Corporate Entrepreneurship and Codification of the Knowledge Acquired from Strategic Partners in SMEs

This work proposes that the level of codification of acquired knowledge positively influences the corporate entrepreneurship activities of SMEs and argues that this relationship is enhanced by the relational diversity of the partner that provides the knowledge and the strength of the relationship with this partner. The results obtained in a sample of 181 Spanish SMEs in the ITC sector confirm the hypotheses proposed. This research contributes to the corporate entrepreneurship literature by showing which types of knowledge (codified), sources of knowledge (the most important strategic partner), and relational conditions (tie strength and partner's relational diversity) can enhance corporate entrepreneurship.     

Capital requirements under the credit risk-based framework

This work aims to study the hypothesis of lower capitalization of banks under the risk-based rules introduced in Basel II. In this sense, an assessment of the impact of these rules on the capital requirements for non-financial firms’ credit risk is performed. A comparison with Basel I is presented and intervals of variation for the risk drivers such that capital requirements exceed the ones under Basel I are established. Data for a European country supports the hypothesis of a smaller capitalization of banks under the risk-based framework, as far as credit risk in concerned.     

Market Orientation Adoption among Rural Tourism Enterprises: The Effect of the Location and Characteristics of the Firm

This paper highlighted the importance of market orientation as a strategy for the success of rural tourism enterprises. The purpose of the work was to identify an explanatory model for the market orientation adopted by rural tourism enterprises. The explanatory factors identified were as follows: category; information and communications technology use; and the entrepreneur's gender. It was also found that the location of the enterprise relative to its competitors may also influence market orientation adoption. A spatial econometric model was used that took into account the characteristics of the rural tourism enterprise and its physical location, in terms of their effect on market orientation adoption. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国开放型经济发展绩效评估研究

在对开放型经济内涵界定基础上,构建了中国开放型经济绩效评估综合指标体系并对1985~2012年中国开放型经济发展绩效进行了实证评估,评估结果表明:中国开放型经济发展绩效已形成了显著的倒U型曲线趋势特征,自2007年后呈现持续下降态势。进而文章从外部因素和内部因素两方面对近年来中国开放型经济发展绩效下降的主要原因进行了剖析并提出了相应对策与建议。     

‘Do versus Buy’ Decisions in the Demand for Knowledge Intensive Business Services

The search for the maximum use of scale and agglomeration economies and the need to operate firms in the most flexible way have provided a strong impulse for companies to increase their use of external intermediate services. Because of their strategic role, the use of business services that are intensive both in labour qualification and in technological requirements is key for these policies. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the patterns followed by companies in the two relevant decisions on this issue: firstly, whether to use knowledge intensive business services or not and, secondly, whether (and to what extent) to buy these services from another firm or to provide them inside the organisation. In both cases, we intend to identify the factors that affect the ‘do versus buy’ decision with respect to total KIBS as well as particular categories. A specific feature in our study is that it focuses on the behaviour of firms working in a region without a well-developed supply of KIBS. Applying discrete response models to the data obtained in a survey elaborated by the authors, the most relevant variables for the use of KIBS are satisfaction with previous outsourcing experiences and location of the firm in a large urban centre, but they do not affect their external provision. The size of the firm, its export orientation and its technological complexity have opposite effects on use and outsourcing.     

The Asymmetric Effect of Endowments on Vertical Intra‐industrial Trade

(1238) J. Milgram‐Baleix and Ana I. Moro‐Egido This paper investigates the determinants of vertical Spanish intra‐industry trade with developed and developing countries. We empirically test the comparative advantage explanation. To do so, we build physical, human and technological capital stocks. On average, when using OLS techniques, differences in endowments are a limitation for vertical intra‐industry trade. Using quantile regression techniques, we observe that this negative effect decreases in absolute terms as vertical intra‐industry trade flows increase and, in some cases, the impact becomes positive for the upper tails, thus supporting the view of a reduced version of the comparative advantage explanation. Our results provide interesting insights into Spain and emerging countries. A large part of Spanish trade already takes place on an inter‐industry basis or consists of exporting low quality products in exchange for similar products of a higher quality range, in particular with European countries but more surprisingly with emerging countries. Our study shows that high quality exports and horizontal intra‐industry trade are mainly driven by proximities of demand and technological capital while low quality exports share most determinants of inter‐industry trade.