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Intangible resources: the relevance of training for European firms innovative performance

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Abstract

This paper assesses whether European firms innovative performance is impacted by investments in training directly aimed at developing and/or introducing innovation, in addition to the scale of a firm's investments in innovation proxied by the number of R&D personnels. In particular, it explores the complementarity between these two factors (in the presence of a well-trained workforce, the knowledge created by a firms R&D personnel can be better exploited), and their dependence on a firm's knowledge intensity (high versus low % of tertiary-educated workforce) and size (SMEs versus large firms). Using European CIS non-anonymised data for the period 1998-2000, this paper estimates a system of simultaneous equations in which investments in training and stock of R&D personnel are treated as endogenous in relation to the innovative sales on which they are presumed to have an effect. The choice to use this time period rather than more recent ones to which I had access at the Eurostat Safe Centre is data-driven. It has better information on training expenditures and it is the last period to provide firm-level information on the number of employees with tertiary education. Unlike the majority of CIS-based studies, the main variables of interest are continuous ones, while dummy variables are used as controls only. Empirical evidence confirms most previous results investment in training and stock of R&D personnel positively affects firms' innovativeness but also provides some important additional insights. Ceteris paribus, returns to training and R&D personnel are not affected by the knowledge intensity of the firm, while are always statistically significantly higher in large than in small and medium sized firms. However, while in the case of training the differences in returns between SME and large firms are small, in the case of R&D personnel are quite pronounced.

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  • Daria Ciriaci, 2011. "Intangible resources: the relevance of training for European firms innovative performance," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2011-06, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
  • Handle: RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201106
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    Cited by:

    1. Sandro Montresor & Antonio Vezzani, 2016. "Intangible investments and innovation propensity: Evidence from the Innobarometer 2013," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 331-352, May.
    2. Daria Ciriaci & Pietro Moncada-Paterno-Castello & Peter Voigt, 2012. "Does size or age of innovative firms affect their growth persistence? Evidence from a panel of innovative Spanish firms," JRC Research Reports JRC74052, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    3. Nuttaneeya (Ann) Torugsa & Anthony Arundel, 2013. "Private–Public Collaboration And Innovation Performance: Does Training Matter?," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(03), pages 1-20.
    4. Roberto Antonietti, 2016. "From outsourcing to productivity, passing through training: microeconometric evidence from Italy," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 407-425, July.
    5. Maria del Sorbo & Fernando Hervás Soriano, 2013. "Mind the Science and Technology Skills Gap," JRC Research Reports JRC83766, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    6. Nuttaneeya Ann Torugsa & Anthony Arundel & Wayne O’Donohue, 2016. "Inter-Firm Collaboration And Innovation Performance For New-To-Market Products — The Moderating Role Of Technological And Skills-Related Knowledge Assets," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(06), pages 1-22, August.
    7. Daria Ciriaci & Fernando Hervas Soriano, 2012. "Bridging ideas with markets. The impact of training, marketing and design on innovation," JRC Research Reports JRC75493, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intangibles; R&D investment; human capital; CIS; CDM model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities

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