Not invented here: technology licensing, knowledge transfer and innovation based on public research

Using a new dataset encompassing more than 2,200 inventions made by Max Planck Society researchers from 1980 to 2004, we explore the way in which inventor, technology, and licensee characteristics affect the commercialization of academic inventions. We find limited evidence suggesting that domestic and external licensees outperform foreign licensees and inventor spin-offs in the commercialization of academic inventions. Controlling for selection, spin-offs are indistinguishable from external licensees. Patented technologies and inventions by senior scientists are more likely to be licensed, but patent protection is related to lower commercialization odds and royalty payments.     

Imitation and innovation driven development under imperfect intellectual property rights

Developing countries employ about two-fifth of the world's researchers, originate one quarter of world expenditures on R&D, and their inventions are subject to imitation. Nevertheless, the previous literature focuses on North–South setups in which the South is restricted to imitating northern inventions. To analyze the effects of IPR policies on developed and developing countries, we extend this literature to allow not only for southern innovation and imitation of northern goods, but also for imitation targeted at southern innovations. We find the effects of IPRs on R&D and welfare to be non-monotonic and dependent on innovation efficiency and an innovation threshold in the South. For sufficiently strong IPRs the South engages in original R&D and stronger IPRs promote southern innovation, welfare, and a reduction in the North–South wage gap. Below the threshold, a strengthening of IPR protection fails to promote innovation and decreases welfare. Stronger IPRs exclusively for southern firms can benefit both regions by shifting southern resources from the imitation of northern goods to original southern innovation.     

法国现行知识产权权属及利益分配政策简析

法国是世界科技强国之一,科研与创新体系完善。法国国立科研机构是科研的主力军,创造了大量的知识产权。专利作为保护科研工作中知识产权的一种突出形式,其带来的直接经济效益和间接影响,为法国科技可持续发展的保驾护航起到举足轻重的作用。本文旨在从法国国立科研机构的角度介绍法国知识产权政策,尤其是对职务发明的权属认定和利益分配的优点进行浅析。     

Home or next door? Patenting by European food and beverage multinationals

We study the location of the inventive activity of 59 major European food and beverage multinationals and their 8432 subsidiaries worldwide, by analysing the geographical distribution of the inventors listed in the European Patent Office (EPO) applications, US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patents and triadic, international and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent families of the companies filed between 1978 and the early 2000s. The sampled companies tend to locate their R&D activities in the home country. EU-based companies, more specifically, deploy an intra-regional strategy in EU countries, especially with regard to the inventions most closely related to their core businesses (food), for which, however, they do not display a home-country preference. Inventions related to non-core business tend to be produced in extra-regional locations.     

What Types of Policy Uncertainties Matter for Business?

This paper reports data from the author's original survey of Japanese companies concerning the distributions on subjective uncertainties over economic policies and their effects on business operations. Companies perceive uncertainty over the future course of certain economic policies, such as the social security system and international trade policy. Policy uncertainty regarding the tax system, trade policy and environmental policy can have substantial effects on managerial decisions, especially on equipment investment and overseas activities. According to the companies’ subjective probability distributions on their sales outlook, manufacturers face greater uncertainty than non‐manufacturing companies do. Uncertainty over economic policies substantially reduces the expected sales growth rate.     

University patents,R&D competition,and social welfare

Although university patenting has increased dramatically over the past three decades, debates persist regarding the broad economic implications of the phenomenon. This article examines the social welfare implications of university patenting in a model of R&D competition in which firms develop innovations on the basis of the disclosure of a university invention. When such disclosure does not preempt the patenting of downstream innovations, university patenting enhances social welfare only if a regime of open access to university inventions is characterized by excessive aggregate R&D from the viewpoint of social welfare. When the university invention disclosure preempts patenting on firms’ innovations, the nature of the open access equilibrium in the R&D market depends on the threat of imitation ex post. Only when the threat of imitation is sufficiently strong firms will not invest in downstream R&D in the open access regime. In this case, university patenting promotes R&D investment and increases social welfare.     

Comparative Capitalisms,Ideational Political Economy and French Post-Dirigiste Responses to the Global Financial Crisis

This article advances the case for the more systematic incorporation of ideational factors into comparative capitalisms analysis as a corrective to the rational choice proclivities of the Varieties of Capitalism approach. It demonstrates the pay-off of such an ideationally attuned approach through analysis of French capitalist restructuring over the last 25 years, placing it in comparative context. A modus operandi for such ideational explanation is elaborated through delineating different national conceptions of the market, and setting out their impacts on practices of market-making. The claim made in this article is that understanding the evolution of French capitalism requires recognition of the ongoing market-making role of the French State, in combination with the French conception of the market and its embedding within a social context characterised by the inter-penetration of public and private elitist networks of France's ‘financial network economy’ which remains substantially intact. The ideational dimension is crucial because French understandings of the market and competition, the ideational building blocks of market-making, inform French state interventions and leave footprints on French institutions and market structures, and the evolutionary trajectory of French capitalism. In charting this trajectory, this article deploys the concept of post-dirigisme. We map out the parameters and causes of the post-dirigiste condition in France through examination of French bond market development, privatisation, the shift from a government- to a market- dominated financial system, and French capitalism's internationalisation. It then uses post-dirigisme to explain French state responses to the financial crisis and the banking bailout, noting how state actors, in concert with the banking elites, actively facilitated dominant market positions of French international champions.     

A research study on the relationship between personal career development management and willingness to relocate

The business-operating environment nowadays is in a severe changing situation and, as a result, triggers an increasingly fierce competition in the development of offshore business and bases. This makes selection of suitable expatriate personnel more and more important for companies. Taking graduates who are about to start their career in the society as subjects, this study focuses on the effect of personal career development management on the willingness to relocate in the future. Data are analyzed using Pearson correlation, multiple regression and structural equation modeling. The result shows that the career development management of the students graduating from a management college of a university has a significant effect on their willingness to relocate and can be well predicted. This study puts forward practical and academic suggestions based on this result.     

Is there a ‘business case’ for board gender diversity within French listed SMEs

Many studies have investigated the relationship between women on corporate boards (WOCB) and firm performance in accordance with the ‘business case’ for board gender diversity. However, these have been conducted on large firms. This study re-examines this relationship for a sample of French listed SMEs over the period 2010–2014 using a dynamic panel GMM estimator to mitigate endogeneity issues. We find that the percentage of WOCB is positively and significantly related to firm performance. However, the other proxies for board gender diversity are not statistically different from zero. We argue that the relationship is not straightforward. This finding is interesting as it sheds light on the ‘business case’.     

Intellectual property rights as development determinants

Abstract While intellectual property rights (IPRs) are the key drivers of economic performance in R&D based growth models, they have not been fully explored in empirical development studies. We introduce IPRs to this literature, using Two‐Stage Least Squares Bayesian Model Averaging to address endogeneity and model uncertainty at the instrument and income stages. We show that IPRs exert effects similar to ‘Rule of Law’ and therefore provide robust evidence that both physical and intellectual property rights are crucial development determinants. We document that unenforced IPRs exert no effect on development. Instead, it is the level of enforced IPRs that causes development.     

Ownership and enterprise performance in the Russian oil industry, 1992–2012

This article examines enterprise performance in Russian oil companies between 1992 and 2012. The analysis is based upon longitudinal trend output data, and distinguishes between four different types of owners – outsider private, insider private, federal state and regional state. In comparison with previous studies which considered just 1999–2004, and identified outsider private companies as the best performers, this article finds that over the longer period 1992–2012 federal state and insider private-owned companies actually performed best. The explanation for this relates to institutions and the business environment.     

院士(候选人)独董能促进企业创新吗——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

本文首次考察了两院院士及其候选人担任独立董事发挥的治理职能和对企业创新的影响。研究发现：（1）院士（候选人）独立董事与企业创新显著正相关，控制企业个体效应、倾向得分匹配法（PSM）和Heckman两阶段法等一系列稳健性检验后该结论依然成立。（2）院士（候选人）独董的任期越长、兼职公司数量越多，对企业创新的促进作用越好，女性院士（候选人）独董可以更好地促进企业创新，但具有海归经历的院士（候选人）并没有更有效地发挥作用。（3）影响渠道检验结果表明，一方面，战略风格越保守、管理层短视程度越严重的公司聘请院士（候选人）独董对企业创新的促进作用越大，表明院士（候选人）独董可以通过战略咨询有效缓解保守战略和管理层短视对企业创新的制约作用；另一方面，院士（候选人）独董发挥了“桥梁科学家”作用，增加了企业未来两年建立院士工作站的可能性，从而促进了企业的产学研合作和技术创新。（4）与其他公司治理变量的交叉影响分析发现，院士及其候选人在非国有企业、股权结构集中、机构投资者持股比例高和高管不持股的公司中更能发挥促进创新的作用。本文对于充分发挥顶尖科学家作用以及推动企业创新与国家创新体系的构建具有参考价值。     

科研组织应该控制其衍生企业吗——基于中国上市科研组织衍生企业的研究

创办衍生企业是科研组织实现科技成果转化的重要途径之一。在衍生企业创办之初，科研组织作为“家长”，在衍生企业成长过程中扮演着不可或缺的角色，但随着衍生企业逐渐发展壮大，科研组织作为学术机构参与企业经营管理的弊端也逐步显现。同时，伴随着衍生企业不断成长，对外来资本的需求增加，母体科研组织面临股权被稀释，甚至失去控制权的问题。那么，当衍生企业发展到一定规模，母体科研组织作为衍生企业实际控制人是利大于弊还是弊大于利？以中国境内上市科研组织衍生企业为样本，分析科研组织衍生企业母体控制权对企业绩效的影响，结果发现，科研组织作为衍生企业实际控制人时，企业绩效更优。     

EFFICIENCY AND PRICES OF REGULATION‐EXEMPT CONSUMER‐OWNED NATURAL MONOPOLIES: A FIRST LOOK AT ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTORS IN NEW ZEALAND

Following the New Zealand Electricity Industry Reform Act in 1998 integrated electricity distribution and retail companies were forced to unbundle at ownership level, creating line companies and retailers. Electricity line companies that meet the ‘consumer‐owned’ criteria as set out in the Commerce Act are exempt from price‐quality regulation as of 2009. In this study, we examine the effects on variable costs and unit prices of the exemption by comparing exempt line companies and line companies that fall under the price‐quality regulation. The findings suggest that exempt line companies did not charge higher prices than non‐exempt line companies, and that they experienced a larger decline in their variable costs compared to non‐exempt line companies, following the exemption.     

Innovation strategies of industrial groups in the global crisis: Rationalization and new paths

In the on-going context of globalization, the strategy of multinational enterprises combines the aims of constant supply renewal (through technological, but also organizational and commercial innovation) and of production rationalization (reduction of production costs). The financial dimension is narrowly linked to these strategies, as the financial deregulation has generated a strong pressure on enterprises, aimed at increasing the shareholder value. In this paper, we study the impacts of the current financial and economic crisis on the strategy and the management of innovation in big industrial firms. We present the result of an enquiry that has been achieved in France in 2009 and 2010 in companies such as Renault, Thales, General Electric, Lesieur, PSA, Saint-Gobain, Valeo, and ArcelorMittal. We show that firms rationalize their R&D expenses, accentuate their open innovation strategies, develop a strategic use of IPRs and try to implement new innovation paths, oriented toward the exploitation (low cost strategies) and the accumulation (clean technologies) of their knowledge-capital.     

Affirmative Action and Corporate Compliance in South Korea

Abstract

The Affirmative Action Act was introduced in South Korea in 2006 to increase female employment and correct discriminatory hiring practices. Using the combined data sets of survey and the Act's implementation plan, this paper provides logit estimation results to examine empirically how political perceptions or attitudes of firms influence corporate noncompliance with the Act. According to a corporate personnel manager survey, affirmative action was initially pursued as a campaign pledge by the liberal party (the Korea Democratic Party) to attract women's votes, and took on a looser shape as the government compromised with the business sector after an election. A weak enforcement structure ultimately diluted the effects of the Act. A logit analysis indicates that noncompliance is more probable in companies that perceive affirmative action as part of a design to achieve political goals, and compliance is more probable in companies that feel it is likely to improve corporate management.     

学术创业者角色协同的驱动因素组态效应研究

学术创业是科技成果转化的重要形式之一。运用模糊集定性比较分析法,探讨影响学术创业者角色协同的多重因素及因果路径。结果表明,个体较高的认知柔性是产生协同的必要条件,实现高学术创业者角色协同的路径有3条,即认知柔性、政府支持和高校支持的联动匹配,认知柔性、团队异质性和政府支持的联动匹配,以及认知柔性、政府支持和家庭支持的联动匹配。其中,第一条路径更能有效提升角色协同程度,当政府、高校组织和自身条件有效组合与匹配时,能够显著形成耦合效应。不同路径涉及的要素既发挥协同作用,也产生替代作用,当认知柔性和政府支持力度较高时,只要家庭支持强有力,或者建立异质性创业团队,或者高校各项组织制度较为完善,均可实现高学术创业者角色协同。导致非高学术创业者角色协同的路径有两条,且与高学术创业者角色协同驱动机制存在非对称关系。结论有助于揭示驱动学术创业者角色协同各因素间的组态关系,为学术创业政策设计提供启示。     

Financing technology transfer: assessment of university-oriented proof-of-concept programmes

This study analyses the characteristics of the proof-of-concept (POC) programmes initiated by university and public research organisations in Europe, as a mechanism to address funding gaps and improve the transfer of research-based inventions to markets. We contribute to the literature on investment readiness of new ventures and on financing technology transfer by assessing the structure of such funding instruments and identifying critical success factors for their design and implementation. The analyses rely on seven in-depth case studies of university-oriented POCs in Europe.     

Remittances over the business cycle: Theory and evidence

We examine the behaviour of remittances over the business cycle and their potential to act as a ‘stabilizer’ during periods of high business cycle volatility. Two main findings are reported. First, remittances are less volatile than other foreign currency flows and do not appear to systemically comove with business cycle fluctuations. Second, remittances are relatively stable even during episodes of sharp business cycle volatility, such as those associated with sudden stops and financial crises. We also provide an overview of the theoretical literature on the implications of different motives to remit for the cyclical behaviour of remittances.     

On the role of personal relationships for doing business in the Greater Pearl River Delta,China

This article investigates the role of personal relationships for doing business in the Greater Pearl River Delta, China (GPRD). First, it discusses the interplay of formal and informal (relationship-based) institutions based on institutional economics. Second, it describes the institutional environment for doing business in China, and in the GPRD in particular. Third, it uses data obtained from a survey among executives of Hong Kong electronics SMEs with business operations in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) to gain insights into their perceptions of the importance and the motives of using personal relationships for business in PRD in general, and on the impact of personal relationships on location and partner decisions for companies' production as well as innovation activities, in particular. The results confirm the importance of personal relationships for doing business in the GPRD and suggest that companies rely on personal relationships for business not only for cultural reasons but also to cope with deficient legal and political institutions.