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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2019‒02‒11
eight papers chosen by João José de Matos Ferreira Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Catalano, Ana. |
| Abstract: | En la sociedad del conocimiento, los cambios profundos en la producción de saberes se crean en el marco de una espiral de aprendizajes que son realimentados por el sistema productivo, los saberes y las competencias de los trabajadores, el sistema educativo y de formación a lo largo de la vida. Toda época de cambios tecnológicos no depende solamente de las inversiones en tecnología, sino también del fortalecimiento y el desarrollo de los sistemas educativos formales e informales y de políticas públicas que incentiven los sectores de actividad estratégicos. La productividad y la eficiencia se basan cada vez menos en la intensidad del trabajo físico y cada vez más en la intensidad del conocimiento aplicado. En la actual “revolución tecnológica”, importa la exigencia de capacidades abiertas al aprendizaje permanente y a la transmisión de saberes y de experiencias. Estas nuevas competencias implican capacidades cognitivas más sofisticadas, capacidades de interpretación, de traducción a algoritmos y fórmulas codificadas para la programación de equipos inteligentes. Los trabajadores deben ser capaces de integrar conocimientos que proceden de diversas áreas de estudio y actuación, de generar juicios críticos a partir de informaciones que pueden ser incompletas o limitadas para tomar decisiones que involucran valoraciones éticas, sociales y productivas. Se les exige autonomía y autorresponsabilidad por sus actos. Se les requerirá competencias o habilidades cognitivas que superan la formación meramente técnica. Son “metacapacidades” que están más allá del aprendizaje de contenidos, de técnicas y de procedimientos. Son necesarias políticas públicas que inviertan fuertemente en educación en todos sus niveles, modalidades y sistemas. Para eso es imprescindible asegurar la calidad educativa desde las primeras etapas de la vida, cuando se estimulan las capacidades básicas de la escolaridad general, la educación media y media técnica, la formación profesional que vincula la formación general con el mundo del trabajo y la educación terciaria en ocupaciones de calificación media y media-alta que están en crecimiento, así como la educación universitaria y especializaciones posteriores. En este contexto importa el diálogo social como instrumento de consenso para el diseño, el desarrollo y la validación de la formación, como los Consejos Sectoriales de Formación Profesional y de Certificación de Competencias Laborales o los convenios provinciales y municipales. Será indispensable desarrollar dispositivos estratégicos para la consolidación y la renovación de un sistema deformación profesional y para la creación de un sistema de formación continua. |
| Abstract: | In the knowledge society, the deep changes in the creation of knowledge are generated within the framework of a learning spiral fed by the production system, the knowledge and competencies of the workers, the education and long-term training system. Technology change does not depend exclusively upon the investment in technology, but also on the strengthening and development of formal and informal education systems and on public policies which stimulate strategic productive sectors. Productivity and efficiency are increasingly associated with the intensity of applied knowledge and not with the intensity of physical labour. In the current “technology revolution”, the requirements of open capacities for continuous learning and the transmission of knowledge and experience are key. These new competencies imply more sophisticated cognitive capacities, interpretation capacities and capacities to translate algorithm and to codify formula for the programming of intelligent equipment. Workers should have the capability to include knowledge from various areas of study and performance, and to generate critical judgement from information which may be incomplete or limited in order to take decisions which include ethical, social and productive assessments. They should work independently and show self- responsibility. Workers should have cognitive competencies or capabilities which goes far behind the pure technical training. These “metacapacities” are far beyond the training in content, techniques and procedures. We need public policies which invest heavily in education at all level, modality and system. In order to achieve this, quality education has to be ensured starting from the first steps of life when stimulating basic capacities of general education, medium and medium-technical level of education, professional training which links general training to the world of work, and tertiary education in professions with growth potential which require medium to medium high level education, as well as in university education and further specializations. Social dialogue matters in this regard as an instrument of consensus for the design, development and validation of professional training, such as the Sectorial Councils of Professional Training and Certification of Professional Competencies or the provincial and municipal conventions. A strategic framework should be developed to consolidate and renew the professional training system and for the creation of a life-long learning system. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:995011092702676&r=all |
| By: | Francois J. Dessart (European Commission - JRC); Laurent Bontoux (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The European non-ferrous metals manufacturing industry is a strategic sector directly employing 500,000 people and supplying products for numerous crucial downstream industrial sectors. As a capital intensive industry, its investment horizon spans over decades and is thus particularly in need of adopting a long-term strategic perspective. This foresight study applied a highly participatory, qualitative methodology that gathered representatives of the non-ferrous metals industry, research institutions, policymakers, trade unions and stakeholders from upstream and downstream sectors. This methodology allowed: (1) to define a long-term (2050) vision for the non-ferrous metals manufacturing industry and (2) to propose concrete actions for the industry itself, policymakers, and other stakeholders, to address the challenges faced by the sector (trade and competition, innovation, resources, business integrity and skills) on its path towards the vision. |
| Keywords: | metals, non-ferrous, aluminium, copper, circular economy, industrial policy |
| JEL: | L52 L61 L78 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc106071&r=all |
| By: | Nova A. Ramos; Maria Monina Cecilia A. Villena; Mariliza V. Ticsay; Maria Celeste H. Cadiz |
| Abstract: | The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture’s (SEARCA) current five-year plan, its tenth, focuses on inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development (ISARD), described as a scheme and approach of engaging multiple stakeholders toward improving the well-being of the rural poor through their improved natural resource-based livelihoods along with supportive systems and institutions that contribute to food and nutrition security of the wider population beyond present generations. Along ISARD emphases on environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and institutions and governance, SEARCA as a knowledge managing institution with a capacity building mandate, promotes adaptive and social learning, knowledge sharing and use, and knowledge creation with a deliberate effort to capture, store, and make explicit the tangible knowledges generated by its scholars, researchers, and partners. |
| Keywords: | KM, SEARCA, Southeast Asia |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sag:seadps:2018:396&r=all |
| By: | Steven Bond-Smith (Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre, Curtin University) |
| Abstract: | This article analyses the relationship between compatibility and innovation in markets with network effects using a model of competition with endogenous R&D, commercialization and compatibility. Incumbent acquisition of an innovation or profit from entry provides entrepreneurs with an incentive for developing technological improvements. Entrepreneurs receive greater returns for the innovation if larger incumbents offer compatibility with their installed base. As a result, entrepreneurs must innovate strategically to pre-empt an incompatibility response from incumbents. Similarly, small incumbents also bid strategically to block entry or rival acquisition if it also avoids an incompatibility response from a larger incumbent. A credible threat of incompatibility reduces the entrepreneur?s reserve to sell an innovation, but can also increase offers to acquire the innovation from smaller incumbents attempting to avoid incompatibility. This leads to a complex relationship between the strength of network effects, innovation incentives, the entrepreneur?s ambition for improvement and potentially disrupting the compatibility regime. For weak to moderate network effects entrepreneurs are likely to target more substantial, but improbable innovations such that their network is sufficiently attractive for incumbents to offer compatibility. For a small range of sufficiently strong network effects, entrepreneurs target incremental innovations to avoid the incumbent threatening incompatibility. |
| Keywords: | network effects, innovation, compatibility |
| JEL: | L15 L26 L50 O31 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ozl:bcecwp:wp1805&r=all |
| By: | Joelle Noailly; Roger Smeets |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to examine the impact of firms’ financing constraints on innovation activities in renewable (REN) versus fossil-fuel (FF) technologies. Our empirical methodology relies on the construction of a firm-level dataset for 1,300 European firms over the 1995-2009 period combining balance-sheet information linked with patenting activities in REN and FF technologies. We estimate the importance of the different types of financing (e.g. cash flow, long-term debt, and stock issues) on firms’ patenting activities for the different samples of firms. We use count estimation techniques commonly used for models with patent data and control for a large set of firm-specific controls and market developments in REN and FF technologies. We find evidence for a positive impact of internal finance on patenting activities for the sample of firms specialized in REN innovation, while we find no evidence of this link for other firms, such as firms conducting FF innovation or large mixed firms conducting both REN and FF innovation. Hence, financing constraints matter for firms specialized in REN innovation but not for other firms. Our results have important implications for policymaking as the results emphasize that small innovative newcomers in the field of renewable energy are particularly vulnerable to financing constraints. |
| Keywords: | R&D;.; Financing constraints; renewable energy |
| JEL: | O14 O33 Q41 Q42 |
| Date: | 2019–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:ciesrp:cies_rp_58&r=all |
| By: | Peter Gal; Giuseppe Nicoletti; Theodore Renault; Stéphane Sorbe; Christina Timiliotis |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses how the adoption of a range of digital technologies affects firm productivity. It combines cross-country firm-level data on productivity and industry-level data on digital technology adoption in an empirical framework that accounts for firm heterogeneity. The results provide robust evidence that digital adoption in an industry is associated to productivity gains at the firm level. Effects are relatively stronger in manufacturing and routine-intensive activities. They also tend to be stronger for more productive firms and weaker in presence of skill shortages, which may relate to the complementarities between digital technologies and other forms of capital (e.g. skills, organisation, or intangibles). As a result, digital technologies may have contributed to the growing dispersion in productivity performance across firms. Hence, policies to support digital adoption should go hand in hand with creating the conditions to enable the catch-up of lagging firms, notably by easing access to skills. |
| Keywords: | cloud computing, digitalisation, high-speed internet, ICT, productivity, skills |
| JEL: | D24 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–02–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1533-en&r=all |
| By: | Lorena M. D’Agostino (Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, via Inama, 5 - 38122 Trento (Italy). Tel. +390461283197 – Fax +390461882241.); Rosina Moreno (AQR-IREA Research Group, University of Barcelona. Av. Diagonal 690 - 08034 Barcelona (Spain). Tel. +34934021823 - Fax +34934021821.) |
| Abstract: | Technological innovation is essential to achieve simultaneously economic, environmental and social goals (i.e. the green growth). Indeed, many studies found that environmental innovation spurs overall innovation. However, this topic has not been investigated by taking into account the geographical context. Therefore, our paper seeks to investigate whether ‘green regions’, with an increased public and private commitment in environmental issues, are related to innovation of local firms. Using data on Spanish manufacturing firms and regions, we find that environmental technologies (especially in green energy), environmental investments, and environmental management at the level of regions are positively associated to local firms’ innovation. |
| Keywords: | innovation, region, firm, green patents, environment. JEL classification:R11, O31, O44. |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201903&r=all |
| By: | Hundt, Christian; Holtermann, Linus; Steeger, Jonas; Bersch, Johannes |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the macro-to-micro-transition of cluster externalities to firms and how it is affected by the macroeconomic instability caused by the recessionary shock of 2008/2009. Using data from 16,166 manufacturing and business services firms nested in 390 German regions, we employ within-firm regression techniques to estimate the impact of cross-level interactions between firm- and cluster-level determinants on phase-related differences in firm performance between a pre-crisis (2004-2007) and a crisis period (2009-2011). The empirical results validate the existence of a macro-to-micro-transition that evolves best in the case of broad firm-level capabilities and variety-driven externalities. Furthermore, the results indicate that the transition strongly depends on the macroeconomic cycle. While the transition particularly benefits from a stable macroeconomic environment (2004-2007), its mechanisms are interrupted when being exposed to economic turmoil (2009-2011). Yet, the crisis-induced interruption of the transition is mainly restricted to the national recession in 2009. As soon as the macroeconomic pressure diminishes (2010-2011), we observe a reversion of the transmission mechanisms to the pre-crisis level. Our study contributes to the existing literature by corroborating previous findings that the economic performance of firms depends on a working macro-to-micro transition of external resources, which presupposes sufficient cluster externalities and adequate firm-level combinative capabilities. In contrast to previous studies on this topic, the transition mechanism is not modeled as time-invariant. Instead, it is coupled to the prevailing macroeconomic regime. |
| Keywords: | Macro-to-micro-transition, combinative capabilities, agglomeration economies, cluster-level externalities, unrelated variety, related variety, macroeconomic regimes, Great Recession, eco-nomic resilience |
| JEL: | C33 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2019–01–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:91802&r=all |