Journals
Journal:
EURASIAN BUSINESS REVIEW
ISSN:
1309-4297
This paper investigates the impact of aligning an innovation strategy with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices on innovation and non-innovation performance variables. Drawing on principles from Stakeholder Theory and Social Network Theory of Innovation, the research hypothesizes that ESG-driven firms will outperform firms that are not ESG-driven in terms of future innovation outcomes, labor productivity, exporting and survival rates. Using the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) database, a panel of Spanish companies, the study compares the performance of two groups of innovative firms: firms that declare that at least one of the ESG goals are relevant for their innovation activities (ESG-driven companies) and matched firms that regard all three ESG goals as not important (non-ESG companies). Our findings reveal that ESG-driven companies exhibit a better future innovation performance and that, in terms of labor productivity, exporting, and survival their performance is never inferior than that of innovative firms that are not ESG-driven.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
ISSN:
1868-7865
This paper addresses the question of the impact of demand reductions on firms' concentration of innovation investments. Evidence is drawn from the PITEC database, which includes a stable panel of firms yearly surveyed in the 2006-2013 period. Controlling for selection, firms in the sample are found, following a demand decrease, to reduce the number of innovation investment categories. The effect of demand decreases is stronger for small firms. No evidence is found of exporting being a moderator of the relationship between demand fluctuations and the concentration of innovation investments. These findings suggest that downturns reduce the diversity in the innovation of firms, which could potentially have long-lasting effects on their innovation activities, and, ultimately, on their competitiveness.
Authors:
Costamagna, R.; Idrovo-Carlier, S.; Mendi, Pedro; et al.
Journal:
ACADEMIA. REVISTA LATINOAMERICANA DE ADMINISTRACION
ISSN:
1012-8255
Year:
2022
Vol.:
35
N°:
4
pp.
458 - 481
Purpose This paper takes a closer look at the way firms combine human resources from different departments by analyzing firm-level data obtained from a series of innovation surveys conducted in Colombia by Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica (DANE). In particular, the authors inquire into whether there are differences in innovation performance between firms that combine human resources from different departments and firms that choose not to do so. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply a complementarity test between firms that combine human resources from different departments and firms that choose not to do so. As performance variables, the authors consider the propensity to innovate, the number of new innovative products that the firm introduces, the proportion of sales coming from products new to the firm and sales from new products as a percentage of current innovation expenditures. Findings The authors find that firms with an internal research and development (R&D) department have a better innovation performance, but the authors do not find evidence of the existence of complementarity between workers in R&D and workers in other departments, and the authors find some evidence that suggests substitutability in the case of product innovations. Practical implications This paper provides managers with insights about how to deploy employees to improve firm innovation performance of employees. Originality/value This paper combines innovation literature with human resources management literature and applies a robust methodology to data not previously tested for the same purposes.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0931-8658
Year:
2022
N°:
136
pp.
149 - 176
This paper proposes a theoretical model in which a formal upstream firm competes against informal input suppliers, which constitute an alternative, albeit lower-quality input source for formal downstream firms. The existence of an alternative source increases competition in the industry, which tends to be welfare-increasing. However, it may also distort the incentives of the formal upstream firm to invest in quality upgrading. Assuming quantity competition downstream, we analyze how these incentives change and whether the negative welfare effect of a reduced investment by the upstream firm may more than offset the positive welfare effect of increased competition brought about by informal input suppliers. We find that there are parameter values such that this is the case, and welfare decreases if informal input suppliers are present. We analyze the robustness of this result to alternative modeling assumptions, such as price competition downstream and the use of two-part tariffs by the formal upstream firm.
Authors:
Mendi, Pedro; Moner-Colonques, R.; Sempere-Monerris, J. J.
Journal:
TECHNOLOGICAL FORECASTING AND SOCIAL CHANGE
ISSN:
0040-1625
Year:
2020
Vol.:
154
pp.
119976
We study whether past cooperation activities make firms more likely to use disembodied technology licensed by other firms. Using empirical evidence from the PITEC database, a panel of Spanish firms yearly surveyed in the 2005-13 period, evidence is found of a positive relationship between past cooperation and licensing, especially cooperation with research institutions. We also find that the likelihood of licensing-in increases with the number of different types of cooperation partners. These results are robust to using different estimation techniques and econometric specifications, and point at the relevance for the diffusion of technology of policy interventions that reduce the costs of creating linkages among diverse cooperation partners, in particular between firms and other research institutions.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF REGULATORY ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0922-680X
Year:
2019
Vol.:
55
N°:
1
pp.
33 - 45
A well-known result with important policy implications is that an output increase is a necessary condition for social welfare to increase with third-degree price discrimination. In this paper, we explore the robustness of this result to the introduction of an assumption that is different than the conventional approach, namely preferences not being quasilinear. We show that in the presence of income differences among consumers, the aggregate utility of consumers may increase with price discrimination while total output remains constant. This result questions the general policy recommendation that third-degree price discrimination should be disapproved because it reduces welfare unless output increases. Our result highlights the crucial role of the assumption of quasilinear preferences in standard welfare calculations. In the presence of income differences, consumer surplus may be a biased welfare measure, thus potentially leading to incorrect conclusions when assessing the impact of specific policies.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL
ISSN:
1469-1930
Year:
2019
Vol.:
20
N°:
4
pp.
472 - 487
Purpose Most developing countries are characterized by large informal sectors. A substantial proportion of firms in these countries began operations in the informal sector, eventually becoming formal. The purpose of this paper is to study whether, after formalization, firms that began operations in the informal sector are more or less likely to use intellectual capital in the form of disembodied technology licensing than firms that began operations in the formal sector. The moderating roles of being a downstream firm, age and the country's per capita income are also analyzed. Design/methodology/approach The effect of initial informality on the probability of licensing is estimated using firm-level data from the World Bank's Enterprise Survey, conducted in several Latin American countries in 2006-2017. Findings Formal firms that began informally are less likely to use licensed technology, suggesting the existence of long-run effects of informality. The effect of initial informality is more negative among downstream firms. Research limitations/implications - The analysis uses cross-sectional data. Unobservable firm fixed effects could be controlled for using longitudinal data. Practical implications - Initial informality affecting the innovation strategies of firms should be considered when designing policies that incentivize formality. Social implications - If, in light of the results of this analysis, policies are designed which foster a better allocation of resources, there will be a tangible impact in the lives of many people in developing countries. Originality/value This is the first paper that analyzes the relationship between initial informality status and technology licensing, a relevant channel for the international diffusion of technology.
Authors:
Carlier, S. I. (Autor de correspondencia); Costamagna, R.; Mendi, Pedro; et al.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH
ISSN:
0148-2963
Year:
2019
Vol.:
102
pp.
228 - 234
The characteristics of the environment in which a firm operates may be constraining a firm's choice of strategy in order to create and sustain a competitive advantage. In particular, we focus on the fact that the level of development of local human capital may be an important factor constraining the set of strategies that the firm may actually choose. Next, certain feasible strategies in a high-skilled labor market may become unfeasible in a low skilled labor market. To illustrate this point, we propose a theoretical model in which the level of quality of a firm's product depends on effort exerted by local high-productivity workers. We show that the firm may choose to produce a low-quality product for sufficiently high costs of finding high-productivity workers and inducing them to exert effort to increase the quality of the product.
Journal:
RESEARCH POLICY
ISSN:
0048-7333
Year:
2018
Vol.:
47
N°:
7
pp.
1321 - 1333
The Great Recession, which began in 2008, brought about large contractions in aggregate consumption in many countries. In this research, we study the impact of heterogeneous decreases in demand on innovation investments by analyzing the evolution of innovation investments in a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms during the 2004¿2013 period. We proxy heterogeneous variation in demand with net exit rates in the productive stratum of each firm, defined as the group of firms in the same industry and size class. These net exit rates are computed considering all firms in the stratum, including firms that are determined to be non-innovative firms. To support the identification strategy, we show that exit rates do not capture idiosyncratic unobservable characteristics among innovative firms. In addition, we control for the effect of time-varying credit constraints. We find that a one standard deviation increase in exit rates is associated with reductions of 1.5% in the share of firms investing in innovation. The drop is larger for smaller firms, which also experience greater decreases in sales. Since smaller firms are most sensitive to demand drops, they are the natural candidates to be the target of policies devoted to increasing R&D activities during crises. As additional analysis, we study firms¿ perceptions of the main obstacles to innovation to find that net exit rates capture the heterogeneous variation in demand, rather than credit constraints. Finally, when analyzing the exit patterns of firms in the sample, we confirm that the net exit rate in a firm's stratum does not drive the exit of firms in our sample.
Journal:
TECHNOLOGICAL FORECASTING AND SOCIAL CHANGE
ISSN:
0040-1625
Year:
2018
Vol.:
131
pp.
326 - 335
We analyze firm-level data from a survey conducted in Kenya in 2013 referring to innovation activities in the 2010-12 period. We use the data to study the impact on a firm's innovation decisions of the firm beginning operations as an informal firm, specifically on technological innovativeness, which comprises the introduction of new products and processes, marketing innovativeness, organizational innovativeness, and on the importance of obstacles to technological innovation. We find past informality status to negatively affect technological innovativeness, with the effect persisting as we leave out relatively younger firms. We find that the difference lies especially on process innovations. Regarding obstacles to innovation, we find that beginning operations in the informal sector mostly affects a firm's perceptions on the need to innovate. We interpret this result as suggestive of the existence of severe informational disadvantages of firms that began informally and eventually transitioned to formality relative to firms that began in the formal sector.
Journal:
TECHNOLOGICAL FORECASTING AND SOCIAL CHANGE
ISSN:
0040-1625
Year:
2017
Vol.:
114
pp.
192 - 202
The existence of a large informal sector may be a factor constraining formal firms' choices of innovation strategies in many developing countries. This paper addresses this issue and studies the impact on innovation of competition against firms in the informal sector. Using the World Bank's Enterprise Survey data from a sample of African and Latin American countries, we find that the marginal impact of informality on innovation by formal firms decreases with the intensity of competitive pressure from informal firms, consistent with an inverted-U relationship between propensity to innovate and competitive pressure from firms in the informal sector. This pattern arises even after controlling for the number of competitors, suggesting that the pressure that informal firms exert on formal firms go beyond a mere increase in the number of competitors. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Journal:
ECONOMIC INQUIRY
ISSN:
0095-2583
Year:
2017
Vol.:
55
N°:
1
pp.
339 - 351
We propose a model with two markets to analyze the welfare implications of price discrimination with quality differences. In each market a local firm that operates in that market only competes against a global firm that operates in both markets. Local firms produce higher-quality goods than the global firm. If the quality levels of the local firms' products are the same, price discrimination is never welfare-decreasing. If they differ, discrimination is welfare-increasing if quantity increases. Because of a positive allocation effect of price discrimination, there are parameter values such that welfare increases while total output decreases with price discrimination. (JEL D43, D60)
Journal:
JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0931-8658
Year:
2017
Vol.:
120
N°:
3
pp.
269 - 277
We discuss a potential limitation to a widely accepted result, namely that an output increase is a necessary condition for welfare to increase with price discrimination. We use a theoretical model to show that the existence of seasonal demand fluctuations may allow for a simultaneous reduction in verage output and increase in average welfare. We also discuss a number of extensions of our basic model.
Journal:
INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
ISSN:
2157-930X
Year:
2016
Vol.:
6
N°:
1
pp.
87 - 101
We present and analyse firm-level innovation data from Kenya and Nigeria. We test for the existence of complementarities between internal R&D and external innovation activities, and between organizational and marketing innovations. Some evidence is found on the existence of complementarities between internal and external technological innovation strategies in the case of Kenya, but not in the case of Nigeria. However, organizational and marketing innovations do not appear to be complementary in innovation either in Kenya or in Nigeria.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0931-8658
Year:
2016
Vol.:
118
N°:
2
pp.
121 - 139
This paper studies optimal licensing contracts in the presence of moral hazard associated with costly provision of know-how by the licensor. In our setting, the target market is defined as the fraction of consumers that have a positive valuation for the product that is licensed. It is shown that, no matter how thin the target market is, know-how transfer always takes place. Consistent with actual practice, the optimal licensing contract includes a royalty on sales to attenuate the moral hazard problem. However, full know-how transfer will not occur for low enough maximum willingness to pay and high enough convexity of know-how cost. Finally, it is also shown that the effective (inclusive of the royalty) marginal cost exceeds the one when know-how transfer does not occur thus showing a potential malfunction of know-how transfer specially if the recipient is a developing country.
Journal:
ECONOMICS BULLETIN
ISSN:
1545-2921
Year:
2015
Vol.:
35
N°:
4
pp.
2309 - 2316
This paper analyzes the innovation incentives for a firm that produces a vertically differentiated product, in the
presence of a competitive fringe that produces a lower-quality product. I find that the relationship between innovation
incentives and competition, measured by the difference in quality levels may exhibit an inverted-U-shaped pattern.
Journal:
CUADERNOS ECONOMICOS DE I.C.E.
ISSN:
0210-2633
Year:
2015
Vol.:
89
pp.
189 - 207
En este artículo se explora la existencia de posibles vínculos entre los incentivos a innovar,
privado y público, y la internacionalización empresarial. Las diferentes condiciones de competencia
entre los mercados internacionales y el nacional, unidas a la existencia de rendimientos decrecientes
o capacidades limitadas, pueden generar conclusiones inesperadas con consecuencias directas
sobre las políticas de fomento de innovación y de la actividad exportadora. Una innovación de
proceso aumenta los beneficios empresariales pero también puede reducir el bienestar de los
consumidores nacionales. En particular, se identifican condiciones bajo las cuales, y a diferencia
de resultados anteriores, el incentivo privado a adoptar una innovación de proceso es mayor que
el incentivo social.
Journal:
SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
ISSN:
1015-8812
Year:
2015
Vol.:
18
N°:
1
pp.
128 - 142
In this article, we investigate the importance of South African subsidiaries of foreign multinationals as channels to introduce foreign innovations in the South African market. We use firm-level data from the 2008 wave of the South African Innovation Survey, which covers the period 2005-07. We find that subsidiaries of foreign multinationals are significantly more likely to introduce product and process innovations, as well as foreign new products and processes than domestic firms. However, we also find that they are not more likely to introduce foreign innovations developed in collaboration with or mostly by another firm outside their own multinational, or innovations that are new to the South African market.
Journal:
ECONOMICS BULLETIN
ISSN:
1545-2921
Year:
2014
Vol.:
34
N°:
1
pp.
551 - 557
We propose an incomplete contract model of licensing of a cost-reducing technology. We incorporate exchange rate uncertainty and analyze its impact on the parties' investment and licensing decisions. We show that exchange rate uncertainty introduces a distortion in the parties' specific investment decisions and could even prevent the transfer from taking place.
Journal:
JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0931-8658
Year:
2014
Vol.:
113
N°:
2
pp.
175 - 186
In the presence of a non-constant marginal cost and demand uncertainty, we show that an output increase is no longer a necessary condition for welfare to increase following the introduction of third-degree price discrimination. We thus highlight the existence of an effect that might offset the well known output and misallocation effects of price discrimination. We propose a specific example where this is indeed the case
Journal:
APPLIED ECONOMICS LETTERS
ISSN:
1350-4851
Year:
2014
Vol.:
21
N°:
17
pp.
1221 - 1225
This article analyses a model in which a local monopolist that produces low-quality goods competes against a foreign competitive industry that produces a higher quality version of the goods. We use the model to analyse the welfare implications of introducing a unit tax on the local producer, relative to an ad valorem tax. We find parameter values for which the unit tax dominates the ad valorem tax, in the sense of increasing welfare while not reducing government revenues. This result contrasts with the mainstream results on the dominance of ad valorem over unit taxes
Journal:
APPLIED ECONOMICS
ISSN:
0003-6846
Year:
2012
Vol.:
44
N°:
24
pp.
3135 - 3147
We investigate the determinants of renewable energy R&D intensity and the impact of renewable energy innovations on firm performance, using several dynamic panel data models. We estimate these models using a large data set of European firms from 19 different countries, with some patenting activity in areas related to renewable energies during the 1987 to 2007 period. Our results confirm our priors on the determinants of the rapid development of renewable energy R&D intensity during the past decades. Additionally, we find evidence that renewable patent intensity has a significant dynamic impact on the stock market value of firms.
Journal:
PAPELES DE ECONOMIA ESPAÑOLA
ISSN:
0210-9107
Year:
2011
Vol.:
127
pp.
76 - 88
Las filiales de empresas multinacionales extranjeras son generalmente consideradas como canales de difusión tecnológica en el país en que se establecen. En el presente artículo comparamos el comportamiento de estas empresas con filiales de empresas españolas, en términos de probabilidad de introducir innovaciones, realizar 1+ D interna, adquirir 1+ D de fuentes nacionales y cooperar con empresas y universidades autóctonas. Los resultados obtenidos indican que las filiales de empresas extranjeras se abastecen menos de fuentes locales de conocimiento. Este resultado sugiere la adopción de políticas cuyo objetivo sea hacer más atractivas a las fuentes locales de conocimiento.
Journal:
ECONOMICS BULLETIN
ISSN:
1545-2921
Year:
2011
Vol.:
31
N°:
4
pp.
3268-3274
Journal:
ECONOMIA INDUSTRIAL
ISSN:
0422-2784
Year:
2011
Vol.:
382
pp.
93 - 100
Este artículo proporciona una visión cuantitativa del mercado internacional de tecnología, en el que la mayor parte de las transferencias se realizan dentro de empresas multinacionales mediante contratos basados en pagos variables. Se desarrolla un modelo de competencia en el que a una de las empresas, participada por una multinacional propietaria de una innovación de proceso, se le ha transferido previamente la tecnología. Cuando la empresa afiliada es la más eficiente, una mayor participación accionarial implica, en más casos, royalties positivas y mayores pagadas por las rivales de la afiliada, ejerciendo así la multinacional un control de la intensidad de la competencia
Journal:
SERIES: JOURNAL OF THE SPANISH ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
ISSN:
1869-4195
Year:
2011
Vol.:
2
N°:
3
pp.
359 - 378
This article presents a link between tariff rates and industry structure in a dynamic setting. We examine the role of tariffs on final-goods in a firm¿s decision to integrate and collude in the presence of competitive imports. It is shown that, under some conditions, the upstream firm has an incentive to engage in vertical integration to introduce profitably a wholesale price above the world input price while not inducing any intermediate or final good imports. Higher tariffs downstream, even with no tariff protection upstream, make this strategy more profitable, and provide a rationale for a positive relationship between tariff protection and vertical integration, which is observed in some industries.
Journal:
THE ICFAI JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
ISSN:
0972-9216
Year:
2010
Vol.:
8
N°:
1 - 2
pp.
39 - 56
This paper inquires into the factors that make the international transmission of knowledge more efficient within multinationals than between unaffiliated parties. It provides evidence, drawn from a sample of contracts for the acquisition of technology by Spanish firms in 1991. As found in previous studies, the competitive advantage of multinationals lies in the transmission of tacit knowledge, a type of knowledge often transferred together with process technologies. Furthermore, evidence is found that the lower costs of internal transfers permit some transfers of tacit technology to be carried out in cases where it would be impossible by means of an unaffiliated agreement. Finally, the relative advantage of multinationals increases with the interrelation between the source and the host countries.
National and regional funding
Title:
La Gobernanza de las prácticas ambientales, sociales y gobierno (ASG): El papel del propósito, la ética, el cumplimiento y la innovación (Govesg)
Project reference:
PID2021-124151NA-I00
Principal Investigator:
Luiz Ricardo Kabbach De Castro, Dulce María Redín Goñi
Funding organisation:
AGENCIA ESTATAL DE INVESTIGACION
Programme/Call:
2021 AEI Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento
Starting date:
01/01/2022
Ending date:
31/12/2024
Amount awarded:
80.041,50€
Other Funds:
Fondos FEDER
Title:
Diseño de las organizaciones y provisión de incentivos para la innovación
Project reference:
PGC2018-098131-B-I00
Principal Investigator:
Pedro Mendi Güemes
Funding organisation:
MINISTERIO DE CIENCIA, INNOVACIÓN Y UNIVERSIDADES
Programme/Call:
2018 AEI - MCIU - Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento
Starting date:
01/01/2019
Ending date:
30/09/2022
Amount awarded:
43.439,00€
Other Funds:
Fondos FEDER
