Determinants of Knowledge Exchange Between Foreign and Domestic Enterprises in European Post-transition Economies
Andrea Gauselmann
Journal Economia e Politica Industriale (Journal of Industrial and Business Economics),
No. 4,
2014
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on internationalised research and development by investigating determinants of knowledge and technology transfer between foreign subsidiaries and the local economy in European post-transition economies. This inquiry leads to a better understanding of determinants that influence this knowledge and technology exchange. Applying a logit model, we find that, in particular, the foreign subsidiary’s corporate governance structure, its embeddedness in the multinational enterprise’s internal knowledge base, its own technological capacity, the growth of the regional knowledge stock and the regional sectoral diversification are all positively associated with the transfer of knowledge. Subsidiaries’ investment motives and the relative weight of the sector of investment in the region’s economy appear to be of less importance. The analysis focuses on European post-transition economies, using the example of five selected Central Eastern European countries and East Germany. We exploit a unique dataset, the IWH FDI Micro database, which contains information on one thousand two hundred forty-five foreign subsidiaries in this region.
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Plant-based Bioeconomy in Central Germany - Mapping of Actors, Industries and Places
Wilfried Ehrenfeld, Frieder Kropfhäußer
Abstract
The challenges facing the 21st century, presented by a growing global population, range from food security to sustainable energy supplies to the diminishing availability of fossil raw materials. An attempt to solve these problems is made by using the concept of bioeconomy. Plants, in particular, possess an important function in this context - they can be used either as a source of food or, in the form of biomass, for industrial or energy purposes. Linking industrial and agricultural research and production, bioeconomy provides growth potential, in particular in rural areas.
The aim of this article is therefore to outline the status of plant-based bioeconomy
in three states of Central Germany - Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia - and to compare this to German plant-based bioeconomy. We take an in-depth look at the different sectors and outline the industries involved, the location and age of the enterprises as well as the distribution of important NACE codes. In conclusion, we highlight the significant number of new or small enterprises and the high research and innovation rate of Central Germany. We also stress the future potential of Central German plant-based bioeconomy as well as the importance of a more plant-focusedview of the technology sector.
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Climate Innovation - The Case of the Central German Chemical Industry
Wilfried Ehrenfeld
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 2,
2012
Abstract
In this article, we describe the results of a multiple case study on the indirect corporate innovation impact of climate change in the Central German chemical industry. We investigate the demands imposed on enterprises in this context as well as the sources, outcomes and determining factors in the innovative process at the corporate level. We argue that climate change drives corporate innovations through various channels. A main finding is that rising energy prices were a key driver for incremental energy efficiency innovations in the enterprises’ production processes. For product innovation, customer requests were a main driver, though often these requests are not directly related to climate issues. The introduction or extension of environmental and energy management systems as well as the certification of these are the most common forms of organizational innovations. For marketing purposes, the topic of climate change was hardly utilized so far. As the most important determinants for corporate climate innovations, corporate structure and flexibility of the product portfolio, political asymmetry regarding environmental regulation and governmental funding were identified.
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Does the ECB Act as a Lender of Last Resort During the Subprime Lending Crisis?: Evidence from Monetary Policy Reaction Models
Stefan Eichler, K. Hielscher
Journal of International Money and Finance,
No. 3,
2012
Abstract
We investigate whether the ECB aligns its monetary policy with financial crisis risk in EMU member countries. We find that since the outbreak of the subprime crisis the ECB has significantly increased net lending and reduced interest rates when banking and sovereign debt crisis risk in vulnerable EMU countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) increases, while no significant effect is identified for the pre-crisis period and relatively tranquil EMU countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands). These findings suggest that the ECB acts as a Lender of Last Resort for vulnerable EMU countries.
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Municipality Size and Efficiency of Local Public Services: Does Size Matter?
Peter Bönisch, Peter Haug, Annette Illy, L. Schreier
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 18,
2011
published in: FinanzArchiv
Abstract
Similarly to western Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, the eastern part of Germany has experienced a still ongoing process of numerous amalgamations among counties, towns and municipalities since the mid-1990s. The evidence in the economic literature is mixed with regard to the claimed expenditure reductions and efficiency gains from municipal mergers. We therefore analyze the global efficiency of the municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt, for the first time in this context, using a double-bootstrap procedure combining DEA and truncated regression. This allows including environmental variables to control for exogenous determinants of municipal efficiency. Our focus thereby is on institutional and fiscal variables. Moreover, the scale efficiency is estimated to find out whether large units are necessary to benefit from scale economies. In contrast to previous studies, we chose the aggregate budget of municipal associations (“Verwaltungsgemeinschaften”) as the object of our analysis since important competences of the member municipalities are settled on a joint administrative level. Furthermore, we use a data set that has been carefully adjusted for bookkeeping items and transfers within the communal level. On the “eve” of a mayor municipal reform the majority of the municipalities were found to have an approximately scale-efficient size and centralized organizational forms (“Einheitsgemeinden”) showed no efficiency advantage over municipal associations.
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An Introduction to the IWH FDI Micro Database
Jutta Günther, Andrea Gauselmann, Philipp Marek, Johannes Stephan, Björn Jindra
Schmollers Jahrbuch,
No. 3,
2011
Abstract
Der Beitrag stellt die IWH-FDI-Mikrodatenbank vor. Er beschreibt die konzeptionellen Ideen der Datenbank und wie sich die Datenbank von anderen, existierenden Mikrodaten zu ausländischen Direktinvestitionen unterscheidet. Seit 2007 werden im Rahmen der IWH-FDI-Mikrodatenbank auf Unternehmensebene Informationen gesammelt zur allgemeinen Geschäftsentwicklung, zu technologischen Aktivitäten und zu Informationen über die konzerninternen Governancestrukturen. Die Daten werden bei den ausländischen Tochtergesellschaften multinationaler Unternehmen in Ostdeutschland und Osteuropa erhoben. Der Beitrag zeigt auf, welche Forschungslücken mit dem Datensatz bisher geschlossen wurden und schließt mit einem Ausblick bezüglich zukünftiger Forschungspotentiale.
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Metropolitan Area „Central Germany“: How Strong are the Commuting Flows between the Cities?
Albrecht Kauffmann
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2011
Abstract
Die Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland ist ein Bündnis zur Kooperation zwischen den großen Städten in den Ländern Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt und Thüringen. Angesichts der Vielzahl der beteiligten Städte sowie der großen Entfernungen zwischen den Städten an den Rändern und dem geographischen Zentrum der Region stellt sie einen Sonderfall innerhalb der derzeit elf in Deutschland existierenden Europäischen Metropolregionen dar. Eine Besonderheit ist auch der Umstand, dass bislang eine Festlegung des Umlands der Kernstädte fehlt. Der Beitrag untersucht die Vernetzung zwischen den beteiligten Städten anhand von Pendlerverflechtungen. Darüber hinaus werden erstmals mögliche Abgrenzungen des Umlands der Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland im Sinne einer funktionalen Stadtregion diskutiert. Es erweist sich, dass die Vernetzung innerhalb der vormaligen Metropolregion Halle/Leipzig-Sachsendreieck und der Thüringer Städtekette deutlich stärker in Erscheinung tritt als die Pendlerbeziehungen
zwischen diesen historisch gewachsenen Regionen. Als funktionale Stadtregion besäße die Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland ein weit gespanntes, jedoch eher dünn besiedeltes Umland, das nur mit den nahegelegenen Kernstädten enge Verflechtungen aufweist. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass zwischen den traditionell einander näher stehenden Städten eine bessere Basis für Kooperationen vorhanden ist, deren verstärkte Nutzung dem Anliegen der Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland jedoch nicht zuwiderlaufen muss.
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