Investments in R&D and innovative behavior: an exploratory cross-country study

The relationship between investments in research and development (R&D) and innovative behavior, measured in terms of new products or services being delivered to the market, is well documented in the literature. This paper departs from the extant literature in that the unit of observation is a country rather than a firm. Using World Bank aggregate data, this level of analysis thus allows for a systematic study of cross-country observations on an R&D ? Innovation relationship.

     

Small-medium enterprises and innovative startups in entrepreneurial ecosystems: exploring an under-remarked relation

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - To date, contributions in the field of entrepreneurial ecosystems have mainly focused on definitions, actors, key attributes, consequences on...     

A necessary and sufficient condition for an NTU fuzzy game to have a non-empty fuzzy core

In 2004, Predtetchinski and Herings [A. Predtetchinski, P.J.J. Herings, “A necessary and sufficient condition for non-emptiness of the core of a non-transferable utility game”, Journal of Economic Theory 116 (2004) 84–92] provided a necessary and sufficient condition for non-emptiness of the core of a non-transferable utility game. In this paper, we extend this theorem to its counterpart in fuzzy games and give a necessary and sufficient condition for a non-transferable utility fuzzy game to have a non-empty fuzzy core. As a consequence, we derive a necessary and sufficient condition for non-emptiness of the fuzzy core of a TU fuzzy game.     

Analysis of innovation in SMEs using an innovative capability-based non-linear model: A study in the province of Seville (Spain)

This article analyzes organizational characteristics associated with innovative outcomes of SMEs in local economies with a low level of technological and R&D activities, where the indicators generally used to gauge technological innovation do not offer sufficient data. For the study of innovation in such economies, we propose a conceptual model based on innovative capability which also includes explanatory variables of environment and other contextual factors of the firms. Through a process of filtering spurious variables and incorporating quadratic components, we have varied the original linear structure to form a quadratic model with greater explanatory capacity and better results. The resulting quadratic model has undergone various contrasts of hypotheses, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of the model as a whole and of its basic components, as well as the importance of the main explanatory variables. Finally, the model has also proven to be valid in all sectors.     

Using mixed methods for the analysis of individuals: a review of necessary and sufficient conditions and an application to welfare state attitudes

When studying individuals, when is the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods better than just one method alone? Whereas the debate in macro-level research, such as in political science about comparing nations, has made progress in identifying meaningful logics for a combination of methods, it is yet unclear how these logics can be applied to the study of individuals. Individual-level dynamics are in tendency less inert than those of nations or organisations. Therefore, a combination of methods is more difficult to justify in individual-level analysis since differences in measurement results could be due to changes in the dynamics rather than due to the application of different techniques. In contrast, the assumption of unit homogeneity seems to be more easily met for individuals than for countries or other higher-level aggregates, facilitating a comparison of like and like. First, this article presents a compilation of conditions scattered across the literature for the analysis of individuals, according to which a mixed-method is preferable to a single-method approach. Second, the application of these conditions is illustrated with an analysis of the impact of intergenerational relationships on welfare state attitudes in Germany on the basis of survey and focus group data.     

Rent-seeking in an emerging market: A DSGE approach

Due to the fact that rent-seeking is by definition an unobservable variable, measuring its size and evolution over the business cycle can be a daunting challenge. In this article, by embedding rent-seeking behavior in an otherwise standard open-economy DSGE model, we are able to derive a quarterly time series of this variable (expressed as a percentage deviation from the trend) for an emerging economy such as Brazil. The estimated series, spanning the period 2002Q1?2017Q4, shows a strong positive correlation with the “Commodity Super Cycle” of the 2000 decade and falls as a result of some political scandals and their ensuing investigations, among other driving forces. We also rely on the same model to assess how several shocks hitting the economy affect both rent-seeking and the relevant macroeconomic variables in our model. Barring monetary expansions, increased exports and higher income transfers to households, expansionary shocks are associated with lower rent-seeking activity. Factoring in these two sets of results, the upshot is that rent-seeking behavior shows a pattern of procyclicality in the Brazilian economy.     

Optimal taxation in an RBC model: A linear-quadratic approach

We reconsider the optimal taxation of income from labor and capital in the stochastic growth model analyzed by Chari et al. [1994. Optimal fiscal policy in a business cycle model. Journal of Political Economy 102, 617–652; 1995. Policy analysis in business cycle models. In: Cooley, T.F. (Ed.), Frontiers of Business Cycle Research. Princeton University Press, Princeton], but using a linear-quadratic (LQ) approximation to derive a log-linear approximation to the optimal policy rules. The example illustrates how inaccurate ‘naive’ LQ approximation – in which the quadratic objective is obtained from a simple Taylor expansion of the utility function of the representative household – can be, but also shows how a correct LQ approximation can be obtained, which will provide a correct local approximation to the optimal policy rules in the case of small enough shocks. We also consider the numerical accuracy of the LQ approximation in the case of shocks of the size assumed in the calibration of Chari et al. We find that the correct LQ approximation yields results that are quite accurate, and similar in most respects to the results obtained by Chari et al. using a more computationally intensive numerical method.     

A semi-automated system for interoperability assessment: an ontology-based approach

ABSTRACT

A plethora of approaches to assess the ability of companies to interoperate can be found in the literature. Nevertheless, most of the current assessment approaches are following manual-conducted processes, which can be laborious, time-consuming and costly. Therefore, this paper aims at developing a knowledge-based system for supporting an interoperability assessment process using an ontology as its knowledge model. The resulting system allows identifying potential interoperability problems and related solutions based on the knowledge model including information of the assessed enterprise(s). A real business case is presented for evaluating the proposed approach.     

Equilibrium models with land: A criticism and an alternative

Models of economies either of urban areas or with local public goods often involve the use of a continuum of consumers along with the use of a commodity called land; each consumer generally owns a parcel of land of positive area. The purpose of the present study is to show that such models are internally inconsistent (independent of the other assumptions employed) in that only countably many consumers can own parcels of land of non-zero area if land lies in a Euclidean space. This result applies, in particular, to monocentric city models. Moreover, it is shown that the standard justification for the use of economies with an infinity of agents, that they approximate large economies with a finite number of consumers, does not necessarily apply in the case of economies with land and a continuum of consumers. A model where land is represented by subsets of $\text{R}$² is presented as an alternative.     

Determinants of Entry in an Emerging Economy: A Multilevel Approach

The dynamics of the world economy and global competition patterns are encouraging multinational enterprises (MNEs) to expand into emerging economies. This study validates the proposition that entry mode selection in an emerging economy is influenced by situational contingencies at four levels: nation, industry, firm, and project. Analysis of data collected from China suggests that the joint venture is preferred when perceived governmental intervention or environmental uncertainty is high or host country experience is low. The wholly-owned entry mode is preferred when intellectual property rights are not well protected, the number of firms in the industry is growing fast, the need for global integration is high, or the project is located in an open economic region. The importance of these multilevel determinants requires simultaneous and inseparable considerations of the risk, return, control, and resource effects of the entry mode decision. This necessitates a theoretical integration of multiple perspectives such as transaction cost, the eclectic paradigm, bargaining power, and organizational capability.     

The employee selection interview: A fresh look at an old problem

This article takes a fresh look at employee selection interviews as they are practiced in most organizations. Interviewers' selection decisions are demonstrated to be idiosyncratic and it is concluded that variation in interviewers' decision processes jeopardizes organizational effectiveness. Practical recommendations for improving employment interviews are offered. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

薄熙来:中国卖出8亿件衬衫才能买回一架A380

<正>“中国只有卖出8亿件衬衫才能进口一架空客380。”5月3日,身在巴黎的中国商务部部长薄熙来给在场的法国企业家算了这样一笔账。在巴黎工商会举行的“中法中小企业合作洽谈会”上,薄熙来应对法国以至欧盟国家对中国纺织品的恐惧心态在讲话中强调了同步发展的理念,并赢得数百名与会者的阵阵掌声。     

A further procedure for ordering an input-output matrix: some empirical evidence

In a recent paper Ghosh and Sarkar [5] have developed a model of input-output systems as spatial configurations. Roy has proposed a more efficient solution method; but computation time still increases factorially which rules out its use for large matrices. [15] This note shows that the problem they have formulated belongs to a class of discrete programming problems known as placement or assignment problems. Several natural extensions are briefly discussed. More importantly, an efficient algorithm for the quadratic assignment problem is used to compute the optimal ordering of five comparable input-output matrices (US, Norway, Japan, Italy, India). These preliminary empirical results do show rather stable assignment patterns for the industries; and certain clusters of industries are shown to emerge as hypothesized by Ghosh and Sarkar.The author wishes to thank an anonymous referee for some important clarifying remarks on a preliminary version of this paper.     

Building influence as an outsider: A theoretical approach to cross-cultural impression management

This paper explores the process by which an international newcomer may increase her influence in workgroup decisions. We present a theoretical approach to cross-cultural impression management to describe how the link between cultural differences and workplace influence may be effectively enhanced, specifically by focusing on proactive behaviors shaping self, target, and contextual perceptions. This perspective makes conceptual additions to the human resources, impression management, and cross-cultural management literatures and provides a foundation for increasing the benefits of diversity in organizations.     

Project Leadership in Becoming: A Process Study of an Organizational Change Project

Drawing on the current research in general leadership, we propose that a process ontology is relevant and rewarding for project leadership studies. We argue that project leadership can be studied as the ongoing social production of direction through the construction of actors’ space of action, involving continuous construction and reconstruction of (1) past project activities and events; (2) positions and areas of responsibility; (3) discarded, ongoing, and future issues; and (4) intensity, rhythm, and pace. Through an ethnographic case study of an organizational change project, we show how space of action and hence the project direction are in constant flux and becoming.     

Leadership as an Ideograph: A Rhetorical Analysis of Military Leadership Training Material

The current rhetorical study used McGee's theory of ideographs to identify how cultural politics influence efforts to portray “leadership” in a military setting. Such an approach seeks to better address some of the enigmas that have complicated the understanding of military leadership—and leadership in general—for decades. McGee's theory emphasizes that language reflects political as well as referential qualities and, in some instances, these attributes come into conflict. Acknowledging this reality in an applied setting can help address ambiguous issues that escape the net of prevailing social‐science approaches to leadership inquiry. The rhetorical analysis, which examines U.S. Air Force leadership training material, documents the manner in which ideographic portrayals of leadership were pervasive in each training program, and it considers practical implications of such a situation. Most notably, the analysis provides an explanation of how ideographic portrayals of leadership implicitly emphasize cultural indoctrination over promoting social influence skills. Such an orientation fortifies the military hierarchy and perpetuates romantic views of the military profession, but it also blurs key distinctions between social control and social influence. It is suggested that because ideographs reflect vital cultural motives, associated problems are inherently difficult to remedy.