Managerial practices that enhance innovation

In high-innovation organizations, special funds earmarked for research and development are used to support experimental activities. A special committee accepts or rejects an innovators proposal and undertakes a feasibility study. The feasibility-study team uses a marketing orientation to determine if a real customer need exists and how it may best be met. By the time a proposal reaches the adoption stage, the advocate's original idea has been modified by input from study-group members. The project is given an adequate funding level and is monitored and audited on a regular basis. Finally, implementation takes place first on a small scale so that, in the event of failure, a minimum amount of resources will be lost.Essentially, successful innovation depends on a company's willingness to commit the necessary time, money, and leadership to research and development. In the simplest terms, the difference between high- and low-innovation organizations is that the latter are willing to follow up and follow through on behalf of new ideas.     

Metropolitan suburbanization and central city problems

This paper is an empirical study of effects of central city problems on population and employment suburbanization. It is widely believed that high crime, high taxes, and large minority groups in central cities are important causes of rapid suburbanization of U.S. metropolitan areas. A large set of density functions is estimated for population and employment in U.S. metropolitan areas in 1960 and 1970. Thus, relative central city and suburban measures of crime, taxes, etc., are used in an interactive model to explain population and employment suburbanization. It is found that only racial minorities have an effect on suburbanization.     

Was 19th century British growth steam-powered?: the climacteric revisited

This paper establishes that there are serious problems with the hypothesis that the Victorian climacteric was driven by the decline phase of steam as a General Purpose Technology. This is primarily because steam’s contribution to industrial output and labour productivity growth was stronger after 1870 than before and that the non-steam-intensive sectors exhibited an inverted U-shape in trend output growth through the 19th century, experiencing a marked slowdown between 1830 and the 1870s. Seeking to base an account of 19th century British growth primarily on the implications of steam is thus misconceived.     

A Dynamic Analysis of University Agricultural Biotechnology Patent Production

This article examines the factors that account for agricultural biotechnology patenting success among universities using a dynamic count data model. It builds a theoretical and econometric model to capture the inherently dynamic and nonlinear process of technological innovation, wherein a feedback mechanism from previous success partially determines current patent counts. The econometric estimates reveal the importance to agricultural biotechnology patent production of land grant infrastructure, quality faculty, patent-oriented technology transfer offices, as well as dynamic feedback effects.     

VENTURE CAPITAL AND IPO LOCKUP EXPIRATION: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Most initial public offerings (IPOs) feature “lockup” agreements, which bar insiders from selling the stock for a set period following the IPO, usually 180 days. We examine stock price behavior in the period surrounding lockup expiration for a sample of 2,529 firms from 1988 to 1997. We find that lockup expirations are, on average, associated with significant and negative abnormal returns, but the losses are concentrated in firms with venture capital backing. For the venture‐capital‐backed group, the largest losses occur for high‐tech firms and firms with the greatest post‐IPO stock price increases, the largest relative trading volume in the period surrounding expiration, and the highest quality underwriters. JEL classification: G14, G24     

Cost allocation and regulatory pricing in telecommunications : A UK case study

This article describes the application of alternative cost allocation methodologies to the Hull telephone system, which provides service to a small area of the UK independently of British Telecom. The article first discusses alternative uses of and methods for allocating costs among access, local usage and trunk usage. It then implements the fully distributed cost approach, using accountancy data provided by the company. In addition, several illustrative calculations are shown which cost individual services on a stand-alone basis using different technologies. The results broadly suggest that, on a full distributed cost basis, access costs exceed existing average tariff levels. The article concludes with some illustrative calculations showing the rebalancing of access and usage charges which would generate the same revenue but bring them more in line with costs.     

Inducing Cooperation with a Carrot Instead of a Stick

The Supreme Court’s reasoning in Leegin turned on the insight that manufacturers may use resale price maintenance (RPM) for procompetitive purposes. This paper presents a model of manufacturer-retailer interactions that clarifies why, as a rule, retailers and manufacturers are joint beneficiaries of service-inducing RPM. The model identifies factors that determine how RPM-generated benefits are allocated between a manufacturer and its retailers. The paper then shows that manufacturers may use market share discounts (MSD) in lieu of RPM or other vertical restraints to induce retailer performance. The outcomes and efficiency effects that are achieved with RPM can be replicated and usually surpassed if manufacturers substitute MSD for RPM, thereby enabling a manufacturer to retain all incremental profit rather than conceding some of it to retailers.