Firm size and innovation

In an innovation survey in the Netherlands, we find considerably more SMEs which perform small scale R&D than are found in the official R&D surveys. Nonetheless, SMEs appear on average to be somewhat less R&D intensive than large firms. Only when we restrict our observations to firms which perform some R&D, there is no systematic relationship between size and R&D. Among the barriers to innovation the following are particularly important to SMEs: information deficits with respect to instruments of innovation policy; a lack of capital; a lack of management qualifications; problems in finding adequate technical information, and problems in finding qualified employees.     

Firm size and productivity from occupational choices

Small Business Economics - We model the distributions of firm sizes and of firms’ total factor productivity (TFP) as outcomes of a market equilibrium from the occupational decisions of...     

Firm size effects on transaction costs

Associated with effects of scale, scope, experience and learning there are effects of firm size on transaction costs; in the stages of contact, contract and control. These effects are due to threshold costs in setting up contacts, contracts and governance schemes, and to differences with respect to the factors that cause transaction costs: bounded rationality, opportunism, uncertainty and transaction specificity of assets. Implications are considered for firm strategy and public policy.     

Firm size and efficiency in the German mechanical engineering industry

Research usually finds a positive size-efficiency relationship, but few studies focus on sectors dominated by small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). This paper fills this gap by analyzing this relationship in the German mechanical engineering industry sector, which is both successful and increasingly dominated by SMEs. The analysis, using a large and representative dataset, finds that small and large firms are, on average, the most efficient ones, while medium-sized firms have, on average, the greatest inefficiencies. Thus, the size-efficiency relationship is U-shaped rather than monotonically increasing. Additionally, the analysis finds that companies with active owner(s) are significantly more efficient and that capital firms are less efficient than firms with personally liable owners. Being located in either East or West Germany has no effect.     

Firm size and employment determination in dutch manufacturing industries

This paper examines whether the determination of employment differs between large and small firms. An employment equation is estimated on panel data of 67 (35) three-digit industries in Dutch manufacturing (1974–1986). The conclusions are as follows. Firstly, employment adjustment appears to be faster in small firms than in large ones. Secondly, the elasticity of factor substitution and the real wage elasticity at constant output are nearly the same for large and small firms. Thirdly, the estimated output elasticities suggest constant returns to scale in large firms and increasing returns in small ones. Finally, the number of working hours has less impact on employment in small firms than in large ones.     

Firm size,profitability, and savings in Canada

This paper explores the relationship between firm size, profitability, and corporate savings behavior in Canada. It shows that the long-run propensities to save out of profits are much the same for firms of all sizes, although foreign-owned firms generally retain more of their profits compared to domestic firms. Profitability has also been found to be largely independent of variations in firm size, although large foreign-owned firms generally earn higher profits than large domestic firms. The study also finds no evidence for the superiority of the “dividend effect” over the “retained effect”. It is suggested that the relatively high debt ratio experienced by small domestic firms might be better explained by the demand than the supply side of the markets for new equity.     

Firm size,university based research,and the returns to R&D

This paper compares university-based research relationships between small and large firms as an explanation for the difference in innovative activity across firm sizes. We test the hypothesis that there are diseconomies of scale in producing innovations in large firms due to the inherent bureaucratization process which inhibits both innovative activity as well as the speed with which new inventions move through the corporate system towards the market. By utilizing university-based research relationships, small firms are able to avoid bureaucratic inefficiencies.     

Firm size,efficiency and employment: A review article

Summary S-J's book contains much careful and interesting discussion of small-firm employment data and related issues, and will be read by all workers in the field. However it also contains too much detailed quantification and international comparison of doubtful relevance, at least for most economists, and misses much background material of direct importance for evaluating the role of small firms. As a result, the authors seriously under-estimate the contribution of small business to both employment and efficiency of modern economies, as well as the importance of policy to correct the traditional and still pervasive bias towards large organizations.     

Firm size and productivity in Spain: a stochastic frontier analysis

This paper analyses the performance of the small and medium-sized manufacturing firms during the period 1995–2001, focusing on the degree of technical inefficiency and its determinants. We use a micro panel data set to simultaneously estimate a stochastic frontier production function and the inefficiency determinants using an unbalanced panel of manufacturing firms. Our empirical results suggest that small and medium-sized firms tend to be less inefficient than the large firms are. Also, we centre our analysis in the effect on efficiency of some organisational factors related to the managerial ability to use and adjust capital and labour properly.

High tech manufacturing: Firm size,industry and population density

Location theorists have emphasized the importance of agglomeration economies in explaining the concentration of industrial activity. They have divided these economies into portions that relate to average industry size, firm size, and market size. This study examines these three factors, in the context of value created, and concludes that each is statistically different for high tech industries in comparison to non-high tech industries. This finding adds an important dimension to state industrial development strategies, particularly those focused on high tech.     

Firm size and the demand for energy in Dutch manufacturing, 1978–1986

As in most other industrialized countries the oil price shocks in the seventies led to major rearrangements in the production processes in Dutch manufacturing. The substitution of (expensive) energy consuming processes by less energy intensive ones is analyzed by means of a dynamic equation, relating the energy demand to the level of output, the price of energy and the prices of other inputs. Using a rather unique data set, consisting of panel data pertaining to several thousands of manufacturing firms, it is found that large firms can reduce energy costs more than small firms.This article reports on research carried out in the MOPS-project. Participants of MOPS are the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics, the Research Institute for Small and Medium-sized Business in the Netherlands, and the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics.The authors thank Bert Balk, Jos van Deventer, Peter Kooiman, Huib van de Stadt, Roy Thurik, Wim Vosselman, Ton Werkhoven and two anonymous referees for helpful comments.     

The Resource-Based Theory of the Firm and Firm Survival

This paper examines the determinants of firm survival. We use hazard models to test a number of hypotheses mainly drawn from the Resource-Based Theory of the Firm. According to the Resource-Based View the ability of a firm to develop distinct capabilities enhances its ability to adapt to the changing competitive environment and improves its survival prospects. The results confirm that firms that develop firm-specific assets through advertising and making R&D (independently of the technological intensity of the industry) enjoy better survival prospects. Furthermore, failure risk increases up to about 20 years of trading, and then decreases to later rise in line with liability of “adolescence” and “senescence.”      

Firm size,small business presence and sales of innovative products: A micro-econometric analysis

In our generalized TOBIT analysis we identify a number of variables which have an impact on a firm's innovation output. Among others we find that larger firms generally have a higher probability of selling some innovative products, although this probability increases less than proportionately with firm size. Given that a firm has some sales of innovative products, the share of such products in a firm's total sales tends to be higher in smaller firms. Moreover, a strong small business presence in a sector seems to enhance imitative innovation but has no influence on true innovations, whereas market concentration has no influence on innovation output in whatever definition. We also find evidence of regional knowledge spill-overs. Furthermore, our results are consistent with Schmookler's hypothesis that the growth of demand enhances innovation. The outcomes about the impact of R&D collaboration and technology transfer on innovation remain ambiguous.     

Firm size,age, industrial networking,and growth: a case of the Korean manufacturing industry

This paper investigates the roles of firm size, age, and industrial networking in determining firm growth. Analyses using the 2-year panel data of 7,889 Korean manufacturing firms between 1994 and 2003 confirm that firm size and age have significant negative effects on firm growth and significant positive impacts on firm survival. R&D and export activities are found to facilitate both firm growth and survival. The primary focus of this study is to examine the effects of industrial networking, such as subcontracting and clustering, on firm growth. The results show that subcontracting does not yield any positive effect for firm growth, but encumbers survival, which may be accounted for by the high subcontracting intensity among small firms. Clustering, on the other hand, is found to promote firm growth and survival. There is, however, little evidence that such a positive effect of clustering is derived from network externalities through cooperation and competition among firms in a cluster per se.     

国外所“本土化”与国内所“国际化”的思考

目前,中国会计师事务所呈现出国外所“本土化”和国内所“国际化”的趋势。“四大”本土化是其生存的基础,也给中国的会计市场带来巨大的影响,其实质是在瓜分中国市场。面对国外所的“本土化”,中国的内资所适时地提出了“国际化”的发展思路,从而与国外所抗衡。     

Uncertainty and Growth of the Firm

Using data from a survey of 1,097 small and medium-sized non-listed Dutch firms we investigate the relation between growth of the firm and uncertainty. We focus on the impact of sales uncertainty on various types of investment. We find that sales uncertainty, measured by the conditional variance, has a mixed impact on various investment decisions. We include an analysis of the relevance of financial structure and firm size on the growth-uncertainty relation.     

Heterogeneity and the dynamics of technology adoption

We estimate the demand for a videocalling technology in the presence of both network effects and heterogeneity. Using a unique dataset from a large multinational firm, we pose and estimate a fully dynamic model of technology adoption. We propose a novel identification strategy based on post-adoption technology usage to disentangle equilibrium beliefs concerning the evolution of the network from observed and unobserved heterogeneity in technology adoption costs and use benefits. We find that employees have significant heterogeneity in both adoption costs and network benefits, and have preferences for diverse networks. Using our estimates, we evaluate a number of counterfactual adoption policies, and find that a policy of strategically targeting the right subtype for initial adoption can lead to a faster-growing and larger network than a policy of uncoordinated or diffuse adoption.