IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Log in (now much improved!) to save this article

Small business innovation: firm level evidence from Sweden

Author Info

  • Martin Andersson

    ()

  • Hans Lööf

Abstract

This paper examines innovation among very small firms and provides new insights into both internal and external determinants of patenting. Applying a non-linear panel data approach to about 160,000 observations on manufacturing firms in Sweden for the period 2000–2006, the following facts emerge: (i) in contrast to larger firms, innovation in micro firms with 1–10 employees is not sensitive to variation in internal financial resources, (ii) skilled labour is even more important for innovation among micro firms compared to other firms, (iii) affiliation to a domestically owned multinational enterprise group increases the innovation capacity of small businesses, (iv) small firms’ innovation is closely linked to participation in international trade and exports to the G7-countries, and (v) there is no statistically significant evidence that proximity to metropolitan areas, or presence in a specialized cluster, increases the innovativeness of the smallest firm. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10961-011-9216-9
Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Article provided by Springer in its journal The Journal of Technology Transfer.

Volume (Year): 37 (2012)
Issue (Month): 5 (October)
Pages: 732-754

as
in new window

Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:37:y:2012:i:5:p:732-754
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=104998

Keywords: Innovation; Innovative firms; Entrepreneurship; Small firms; Intellectual property rights; Technology transfer; Location; F43; L26; M13; O31; O34;

Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
  • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
  • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
  • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
  • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

as in new window
  1. Joachim Wagner, 2005. "Exports and Productivity: A survey of the evidence from firm level data," Working Paper Series in Economics 4, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
  2. Pieter J. de Jong, 2007. "The relationship between capital investment and R&D spending: a panel cointegration analysis," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(11), pages 871-880.
  3. Jaffe, A.B. & Trajtenberg, M., 1992. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," Papers 14-92, Tel Aviv.
  4. Steven Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1987. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," NBER Working Papers 2387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Granstrand, Ove & Sjölander, Sören, 1990. "The Acquisition of Technology and Small Firms by Large Firms," Working Paper Series 213, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  6. William J. Baumol, 2002. "Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Growth: The David-Goliath Symbiosis," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 7(2), pages 1-10, Summer.
  7. Klette, Tor Jakob & Kortum, Samuel S, 2002. "Innovating Firms and Aggregate Innovation," CEPR Discussion Papers 3248, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  8. Martin Andersson & Börje Johansson, 2008. "Innovation Ideas and Regional Characteristics: Product Innovations and Export Entrepreneurship by Firms in Swedish Regions," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 193-224.
  9. Martin Andersson & Hans Lööf & Sara Johansson, 2008. "Productivity and International Trade: Firm Level Evidence from a Small Open Economy," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 144(4), pages 774-801, December.
  10. Acs, Zoltan J & Audretsch, David B, 1988. "Innovation in Large and Small Firms: An Empirical Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 678-90, September.
  11. Granstrand, Ove & Sjolander, Soren, 1990. "The acquisition of technology and small firms by large firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 367-386, June.
  12. Acs, Zoltan J. & Anselin, Luc & Varga, Attila, 2002. "Patents and innovation counts as measures of regional production of new knowledge," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1069-1085, September.
  13. Grid Thoma & Salvatore Torrisi & Alfonso Gambardella & Dominique Guellec & Bronwyn H. Hall & Dietmar Harhoff, 2010. "Harmonizing and Combining Large Datasets - An Application to Firm-Level Patent and Accounting Data," NBER Working Papers 15851, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  14. Pavitt, Keith, 1984. "Sectoral patterns of technical change: Towards a taxonomy and a theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 343-373, December.
  15. Aghion, Philippe & Van Reenen, John & Zingales, Luigi, 2009. "Innovation and Institutional Ownership," CEPR Discussion Papers 7195, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  16. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  17. Bruno Crépon & Emmanuel Duguet & Jacques Mairesse, 1998. "Research, Innovation and Productivity : An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level," Working Papers 98-33, Centre de Recherche en Economie et Statistique.
  18. Arundel, A & Kemp, Rene, 2009. "Measuring eco-innovation," Working Papers 10062, University of Tasmania, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, revised 30 Aug 2010.
  19. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2000. "Nursery Cities: Urban diversity, process innovation, and the life-cycle of products," Working Papers dpuga-00-01, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
  20. Ejermo, Olof, 2007. "Regional innovation measured by patent data – does quality matter?," Papers in Innovation Studies 2007/8, Lund University, CIRCLE - Center for Innovation, Research and Competences in the Learning Economy.
  21. Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 1998. "Technology and Changes in Skill Structure: Evidence from Seven OECD Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1215-1244.
  22. Hans Lööf & Martin Andersson, 2010. "Imports, Productivity and Origin Markets: The Role of Knowledge-intensive Economies," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 458-481, 03.
  23. David Greenaway & Richard Kneller, 2007. "Firm heterogeneity, exporting and foreign direct investment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages F134-F161, 02.
  24. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
  25. Zvi Griliches & Ariel Pakes & Bronwyn H. Hall, 1986. "The Value of Patents as Indicators of Inventive Activity," NBER Working Papers 2083, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  26. repec:crs:wpaper:9833 is not listed on IDEAS
  27. Luis A. Rivera-Batiz & Paul M. Romer, 1991. "International Trade with Endogenous Technological Change," NBER Working Papers 3594, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  28. Jaffe, Adam B, 1989. "Real Effects of Academic Research," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 957-70, December.
  29. Ram C. Acharya & Wolfgang Keller, 2007. "Technology Transfer through Imports," NBER Working Papers 13086, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  30. Paul Almeida & Bruce Kogut, 1999. "Localization of Knowledge and the Mobility of Engineers in Regional Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(7), pages 905-917, July.
  31. Maryann Feldman, 1999. "The New Economics Of Innovation, Spillovers And Agglomeration: Areview Of Empirical Studies," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1-2), pages 5-25.
  32. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
  33. Baptista, Rui, 2000. "Do innovations diffuse faster within geographical clusters?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 515-535, April.
  34. Borje Johansson & Hans Loof, 2008. "Innovation Activities Explained By Firm Attributes And Location," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(6), pages 533-552.
  35. Dachs, Bernhard & Ebersberger, Bernd & Lööf, Hans, 2007. "The Innovative Performance of Foreign-owned Enterprises in Small Open Economies," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 87, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
  36. Giuseppe Scellato, 2007. "Patents, firm size and financial constraints: an empirical analysis for a panel of Italian manufacturing firms," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(1), pages 55-76, January.
  37. Bartel, Ann P & Lichtenberg, Frank R, 1987. "The Comparative Advantage of Educated Workers in Implementing New Technology," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 1-11, February.
  38. Vivian W. Fang & Xuan Tian & Sheri Tice, 2014. "Does Stock Liquidity Enhance or Impede Firm Innovation?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(5), pages 2085-2125, October.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.

as in new window


Cited by:

  1. Jing Xiao, 2015. "The effects of acquisition on the growth of new technology-based firms: Do different types of acquirers matter?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 487-504, October.
  2. Baumann, Julian & Kritikos, Alexander S., 2016. "The link between R&D, innovation and productivity: Are micro firms different?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1263-1274.
  3. Andersson, Martin & Xiao, Jing, 2014. "Acquisitions of Start-ups by Incumbent Businesses A market selection process of “high-quality” entrants?," Papers in Innovation Studies 2014/19, Lund University, CIRCLE - Center for Innovation, Research and Competences in the Learning Economy.

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Access and download statistics

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:37:y:2012:i:5:p:732-754. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Sonal Shukla)

or (Rebekah McClure)

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.