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on Small Business Management |
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Issue of 2014‒05‒17
eighteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Govori, Arbiana |
| Abstract: | Innovation has become a central theme and challenge in the literature of entrepreneurship, SMEs management, and strategic knowledge management and in the literature of organizational learning. Innovation needs a business environment that is conducive to long-term investments in new business activities. This way, the development of innovation policy in SMEs forms an important environment that needs to be supported by government new economic policies and strategies and especially by new approach to entrepreneurship and innovation. In this paper we address the innovation strategies of SMEs engaged in the production of products and services. We base our conclusions on an analysis of primary data collected in a survey of 80 small and medium sized firms in the region of Prishtina, held between March 2014 and May 2014. The results show that innovation in business tends to be driven by external competitive pressures and customer demands. Many SMEs face financial barriers to engaging and undertaking innovation, while a few of them have been seriously engaged in innovation despite the obstacles. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Innovation, SMEs, Competition, Strategy, Funding |
| JEL: | M0 M1 M2 O3 O30 O31 O32 O33 O34 O38 |
| Date: | 2014–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55898&r=sbm |
| By: | Professor Bronwyn Hall |
| Abstract: | � Abstract A surprisingly small number of innovative firms use the patent system. In the UK, the share of firms patenting among those reporting that they have innovated is about 4%. Survey data from the same firms support the idea that they do not consider patents or other forms of registered IP as important as informal IP for protecting inventions. We show that there are a number of explanations for these findings: most firms are SMEs, many innovations are new to the firm, but not to the market, and many sectors are not patent active. We find evidence pointing to a positive association between patenting and innovative performance measured as turnover due to innovation, but not between patenting and subsequent employment growth. The analysis relies on a new integrated dataset for the UK that combines a range of data sources into a panel at the enterprise level. |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:11449&r=sbm |
| By: | Pilar Beneito (University of Valencia and ERI-CES); María Engracia Rochina-Barrachina (University of Valencia); Amparo Sanchis (University of Valencia) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the pattern of R&D efficiency in terms of the number of product innovations achieved by firms over time. Embodied in the R&D capital stock, we distinguish among physical R&D capital and human R&D capital, and allow the latter to be subject to dynamic returns along firms’ R&D histories. We assume that firms’ innovation outcomes depend on the length of the period of time they have been investing in R&D and explore whether the interruption in this temporal sequence of engagement in R&D affects the rate of achievement of innovation outcomes. For this purpose, we estimate an innovation production function using a panel dataset of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990-2006. Our results suggest that R&D activities exhibit dynamic returns that are increasing but at a decreasing rate, possibly due to exhaustion of innovation opportunities. In addition, our findings indicate that interruptions of R&D activities reduce R&D efficiency, probably due to organizational forgetting. However, spillover effects seem to exist between firms’ R&D spells since firms resuming R&D activities achieve innovation success rates above the innovation rates of their initial years of R&D activities. |
| Keywords: | R&D, dynamic returns, interruptions, product innovation, count data |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1403&r=sbm |
| By: | MORIKAWA Masayuki |
| Abstract: | This paper, using Japanese firm-level data, presents findings about innovative activities in the service sector and the role of patents and trade secrets on innovations. According to the analysis, first, service firms have less product innovations than do manufacturing firms, but the productivity of innovative service firms is very high. Second, service firms have a low propensity of holding patents, but the holding of trade secrets is comparable to that of the manufacturing firms. Third, patents and trade secrets have positive relationships with product innovations, and the effects are quantitatively similar in magnitude both in the manufacturing and the service sectors. On the other hand, a positive relationship between trade secrets and process innovations is found only in the manufacturing sector. These results suggest a pivotal role of the patent system and trade secret law on innovation and productivity growth of the service sector. |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:14024&r=sbm |
| By: | Acosta,Manuel; Azagra-Caro,Joaquín M.; Coronado,Daniel |
| Abstract: | This paper tracks university-to-firm patent citations rather than the more usual patent-to-patent or paper-to-patent citations. It explains regional and non-regional citations as a function of firms’ absorptive capacity and universities’ production capacity in the region rather than explaining citations as a function of distance between citing and cited regions. Using a dataset of European Union regions for the years 1997-2007, we find that fostering university R&D capacity increases the attractiveness of the local university’s knowledge base to firms in the region, but also reduces wider searches for university knowledge. Increasing the absorptive capacity of local business encourages firms to access university knowledge from outside the region. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge flows, patent citations, spillovers, regions |
| JEL: | O31 O33 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ing:wpaper:201405&r=sbm |
| By: | ZHANG Hong-yong |
| Abstract: | This study empirically analyzes the effect of agglomeration economies on firm-level product innovation (new products), using Chinese firm-level data from 1998 to 2007. In terms of new product introduction and new product output, Chinese firms benefit from urbanization economies (as measured by the number of workers in other industries in the same city and by the diversity of industries in the same city). Conversely, there were no positive effects of localization economies (as measured by the number of other workers working for neighboring firms in the same industry and in the same city). These results suggest that, in China, urbanization economies play an important role in fostering product innovation by urban size and diversity. |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:14022&r=sbm |
| By: | Peters, Bettina; Riley, Rebecca; Siedschlag, Iulia; Vahter, Priit; McQuinn, John |
| Abstract: | We examine the links between innovation investment, innovation output and productivity in service enterprises. For this purpose, we use micro data from the Community Innovation Surveys 2006-2008 in Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom and estimate an augmented structural model which links innovation inputs, innovation outputs and productivity. Our estimates suggest that innovation in service enterprises was linked to higher productivity. In all three countries analysed, amongst the innovation types that we consider, the strongest link between innovation and productivity was found for marketing innovations. Successful innovation in service enterprises appears to be associated with enterprise size, innovation expenditure intensity (in Germany and the United Kingdom), foreign ownership (Ireland), exporting and engagement in co-operation for innovation activities. The determinants of innovation in service enterprises appear remarkably similar to the determinants of innovation in manufacturing enterprises. |
| Keywords: | Internationalisation of services; innovation; productivity |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp480&r=sbm |
| By: | Guimón, José (Department of Economic Structure and Development Economics, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid); Salazar, Juan Carlos (Department of Economic Structure and Development Economics, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | Collaboration between foreign subsidiaries and universities is relevant for multinational companies that aim at absorbing knowledge from abroad, as well as for policymakers attempting to maximize the spillovers associated with FDI. In this paper, we explore how multinational companies collaborate with universities in the foreign countries where they locate and provide new empirical evidence for Spain as a host country. Using a probit model with panel data from the Community Innovation Survey, we failed to find significant differences between the propensity of foreign subsidiaries and comparable Spanish firms to collaborate with universities. Subsequently, building on a new survey and five case studies, we were able to relate the scale and scope of such collaborations with the dynamic mandates of foreign subsidiaries in global innovation networks and to explore further the variety of motivations that drive collaboration. |
| Keywords: | collaboration in innovation; FDI; foreign subsidiaries; global innovation networks; multinational companies; open innovation; spillovers; university-industry collaboration |
| JEL: | F23 O32 |
| Date: | 2014–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2014_005&r=sbm |
| By: | David B. Audretsch; Dirk Christian Dohse; Annekatrin Niebuhr |
| Abstract: | Does regional unemployment increase or rather decrease entrepreneurial activity? Although this question has been hotly debated among researchers for decades the answers yielded so far are ambiguous and inconclusive. The paper proposes an innovative approach that takes not only interregional differences in unemployment rates, but also in unemployment duration and the human capital of the unemployed—i.e. in the structure of regional unemployment—into account. Both, the skill structure of the unemployed and the share of long-term unemployment are found to have an important impact on regional start-up activity. Moreover, the impact of unemployment structure on new firm formation is found to vary with the knowledge-intensity of the start-ups |
| Keywords: | regional unemployment, new business formation, skill structure, long-term unemployment |
| JEL: | M13 R12 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1924&r=sbm |
| By: | Francesco Venturini; Ana Rincon-Aznar; Dr Michela Vecchi |
| Abstract: | We analyse the impact of ICT spillovers on productivity using company data for the U.S. We account for inter- and intra-industry spillovers and assess the role played by firm’s absorptive capacity. Our results show that intra-industry ICT spillovers have a contemporaneous negative effect that turns positive 5 years after the initial investment. For inter-industry spillovers both contemporaneous and lagged effects are positive and significant. In the short run, companies’ innovative effort is complementary to ICT spillovers, but such complementarity disappears with the more pervasive adoption and diffusion of the technology. |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:11717&r=sbm |
| By: | Andersson, Martin (CIRCLE, Lund University); Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | We review and assess the role local institutional framework conditions play in fostering local entrepreneurship. The basic premise is that entrepreneurship is a central driver of economic renewal and change, and that institutions affect both the supply and direction of entrepreneurship. While local institutions always develop and operate against the backdrop of national institutional frameworks, in particular in non-federal states, our review shows that there is plenty of room for local initiatives and policies to influence the entrepreneurial climate locally. This pertains to both formal (e.g., taxes, regulations and stringency of enforcement) and informal (e.g., attitudes and social legitimacy) institutions. We further argue that the local institutional environment is essential in any local policy aimed to foster productive (high-impact) entrepreneurship. Favorable local institutions not only increase the odds that a region develops or manage to attract entrepreneurial incumbents, but also the odds that a region reaps the full potential of hosting entrepreneurial and knowledge-intensive activities. |
| Keywords: | Business climate; Entrepreneurship; Institutions; Job creation; Local policies; Startups; Regulations; Entrepreneurship culture; High-impact entrepreneurs |
| JEL: | D22 H70 L26 M13 O43 R38 |
| Date: | 2014–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2014_004&r=sbm |
| By: | Sari Pekkala Kerr; William R. Kerr; William F. Lincoln |
| Abstract: | Firms play a central role in the selection, sponsorship, and employment of skilled immigrants entering the United States for work through programs like the H-1B visa. This role has not been widely recognized in the literature, and the data to better understand it have only recently become available. This chapter discusses the evidence that has been assembled to date in understanding the impact of high skilled immigration from the perspective of the firm and the open areas that call for more research. Since much of the U.S. immigration process for skilled workers rests in the hands of employer firms, a stronger understanding of these implications is essential for future policy analysis, particularly for issues relating to fostering innovation. |
| JEL: | F15 F22 F23 J15 J31 J44 L14 L26 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20069&r=sbm |
| By: | A. Minniti; F. Venturini |
| Abstract: | In recent years, a large body of empirical research has investigated whether the predictions of secondgeneration growth models are consistent with actual data. This strand of literature has focused on the longrun properties of these models by using productivity and innovation data but has not directly assessed the effectiveness of R&D policy in promoting innovation and economic growth. In the present paper, we fill this gap in the literature by providing a unified growth setting that is empirically tested with US manufacturing industry data. Our analysis shows that R&D policy has a persistent, if not permanent, impact on the rate of economic growth and that the economy rapidly adjusts to policy changes. The impact of R&D tax credits on economic growth appears to be long lasting and statistically robust. Conversely, more generous R&D subsidies are associated with an increase in the rate of economic growth in the short run only, indicating that, at best, this policy instrument has only temporary effects. Overall, the evidence regarding the effectiveness of R&D policy provides more support for fully endogenous growth theory than for semi-endogenous growth theory. |
| JEL: | O3 O38 O4 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp945&r=sbm |
| By: | Antonio Cubel (Universidad de Valencia (Spain)); Vicente Esteve (Universidad de Valencia, Universidad de Alcalá and Universidad de La Laguna (Spain)); M. Teresa Sanchis (Universidad de Valencia and Instituto Figuerola (Spain)); Juan A. Sanchis-Llopis (Universidad de Valencia and ERI-CES (Spain)) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the relationship between total factor productivity (TFP) and innovation-related variables during the second half of the 20th century. We perform this analysis for several European countries (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain) and the U.S., extending Coe and Helpman’s (1995) empirical specification to include human capital. We use a new dataset of patents data for the past 150 years to calculate the stock of knowledge using the perpetual inventory method. Our time series empirical analysis confirms the heterogeneous relationship between innovation variables (domestic stock of knowledge, imports of knowledge, and human capital) and productivity. Our results reveal the extent to which observed differences in technology adoption patterns and the levels of endowment of such resources can explain differences in TFP dynamics across countries. The estimated coefficients confirm the considerable gap that still exists between the European countries and the U.S. in innovation-related variables. Furthermore, we obtain a finding that may have important implications for innovation policies: the higher the level of investment in human capital, the higher the level of investment in domestic innovation, and the higher the response of TFP to a 1% increase in any of the aforementioned variables. |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1404&r=sbm |
| By: | Newman, Carol; Rand, John; Tarp, Finn; Thi Tue Anh, Nguyen |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the relationship between exporting and productivity in the case of Vietnam using an extensive firm level panel dataset for the period 2005-11. We separate out productivity effects of exporting due to self-selection allowing u |
| Keywords: | learning by exporting, self-selection, productivity, Vietnam, firm ownership, innovation |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2014-070&r=sbm |
| By: | Henningsen, Morten S. (Finance Norway); Hægeland, Torbjørn (Statistics Norway); Møen, Jarle (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Empirical examination of whether R&D subsidies crowd out private investments has been hampered by selection problems. A particular worry is that project quality and research intentions may be correlated with the likelihood of receiving subsidies. Using proposal evaluation data to control for research intentions, we do not find strong evidence suggesting that this type of selection creates a severe bias. Proposal evaluation grades strongly predict R&D investments and reduce selection bias in cross-sectional regressions, but there is limited variation in grades within firms over time. Hence, in our sample, unobserved project quality is largely absorbed by firm fixed effects. Our best estimate of the shortrun additionality of R&D subsidies is 1.15, i.e., a oneunit increase in subsidy increases total R&D expenditure in the recipient firm by somewhat more than a unit. We demonstrate, however, that there is measurement error in the subsidy variable. Additionality is therefore likely to be underestimated. |
| Keywords: | Technology policy; R&D subsidies; input additionality; selection; proxy variables |
| JEL: | H25 H32 L53 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2014–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2014_018&r=sbm |
| By: | Joelle Noailly; Victoria Shestalova (The Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the knowledge spillovers generated by renewable energy technologies, unraveling the technological fields that benefit from knowledge developed in storage, solar, wind, marine, hydropower, geothermal, waste and biomass energy technologies. Using citation data of patents in renewable technologies at 17 European countries over the 1978-2006 period, the analysis examines the relative importance of knowledge flows within the same specific technological field (intra-technology spillovers), to other technologies in the field of power-generation (inter-technology spillovers), and to technologies unrelated to power-generation (external-technology spillovers). The results show significant differences across various renewable technologies. While wind technologies mainly find applications within their own technological field, a large share of innovations in solar energy and storage technologies find applications outside the field of power generation, suggesting that solar technologies are more general and, therefore, may have a higher value for society. Finally, the knowledge from waste and biomass technologies is mainly exploited by fossil-fuel power-generating technologies. The paper discusses the implications of these results for the design of R&D policies for renewable energy innovation. |
| Keywords: | Renewable energy, innovation, patents, knowledge spillovers, technology policy. |
| Date: | 2013–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:ciesrp:cies_rp_22&r=sbm |
| By: | Ilke Van Beveren (Lessius Department of Business Studies, KU Leuven); Stijn Vanormelingen (HU Brussels, KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | This paper determines the relative importance of technical efficiency and reallocation for aggregate productivity growth in a small open European economy. To this end we use a dataset containing all Belgian firms active in the private sector, both services and manufacturing. We observe at the firm level a number of factors that have been shown to be drivers of productivity differences across firms. More precisely, we have information on human capital such as the level of education and the amount of on-the-job training received by the employees. Moreover we observe the international activities of the firms such as imports and exports. This allows us to make a careful analysis of the micro foundations of aggregate productivity growth by applying the decomposition introduced by Petrin and Levinsohn (2012). The outcome of this exercise will not only provide us with a better understanding of the slowdown of productivity growth in Europe over the past decades, but also give an indication on the role of different productivity drivers in this process. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, Productivity Decomposition |
| JEL: | D24 O47 C23 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201405-257&r=sbm |