1,720,992 research outputs found
Digital economy: towards a conceptual research framework based on bibliometric and in-depth analyses
No full textThe improvements in connectivity, artificial intelligence, and automation and their increasing penetration into all aspects of society and economy require informed decisions based on rigorous research on the determinants and outcomes of the digital economy. This context has promoted policy incentives dedicated to the digital transformation of business models and societal settings with a potential to disrupt existing markets and form a backbone of future development. The interest in digital economy and the research domains strongly connected to it has generated a wide array of terms that created confusion over its theoretical foundations. Several bibliometric analyses in recent years have attempted to map scientific findings and provide guidelines for future research in this area. However, such analyses draw their conclusions from algorithms that focus on attributes common to all studies without looking at their content. Our study combines bibliometric and in-depth content analyses to shed light on the definition, theoretical underpinnings, and state of the art of research on the digital economy. Our findings show that research in this domain is still in its infancy and the stated focus of studies on digital economy is often not reflected in their content. The study design allows us to make an original contribution by more precisely identifying gaps in the existing knowledge, outlining a detailed research agenda, and providing guidelines for future studies as well as informed policy decisions based on rigorous research on the determinants and outcomes of the digital economy
Competitiveness, restructuring and firm behaviour in transition: The case Of Croatia
No full textAbstract
The ability of nations to grow and to provide their citizens with a better standard of living depends on the competitiveness of their firms. During the transition from a centrally-planned to a market economy firms had to face the challenging task of restructuring in order to become more competitive. It was expected that through changes in their behaviour they would be able to replace once dominant price-driven competitive profiles with quality-based profiles which can generate higher value added and can lead to higher rates of growth. The aim of this thesis is to investigate competitiveness of firms and industries in Central and East European Countries (CEECs) in general and Croatia in particular. We argue that the competitiveness of firms and industries is a dynamic process closely related to their restructuring activities, characteristics and environment. With that in mind we apply dynamic panel methodology and dynamic shift-and-share analysis to two large firm and industry level datasets for the period 2000-2007, the most recent year for which data was available to us. We compare the behaviour of Croatian firms with that of their rivals from several advanced CEECs, assess the competitive profile of Croatian exporters and examine the competitiveness of Croatian industries on the EU15 market. Our findings indicate that in an advanced stage of transition the behaviour of firms in CEECs and Croatia was typical of price competitive firms with improvements in labour productivity and cost efficiency being their most important forms of restructuring. Furthermore, we identified several agglomeration externalities and government policy measures such as free trade zones as factors which can facilitate the ability of Croatian firms to compete on international markets. We have also demonstrated that Croatian trade with EU15 is mainly of the vertical intra-industry type. Finally, stronger capital and innovation intensity in combination with higher pressure of imports have positive effects on the relative quality of exports from Croatian industries to the EU15 market. Based on these findings we have developed a set of recommendations for Croatian policy makers and managers which we hope can stimulate the innovativeness of firms and industries and increase their ability to compete through quality
Competitiveness, restructuring and firm behaviour in transition : The case of Croatia
No full textEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Social and private outcomes of green innovation incentives in European advancing economies
Full text linkA question of particular importance in environmental policy is how to deliver eco-innovations with both private and social benefits. The question is even more important in emerging economies where pollution-intensive industries prevail and policies often favour growth over ecological concerns. This paper explores how four public incentives (regulation, taxes, subsidies and procurement of eco-innovations) and two private incentives (demand incentives and reputational concerns) contribute to the creation of private and social benefits from green (eco) innovations in emerging Central European economies. All six types of incentives have positive effects on the introduction of environmental innovations. Firms introduce innovations with benefits for end users only if they are accompanied by private benefits. The combination of regulation, procurement and financial incentives together with private incentives increase the likelihood of the introduction of environmental innovations with social benefits. This paper provides evidence-based recommendations for the management of environmental policies
The Competitiveness of exporters from Croatian manufacturing industry
Full text linkThis paper explores the competitiveness of exporters from Croatian manufacturing industry. A dynamic panel system GММ technique is applied to the sample of firms distributed across all sectors of manufacturing industry and observed over period between 1999 and 2007. The competitiveness of firms is modelled as function of their activities, characteristics and features of their environment. The results of investigation are in line with theoretical predictions about behaviour of price competitive firms. In building their international position, Croatian exporters rely on cost reductions and improvements in labour productivity. The sensitivity of these firms to wage increases suggests that labour costs still play a major role in their success on international markets. In overcoming barriers to exporting these firms rely on own resources, previous experience and cost and knowledge sharing agglomeration externalities. The positive and significant relationship between export intensity and the firms’ location in small urban areas or free trade zones suggest that some of policies undertaken by Croatian government in analysed period such as investment in infrastructure or development of export-targeting policies may have produced beneficiary effects on the competitiveness of exporters
Collaborative innovation in emerging innovation systems: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe
Full text linkFirms often lack the competencies and capabilities for creating and commercializing innovations. The solution to this problem lies in sharing or acquiring relevant resources through collaboration. The success of collaborative relationships depends on the type and the quality of the partners involved and the proximity between them. This is particularly true in the emerging innovation systems of countries in transition from middle to high income levels where structural weaknesses of domestic innovation systems and a lack of internal resources often act as barriers to the development and commercialization of innovations. The objective of this paper is to explore whether collaboration with suppliers, customers, universities and research institutes and intra-group collaboration with partners of different origins facilitates the commercialization of existing marginally modified, incrementally novel and radically novel products in nine emerging innovation systems of Central and Eastern Europe. Treatment analysis on a sample of over 10,000 firms from the Eurostat’s Community Innovation Survey shows that domestic innovation competencies and capabilities mostly drive the commercialization of existing products and that firms rely on a diverse network of collaborators. We find evidence of the positive impact of collaboration on the commercialization of existing products and to a lesser extent on incremental and radical innovations. The relevance of individual collaboration channels differs across countries. Among foreign partners, collaboration with entities from other European Union member states facilitates commercialization of existing products while partners from United States, China and India have positive effects on the commercialization of incremental and radical innovations suggesting that cognitive proximity is more important than geographical, social, organizational and institutional proximities. Recommendations for the formulation of innovation policies in emerging innovation systems are provided
Knowledge spillovers, innovation activities, and competitiveness of industries in EU member and candidate countries
Full text linkThe impact of innovation activities on the performance and competitiveness of
firms, industries, and nations has been a matter of considerable interest
over the past few decades. The existing empirical work has widened our
knowledge of the complexity of the innovation process and its impact on the
ability of firms to compete. This study investigates how knowledge spillovers
generated through firms’ innovation activities affect the ability of their
industries to compete in terms of quality. The data from the Community
Innovation Survey 2006 for several EU member and candidate countries that
have recently become available are combined with other EU-wide datasets to
create an industry database containing information on innovation activities
and performance at industry level. A simultaneous equations framework is used
to examine the interdependencies between knowledge spillovers, innovation
activities, quality upgrading, and the market share of industries from the
selected countries in the single European market. The results of the
investigation provide support for the relationship between innovation,
quality upgrading, and market share of industries, and point to several types
of spillover which are relevant for the competitiveness of national
industries in EU member states
Determinants of the choice between different innovation regimes amongst firms in the enlarged European Union
Full text linkA substantial degree of heterogeneity in the performance and competitiveness of firms can be attributed to their choice between different innovation regimes. These range from small incremental improvements in everyday activities to completely new products or processes; the acquisition of knowledge from external sources to in house innovation activities; and the choice between occasional and continuous innovation. This study focuses on two important questions: what factors and forces influence the decision to pursue a particular innovation regime and how different innovation regimes affect the productivity of firms. The research is based on the 2006 wave of Community Innovation Survey (CIS) for several mature (EU15) and new members of the EU (EU10). Using multinomial logit regression the investigation shows that market orientation, organisational and marketing innovations as well as the presence of demand-driven incentives for innovation have important role in explaining the choice of firms between different innovation regimes. Furthermore, the findings indicate that firms in the new EU members are more inclined towards incremental and internal innovation activities than open innovation regime
Determinants of profitability of firms in the retail sector: The case of Croatia
Full text linkProfitability is often defined as an ultimate criterion of a firm’s competitiveness. A firm is considered competitive if it can outperform its rivals and make profits in the long run. The ability of firms to make profits is commonly associated with a number of firm-specific, industrial and location-specific characteristics. The need to understand these factors and forces is particularly pronounced in the context of the current economic downturn. To explore the impact of firm size, market share, market orientation, agglomeration externalities, industrial concentration and foreign direct investment (FDI) on the profitability of firms, a GMM dynamic panel methodology is applied to the large sample of firms from the Croatian retail sector in the period between 2003 and 2010, taken from Amadeus database. The choice of dynamic panel methodology enables us to distinguish between the short and the long run effects of these factors and forces on profitability, as well as to take into account the potential sources of unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity
Regional Patterns of Deindustrialization and Prospects for Reindustrialization in South and Central East European Countries
No full textPast decades in Central and South East European countries have been characterised with shrinking of manufacturing output and employment. However, little is known about the causes, nature and the extent of deindustrialization in these countries at the regional level. The objective of this research is to explore the regional patterns of deindustrialization and determinants of reindustrialization in several CEECs and SEECs. Our analysis presents one of the first attempts to address these processes at regional level while taking into account the spatial effects. A spatial panel Durbin econometric technique is applied to data covering 2006 – 2012 period to discern inter – regional from intra – regional effects. Results of investigation reveal spatial clustering of economic activity. Traits of deindustrialization are observed in metropolitan areas and in regions on eastern belt of these countries while other regions reveal traits of shift towards high technology intensive manufacturing. Recommendations for future policy makers are provided
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