Waste of money or growth opportunity: The causal effect of EU subsidies on Hungarian SMEs

Although EU subsidies aiming at economic development play a pivotal role not only for Hungary but for the entire European Union as well, there is a debate regarding their effectiveness in the literature. This paper investigates the impact of direct economic development subsidies extended in the context of Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund as part of the 2007–2013 programming period of the European Union on Hungarian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Based on a micro database, we evaluate the impact of corporates’ first subsidies on various performance indicators, using a combination of propensity score matching and fixed effects panel regression. According to our results, economic development funds had a significant positive effect on the number of employees, sales revenue, gross value added and, in some cases, operating profit. However, the labour productivity of enterprises was not significantly affected by any of the support schemes. Furthermore, by explicitly comparing non-refundable subsidies (grants) and refundable assistance (financial instruments), we find that there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of the two types of subsidy.     

The effects of slack resource of R&D professionals on firm performance: evidence from traditional manufacturing firms in an emerging economy

Abstract

As an important component of organizational human resource slack (HR slack), the slack of research-and-development (R&D) professionals has been studied by several authors. However, it remains unclear whether and how this small component of general HR slack, i.e. the slack of research-and-development professionals (RHR slack), may affect overall firm performance in an emerging economy without much R&D tradition or pro-R&D institutions. Based on two organizational theories, i.e. institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm (RBV), we propose competing hypotheses on the relationship between RHR slack and firms’ accounting performance. We also examine whether the relationship between RHR slack and firm performance should be linear or curvilinear. Finally, we also test the relationship between RHR slack and other dimensions of firm performance. Several interesting findings have been obtained. For instance, neither the perspective based on institutional theory nor that based on RBV can fully predict all types of RHR slack-performance relationships, be these relationships linear or curvilinear.     

The cognitive and the action-oriented elements of competence along the innovation process – evidence from R&D teams in the medical equipment sector

Abstract

Organizations are constantly searching for ways to enhance their innovative capacity and to sustain their competitive advantage. Much of the literature focuses on knowledge as the key driver for this pursuit. Unlike other studies, we define experience and knowledge as two basic elements of competence by borrowing from the experiential and cognitive learning theories and contrast their impact on the innovativeness of R&D teams. Building on the competence based perspective, we posit that the differences in competence inputs explain variations in team innovation performance along the innovation process. To test our assumptions, we analyzed the aggregated knowledge and experience levels for different technology competences of 868 employees in 49 R&D teams in a large contract-engineering corporation in the medical equipment sector. The findings reveal that technology experience is particularly fruitful within innovation implementation and is a driver for successful market introduction. The research contributes to the understanding when competence elements are especially important.     

产业政策对企业研发创新的影响研究——基于促进创新型产业政策"信心效应"的视角

信心是影响产业政策实施效果背后的重要无形因素。本文从“信心效应”的新视角出发，基于2012—2017年中国A股上市公司面板数据，以《中国制造2025》为一项准自然实验，使用双重差分法研究促进创新型产业政策对企业研发创新的影响。研究结果表明：促进创新型产业政策的颁布能够通过“外部信心效应”和“内部信心效应”促进受支持企业研发投入增加；通过与受支持企业自身的营运性信心和社会性信心叠加，信心效应的影响分别出现U型与倒U型的差异；信心效应在促进创新型产业政策对受支持企业研发产出数量和实质性的影响中都发挥了作用。研究结论不仅丰富了相关文献，也为新时期产业政策的制定与实践以及企业行为调整提供了有益的启示。     

技术购买与资源协奏式创新 ——基于技术吸收与整合互补性的联合中介视角

基于资源协奏理论，本文将外部技术购买、技术吸收和技术整合纳入同一框架，运用2005—2014年中关村国家高技术企业的面板回归和Tobit回归分析，研究技术购买影响创新的资源协奏机制。研究发现：技术吸收与技术整合在技术购买的创新实现中具有互补性，且二者基于互补性发挥联合中介作用，实现技术购买企业的资源协奏式创新。本文基于资源协奏框架探讨外部技术投入战略的创新效果实现机制，为技术购买实现创新机制的研究引入新视角，深化开放式创新理论和资源协奏理论。     

新疆农村产业融合发展研究

现运用面板回归模型结合产值贡献度的方法评价了新疆农村产业融合度,结果表明,新疆农业与农产品加工业融合度、农业与农业服务业融合度均较低。通过地理信息可视化表达发现,新疆农村产业融合度且存在明显的区域差异。最后,结合新疆农村产业融合发展所面临的困境,提出了需要完善农业教育服务体系;培育区域特色品牌;加强对各种利益联结方式的监督引导等建议。     

大数据下“互联网+冰雪旅游”产业融合发展对策

十九大报告指出:"要推动互联网、大数据、人工智能和实体经济深度融合"。首先,分析大数据对冰雪旅游产业发展的作用;调查"互联网+冰雪旅游"产业融合现状,分析出现的问题;提出大数据背景下"互联网+冰雪旅游"产业融合发展对策是构建冰雪旅游大数据分析中心,实现精准营销;强化政府主导和支持力度,均衡市场发展;培养复合型旅游专业人才,提升创新能力;创新市场运营模式,增强融合动力。     

The challenge of Chinese state‐affiliated multinationals in benefiting from foreign subsidiary knowledge transfer: A criticism of light‐touch integration

Acknowledging the sharp growth of Chinese state‐affiliated multinationals and their strategic asset‐seeking investments abroad, this study investigates the effects of headquarters' home‐country political ties on the multinational‐wide benefits gained from subsidiary knowledge transfer in Chinese multinationals. It also looks at how these effects are mediated by organizational distance and social integration between headquarters and subsidiary. Based on a survey of 177 subsidiaries of 99 Chinese multinationals, we find that headquarters' political ties trigger organizational distance and hinder social integration between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries and these, in turn, hamper the potential benefits that Chinese multinationals derive from subsidiary knowledge transfer. This study identifies new challenges related to political ties and light‐touch integration in gaining benefits from subsidiary knowledge transfer.     

“三链对接,双元协同,多方共享”的产教融合育人平台的搭建与实践

针对目前职业教育产教融合综合指数不高、学生硬核实力与实际岗位脱节、教师四大职能与行业企业实践脱节以及育人目标与产业需求存在“隐形壁垒”等问题,对接产业链、人才链和创新链,校企双方从专业组建、基地建设、课程开发、技术创新、团队打造、人才培养等方面协同共建,构建了多方共享的产教融合育人平台,打造产教融合型的命运共同体。     

Switzerland’s transition from flood defence to flood-adapted land use–A policy coordination perspective

This contribution examines Switzerland’s shift towards integrated flood risk management from a policy coordination perspective. The study applies a heuristic framework of policy coordination to explore how adaption needs promoted cross-sectoral policy coordination between hydraulic engineering and land use planning and enhanced coherence in flood policies targeting extreme flood events. To account for the temporal dimension in policy coordination, the article traces Swiss flood policies back to the early 1800s and distinguishes four phases of policy coordination. Across the four periods, the analysis focuses on (a) the drivers of policy coordination, (b) the manifestation of policy coordination in terms of policy frames, goals, instruments and subsystem involvement, and (c) the performance of policy coordination. Complemented by an in-depth case study of cross-sectoral flood policies in the Swiss canton Nidwalden findings show that the coordination between flood and land use policies has primarily been driven by three factors: (i) extreme floods as focusing events, (ii) an increasing problem pressure, and (iii) strategic reorientations in flood and land use policies. Today, flood risk management in Switzerland displays a high degree of sectoral interplay between hydraulic engineering and spatial planning. By fostering flood-adapted land uses Switzerland’s coordinated flood policies reduce the vulnerability to uncertain future changes in flood risk and strengthen the country’s capacities to mitigate damage in extreme floods events.