政企关系与产能过剩:基于中国制造企业微观视角

中国企业产能过剩的成因一直是经济学界的热门研究问题。但是,以往研究大多站在宏观行业视角或者政府视角,鲜有从企业微观视角来研究中国企业产能过剩的前因。本文基于资源基础观和制度理论的整合视角,研究了民营制造企业的政企关系如何影响其产能利用率。基于对2005年世界银行的中国营商环境调查数据进行分析,结果发现民营制造企业的政企关系与其产能利用率之间具有U型关系。研究还发现这种U型关系在地方经济增速趋势较差时期,以及企业内部治理水平较低的情况下更加显著。本文研究丰富了有关中国企业产能过剩的研究,对微观企业与宏观政策制定者都有着较大的启示意义。     

Nonlinear capital market payoffs to science-led innovation

This study explores the extent to which cross-sectional differences in firms’ propensity to absorb and utilize scientific knowledge matter for their stock market and operating performance. Unlike previous empirical studies and given the coexistence of both benefits and potential costs to science-guided search, I conceptualize innovation as a recombinant search to hypothesize a non-monotonic relationship. Using patent data from the European Patent Office (EPO) relative to 3281 international firms over the 1999–2015 period, empirical tests yield evidence in support of the predictions. However, the effect varies with firm-level absorptive capacity, across industries and countries. As suggested by a limited attention model, I find a stronger payoff predictive power of science for firms with lower investor attention and higher valuation uncertainty. Besides, the association between science and future operating performance increases with time, indicating that firms’ scientific capabilities are a potent driver of long-term profitability. The conclusions are robust to controlling for the endogenous nature of firms’ use of scientific knowledge. By providing a useful basis upon which to judge the economic merit of firms’ innovation endeavors, this study contributes to reducing capital market imperfections that curtail access to external finance and ultimately spurring private-sector investment in R&D. It also provides evidence of diminishing marginal payoffs to science-led search. Finally, the evidence is likely to be relevant to policymakers, who might wish to influence the innovation ecosystem in a way to sustain long-term prosperity.     

Does the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship hold for regions?

The purpose of this paper is to test whether the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship holds for regions. We do this by linking investments in knowledge by universities and regions to the amount of entrepreneurial activity associated with each university. Using binomial regressions we estimate how the number of young and high-tech firms located around universities depends on regional factors and the output of universities. The results clearly show that the number of firms located close to a university is positively influenced by the knowledge capacity of this region and the knowledge output of a university. Thus, there is considerable evidence suggesting that the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship holds for regions as well as for industries.     

Technological cooperation,R&D outsourcing,and innovation performance at the firm level: The role of the regional context

Much has been said about the role that technological networking activities play on the innovative performance of firms, but little is known about how the regional context influences the efficiency of such networking activities. In this paper we hypothesize that the transformation of firms’ networking activities into innovation may vary depending on the regional environment in which the firm is located. For Spanish manufactures in the period 2000-12 and through the use of a multilevel framework, we obtain that after controlling for the firm’s characteristics, the regional context has not only a direct effect on firms’ innovation performance, but it also conditions the returns to firms’ networking activities, although differently in the case of cooperation and outsourcing. Cooperating in innovation activities is more beneficial for those firms located in a knowledge intensive region, whereas R&D outsourcing seems to be more profitable for firms in regions with a low knowledge pool.     

How do firms’ knowledge bases affect intra-industry heterogeneity? : An analysis of the Spanish pharmaceutical industry

This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of within industry inter-firm variety. The paper develops two themes: (i) the analysis of intra-industry heterogeneity, and (ii) the extent to which higher performance is associated with the capacity of firms to expand their knowledge base. The main contribution of the paper is empirical, based on a data source consisting of information on documents published in international scientific journals by Spanish pharmaceutical firms. The empirical results support the argument that the firm's knowledge base is a main driver of persistent heterogeneity within industries. We find systematic variety in terms of how firms articulate their research activities, and positive correlation between firms’ knowledge diversification and performance.     

Which types of knowledge-intensive business services firms collaborate with universities for innovation?

Drawing on data from an original survey of UK and US publicly traded knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) firms, we investigate what types of KIBS firms collaborate with universities and consider the collaboration important for their innovation. First, we find that science-based KIBS firms (those engaged in a science, technology, and innovation [STI] mode of organizational learning), like science-based manufacturing firms, are active collaborators with universities for innovation. This relationship is further enhanced if these firms also provide highly customized services. Second, in contrast to the existing literature suggesting that firms engaged in a doing, using, and interacting (DUI) mode of organizational learning do not regard collaboration with universities as important for their innovation, we find that KIBS firms engaged in a DUI mode of organizational learning and offering highly customized services are active collaborators with universities for innovation, despite the fact that they may not possess highly formalized scientific knowledge. These findings suggest that KIBS firms co-create knowledge with universities differently than manufacturing firms. Moreover, the findings highlight the wide variety of roles that KIBS firms play in innovation networks with universities.     

技术进步、空间竞争与产业区位变化

本文构建了融入技术进步的产业区位一般均衡模型,并据此推导出应用现实数据估计并进行情景模拟的实证模型,在此基础上,以西北地区水泥工业为例,模拟技术进步对产业区位的影响,探索经济活动空间格局的塑造机制。研究结果发现,在投入要素成本不变情况下,技术进步驱使企业生产成本降低,从而促进新一轮空间竞争。在长期,产业集聚会进一步增强,并聚集到更小的地区范围。原先市场规模大、产业基础好的地区仍为主要集聚地区,其他地区则更会被边缘化。     

Does local technological specialisation,diversity and dynamic competition enhance firm creation?

Does the presence of specialist technological expertise, diversity across industries and the intensity of competition among existing firms in a location affect the rate at which new firms are attracted to an agglomeration? We construct three measures of these explanators including a novel measure of competitive dynamics and estimate a region-industry panel fixed-effects model using data on a national census of firms over a 15-year period. This extensive panel dataset of firms and regions, enables us to move beyond the comparative static analysis which has dominated the agglomeration literature for so long. We find local competitive intensity has a large positive effect on firm creation. Competition attracts, not repels. Technological specialisation is a moderate attractee, but diversity may merely lead to local congestion.     

Knowledge spillovers through human mobility across national borders: Evidence from Zhongguancun Science Park in China

This paper investigates the impact of returnee entrepreneurs and their knowledge spillovers on innovation in high-tech firms in China. Using panel data for 1318 high-tech firms in Beijing Zhongguancun Science Park (ZSP) we find that returnee entrepreneurs create a significant spillover effect that promotes innovation in other local high-tech firms. The extent of this spillover effect is positively moderated by the non-returnee firm's absorptive capacity approximated by the skill level of employees. Multinational enterprises’ R&D activities positively affect the innovation intensity of non-returnee firms only when these local firms possess the sufficient level of absorptive capacity. Our findings have important implications for policy-makers and practitioners.     

基于发明专利条件寿命期的中外企业专利战略比较研究

专利条件寿命期的选择行为一般反映了企业的市场战略和竞争战略行为特征。在这两重专利战略考虑下,企业倾向于选择一个较长或较短的条件寿命期。中国发明专利的条件寿命期呈现典型的双峰型分布,从而验证了企业关于条件寿命期的特定战略选择。本文还对比了中外企业专利战略差异,发现中国企业更愿意选择较短的条件寿命期,这可能是由于中国企业为了使其发明专利能够获得更严格的保护而想尽快获取专利权,外国企业考虑得更多的是发明专利的市场收益问题,因此不急于获取专利权。外国中小型企业相较于大型企业更倾向于延长发明专利的条件寿命期,且外国企业更善于通过缩短条件寿命期来抢占潜力较大的技术市场,这是在市场战略与竞争战略双重考虑下所做出的较合理的条件寿命期选择。相比之下,中国企业对专利战略方面的考虑不足,但可能是就中国目前的专利制度和政策形势下做出的合理选择。     

Beyond industry–university links: Sourcing knowledge for innovation from consultants, private research organisations and the public science-base

This paper explores the use of specialist knowledge providers as sources of information in the innovation activities of manufacturing and service firms. Specialist knowledge providers are consultancies, private research organisations and the public science-base (i.e., universities and the government research laboratories). These may be engaged by firms in co-operative arrangement for innovation or as informal sources of information. We find, as anticipated, that amongst other factors specialist knowledge providers are more likely to be engaged by firms with more open approaches to innovation, those with high levels of absorptive capacity, those with greater social capital and networking capabilities, as well as by those with deeper commitments to innovation. Overall, the use of specialist knowledge providers tends to complement firms’ own internal innovation activities and to complement other external sources of knowledge. Moreover, the individual types of specialist knowledge providers tend to complement rather than substitute for one another. Beyond this we find significant differences in the types of specialist knowledge providers used by manufacturing and service firms. Although service firms are more likely than manufacturers to use specialist knowledge providers, they are more likely to engage consultants, whilst their links with research-based organisations, including the public science-base, are weaker. We ask whether there is a case for increasing the extent to which the public science-base undertakes activities that are relevant to innovation in the services.     

Spatial collocation and venture capital in the US biotechnology industry

Biotechnology firms operate in a high-risk and high-reward environment and are in a constant race to secure venture capital (VC) funds. Previous contributions to the literature show that the VC firms tend to invest locally in order to monitor their investments and to provide operating assistance to their target firms. Further, biotechnology is a knowledge-based industry that tends to exhibit spatial clusters, and the firms in such industries may collocate to benefit from gaining access to local markets for specialized inputs (e.g., skilled researchers) and from local knowledge spillovers and network externalities. If such gains exist, we expect that the collocated firms should exhibit positively correlated performance, including in their ability to attract venture capital funds. The purpose of this paper is to empirically measure the strength and spatial extent of the relationships among the amount of funds raised by proximate biotechnology firms. We model these relationships with a spatial autoregression (SAR) model, and we control for characteristics of the biotechnology firms and the VC firms that provide their funds as well as site-specific factors. Based on our fitted SAR model, we find that the amount of venture capital raised by a particular biotechnology firm is significantly influenced by the number of VC firms and the VC funding levels raised by biotechnology firms located within a 10-mile radius, but these relationships are not statistically significant beyond this range.     

Do innovative firms pay higher wages? Micro-level evidence from Brazil

This paper explores the relationship between innovation and wages using Brazil’s employer–employee census (RAIS) and a novel measure of innovation derived from the share of technical and scientific occupations of workers. The results show a robust and positive wage premium associated with innovative firms. The decomposition of this innovation-related wage premium suggests that it is larger for workers in manufacturing, although also positive and significant for those in agriculture and services; and larger for large firms. More importantly, the paper explores the causality between innovation and wages. First, we find some empirical support for “self-selection” — firms that innovate already pay higher wages before becoming innovators. Second, we find strong evidence of wage increases associated with starting innovation activity, which are persistent for three years after firms start innovating. Innovation pays off also for workers.     

产业关联与地理集聚——对煤电产业基地的一个新经济地理学解释

本文借鉴新经济地理学研究集聚现象的资源禀赋、规模经济和运输成本等关键概念,建立寡头垄断模型下的空间集聚机制,同时考虑产业之间的纵向关联和企业之间的策略性互动关系,借助博弈论分析,来解释煤电产业基地的地理集聚现象。得出以下几点结论:第一,在不存在规模效应、运输成本和要素禀赋差异的情况下,煤电企业不会产生地理上的集聚。第二,逐步放开这些条件就会发现,要素禀赋差异引发了煤炭产业的空间集聚现象;规模效应加剧了煤炭企业的地理集聚。第三,当运输成本不存在时,煤炭产业的集聚不会引发相应的电力产业集聚,但是只要存在运输成本,即使运输成本很小,电力企业也会发生迁移从而集聚。可见,考虑了运输成本,煤炭企业的集聚带动了电力企业的集聚。第四,若考虑两地区煤炭企业存在技术上的差异,在不存在规模效应、运输成本和资源禀赋差异的情况下,西部地区煤炭企业将向东部集中。第五,在不存在运输成本和规模效应,但资源禀赋存在差异的条件下,煤炭企业在东西部地区的聚散取决于技术进步和资源禀赋差异带来的成本权衡。     

Positions and rewards: The allocation of resources within a science-based entrepreneurial firm

We study the link between resource allocation and employee publication in the open science in a quantitative case study of one science-based, entrepreneurial firm. We bridge the literature on incentives with that on authority structures to argue that a positive relationship between rewards and productivity will be strongest for individuals in positions of scientific leadership within the firm. In a novel dataset, we find that prolific publishers receive greater year-end bonuses and are allocated additional direct reports, but this relationship only holds for individuals in scientific leadership roles. These results contribute to our understanding of resource allocation processes and reward structures in science-based firms.     

Managing external knowledge flows: The moderating role of absorptive capacity

In this paper, we argue that those firms with higher levels of absorptive capacity can manage external knowledge flows more efficiently, and stimulate innovative outcomes. We test this contention with a sample of 2265 Spanish firms, drawn from the Community Innovation Surveys (CIS) for 2000 and 2002, produced by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). We find that absorptive capacity is indeed an important source of competitive advantage, especially in sectors characterized by turbulent knowledge and strong intellectual property rights protection. The implications for management practice and policy are also discussed.     

The role of academic inventors in entrepreneurial firms: sharing the laboratory life

While science-based entrepreneurial firms are a key feature of the modern economy, our insights into their organization and productivity remain limited. In particular, our understanding of the mechanisms through which academic inventors shape entrepreneurial firms established to commercialize their scientific ideas is based upon a traditional perspective that highlights the importance of human capital. Based on a study of biotechnology firms and their academic inventors, this paper examines the extent and mechanisms through which academic scientists contribute not only human capital but also social capital to entrepreneurial firms. The paper makes two contributions to our understanding of the academic-firm interface: First, it establishes that the social capital of academic scientists is critical to firms because it can be transformed into scientific networks that embed the firm in the scientific community through a variety of mechanisms. Second, the paper argues that an academic inventor’s career plays a critical role in shaping his social capital, thus scientific careers mediate the networks and potential for embeddedness that an academic inventor brings to a firm. Specifically, the foundations of an academic’s social capital can be traced to two sources: The first element that the firm may leverage is the academic’s local laboratory network—a network to current and former students and advisors established by the inventor through his laboratory life. The second form of social capital is a wider, cosmopolitan network of colleagues and co-authors established through the social patterns of collaboration, collegiality and competition that exemplify scientific careers. These findings suggest that scientific careers are central in shaping an academic’s social capital which can be translated into critical scientific networks in which entrepreneurial firms become embedded.     

我国高技术产业企业规模和创新能力的关系研究

在我国高技术产业中,企业规模是否与创新能力有正的相关关系?该问题对政府行政部门制定宏观政策有现实意义.文中建立了评价企业创新能力的评价指标体系,在此基础上收集我国高技术产业中所有行业的大、中型企业的相关数据,用实证的方法对我国高技术产业中企业规模和创新能力的关系进行研究.研究发现:在我国的高技术产业中,大型企业的创新能力均强于同行业的中型企业.     

Optimal cognitive distance and absorptive capacity

In this paper we test the relation between cognitive distance and innovation performance of firms engaged in technology-based alliances. The key finding is that the hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped effect of cognitive distance on innovation performance of firms is confirmed. Moreover, as expected, we found that the positive effect for firms is much higher when engaging in more radical, exploratory alliances than in more exploitative alliances. The effect of cumulative R&D turns out to be mixed. It appears to increase absorptive capacity, as expected, but there is clear evidence that it also reduces the effect of cognitive distance on novelty value, making it increasingly difficult to find additional novelty.     

Innovation activities, use of appropriation instruments and absorptive capacity: Evidence from Spanish firms

This article empirically investigates the relationship between innovation activities of firms, their use of appropriation instruments and their absorptive capacity. We study a wide range of manufacturing and service industries, not just high-tech, and a wide range of innovation activities, not just R&D. We use multilevel logit models for complex samples to disentangle industry from firm-specific effects. We find that within an industry, firms that invest in appropriation instruments to reduce outgoing spillovers tend to conduct more R&D and downstream activities than firms that do not. Acquisition of technology is not related to the use of appropriation instruments. The effects of incoming spillovers (measured through absorptive capacity) on innovation activities of firms are industry specific and stronger for firms that invest in appropriation instruments. For this type of firm, both the capability to scan the external environment for technology and the capability to integrate new technology are related to the innovation activities. For firms that do not invest in appropriation instruments, only scanning capabilities are related.