Search results for "manufacturing firms"
showing 10 items of 38 documents
Finding evidence on the innovative or positional character in medium sized manufacturing firms
2002
Through an empirically based study on 65 medium sized manufacturing firms corresponding to 12 industrial sectors and located in the Spanish region of Valencia, we seek in this paper to provide enough evidence about the prevalence of positional, static and myopic values or, instead, innovative, dynamic and open minded principles, among the firms under study. Gathered into three groups of sectors, depending on the scope of demand (weak, medium and strong demand sectors), we conclude that the weak and medium demand sectors are still facing remarkable challenges basically connected to technology issues, despite improvement in other variables directly linked to an innovative character.
Entry mode choice in the internationalisation of the hotel industry: a holistic approach
2011
This paper empirically investigates the entry mode choice in the hotel industry. Based on more than 1200 entry decisions, which covers practically all operations carried out by the majority of Spanish hotel chains up to 2009, the study attempts to (a) identify the factors that influence the mode choice of incorporating each new hotel within the chain and (b) to reflect the specific nature of the hotel industry with regard to the results obtained from samples of other industries. The results suggest the importance of considering a holistic approach that facilitates the understanding of a complex phenomenon which is not always explained just by efficiency considerations. Additionally, the res…
Service Regulations, Input Prices and Export Volumes: Evidence from a Panel of Manufacturing Firms
2017
Using a panel of firm‐level data from Spanish manufacturers, this study shows that better service regulation reduces the price of intermediate inputs paid by downstream firms. The beneficial cost effects of services reforms extend to both large and small‐to‐medium sized corporations (SME’s), but the former tend to enjoy greater gains. This feature also manifests itself in international markets. We find evidence of an input cost channel through which service regulations affect the volume of exports of large manufacturers, while the evidence of such a channel is weaker for SME’s. Our estimates indicate that, from 1991 to 2007, large firms increased their volume of exports by an average of 20 …
Internationalization of service industry firms: understanding distinctive characteristics
2012
Internationalization process and strategies has been a popular topic among international business researchers for some time. However, most of these studies deal with manufacturing firms and researc...
Contractual Satisfaction: The Polish and Tanzanian Perspectives
2013
Purpose: Interfirm satisfaction has been studied at the aggregate level, which has limited use in terms of understanding specific dimensions. Contractual satisfaction relates to the specific level of analyzing interfirm satisfaction. This study contributes towards understanding contractual satisfaction and the contextual nature of the concept. To achieve the latter, two heterogeneous emerging markets were used (Poland and Tanzania). Methodology: The study was conducted in Poland and Tanzania, focusing on manufacturing firms. The sample included 201 Polish firms and 240 Tanzanian firms. Findings: The major findings suggest that ex ante costs and ex post specifications have a significant posi…
Paradoxes and coping mechanisms in the servitisation journey
2022
Servitisation is conceptualised as product manufacturers' transition towards bundling products and services to offer customers enhanced value. Scholars have raised concerns regarding the potential challenges that firms face during servitisation, often termed servitisation paradoxes. Limited studies have explored the paradoxes experienced during the servitisation journey and the associated coping mechanisms. We utilise the open-ended essay methodology to unravel various paradoxes and coping mechanisms to address the gap. We collected data in two stages—from 69 participants in the first stage and 32 in the second stage. The study's findings reveal three broad paradoxes: the paradox of organis…
Upstream Product Market Regulations, ICT, R&D and Productivity
2017
Our study aims to assess the actual importance of the two main channels via which upstream anti-competitive sector regulations are usually considered to impact productivity growth, i.e. by acting as a disincentive to business investments in R&D and in ICT. We estimate the specific impacts of these two channels and their shares in the total impact as opposed to alternative channels of investments in other forms of intangible capital that we cannot explicitly consider for lack of appropriate data such as improvements in skills, management and organization. To achieve this, we specify an extended production function explicitly relating productivity to R&D and ICT capital as well as to upstream…
Temporary employment and technical efficiency in Spain
2004
Analyses how the high proportion of temporary employment affects the firm's technical efficiency. Uses the stochastic frontier approach to measure the technical efficiency of the Spanish manufacturing firms during the period 1990‐2001. A negative relation between technical efficiency and the proportion of temporary jobs has been obtained. Also, shows that permanent employment makes an important contribution to output while temporary does not.
Key levels for knowledge creation and management: which is the ontological locus for learning in Spanish manufacturing firms?
2013
This paper aims to highlight two core issues related to knowledge management and organisational learning. First deals with the ontological support-knowledge creation relationship. Secondly, the comparison between Crossan et al. (1999) and Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) models: on what ontological supports knowledge is created? Individuals, groups and organisation: are they independent or do they interact with each other? Is individual level swallowed up by the group [as Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) seems to suggest], leading to groups and organisation as unique ontological levels? The empirical study draws those ontological levels in large manufacturing Spanish firms. It identifies (via explorato…
Quantifying sunk costs and learning effects in R&D persistence
2020
Abstract This paper analyzes and quantifies the fundamental factors that are likely to cause persistence in performing R&D activities: the existence of sunk costs associated with R&D activities and the process of learning that characterizes this type of activity. We estimate our model with Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1991-2014. By decomposing the effects of sunk costs and learning effects, we find that both are important determinants of R&D persistence, and that failing to allow for learning systematically overestimates sunk cost effects. Both large firms and SMEs benefit from direct and indirect (via productivity) effects of R&D experience, but in large firms this is more li…