Business Dynamics and Efficiency in Industries and Regions: The Case of Spain

High rates of firm births and deaths are a pervasive phenomenon across industries and territories. Most studies have related the great turbulence at the fringe of practically all manufacturing industries to positive effects on the long-run performance of industries. According to these views business turbulence, although it has a relatively small incidence on net entry, leads to allocative improvement and stimulates innovation. The existing set of empirical studies does not reach clear conclusions, however, and many questions are still open. Our contribution analyses the relationship between business dynamics in manufacturing and the growth of total factor productivity in industries and regions. After a review of current literature on entry and exit it is argued that most models are tailored to suit the processes observed in industries and regions that are near the technological frontier, and we propose an approach that could be more representative of middle range economies such as Spain. According to this approach new firms are seen more as users of innovations than producers of innovations. We adopt a model based on a vintage capital framework in which new entrants embody the edge technologies available and exiting businesses are supposed to represent the most marginal obsolete plants. Both industries and regions are represented by a Hall's type production function which controls for imperfect competition and economies of scale. The results show that both entry and exit rates contribute positively to the growth of total factor productivity in industries and in regions.     

Net Entry of Firms into Greek Manufacturing: The Effects of Business Conditions

This research explores the nature and causes of net entry into manufacturing industry in Greece. Previous work has rarely considered these issues in the context of small, but open, and not particularly industrialised economies. The exact nature of the focus of interest – net entry – is discussed first, illustrating that this is a complex variable to account for, although arguably still interesting and useful. Net entry needs to be considered as variable worthy of study in its own right as it reflects an outcome of processes of gross entry and exit. Certainly it need not be interpreted only as entry as is often the case. Next comes the question of the degree of variation, both temporally and sectorally, that net entry exhibits in the context of contemporary Greek manufacturing. Some temporal variation in net entry rates is demonstrated, and there follows a discussion of how such variation might be explained potentially in theory. The empirical testing of these hypotheses point to findings that are different to those discovered in different contexts. For Greek manufacturing, profitable business opportunities were not shown to be a sufficient condition of higher net entry, but the cost advantages of large scale operations did both encourage entry and discourage exit. The cost of capital and the overall condition of the economy were negatively related to net entry. However the role of industry growth, import penetration and export orientation tend to confirm findings in other studies.     

Innovation investment,competitiveness, and performance in industrial firms

Intangible assets and research and development (R&D) expenditure are essential instruments in a firm's competitive productivity and profitability strategy. The relationship between productivity, tangible and intangible investments, and R&D expenditure has given rise to much analysis concerning the importance of the role played by intangible investment in the achievement of higher competitiveness. Using the Spanish database of the Fundación Empresa Pública‐Ministerio Industria (FUNEP) for the period 1991–2001, with an average of 1,800 firms per year taken from 20 industries and classified in six sectoral groups, we compare the possible relationship of the former variables with firms' profitability and productivity. The empirical results obtained show the importance of tangible investments and unit labor costs for achieving high productivity levels. R&D expenditure and intangible capital are shown to be complementary variables of the aforementioned aspects that have a delayed effect on the productivity and profitability of Spanish industries. The relevance of the prior variables differs according to whether we are referring to industrial sectors characterized by important economies of scale, intensive in capital or labor. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Dynamic Entry and Exit Linkages in the Brazilian Manufacturing Industry: An Econometric Investigation

The paper investigates dynamic linkages between entry and exit rates in Brazilian manufacturing in the context of 231 (four-digit) industries during the 1996–2005 period. The empirical analysis focuses on the estimation of a dynamic panel data model for entry and exit rates, and controls for the business cycle and structural characteristics, such as industrial concentration and suboptimal scale. The empirical evidence is partially consistent with a multiplier effect where synergetic factors prevail by exit inducing exit. Evidence partially supports a competition effect that could be related to a selection process favoring efficiency, as exit induces entry. The business cycle control variable and the aforementioned structural variables appear to play no role in delineating entry and exit linkages. The results are similar, although not identical, to previous evidence for developed countries.     

Scale economies,entry, and welfare

This study shows how scale economies, initial size differences among firms, potential competition, and adjustment costs may influence the entry of firms into a dynamic oligopoly. It also examines the effects of these factors on the final size distribution of firms in an industry, and on the welfare levels of consumers and producers. We find that low to moderate scale economies are insufficient for Cournot-Nash competition to drive small firms from the market. Only when scale economies are quite high will the distribution of firm sizes become degenerate. Potential competition and the size of incumbent firms' capital stocks are additional barriers to entry. The welfare conclusion is that there may be a government role to preserve potential competition, but also to dissuade small firms from entering certain markets where there are economies of scale.     

The Determinants of and Interaction between Entry and Exit in Taiwan's Manufacturing

Based upon substantial high firm turnover rates, various policy incentives, and developed subcontracting-networks, this paper investigates structure and firm-specific factors that determine the entry and exit rate across industries. The interaction between entry and exit rates of the industry is incorporated in the study, namely the "displacement", "replacement" and "instantaneous causal" effects. The regression results indicate that entry and exit rates are determined by different measures of entry or exit barriers but the effects are not fully symmetric. It is also evident that underlying entry or exit sunk- costs introduced the instantaneous movement of entry and exit rates. In addition, the entry of new plants has a moderate effect to facilitate the displacement or market selection process to displace the inefficient producers but no significant replacement effect is found. The policy implication being that the government support encourages entry it also increases the industry failure rates.     

Interdependencies in the Dynamics of Firm Entry and Exit

This paper investigates the interdependence between firm entry and exit from an industrial dynamics perspective. The paper discusses how entry and exit rates in industrial sectors are affected by previous exit and entry rates. Economic theory presents two different approaches to how entry and exit of firms are interrelated, the multiplier effect and the competition effect. This paper intends to investigate which force is the predominant one, for entry and exit patterns, respectively. The empirical analysis is based on data for 25 Swedish manufacturing industries at the 2-digit SIC level, during the period 1991–2000. In the estimation work the study applies a dynamic panel data approach as suggested by Anderson and Hsiao [Journal of the American Statistical Association, 76:598–606, 1981] and Arellano and Bond [Review of Economic Studies, 58(2):277–297, 1991]. With respect to entry, the empirical results support the multiplier effect such that entry stimulates future entry, but also a competition effect such that past exit induces additional entry. With regard to exit, on the other hand, the competition effect rules, implying that previous entry causes subsequent exit and previous exit reduces subsequent exit.      

External Economies of Scale and Insufficient Entry

Empirical evidence suggests that many industries are characterized by external economies of scale, yet the literature on the welfare effects of entry has ignored this aspect. We show that entry can be insufficient instead of excessive in the presence of external economies of scale. Using an example with specific demand and cost functions and Cournot competition, we show that insufficient entry occurs for any positive cost of entry and the possibility of insufficient entry increases with a higher cost of entry. Hence, anti-competitive entry regulation may not be justified in industries with strong external economies of scale, which may occur due to knowledge spillover.     

A new tale of two cities: Japanese FDIs in Shanghai and Beijing, 1979–2003

Transitional economies can be characterized by considerable sub-national variation in economic and political characteristics. We investigate how this variance influences the timing of entry, entry mode, industrial traits, and survival rates for Japanese foreign direct investments (FDIs) made in China's two major metropolises—Shanghai, the economic center, and Beijing, the political capital. Using a sample of 1610 subsidiaries of Japanese firms established during the 1979–2003 period, our empirical results show that Japanese multinational enterprises (MNEs) tended to choose an economic-oriented rather than a political-oriented city as their investment location, with the consequence being higher survival likelihoods in Shanghai than in Beijing. This location choice helped Japanese firms avoid policy uncertainty and political hazards in China's transition economy. Our findings highlight the point that fundamental features of institutional environments at sub-national levels should be analyzed when looking at investment strategy and performance in transitional economies.     

Accumulating human capital: Corporate innovation and firm value

We empirically document that industries that are more R&D intensive exhibit disproportionately greater innovation quantity and better innovation quality in economies with more human capital. Firm-level evidence confirms that innovation is an important channel through which firm responds to labor market conditions. Further analyses show that in economies with greater human capital, firms better able to innovate exhibit larger increase in labor productivity and capital–labor ratio, an effect driven by deceases in employment and increase in intangible capital investment. By facilitating the adjustment in input mix and capital structure, human capital accumulation allows firms with high innovation ability to enhance firm equity value and improve firm performance.     

Firm Turnover and Productivity Growth in Canadian Manufacturing and Services Industries, 2000 to 2007

This paper examines the differences and similarities in the nature of the competitive process for a cross section of Canadian industries. It studies the intensity and the effectiveness of entry, the relationship between turnover within incumbents and the intensity of entry, and the failure process underlying the exit of entrants. Finally, it asks how differences in these processes relate to the contribution that turnover makes to productivity growth. Differences across industries both in the effectiveness of the entry process and the contribution of turnover to productivity growth are related to the conditions that permit entry at relatively large scale and regulatory conditions in the industry. Industries where entrants are capable of establishing a relatively large footprint are generally those where entrants capture more of the market, where there is more intense turnover among incumbents and where a larger proportion of productivity growth comes from turnover due to both entry and exit and changes in the market position of incumbents. Industries where regulation attenuates freedom of entry have a different though related profile. Even here, turnover contributes to productivity growth.     

Endogenous market structure and the growth and welfare effects of economic integration

This paper studies the growth and welfare effects of integration in a world economy populated by global oligopolists. In economies that move from autarky to trade, growth and welfare rise because exit of domestic firms is more than compensated by entry of foreign firms so that integration generates a larger, more competitive market where firms have access to a larger body of technological spillovers that support faster growth. The effects of a gradual reduction of tariffs are different because economies start out from a situation where all firms already serve all markets. In this case, the global number of firms falls so that the variety of consumption goods and the diversity of innovation paths fall. The surviving firms, on the other hand, are larger and exploit static and dynamic economies of scale to a larger degree. These homogenization and rationalization effects work in opposite directions. Under plausible conditions, the rationalization effect dominates and growth and welfare rise.     

Infant industry protection and industrial dynamics

A perennial case for industrial policy is based on the protection of young or emerging industries. Despite a natural association with concepts of life cycles, industrial policy has not been analyzed in the context of an industry life-cycle model. In particular, an important life-cycle characteristic, the potential for very large changes in the rate of net entry, is ignored. In this paper, we demonstrate how the impact of industrial policy depends critically on the entry and exit dynamics within an industry. We construct a model of technology adoption in which the number of firms is endogenous, and derive a set of novel predictions about the effects of protection on firm technology decisions. Specifically, we show that permanent protection can induce earlier adoption, but also decreases the probability that a given firm adopts the new technology. Likewise, we demonstrate that reducing the duration of protection results in faster adoption than permanent protection, but also reduces a given firm's probability of adoption. Finally, we show that, for industries characterized by flexibility in firm numbers, protection does not change the rate of technology adoption but does increase the size and probability of a shakeout (large scale net exit).     

The Organization of Production

The organization of production depends on both technical and governance factors. The integration of recent advances in cost theory into production theory makes it easier to appreciate the joint effects of transaction and coordination costs interacting with wages and capital costs in the decision-making of firms. The corporate function, integrating the production function and the governance function, facilitates the joint analysis of the full array of factors including the effects of interrelatedness and complementarities of new technologies and of pecuniary economies of scale. The corporate function and pecuniary economies of scale also provide new elements in the understanding of the ever present variety of firms in industrial structures and the role of historic time in the theory of the firm.     

Trade Liberalisation,Exit, and Output and Employment Adjustments of Australian Manufacturing Establishments

This paper investigates three potential sources of Australia’s manufacturing productivity gains from trade liberalisation in the mid‐1990s: the exit of inefficient establishments, economies of scale, and the reduction in x‐inefficiency via employment reduction. We use manufacturing establishment level data and exploit the intersectoral variation in the effective rates of assistance (ERA) to see how businesses adjusted to trade liberalisation during the period. We find the documented productivity gains to be mostly accounted for by the reduction in x‐inefficiency through employment shedding in industries experiencing a high degree of trade liberalisation. We find little evidence that the exit of inefficient establishments in highly liberalised industries contributes to productivity gains. In fact, we find that the more productive establishments are more likely to exit, perhaps reflecting product switching by these businesses to make more profitable use of inputs. Similarly, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between the extent of trade liberalisation and output adjustments. However, we do find indicative evidence of an overall productivity‐enhancing effect through economies of scale. These findings suggest that, at least for the case of Australia, the ease of making employment adjustments can be crucial for policies such as trade liberalisation to have the desired effect. In addition, trade liberalisation may provide incentives for domestic producers to seek more profitable use of their inputs and to move further downward along their cost curves. We think further studies assessing the productivity gains from product switching and economies of scale effects in both liberalised and non‐liberalised industries and focusing on the interplay between labour market policy and firm adjustments would be valuable.     

Firm exits as a determinant of new entry: Is there evidence of local creative destruction?

This study posits that a local process of creative destruction provides an impetus to regional industrial renewal. We argue that exits of older firms release resources that stimulate local entry. New entrants add value to these resources by redeploying them in more productive uses. We test our hypotheses with a unique longitudinal database encompassing the entry and exit of Canadian manufacturing enterprises. We find that exits of old firms increase entry and that on average new entrants are more productive. Persistent high local rates of exit, however, deter entry.     

资本配置扭曲与民营企业出口生存

面对出口贸易限制增多的压力，提升我国民营企业出口生存概率具有重要的现实意义。通过考察资本配置扭曲对我国民营企业出口生存时间和生存概率的影响效应、渠道和后果。结果发现：民营企业的出口市场进入率和退出率高于国有企业，民营企业在出口4年以后生存率大幅下降；资本配置扭曲程度越高则民营企业退出出口市场的概率越大、生存时间越短；从驱动因素来看，全要素生产率提升和资本密集度下降是资本配置扭曲降低民营企业出口生存率的重要渠道；异质性分析表明，资本配置扭曲提高对沿海城市、资本密集型以及2002年以后民营企业出口危险率的促进作用更大。     

Capital Utilisation and Scale in the English and Welsh Water Industry

The study estimates a variable cost model of the UK water industry. From this variable cost function, estimates of economies of scale and economies of capital utilisation and capacity utilisation are made. The data used cover 20 English and Welsh water companies. The results suggest that only slight, albeit, significant dis-economies of scale and substantial diseconomies of capital utilisation exist in the industry. These estimates indicate that if output increases, with or without holding capital constant, variable costs would increase at a level above the proportional increase in output. If the water industry is not in long-term equilibrium, in terms of capital, neither merger nor acquisition amongst water companies are justified in terms of cost efficiency. A low level of capital utilisation is also indicated for the water industry. It is shown that the level of capital utilisation does increase over the sample period to approximately 30 per cent in 1996, indicating dis-equilibrium, in terms of capital, is present in this sector.     

Productivity,Employment and Growth in European Integration

We compare the evolution of key macroeconomic indices for the European Union (EU), viewed as a unified economy, with that of the USA and Japan for the period 1950–95, report the process of convergence in the EU, and analyze the effect of its potential enlargement through the accession of 10 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) that are in active negotiation for EU membership. The EU has followed a path of rising labor productivity, declining capital productivity and rising capital intensity typical of advanced capitalist economies. Its productivities in the 1990s lie between those of the USA and Japan. There is evidence of convergence of EU-15 relative labor productivity and capital intensity levels to those of the USA. Relative real wages also seem to be converging. Profit rates in all three economies fell, most rapidly before 1975. There is a general pattern of convergence in the EU members in the evolution of labor productivity, capital productivity, real wage, gross profit rate, investment per worker, consumption per worker and capital intensity. The evidence for a specific membership effect on convergence is weak. The CEEC have much lower relative labor and capital productivity than any other countries that have entered the EU. The process of development in the CEEC will have to follow an atypical path of increasing or constant capital productivity and rising labor productivity in order to converge to EU norms. EU membership might have a positive impact on the prospective economic growth in the CEEC in these respects, as the vehicle for the transmission of critical changes in technology and productive organization.     

What makes a brand manager effective?

Brands have become increasingly important as a foundation for competitive strategy. Unfortunately, although brand managers are responsible for brand strategy development and execution, little is known about what makes a brand manager effective. A model is developed to understand what intangible capital embodied by brand managers influences brand management capabilities and resultant brand performance. Measures of brand manager intangible capital and brand management capabilities are developed through an iterative scale development process. Hypothesis testing, derived from a survey of brand managers, indicates that brand manager human, relational and informational capital influences brand management capabilities and resultant brand performance, and brand manager intangible capital has an indirect effect on brand performance via brand management capabilities. By delineating and operationalizing the intangible capital and capabilities of brand managers, this study provides a theoretical and empirical foundation for future research on brand managers, tools for assessing current brand manager capital and capabilities, and guidance in relation to intangible capital and capabilities needed by brand managers.