviews |
| Date: | 2007–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vlg:vlgwps:2007-20&r=cse |
| By: | Claudio A. Piga (Dept of Economics, Loughborough University); Giuseppe Medda (DEIR, University of Sassari, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | We study whether a firm’s total factor productivity dynamics is positively influenced by its own R&D activity and by the technological spillovers generated at the intra- and inter-sectorial level. Our approach corrects simultaneously for the endogeneity and the selectivity biases introduced by the use of a firm’s own R&D as a regressor. A firm’s involvement in R&D activities accounts for significant productivity gains. Firms also benefit from spillovers originating from their own industries, as well as from innovative upstream sectors. |
| Keywords: | R&D, TFP, selectivity, treatment effect |
| JEL: | C21 C80 D24 O30 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:08-07&r=cse |
| By: | Svein Olav Nås (Norwegian Institute for Studies in Research and Education - Centre for Innovation Research) |
| Abstract: | The analysis addresses path dependency by studying development in industrial structure in Norway over time, and relates types of changes in firms to innovation activities in the firms as identified by the Norwegian innovation survey. A typology of changes is developed on the basis of matched employer-employee data allowing differentiating between events like entry and exit, take overs and spin-outs. Results show that despite a large degree of underlying turbulence the underlying industrial structure remains relatively stable over time - although with the well known reduction in primary industries and growth in service industries. Changes are more pronounced in terms of employment than in terms of value added which show a stable or increasing trend in virtually all industries. Combining with innovation data reveals that types of changes in firms vary with innovation modes. In particular, strategic innovators are found less frequently among unchanged organisations than is the case for other types of innovators. On the other hand a higher share of subsequent transformed establishments is found among strategic innovators. |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20070611&r=cse |
| By: | Lundin, Nannan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Schwaag Serger, Sylvia (ITPS) |
| Abstract: | As one of the world’s largest recipients of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), China is emerging as a key global player in Research and Development (R&D). This rapid increase in R&D investment is mainly attributed to the effort of strengthening the indigenous innovation capacity of domestic actors and, to an increasing extent, to the process of globalization of R&D with multinational enterprises as key driving force. This paper provides a detailed overview of the relative importance of foreign R&D in China based on quantitative mapping in terms of R&D inputs, outputs and local linkages in R&D-related activities, combined with an in-depth description of the nature of foreign R&D activities. Our empirical observation suggests that the growing importance of China in the globalization of R&D is more than a ‘flash-in-the-pan’. On one hand, China is facing new challenges, but at the same time is attempting to seize the “window of opportunity” to compete for knowledge and human resources through structural adjustments and new policy initiatives. On the other hand, multinational enterprises from OECD countries are not only intensifying, but also diversifying their activities in a larger number of R&D intensive sectors in China. In such a rapid and dynamic development, China seems to emerge not only as an important source of R&D but also a key magnet of global R&D operations. |
| Keywords: | China; R&D; Globalization; Multinationals |
| JEL: | F23 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2007–08–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0710&r=cse |