innovation behaviour and regional indigenous potential meyer krahmer f 1985 innovation behaviour and regional indigenous potential reg studies 19 523 534 this paper has been written in order to present empirical results about some hypotheses not yet very well clarified in innovation oriented regional research the first part relates to one of the assumptions underlying innovation oriented regional policy which is that innovating and non innovating firms have different characteristics with respect to employment product lines and markets in particular the contribution to regional growth made by innovating firms is said to be larger in the second part of the paper the results of a study are presented in which it was attempted to find out empirically the extent of regional differences in indigenous innovation potential in the federal republic of germany reference is made to the innovating firms their performance and behaviour and bottlenecks in innovation as in other recent studies it is confirmed that there exists also in rural regions a sizeab

the economic impact of industry funded university r d abstract in recent years industry has increased its direct funding of university r d this article examines whether such collaborative r d leads to increases in technological innovation in industry data are analyzed for the years 1953 through 1986 it is found that direct industry funding of university research is associated with subsequent increases in industry r d expenditures these expenditures include funding from both federal and industry sources this increase in r d expenditures occurs with a median lag of five years rival hypotheses are examined such as the effect of general university research expenditures however these hypotheses are rejected this article concludes by raising significant implications for policy

demand structure and technological change the case of the european semiconductor industry abstract this article proposes that the structure of demand is one of the major factors that affect the rate and direction of technological change and the evolution of high technology industries both over time and across countries this article presents an analysis of the semiconductor industry in europe the united states and japan although particular emphasis is placed on the european case the decline of the european industry 1960s from a position equal to that of the american industry 1950s can to a large extent be explained by the dominance of electronics consumer goods demand rather than public procurement or computer demand in the structure of demand in these countries the later technological convergence of electronics final markets 1970s played a major role in the commitment of the european semiconductor industry to lsi technology this commitment however came too late to allow the european industry to catch up with its american and japanese counterparts

government r d expenditure and space empirical evidence from five industrialized countries abstract in all industrialized countries several ministries pursue technology policies but only in germany and france are there special ministries for research and technology carrying out explicit technology policy in the usa great britain and france in particular public spending on defense is most relevant technologically in this study this kind of unintended technology policy will be referred to as implicit only a minor part of national r d activity is initiated with regional goals in mind the major part by far aims for national competitiveness the central hypothesis of this paper is that government r d spending generates unintended spatial effects which are far more consequential than the intended ones this study attempts to explain the phenomenon the technology policies of the five major industrialized countries usa germany japan france and great britain will be analyzed and the general tendency of governments to spatially cluster their r d assistance will be discussed the empirical section of this paper focuses on the relationship between government r d spending and employment in the high technology sector

policy review section in this policy review section gerry stoker of the institute of local government studies presents a critical review of the role of urban development corporations udcs in comparing the experience of the udcs consideration is given to the varying nature of the land and property market in each udc area to the relationship with local authorities and other local bodies and the regeneration strategies pursued by the udcs this is followed by an assessment of the impact of the udcs in economic social and political terms in the second article john britton of the university of toronto examines the theoretical case for interventionist public policies to assist the innovation process in small and medium sized enterprises these arguments are supported by a review of the experience of various national support programmes introduced in the uk in particular the manufacturing advisory service introduced in 1978 and the design advisory service launched in 1982

bose einstein dynamics and adaptive contracting in the motion picture industry audiences discover what films they like and spread the word information feedback produces bose einstein dynamics in the motion picture box office revenue distribution information cascades generate box office hits and flops the revenue distribution evolves recursively over the run as a mixture of the opening and a stochastic competition among films the motion picture run is decentralized adaptive and self organizing semistationary admission prices local information and contingency rich contracts match the film rental price and the supply of theatrical engagements to demand copyright 1996 by royal economic society

defence spending in the u k regions short j 1981 defence spending in the u k regions reg studies 15 101 110 this paper traces the incidence of defence expenditure in the regions of the united kingdom over the years 1974 1975 1977 1978 inclusive it examines contracts with industry and the expenditure resulting from the deployment of ministry of defence manpower this paper shows that significant differences exist between the levels of defence expenditure in the regions reflecting these two factors it concludes that the scope for using defence expenditure to influence regional income and employment is limited

government and the decentralization of r d abstract the purpose of this article is to show how costs and benefits of geographical decentralization of r d can be identified and compared the benefits for the region that receives r d activities are studied in section 2 they stem from the short run multiplier effect the amelioration of human capital and the possible modernization of the local industrial structure on the cost side examined in section 3 the observable impacts of the decentralization of r d concern the loss of returns to scale and urban economies of the production of the r d output it is shown in section 4 that the flows of costs and benefits must be discounted by the social cost of capital the main conclusion of this article is that the decentralization of r d in a large sparsely populated country entails social costs and this would weaken its competitive position in world commerce on the other hand the issue of decentralization is more crucial for small countries in terms of population and economic size than for large ones like the u s where critical masses of research efforts can be simultaneously attained in many fields and in many places

quality signals in information cascades and the dynamics of the distribution of motion picture box office revenues abstract the movies are an ideal testing ground for information cascade models one can observe the dynamics of box office revenues from the opening to the end of the run to study the possibility that information cascades occur in the movies one has to incorporate the fact that agents can observe box office revenues as reported on the evening news and communicate word of mouth information about the quality of the movies they have seen one must consider many movies rather than the mere two choices assumed in information cascade models we develop an agent based model of information cascades with these extensions our objective is to see if the conclusions of information cascade models hold with these extensions they do not and to see if the agent based model can capture the features of the motion picture box office revenues it does

institutions supporting technical advance in industry elsewhere 1982 economists beliefs that modern capitalism is a fine innovation generating machine have no intellectual grounding in contemporary neoclassical theory the twin theorems take technologies as given the apparent effectiveness of capitalism in this arena must reside in characteristics and mechanisms other than those featured in the microeconomic theory textbooks in our book we attempt to analyze these it also is true that the capitalist engine is a much more complicated one than many economists seem to think i presently am

the inevitable limits of eu r d funding abstract the experience of the past 40 years in national policies for and european cooperation in science and technology points to clear conclusions about eu policies first the prevailing notions of technology gaps between europe and japan and the usa notions which have been a driving force in the eu policy for research and technology have been exaggerated however real gaps exist amongst the eu member countries themselves secondly it is unrealistic to expect eu funded r d programmes by themselves to make a substantial difference to the rate and direction of technical change in europe however eu policies for competition and other forms of regulation trade and investment can have a major influence on corporate decisions about technical change it is important for eu innovation policy to promote favourable framework conditions within which business firms are encouraged to improve their technological and related organisational practices

federal r and d spending in the united states of america some impacts on metropolitan economies malecki e j 1982 federal r d spending in the unitd states of america some impacts on metropolitan economies reg studies 16 19 35 government r and d spending in the united states of america is highly concentrated in a small number of metropolitan areas the effects of this spending are conceptualized in the context of technological change and in terms of local income effects agglomeration and spin off processes and inter urban subcontracting linkages description of the location pattern of federal r and d spending reveals a highly agglomerated pattern in a few specialized urban regions inter urban linkages through subcontracting for r and d tend to link fewer urban areas than do non r and d linkages reinforcing the concentrated pattern income change in metropolitan regions appears to be negatively influenced by federal r and d suggesting that positive local effects are more likely derived from the more complex processes of agglomeration and spin off

forecasting marketing mix responsiveness for new products abstract before a new product launch marketers need to infer how demand will respond to various levels of marketing mix variables to set an appropriate marketing plan a critical challenge in estimating marketing mix responsiveness from historical data is that the observed decisions were affected by private information possessed by managers about the heterogeneous effects of marketing mix variables on sales the authors refer to this as the slope endogeneity problem such endogeneity differs from the intercept endogeneity problem which has been widely acknowledged in the literature to correct for the slope endogeneity bias the authors develop a conceptually simple control function approach that is amenable to multiple endogenous variables and marketing mix carryover effects the method is applied to forecasting advertising responsiveness in the u s dvd market the results suggest that advertising responsiveness varies substantially across dvd titles and that estimated marketing mix elasticities w

the influence of market demand upon innovation a critical review of some recent empirical studies abstract a number of recent empirical studies of technical change at the level of the individual firm have concluded that market demand is the dominant influence upon the innovation process calling forth innovations in market economies the pace of innovation in the private sector heavily influences the growth of national output and productivity and these studies and their conclusions have therefore received much attention having been extensively quoted in discussions of appropriate government policy for the encouragement of innovation this paper reviews a number of these studies and concludes that their findings and the interpretations of their findings in the secondary literature are seriously flawed and in many cases invalid the proposition that market demand governs the innovation process is by no means conclusively demonstrated in these studies and they are therefore inadequate and inappropriate guides for the formulation of policy most of the studies examined employ a working definition of demand factors which is so broad as to embrace a range of possible influences upon innovation which should more properly be classified elsewhere the concept of demand utilized in these studies bears little resemblance to the more restrictive and precise definition of market demand found in economics in addition the phenomena analyzed in these studies are a very heterogeneous lot the studies do not address identical empirical questions and their findings are as a result neither uniform nor unambiguous both demand and supply side influences are crucial to understanding the innovation process and it is the exclusive preoccupation with only one set of these forces which is criticized in this paper some implications of the criticism for government policy toward innovation are discussed in the conclusion

market crashes and informational avalanches this paper analyses a security market with transaction costs and a sequential trading structure transaction costs may prevent many traders from revealing their private information if they trade in a sequential fashion due to the information aggregation failure hidden information gets accumulated in the market which may be revealed by a small trigger yielding a high volatility in the absence of an accompanying event the paper first characterizes the optimal trading strategy of the agent which constitute the unique equilibrium further properties of the price sequence are obtained using the concepts of informational cascade and informational avalanche the results are applied to the explanation of market crashes in particular the dynamics of market crashes are illustrated as evolving through the following four phases 1 boom 2 euphoria 3 trigger and 4 panic where the euphoria corresponds to the informational cascade and the panic corresponds to the informational avalanche

effects of government financial incentives on firms innovation performance in china evidences from beijing in the 1990s abstract the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of chinese government financial incentives on firms innovation performance during the nation s initial economic transition period in the mid 1990s through a large scale empirical survey of more than 1000 chinese manufacturing firms the empirical evidences show that whereas the major government financial incentives such as special loans and tax credits were positively influential to innovative economic performance of firms direct earmarks not only failed to enhance innovative economic performance it sometimes negatively affected it surprisingly the findings show that all financial incentives of governments were unrelated to the patents of either high tech or general firms and direct earmarks affected the patents of these firms negatively although not to a significant degree this indicates that the centrally planned funding system of the 1990s was ineffective for enhancing technological progress for chinese manufacturing firms the study results imply that the chinese government should further increase the role of market force in its reforms a more market driven model by developing more s t initiatives to match the strategic directions of different enterprises particularly soes is recommended

the relationship between federal contract r d and company r d according to recent estimates federal budget outlays for research and development rd this component will rise 28 percent and absorb 70 percent of all federal r d spending in 1984 compared to under 50 percent in 1980 since work corresponding to about one half of the dollar value of the federal r d program is generally performed by private industrial firms under contract with federal agencies the rapid increase in federal r d outlays will presumably be reflected in a similar increase in the value of commitments by industrial firms to perform government r d one of the most important economic questions posed by the large prospective increase in resources allocated to federal contract r d concerns its consequences for the economy s rate of technical progress of productivity growth in the next section i argue that the ultimate impact on productivity depends on how company decisions to finance r d are affected by the availability of federal contract r d funds i then provide a brief review and critique of previous studies of the relationship between companyand federalfinanced r d performed in industry and present new estimates which differ from existing ones with respect to both methodology and implications these estimates are consistent with the hypothesis that increases in federal r d activity tend to be associated with significant reductions in companyfinanced r d a number of studies have attempted to determine the ceteris paribus effects of company and federal r d on the rate of productivity growth p by estimating variants of the equation

route 128 the development of a regional high technology economy abstract a corner of massachusetts not far from boston s route 128 has become a world center of high technology hundreds of enterprises mainly in electronics based industries employ over 250 000 people 75 000 of whom were added between 1975 and 1980 enterprises founded after world war ii have spearheaded growth in the state with a rapid rate of new firm formation continuing through the 1970s this paper examines the state s high tech growth to determine what caused it to happen where it did and assess the special role of new enterprises in promoting it the development is found to have been largely indigenous and spontaneous rather than the result of a concerted effort to attract industry massachusetts distinguished universities and their research laboratories an inherited technological infrastructure the importance of agglomeration externalities and the good fortune of having a home grown firm become the world s leading manufacturer of minicomputers were major contributors to the state s success but the enormous opportunities for new enterprises which the electronics revolution generated and the tendency for such firms to start up mainly as spin offs from other high tech firms or from university laboratories and to remain close to their sources fueled the tendency towards spatial concentration

sectoral patterns of production and use of innovations in the uk 1945 1983 abstract based on information on more than 4000 innovations commercialised in the uk between 1945 and 1983 we analyse sectoral patterns and trends in the production and use of innovations a few core sectors chemical mechanical instruments and electronic are of major importance in the production of technology that gets used over a much wider range of sectors including those outside manufacturing similar sectoral patterns of production and use exist in the uk and usa the trend over time in the uk has been toward greater sectoral interdependence in technology and a higher share of uses outside manufacturing reflecting the growth and spread of the electronic based technological cluster any understanding of the nature determinants and dynamics of intersectoral differences in patterns of production and use of technology will require an integration into empirical and theoretical analysis of the characteristics of innovating firms

business and children mapping impacts managing responsibilities in recent years issues of childhood obesity unsafe toys and child labor have raised the question of corporate responsibilities to children however business impacts on children are complex multi faceted and frequently overlooked by senior managers this article reports on a systematic analysis of the reputational landscape constructed by the media corporations and non government organizations around business responsibilities to children a content analysis methodology is applied to a sample of more than 350 relevant accounts during a 5 year period we identify seven core responsibilities that are then used to provide a framework for enabling businesses to map their range of impacts on children we set out guidelines for how to identify and manage the firm s strategic responsibilities in this arena and identify the constraints that corporations face in meeting such responsibilities

a cross country input output analysis of intersectoral relationships between manufacturing and services and their employment implications abstract the paper examines the nature and the evolution of intersectoral relationships between manufacturing and services at different stages of industrialization as revealed by a cross country comparative analysis of input output tables of 26 countries at different income levels this paper suggests among many other findings that the intersectoral relationships between manufacturing and services generally characterize asymmetrical dependence namely service activities tend to depend on the manufacturing sector as a source of inputs to a far greater extent than vice versa moreover the employment absorptive capacity of the manufacturing sector is seriously underestimated when one only measures the direct employment effect of the manufacturing sector and ignores the intersectoral demand of the manufacturing sector for service inputs and its income induced demand for various types of services in effect the capability of the service sector to generate and sustain a high level of employment critically hinges upon its vital linkages with the manufacturing sector

a content analysis of whistleblowing policies of leading european companies since the introduction of the u s sarbanes oxley act in 2002 and several other national corporate governance codes whistleblowing policies have been implemented in a growing number of companies existing research indicates that this type of governance codes has a limited direct effect on ethical or whistleblowing behaviour whereas whistleblowing policies at the corporate level seem to be more effective therefore evidence on the impact of inter national corporate governance codes on the content of corporate whistleblowing policies is important to understand their indirect impact on whistleblowing behaviour this study analyzes the contents of whistleblowing policies and parts of corporate codes of conduct and codes of ethics describing such policies of 56 leading european companies by classifying the contents in seven categories an exploratory framework was created general contents often identified were applicability to all employees a group wide scope and an authoritative tone the most common general violations to report were breaches of internal policies and external regulations or laws the more specific violations most frequently mentioned were criminal offences and dangers to health and safety or the environment contacts to report to were the direct or indirect supervisors a compliance officer or a confidential hotline facility a confidentiality guarantee was common and anonymous reporting was often possible though sometimes discouraged protection against retaliation is stated by ensuring that retaliation will not happen prohibiting it or making it punishable the requirement of good faith was frequently given finally investigation of the report was often guaranteed surprisingly little information is given on the treatment of whistleblowers reporting an unfounded complaint in good faith or reporting a violation they were involved in the study s findings are most relevant to companies without a whistleblowing policy or those that intend to benchmark their policies and to pan european standard setters

business codes of multinational firms what do they say business codes are an oft cited management instrument but how common are codes among multinationals and what is their content in an unprecedented study the codes of the largest corporations in the world have been collected and thoroughly analyzed this paper presents the results of that study of the 200 largest companies in the world 52 5 have a code more than half f these codes describe company responsibilities regarding quality of products and services 67 adherence to local laws and regulations 57 and the protection of the natural environment 56 many codes make reference to principles governing stake holder relations e g transparency 55 honesty 50 and fairness 45 corporate core values e g teamwork 43 appropriate conduct among employees e g discrimination 44 and intimidation 43 and treatment of company property by employees e g conflict of interests 52 corruption 46 and fraud 45 monitoring compliance with the code is addressed in 52 of the codes based on this content study three types of codes are distinguished the stakeholder statute 72 the values statement 49 and the code of conduct 46 the results of this inquiry present a benchmark for the evaluation and development of both individual and international business codes

science technology and regional economic development review and prospects abstract this paper reviews the literature on the location and regional effects of science and technology st these pools of mobile workers are most attracted to large urban areas in only some of these areas however does the spin off process result in the generation of new technology based firms the availability of local venture capital appears to be the principal influence on this variation government policy regarding science and technology has impacts on regions by contributing to the agglomeration of r d government policy also often fails to recognize that s t policy and industrial policy have regional effects that may be long term in nature and most detrimental to those regions whose economies are least competitive finally some priorities for future research on innovation in a regional setting are identified

the roles of science in technological innovation abstract one of the central issues in science policy during the past decade has been the extent to which the national levels of expenditure on scientific education and research influence the standard of living this paper provides empirical evidence to show that the pay off from this investment in science is more complex and indirect than previously supposed

regional economic impacts of federal r d by funding source and performer type hicks d a and lee s g 1994 regional economic impacts of federal r d by funding source and performer type reg studies 28 619 632 guided by persistent spatial and sectoral concentration of federal r d we find that while defence r d is stimulative funds flowing to non defence non profit and educational research institutions are more so effects are stronger in larger metro scale regions and in local economies in which manufacturing accounts for greater shares of total employment moreover federal r d flows appear to have local investment effects as indicated by their capacity to accelerate the rate of local employment expansion in the total technology intensive tti subsector in which r d intensive goods account for significant portions of inputs and final output hicks d a et lee s g 1994 les impacts economiques regionaux des depenses de r et d federales suivant l origine et la destination des fonds reg studies 28 619 632 pilote par la concentration geographique et sectorielle des d