IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/unumer/2020011.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The productivity impact of business visits across industries

Author

Listed:
  • Piva, Mariacristina

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza)

  • Tani, Massimiliano

    (UNSW Canberra, and IZA, Bonn)

  • Vivarelli, Marco

    (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, and IZA, Bonn)

Abstract

This paper builds on and considerably extends Piva, Tani and Vivarelli (2018), confirming the key role of Business Visits as a productivity enhancing channel of technology transfer. Our analysis is based on a unique database on business visits sourced from the U.S. National Business Travel Association, merged with OECD and World Bank data and resulting in an unbalanced panel covering 33 sectors and 14 countries over the period 1998-2013 (3,574 longitudinal observations). We find evidence that BVs contribute to fostering labour productivity in a significant way. While this is consistent with what found by the previous (scant) empirical literature on the subject, we also find that short-term mobility exhibits decreasing returns, being more crucial in those sectors characterized by less mobility and by lower productivity performances.

Suggested Citation

  • Piva, Mariacristina & Tani, Massimiliano & Vivarelli, Marco, 2020. "The productivity impact of business visits across industries," MERIT Working Papers 2020-011, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2020011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2020/wp2020-011.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dahl, Michael S. & Pedersen, Christian O.R., 2004. "Knowledge flows through informal contacts in industrial clusters: myth or reality?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1673-1686, December.
    2. Crescenzi, Riccardo & Gagliardi, Luisa, 2018. "The innovative performance of firms in heterogeneous environments: The interplay between external knowledge and internal absorptive capacities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 782-795.
    3. Criscuolo, Paola, 2005. "On the road again: Researcher mobility inside the R&D network," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1350-1365, November.
    4. Harald Bathelt & Nina Schuldt, 2008. "Between Luminaires and Meat Grinders: International Trade Fairs as Temporary Clusters," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 853-868.
    5. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    6. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    7. Edward Anderson & Paul J. G. Tang & Adrian Wood, 2006. "Globalization, co-operation costs, and wage inequalities," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(4), pages 569-595, October.
    8. Gianluca Capone & Franco Malerba & Richard R. Nelson & Luigi Orsenigo & Sidney G. Winter, 2019. "History friendly models: retrospective and future perspectives," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mariacristina Piva & Massimiliano Tani & Marco Vivarelli, 2023. "The productivity impact of short-term labor mobility across industries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 691-705, February.
    2. Piva, Mariacristina & Tani, Massimiliano & Vivarelli, Marco, 2020. "Business visits, technology transfer and productivity growth," GLO Discussion Paper Series 486, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Alexander Cordes & Ulrich Schasse, 2015. "The firm's evaluation of local research institutes and universities - an empirical analysis for Germany," ERSA conference papers ersa15p933, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Antonelli, Cristiano, 2017. "Digital knowledge generation and the appropriability trade-off," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 991-1002.
    5. Janssen, Matthijs J. & Abbasiharofteh, Milad, 2022. "Boundary spanning R&D collaboration: Key enabling technologies and missions as alleviators of proximity effects?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    6. Stephen Roper & Nola Hewitt-Dundas, 2017. "Investigating a neglected part of Schumpeter’s creative army: what drives new-to-the-market innovation in micro-enterprises?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 559-577, October.
    7. André Torre, 2014. "Proximity relations at the heart of territorial development processes: from clusters, spatial conflicts and temporary geographical proximity to territorial governance," Chapters, in: André Torre & Frédéric Wallet (ed.), Regional Development and Proximity Relations, chapter 2, pages 94-134, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Anne Ter Wal, 2011. "Networks and geography in the economics of knowledge flows: a commentary," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1059-1063, August.
    9. Martin M�ller & Allison Stewart, 2016. "Does Temporary Geographical Proximity Predict Learning? Knowledge Dynamics in the Olympic Games," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 377-390, March.
    10. Hassine, Haithem Ben & Mathieu, Claude, 2020. "R&D crowding out or R&D leverage effects: An evaluation of the french cluster-oriented technology policy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    11. Haasnoot, Cornelis W. & de Vaal, Albert, 2022. "Heterogeneous firms and cluster externalities: how asymmetric effects at the firm level affect cluster productivity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    12. Giuseppe Calignano & Rune Dahl Fitjar, 2017. "Strengthening relationships in clusters: How effective is an indirect policy measure carried out in a peripheral technology district?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(1), pages 139-169, July.
    13. Camisón, César & Forés, Beatriz, 2011. "Knowledge creation and absorptive capacity: The effect of intra-district shared competences," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 66-86, March.
    14. Sophie Urmetzer & Michael P. Schlaile & Kristina B. Bogner & Matthias Mueller & Andreas Pyka, 2018. "Exploring the Dedicated Knowledge Base of a Transformation towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, May.
    15. Rune Dahl Fitjar & Franz Huber & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2016. "Not too close, not too far: testing the Goldilocks principle of ‘optimal’ distance in innovation networks," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 465-487, August.
    16. Rosenfeld, Martin T. W. & Hornych, Christoph, 2021. "Wie vernetzt sind die privaten Firmen in Mitteldeutschland? Räumliche Muster der Kooperation im Rahmen "Formeller Unternehmensnetzwerke" (FUN)," Arbeitsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Rosenfeld, Martin T. W. & Stefansky, Andreas (ed.), "Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland" aus raumwissenschaftlicher Sicht, volume 30, pages 96-126, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    17. Benos, Nikos & Tsiachtsiras, Georgios, 2019. "Innovation and Income Inequality: World Evidence," MPRA Paper 92050, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Aiqi Wu & Cassandra C. Wang & Shengxiao Li, 2015. "Geographical knowledge search, internal R&D intensity and product innovation of clustering firms in Zhejiang, China," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 553-572, August.
    19. Balázs Lengyel & Rikard H. Eriksson, 2017. "Co-worker networks, labour mobility and productivity growth in regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 635-660.
    20. Barasa, Laura & Knoben, Joris & Vermeulen, Patrick & Kimuyu, Peter & Kinyanjui, Bethuel, 2017. "Institutions, resources and innovation in East Africa: A firm level approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 280-291.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business visits; Labour mobility; Knowledge diffusion; R&D; Productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2020011. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ad Notten (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meritnl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.