Drivers of productivity in Vietnamese SMEs: the role of management standards and innovation

Using a rich panel dataset of small and medium scale manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) active in the manufacturing sector in Viet Nam, this paper investigates the drivers of firm productivity, focusing on the role played by international management standards certification. We test the hypothesis that, accounting for technological innovation (product and process) and other variables related to technological capabilities, international standards are conducive to higher productivity, through improved management practices and business organization. In line with the requirement of continuous improvement implied by most international standards, the main findings show that the possession of an internationally recognized standard certificate leads to significant productivity premium. We further find that the effect of certification on productivity is particularly strong for firms with technological innovation, located in southern provinces, and operating in more scale-intensive industries.     

High-growth entrepreneurial firms in Africa: a quantile regression approach

This article analyses the growth performance of a large set of entrepreneurial firms in ten manufacturing sectors of 11 Sub-Saharan African countries. The focus of the article is on identifying those entrepreneurs’ attributes and firm characteristics that tend to generate a significant number of high-growth firms in these countries. To this end, we use a quantile regression, which provides a more complete estimation of the growth distribution of firms conditional on different attributes. The results indicate that firms that engage in product innovation, have their own transport means and are connected to the internet through their own website are especially characterized by higher growth rates and also display a distribution of growth rates skewed to the right, hosting a higher number of high-growth firms. The effect of the last two variables, which relate to distance-bridging modes of infrastructure, points to the self-reinforcing growth effects they generate in creating wider input and output markets. Education raises growth opportunities by affecting the lower quantiles, but it does not appear to influence the upper quantiles. The estimated conditional growth distributions for the technology-intensive machinery and electronics sectors show more extreme tails and a lower mean in comparison to the traditional industries, indicating the more risky nature of doing business in these industries.     

Innovation strategies,process and product innovations and growth: Firm-level evidence from Brazil

Using World Bank ICS 2000–2002 data from Brazilian manufacturing firms, this paper identifies innovation strategies of firms – in particular internal development (“technology make”) and external acquisition (“technology buy)” – and their effect on successful process and product innovations. It subsequently explores the importance of process and product innovations for firm growth. Successful process and product innovations occur mostly through “technology buy” (mostly through the purchase of machinery and equipment), either alone or in combination with a “technology make” strategy. The option of only relying on internal development is less successful. The results on firm growth indicate that innovative performance is an important driver for firm growth. It is particularly the combination of product and process innovations that significantly improves firm growth. Both innovation and growth performance are supported by access to finance. Skills of workforce and management matter, but not necessarily tertiary education levels. The impact of international linkages on innovative and growth performance is mixed.     

Technical efficiency, market share and profitability of manufacturing firms in Cote d'Ivoire: the technology trap

This paper investigates the sources of inefficiency of firmsin Côte d'Ivoire and examines to what extent these effectstranslate into poor performance. A large majority of firms istechnically inefficient, producing far below the maximum attainableoutput level. Major cost savings can also be realised throughenlarging the scale of activities of firms. Efficiency gainsand scale advantages translate into a better competitive positionand via their impact on market share into higher profitability.However, severe growth barriers and imperfect markets keep firmsfrom realising these gains and prevent firms from catching upin technology with respect to their larger, older and oftenforeign-owned competitors.     

Contradictions urbaines et guerre civile

The slum area of Quarantina formed part of Beirut near the coast. Migrants of disparate origins—nomads (Bedouins from Saudi Arabia), Kurds from Turkey, Palestinian refugees, Syrian labourers and uprooted Lebanese peasants from the south-settled on land belonging to state officials and to religious institutions, and gradually built up a network of marginal economic and social life. They soon became considered as dangerous social outcasts—as the pariahs of Christian eastern Beirut and of the Lebanese social hierarchy. Although providing the surrounding industries with a consistent labour force, their activities were feared because of subversive political implications. Communication between Palestinian camps and slum areas of Beirut led to raised political consciousness among the Quarantina inhabitants: the ideology of the Palestinian revolution became the symbol of a new struggle. The interlinking of both causes, that of the Lebanese masses and that of the Palestinian refugees, precipitated the repressive action taken by the conservative forces. Quarantina contained an insignificant proportion of Palestinians; nevertheless its inhabitants could possibly organize into embryonic revolutionary movements and give birth to urban guerilla warfare. The slum also obstructed the expansion of the Christian quarter of Achrafieh and impeded the partition projects of the right-wing Phalangist party. The repressive action meted out to the urban population of Quarantina took a particularly violent form. The men were massacred, shot down before their families. The dwellings were plundered. The site, cleared of its ‘gangrene’, is now ready for the construction of a new tourist complex.