Linking Innovation and Firm Performance: A New Approach

Using the second Community Innovation Survey (CIS-2) for the Netherlands, we analyse the input and output stages of the innovation process and the links between the innovation process and overall economic performance. We investigate the existence of feedback links running from past economic performance to the input and the output stage of the innovation process and compare the results of a single-equation approach with the results obtained from a simultaneous-equation model.     

Financing Constraints and the Timing of Innovations in the German Services Sector

Using newly available data at the firm level, this study provides convincing evidence of the importance of financial constraints in explainingthe timing of innovations in the German services sector. Based on a dynamic model of firms' optimalR & D behavior under financial constraints, we estimate various versions of aneconometric specification of the model with dichotomous innovation data by using a univariateordered probit model. Additionally, a new estimation technique is applied to account forthe scaling of the regressor variables. Our results are consistent with the theoretical view that,because of capital market imperfections, internal finance should be an important determinant ofinnovative activities by private firms not only in the manufacturing sector but as well as inthe services sector.     

东盟自由贸易区的发展和政策转向探析

成立东盟的初衷,旨在缓和东盟内部的紧张关系,减少外部因素对该地区的影响,促进其经济的健康发展和政权的 巩固。金融危机之后,东盟国家一改政府直接干预经济的政策,致力干多方引吸外资,以巩固其国际地位。     

Innovation in the every day life of libraries

A state of the Art trend analysis of the Library and Information science reveals that the Library world is in the midst of the technological restructuring. Every branch of library work changes continuously because of the technological facilities, although the missions and goals remain unaltered. The libraries belong to these professional divisions which involve the innovation and technology transfer in everyday life. In most of the cases innovation either as a product or as a procedure goes into the libraries, it's not a phenomenon produced by them.On the strategic level libraries on average have developed the ability to collect, process and assimilate technological innovation.On the organizational level libraries follow the changes which technology transfer dictates such as close co-operation with computer centers and external commercial information suppliers, software and hardware suppliers, science and technology achievements, etc. It is too common to libraries to develop routines and Best Practices for every task, derived by the technology they use, for the cost decrease, the time save and the increase of the effectiveness and efficiency.The innovative process is the kind which libraries could adopt, as innovation is composed of the systematic retrieve of changes and systematic analysis of the opportunities which these changes could contribute to economic and social improvement.Innovation above all, is a social procedure, as it is interpreted in terms such as creativity, desires, fantasy and the ability to take risks and to change. So innovation and technology transfer differentiates the role of the librarian and extends it beyond the limits of the information intermediary. The librarian in order to involve, anticipate and especially produce innovation has to learn how to learn, as libraries have to learn how to change.The presentation will be a methodological one and will focus on Best Practices, the definition and a short report, how they combine with the library functions and how they produce innovative processes and new Best Practices. An evaluation of Best Practices according the Value Analysis method is included as a prerequisite of the final choice of which practice is characterised as Best and which not.     

Schumpeter and Steindl on the dynamics of competition

This paper compares and contrasts the contributions of Joseph Alois Schumpeter and Josef Steindl to the competitive paradigm. Both reject the static nature of traditional profit maximizing analysis and the analytical device of a representative firm. Instead they both opt for a dynamic framework in which there is a key role for innovation. Differences emerge in terms of the characteristics of individual firms that nurture the competitive struggle and are responsible for technical change. The maturation process of a capitalist economy, whereby a natural progression will involve an increase in concentration, as prescribed by Schumpeter and Steindl is also explored, as is criticism of their analyses. Finally the holistic approach to competitive modelling, a legacy of these two economists, is expounded and challenges for the future identified.     

Uncertainty and the size distribution of rewards from innovation

 Previous research has shown that the distribution of profit outcomes from technological innovations is highly skew. This paper builds upon those detailed findings to ask: what stochastic processes can plausibly be inferred to have generated the observed distributions? After reviewing the evidence, this paper reports on several stochastic model simulations, including a pure Gibrat random walk with monthly changes approximating those observed for high-technology startup company stocks and a more richly specified model blending internal and external market uncertainties. The most highly specified simulations suggest that the set of profit potentials tapped by innovators is itself skew-distributed and that the number of entrants into innovation races is more likely to be independent of market size than stochastically dependent upon it.     

Organization of innovation and capital markets

This paper develops a theory of the firm scope where not only research but also ordinary production employees can generate inventions. Separating research from production (“specialization”) solves the two-tier agency problem of inducing simultaneously research effort and managerial truthful-reporting but is costly when capital markets are imperfect. Improvements in capital markets, therefore, promote specialization, allowing a greater number of specialized firms to be established and also enabling them to undertake innovative projects with larger potential outcomes. Moreover, this capital market improvement effect is stronger for innovative activities that are less capital-intensive and that have weaker synergies with existing production activities. The model can help us understand the explosion of small company innovation in the U.S. since late 1970s and the contribution of venture capital to this change.     

区际产业转移与区域创新系统耦合研究

在对区际产业转移与区域创新系统耦合特征分析的基础上,根据系统动力学原理与方法,从区际产业转移与区域创新系统耦合要素因果关系出发,建立区际产业转移与区域创新系统要素耦合的SD模型,并应用Vensim PLE对模型进行检验及仿真分析。结果发现,在欠发达地区承接产业转移过程中,加强中介机构、高校和科研院所的实力有助于提高区域创新能力。此外,产业转移技术水平对区域创新能力的影响比较复杂,在创新投入方面需要制定有针对性的产业技术转移政策。     

The Influence of Board Composition on Sustainable Development Disclosure

Despite knowing the potential effect of social reporting on firms' continuity, there is limited research into the influence of the composition of boards of directors on CSR disclosure. This paper adds to the emerging CSR literature empirical evidence by examining how board composition relates to a firm's social and environmental disclosure as well as the implementation of social policies. Using a sample of FTSE 350 firms for the period 2007–2012, the results show that higher board independence facilitates the conveying of firms' good citizenship image through enhancing societal conscience. The results also show that female participation on boards is favorably affecting CSR engagement and reporting as well as the establishment of ethical policies. Hence, the research suggests that boards with higher female participation and independence boost the legitimacy of CSR reporting. Board gender diversity and independence facilitates directing part of the firm's scarce resources toward value maximizing social projects and subsequent reporting on these. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

产军协同、政府科技支持与技术创新效率研究

运用空间数据分析方法,检验产军协同、政府科技支持与技术创新效率在我国省域间的分布格局。研究表明,三者均存在显著的正向空间相关性,即正向空间溢出效应,并且在不同地区形成局部空间集聚,存在高低非均衡的“俱乐部”现象。基于空间误差模型和空间滞后模型,实证检验产军协同、政府科技支持对技术创新效率的影响。结果发现,从全国和分地区看,产军协同、政府科技支持均能够显著促进技术创新效率提升,并且二者存在显著的交互作用,能够发挥彼此间的互补效应,进一步促进技术创新效率提升;不同地区产军协同、政府科技支持对技术创新效率的影响程度存在较大差异,西部地区产军协同、政府科技支持对技术创新效率的促进作用比东部和中部地区显著。