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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2013‒05‒05
thirteen papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Ahlin, Lina (CIRCLE, Lund University); Andersson, Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University); Schubert , Torben (CIRCLE, Lund University and Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI)) |
| Abstract: | Evolutionary economic theorizing and related approaches explain persistent heterogeneity in R&D activities between firms with persistent inter-firm differences in R&D-related routines and capabilities. Emphasizing the importance experiential learning leading to pathdependence of R&D strategies, this raises the question of how firms can organize strategy transitions towards continuous R&D, in particular, if they had not been R&D active before. Building on a growing literature trying to identify the micro-foundations of organizational routines and capabilities, we argue that recruitment of experienced R&D workers is an important means by which firms without prior internal R&D experience can build routines and capabilities needed to implement and sustain an R&D strategy shift. We test our predictions using rich matched employer-employee panel data for Sweden, which allows for the identification of firms that implement a strategy of continuous R&D activities without prior R&D experience. Our findings confirm recruitment of experienced R&D workers as an important mechanism by which firms prepare and sustain a transition towards persistent R&D. |
| Keywords: | routines; capabilities; R&D strategy; micro-foundations; recruitment |
| JEL: | D22 J24 J63 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_003&r=cse |
| By: | Miguel Atienza (IDEAR - ORDHUM - Department of Economics, Universidad Católica del Norte - Chile); Patricio Aroca (IDEAR - Department of Economics, Universidad Católica del Norte - Chile); Robert Stimson (Australian Urban Research Infraestructure Network. Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne VIC 3010, Australia); Roger Stough (George Mason University, School of Public Policy 4400 University Drive, MS6D5 Fairfax, Virginia 22030 USA) |
| Abstract: | In regions whose industrial structure is organized around one or more large firm corporations, the best practices of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) depend on where firms are located in the supply chain. This paper studies 351 SMEs in the Antofagasta Region in Chile between 2007 and 2008, where multinational and public mining companies are the drivers of the local economy and the government is promoting the formation of a mining cluster. Structural equation model (SEM) is used to show that first-tier SME mining suppliers, directly related to large corporations, follow business practices that promote international certification, quality control and investment in innovation, while in contrast second-tier SMEs are more focused on avoiding insolvency and client orientation. These results cast doubt on the formation of a mining cluster in the region and suggest the need for differentiated policies in these two groups of SMEs, especially those related to knowledge transfer. |
| Keywords: | Spatial concentration, growth, urbanization, development |
| JEL: | D22 L25 L72 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cat:dtecon:dt201311&r=cse |
| By: | Markus Simeth (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), College of Management, Switzerland); Julio Raffo (World Intellectual Property Organization, Economics and Statistics Division, Geneva, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | Whereas recent scholarly research has provided many insights about universities engaging in commercial activities, there is still little empirical evidence regarding the opposite phenomenon of companies disseminating scientific knowledge. Our paper aims to fill this gap and explores the motivations of firms that disclose research outcomes in a scientific format. Besides considering an internal firm dimension, we focus particularly on knowledge sourcing from academic institutions and the appropriability regime using a cost-benefit framework. We conduct an econometric analysis with firm-level data from the fourth edition of the French Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) and matched scientific publications for a sample of 2,512 R&D performing firms from all manufacturing sectors. The analysis provides evidence that the access to important scientific knowledge imposes the adoption of academic disclosure principles, whereas the mere existence of collaborative links with academic institutions is not a strong predictor. Furthermore, the results suggest that overall industry conditions are influential in shaping the cost-benefit rationale of firms with respect to scientific disclosure. |
| Keywords: | R&D, Industrial Science, Knowledge Disclosure, University-Industry collaboration |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:6&r=cse |
| By: | Joëlle Noailly (CIES, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland and CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, The Hague, The Netherlands); Roger Smeets (Rutgers Business School, Newark, USA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of directed technical change in the electricity generation sector. We use firm-level data on patents led in renewable (REN) and fossil fuel (FF) technologies by about 7,000 European firms over the period 1978-2006. We separately study specialized firms that innovate in only one type of technology during the sample period, and mixed firms that innovate in both technologies. We find that for specialized firms the main drivers of innovation are fossil-fuel prices, market size, and firms' past knowledge stocks. Also, prices and market size drive the entry of new REN firms into innovation. By contrast, we find that innovation by mixed firms is mainly driven by strong path-dependencies since for these firms past knowledge stock is the major driver of the direction of innovation. These results imply that generic environmental policies that affect prices and energy demand are mainly effective in directing innovation by small specialized firms. In order to direct innovation e orts of large mixed corporations with a long history of FF innovation, targeted R&D policies are likely to be more effective. |
| Keywords: | Directed Technical Change, Energy, Patents, Firms' Dynamics |
| JEL: | Q4 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2013.34&r=cse |
| By: | Miguel Atienza (IDEAR - ORDHUM - Department of Economics, Universidad Católica del Norte - Chile); Marcelo Lufin Varas (IDEAR - ORDHUM - Department of Economics, Universidad Católica del Norte - Chile); Mauricio Sarrias (IDEAR - Master in Regional Science, Universidad Católica del Norte - Chile) |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, several countries have proposed the promotion of mining clusters as a local development strategy. One of the expected results of this type of policy is the formation of a critical mass of local SMEs able to grow and export internationally. It is assumed that to achieve this result the vertical linkages between mining companies and SMEs favor the growth and competitiveness of local mining suppliers. This assumption, however, has not been verified. This paper analyzes whether the relationship between SME suppliers and large mining companies implies more growth in sales an labor. We study the case of the Antofagasta Region, one of the main miningareas in Latin America, where, since 2001, the government ha been promoting the formation of a mining cluster. We estimate an ordinal Probit model with random parameters, using panel data with a simple of more tan 500 SMEs from the Antofagasta Region, with information from the period 2003-2009. This methodology allows us to estimate whether first and second tier SME suppliers of the mining industry have, on average, better performance tan other SMEs and, also, which is the heterogeneity of results within each of these groups of SMEs. |
| Keywords: | SME, regional development, supply chain, large scale mining, Chile. |
| JEL: | D22 L25 L72 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cat:dtecon:dt201309&r=cse |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Ufuk Akcigit; Nicholas Bloom; William R. Kerr |
| Abstract: | We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A key feature is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using detailed US Census micro data on firm-level output, R&D and patenting. The model provides a good fit to the dynamics of firm entry and exit, output and R&D, and its implied elasticities are in the ballpark of a range of micro estimates. We find industrial policy subsidizing either the R&D or the continued operation of incumbents reduces growth and welfare. For example, a subsidy to incumbent R&D equivalent to 5% of GDP reduces welfare by about 1.5% because it deters entry of new high-type firms. On the contrary, substantial improvements (of the order of 5% improvement in welfare) are possible if the continued operation of incumbents is taxed while at the same time R&D by incumbents and new entrants is subsidized. This is because of a strong selection effect: R&D resources (skilled labor) are inefficiently used by low-type incumbent firms. Subsidies to incumbents encourage the survival and expansion of these firms at the expense of potential high-type entrants. We show that optimal policy encourages the exit of low-type firms and supports R&D by high-type incumbents and entry. |
| JEL: | E02 L1 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18993&r=cse |
| By: | John Tang |
| Abstract: | Railroads in Meiji Japan are credited with facilitating factor mobility as well as access to human and financial capital, but the impact on firms is unclear. Using a newly developed firm-level dataset and a difference-in-differences model that exploits the temporal and spatial variation of railroad expansion, I assess the relationship between railways and firm activity across Japan. Results indicate that railroad expansion corresponded with increased firm activity, particularly in manufacturing, although this effect is mitigated in less populous regions. These findings are consistent with industrial agglomeration in areas with larger markets and earlier development among both new and existing establishments. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration, entrepreneurship, firm genealogy, late development |
| JEL: | L26 N75 O53 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csg:ajrcwp:1302&r=cse |
| By: | Avdeitchikova , Sofia (CIRCLE, Lund University; Growth Analysis (Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis)); Coenen, Lars (CIRCLE, Lund University; Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, Norway) |
| Abstract: | Clean technology is seen as indispensable to solve or at least abate an environmental/energy crisis without abandoning possibilities for progress and economic growth. This, however, does not imply that sustainable development can be readily achieved through a ‘technical fix’. Innovation and commercial introduction of new technology are inherently uncertain processes that fail more often than that they succeed. Studies on the commercialization of new technology in entrepreneurship literature have often failed to explain why some new technologies reach markets while others don’t, as well as why some technological solutions ultimately become industry standards while others quickly disappear from the market. Technology commercialization models are often linear, based on a technology-push logic and focus rather exclusively on micro-level issues such as characteristics of technology and product, entrepreneurial experience and access to resources. This chapter takes stock with a linear perspective to cleantech commercialization processes and, instead, suggests an alternative approach to analyze the entrepreneurial process of commercializing cleantech. In particular, this approach underlines the duality concerning structure and agency that entrepreneurs tend to encounter in the commercialization of cleantech. The objective of this chapter is to identify how agency and structure interplay in the process of commercializing cleantech. To do so, the chapter compares two literatures that each depart from different starting points. Whereas the institutional entrepreneurship literature often departs from the micro-level of individual or organizational action, the socio-technical transitions literature departs from a systems perspective on technological change. The contribution of the chapter lies in making explicit the agency-structure discussion in the different approaches in order to add to our understanding of cleantech as an emergent technological field and the role of entrepreneurs and/or entrepreneurship in shaping this field. By reviewing the recent knowledge development in the area, we also identify two possible ways how these literature streams can enrich each other; namely by incorporating the transition process in institutional entrepreneurship and by incorporating entrepreneurial strategies in socio-technical transitions. |
| Keywords: | cleantech; technology entrepreneurship; sustainability transitions; institutional entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | O31 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2013_006&r=cse |
| By: | Raquel Ortega-Argilés (IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, Instituto Superior Técnico); Mariacristina Piva (DISCE, Università Cattolica); Marco Vivarelli (DISCE, Università Cattolica) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between a firm's R&D expenditures considered as an investment in knowledge, and its productivity, looking at sectoral peculiarities which may emerge; to this end, we use a large unique longitudinal database consisting of 1,809 US and European manufacturing and service firms over the period 1990-2008, for a total of 16,079 observations. Our main findings can be summarised as follows: knowledge stock has a significant positive impact on a firm's productivity, with an overall elasticity of about 0.10; this general result is largely consistent with findings presented in previous literature in terms of the sign, the significance and the estimated magnitude of the relevant coefficient. More interestingly, the coefficient turns out to be significantly larger in the service and high-tech sectors than in the non-high-tech manufacturing sectors. These outcomes suggest that firms in high-tech sectors are still ahead in terms of the impact on productivity of their R&D investments; moreover, a shift in favour of the service sectors seems to emerge. |
| Keywords: | R&D; Productivity; Knowledge stock; Panel data |
| JEL: | O33 L25 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie2:dises1390&r=cse |
| By: | Dachs, Bernhard; Peters, Bettina |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how foreign-owned and domestically owned firms transform innovation into employment growth. The empirical analysis, based on the model of Harrison, Jaumandreu, Mairesse and Peters (2008) and CIS data for 16 countries, reveals important differences between the two groups: Due to general productivity increases and process innovation, foreign-owned firms experience higher job losses than domestically owned firms. At the same time, employment- creating effects of product innovation are larger for foreignowned firms. Together with employment-stimulating effects stemming from existing products, they overcompensate the negative displacement effects resulting in net employment growth in foreign-owned firms. However, net employment growth turns out to be smaller in foreign-owned firms than in domestically owned firms. -- |
| Keywords: | employment,innovation,foreign ownership,Community Innovation Survey,host country effects |
| JEL: | O31 O33 F23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13019&r=cse |
| By: | Filomena Pietrovito (University of Molise); Alberto Franco Pozzolo (University of Molise, Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano, MoFiR and CASMEF); Luca Salvatici (Roma Tre University) |
| Abstract: | Trade theory traces back different patterns of internationalization to heterogeneity between firms, measured both through differences in productivity levels and size. In this paper we analyze the link-between heterogeneity within sectors and internationalization choices, namely trade and foreign di-rect investments (FDI) for a large sample of countries and industries between 1994 and 2004. The focus of our paper is on the role played by average productivity level and the distribution of firms by size in explaining differences across sectors and countries in the extensive margin of internatio-nalization (i.e., the number of foreign nations where firms from a given sector and country have ex-panded abroad). By performing an ordered probit analysis, and controlling for other factors affect-ing the patterns of internationalization, we confirm that industries with higher productivity levels and with a distribution of firms shifted toward large firms are more prone to internationalize in for-eign markets through both trade and FDI. Moreover, the relative impact of average productivity and firm size on FDI is larger than that on trade. These results are robust to different measures of prod-uctivity and the distribution of firms. |
| Keywords: | exports, FDI, mergers and acquisitions, productivity, distribution of firms, ordered probit |
| JEL: | D24 F10 F14 F20 F23 |
| Date: | 2013–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:349&r=cse |
| By: | Qazi, Ahmar Qasim; Zhao, Yulin |
| Abstract: | The study employs the panel data of 15 hi-tech industries over the period of 2000-2010 in order to examine the effectiveness of R&D with respect to productivity change and indentify the significant contributing factors with intensity in the Chinese hi-tech sector. The Malmquist Productivity Indexes are calculated by using the non-parametric programming technique and censored regression model is applied to conduct the empirical investigation. We find that on average, the sector is confronting productivity deterioration which is mainly due to the technical inefficiency. The Office Equipments industry has the highest productivity gain in our sample at the rate of, on average, 3.7% per year and all of which is caused by technical change. Furthermore, the electronic components industry is found to be the most efficient industry in the sector that drives an industry to have productivity progress on average, of 1.7% per year over the study period. At last, Tobit results indicate that spillovers through FDI and technology import are having significant and positive effect on the productivity progress. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Growth;DEA;Tobit Model |
| JEL: | C34 C61 D24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:46589&r=cse |
| By: | Ernest Miguelez (World Intellectual Property Organization, Economics and Statistics Division, Geneva, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to assess the influence of spatial mobility of knowledge workers on the formation of ties of scientific and industrial collaboration across European regions. Co-location has been traditionally invoked to ease formal collaboration between individuals and firms, since tie formation costs increase with physical distance between partners. In some instances, highly-skilled actors might become mobile and bridge regional networks across separate locations. This paper estimates a fixed effects logit model to ascertain precisely whether there exists a ‘previous co-location premium’ in the formation of networks across European regions. |
| Keywords: | inventors’ mobility, technological collaborations, co-location, European regions, panel data |
| JEL: | C8 J61 O31 O33 R0 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:7&r=cse |