Intangible assets and firm heterogeneity: Evidence from Italy

The positive impact of intangible assets on several measures of economic performance is well documented in the literature. Less clear is what initially leads firms to invest in intangible assets. The latter is particularly important because, at least for the Italian manufacturing sector, firms exhibit strong heterogeneity in their investments in intangible assets. In line with the capability-based theory of the firm, we argue that the firm's propensity to invest in intangible assets can be explained by factors that are internal and specific to the firm. Making use of a rich dataset, we test and provide support for our hypotheses. In particular, we find that the propensity to invest in intangible assets increases with the firm's size, human capital, and historical intangible asset base. This points towards the existence of a cumulative process of intangible asset accumulation, which may account for most of the heterogeneity observed in the data. The paper adds to the previous literature in two ways: first, it highlights the existence of strong intra-industry heterogeneity in intangible asset investments, and second, it offers an explanation for such heterogeneity.     

Going, going, gone. Exit forms and the innovative capabilities of firms

Although innovation is essential to build a competitive advantage and survive in the long run, some firms choose to exit, through mergers and acquisitions (M&As), or radically change their business portfolio and identity. This paper examines how innovative capabilities influence the decision of a firm to exit, among business closure, M&A, and radical restructuring. Using an analysis of a large and rich panel of Dutch manufacturing firms, we find that product and process innovation are equally important to lower the probability to close down activities, and this effect is stronger when product and process innovations are pursed in combination. We also find that process innovation reduces the probability of exit by radical restructuring, while product innovation, when not supported by process innovation, especially increases the probability of exit by M&As. Our findings suggest that exit strategies are intimately bound to the nature and synergies of innovative efforts.     

Incubator firm failure or graduation?: The role of university linkages

One of the theoretically important factors for incubator firm performance is the strength of their linkages to the research university sponsoring the technology incubator. Herein, we focus on two types of university linkages to the sponsoring institution: a license obtained from the university and a link to university faculty, while controlling for incubator firm linkages to non-sponsoring research universities, among other factors. We propose that a university link to the sponsoring institution reduces the probability of new venture failure and, at the same time, retards timely graduation. Further, we suggest that these effects are more pronounced the stronger the university link. Due to the difficulty of obtaining fine-grained longitudinal data, the incubation literature is characterized by a dearth of studies focusing on incubator firm differential performance. We attempt to take a first step towards closing this gap by testing these hypotheses through following 79 start-up firms incubated in the Advanced Technology Development Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology over the 6-year period between 1998 and 2003. We find broad support for the hypotheses advanced.     

Information ambiguity,patents and the market value of innovative assets

Research and development (R&D) is often essential for firms’ profitability and growth. At the same time, R&D is long-term and risky. We show that innovation activities lead to information ambiguity about the future value of firms’ assets. This effect appears to be more pronounced for small and less reputed firms. Information ambiguity further lowers firms’ market value and, in particular, the market value of innovative assets. We further show that high quality patents mitigate the negative effect of information ambiguity to some extent.     

Innovation strategy, firm survival and relocation: The case of Hong Kong-owned manufacturing in Guangdong Province, China

Based on a survey adapted from the Fourth European Community Innovation Survey (CIS-4), this study finds that, in the changing manufacturing environment of Guangdong Province in China, Hong Kong-owned businesses that generate a higher share in new product sales as a percentage of total sales or engage in R&D or collaborative innovation activities in China are more likely to survive and remain in Guangdong. The study fills a gap in the literature by investigating the effects of innovation on the survival and relocation of Hong Kong-owned manufacturing firms in Guangdong. The results support policy initiatives that strengthen collaborative ties among key innovation system actors.     

The incidence of cross-licensing: A theory and new evidence on the firm and contract level determinants

This paper examines the firm and contract level determinants of the incidence of cross-licensing among manufacturing firms. It develops a simple stochastic theory explaining such incidence, which implies that cross-licensing, compared with unilateral licensing, is more prevalent between large and symmetric firms under a reasonable set of assumptions. We find strong empirical support to these implications, based on a new dataset of more than 1100 licensing contracts by Japanese manufacturing firms. We also find that the incidence of cross-licensing is higher when the contract covers only patent than when it covers only know-how, consistent with the theory. The licensing probability between two firms depends primarily on the size of a potential licensor, which, according to the theory, is consistent with the fact that a licensor is larger than a licensee on the average.     

Survivor: The role of innovation in firms’ survival

This paper explores the relationship between innovation and the survival probability of manufacturing firms in the Netherlands, conditional on firm age and size. The empirical analysis combines firm level data on innovation, derived from the second Community Innovation Survey, and on the date of exit, from the Business Register of all firms active in the Netherlands. To estimate the survival probability of a firm we use a non-parametric approach, based on the calculation of Transition Probability Matrices over different time periods. The results show that innovation has a positive and significant effect on the probability of firms’ survival. This effect increases over time and is conditional on firm age and size; we observe that small and young firms are the most exposed to the risk of exit, as found in earlier studies, but also those that most benefit of innovation to survive in the market, especially in the longer term.     

Innovation and firm growth in high-tech sectors: A quantile regression approach

We relate innovation to sales growth for incumbent firms in high-tech sectors. A firm, on average, experiences only modest growth and may grow for a number of reasons that may or may not be related to innovative activity. However, given that the returns to innovation are highly skewed and that growth rates distributions are heavy-tailed, it may be misleading to use regression techniques that focus on the ‘average effect for the average firm’. Using a quantile regression approach, we observe that innovation is of crucial importance for a handful of ‘superstar’ fast-growth firms.     

University spillovers and new firm location

This paper examines the impact of locational choice as a firm strategy to access knowledge spillovers from universities. Based on a large dataset of publicly listed, high-technology startup firms in Germany, we test the proposition that proximity to the university is shaped by different spillover mechanisms—research and human capital—and by different types of knowledge spillovers—natural sciences and social sciences. The results suggest that spillover mechanisms as well as spillover types are heterogeneous. In particular, the evidence suggests that new knowledge and technological-based firms have a high propensity to locate close to universities, presumably in order to access knowledge spillovers. However, the exact role that geographic proximity plays is shaped by the two factors examined in this paper—the particular knowledge context, and the specific type of spillover mechanism.     

Competition favors the prepared firm: Firms’ R&D responses to competitive market pressure

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on the long-debated relationship between market competition and firm research and development (R&D) by investigating the effect of competitive market pressure on firms’ incentives to invest in R&D. The paper shows that a firm's R&D response to competitive market pressure depends primarily on its level of technological competence or R&D productivity: firms with high levels of technological competence tend to respond aggressively (i.e., exhibit a higher level of R&D efforts) to intensifying competitive market pressure, while firms with low levels of technological competence tend to respond submissively (i.e., exhibit a lower level of R&D efforts). The differential effect of competitive market pressure on firm R&D, conditioned primarily by the level of firms’ technological competence, is empirically supported by unique firm-level data from the World Bank. Furthermore, the role of firm-specific technological competence in conditioning the R&D-competition relationship is more evident and statistically more significant for firms facing consumers whose utility is relatively more elastic to product quality than to price.     

The effects of knowledge management on innovative success – An empirical analysis of German firms

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of knowledge management on the innovation success of firms in Germany. We look at innovative firms in the period from 2000 to 2002 taken from the Mannheim Innovation Panel and estimate the effect of collaborative measures of knowledge management on the immediate economic success of different types of innovations. The results of our matching analysis reveal that firms which apply knowledge management perform better in terms of higher-than-average shares of turnover with innovative products compared to their twins. We do not find a significant effect of knowledge management on the share of cost reductions with process innovation.     

Knowledge spillovers and firm performance in the high-technology industrial cluster

This paper attempts to empirically investigate the mechanisms underlying growth in Hsinchu high-tech clusters. We emphasize knowledge spillovers as one of the potential factors contributing to agglomeration benefits. This paper sheds light on the impact of external and internal spillovers on firm performance in Hsinchu high-tech clusters. The empirical results provide supporting evidence that the external R&D spillover is statistically significant in explaining net sales of firms in Hsinchu high-tech clusters.     

Founders’ human capital and the growth of new technology-based firms: A competence-based view

In this paper, we analyze empirically the relation between the growth of new technology-based firms and the human capital of founders, with the aim of teasing out the “wealth” and “capability” effects of human capital. For this purpose, we take advantage of a new data set relating to a sample composed of 506 Italian young firms that operate in high-tech industries in both manufacturing and services. In accordance with competence-based theories, the econometric estimates show that the nature of the education and of the prior work experience of founders exerts a key influence on growth. In fact, founders’ years of university education in economic and managerial fields and to a lesser extent in scientific and technical fields positively affect growth while education in other fields does not. Similarly prior work experience in the same industry of the new firm is positively associated with growth while prior work experience in other industries is not. Furthermore, it is the technical work experience of founders as opposed to their commercial work experience that determines growth. The fact that within the founding team there are individuals with prior entrepreneurial experiences also results in superior growth. Lastly, we provide evidence that there are synergistic gains from the combination of the complementary capabilities of founders relating to (i) economic-managerial and scientific-technical education and (ii) technical and commercial industry-specific work experiences. We conclude that the human capital of founders of new technology-based firms is not just a proxy for personal wealth.     

Venture capital financing and the growth of high-tech start-ups: Disentangling treatment from selection effects

The financial and innovation literature generally claims that venture capital (VC) investments spur the growth of new technology-based firms (NTBFs). However, it has proved difficult so far to separate the “treatment” effect of the VC investment from the “selection” effect attributable to the ability of the VC investor to screen high growth NTBFs. The aim of this work is to test whether VC investments have a positive treatment effect on the growth of employment and sales of NTBFs. For this purpose we consider a 10-year longitudinal data set for 538 Italian NTBFs, most of which are privately held. The sample includes both VC-backed and non-VC-backed firms. We estimate Gibrat-law-type dynamic panel-data models augmented with time-varying variables that capture the VC status of firms. To control for the endogeneity of VC investments we use several GMM estimators. The econometric results strongly support the view that VC investments positively influence firm growth. The treatment effect of VC investments is of large economic magnitude, especially on growth of employment. Most of it is obtained immediately after the first round of VC finance. Conversely, the selection effect of VC appears to be negligible in the Italian context.     

企业R&D外包的模式、测度及其对创新绩效的影响

研发外包是企业在开放式创新环境下,整合外部技术资源,降低研发成本,提高研发速度的一种新型研发模式.研发外包模式的划分、测试及其对企业创新绩效的影响乃是各外包企业亟待解决的重要问题.从技术、战略、创新性角度划分效率型和创新型研发外包模式,引入R＆D外包强度指标,并对研发外包模式与企业创新绩效的关系进行实证研究.研究结果表明,在效率型研发外包模式下,研发外包的强度越大,企业创新绩效越高.而在创新型研发外包模式下,研发强度与企业创新绩效呈倒U型二次性曲线相关关系,当外包强度超过一定阈值后,强度越高,创新绩效越差.同时,环境动态性对两者关系起到调节作用.     

Experienced entrepreneurial founders, organizational capital, and venture capital funding

This paper empirically investigates the sourcing and valuation of venture capital (VC) funding among entrepreneurs with varied levels of prior start-up founding experience, academic training, and social capital. Social ties with VCs have been identified as an important precursor to organizational resource attainment and performance, and so this study analyzes the correlates of heterogeneous social links with VCs. I also examine venture valuation, as it reflects enterprise quality and entrepreneurs’ cost of financial capital. Using data from a survey of 149 early stage technology-based start-up firms, I find several notable results. First, prior founding experience (especially financially successful experience) increases both the likelihood of VC funding via a direct tie and venture valuation. Second, founders’ ability to recruit executives via their own social network (as opposed to the VC's network) is positively associated with venture valuation. Finally, in the emerging (at the time) Internet industry, founding teams with a doctoral degree holder are more likely to be funded via a direct VC tie and receive higher valuations, suggesting a signaling effect. The paper therefore underscores some important dimensions of heterogeneity among VC-backed entrepreneurs.     

In search of a useful theory of the productive potential of intellectual property rights

Mainstream theory, which has informed the belief systems regarding the operation as well as the predicted social and economic effects of IPR systems, cannot explain why the IPR system generates different performance results and varying potential for growth across the firms, sectors and nations participating in the IPR system. This paper sketches a theory of the ‘productive potential of intellectual property rights’ which is able to do just that. Focusing on the ‘rules of the game’ embedded in the institutional IPR environment and the ‘play of the game’ within the alternative institutions of IPR governance, the paper emphasizes the importance of the nature or quality of the relationships among IPR stakeholders and the contribution of such relationships to the processes of financial and non-financial value creation and distribution from IPRs. The central role of cooperation, asymmetric relationships, and the effective resolution of conflicting interests amongst stakeholders is addressed. It is suggested that the proposed framework provides a better starting point for the design of IPR policy and management.     

Geographical clustering and firm growth: Differential growth performance among clustered firms

This paper investigates the effect of being located in a cluster on firm growth. In particular, it focuses on the differential growth effect of being located in a cluster, or a growth divide among clustered firms, based on the idea that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, advantages of geographical clustering are not randomly or equally available to clustered firms. Due to the intense competition among clustered firms for resources such as creative talent, firms who are more attractive to the resources are more likely to entice better resources and hence achieve higher growth. Our empirical analysis of firms in nine industries across six countries shows that being located in a cluster per se does not have a positive effect on firm growth and that domestic technological leaders with a sufficient technological distance to the global technological frontier show differentially higher growth due both to the attractiveness to promising resources and to the opportunity for incoming knowledge spillovers from global technological leaders.     

Diversity in patterns of industry evolution: How an intrapreneurial regime contributed to the emergence of the service robot industry

How do new industries emerge? This paper aims to answer this question by analyzing the key actors in this process. We focus on the new industry of service robot. By using data of Japanese patent applications, we analyze the role of new firms and of collaborations. We find that the emergence of the industry is mainly triggered by established large firms, rather than by new firms. We further show that collaborations are at the core of new industry formation, but that they possess distinct properties. As the emergence of this new industry matches to the characteristics of Japan's institutional and knowledge regime we essentially argue that the notion of regimes with fewer start-ups being inefficient is erroneous. Our main conclusion is that industry emergence in intrapreneurial regimes seems to be distinctive from entrepreneurial regimes.     

The innovative performance of in-house and contracted R&D in terms of patents and utility models

The standard empirical framework for analysing the R&D-patents relationship is widened both by examining the different role of in-house and contracted R&D in the innovative performance of firms, and by considering patents and utility models counts as measures of innovation output. Patents and utility models are considered to approximate for significant and incremental innovations, respectively. Applying count data econometrics to a panel data set of Spanish manufacturing firms surveyed in the period 1990-1996, a transcendental production function is estimated, which allows for non-constant elasticities of the R&D inputs. The results indicate that significant innovations are mainly gestated in-house, whereas contracted R&D seems more orientated towards innovations of incremental nature.