The Evolution of the Distribution of Plant Size: Evidence from Luxemburg

In a recent paper, [Cabral, L. M. B. and J. Mata, 2003, American Economic Review, 93, 1075–1090] using Portuguese manufacturing data have shown for the first time that the plant size distribution is significantly right-skewed at the early part of the life cycle and then changes to become more log-normal. Using a similar proxy for plant age we compare this stylised fact for both Luxembourg manufacturing and services. Use of plants’ true age, however, reveals that the size distribution reverses back towards right-skewness for very old plants. We confirm the finding that the right-skewness is likely driven by financial constraints. The first author gratefully acknowledges financial support from the National Research Fund of Luxembourg. We are grateful for comments by an anonymous referee.     

Patterns of Industrial Conflict in Private Sector Service Industries: Evidence from British Survey Data

Patterns of industrial conflict in four major British service industries are analysed using large-scale survey data. The data confirm that strike rates are lower in the service sector than in manufacturing industry. In comparison with manufacturing, service sector establishments appeared less likely to experience multiple stoppages, their disputes involved a smaller proportion of the workforce and more workforce sections were found to be taking action for the first time. The major determinant of the pattern of industrial action appeared to be bargaining structures characterised by multi-employer, industry-wide agreements. The incidence of non-strike action and very short stoppages indicates that official strike returns significantly understate the extent of conflict in service industries.     

会计师事务所规模与审计质量——基于审计意见视角的经验研究

文章利用沪深两市上市公司2007-2008年数据,以审计意见类型作为审计质量的替代变量,并分别以业务收入、CPA人数和从业人员人数来衡量事务所规模,检验事务所规模与审计质量之间的关系。结果发现,无论采用何种方法度量事务所规模,其与审计质量之间均未表现出显著的正向关系。进一步的研究发现,事务所规模与审计质量之间大体上呈倒U相似文献   

企业成长视角的利益相关者利益要求差异研究

企业与利益相关者之间所缔结的综合性社会契约是利益相关者利益要求的根源,综合性社会契约的复杂性造成企业对利益相关者利益要求认知的差异。文章通过实证研究,从企业成长的视角,对不同规模与不同生命周期的企业对利益相关者利益要求的认知差异进行识别与分析。根据研究结果,文章建议社会各方应给予中小型企业与衰退期企业更多关心与关注,以促使其更好地回应利益相关者利益要求,强化其社会责任意识。     

Going Public to Grow? Evidence from a Panel of Italian Firms

This paper investigates the consequences of the decision to go public for the growth of Italian firms using US firms as a benchmark for comparison. We find Italian firms conducting IPOs are larger than US firms, but raise fewer funds from the IPO and grow more slowly afterwards. We also compare Italian IPOs across time. Firms going public in the 1990s display features that are more similar to US IPOs. We describe changes to the Italian economy and financial markets that are potentially responsible for the change. We compare firms of different size and with different governance structures, and we find that they behave differently after going public. Our results suggest that going public does not guarantee faster growth or more jobs. As such, public policies that simply increase access to equity markets may not be effective unless they provide incentives for the firms’ decision-makers to use the new capital to grow.      

Does Gibrat’s Law Hold? Evidence from Canadian Retail and Manufacturing Firms

This paper investigates the validity of Gibrat’s Law holding for firms in manufacturing and retail trade sectors. The object is to expand our knowledge of Gibrat’s Law to include non-manufacturing firms. A unique longitudinal firm-level database, which contains information on Canadian incorporated establishments, enables the inter-industry comparison. The findings of the analysis are that Gibrat’s Law is violated in both manufacturing and retail sectors. Violations of Gibrat’s Law for both sectors include (i) growth rates that depend on firm size (ii) growth variability that depends on firm size and (iii) a negative persistence of firm growth. Finally, age effects or selection effects are not the causes of these violations.      

产业转型视角下的制造业与服务业融合

制造业与服务业之间由分工走向互补和创新融合,形成以供需循环、创新循环和协同发展为特征的内在联动关系,本质上可以促进我国的产业转型和经济发展。要构建功能完善的服务支撑体系,提高制造业与服务业的融合度;培育和发展产业集群;大力发展制造业和服务业产业链的高端部分;加快发展金融服务业等重点领域的综合竞争力,培育新兴服务业的成长力,进一步增强服务业发展后劲;不断提升制造业和服务业融合发展的创新力,进一步拓展制造业和服务业融合的发展模式。     

知识产权保护与离岸采购——基于美国制造业数据的研究

在全球生产网络深入发展和国际贸易与投资规则日益向边境内扩展的背景下,知识产权保护如何影响企业的离岸采购活动?本文用美国行业数据进行分析后发现,贸易伙伴国知识产权保护的加强对美国各产业离岸水平具有显著的促进作用,说明企业会将更多高技术水平的生产环节转移到知识产权保护强度较高的国家,一国加强知识产权保护有助于承接更多高技术生产环节。     

Choice of Diversification Strategies in an Emerging Market: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Industries

The study seeks to measure the strategic choice of industries over different dynamic phases in the Indian economic environment. The total sample of 536 companies has been divided into 14 industries as per Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. The paper also categorizes companies as per the cyclical changes in the economy, that is, growth, cyclical, and defensive industries. Evidence suggests that choice of diversification is industry specific and concurrently affected by the environmental conditions prevailing in the emerging economy. Food and beverages, plastic/rubber, and electrical equipment industries follow higher categories of diversification than other industries.     

Trade Patterns in the Automobile Industry: Some Evidence from South Africa

In this article the authors analyze trade patterns in the South African automobile industry using disaggregated harmonized system product-level data. The significance of intraindustry trade is estimated and separated into patterns of horizontally differentiated (by variety) intraindustry trade and vertically differentiated (by quality) intraindustry trade. The results indicate the presence of significant levels of intraindustry trade in automotive trade flows between South Africa and bilateral trading partners. In accordance with theoretical expectations, the empirical investigation reveals that intraindustry trade in South Africa's automobile industry is dominated by vertical intraindustry trade. Moreover, in recent years the analysis reveals some evidence that, within vertical intraindustry trade, South Africa's automobile industry produces and exports high-quality automotive products aligned with international fragmentation-based production and trade.     

陕西省装备制造业与服务业产业关联分析

运用投入产出分析方法,着重对陕西省装备制造业和服务业进行了产业关联效应分析。结果表明,装备制造业和生产者服务业对自身产业及其他产业具有显著的产业关联效应;消费者服务业的产业关联效应也在逐渐增强。     

供应链集中度与企业创新——基于中国制造业上市公司的实证研究

信息技术革命和国际垂直分工深刻地改变了全球制造业的生产格局和竞争基础,传统的企业间竞争正逐渐演化为供应链间的竞争。对2011-2018年A股制造业上市公司的实证分析发现：供应商集中度负向影响企业创新,但这一效应在市场地位较高的企业中得到弱化;客户集中度与企业创新则呈显著正相关,且在市场地位较高的企业中得到强化。研究还发现,融资约束缓解是供应链集中度影响企业创新活动的作用渠道。研究对于供应链与创新活动之间的关系做出了文献贡献,并对创新驱动发展战略下企业根据自身市场地位权变性地从事创新活动提供了实践指导。     

Areas of Corruption in the Distribution of Foreign-Made Goods Where a Firm's Size and Origin Play a Role: The Russian Experience

Drawing on interview evidence, this article explores areas whereby business corruption in Russia affects distributors of foreign goods with both local and foreign ownership and whether its effects on distributors of small and large sizes vary. The findings reveal the areas of corruption wherein distributors of foreign goods in Russia are most likely to be affected and suggest that, though widespread in Russia, corruption may have far greater effect on smaller distributors as compared to large firms. Large distributing firms can avoid involvement in corruption in some of the areas explored. This in turn may limit small-sized foreign manufacturers' capability to compete in this market, as they are most likely to be able to contract only to small-sized distributors. The study presents findings that are based on interviews with the distributors of foreign-made goods operating in Russia. The findings of the study can help to explain activities of corruption as related to the size of business firms involved in distribution of foreign products in Russia. Hence, its value to firms contemplating export to Russia. The research can also be considered a valuable platform for further research in this field.     

Competition,firm size and returns to skills: Evidence from currency shocks and market liberalisations

We investigate the impact of product market competition on returns to skills in Italy using a longitudinal dataset on individual working histories. This impact is identified using three exogenous shocks affecting competition: the unforeseen devaluation of the Lira in 1992, its return to a fixed exchange regime in 1996 and the market liberalisation in the utility and transport sectors in the late 1990s–early 2000s. We analyse how firm heterogeneity and shocks of different types and signs affect the impact of competition on skill premia. We find that opposite shocks have opposite effects: an increase (resp. decrease) in international competition increases (resp. decreases) skill premia. Moreover, international shocks have greater effects on medium sized firms, while domestic liberalisation shocks have greater effects on large incumbents.     

Firm Size and Cooperation: The Determinants of Cooperative Agreements in Information Technology Industries

This paper aims to shed light on factors that lead firms to resort to collaborative ventures. Specific attention is devoted to the role of firm size. The study relies on an extensive econometric analysis of a representative sample of firms in three Information Technology industries (semiconductor, data processing, and telecommunications). Data relating to the number and type of agreements concluded by firms, provided by the ARPA database developed at Politecnico di Milano, are correlated with firm–, industry– and country–specific variables. The findings of the econometric estimates point to the importance of firm size, scope of activity within the industries considered, diversification in related industries, and, to a less extent, degree of internationalization in explaining use of agreements. Moreover, the study provides preliminary evidence in support of a complementary relation between interfirm linkages and R&D expenditures. A positive correlation with growth rates also seems to emerge. In contrast, the s regarding the relation between internal capital expenditures and recourse to agreements are mixed.     

Firm Growth and Liquidity Constraints: A Dynamic Analysis

Using a large unbalanced panel data set of Portuguese manufacturing firms surviving over the period from 1990 to 2001, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether liquidity constraints faced by business firms affect firm growth. We use a GMM-system to estimate a dynamic panel data model of firm growth that incorporates cash flow as a measure of liquidity constraints and persistence of growth. The model is estimated for all size classes, including micro firms. Our findings reveal that smaller and younger firms have higher growth-cash flow sensitivities than larger and more mature firms. This is consistent with the suggestion that financial constraints on firm growth may be relatively more severe for small and young firms. Nevertheless, the same finding can be interpreted in a different way if we consider the more recent literature which interpret the higher investment/cash flow sensitivity of younger and smaller firm in absence of financial market imperfection as the outcome of these firms reaction to the fact that realisation of their cash flows reveals them the direction to go in presence of uncertainty of their growth prospect. Besides, firms that were small and young at the beginning of the sample period exhibited more persistent growth than those that were large and old. Finally, these results have significant policy implications.      

Firm Size and Innovation in European Manufacturing

The paper investigates the differences between small, medium-sized and large firms regarding their performance in the introduction of new products and processes. After a review of the relevant literature, two models are proposed and tested in search for different business strategies and innovation inputs connected to product and process innovations. The empirical analysis uses innovation survey (CIS 2) data at the industry level for 22 manufacturing sectors, broken down in three firm size classes, for eight European countries. Special attention is devoted to tackling the issues of possible endogeneity of the regressors and of unobserved sectoral heterogeneity. The results – strengthening the findings of previous studies – show that product and process innovations, though having some complementarities, are associated to different innovative inputs and strategies pursued by firms. Systematic differences also emerge between the behaviour of large firms and SMEs.      

Startup Size and Pre‐Entry Experience: New Evidence from Italian New Manufacturing Ventures

The paper studies the nonlinear effects of the different types of founders' pre‐entry experience on startup size. Our empirical data consists of 3,456 Italian new ventures in 20 industries. We find that the presence of industry‐specific experience and entrepreneurial experience have a positive effect on startup size while generic experience does not exert any effect on startup size. Moreover, we find that industry‐specific experience has positive but diminishing returns on startup size up to a point where additional amounts of experience have negative effects on startup size (inversed U‐shaped relationship).     

Industrial policy,structural transformation and economic growth: Evidence from China

Industrial policy is an important means for governments to promote industrial development and accelerate economic growth. This paper mainly uses the Chinese Law and Regulation Database as the source of the relevant laws and regulations of China’s industrial policies from 2003 to 2015. On this basis, it empirically examines the impact of industrial policies on economic growth. The study finds that China’s industrial policy has significant positive effects on economic growth and that industrial structure rationalization is an important channel of industrial policy to improve economic growth. The findings are also valid under a series of robustness tests and endogenous corrections. The results of heterogeneity tests confirm that there are heterogeneous effects pertaining to industrial policy on economic growth among different subregional areas, administrative levels, industrial development stages, and industrial policy types. Overall, this paper supports the hypothesis that industrial policy has positive effects on economic growth and, accordingly, provides a basis for industrial policy implementation.     

Role of Family Resources in Firm Performance: Evidence from Tanzania

The main purpose of this article is to examine the role of intangible family resources in the performance of family enterprises in Tanzania. In particular, the article examines the role of information sharing, family patient capital and family labor in firm performance. Using a sample of 163 family firms and the structural equation model of analysis, the findings indicate that family patient capital and information sharing contribute significantly to the performance of firms. With regard to the cost of labor, the study does not show any evidence that lower labor costs improve family firms' performance, most probably because these businesses incur additional labor costs which are not directly linked to the business. Based on the results, it is concluded that the family has an influence on the strategic level of family businesses, thereby contributing to their success.