The Impact of Foreign Technology and Embodied R&D on Productivity in Internationally Oriented and High-Technology Industries in Egypt, 2006–2009

This paper investigates the domestic productivity and spillover effects of foreign technology and embodied R&D on Egyptian manufacturing industries, 2006 to 2009. It also analyses the heterogeneous sectoral effects of technology transfer by focusing specifically on the productivity effects on highly internationalized and technology-intensive industries. These are expected to have greater absorptive capacity with respect to foreign technology and therefore larger productivity effects because of their greater exposure to foreign competition and greater technological capacity respectively. This study is the first to analyse the efficiency effects of foreign technology by classifying industries in this manner. It finds that foreign technology and embodied R&D have positive and significant industry-specific effects on domestic productivity and TFP in technology-intensive industries but that these are weaker in internationally oriented industries. The study suggests that only technological-intensive industries in Egypt have sufficient absorptive capacity to assimilate foreign technology effectively. The paper’s findings highlight the key role of foreign technology in domestic productivity growth, subject to the absorptive capacity of the domestic labour force, and the need for improved policies to promote the domestic benefits of technology transfer through the accumulation of local technological competences.

     

A meta-analytic review of effectuation and venture performance

Though much research in entrepreneurship makes the fundamental assumption that opportunities are found, new work is emerging which questions this core tenet. Effectuation, for example, positions the entrepreneur as co-creator of opportunities, together with committed stakeholders. In this study, we conduct a meta-analysis of the articles published in the Journal of Business Venturing, summarizing data on 9897 new ventures to connect three of the principles of effectuation positively with new venture performance. In so doing, we offer both specific insight into precisely measuring effectuation and a general method for extracting variables from prior work to measure new constructs.     

Bankers, Industrialists, and their Cliques: Elite Networks in Mexico and Brazil during Early Industrialization

The historiographies of Mexico and Brazil have implicitly statedthat business networks were crucial for the initial industrializationof these two countries. Recently, differing visions on the importanceof business networks have arisen. In the case of Mexico, theliterature argues that entrepreneurs relied heavily on an informalinstitutional structure to obtain necessary resources and information.In contrast, the recent historiography of Brazil suggests thatafter 1890 the network of corporate relations became less importantfor entrepreneurs trying to obtain capital and concessions,once the institutions promoted financial markets and easy entryfor new businesses. Did entrepreneurs in Brazil and Mexico organizetheir networks differently to deal with the different institutionalsettings? We examine whether in Mexico businessmen relied moreon networks of interlocking boards of directors and other informalarrangements to do business than in Brazil. Our hypothesis isconfirmed by three related results: (1) the total number ofconnections (i.e., the density of the network) was higher inMexico than Brazil; (2) in Mexico, there was one dense corenetwork, while in Brazil we find fairly dispersed clusters ofcorporate board interlocks; and most importantly, (3) politiciansplayed a more important role in the Mexican network of corporatedirectors than their counterparts in Brazil. Interestingly,even though Brazil and Mexico relied on very different institutionalstructures, both countries had similar rates of growth between1890 and 1913. However, the dense and exclusive Mexican networkmight have ended up increasing the social and political tensionsthat led to the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920).     

The Political Economy of Trade Protection: The Determinants and Welfare Impact of the 2002 US Emergency Steel Safeguard Measures

This paper analyses the political economy of trade protection in the context of the factors determining the US Emergency Safeguard Measures for steel imposed in March 2002. The paper identifies several factors in addition to the official justification of problems of global over‐capacity and the penetration of imports in the US market, namely the continued failure to restructure poorly performing firms, failure of previous attempts at protection and the influence of the domestic steel lobby and short‐term political gains to the Bush administration of protectionist action. The paper also reviews several ex ante and ex post empirical studies of the impact of the steel Safeguards on the steel industry and downstream steel‐consuming activities. All of these studies find that the costs of the Safeguard Measures outweighed their benefits in terms of aggregate GDP and employment as well as having an important redistributive impact. The paper provides a brief summary of the subsequent WTO steel case and the final resolution of the dispute. The evidence suggests that the steel Safeguards owed more to political expediency than justification for protection under the WTO rules.ost empirical studies of the impact of the steel Safeguards on the steel industry and downstream steel‐consuming activities. All of these studies find that the costs of the Safeguard Measures outweighed their benefits in terms of aggregate GDP and employment as well as having an important redistributive impact. The paper provides a brief summary of the subsequent WTO steel case and the final resolution of the dispute. The evidence suggests that the steel Safeguards owed more to political expediency than justification for protection under the WTO rules.     

Estimating the impact of farmer field schools in sub‐Saharan Africa: the case of cocoa

This study measures the economic impact of the first phase of the Cocoa Livelihood Program (CLP‐I), a current World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) project, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and aimed at improving the livelihood of over 200,000 small cocoa producers in sub‐Saharan Africa via training, crop diversification, and farmer‐based organizations. Using data collected from 2,048 pre‐ and post‐CLP‐I interviews of cocoa producers in Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Cameroon, the results show that yield enhancements attributable to CLP‐I are 32%, 34%, 50%, and 62% in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Cameroon, respectively. Using a total program cost of $151–$200 per beneficiary and estimated annual benefits of $109–$322 per beneficiary over 25 years, the benefit‐cost ratios are estimated to range from $18 to $62 for every dollar spent on human capital development. These results suggest the WCF should endeavor to increase the number of farmers who receive all, not some, of the components of the program. This would not only help ensure that each producer obtains as much human capital as possible from each of the training programs but increases the probability of reaching the CLP goal of doubling the income of cocoa‐growing households.     

Price Strategies for Idiosyncratic Goods—The Case of Housing

We determine the mechanism that a rational, profit-maximizing seller would use to revise his reservation price for a heterogeneous or infrequently exchanged good. For instance, while one dimension of a home's quality may be easily determined in competitive markets (e.g., the valuation of floor size, location, etc.), other dimensions of quality may be idiosyncratic (unit specific) and unobservable by the seller (e.g., aesthetics of the home). Here, a seller of a new or infrequently exchanged housing unit may use sales success information to revise his expectation of the unit's market-determined value and hence revise his reservation price. The rational seller will, upon arrival of the first buyer inspecting the unit, determine a sequence of reservation prices for this and expected subsequent buyers. This price sequence falls for subsequent buyers and starts from a lower initial price if the first buyer arrives later than expected. Through this mechanism, we offer an explanation for price dispersion and vacancy durations in housing markets. While we explicitly model the real estate market here, this price revision mechanism is also applicable to rental markets, labor markets, used car markets, and other markets characterized by heterogeneity and infrequent sales.     

Bridge over troubled waters? problems and opportunities in interfirm research collaboration

Effective interfirm collaboration is an incresingly significant factor in technological innovation. A wide and complex range of options exists within collabotative arrangements which affect the outcome and rewards for both partners. Firms are often unaware of the strategic implications of collaborative ventures. While some large firms may be invloved in strategic alliances at the corporate level in order to establish or maintain competitiveness, many remain unaware or unconvinced of the potential for the generation of innovations through collaborations with small, flexible, 'hi-tech” firms. the pace of change and the challenge of international competition threatens Western European firms with a 'technology gap' within a 'disorganized capitalist' setting. Various forms of interfirm cooperation within and across natinal boundaires may be important responses to such uncertainty and amy ultimately provide successful strategic remedies to the situation. This article presents the findings of a recently completed research project in which 27 pairs (mostly small/large) of collaborating, innovative firms were studied in order to examine the strategic and operational issues involued in interfirm research cooperation. Whilst highlighting the advantages of collaboration, and the potential problems for both the small and the large partner, we argue that the adoption of 'cooperative game' rules id vital for successful collaborative innovation. Additionally, we attempt to posit our findings within the current debate on organized/disorganized capitalism.     

Network control in global communications

The author examines the impact of technology on international communications in terms of the changing concept of the telecommunications ‘user’, the development of private networks, and the emergence of service bureaus. After defining and discussing the resulting policy problems, he briefly reviews the policy process and questions its adequacy in the new world of telecommunications.