Are innovation and R&D the only sources of firms’ knowledge that increase productivity? An empirical investigation of French manufacturing firms

The economic literature presents knowledge accumulation as one of the most important characteristics of innovation. The accumulation of knowledge arises from complex and dynamic interactions between a firm??s own internal capacity and external expertise. Research and development (R&D) remains important in the innovation process, but it must be integrated with knowledge from other sources, such as training and knowledge capitalization. This paper investigates the relationship between such knowledge sources and the productivity of French firms. Using asymptotic least squares, a Cobb-Douglas function including R&D, innovation, training expenditure and ISO 9000 certification is estimated for 1,213 French manufacturing firms. Our results show that innovation, training and ISO 9000 certification have a positive and significant impact on firms?? productivity.     

Firm performance and knowledge spillovers from academic, industrial and foreign linkages: the case of China

Firm performance may be enhanced by linkages with academic institutions, other firms, and foreign markets that confer knowledge spillovers as well as internal R&D that creates firm-specific knowledge. In particular, firm productivity and innovation may be enhanced by positive externalities from knowledge and technology produced by universities and research institutions (URIs) and diffused to the domestic economy. Productive contributions from such linkages might be particularly expected in China, where policy measures have explicitly supported and facilitated connections between URIs and firms to stimulate economic development and competitiveness. In this paper, we measure the performance impact of such knowledge spillovers in Chinese firms by using a variety of specifications, estimators, and robustness checks, including an ??instrumental variable?? specification that controls for endogeneity. We find more patent activity in Chinese firms with URI connections and enhanced firm productivity particularly from linkages with research institutions (RIs). Introduction of new products, processes, and new businesses is also positively associated with linkages with research institutions, as well as with linkages with other firms.     

The impact of knowledge spillovers and innovation on firm-performance: findings from the Balkans countries

This paper investigates factors affecting firm performance. Using data from Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS 2013–2014), findings indicate that the following have a positive effect on firm performance: (i) innovative activities; (ii) knowledge spillovers; (iii) foreign ownership; and (iv) the proportion of skilled workers in the workforce. The paper therefore argues that innovation activities are endogenously related to firm performance, and that the performance of firms is influenced by knowledge spillovers and innovation activities, among other firm characteristics. The paper contributes to the literature by identifying spillovers and innovation activities as causal variables of firm performance—a novel approach to investigating knowledge spillovers and innovation activities.     

Estimation of firm-level productivity in the presence of exports: Evidence from China's manufacturing

Motivated by the long-standing interest of economists in understanding the nexus between firm productivity and export behavior, this paper develops a novel structural framework for control-function-based nonparametric identification of the gross production function and latent firm productivity in the presence of endogenous export opportunities that is robust to recent unidentification critiques of proxy estimators. We provide a workable identification strategy, whereby the firm's degree of export orientation provides the needed (excluded) relevant independent exogenous variation in endogenous freely varying inputs, thus allowing us to identify the production function. We estimate our fully nonparametric instrumental variable model using the Landweber–Fridman regularization with the unknown functions approximated via artificial neural network sieves with a sigmoid activation function, which are known for their superior performance relative to other popular sieve approximators, including the polynomial series favored in the literature. Using our methodology, we obtain robust productivity estimates for manufacturing firms from 28 industries in China during the 1999–2006 period to take a close look at China's exporter productivity puzzle, whereby exporters are found to exhibit lower productivity levels than nonexports.     

产业集群知识溢出效应下企业技术创新行为的博弈分析

知识经济时代,技术创新是企业的核心竞争力,知识溢出改变了集群企业技术创新的知识环境。从知识溢出的角度,运用演化博弈模型分析了不同知识环境对企业创新行为决策的影响,认为:知识保护、企业自律是集群可持续发展的必要条件,"知识保护有度,创新有度"是更好的集群创新理念。     

The productivity effects of stock option schemes: evidence from Finnish panel data

In this study we investigate the productivity effects of employee stock option schemes. We estimate Cobb-Douglas production functions by using new panel data for all Finnish publicly listed firms during 1992–2002. The data enable us to distinguish broad-based option plans, for which all employees are eligible, from those selectively allocated to particular employees. For both type of schemes, our baseline fixed effects estimators consistently find statistically insignificant associations with firm productivity. When endogeneity of production inputs and option-schemes are taken into account we continue to find no evidence of a link with firm productivity. Our main findings are consistent with hypotheses that predict negligible effects of option plans for enterprise performance, such as those based on free riding, psychological expectancy theory, accounting myopia, or rent-seeking. We consider reasons why our empirical findings on the impact of broad-based options differ from those found in earlier studies.     

Brain drain or brain bank? The impact of skilled emigration on poor-country innovation

The development prospects of a poor country or region depend in part on its capacity for innovation. In turn, the productivity of its innovators, whom are often concentrated around urban centers, depends on their access to technological knowledge. The emigration of highly skilled individuals weakens local knowledge networks (brain drain) but may also help remaining innovators access valuable knowledge accumulated abroad (brain bank). We develop a model in which the size of the optimal innovator Diaspora depends on the competing strengths of co-location and Diaspora effects for accessing knowledge. Then, using patent citation data associated with inventions from India, we estimate the key co-location and Diaspora parameters. The net effect of innovator emigration is to harm domestic knowledge access, on average. However, knowledge access conferred by the Diaspora is particularly valuable in the production of India’s most important inventions as measured by citations received. Thus, our findings imply that the optimal emigration level may depend, at least partly, on the relative value resulting from the most cited compared to average inventions.     

知识共享对企业技术创新能力的影响分析

知识共享是知识管理的核心，企业通过知识共享，运用集体的智慧提高其应变能力和创新能力。但由于企业内外部环境的日益复杂以及知识共享过程中出现的各种不确定因素，从而阻碍了企业技术创新能力的发挥。本文分析了知识共享中态度、主观规范、自我效能对企业技术创新能力的影响。对这个问题的研究，能有效地帮助企业提升企业技术创新能力、构建技术创新能力体系。     

基于体验视角的酒店企业知识创新研究

酒店企业所提供的服务好坏主要体现在是否能够带给顾客真正的体验价值,这就决定了其服务知识创新必须从顾客体验的视角来进行,才能不断提升服务品质。基于这一视角,酒店企业可以在对顾客服务中遵循知识创新的SRO-ECI过程,包括暗默知识的共同化(S)、关联化(R)、吸收化(O)、表出化(E)以及形式知识的连接化(C)和内化(I)过程。因此,以不断提升顾客体验价值为目标,遵循SRO-ECI知识创新过程来进行酒店服务知识创新,最终会促使酒店企业取得较高的经营绩效。     

Olley and Pakes‐style Production Function Estimators with Firm Fixed Effects

We show that control function estimators (CFEs) of the firm production function, such as Olley–Pakes, may be biased when productivity evolves with a firm‐specific intercept, in which case the correctly specified control function will contain a firm‐specific term, omitted in the standard CFEs. We develop an estimator that is free from this bias by introducing firm fixed effects in the control function. Applying our estimator to the data, we find that it outperforms the existing CFEs in terms of capturing persistent unobserved heterogeneity in firm productivity. Our estimator involves minimal modification to the standard CFE procedures and can be easily implemented using common statistical software.     

论缄默知识在集群创新系统中的传递

产业集群创新系统作为产业创新的助推器,其重要的特点是在其网络下的知识的传递,产业集群内部的知识分为两类,显性知识与缄默知识。缄默知识为产业技术创新成功的重要知识资源,本文对缄默知识的概念做了简单的介绍,并重点研究了其在集群创新系统中的流动与传递,进一步说明了集群创新系统对缄默知识的促进作用。     

知识溢出、产业集群与企业选址

由于知识的外部性,知识溢出这个新的区位因子正逐渐构成企业空间竞争的新变量,成为企业选址的关键因素之一。企业是否选址产业集群,实质上是对集群内知识溢出所带来的正负效应的权衡。一方面,知识溢出具有典型的局域性特征,吸引企业选址同一区域,强化了集群现象;另一方面,作为知识溢出载体的产业集群,通过本地生产网络、合作创新、人才流动、非正式交流等机制促进了知识的流动,在为企业减少创新成本的同时,也增加了集群内企业知识损失的风险。因此,不同特征的企业有不同的选址行为:处于学习和模仿创新阶段的中小企业趋于选址集群内,但是对具有一定规模和较强研发技术能力的企业而言,为了防止信息的泄露,往往定位于集群之外。     

Discrete factor approximations in simultaneous equation models: estimating the impact of a dummy endogenous variable on a continuous outcome

This paper contains a Monte Carlo evaluation of estimators used to control for endogeneity of dummy explanatory variables in continuous outcome regression models. When the true model has bivariate normal disturbances, estimators using discrete factor approximations compare favorably to efficient estimators in terms of precision and bias; these approximation estimators dominate all the other estimators examined when the disturbances are non-normal. The experiments also indicate that one should liberally add points of support to the discrete factor distribution. The paper concludes with an application of the discrete factor approximation to the estimation of the impact of marriage on wages.     

A new approach to the evaluation of process innovations

A technological change should be evaluated as early as possible in its development in order to minimize the chance of investing in an innovation that does not subsequently prove to be economically feasible. In this paper a method is presented for conducting an evaluation while the innovation is still in a conceptual stage of development. To do this, the production process is analyzed in detail and each individual element of the process that might be altered by the innovation is noted. All other elements of the process are ignored. Baseline data on the current performance of the process are collected. Performance of the innovation is estimated as a multiple or fraction of the baseline data for the altered elements. A value-weighted productivity index is used to compare the innovation with the current process.Sensitivity analysis can be performed on the productivity index to find those components of the current production process that are most responsive to change. Used in this way, this method of analysis can become a “driver” for R & D by exposing the parts of the current process that have the greatest potential for contribution to improvement of the productivity index.This method is illustrated in some detail for the case of one conceptual process improvement, laser-assisted machining — for cutting hard-to-machine metals.     

基于协同创新的知识管理模型构建

知识管理是一种全新的管理理念和管理方法,其显著特点就是系统性。我国实施"2011计划",积极推动协同创新,促进政产学研结合,为知识管理的进一步研究工作开辟了新途径。现有的知识管理研究还没有从协同创新的角度,全面系统地分析从知识的原始积累到形成产业化经济的全过程知识管理行为。本文基于协同创新的视角,系统地分析知识管理全运行过程的基本要素,构建基于协同创新的知识管理网络模型,并详细分析知识管理主干系统、协同组织子系统、评价机制子系统的系统结构、运行机理,为知识管理和创新提供一种新的研究方法,并指导科技创新实践工作。     

Markteintritts- und Marktbearbeitungsstrategien kleiner und mittlerer Personalberatungen im Ausland

This article presents the results of an empirical research concerning the strategies of foreign market entry of small- and medium-sized Executive Search Firms from a resource-based perspective. The results show that they tend to mainly use cooperative forms of market entry, although not exclusively. In addition to this, they also opt for export strategies or the establishment of wholly-owned offices. The choice of a specific strategy is highly dependent on the social and human capital of an Executive Search Firm as well as on the experiences and attitudes of the management. The study is embedded in and broadens the existing knowledge of the internationalization of Professional Business Services as well as the internationalization of both small and medium-sized enterprises.     

A global food–energy–water nexus with heterogeneity,non-stationarity and cross-sectional dependence

We estimate the Food–Energy–Water (FEW) nexus for 21 countries worldwide, with data available from year 1990–2000 in order to investigate the relationship between food production and two scarce resources: energy and water. Food production is proxied by four alternative variables: The index of agricultural production, the index of crops production, the index of livestock production and the value added from agriculture. Water and energy as independent variables are controlled by methane and nitrogen emissions, capital, labor and five versions of fertilizer proxy: pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, herbicide and other. For robust estimation, we have perused a number of standard and novel panel estimators such as the common correlated effects mean group estimator and the augmented mean group estimator (AMG). These estimators can account both for non-stationarity and the cross-dependence problems. Based on standard estimators such as the generalized least squares estimator or the Arellano-Bond generalized method of moments GMM, they reveal the existence of a significant FEW nexus while the mean group estimator, the group mean DOLS estimator, the common correlated effects and the augmented mean group estimator (AMG) do not yield significant coefficients for water and energy. In the latter models only labor and pesticides are significant at 5%. Also, the unobserved total factor productivity appears significant at 5% under the AMG estimation. When significant, energy and water elasticities ranged from ? 0.001 to ? 0.256 and from ? 0.014 to ? 0.084 respectively.     

Regression analysis with dichotomous regressors and misclassification

We discuss a regression model in which the regressors are dummy variables. The basic idea is that the observation units can be assigned to some well-defined combination of treatments, corresponding to the dummy variables. This assignment can not be done without some error, i.e. misclassification can play a role. This situation is analogous to regression with errors in variables. It is well-known that in these situations identification of the parameters is a prominent problem. We will first show that, in our case, the parameters are not identified by the first two moments but can be identified by the likelihood. Then we analyze two estimators. The first is a moment estimator involving moments up to the third order, and the second is a maximum likelihood estimator calculated with the help of the EM algorithm. Both estimators are evaluated on the basis of a small Monte Carlo experiment.     

The contribution of research and innovation to productivity

This paper examines the impact of investment in research and innovation on Australian market sector productivity. While previous studies have largely focused on a narrow class of private sector intangible assets as a source of productivity gains, this paper shows that there is a broad range of other business sector intangible assets that can significantly affect productivity. Moreover, the paper pays special attention to the role played by public funding for research and innovation. The empirical results suggest that there are significant spillovers to productivity from public sector R&D spending on research agencies and higher education. No evidence is found for productivity spillovers from indirect public funding for the business enterprise sector, civil sector or defence R&D. These findings have implications for government innovation policy as they provide insights into possible productivity gains from government funding reallocations.     

两种等效益面生产函数与全要素生产率变化率的分解

本文根据规模报酬可变还是规模报酬不变，分别定义了一般等效益面生产函数和典型等效益面生产函数。由一般等效益面生产函数的离散型分解式可以测算一个生产单元的纯技术进步，以及纯技术效率变化对经济增长的贡献；而由典型等效益面生产函数可以将全要素生产率的变化率分解为典型技术进步率、纯技术效率和规模效率的变化率之和。进而由具有明确几何意义的离散型分解式分别测算典型技术进步和规模效率对经济增长的贡献。等效益面生产函数与分解式的几何意义还说明，全要素生产率的改变最终是由技术创新、制度创新和管理创新共同推动的。