Observing FDI spillover transmission channels: evidence from firms in Uganda

Abstract

We observe and analyse three intra-industry foreign direct investment (FDI) spillover transmission channels using unique firm-level data collected from on-site interviews and observations regarding domestic and foreign firms operating in Uganda in 2015. Our main results are: (1) the spillover effects mainly depend on the channel(s) by which they occur (the competition channel is most important while spillover benefits through the worker mobility and the imitation channels are less prevalent) and (2) both positive and negative spillover effects occur within the same channel and, moreover, effects differ by channel for the same case. These are novel and challenging findings that have not yet been recognised in theoretical and empirical research on FDI spillovers. Our results suggest that long-term pecuniary spillover effects are predominantly stimulated via the competition channel and show that only limited short-term and long-term technological spillover effects occur through the imitation and the movement of workers channels. These channels are not only less prevalent, but also appear to be constrained by competition-determined spillovers. We are confident that these directions for future research will have a high pay-off because, as shown by this exploratory fieldwork, a more complete picture of the spillover effects is reached when the channels are considered simultaneously.     

Geographic and technological R&;D spillovers within the triad: micro evidence from US patents

This paper aims at assessing the magnitude of R&D spillover effects on large international R&D companies’ productivity growth. In particular, we investigate the extent to which R&D spillover effects are intensified by both geographic and technological proximities between spillover generating and receiving firms. We also control for the firm’s ability to identify, assimilate and absorb the external knowledge stock. The results estimated by means of panel data econometric methods (system GMM) indicate a positive and significant impact of both types of R&D spillovers and of absorptive capacity on productivity performance.

Interorganizational Collaborations for Humanitarian Aid: An Analysis of Partnership,Community, and Single Organization Outcomes

Abstract

This article explores collaborative activities across organizational and sectoral boundaries. Interorganizational collaborations are an increasingly common setup to address societal needs; however, current research lacks insights into such collaborations and their outcomes. This study contributes to the existing literature by assessing empirically perceptions of interorganizational collaboration outcomes, considering different dimensions that should be measured when planning and performing tasks of social interest. The article is set in the context of disaster relief, where actors from different humanitarian relief organizations within the public and nonprofit sector engage in collaborative activities. I describe how interorganizational collaborations create outcomes for (1) the partnership structure that is established, (2) single organizational members involved in the collaborative activity, and (3) the community targeted by the interorganizational operation.     

Cross-sector collaboration in times of crisis: findings from a study of the Funing tornado in China

ABSTRACT

The recent occurrence of several large-scale crises, such as the Wenchuan and Yaan earthquakes, the Gansu mudslides, the Tianjin port blast, and the Funing tornado, has led decision makers in China to increasingly recognise the need to engage non-government organizations (NGOs) in responding to crises. In this study, we establish a framework to analyse collaboration between government and NGOs during crises. This framework consists of four levels for cross-sector collaboration, and six conditions explaining them. The framework is used to analyse a case study on collaboration between local government and NGOs during the Funing tornado. Collaboration occurred at the information sharing and action coordination levels. We conclude the formal collaboration between government and NGOs in this case was still limited and it was not based on negotiations and interactions. Instead, it was essentially hierarchical and control-oriented. This type of collaboration might have the advantage of responding to crises in an effective way, but it comes at the cost of trust, commitment and reciprocity.     

University Technology Transfer and Manufacturing Innovation: The Case of Italy

This article analyzes the influence of universities on Italian firms' probability to innovate. Using firm‐level data, we focus on institutionalized technology transfer (TT) activities in universities, namely spin‐offs, patents, and research contracts. Results show that TT activities play a significant role in the probability to innovate by Italian manufacturing firms located in the same province as the university. Nevertheless, the effect is not uniform: the contribution of university TT activities to the probability of firms' innovating is concentrated in certain territorial areas (North‐East and Center) and sectors (science based and scale intensive) and among firms that are large.     

Institution Building and Spillovers

This paper investigates the importance of institution building for economic growth in transition economies of Eastern Europe and CIS‐States. Using recent data, it shows that even in a Guardian State, institutions like property rights protection, administration efficiency, and general rule of low matter. They appear to be even more crucial for economic take‐off than standard economic factors like for example macroeconomic policy. Moreover, this paper finds that there are important spillover effects in institution building, and that countries which get one specific institution right, have also better chances to succeed in making other specific institutions work properly.     

The economics of collective knowledge and technological communication

Technological knowledge can be understood as a collective good when it is the outcome of the integration between internal to the firm investments in R&D and learning and the absorption of competencies and technologies provided by external organizations (such as, other firms, universities, R&D centers). Technological communication is a crucial strategy in such dynamic interaction between the firm and the system. Only under effective conditions of technological communication the private and social benefits derived from the exploitation of spillovers are higher than the private losses due to partial inappropriability. The article presents a simple microeconomic framework to understand knowledge production and distribution, integrating the effects and conditions of technological communication within a knowledge production function. The interaction between internal investments in R&D and learning, partial inappropriability, the conditions for the access to external knowledge and the exploitation of spillovers explains increasing returns in the production of knowledge.

Agglomeration Advantages and Capability Building in Industrial Clusters: The Missing Link

Accumulation of technological capability is crucial for industrial growth and competitiveness of firms, particularly in the context of liberalisation and increasing international economic integration. The article sheds new light on the forces driving capability-building by complementing the micro-economic perspective on learning with a meso-economic perspective that takes account of interaction effects arising from firms' embeddedness in regional networks. The missing link at the interface between the two levels is explored by means of a taxonomy linking various agglomeration advantages to investments in technological effort. The framework results in new policy-relevant insights about the factors underpinning the acquisition of capabilities in comparison to conventional studies. A case study about farm equipment manufacturing in Pakistan's Punjab province is used as an empirical illustration.     

国家电子政务统一网络空间:内涵、框架及建构

本文通过对政府部门类型、组织关系、业务流类型进行分类研究,得出政府系统内的业务通道需求,从而从技术上指导虚拟专网建设和业务系统的部署;通过对业务操作中的数据操作行为和业务数据进行分类研究,从逻辑上规定网络平台数据管理中心的设计和管理的内容,从而改变各部门传统的信息资源共享与交换方式。此外,国家电子政务统一网络空间的管理体制机制的建立和完善迫在眉睫。     

How scientists commercialise new knowledge via entrepreneurship

In this paper, we explore how university-based scientists overcome the barriers to appropriating the returns from new knowledge via entrepreneurship; and we examine how a university-based technology transfer office (TTO), with an incubation facility, can assist scientists in the commercialisation process. We identify how scientists overcome three barriers to commercialisation. First, we find that scientists take account of traditional academic rewards when considering the pay-offs of commercialisation activity. Second, scientists recognise the commercial value of new knowledge when market-related knowledge is embedded in their research context, and/or when they develop external contacts with those with market knowledge. Third, the deliberate efforts of scientists to acquire market information results in individuals or organisations with market knowledge learning of the new knowledge developed by the scientists; and intermediaries can help individuals or organisations with resources learn of new knowledge developed by scientists. We find that the TTO, principally through an enterprise development programme (CCDP), played an important role in the commercialisation process. The principal benefit of the TTO is in the domain of putting external resource providers in contact with scientists committed to commercialisation. Our findings have important implications for scientists and for those interested in promoting commercialisation via entrepreneurship.