Unlocking the potential of advanced manufacturing technologies

This research examines whether investments in advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) such as flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), computer aided design (CAD), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), robotics, etc., are more likely to lead to improved performance if they are supported by improvements in the manufacturing infrastructure of the company. This question is evaluated using data gathered from 202 manufacturing plants chosen from industries generally considered to have relatively high investments in technology.Multiple item scales are developed and adapted from sources in the literature to measure investments in technology, infrastructure, and the performance of the plant. Evidence supporting the reliability and validity of these scales is provided. Hierarchical regression is used to analyze the relationship between technology, infrastructure, and performance. The results suggest that there is an important interaction between the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies and investments in infrastructure. Firms that invest in both AMTs and infrastructure perform better than firms which only invest in one or the other. Separate analyses on sub-samples of firms with the highest and lowest investments in AMTs show that infrastructural investments have a stronger relationship with performance in the high investment group. Thus, the data indicate that infrastructural investments provide a key to unlocking the potential of advanced manufacturing technologies.     

Barriers to investment in the informal venture capital sector

Much of the government intervention into the market ‘gap’ for start-up and early-stage equity finance in the UK is based on the belief that the problem is on the supply side. Based on an analysis of the informal venture capital market this paper argues that there is no shortage of finance available. A survey of business angels reveals that many are willing to allocate a higher proportion of their investment portfolio to investments in unquoted companies, with recent tax incentives having a positive effect on their willingness to invest. Over 90% are currently looking to make more investments. However, there are constraints on their ability to invest: they do not see enough deals that meet their investment criteria, the majority of the investment proposals that they receive are of poor quality, and they are often unable to negotiate acceptable investment terms and conditions with entrepreneurs. The implication is that there is a need for further interventions by policy-makers to remove these barriers so that more small firms can take advantage of the substantial pool of angel finance that is available.     

Sequential Investment, Firm Motives, and Agglomeration of Japanese Electronics Firms in the United States

Recent research finds that firms investing abroad tend to agglomerate with other foreign entrants. Yet firms often invest multiple times within the same host country, which raises the question of whether firms agglomerate with their competitors' or their own prior investments. Collocation's attractiveness also may vary as a firm's entry motives evolve. The activities of prior and present investments often differ—initial investment may be for distribution while later ones might be for manufacturing. For Japanese investment into the United States in the electronics sector from 1980 to 1998, we find that firms tend to collocate only with their own prior investments. The exception is firms with little of their own experience, who tend to collocate with competitors. These results demonstrate the importance of firm heterogeneity in determining agglomeration behavior.     

The effect of human capital on occupational health and safety investment: An empirical analysis of Spanish firms

This paper analyses how firms' human capital influences their investments in occupational health and safety (OHS). We argue that the incentive to protect workers by investing in OHS is a function of the stock of human capital. The empirical analysis was based on data from the official Working Conditions Spanish Survey on OHS management. Our sample was restricted to 1,472 firms from the manufacturing and construction industries. Our results show that firms that place more emphasis on training and have a multiskilled and innovative workforce invest more in OHS. However, having technological and design skills has no impact on the investment in OHS, presumably because these skills are widely available in the labour market. Finally, the analysis suggests that some abilities such as problem solving may be affected by informational asymmetries and therefore firms may suboptimally invest in protecting these capabilities.     

Economics of total quality management

This paper presents two models of the economics of total quality management. In the first, the concept of quality management is viewed as a technological innovation that requires investment. To reduce cost and improve quality, firms must make investments that are largely sunk. The effect of market competition on quality related technology investments is studied. Several results follow. With new quality technologies, price falls, quality rises and average cost declines. Firms must anticipate rivals' technology choices and the market prices when justifying quality technology investments. When all firms quickly adopt quality technology, returns of such investments are normal, that is, have a zero net present value. However, firms that do not invest in quality related technology are forced from the market. A firm that is faced by competitors that are slow to adopt quality related technology, can earn positive returns by early adoption. The firm invests more in quality related technology, and produces higher quality products, charges a higher price and earns higher profits than competitors. The firm's quality, price and profit advantages persist over time. In the second model, we show that firm value increases when customer satisfaction is used as an objective by aligning incentives. This explains the common use of customer satisfaction measures in TQM programs.     

Biting the hand that fed it: Did the stock market boom of the late 1990s impede investment in manufacturing?

The stock market increase in the 1990s may have diverted funds from fixed investments in manufacturing to other investiments, such as share repurchases, and to firms with faster stock price gains. We find that overall investment remained lower than it could have been without the stock price appreciation. We also find that manufacturing investment was impeded by the developments in the stock market. Based on our results, the policy focus should be on offering incentives for corporate decision makers to prioritize productive investments over other uses of funds instead of means to entice lenders to increase lending to manufacturing firms.     

Closing the innovative loop: moving from the laboratory to the shop floor in biotechnology manufacturing

Innovation is a hallmark of successful technology-intensive start-up companies. This paper considers manufacturing as a knowledge-generating activity integral to product innovation in entrepreneurial biotechnology firms. The model of the virtual corporation has been advocated as a means to focus on the resources of start-up companies; yet regional specialization in technical applications and product categories suggests that manufacturing may be a knowledge-generating activity that can provide a potential source of regional advantage. This paper considers the manufacturing strategies that bio-entrepreneurs would like to pursue and explores barriers to forward integration. While capital constraints may force firms to licence and subcontract manufacturing, it was found that entrepreneurs believe that it is important to undertake manufacturing and, when they are financially able, they invest in manufacturing facilities. The authors conclude by providing a framework for considering when it might be most appropriate for biotechnology firms to invest in manufacturing.     

The determinants of voluntary investment decisions

This paper analyses investments by firms into areas of corporate social responsibility, focussing on the decision by firms whether or not to invest in compliance with voluntary environmental standards. Theoretical predictions of the compliance decision are tested using discrete time survival analysis on a large dataset of UK manufacturing firms. The rate of voluntary compliance is found to have increased since the introduction of the International Standards Organization (ISO) scheme. Further, voluntary compliance is found to be negatively associated with rates of return and industry share, and positively associated with capital intensity and industry export intensity. In contrast to theoretical predictions on corporate social responsibility, there is no evidence that investment in intangible assets, either at the firm or the industry level, is positively associated with the compliance decision. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of lead time on capital investments

We study equilibrium investment strategies of firms competing in stochastic dynamic market settings and facing two types of investment structures: investment with significant lead time (or time-to-build) and investment without (or minor) lead time. We investigate how investment behavior changes when investment is subject to time-to-build versus when it is not. We characterize equilibrium investment strategies under several information structures and compare results to the social optimum. We offer some new results. The model predicts that, controlling for demand, and production and investment costs, investments and outputs can be higher in progressive industries (which often exhibit time-to-build) than in fast-paced industries (where time-to-build is insignificant). Furthermore, for both investment types (investment with or without time-to-build) we offer a novel equilibrium in which firms incrementally invest. This behavior is driven by demand uncertainty and capacity constraints. Also, expected outputs are lower than Cournot outputs as firms face uncertainty. Moreover, the amount of uncertainty has different effects over investment types.     

CEO overconfidence and labor investment efficiency

We examine the impact of CEO overconfidence on labor investment efficiency (LIE). The findings suggest that firms with overconfident CEOs are more likely to have lower LIE. The findings are robust to alternative measures of CEO overconfidence and LIE and after accounting for endogeneity and CEO experience, age, managerial ability, high tech industry, and economic recession. Further analysis shows that: i) our findings are not due to the relation between net hiring and contemporaneous non-labor investments and the difference between high- and low-skilled labor, ii) firms with more analyst following, financially constrained firms, and firms located in states with wrongful discharge laws force CEOs to invest more efficiently in labor. In contrast, firms with dominant CEOs or facing high economic policy uncertainty are less efficient in labor investments, iii) firms with overconfident CEOs exhibit higher labor cost stickiness than those of non-overconfident CEOs, and iv) a lower LIE caused by CEO overconfidence has negative impacts on a firm's future profitability.     

Planning processes for advanced manufacturing technology by large American manufacturers

In response to an increasingly competitive environment, many manufacturers have invested in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). While many studies regarding the use of AMT have been performed, little is known about how firms plan and manage their AMT investments. This is surprising given the evidence about the impact such investments can have on an organization. To address this, a survey of large American manufacturing firms was conducted. Respondents were asked, among other questions, why their firms made such investments and the fit with their business strategy; which functional areas were involved in idea generation, the planning process, and proposal assessment; and what the anticipated risks, difficulties and benefits were from making such investments. The results from this survey are provided along with an analysis of the responses.     

Commitment, advertising and efficiency of two-sided investment in competitive search equilibrium

Competitive search entails both commitment to and advertising of pay-off relevant aspects of market participants. This paper considers incrementally the implications of each in a labor market where both workers and firms invest prior to market entry. A wide range of institutional arrangements are addressed within the same general framework. When the characteristics of jobs or workers are advertised the efficient outcome pertains. Commitment without advertising typically leads to market unravelling: the Diamond paradox. But, whenever wages and human capital are advertised, firms become residual claimants; the private and social returns to investment coincide. Absent wage commitment, the Hosios condition implies efficiency when investments are advertised.     

The Economic Incentives and Consequences of Land Write-Ups

Firms in Taiwan are allowed to write up their assets when certain conditions are met. Tax benefits from higher depreciation expenses are granted to encourage corporate investment and capital maintenance. Land write-ups, unlike write-ups of depreciable assets, do not generate tax benefits. This paper investigates the economic incentives for firms in Taiwan to write up their land, and the security price reactions to land write-ups.
An analysis of annual financial data for the manufacturing firms listed in the Taiwan Exchange between 1982 and 1992 shows that firms write up their land by a larger amount when raising capital. Firms with relatively higher debt-asset ratios write up their land by a larger amount. Furthermore, the capital raised was invested in working capital or operational assets, but not in securities of other firms. The results suggest that land write-ups may reduce firms' difficulties in raising external capital, and may enhance corporate investments. The result from capital market analysis offers weak evidence that land write-ups are positively correlated with the market adjusted rate of returns of a firm's stock.     

How to get firms to invest: A simple solution to the hold-up problem in regulation

Abstract. Many governmental programs are effective only if firms make costly investments. The inability of authorities to precommit to a regulatory scheme creates incentives for firms not to invest and to hold-up the regulator. This paper describes a simple subsidy/tax scheme embedded in a four-stage mechanism that solves the hold-up problem. We design a self-financing subsidy/tax scheme which benefits a complying firm at the expense of a non-complying firm. In order to be credible, the subsidy and tax rates must maximize social welfare for any combination of investment decisions. We show that there exists a unique subgame perfect equilibrium in which all firms invest and no actual implementation with subsidies and taxes is required. We discuss in which cases the mechanism can work under incomplete information. Received: 30 December 1998 / Accepted: 12 October 2001     

Taking a Second Look in a Warped Crystal Ball: Explaining the Accuracy of Revised Forecasts

The fundamental questions we address are whether firms with a higher initial forecasting ability are able to accurately revise the exit forecasts of their investments; and how co‐investment partners and value‐adding commitment with their investment influence the main effect. We explore these questions with novel and unique data collected via mixed research methods on venture capital firms’ forecasts of 114 portfolio companies. We find that venture capital firms that are better at making initial forecasts are less effective in revising their forecasts. In addition, while the number of co‐investment partners positively moderate this relationship, venture capital firms’ value‐adding commitment moderates it negatively. Our findings contribute to the literature on organizational forecasting as well as inter‐organizational knowledge transfer and knowledge creation. They also provide novel insights into venture capital literature and practice.     

A micro-econometric analysis of the role of R&D spillovers using a nonlinear translog specification

This paper assesses the impact of Research and Development (R&D) spillovers on production for a panel of 1,203 Italian manufacturing firms over the period 1998–2003.The estimations are based on a nonlinear translog production function augmented by a measure of R&D spillovers which combines the geographical distance between firms, the technological similarity within each pair of firms and the technical efficiency of each firm. The estimation method takes into account the endogeneity of regressors and the potential sample selection issue regarding the decision by firms to invest in R&D. Results show that the translog production function is more suitable than the Cobb-Douglas for modelling firm behaviour and that returns to scale are increasing. Moreover, the internal and external stocks of technology exert a significant impact on firms’ production. Finally, it emerges that, for Italian manufacturing firms, R&D capital and R&D spillovers are highly substitutes.     

Asymmetric information and inside management trading in the Chinese market

Insider trading incentives have been widely examined in stock markets, but mainly in developed countries. Given the fact that the volatility of stock exchange markets in emerging economies is typically even higher, there is a need for research to explore the extent to which information asymmetry plays a role in management trading incentives in emerging economies. To address this research need, this study examines management trading incentives in relation to investment efficiency in Chinese listed firms on the main board and on the small- to medium-enterprises (SME) board in the period 2006 to 2017. We find that executives buy shares when firms’ investments are more efficient. The frequency of management buying also increases with investment efficiency. However, managers do not sell their shares according to firms’ investment efficiency. Moreover, executives of firms listed on the main board trade more on the asymmetric information of investment efficiency than those on the SME board.     

Understanding the Inputs into Innovation: Do Cities Substitute for Internal Firm Resources?

We examine whether there is a trade-off between employing internal (firm) resources and purchased external (local) resources in process innovation. We draw on a rich dataset of Internet investments by 86,879 US establishments to examine decisions to invest in advanced Internet technology. We show that the marginal contribution of internal resources is greater outside of a major urban area than inside one. Agglomeration is less important for firms with highly capable IT workers. When firms invest in innovative processes they act as if resources available in cities are partial substitutes for both establishment-level and firm-level internal resources.     

A taxonomy of ecopreneurship in small manufacturing firms: A multidimensional cluster analysis

This study presents a multidimensional taxonomy of “ecopreneurship” for small manufacturing firms. Based on a cluster analysis of 312 Swedish firms, four distinct clusters are identified: pioneers, green dumpers, overlookers, and recyclers. These clusters are compared regarding their level of entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Based on the results, and because of the resource constraints associated with small firms, managers of such companies are advised to examine the economic consequences of specific environmental business practices and to adopt a less aggregated approach to ecopreneurship. This study illustrates the usefulness of a multidimensional scale when researching environmental behaviors and is a response to the lack of an empirically based classification of ecopreneurship configurations.