The Identification of Regional Industrial Clusters Using Qualitative Input-Output Analysis
Mirko Titze, Matthias Brachert, Alexander Kubis
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 13,
2008
Abstract
The ‘cluster theory’ has become one of the main concepts promoting regional competitiveness, innovation, and growth. As most studies focus on measures of concentration of one industrial branch in order to identify regional clusters, the appropriate analysis of specific vertical relations within a value-adding chain is developing in this discussion. This paper tries to identify interrelated sectors via national input-output tables with the help of Minimal Flow Analysis by Schnabl (1994). The regionalization of these national industry templates is carried out with the allocation of branch-specific production values on regional employment. As a result, the paper shows concentrations of vertical clusters in only 27 of 439 German NUTS-3 regions.
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Foreign Subsidiaries in the East German Innovation System – Evidence from Manufacturing Industries
Jutta Günther, Björn Jindra, Johannes Stephan
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 4,
2008
Abstract
This paper analyses the extent of technological capability of foreign subsidiaries located in East Germany, and looks at the determinants of foreign subsidiaries’ technological sourcing behaviour. The theory of international production underlines the importance of strategic and regional level variables. However, existing empirical approaches omit by and large regional level factors. We employ survey evidence from the “FDI micro data- base” of the IWH, that was only recently made available, to conduct our analyses. We find that foreign subsidiaries are above average technologically active in comparison to the whole East German manufacturing. This can be partially explained by the industrial structure of foreign direct investment. However, only a limited share of foreign subsidiaries with R&D and/or innovation activity source technological knowledge from the East German innovation system. If a subsidiary follows a competence augmenting strategy or does local trade, it is more likely to source technological knowledge locally. The endowment of a region with human capital and a scientific infrastructure has a positive effect too. The findings suggest that foreign subsidiaries in East Germany are only partially linked with the regional innovation system. Policy implications are discussed.
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Does Qualification Drive Innovation? A Microeconometric Analysis Using Linked-employer-employee Data
Bianca Brandenburg, Jutta Günther, Lutz Schneider
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 10,
2007
Abstract
Degree-level science and engineering skills as well as management and leadership skills are often referred to as a source of innovative activities within companies. Broken down by sectoral innovation patterns, this article examines the role of formal education and actual occupation for product innovation performance in manufacturing firms within a probit model. It uses unique micro data for Germany (LIAB) that contain detailed information about innovative activities and the qualification of employees. We find significant differences of the human capital endowment between sectors differentiated according to the Pavitt classification. Sectors with a high share of highly skilled employees engage in product innovation above average (specialized suppliers and science based industries). According to our hitherto estimation results, within these sectors the share of highly skilled employees does not, however, substantially increase the probability to be an innovative firm.
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Research and Development: important source for product innovation also in East Germany
Jutta Günther, François Peglow
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 9,
2007
Abstract
Die Entwicklung und erfolgreiche Markteinführung neuer Produkte ist ein wesentliches Merkmal der modernen Wissensgesellschaft. Nach Abschluß der nachholenden technologischen Erneuerung in Ostdeutschland müssen sich die Betriebe in den Neuen Ländern im Wettbewerb um marktreife Produktneuheiten behaupten. Dabei wirken die transformationsbedingten strukturellen Besonderheiten fort, und die Einbettung Ostdeutschlands zwischen High-Tech im Westen und Aufholländern im Osten stellt eine zusätzliche Herausforderung dar. Der Beitrag skizziert die Innovationstätigkeit der Betriebe in Ostdeutschland und geht im Rahmen einer multivariaten Analyse den unternehmensinternen Bestimmungsfaktoren von Produktinnovationen nach. Die empirischen Untersuchungen unter Verwendung des IAB-Betriebspanels zeigen, daß sich die Betriebe des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes in Ostdeutschland im Zeitraum 2002 bis 2003 durch eine rege Innovationsbeteiligung auszeichnen. Der Anteil der Betriebe mit Produktinnovationen liegt in den Neuen Ländern sogar leicht über dem Vergleichswert für Westdeutschland. Dabei führen Betriebe mit eigener Forschung und Entwicklung (FuE) doppelt so häufig neue Produkte ein wie Betriebe ohne FuE. Die regressionsanalytische Untersuchung bestätigt, daß seitens der betrieblichen Inputgrößen eigene FuE eine starke Triebfeder für Produktinnovationen darstellt. Auch den betrieblichen Weiterbildungsaktivitäten kann ein positiver Einfluß auf die Innovationstätigkeit bescheinigt werden, was die Bedeutung des Lebenslangen Lernens unterstreicht. Hinsichtlich der betriebsspezifischen Charakteristika fällt auf, daß eine mehrheitlich ausländische Kapitalbeteiligung einen signifikant negativen Einfluß auf Produktinnovationen ausübt. Dieser noch weiter zu analysierende Befund deutet auf das Phänomen der sogenannten verlängerten Werkbänke hin.
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Die Rolle der Kommunen in der Wasserwirtschaft - Hallesches Kolloquium zur Kommunalen Wirtschaft 2005
Peter Haug, Martin T. W. Rosenfeld
Schriften des IWH,
No. 25,
2007
Abstract
Das IWH veranstaltete am 7. Juli 2005 eine Tagung zur künftigen Rolle der Kommunen bei der Wasserver- und Abwasserentsorgung. Das Kolloquium richtete sich sowohl an einschlägig tätige Wissenschaftler als auch an Praktiker der Wasserwirtschaft und Politiker. Die im vorliegenden Tagungsband gesammelten Beiträge behandeln ein breites Themenspektrum mit den Schwerpunkten Bewertung kommunaler Wirtschaftstätigkeit, empirische Untersuchungen zu Determinanten (insbesondere Organisationsstrukturen) der Effizienz und Innovationsneigung von Wasserver- und Abwasserentsorgern, Problematik räumlicher Disparitäten bei der Infrastrukturversorgung und Reformvorschläge zum Ordnungsrahmen der deutschen Wasserwirtschaft (vergleichender Wettbewerb, Erfahrungen mit Benchmarkingsystemen).
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What Determines the Efficiency of Regional Innovation Systems?
Michael Fritsch, Viktor Slavtchev
Jena Economic Research Papers, Nr. 2007-006,
No. 6,
2007
Abstract
We assess the efficiency of regional innovation systems (RIS) in Germany by means of a knowledge production function. This function relates private sector research and development (R&D) activity in a region to the number of inventions that have been registered by residents of that region. Different measures and estimation approaches lead to rather similar assessments. We find that both spillovers within the private sector as well as from universities and other public research institutions have a positive effect on the efficiency of private sector R&D in the respective region. It is not the mere presence and size of public research institutions, but rather the intensity of interactions between private and public sector R&D that leads to high RIS efficiency. We find that relationship between the diversity of a regions’ industry structure and the efficiency of its innovation system is inversely u-shaped. Regions dominated by large establishments tend to be less efficient than regions with a lower average establishment size.
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A Game Theoretic Analysis of the Conditions of Knowledge Transfer by New Employees in Companies
Sidonia vonLedebur
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 3,
2006
Abstract
The availability of knowledge is an essential factor for an economy in global competition. Companies realise innovations by creating and implementing new knowledge. Sources of innovative ideas are partners in the production network but also new employees coming from another company or academia. Based on a model by HECKATHORN (1996) the conditions of efficient knowledge transfer in a team are analysed. Offering knowledge to a colleague can not be controlled directly by the company due to information asymmetries. Thus the management has to provide incentives which motivate the employees to act in favour of the company by providing their knowledge to the rest of the team and likewise to learn from colleagues. The game theoretic analysis aims at investigating how to arrange these incentives efficiently. Several factors are relevant, especially the individual costs of participating in the transfer. These consist mainly of the existing absorptive capacity and the working atmosphere. The model is a 2x2 game but is at least partly generalised on more players. The relevance of the adequate team size is shown: more developers may increase the total profit of an innovation
(before paying the involved people) but when additional wages are paid to each person a greater team decreases the remaining company profit. A further result is
that depending on the cost structure perfect knowledge transfer is not always best for the profit of the company. These formal results are consistent with empirical studies to the absorptive capacity and the working atmosphere.
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Eastern Germany in the process of catching-up: the role of foreign and Western German investors in technological renewal
Jutta Günther, Oliver Gebhardt
Eastern European Economics,
No. 3,
2005
Abstract
Foreign direct investment as a means to support system transformation and the ongoing process of catching-up development has caught researcher’s attention for a number of Central and Eastern European countries. Not much research, however, has been carried out for East Germany in this respect although FDI plays an important role in East Germany too. Descriptive analysis by the use of unique survey data shows that foreign and West German affiliates perform much better with respect to technological capability and labor productivity than domestic companies in East Germany. The results of the regression analysis, however, show that it is not the status of ownership as such that forms a significant determinant of innovativeness in East Germany but rather general firms specific characteristics attached to it such as firm size, export-intensity, technical state of the equipment, and R&D activities. Due to the fact that foreign and West German affiliates perform better with respect to exactly all of these characteristics, they can be considered as a means to support the process of technological renewal and economic development.
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Technology spillovers from external investors in East Germany: no overall effects in favor of domestic firms
Harald Lehmann, Jutta Günther
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 198,
2004
Abstract
The study deals with the question whether external (foreign and West German) investors in East Germany induce technological spillover effects in favor of domestic firms. It ties in with a number of other econometric spillover studies, especially for transition economies, which show rather mixed and inconclusive results so far. Different from existing spillover analyses, this study allows for a much deeper regional breakdown up to Raumordnungsregionen and uses a branch classification that explicitly considers intermediate and investment good linkages. The regression results show no positive correlation between the presence of external investors and domestic firms’ productivity, no matter which regional breakdown is looked at (East Germany as a whole, federal states, or Raumordnungsregionen). Technology spillovers which may exist in particular cases are obviously not strong enough to increase the domestic firms’ overall productivity.
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Innovation cooperation: experiences from East and West Germany
Jutta Günther
Science and Public Policy,
2004
Abstract
This paper deals with innovation cooperation as a means to support the ongoing catch-up process of the East German economy. Against prevalent beliefs, it can be shown that East German enterprises are more often involved in innovation co-operation than West German firms, and differences in cooperation partner priorities only reflect the given structural differences between the two regions. While cooperating enterprises in East and West Germany are clearly more innovative than their non-cooperating counterparts, a productivity advantage of these firms is (so far) only observable in West Germany. Reasons for this surprising finding are discussed.
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