R&D subsidies and export performance of manufacturing industries

One of the main purposes of government R&D subsidies is to give domestic enterprises a competitive edge in international trade of high technology products. The empirical evidence, however, is disappointing: cross-section regression approach for six industries and five countries yielded a negative impact of R&D subsidies on exports of research intensive goods. An analysis of the distribution of public funds suggests that this poor performance could at least partially be explained by the high concordance of national technology policies and the concentration of public funds on big science projects.     

Agglomeration economies in urban manufacturing industries: A case of Japanese cities

The effects of urban agglomeration economies on productivities in two-digit manufacturing industries is estimated using the cross section data of Japanese cities in 1979. Urbanization and localization economies, which are major forms of urban agglomeration economies, are explicitly separated. The estimates of these economies vary considerably among industries. Light industries receive more productive advantages from urbanization economies than from localization economies, but heavy industries experience these economies more from localization economies than from urbanization economies.     

Improving innovation efficiency of emerging economies: The role of manufacturing

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the role of manufacturing in improving innovation efficiency of emerging economies. Emerging economies are developing innovations to promote their industries toward high-technology sectors to facilitate global competitiveness. Nevertheless, the role of manufacturing is often neglected, which can result in low efficiency in the innovation process. This study constructed a three-stage innovation model that consists of human capital cultivation, manufacturing development, and innovation production to stress and verify the importance of manufacturing. The experimental results suggest that manufacturing development was a key factor affecting innovation efficiency. A performance improvement strategy map was provided to improve each country's innovation efficiency.     

从出口加工区的发展趋势看产业集群

出口加工区既带来效率,在实际中也引发了许多弊病。文章指出,出口加工区只是发展中国家的历史产物,正在向科学工业园转型,形成产业集群。这些都离不开出口加工区的定位、入区企业的选择及对高科技企业某些政策优惠的倾斜。     

Multilateral trade liberalisation helps promote export product diversification: Trade tensions damage the prospects of the poorest economies

Using a large panel dataset over a 20‐year period, this article explores the effect of multilateral trade liberalisation on export product diversification. Empirical results show that multilateral trade liberalisation is positively associated with export product diversification. However, less‐developed economies experience a greater positive effect than relatively advanced economies. This analysis suggests that if trade tensions reduce cooperation on trade matters among World Trade Organization members, it may hinder export product diversification in developing countries, and the poorest countries might be the most adversely affected.     

The impact of just-in-time manufacturing on firm performance in the US

Just-In-Time manufacturing has been subjected to numerous studies both empirical and methodological. This work attempts to measure the impact of JIT on accounting measures of performance. Most technologies and investments are justified on the basis of their impact on financial and accounting measures which are not easily quantified. Our empirical methodology, simultaneous equation estimation, allows us to isolate the partial effects of JIT on various accounting measures thus gauging the true impact of this method on firm performance. Our results show that after JIT adoption firms reduced the labor content in facilities, increased inventory turnover and enhanced earnings. There was no significant impact on prices charged by the firm. These results support the anecdotal evidence on JIT and the theoretical work done by various authors. Even though the firms studied experienced a downturn in their performance our empirical methodology could identify positive benefits resulting from JIT adoption.     

制造企业员工绩效管理创新思考

制造企业的人力资源绩效管理是提升企业核心竞争力的重要手段,实施绩效管理对制造企业的发展有着非常重大的意义。文章剖析了我国制造企业人力资源绩效管理现状,对其当前的操作流程及其在具体的实施过程中存在的问题进行了分析,并提出了制造企业员工绩效管理的创新思考对策。     

Structural shifts in urban population density gradients: an empirical investigation

This study investigates the structural shifts in urban population density gradients by first using the shifting regression technique of Farley, Hinich, and McGuire to detect the possible change in the structure of an urban area. Secondly, a generalized random coefficient technique is used to simultaneously detect the possible structural change and stochastic behavior of density gradients. Data for 50 United States SMSA's are used to do the empirical analyses.     

A contingent view of e-collaboration and performance in manufacturing

Manufacturers are increasingly utilizing Internet-based tools to more readily conduct collaborative activities with key business customers. While the emerging conventional wisdom suggests that the greater the extent to which manufacturers engage in Internet-enabled commerce with downstream business customers the better the performance, we espouse an alternative view. Consistent with the relational view of competitive advantage and contingency theory, we develop a model and a series of hypotheses that specify how various product and market characteristics may influence the nature of the expected positive relationship between e-collaboration and performance.To test the model, we collected data from 50 manufacturers using a Web-based survey. Our partial least squares (PLS) analysis results do indeed support the notion that e-collaboration is related to better operational and business performance. However, we go on to show that the strength of the relationship between e-collaboration and operational performance diminishes as the level of environmental munificence increases. Notably, we found no such moderating effect with respect to the level of product complexity or market variability. Our findings contribute to the operations strategy literature on supply chain relationships in the e-business arena and offer managers a framework for understanding the conditions under which investments in e-collaboration may be more appropriate and therefore more beneficial.     

关系强度对出口绩效影响的实证研究

以浏阳花炮生产企业为分析样本,将关系强度分为信任、关系承诺、合作性、灵活性和持久性5个维度,出口绩效分为战略出口绩效和财务出口绩效2个维度,利用结构方程模型研究生产企业与中间商的关系强度,对出口绩效各维度产生的影响进行了实证。     

The role of human capital on the performance of manufacturing firms in Bangladesh

The efficiency determinants of manufacturing firms in developing countries have received increasing attention over the past few decades. This study examines the role of top managers' human capital and other exogenous determinants of the efficiency of manufacturing firms in Bangladesh by using heteroscedastic single‐step stochastic frontier analysis. We find that general human capital represented by educational qualification and specific human capital formed by work specific experience show different ways of impact on firm performance. Specifically, education has both a direct impact on firm outputs and an indirect impact as an efficiency determinant, whereas experience affects only technical efficiency.     

The influence of intelligent manufacturing on financial performance and innovation performance: the case of China

ABSTRACT

Artificial intelligence is increasingly used in advanced manufacturing systems to realise intelligent manufacturing. However, there is still a lack of empirical research on the impact of intelligent manufacturing on enterprise performances, especially for China. The author adopts the enterprise panel data of intelligent manufacturing implemented by China’s manufacturing industry in 2014 to 2019, and uses propensity score matching with difference in differences (PSM-DID) method to investigate the impact of intelligent manufacturing on financial performance and innovation performance. The research yields two main conclusions. First, the implementation of intelligent manufacturing has a significant role in promoting the financial performance and innovation performance of manufacturing enterprises. Second, technology-intensive industries improve the quantity of innovation by implementing intelligent manufacturing, thus promoting the improvement of short-term financial performance, but the improvement of innovation quality has a negative impact on short-term financial performance. In labour-intensive industries, the relationship between financial performance and innovation performance is not obvious.     

The impact of financial and human resources on the export performance of Russian firms

This study contributes to the literature by investigating for the first time the effects of the entrepreneurial environment on export survival in Russia. Using the continuous-time Cox model and discrete-time complementary log-log and probit models, we study the effects of the availability of human and financial resources on export survival across Russian regions between 2002 and 2010. Taking into account uncertainty and time effects reveals that these effects are falling over time and are more important for larger exporters. Thus, there is evidence of a learning curve for exporters when the latter become more efficient in dealing with regional-level resources and the regulatory environment over time.     

MNEs,technological efforts and channels of export spillover: An analysis of Indian manufacturing industries

The present study provides some empirical evidence for the export spillover effect examining the case of an emerging market economy, namely India, using firm level data for the period 1994–2006. We disentangle different spillover channels, namely the demonstration effect, the imitation effect (R&D spillover) and a proxy to measure spillover effects coming from higher MNEs’ skills. We also account for the heterogeneous technological behaviour of local firms considering how in-house R&D efforts and disembodied technological imports may affect the exporting performance. Our findings show how export spillover effects are mainly mediated by an imitation effect, contrary to the case of other emerging market economies like China, where a demonstration effect is evident. We also recognise that both the decision to export and export intensity are influenced most of all by the technological activities of local firms. Moreover, the findings of the analysis suggest that in-house R&D is more relevant than other external sources of technological knowledge such as disembodied technology imports to internalise the positive spillover effect emanating from MNEs.     

Understanding expatriate manager performance: Effects of governance environments on work relationships in relation-based economies

Evidence shows that the majority of Western expatriate managers fail in their job assignments in developing countries. To go beyond attributions of expatriate failure to “cultural differences” this article responds to calls for a theoretical basis for understanding expatriate performance by using a recently developed framework of rule-based and relation-based governance environments to examine how the macro-environment of a country's governance system affects the creation of effective working relationships between executive level expatriate managers and Host Country Nationals (HCNs) on the executive's management team. Based on cross-cultural psychological contract research [Rousseau, D.M., Schalk, R. (2000). Psychological contracts in employment: Cross-national perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.] and the premise that expatriate performance is largely a function of the ability to manage discrepancies between the rule-based expectations of the Western MNC culture and the relation-based expectations of local employees, we develop research propositions to promote future HR research designed to examine the effect of the governance environment on the working relationships between American managers and Chinese HCNs. Implications for future HR efforts to improve the performance of expatriate managers in relation-based societies are also discussed.     

辽宁省装备制造业产学研合作创新绩效提升研究

文章基于协同创新五维基因密码理论,探讨如何提升辽宁省装备制造业产学研合作创新绩效,以期为辽宁省大力发展装备制造业产学研合作创新提供参考。     

Product configuration,ambidexterity and firm performance in the context of industrial equipment manufacturing

The practice of configuring products to individual customer orders has found application in a variety of industry contexts, but little is known about the specific capabilities that firms develop to successfully compete when offering configurable products. Our research begins to fill this gap in the context of industrial equipment manufacturing. Drawing from the ambidexterity literature, we argue that firms have to balance dual goals of reducing variation and promoting variation in their product configuration activities by fostering two distinct firm-level capabilities: product configuration effectiveness (PCE) and product configuration intelligence (PCI). Specifically, we hypothesize that the simultaneous presence of PCE and PCI—that is, product configuration ambidexterity (PCA)—drives superior firm responsiveness and, indirectly firm sales and operating margin. However, we also contend that responsiveness gains through PCA can diminish with product complexity and can increase operating cost. We test these hypotheses by collecting both primary and secondary data from a sample of 108 European industrial equipment manufacturing firms. Results from our analyses indicate that PCA has an indirect effect through responsiveness on sales and operating cost but not on operating margin, with this effect diminishing with product complexity. Taken together, our results suggest that investment in developing PCA may represent a conundrum for industrial equipment manufacturing firms, because it translates into market but not financial advantages, and it is intertwined with product design decisions. We conclude this study with a discussion of the findings for theory and practice.     

Computer-integrated manufacturing and high performance work system: the case of Taiwan

This study investigates the relationships between computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) and high-performance work system (HPWS) that can arguably improve human capital in the firm and enhance the effectiveness of these advanced manufacturing technologies. Our data were drawn from two surveys of Taiwanese manufacturing establishments in 1998 and 2005. Results showed that high-degree CIM was positively associated with the practices of the each HR practice and HPWS, including high pay level, rigorous selection, extensive training, developmental performance management, performance- and competency- based rewards as well as employee stock ownership.     

Green supply chain practices and company performance in Portuguese manufacturing sector

Green supply chain management is an important organizational approach to reducing strain on the environment. Many companies are under pressure from customers, media, governments, and investors, among others, to implement green practices. This exploratory paper investigates the relationships between internal and external green practices of eight Portuguese companies from different industrial sectors and their impact on economic and environmental performance. The relationship was analyzed based on the data collected from 22 semi‐structured interviews with general managers, procurement and environmental/safety managers, and through secondary data collected from reports, websites and companies' internal documentation. The analysis identifies the most important green practices considered by managers, as well as the performance measures that are most appropriate and most widely used to evaluate the influence of green practices on corporate performance. A conceptual model was derived to assess the influence of green practices on focal company economic and environmental performance. The results support four of five propositions of this research, and it is possible to conclude that the companies believe that with the adoption of green supply chain practices, they can be more competitive in the market. Due to the scope of the green practices, the relationship between green practices and economic performance was inconclusive. Internal and external green supply chain practices contribute to improved environmental performance because for all companies, there is a positive relationship between green practices and environmental performance in terms of energy, water consumption, waste, and air emissions reduction.     

Assessing the impact of green supply chain practices on firm performance in the Korean manufacturing industry

As a growing number of customers tend to view corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a key purchase decision criterion, demands for CSR including environmental sustainability have accelerated in today's business world. To meet such demands, many firms consider embracing environment-friendly business practices. However, many firms are still hesitant to implement those practices due to sceptical views about their real managerial benefits. Although the previous literature confirms the positive link between a firm's commitment to environmental sustainability and its performance, the varying degree of impact of different kinds of environment-friendly supply chain practices on the firm's operational performance is still unknown. To fill the void left by prior research, this paper aims to classify various types of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and then assess the impact of each of these distinct types on the firm's operational performances (especially manufacturing and marketing performance). Also, this paper examines how the firm's organisational profiles such as firm size affect the particular firm's choice of GSCM practices. Our experimental results reveal that the chosen type of GSCM practices influences the firm's performance differently.