Small high technology firms: some regional implications

Small high technology firms are often regarded as a vehicle for economic growth. This paper considers theories of small firm innovation and the evidence from sectoral, regional and national case studies. Small innovative firms appear to have some common needs; an environment conducive to entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial and technical ability to translate new technologies into products for which a market exists; pleasant locations where R&D activity is concentrated and where there are clusters of skilled craftsmen and local suppliers of ancillary goods and services. Current policies to stimulate the generation and growth of small high technology firms are evaluated and some alternatives are suggested.     

Does air pollution change a firm's business strategy for employing capital and labor?

We examine the impact of air pollution on a firm's capital-labor ratio. We propose the hypothesis that, in dealing with air pollution, a firm responds strategically by using relatively more capital and less labor to contain labor costs and remain competitive in the market. Using a sample of Chinese firms and a satellite-based air pollution metric, we test this hypothesis, and our results confirm it. In addition, we document that the impact of air pollution on the capital-labor ratio is more salient for firms with high economic incentives and close monitoring. Further, we report that to respond to worsening air pollution, a firm uses more capital and substitutes lower-quality labor with more high-quality labor. Finally, after increasing the capital-labor ratio, a firm's value increases, in terms of Tobin's Q, suggesting that the adoption of a higher capital-labor ratio, due to air pollution, is a sound business strategy.     

Can Trade Agreements Curtail Trade Creation and Prevent Trade Diversion?

This paper investigates how pre‐existing preferential trade agreements (PTAs) dilute the trade creation effect and shield the trade diversion effect of new PTAs. Countries having pre‐existing PTAs enjoy smaller gains in intra‐bloc trade because of the dilution effect and experience smaller losses or even gains in extra‐bloc trade because of the shielding effect. The findings support the proposition that PTAs could be used to fend off future trade diversion.     

Successful Psychopaths: Are They Unethical Decision-Makers and Why?

Successful psychopaths, defined as individuals in the general population who nevertheless possess some degree of psychopathic traits, are receiving increasing amounts of empirical attention. To date, little is known about such individuals, specifically with regard to how they respond to ethical dilemmas in business contexts. This study investigated this relationship, proposing a mediated model in which the positive relationship between psychopathy and unethical decision-making is explained through the process of moral disengagement, defined as a cognitive orientation that facilitates unethical choice. The results of the study supported this model, and implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Entrepreneurship,Innovation and Economic Growth: Evidence from GEM data

Studies on the impact of technological innovation on growth have been largely mute on the role ofnew firm formation. Using cross-sectional data on the 37 countries participating in GEM 2002, this paper uses an augmented Cobb–Douglas production to explore firm formation and technological innovation as separate determinants of growth. One area of interest is the contrast between different types of entrepreneurial activities as measured using GEM Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rates – high growth potential TEA, necessity TEA, opportunity TEA and overall TEA. Of the four types of entrepreneurship, only high growth potential entrepreneurship is found to have a significant impact on economic growth. This finding is consistent with extant findings in the literature that it is fast growing new firms, not new firms in general, that accounted for most of the new job creation by small and medium enterprises in advanced countries.