Industrial clusters,flagship enterprises and regional innovation

ABSTRACT

For a sample of all 88 counties in the State of Ohio over a 5-year period, this study documents the effect of flagship enterprises and concentrated industrial clusters on regional innovation. Consistent with the agglomeration arguments and the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, both appear to affect regional innovation positively. Additionally, regional educational attainment positively moderates the effect of industrial clusters on innovation. At the same time, flagship enterprises primarily affect regional innovation in regions with low education levels. Results are obtained with the help of conservative econometric techniques and are robust to the choice of alternative dependent variables and estimators. The findings have major policy implications and provide insights into alternative routes to encouraging regional innovation.     

Entrepreneurship and path dependency in regional development

This paper describes a case study of path-dependent industrial development in a specialized medium-sized region characterized by a specialized high-tech industry cluster, located near Norway's capital, Oslo. The case study examines the path-dependent process of new industry arising from technology-related industries through three main branching mechanisms: entrepreneurship, mobility, and social networks. More particularly, the study explores the extent to which regional branching mechanisms relate to different path-dependent processes of path extension, path renewal, or path creation. The case study of industrial development in a medium-sized region that critically examines the concepts of path dependence, and argues that specialized medium-sized regions follow different path processes from core regions due to regional branching that does not happen automatically but instead may require policy action and external investment to avoid stagnation or negative lock-in.     

Territorial dynamic,innovative milieus and regional policy

The change in the hierarchy of regions, observed during the past 20 years, is mainly due to development phenomena, which originated within these regions themselves. The concept of innovative milieu enables us to understand better these phenomena, because it is based on the assumption that there are specific territorial dynamics capable of setting up territorial development of innovation. This paper recalls the origin of the concept of innovative milieu, which is relatively new in the field of regional science, and it aims to give an accurate definition of this concept. Furthermore, the paper shows that the concept of innovative milieu allows regional policy to be considered from a new perspective. In fact, if the territory is not given a priori, but built thanks to the dynamics of the milieus, one can consider that regional collectives have the possibility of promoting and initiating real territorial development.     

Myth-busting and entrepreneurship policy: the case of high growth firms

Abstract

Promoting high growth firms (HGFs) has become a strong fixation within enterprise policy. This is a debate article seeking to examine and challenge the mythology perpetuated by policy makers and embedded within high growth entrepreneurship policy frameworks. Within the article we argue that a number of distinctive ‘myths’ have become deeply embedded within these policy frameworks. Such myths have been built on misconceived preconceptions of HGFs, which has resulted in policy-makers taking a myopic view of these firms. A key aim of the paper is to highlight how false perceptions of HGFs translate into inappropriate policy interventions. The paper challenges some of the most commonly held myths about these firms (that they are predominantly young, small, high-tech, VC-backed, university spin-outs, who grow in an orderly organic fashion, operating similarly irrespective of location) and identifies a clear mismatch between how policy makers perceive HGFs and what they actually look like in reality. Suggestions for the design of future policy approaches are forwarded.     

国外区域经济政策实践及对我国的启示

国外的区域经济政策实践大多有着符合自身国情的特点,但同时也有很多可资借鉴的共同经验,这对我国现阶段制定和实施区域经济政策具有重要的启示作用.     

Entrepreneurship education: the role of local business

Entrepreneurship education is high on political agendas for its contributions to cultural change and economic growth. Scholars have suggested that the local context may influence the results of entrepreneurship education, and have recommended that educators strengthen their relationships with local businesses and help students learn from actual business settings. By combining policy analysis with empirical data, the present qualitative study explores two issues. First, we look at how the role of local business is expressed in entrepreneurship education policy documents. Second, we explore how local entrepreneurial activity and culture may influence how policies are understood and translated into practice at the local level. The findings indicate that collaboration between schools and business life may strengthen, rather than change, existing local development paths. The present paper contributes to the literature and understanding of the interplay between entrepreneurship education policy and the local context and proposes several policy recommendations emerging from the empirical study.     

Entrepreneurship and regional dynamics: the case of Chile

ABSTRACT

During the last 20 years, social and political consensus has afforded the successful gradual implementation of entrepreneurship policy in Chile, transforming the country into one of the world’s most productive entrepreneurship ecosystems. However, the excessive political and economic centralization that has characterized Chile raises the question of whether spatial dependence influences entrepreneurship and what factors have led to this condition. By applying spatial econometric tools to data from 320 districts in Chile during the period 2013–2014, we conclude that there is spatial dependence among districts in Chile in relation to the creation of new businesses and that the immigrant population, the presence of different categories of universities and local patenting capacity are the variables with the greatest positive effect on this dependence.     

Accentuating the interconnection between business sustainability and organizational performance in the context of the circular economy: The moderating role of organizational competitiveness

Sustainability development has gained significant importance in the modern business environment. The primary objective is to conduct an explanatory and quantitative study of the impacts of the social, economic, and environmental dimensions on organizational performance, considering the moderating role of organizational competitiveness. Data were collected from Chinese, Italian, and Romanian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The questionnaires were distributed by applying simple random sampling techniques. The study sample size consists of 320 SME employees. Hierarchical regression was used to investigate the moderating impacts of organizational competitiveness on the relationships of the social, economic, and environmental dimensions and organizational performance. The regression analysis shows a positive relationship between the study variables. Small and medium-sized enterprises are focusing more on sustainable business practices.     

Book review

Although best practice transfer methodologies have become an increasingly common instrument in enterprise policy development, barriers to the exchange and dissemination of knowledge may limit their effectiveness. Using START, an EC-funded network of regional agencies, as a case this paper explores the dynamics of experience exchange in regional enterprise policy. Working closely with the START partnership, the authors developed a detailed account of how the network communicated and disseminated cases and instances of regional start-up policy and practice between themselves. Partners in START were more likely to adapt abstracted principles, concepts and ideas that informed changes to their own practices than to adopt specific initiatives from other regions. This suggests a need to re-focus best practice transfer methodologies away from the transplantation of established practices towards encouraging interactive and collaborative learning based on the sharing of experience.     

The effect of regional factors in the development of eco‐innovations in the firm

This research addresses the study of the effect of regional factors in the development of eco‐innovations in the firm. We assume the hypothesis of regional heterogeneity, that is, geographical factors and the regional heterogeneity play an important role in determining the innovations in the firms. In this line, we will approach our study from the perspective of regional innovation systems (RISs). Therefore, our research question involves the evaluation of regional factors as determinants of eco‐innovation developing in the firm. To examine these questions, the PITEC database that covers the period 2011–2013 was used. Overall, 5,461 firms have been employed for the ordinal logit regression model. This research contributes to the studies of eco‐innovation, extending the investigation into drivers of eco‐innovation, and highlights the impact that RIS has on the eco‐innovative development in the firm. We find that regional interaction and regional characteristics are key elements for the development of eco‐innovation in firms. Thus, the density of companies in the region, the regional per capita income, and the existence of financing mechanisms are key elements for the eco‐innovative development in the firm.     

Impact of Entrepreneurship Education: A Comparative Study of the U.S. and Korea

Over the last two decades, entrepreneurship has emerged as a mainstream business discipline in the United States. Even after the collapse of the dotcom phenomenon, the global explosion of e-business and new business opportunities created by advances in information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) have widely popularized entrepreneurship for new venture creation. But while entrepreneurship is becoming more prevalent throughout the world, its education by country differs according to cultural context. This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of entrepreneurship education in the U.S. and Korea.     

The regional variations of entrepreneurial dynamism: a mixed methods study

ABSTRACT

Given that added knowledge and deeper understanding are needed with regard to regional variations in the creation of new firms, this study seeks to answer the following two research questions: What are the variables that explain entrepreneurial dynamism and how may they be apprehended under the four necessary and complementary dimensions of this phenomenon, namely the demand, supply, institutional and spatial dimensions? And how should the nature and interrelatedness of these dimensions and their associated variables influence regional policymakers and other regional stakeholders in their efforts to stimulate entrepreneurship in their region? In order to do so, we used mixed methods to collect and analyze regional data, first doing a regression analysis of quantitative data on 97 small regions in Canada’s province of Québec, followed by a qualitative survey of regional stakeholders on eight matched pairs of regions. A phenomenological qualitative analysis was then effectuated in order to gain a deeper understanding of the research variables’ effects and thus grasp the complex socio-economic reality of entrepreneurial dynamism in a region. The results of the study confirm the importance and interrelatedness of the four dimensions of entrepreneurial dynamism in providing new insights into these questions. Moreover, the findings that results from these quantitative, qualitative and holistic analyses have implications for the policies of regional authorities and for the actions of other regional stakeholders.     

从区域的视角分析提升烟台城市竞争力的战略

在经济全球化的背景下,国家对经济的干预能力受到了一定程度的限制,作为国家下层主体的区域和城市如何在日趋激烈的竞争中树立自己的竞争优势已成为地方发展的主题.本文以烟台为例,从区域的视角出发,从城市竞争力的研究入手,通过深入了解城市在特定的区域环境里的优势与不足,认清烟台市在区域的实际地位,继而对影响烟台城市发展的区域基础包括城市经济基础、城市引力方向与强度、城市直接影响范围等几个方面进行分析,从中找出城市竞争力提升的制约因素,最后从区域与城市空间联动、基础设施建设、产业发展、对外开放、景观环境建设与城市管理等几个方面对如何提升烟台市的城市竞争力提出有针对性发展战略.     

Sustainable Corporate Entrepreneurship: Performance and Strategies Toward Innovation

The field of sustainable corporate entrepreneurship is in a nascent stage. By developing a position matrix of companies with respect to their corporate entrepreneurship and sustainability performance, we make conceptual contributions to an integrated perspective on elements supporting a sustainable corporate entrepreneurship process. We propose that such a process without evolving corporate sustainability is misleading. Methodologically, we investigate publicly available index ratings to assess strategies for and qualitative measurement of the sustainable development and innovation performance of eight top‐ranked international companies. Findings show that the strategies of the identified companies correspond well to our typology and allow suggestions of where efforts for corporate sustainability and/or entrepreneurship could be reinforced to gain or maintain a benchmark position. The article will clarify underlying elements of, and help to advance strategies for the implementation of, a sustainable corporate entrepreneurship process. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The development of industrial clusters and public policy

This paper assesses the relationships between public policy and the development of industrial clusters. A conceptual model of the relationship between public policies and the development of industrial clusters is developed and tested using data from 43 European industrial clusters. The results indicate that most government policies have no significant impact on the growth of industrial clusters or for the development of co-operation within industrial clusters. There is limited evidence that packages of government policies that are specifically geared towards improving the local asset base are effective in overcoming obstacles to growth of industrial clusters. However, when age is used as a control variable the weak relationship between policy packages and growth of industrial clusters disappear. The results indicate that individual and packages of public policies are not strongly connected to either high levels of co-operation, or high growth in industrial clusters. Moreover, no clear evidence was found that high levels of co-operation were associated with growth in industrial districts. In the light of the failure to find clear-cut associations between public policies and the development of industrial clusters the paper outlines a research agenda to help to increase our understanding of these issues.     

Trade,competitiveness and investment: an empirical assessment

ABSTRACT

The Eurozone crisis has exposed several weaknesses of the European Monetary Union economies. This paper aims to assess the impact on external competitiveness of an expansionary capital stock policy that could contribute to reduce the trade balance asymmetries within the EU and help European exporters to recover their competitive role in international markets. A policy action to increase capital stock accumulation through investment in selected European countries could generate a double dividend: increasing both price and nonprice competitiveness, so stimulating their competitive position as exporters, and consolidating the growth path of EU economy. The analysis employs a bilateral trade model built at INFORUM with several distinguishing characteristics: a comprehensive bilateral data set, econometric estimation of key parameters, and emphasis on sectoral details. Our findings show that a capital stock increase is effective in narrowing trade imbalances within EU. Heterogeneous effects are estimated for commodities in China and the US.     

企业信息化对企业竞争力的影响研究

企业信息化作为推动企业竞争力发展的力量,能将组织内外部生产经营信息在短时间内匹配、整合,对企业生产经营各个环节进行控制、管理,是提升竞争力的重要因素。文中从多角度分析研究了企业信息化对提升企业竞争力的作用及影响机理,着重阐述了信息化通过提升企业创新能力,从而提升竞争力,为企业更好了解信息化、更好地利用信息化完成企业目标提供理论依据和实践指导。     

人文素质与创新创业的关系初探

本文主要探讨了创新创业教育与人文素质教育之间存在的紧密联系,认为创新创业教育与人文素质教育在素质培育层面上有其一致性,人文素质教育能有效弥补创新创业教育的不足,人文素质教育的内容本身可以成为创新创业的实践对象。实施创新创业教育非但不能摒弃人文素质教育,相反,两者相辅相成,密不可分。     

提升郑州市金融产业竞争力探析

郑州市作为中原城市群的中心城市,是实现中原崛起的"领头羊"和"火车头",是区域经济发展的增长极。加快经济发展,实现中原崛起,就必须加快郑州市金融产业发展。提升郑州市金融产业竞争力应该加大扶植型区域金融结构调整政策的力度,实行优惠的市场准入政策,建立多元化的金融机构体系。