Comparing evolutionary dynamics across different national settings: the case of the synthetic dye industry, 1857–1914

Current models of industry evolution suggest that development patterns should be the same across different levels of analysis. In comparing the evolution of the synthetic dye industry at the global level and in the five major producer countries before World War I (Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland and the United States), it is shown that patterns of industry evolution differed significantly across national contexts. Based on a quantitative and qualitative database of all firms and plants in the industry, the paper analyzes how German firms came to dominate the industry and identifies factors such as availabilities of crucial skills, economies of scale and scope, and positive feedback mechanisms between firms and national institutions that likely produced these national differences. The empirical analysis calls for formal models of evolution that incorporate differences in institutional environments.     

网络与集群互补视角下企业技术创新影响机制研究

已有文献指出企业外部资源和信息是创新的重要支持，需要进一步深入研究企业创新外部联系机制中各种因素如何影响企业创新以及它们之间如何互补或配置。企业技术创新的网络机制和集群机制是目前文献中认为最重要的企业创新外部联系机制，尽管网络机制和集群机制沿着不同轨迹发展并且有其局限性，但是网络和集群也许可以发挥互补作用或扮演相互替代角色，更好地作用于企业技术创新。列出了创新障碍因素及促进因素以量化企业创新过程，通过解析网络和集群对企业创新过程的影响机制，提供了一个更加丰富、细致的理论框架，可以解释外部变量如何促进或者阻碍企业技术创新。然后，分析两者如何通过互补克服局限性，更好地促进企业创新。最后，引入集群与网络活力变量，探讨在集群和网络不同发展阶段外部联系对企业创新影响的变迁与演化。     

Spatial Variation in Labour Productivity in British Manufacturing

This paper identifies factors underpinning spatial variation in manufacturing labour productivity in Britain at the county level, examining the relative influences of spatial external effects, the degree of capital intensity, industrial structure, and labour force 'quality'. In doing so, it sets out to test the hypothesis that spatial external economies are not only derived from the immediate environment but also exist over more dispersed areas, such that they can be enjoyed by firms in locations outside major centres. The results show that locational externalities continue to have a very small impact on spatial variation in manufacturing labour productivity in Britain. The really large and instrumental effects arise from variation in capital to labour ratios, industrial structure, and labour force characteristics.     

Economic integration and the dynamics of firms’ competitive behavior

We investigate the evolution of firms’ competitive behavior in the EU by studying the dynamics of firms’ price-cost margins (PCMs) across four countries (France, Italy, Poland and Sweden), in three manufacturing and three services industries for around 170,000 firms over the period 1999–2007. By looking at density distributions of the PCM across firms, we detect an aggregation problem affecting country specific measures of PCM levels, with PCM changes providing instead an unbiased representation of industry dynamics. A Laspeyres-type decomposition of PCM changes shows pro-competitive effects over the period, induced mainly by the reallocation channel, and a tendency to a quality upgrading of firms, revealed by the positive interaction term. These trends are stronger after 2002. We also observe a trend towards lower PCMs across manufacturing industries, while the latter is not true for services. These findings are confirmed by a dynamic panel econometric exercise performed on the pooled firm-level sample.     

基于科学的企业内部治理问题：文献综述与研究展望

迄今为止,基于科学的企业研究已经取得重大进展。尝试对基于科学的企业内部治理研究成果进行梳理,以基于科学的企业内涵、创业者角色、科学家团队治理、董事会治理、股东治理、高管治理为逻辑框架,对基于科学的企业内部治理研究现状进行总结归纳。在此基础上,从基于科学的企业治理机制视角提出未来研究方向,包括企业权力配置、激励机制设计、人员配置等系列研究问题。提出的未来研究方向可丰富和拓展基于科学的企业治理理论框架,为理解和指导中国情境下基于科学的企业治理实践带来启示。     

Innovation strategies of industrial groups in the global crisis: Rationalization and new paths

In the on-going context of globalization, the strategy of multinational enterprises combines the aims of constant supply renewal (through technological, but also organizational and commercial innovation) and of production rationalization (reduction of production costs). The financial dimension is narrowly linked to these strategies, as the financial deregulation has generated a strong pressure on enterprises, aimed at increasing the shareholder value. In this paper, we study the impacts of the current financial and economic crisis on the strategy and the management of innovation in big industrial firms. We present the result of an enquiry that has been achieved in France in 2009 and 2010 in companies such as Renault, Thales, General Electric, Lesieur, PSA, Saint-Gobain, Valeo, and ArcelorMittal. We show that firms rationalize their R&D expenses, accentuate their open innovation strategies, develop a strategic use of IPRs and try to implement new innovation paths, oriented toward the exploitation (low cost strategies) and the accumulation (clean technologies) of their knowledge-capital.     

Changes in european defence procurement and industrial capabilities

The impact of defence procurement on a country's industrial and technological base can be considerable—among NATO countries, the USA, Britain and France stand out in this regard. Equally, concern is also often expressed about how to safeguard the civil technology base as a necessary foundation for security, broadly conceived. This article examines the changes taking place in the UK, and more broadly in Europe, regarding defence procurement: first, by examining arguments and events regarding defence R&D; and second, through analysing procurement issues relating especially to industrial structures and strategies. Much strategic repositioning by firms is currently taking place, often encouraged by governments, who seem to lack adequate means of regulating the restructuring, thereby creating unintended problems.     

Changes in european defence procurement and industrial capabilities

The impact of defence procurement on a country's industrial and technological base can be considerable—among NATO countries, the USA, Britain and France stand out in this regard. Equally, concern is also often expressed about how to safeguard the civil technology base as a necessary foundation for security, broadly conceived. This article examines the changes taking place in the UK, and more broadly in Europe, regarding defence procurement: first, by examining arguments and events regarding defence R&D; and second, through analysing procurement issues relating especially to industrial structures and strategies. Much strategic repositioning by firms is currently taking place, often encouraged by governments, who seem to lack adequate means of regulating the restructuring, thereby creating unintended problems.     

Using simulation experiments to test historical explanations: the development of the German dye industry 1857-1913

In a simulation experiment, building on the abductive simulation approach of Brenner and Werker (2007), we test historical explanations for why German firms came to surpass British and France firms and to dominate the global synthetic dye industry for three decades before World War 1 while the U.S. never achieved large market share despite large home demand. Murmann and Homburg (J Evol Econ 11(2):177–205, 2001) and Murmann (2003) argued that German firms came to dominate the global industry because of (1) the high initial number of chemists in Germany at the start of the industry in 1857, (2) the high responsiveness of the German university system and (3) the late (1877) introduction of a patent regime in Germany as well as the more narrow construction of this regime compared to Britain, France and the U.S. We test the validity of these three potential explanations with the help of simulation experiments. The experiments show that the 2nd explanation—the high responsiveness of the German university system— is the most compelling one because unlike the other two it is true for virtually all plausible historical settings.     

Founders’ human capital and external knowledge sourcing: Exploring the absorptive capacity of start-up firms

ABSTRACT

This study highlights the importance of founders’ human capital on firms’ absorptive capacity for explaining the external knowledge sourcing (licensing-in and joint R&D) of start-up firms, using panel data from original questionnaire surveys conducted in Japan. The results of a probit model with an endogenous regressor show that firms managed by founders with a high level of specific human capital, measured as prior innovation experience and industry-specific work experience, tend to engage in external knowledge sourcing because of their superior absorptive capacity. The findings indicate that this type of human capital also promotes research and development (R&D) investment. Contrariwise, this study finds that firms managed by founders with a high level of general human capital, measured as educational attainment, tend to invest more in R&D, which enhances their absorptive capacity and thereby promotes external knowledge sourcing. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed from the perspective of public policy.     

融资约束限制中国企业出口参与吗?

中国贸易增长模式的转变有赖于企业出口的扩展边际,而企业的出口参与行为取决于异质性。本文基于新新贸易理论,运用世界银行投资环境调查数据,使用probit模型重点考察了企业融资约束异质性对中国企业出口可能性的影响。研究结果表明,外源融资约束是限制企业出口参与的重要因素。进一步,本文发现企业出口参与对外源融资约束的依赖程度因所有制不同存在差异。国有企业和外资企业外源融资约束对出口参与的影响不显著;而民营企业外源融资约束对其出口参与起到显著的作用。另外,区分出口企业类型的检验结果显示,外源融资约束限制了企业的初始出口,而对于保持出口商地位的作用并不明显。     

Love conditionally: The ownership structure and bribery behavior of Chinese firms

This paper studies empirically the determinants of firm bribery activities from the perspective of ownership structure. Using data on Chinese firms obtained from the Enterprise Surveys conducted by the World Bank, we compare the bribery activities of firms with various forms of ownership. We find that compared with private and foreign firms, state‐owned firms in China are not only more likely to receive bribe requests from government officials, but are also more likely to pay bribes. Meanwhile, firms are more likely to bribe if they are extorted, or if they expect to reduce infrastructural obstacles to their business operations. Other factors such as manager experience and external audits also exhibit significant influence upon firms’ bribery decisions.     

Paying Our Way in the World? Visible and Invisible Dangers of Brexit

The UK economy has long been associated with a weak balance of payments, reflecting an underlying growth model reliant on private household consumption. A deficit in goods trade, chiefly with the EU, has been offset by surpluses in services trade and foreign investment earnings. The Single Market provided wider markets for the UK, but did not fundamentally alter Britain's structural weaknesses. The Brexit vote took place against the background of Britain running its largest peacetime current account deficit. Financing Britain's external position represents a key challenge post-Brexit. Post-Brexit models for Britain partially address this. Any emergent model will critically depend on the nature of the Brexit deal with the EU, not least in terms of the impact on financial services and on supply chains. This paper sets out the recent evolution of the UK's current account position, particularly in relation to the EU. It then highlights particular areas of potential disruption from Brexit and sketches out scenarios of possible evolution of the Britain's external position in response to this.     

Understanding co-operative innovative activity: evidence from four European countries

We investigate co-operative innovative activity in four major European countries, France, Germany, Spain and the UK, using internationally comparable firm-level data for manufacturing and service sectors. We examine the roles of knowledge flows, cost- and risk-sharing and public financial support in firms’ decisions to collaborate. Our results suggest that firms which place greater value on external information flows are more likely to co-operate with the research base than with other firms and that firms facing appropriability problems are more likely to co-operate with the research base and with upstream and downstream firms than with direct competitors. We find evidence for Spain to suggest that firms collaborate to overcome risks and financial constraints. We also find that receipt of public support is positively related to undertaking collaborative innovation. In line with the focus of policy, this relationship is strongest for co-operation with the research base.     

Sectoral Patterns of Interactive Learning: An Empirical Exploration of a Case in a Dutch Region

This paper pursues the development of a theoretical framework that explains interactive learning between innovator firms and external actors in both the knowledge infrastructure and the production chain. The research question is: What kinds of factors explain the interactive learning of innovator firms with distinct external actors? Our theoretical framework extends the resource-based perspective, which is predominant in network theory, with both an activity-based and a structural account of interactive learning. We contend basically that higher technological dynamics induce more complex innovative activities. But, more complex innovative activities increase the probability of internal resource deficits/shortages in the innovator firms. The lower the alignment of the innovative activities with the quality of the internal resource base, the higher the resource deficits/shortages and the more likely the search for complementary resources externally, which increases the likeliness of external relationships. In order to test the generality of our theoretical claims we analyse our models in four sectors with distinct technological dynamics as distinguished by Pavitt. For each sector we explore five models of the level of interactive learning of innovator firms with: (1) the public knowledge infrastructure (difficult to access, demands high internal competencies to utilize scientific knowledge), (2) the production chain (easy to access), (3) their users, (4) their suppliers, (5) their competitors. These analyses allow for a comparison between interactive learning with different external actors and give deeper insights into the differentiated interaction patterns involving innovation. Our findings show that patterns of interactive learning between sectors differ. Some are more resource based and others are more affected by the complexity of innovative activities. Particularly the patterns of interactive learning between, on the one hand, firms and the knowledge infrastructure, and on the other hand of firms with the production chain show important differences.     

Export pricing and exchange rate expectations under uncertainty

This paper contributes to the literature on firms’ export pricing by assessing whether and to what extent firms take into account the expected future evolution of the exchange rates while setting their prices. Using French micro-level trade data, our empirical analysis reveals that by adjusting their export prices, firms partly absorb information about future exchange rate variations. The extent to which individual exporters absorb future exchange rate fluctuations is found to depend on their market power, in accordance with theoretical dynamic demand-side models encompassing mechanisms creating an inter-temporal relationship between current market shares and future profits. The analysis also shows that the strength of such expectation-related mechanism is considerably reduced with greater future exchange rate uncertainty, in line with an interpretation of pricing-to-market as an investment decision under uncertainty. In a comparative perspective our results are shown to drive asymmetric responses across destinations of aggregate bilateral export flows to expected exchange rate movements.     

Differentiation of innovation strategies based on pharmaceutical licensing agreements: Insight from Korean pharmaceutical firms

The paper aims to show how licensing behaviour can be used to differentiate distinct innovation strategies. Information on in-licensing and out-licensing agreements is used to guide the development of a framework that details the licensing firm’s relational preference for internal and external orientation. Using firm-level data of the Korean pharmaceutical firms, the study categorised the distinct strategic orientations of firms based on the proposed matrix model. The results indicated that firms with higher R&D (research and development) expenditures have a tendency to greater external exploitation of technological knowledge than firms with low R&D spending. The study provides potential avenues for targeting of licensing partners from the perspective of firms seeking to in-license or out-license their innovations.     

German,British and French Geopolitics: The Enduring Differences

Geopolitical discourses for Germany, Britain and France are outlined for several periods since 1870. They are also categorised as to their orientations to different scales (regional, European, global). These discourses remain different over time. Differences are interpreted in terms of situation, state age and state organisation. At the same time these discourses change on the basis of state system characteristics and mutual interactions.     

Sectoral Patterns of Interactive Learning: An Empirical Exploration of a Case in a Dutch Region

This paper pursues the development of a theoretical framework that explains interactive learning between innovator firms and external actors in both the knowledge infrastructure and the production chain. The research question is: What kinds of factors explain the interactive learning of innovator firms with distinct external actors? Our theoretical framework extends the resource-based perspective, which is predominant in network theory, with both an activity-based and a structural account of interactive learning. We contend basically that higher technological dynamics induce more complex innovative activities. But, more complex innovative activities increase the probability of internal resource deficits/shortages in the innovator firms. The lower the alignment of the innovative activities with the quality of the internal resource base, the higher the resource deficits/shortages and the more likely the search for complementary resources externally, which increases the likeliness of external relationships. In order to test the generality of our theoretical claims we analyse our models in four sectors with distinct technological dynamics as distinguished by Pavitt. For each sector we explore five models of the level of interactive learning of innovator firms with: (1) the public knowledge infrastructure (difficult to access, demands high internal competencies to utilize scientific knowledge), (2) the production chain (easy to access), (3) their users, (4) their suppliers, (5) their competitors. These analyses allow for a comparison between interactive learning with different external actors and give deeper insights into the differentiated interaction patterns involving innovation. Our findings show that patterns of interactive learning between sectors differ. Some are more resource based and others are more affected by the complexity of innovative activities. Particularly the patterns of interactive learning between, on the one hand, firms and the knowledge infrastructure, and on the other hand of firms with the production chain show important differences.     

The limits of silicon valley: a critique of network theory

During the 1980s, the idea ofthe dynamic network was putforward as a new model of flexible production and applied to Silicon Valley, the home ofthe US semiconductor industry. This paper arguss that the Silicon Valley network (a collaborating group of high technology firms incapable of realizing the main rewards from its innovations. Although the dynamic network may be appropriate for the early stage of the product life cycle, it lacks the necessary complementary assets to secure the Profits generakd during the growth and maturity stapes. The network lacks the scale-intensive process capabilities, the global marketing outbts and the large financial resources needed to capture the rewards om mass market innovations. These assets, by necessity tend to be embodied in large integated corporations. A simple model is offered to show the limits of the networkform compared with the integrated 'Chandlerian' corporation. During the 1990s, large firms will continue to capture the profits from innovation, not only in saiconductors but also in other important global industries.