Innovation strategy and the patenting behavior of firms

This paper investigates whether firms’ innovation strategies affect their patenting behavior, as measured by both the probability of having a patent portfolio and the number of active patents held. Three main dimensions of an innovation strategy are taken into account: the relative importance of basic research, applied research and development work in total R&D activities, the product or process orientation of innovation efforts, and the extent to which firms enter into collaborative R&D with other institutions. The major findings can be summarized as follows: (1) taking into account the various dimensions of an innovation strategy turns out to approximate the patenting behavior of firms better than the traditional Schumpeterian hypotheses related to firm size and market power; (2) there is a positive relationship between the patent portfolio of firms and an outward-oriented innovation strategy characterized by R&D partnerships with external organizations - scientific institutions and competitors in particular; (3) process-oriented innovators patent less than product-oriented innovators; (4) a stronger focus on basic and applied research is associated with a more active patenting behavior; (5) firms that perceive high barriers to innovation (internal, risk-related or external barriers) have smaller patent portfolios; (6) the perceived limitations of the patent system do not significantly influence the patenting behavior, suggesting that firms patent for other strategic reasons than merely protecting innovation rents.     

Symposium on Harrison's “Lean and Mean”: A policy perspective

Conclusion It is unfortunate that Bennett Harrison has been trapped into a Manichean view of the world and that, in his attack on small business, he has found no lever other than a reliance on big business. The world is not as simple as he would appear to suggest. It is neither black nor white, but grey; coordination is neither vertical nor horizontal, but transversal.Yet one must welcome Harrison's polemical attack. It may yet serve as a catalyst that will enable the debate to go well beyond the large-firm/small-firms fixation (a somewhat sterile debate) into an exploration of the various forms of transversal coordination and of their relative merits in a rich variety of contexts. If this were to be the case, one might, in the future, see the present controversies surrounding Harrison's book as being something of a landmark, for while the book itself may have somewhat faded away into oblivion, the stimulating discussions generated by the book will have left behind what Gaston Bachelard would have called a surobject — a solid residue, a positive contribution to knowledge that would never have materialized without such a book (Bachelard, 1949).     

Policymakers and the R&D-patent relationship

Patent-based indicators at the country level are frequently used to assess countries’ innovation performances or efforts. Yet they are often said to reflect the propensity to patent rather than actual research productivity. The authors of this article argue that patent-based indicators can rightfully be used to measure research productivity, as witnessed by the influence of several policy tools on the R&D-patent relationship. They also put forward a new counting methodology, less subject to “home” bias. ECARES and CEB, member of ECORE, Senior Fellow at Bruegel and CEPR Fellow. ECARES and CEB, member of ECORE, FNRS Research Fellow.     

An evaluation of contingent immunization

This paper tests the effectiveness of contingent immunization, a stop loss strategy that allows portfolio managers to take advantage of their ability to forecast interest rate movements as long as their forecasts are successful, but switches to a pure immunization strategy should the stop loss limit be encountered. This study uses actual daily transactions in the Spanish Treasury market covering the period 1993–2003 and uses performance measures that accounts for skewness and kurtosis as well as mean variance. The main result of this paper is that contingent immunization provides excellent performance despite its simplicity.     

Which Companies Benefit from Liberalization? a Study of the Influence of Initial Productivity

Theoretical research shows that competition has positive effects on productivity, for companies that are initially efficient, but not for unproductive firms. Our empirical analysis on a panel data of Czech companies, years 1995–2004, confirms this result. In addition, our analysis shows that when economic reforms affect both domestic and foreign competition, controlling for domestic competition is crucial when assessing the impact of trade liberalization. Otherwise, the effect of trade liberalization on firm productivity is upward biased.     

Empowering the traveler: an examination of the impact of user-generated content on travel planning

ABSTRACT

In order to understand the role of user-generated content (UGC) in travel planning, this study integrates Psychological Empowerment with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), to develop a model of UGC-enabled empowerment and its impact on intention to use UGC when making travel plans. Survey data from 268 backpacker tourists revealed that perceived empowerment and perceived usefulness are significant drivers of attitude and intention to use UGC for travel planning. The findings provide the travel industry with a better understanding of how travelers’ perceptions of and use of UGC is empowering them to take greater control of the travel planning process.     

Low‐literate consumers' use of clothing labels amidst personal and product related challenges

Low‐literate consumers experience various challenges in the marketplace. This quantitative study focused on low‐literate female consumers' use of clothing labels amidst personal and product‐related challenges in the marketplace. An interviewer‐administered questionnaire was used among black African female consumers (n = 450) with literacy levels ranging from Grades 5 to 8 (on average, 11–14 years old), residing in the Emfuleni Local Municipality area, Gauteng, South Africa. Personal challenges experienced involved reading and numeracy skills, as well as concrete and pictographic thinking. Although respondents indicated that they read and understand clothing labels, results revealed problems experienced when attempting to use the information provided. Their numeracy skills were average and related abstract thinking skills were fair. Product‐related challenges were related to the format of labels, care‐label knowledge and evaluation of clothing quality. Respondents' preference for symbolic and graphic presentation of size format provided evidence of pictographic thinking. Care label understanding was poor, and clothing products were evaluated concretely. Some of the older respondents were inclined to follow the peripheral route of elaboration when reading clothing‐label information. We conclude that low‐literate consumers' use of clothing label information can improve if provided in a format that they can read and understand.