External technology acquisition and company size effect

Transcription

1 External technology acquisition and company size effect Katarzyna Haverkamp ifh Göttingen Institute for Small Business Economics at the University of Göttingen Turku, 14th of June 2007

2 Outline 1. Background 2. Theoretical explanations 3. Sample 4. Regression results 5. Policy implications 2

3 1. Background increasing importance of contracting activities in R&D industrial enterprises with innovation activity: proportion having engaged in commissioning R&D (CIS III) Italy: 12% France: 24%, Germany: 26%, Belgium: 29%, Netherlands 30% Denmark: 37%, Norway: 38%, Finland: 40% German economy: increasing share of extramural R&D extramural R&D/total R&D: 5% (1979) to 18% (2003) value of contracts concluded by German companies (2003): 8.3 billion 3

4 1. Background increasing importance of contracting activities in R&D Total R&D expenditure (LHS, 1000 EUR) extramural R&D extramural R&D/total R&D (RHS) Source: Wissenschaftsstatistik, own calculations. 4

5 1. Background limited literature on the topic main empirical contributions explanatory studies case studies studies based on historical data econometric studies Pisano 1990, den Hertog/Thurik 1993, Veugelers 1997, Leiponen 2002, Adams/Marcu 2003, Beneito 2003, Beneito 2006 topics of econometric contributions general determinants of internal and external R&D complementarity relation between internal and external R&D influence of company size on propensity to contract out/ intensity of contracting activities relationship between the organization mode of R&D and innovative output 5

6 2. Theoretical explanations benefits primarily to SMEs proposition: appropriateness of commissioned research for small companies lacking in-house R&D (Stigler 1956) growth and expansion of industrial research will lead to the emergence of firms providing research services on contractual basis major beneficiaries: small firms able to profit from the provision of specialized research ressources two potential arguments as to why commissioning research can be auspicious only to companies with strong internal R&D absorptive capacity (Cohen/Levinthal 1990, Kamien/Zang 2000) contracting problems (incomplete contracts: Aghion/Tirole 1994, Adams/Marcu 2003) specification problems supervision of research effort 6

7 2. Theoretical explanations research question Is commissioned research primarily used by SME lacking internal R&D ressources? relationship between company size and the probability of commissioning R&D relationship between internal R&D competence and the probability of commissioning R&D 7

8 3. Sample Mannheim Innovation Panel (MIP 2003) German innovation survey (Mannheim Innovation Panel) target population: legally independent firms with five and more employees 2003 data observations on 1085 innovative companies manufacturing and selected service sectors NACE 10-36, 64.2, 72-73,

9 4. Regression results Empirical model Model Prob (external R&D i = 1) = β 0 + β 1 company_size i + β 2 absorptive_capacity i + αx i + ε i company size metric: log (number of employees) dummies: small (<50 employees, reference category); middle (50-250); big (>250) absorptive capacity dummy: continuous R&D ( ) X control variables export intensity, cooperation activities, technological opportunities, dummy for companies from Eastern Germany 9

10 4. Regression results strong impact of company size & absorptive capacity Model 3 Model 4 Variable Coef. SE Coef. SE const -2.60*** ,38*** 0.26 log_size 0.28*** 0.05 size_middle 0.30* 0.18 size_big 1.10*** 0.20 cont_rd 1.25*** *** Industry dummies no no No. of observations McFadden's R Log-Likelihood BIC Source: MIP 2003, own calulations. 10

11 4. Regression results Outlook general results no robust results regarding relationship between export intensity and the probability of commissioning research positive influence of science-oriented technological opportunities estimation for SMEs and big companies confirmation of results positive influence of science-oriented technological opportunities only for SMEs positive influence of customer-related technological opportunities for big companies questions for further research appropriate control variables and regression techniques? interaction between company size and continuous internal R&D? 11

12 5. Policy implications main results strong complementarity between internal R&D and commissioned research internal absorptive capacity as a prerequisite for external technology sourcing companies without internal research capabilities handicapped in their ability to acquire external knowledge subsidization of commissioned research not a potent instrument for enhancing the technological base of SMEs and strengthening their innovativeness instead means of strengthening the linkage between R&D active companies and public research facilities / promoting division of labour in the allocation of resources for invention 12