Foreign Subsidiaries in the East German Innovation System – Evidence from Manufacturing Industries
Jutta Günther, Björn Jindra, Johannes Stephan
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 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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Industry Specialization, Diversity and the Efficiency of Regional Innovation Systems
Michael Fritsch, Viktor Slavtchev
Jena Economic Research Papers, Nr. 2007-018,
Nr. 18,
2007
Abstract
Innovation processes are characterized by a pronounced division of labor between actors. Two types of externality may arise from such interactions. On the one hand, a close location of actors affiliated to the same industry may stimulate innovation (MAR externalities). On the other hand, new ideas may be born by the exchange of heterogeneous and complementary knowledge between actors, which belong to different industries (Jacobs’ externalities). We test the impact of both MAR as well as Jacobs’ externalities on innovative performance at the regional level. The results suggest an inverted u-shaped relationship between regional specialization in certain industries and innovative performance. Further key determinants of the regional innovative performance are private sector R&D and university-industry collaboration.
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What Determines the Efficiency of Regional Innovation Systems?
Michael Fritsch, Viktor Slavtchev
Jena Economic Research Papers, Nr. 2007-006,
Nr. 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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Risikoorientierte Prämiendifferenzierung in der Kfz-Haftpflichtversicherung: mehr Prämiengerechtigkeit und weniger Verkehrsunfälle?
Christian Growitsch, K.-D. Schade, R. Schwarze, H.-P. Schwintowski, Thomas Wein
Zeitschrift für die gesamte Versicherungswissenschaft,
2006
Abstract
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Can EU Policy Intervention Help Productivity Catch-Up?
Johannes Stephan, P. Holmes, J. Lopez-Gonzales, C. Stolberg
Closing the EU East-West Productivity Gap - Foreign direct Investment, Competitiveness, and Public Policy,
2006
Abstract
"A product of the Framework V research project, this book addresses one of the key problems facing the EU today: Why is the ‘new’ EU so much poorer than the ‘old’, and how will EU enlargement help to solve the problem? Focusing on the productivity problems underlying the East-West gap, it looks in particular at the role that foreign investment and R&D can play in closing it. Against that background, the book assesses what role proactive development policy might play in attacking the roots of low social productivity. Concluding that there will be a clear-cut process of convergence between East and West, albeit an incomplete one, it finishes with an assessment of the patterns of competitiveness, East and West, that are likely to emerge from this process of incomplete convergence."
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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,
Nr. 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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Unternehmensnetzwerke in Ostdeutschland: Konzentration auf Verdichtungsräume
Gerhard Heimpold
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
Nr. 4,
2005
Abstract
Mit dem Vorhandensein von Unternehmensnetzwerken wird zumeist eine hohe Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der Wirtschaft in der betreffenden Region assoziiert. Eine erstmals flächendeckend für Ostdeutschland vorgenommene Bestandsaufnahme von Unternehmensnetzwerken zeigt eine erhebliche räumliche Ungleichverteilung von Netzwerkaktivitäten zugunsten der sächsischen Agglomerationsräume und zugunsten der Hauptstadtregion. Diese räumlichen Schwerpunkte der Netzwerkbildung lassen erkennen, dass sich Netzwerke am ehesten dort herausbilden und entwickeln, wo sie günstige „natürliche“ Entwicklungsbedingungen, d. h. vor allem eine hohe Dichte von Unternehmen und Wissenschaftseinrichtungen vorfinden. Dort können zugleich besonders intensive lieferund abnehmerseitige Verflechtungen vermutet werden. Dass die höher verdichten Regionen günstige „natürliche“ Bedingungen für die Etablierung von Netzwerken darstellen, wird auch an dem Umstand deutlich, dass in diesen Räumen besonders häufig Übereinstimmungen zwischen Unternehmensnetzwerken und regionalen Branchenschwerpunkten gegeben sind. Diese Übereinstimmungen können als vorteilhaft für die Regionalentwicklung angesehen werden, weil sie Indizien für das Vorhandensein von längerfristig gegebenen tendenziell nachhaltigen Netzwerkstrukturen sind. In dünn besiedelten, ländlich-peripheren Region ist dagegen die Zahl der Unternehmensnetzwerke zumeist gering, und sie werden sehr häufig nicht durch einen regionalen Branchenschwerpunkt begleitet. Es stellt sich die Frage nach der künftigen Bestandsfestigkeit der Unternehmensnetzwerke gerade in diesen Regionen mit geringer Verdichtung. Diese Frage erhält noch zusätzliches Gewicht, weil öffentliche Förderhilfen, die viele Netzwerke in Ostdeutschland erhalten, zeitlich befristet sind und daher die Fortexistenz der Netzwerke auch ohne Förderung eine besondere Herausforderung darstellt.
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The Role of Intellectual Property Rights Regimes for R&D Cooperation between Industry and Academia
Ulrich Blum, S. Müller
Academia-Business Links,
2004
Abstract
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Spillover Effects and R&D-Cooperations - The Influence of Market Structure
Anita Wölfl
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 122,
2000
Abstract
This paper examines empirically the role of market structure for the influence of spill-over effects on R&D-cooperations. The results of a microeconometric analysis, based on firm data on innovation, let in general presume that with intensified competition also the influence of spillovers on R&D-cooperation increases. However, competition seems to induce firms to search for effective firm-specific appropriation facilities first. Spillovers that are sufficiently high such that the internalisation effect from R&D-cooperation more than outweighs the competitive effect from research, only arise whenever firms are not able to protect their research results through any appropriation facility. Additionally, there is some evidence that spillover effects may even hinder firms from cooperating in R&D when there is intensive competition on the research stage.
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Spillover Effects – an Incentive to Cooperate in R&D?
Anita Wölfl
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 79,
1998
Abstract
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