[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa14p596.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What types of firms tend to be more innovative: A study on Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Stephan Brunow
  • Valentina Nafts
Abstract
Innovation is a key driver of technological progress and growth in a knowledge-based economy. There are various motives for individual firms to innovate: improving quality secures market leadership, introducing new products leads the firm into new markets, adopting new technologies could be seen as a catch-up strategy within an industry or an improvement of the firm's own products when the technology adopted is based on ideas from other industries. Firms can perform innovation activities in one or more of these areas or in none of them. We therefore raise the question of what types of firms tend to be more innovative, i.e. which firms innovate in more of these areas. For this purpose we employ firm-level survey data and combine it with administrative data from Germany's social security system. An ordered logit model is estimated using a variety of characteristics which describe the workforce employed and other firm-related variables, the regional environment where the firm is located, as well as industry and region fixed effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephan Brunow & Valentina Nafts, 2014. "What types of firms tend to be more innovative: A study on Germany," ERSA conference papers ersa14p596, European Regional Science Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p596
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/ersa/ersaconfs/ersa14/e140826aFinal00596.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brian Mccann & Timothy Folta, 2011. "Performance differentials within geographic clusters," Post-Print hal-02312592, HAL.
    2. Crepon, B. & Duguet, E. & Mairesse, J., 1998. "Research Investment, Innovation and Productivity: An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level," Papiers d'Economie Mathématique et Applications 98.15, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    3. Feldman, Maryann P. & Audretsch, David B., 1999. "Innovation in cities:: Science-based diversity, specialization and localized competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 409-429, February.
    4. John Van Reenen, 1996. "The Creation and Capture of Rents: Wages and Innovation in a Panel of U. K. Companies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(1), pages 195-226.
    5. Bronwyn Hall & Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse, 2009. "Innovation and productivity in SMEs: empirical evidence for Italy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 13-33, June.
    6. Giovanni Peri & Chad Sparber, 2016. "Task Specialization, Immigration, and Wages," World Scientific Book Chapters,in: The Economics of International Migration, chapter 3, pages 81-115 World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch & Maryann P. Feldman, 2008. "R&D Spillovers and Recipient Firm Size," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 8, pages 88-94, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Magnac, Thierry & Robin, Jean-Marc, 2004. "The dynamics of local employment in France," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 217-243, September.
    9. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    10. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    11. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril98-1.
    12. Masahisa Fujita & Shlomo Weber, 2003. "Strategic Immigration Policies and Welfare in Heterogeneous Countries," KIER Working Papers 569, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    13. Ebling, Günther & Janz, Norbert, 1999. "Export and innovation activities in the German service sector: empirical evidence at the firm level," ZEW Discussion Papers 99-53, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Thornhill, Stewart, 2006. "Knowledge, innovation and firm performance in high- and low-technology regimes," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 687-703, September.
    15. Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2021. "Cities and cultures," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 6, pages 153-186, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    16. Ceren Ozgen & Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2012. "Immigration and innovation in European regions," Chapters, in: Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot & Mediha Sahin (ed.), Migration Impact Assessment, chapter 8, pages 261-298, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Cassiman, Bruno & Golovko, Elena & Martínez-Ros, Ester, 2010. "Innovation, exports and productivity," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 372-376, July.
    18. Rachel Griffith & Elena Huergo & Jacques Mairesse & Bettina Peters, 2006. "Innovation and Productivity Across Four European Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(4), pages 483-498, Winter.
    19. Koellinger, Ph.D., 2008. "The Relationship between Technology, Innovation, and Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence on E-Business in Europe," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-031-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    20. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2001. "Nursery Cities: Urban Diversity, Process Innovation, and the Life Cycle of Products," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1454-1477, December.
    21. Ozgen, Ceren & Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2011. "The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Innovation: Evidence from Dutch Firm-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 6000, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Amnon Frenkel & Daniel Shefer & Knut Koschatzky & Gunter Walter, 2001. "Firm Characteristics, Location and Regional Innovation: A Comparison Between Israeli and German Industrial Firms," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(5), pages 415-429.
    23. McCann, Brian T. & Folta, Timothy B., 2011. "Performance differentials within geographic clusters," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 104-123, January.
    24. Hirte, Georg & Brunow, Stephan, 2008. "The age pattern of human capital and regional productivity," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 01/08, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    25. Trax, Michaela & Brunow, Stephan & Suedekum, Jens, 2015. "Cultural diversity and plant-level productivity," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 85-96.
    26. Giulio Cainelli & Rinaldo Evangelista & Maria Savona, 2006. "Innovation and economic performance in services: a firm-level analysis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 30(3), pages 435-458, May.
    27. Davide Castellani & Antonello Zanfei, 2003. "Technology gaps, absorptive capacity and the impact of inward investments on productivity of European firms ," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(6), pages 555-576.
    28. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    29. Baptista, Rui & Swann, Peter, 1998. "Do firms in clusters innovate more?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 525-540, September.
    30. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Magnac, Thierry & Robin, Jean-Marc, 2004. "The dynamics of local employment in France," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 217-243, September.
    31. Bruno Crepon & Emmanuel Duguet & Jacques Mairesse, 1998. "Research, Innovation And Productivity: An Econometric Analysis At The Firm Level," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 115-158.
    32. Nett, Lorenz, 1994. "Why private firms are more innovative than public firms," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 639-653, December.
    33. Neil Lee & Max Nathan, 2011. "Does Cultural Diversity Help Innovation in Cities: Evidence from London Firms," SERC Discussion Papers 0069, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    34. Giovanni Peri & Chad Sparber, 2016. "Task Specialization, Immigration, and Wages," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Economics of International Migration, chapter 3, pages 81-115, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    35. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    36. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Issues in Assessing the Contribution of Research and Development to Productivity Growth," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 17-45, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    37. Annekatrin Niebuhr, 2010. "Migration and innovation: Does cultural diversity matter for regional R&D activity?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(3), pages 563-585, August.
    38. Stephan Brunow & Georg Hirte, 2009. "The age pattern of human capital and regional productivity: A spatial econometric study on german regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(4), pages 799-823, November.
    39. Koellinger, Philipp, 2008. "The relationship between technology, innovation, and firm performance--Empirical evidence from e-business in Europe," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1317-1328, September.
    40. Mario Pianta & Massimiliano Tancioni, 2008. "Innovations, wages, and profits," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 101-123, September.
    41. Scott E. Page, 2007. "Prologue to The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies," Introductory Chapters, in: The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, Princeton University Press.
    42. Almeida, Paul & Kogut, Bruce, 1997. "The Exploration of Technological Diversity and the Geographic Localization of Innovation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 21-31, February.
    43. Paul Bishop & Nick Wiseman, 1999. "External ownership and innovation in the United Kingdom," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 443-450.
    44. James Simmie & James Sennett & Peter Wood & Doug Hart, 2002. "Innovation in Europe: A Tale of Networks, Knowledge and Trade in Five Cities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 47-64.
    45. repec:crs:wpaper:9833 is not listed on IDEAS
    46. Griliches, Zvi, 1998. "R&D and Productivity," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226308869, September.
    47. Zucker, Lynne G & Darby, Michael R & Brewer, Marilynn B, 1998. "Intellectual Human Capital and the Birth of U.S. Biotechnology Enterprises," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 290-306, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dettmann, Eva & Fackler, Daniel & Müller, Steffen & Neuschäffer, Georg & Slavtchev, Viktor & Leber, Ute & Schwengler, Barbara, 2019. "Fehlende Fachkräfte in Deutschland - Unterschiede in den Betrieben und mögliche Erklärungsfaktoren : Ergebnisse aus dem IAB-Betriebspanel 2018," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201910, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Stephan Brunow & Uwe Blien, 2015. "Agglomeration effects on labor productivity: An assessment with microdata," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 2, pages 33-53.
    3. Stephan Brunow & Luise Grünwald, 2014. "Exports, agglomeration and workforce diversity: An empirical assessment of German establishments," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2014008, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    4. Lucian-Florin Onișor, 2015. "Marketing and Business Development between Idea, Scientific Discovery and Innovation," International Conference on Marketing and Business Development Journal, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 1(1), pages 29-39, July.
    5. Brixy, Udo & Brunow, Stephan & D'Ambrosio, Anna, 2017. "Ethnic diversity in start-ups and its impact on innovation," IAB-Discussion Paper 201725, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephan Brunow & Luise Pestel & Mark Partridge, 2019. "Exports of firms and diversity: an empirical assessment for Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 151-175, February.
    2. Stephan Brunow & Luise Grünwald, 2014. "Exports, agglomeration and workforce diversity: An empirical assessment of German establishments," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2014008, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    3. Stephan Brunow & Bastian Stockinger, 2013. "Establishments' and Regions' Cultural Diversity as a Source of Innovation: Evidence from Germany," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013022, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    4. Thomas Kemeny, 2013. "Immigrant Diversity and Economic Development in Cities: A Critical Review," SERC Discussion Papers 0149, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. David B. Audretsch & Alexander S. Kritikos & Alexander Schiersch, 2020. "Microfirms and innovation in the service sector," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 997-1018, December.
    6. Burcu Fazlıoğlu & Başak Dalgıç & Ahmet Burçin Yereli, 2019. "The effect of innovation on productivity: evidence from Turkish manufacturing firms," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 439-460, April.
    7. Nathan, Max, 2013. "The Wider Economic Impacts of High-Skilled Migrants: A Survey of the Literature," IZA Discussion Papers 7653, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Abdul Waheed, 2017. "Innovation and Firm-Level Productivity: Evidence from Bangladesh," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 55(4), pages 290-314, December.
    9. Hoang, Ngoc & Nahm, Daehoon & Dobbie, Michael, 2021. "Innovation, gender, and labour productivity: Small and medium enterprises in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    10. Antonelli, Cristiano, 2017. "Digital knowledge generation and the appropriability trade-off," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 991-1002.
    11. Bettina Peters & Rebecca Riley & Iulia Siedschlag & Priit Vahter & John McQuinn, 2018. "Internationalisation, innovation and productivity in services: evidence from Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 154(3), pages 585-615, August.
    12. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Young firms and innovation: A microeconometric analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 329-340.
    13. Movahedi, Mohammad & Shahbazi, Kiumars & Gaussens, Olivier, 2017. "Innovation and willingness to export: Is there an effect of conscious self-selection?," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 11, pages 1-22.
    14. Max Nathan & Neil Lee, 2013. "Cultural Diversity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: Firm-level Evidence from London," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(4), pages 367-394, October.
    15. Ceren Ozgen, 2021. "The economics of diversity: Innovation, productivity and the labour market," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1168-1216, September.
    16. Movahedi, Mohammad & Gaussens, Olivier, 2011. "Innovation, productivity, and export: Evidence from SMEs in Lower Normandy, France," MPRA Paper 40443, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Jun 2012.
    17. Bettina Peters & Rebecca Riley & Iulia Siedschlag & Priit Vahter & John McQuinn, 2014. "Innovation and Productivity in Services: Evidence from Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2014-04, Joint Research Centre.
    18. Dr Max Nathan, 2013. "The wider economic impacts of high-skilled migrants: a survey of the literature," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 413, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    19. Hall, B.H., 2011. "Innovation and productivity," MERIT Working Papers 2011-028, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    20. Wadho, Waqar & Chaudhry, Azam, 2020. "Innovation Strategies and Productivity Growth in Developing Countries: Evidence from Pakistan," GLO Discussion Paper Series 466, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    firm innovation; labor diversity; ordered logit; regional economic environment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J - Labor and Demographic Economics
    • O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth
    • R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p596. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gunther Maier (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ersa.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.