Internal agglomeration and productivity: Evidence from microdata

Research Summary: We study how internal agglomeration—geographic clustering of business establishments owned by the same parent company—influences establishment productivity. Using Census microdata on the population of U.S. hotels from 1987-2007, we find that doubling the intensity of internal agglomeration is associated with a productivity increase of about 2% in pre-existing establishments. We consider several mechanisms that may be driving the productivity effect and find evidence consistent with the idea that an economically meaningful component of the productivity effect is due to knowledge transfer between internally agglomerated establishments. We replicate our main findings with Census microdata on the full population of U.S. restaurants from 1987-2007, suggesting that the internal agglomeration effects we document may generalize broadly to other industries with multi-unit firms. Managerial Summary: Internal agglomeration is the geographic clustering of business establishments owned by the same parent company. This paper uses detailed Census data on hotels and restaurants to show how internal agglomeration influences performance. Interestingly, knowledge sharing between owned establishments in the same metropolitan area appears to be a key driver of the internal agglomeration effect.     

Control of intellectual assets in client relationships: implications for innovation

This empirical study of business‐to‐business service firms examines the determinants and effects of control rights to intellectual assets in a property rights theoretic framework. Regression analyses using survey data suggest that service suppliers that retain control over their intellectual output are more innovative. In long‐term relationships, service firms' clients may thus be better off balancing their need to control outsourced activities with the suppliers' incentives to invest in learning and innovation. Additionally, and aligned with property rights theoretic predictions, service suppliers' bargaining power and their indispensability in service projects are positively associated with their ability to retain control rights. In contrast, innovation capabilities are not very significant in determining control rights allocation between service suppliers and their clients. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Innovation in multinational corporations: control and communication patterns in international R&D operations

This paper addresses issues of global innovation in multinational corporations by examining the patterns of communication and control in international R&D operations. Using a sample of 110 international R&D units from 15 multinational corporations, we identify three types of R&D unit role (local adaptor, international adaptor, international creator). We show that: (1) each type of R&D unit is managed primarily through a different mode of control; (2) local and international adaptors both focus their communication on their internal corporate network; and (3) international creators have strong internally and externally oriented networks of relationships. The implications for the management of global innovation are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rent appropriation of knowledge‐based assets and firm performance when institutions are weak: A study of Chinese publicly listed firms

Research summary : A firm's strategic investments in knowledge‐based assets through research and development (R&D) can generate economic rents for the firm, and thus are expected to affect positively a firm's financial performance. However, weak protection of minority shareholders, weak property rights, and ineffective law enforcement can allow those rents to be appropriated disproportionately by a firm's powerful insiders such as large owners and top managers. Recent data on Chinese publicly listed firms during 2007–2012 were used to demonstrate that the expected positive relationship between knowledge assets and performance is weaker in transition economies when a firm's ownership is highly concentrated and its managers have wide discretion. Moreover, rent appropriation by insiders was shown to vary with the levels of institutional development in which a firm operates. Managerial summary : Investing in knowledge‐based intangible assets (e.g., R&D) is an important value‐creation activity for the firm. Such value creation process can be facilitated by large shareholders and powerful managers, who can then take an advantageous position with critical insider information on these valuable intangible assets and therefore enjoy more opportunities to appropriate more value from them, leaving less value for other minority shareholders. The value distribution becomes increasingly skewed against minority shareholders when the institutional protection for them is weak. Indeed, in a large sample of Chinese publicly listed firms, we found that R&D investment becomes less positively associated with firm financial performance with the presence of large shareholders, high managerial equity, or CEO/Chairman duality, especially in Chinese provinces with weak institutional development. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Right person in the right place: How the host country IPR influences the distribution of inventors in offshore R&D projects of multinational enterprises

Research summary : Prior work has shown that the strength of the intellectual property regime (IPR) in a host country influences offshore R&D to that country. Building on this work we propose that the strength of the IPR in a host country differentially influences the threat of knowledge leakage on projects that are produced for the location where the multinational firm is headquartered (home) versus the offshore location to which the R&D project is sent (host). We argue and show that when the host location has a weak IPR, fewer host inventors are involved in host R&D projects when compared to home R&D projects. We test our hypotheses using a dataset of patents held by US assignees, but coinvented in 43 host locations with differing IPR strength. Managerial summary : Multinational enterprises often cite the weak IPRs at emerging economy host destinations as a significant impediment to offshore R&D activities in those countries, despite the abundant supply of inexpensive scientific talent there. We find that the weak IPR at the host destination is a greater impediment to offshore R&D that is aimed for end use at the host market than for R&D that is aimed for end use globally or in the home market. Since IPRs are local, a weaker IPR at the host location does not protect IP that is relevant to the host market. Since the IPR at the home country is more relevant for technologies aimed at the home market, the IPR at the host country is irrelevant for such R&D projects. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

知识螺旋影响研发团队创新创意产生实证研究——内部社会资本的调节效应

为了研究研发团队内部知识的交互对于创意产生的机理,通过构建概念模型,研究知识螺旋对研发团队创新创意产生的影响,并分析内部社会资本的调节效应。采用结构方程模型和分层线性分析,基于274份样本的实证研究表明:一方面,知识螺旋显著积极影响研发团队创新创意产生,并且知识表出化、知识结合化、知识内在化及知识社会化分别积极影响创新创意产生;另一方面,内部社会资本不同维度在知识螺旋与创新创意产生关系中的调节效应各不相同,结构社会资本的调节效应并不显著,而认知社会资本和关系社会资本显著正向调节知识螺旋对创新创意产生的影响。根据研究结果,提出促进研发团队创意产生的建议。     

Heterogeneity in property tax capitalization: Evidence from municipalities in Wisconsin

This article provides evidence that higher property taxes usually decrease property value. On average, a 10% increase in property taxes decreases property value by more than 0.34%. To control for school quality and related sorting, we estimate within-school-district property tax impacts. The effective cost of services (driven by appraisal errors or tax code changes), preferences for local services, and the elasticity of supply of housing all play an important role in determining whether property taxes increase or decrease house prices. Locally produced and consumed municipal services such as trash collection are positively capitalized.     

Long-term sustainability of third-party facilitated market linkages: Evidence from the USDA marketing assistance program in the Armenian dairy industry

Public–private partnerships are increasingly seen as an important tool to build agri-food supply chains and develop markets for agri-food products in emerging economies. However, many of these initiatives fail when the public component of the program ends. One exception is the USDA Market Assistance Program (MAP) that facilitated the redevelopment of the Armenian dairy sector after privatization. This paper presents a case study of this initiative and hypothesize that the USDA MAP facilitated farmer investment in private enforcement capital. This investment resulted in sustainable market relationships between farmers and dairy processors even after the USDA MAP expired. We find empirical evidence to support this hypothesis using a panel dataset collected from 172 Armenian dairy farmers in 2004 and 2009.