The heterogeneity of agglomeration effect: Evidence from Chinese cities

Using annual surveys of industrial firms in China from 1998 to 2007, this paper applies the non‐linear least squares (NLS) method based on a grid search to analyse the effect of city size on firm total factor productivity (TFP). The results show that overall, the agglomeration effects in large cities, but not selection effects, significantly promote improvement in firm TFP. The optimal agglomeration scales of different industries differ as follows: those of capital‐ and technology‐intensive industries are larger than those of labour‐intensive industries. The agglomeration effects are also robust to different spatial areas without considering administrative boundaries. An inverted U‐shaped relationship exists between firm size and agglomeration effects, while the relationship between firm age and agglomeration effects is U‐shaped. State‐owned firms experience weaker agglomeration effects than non‐state‐owned firms. Cities higher in the administrative hierarchy and those with special economic zones have stronger agglomeration effects. However, cities higher in the administrative hierarchy and those with a larger economic development zone index can provide more resources to increase the survival rate of low‐productivity firms; thus, selection effects are not significant in Chinese cities.     

Spatiotemporal context and firm performance: The mediating effect of strategic interaction

Traditional studies of firm performance typically focus on the effect of market structure and rarely consider the impact of the spatiotemporal context in industrial competition. Using a sample of 1,555 listed companies from 2015 to 2018 in China, this study shows that the profit center of gravity tends to move from southeast to northwest, and that there are negative effects on firm performance with distance from the profit center of gravity. Moreover, when controlling for organizational variables, strategic interaction at the local level significantly mediates the relationship between spatiotemporal context at the global level and firm performance at the microlevel. This investigation provides preliminary support for strategic interaction as a significant mediator between spatiotemporal context and firm performance, and further highlights the relevance of spatiotemporal context and strategic interaction in determining firm performance. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of the dynamic mechanism of spatiotemporal context affecting firm performance and the role of strategic interaction at the local level in this relationship, which can improve the existing insights into new economic geography.     

Regional Variations of Firm Births,Deaths and Growth Patterns in the UK, 1980–1991

One of the debates around new firm formation across sub‐national territories focuses on whether regional differences in industrial structure are more important influences than regional differences in individual industry performance. The present research, using Value Added Tax (VAT) registration data, attempts to make a contribution to this debate in the United Kingdom (UK) context using a shift‐share covariance model. Firm de‐registrations and, as a consequence, net changes in firm stocks are also analyzed with similar questions in mind. The findings show that although the effects of industrial mix are significant across most regions, in several key regional contexts the industrial competitive effect dominates. The issue of the role of regional industrial concentration forms a second major theme of this paper. This basically involves a questioning as to whether concentration is a positive or negative force for new firm formation. The results of this research indicate that industrial concentration, measured through localization, is more important for firm deaths than for firm births (although significant for both), but not particularly relevant to the understanding of the net outcome of entry and exit processes. In the UK, regions with higher levels of industry concentration seem to be associated overall with relatively lower levels of both firm births and deaths.     

The Influence of Agglomeration Externalities on Manufacturing Growth Within Indonesian Locations

Differences in agglomeration externalities and industrial regimes between locations generate performance differentials for their localized economic activities. For more than two decades, scholars have debated which externality is dominant for growth and under which regime. This study aims to resolve this debate by analyzing the influence of agglomeration economies on the growth of five‐digit manufacturing sectors and firms for Indonesian cities and regencies between 2000 and 2009. This is investigated employing the recent reconceptualization of variety based on sectoral linkages distinguishing related and unrelated varieties, which allow assessing their idiosyncratic economic roles. The findings support that economic relatedness is the dominant source for expansion of sectors and firms within Indonesian locations. Specialized clusters and competition are inversely related to manufacturing growth, although the latter fosters sectoral employment within Indonesian regencies. Population density and human capital show antithetic effects between cities and regencies due to their distinctive urbanization trajectories and industrial compositions.     

Production System Changes in the Korean Consumer Electronics Sector

This paper establishes the concept of production system as an analytical framework to embrace recent industrial changes. Five dimensions of production system changes are posited. A case study of the Korean consumer electronics sector shows that the companies have experienced diverse patterns of changes, but these changes are generally related to plant location, ownership, export orientation, and company size.     

Location and the Innovation Performance of Commercial GIS Companies

This paper looks at the role of firm size, location, and in‐house research and development (R&D) in the innovation performance of U.S. firms in the commercial geographic information systems (GIS) industry. Data from a survey of 300 GIS firms are presented. The results suggest that innovation‐intensity varies directly with in‐house R&D spending (scaled as a proportion of company sales), but inversely with company size (total employment). Significant regional variations in the innovation performance of GIS firms are identified. It is argued that the geography of innovation is influenced by the spatial distribution of young and/or small firms, in that R&D‐productivity is found to vary inversely with company size. An important finding is that creative inputs to support innovation are almost evenly divided between internal and external sources. A surprising result is that the academic community is not viewed as a particularly important source of new ideas for innovative firms. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the survey data for future empirical work on the GIS sector.     

Employment Growth by Firm Size During the Recent Crisis in Italy: A Multifactor Partitioning Analysis

The effects on employment growth in firms, grouped by size class, of the economic crisis that began in 2008 are analysed using multifactor partitioning (MFP). Italy's employment growth is decomposed into four explanatory factors: the stage in the business cycle; the effect of firm size; industry composition; and regional distribution; together with the interactions among these four effects. The interpretation of these effects is facilitated by the introduction within the MFP framework of a new decomposition of several key elements. The results show that the adopted approach and the suggested decompositions are useful to study the effect of size on employment change. This effect is found to be negative only for micro units (with less than 10 employees). For the other classes, it is positive. The observed negative changes in these classes are mainly due to the business cycle and an unfavourable industrial composition.     

Business Survival in Rural America: A Three-State Study

Many economists expect that new business survival rates in rural areas ought to be low because of inherent disadvantages of rural economies (e.g. small markets). What little evidence there is in support of this expectation is based on data which is biased toward rural areas. Using unemployment insurance tax records (ES202) for Arkansas, Maine, and North Dakota, the authors calculate and analyze new firm survival rates. Results show that new business survival rates are as high in rural areas as they are in urban areas. Further, survival rates in different industrial sectors are comparable, even when level of urbanization is taken into account. The authors conclude that economists may be overstating the inviability of rural in relation to urban economies.     

Firm Networks and Korean Subsidiaries in the United States

ABSTRACT This article examines the role of intra‐, inter‐, and extra‐firm networks in influencing the location and investment of Korean firms and their subsidiaries in the U.S. Based on a survey of Korean subsidiaries in the U.S. in 2004, this article finds that inter‐firm relations with customers and suppliers, as well as intra‐firm relations in the form of parent firms’ knowledge of the U.S. play an important role in locational decision. Korean subsidiaries’ relationships with U.S. places are strongly influenced by home‐based practices that favor hierarchical intra‐firm organization and embedded sociopolitical extra‐firm relationships that emphasize blood, school, and regional ties. Location in U.S. industrial clusters does not increase Korean subsidiaries’ level of autonomy from parent firm's control that could help facilitate the sourcing of local knowledge and resources. Only improved intra‐firm network positionality positively contributes to increased subsidiary autonomy. Overall, the findings indicate that while inter‐firm relations may be important in locational selection among Korean firms, network norms are largely maintained through intra‐firm and, to a lesser extent, extra‐firm relations.     

Import–export nexus and China's emerging trade in environmental goods

International trade in environmental goods (EG) provides a market-based solution to balance the development–environment relationship. How can developing economies gain new growth opportunities through trade liberalisation in the EGs? This study investigates the structural features of products and firms during the early development of China's EG trade. This study defines the import–export nexus as the product relatedness between imports and exports at the firm level, which may promote the technology spill overs and firm cooperation. This study combines two nationwide data sets and constructs a data panel covering 334 prefectures and 248 EGs during 2001–2012. The conditional logit model with fixed effects is used for coefficient estimation. Empirical results reveal that the import–export nexus promotes new EGs in domestic sectors and export baskets, primarily supported by domestic private firms. The import–export nexus allows state-owned firms, which only represent a small market share, to enrich export baskets. It also helps foreign firms to develop new EGs in domestic sectors. These findings suggest revisiting the role of state-owned firms in industrial policy and developing a broad list of EGs to make use of the product relatedness. These will make developing economies like China gain new growth opportunities from the EG trade.     

Regional Variation of Firm Size and Growth: The Portuguese Case

This paper analyses the patterns of firm growth of manufacturing firms across Portuguese regions. In particular, we compare firm size and growth in order to investigate 1) whether region‐specific characteristics, interpreted as generating localization economies, exert any influence on firm growth and size, and 2) whether there is evidence of persistence in firm growth across regions. Using an extensive dataset of Portuguese manufacturing firms and applying parametric and semi‐parametric approaches, we found that, in eleven of the eighteen analyzed regions, firm growth is related to firm size and therefore firms have no equal probabilities of attaining a particular growth rate within any given period. Moreover, the results uncovered that firms experience serial correlation in their growth patterns in all regions and region‐specific characteristics, such as industrial diversity, entrepreneurship potential, and workforce qualities, engender differences in the way firms grow. Thus, this paper adds to the literature by showing how geographic location matters to firm size and growth.     

Accessibility,Diversity, Environmental Quality and the Dynamics of Intra‐Urban Population and Employment Location

This paper investigates intra‐urban population and employment shifts over 1980–2000, using the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area as a case study. Population and employment are disaggregated by ethnicity (White, Black, Others) and industry (10 sectors) to better capture different location behaviors. Inter‐industry relationships are considered when constructing accessibility variables. Additional diversity, locational and socio‐economic variables are included. A location‐specific index of air quality is also considered, as a proxy for environmental quality. A structural equation model is specified to account for the dynamic interactions between populations, activities, and air quality. The results reveal strong interactions between ethnic groups, confirm the existence of agglomeration effects, and suggest that diversity has positive effects on both firms and households in both periods (1980–1990 and 1990–2000). For firms, better access to their potential customers and employees is more important than better access to their input–output sectors. Better air quality attracts population, which in turn worsens it. The results reveal changing dynamics, from 1980–1990 to 1990–2000, for different population and activity groups, and suggest that overall, firm location behaviors are more stable than household behaviors.     

Small–Scale Entrepreneurship and Access to Capital in Peripheral Locations: An Empirical Analysis

This paper presents an analysis of a public assistance program for small–scale entrepreneurship in peripheral areas. Public assistance compensates for market inefficiencies where the decision rules of financial institutions discriminate against otherwise viable small firms in capital markets. Lending institutions perceive high risk in providing debt capital when little information is present. Using empirical data from Israel, the determinants of this risk are estimated and the role of location in creating this information asymmetry is stressed. These results empirically establish that (1) location matters in determining the risk profile of the firm, (2) locationally targeted programs can reduce the information asymmetries that make peripheral firms unattractive to lenders, and (3) these programs can also generate positive welfare effects. Finally, there is speculation on the potential role of ICT (information and communications technology) in increasing the visibility of small firms in remote locations and creating a more symmetrical flow of information.     

Make,Buy, or Both: The Innovation Sourcing Strategy Dilemma after M&A

This paper investigates the effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on corporate research and development (R&D) strategies using firm‐level data on the Spanish manufacturing sector. The focus of the study is to determine whether M&A affects R&D portfolios by increasing or decreasing innovation input, such as in‐house R&D, external R&D or both. The results show that M&A has a negative and significant impact on R&D intensity, decreasing in‐house R&D and external technological sourcing. M&A enables the rationalization of R&D capacity, implying a decrease in R&D efforts. M&A negatively affects both types of R&D, but, on average, the effect is more negative on external R&D.     

Does Creative Destruction Work for Chinese Regions?

Creative destruction is a key driving force behind industrial development. The continuing process of creative destruction provides an impetus to regional industrial renewal. Our analytical framework emphasizes the ways in which firm exit creates a stimulus for firm entry is complementary to the process of technological change and industrial renewal articulated by Schumpeter who pays attention to how new entrants bring in radical innovation and new products, making incumbents' products and technologies obsolete and forcing them to exit or catch up. Using firm‐level data of China's industries during 1998–2008, this paper seeks to argue that the relationship between firm exit and entry has been constantly shaped by an assemblage of various factors, including not only firm characteristics, but also industrial linkages, and most importantly, national and regional institutional contexts, particularly in the context of China where a triple process of decentralization, globalization, and privatization has resulted in enormous spatial and temporal variations in the economic and institutional landscape.     

Screening oat germplasm for better adaptation to cold stress in the Southern Great Plains of the United States

Oat (Avena sativa L.) is one of the most important forage crops in the Southern Great Plains of the United States. However, it is more sensitive to cold stress than other small grains. In this study, diverse oat germplasm was evaluated for winter survival across multiple years and locations in the region. Field screening started with an observation trial of 1,861 diverse genotypes in the 2012–2013 season and was followed by four seasons of replicated trials from 2013 to 2017. Selection of good winter survivors was started in 2014–2015 season. All trials were laid out in randomized complete blocks with replications of two in 2013–2014 and 2014–2015, four in 2015–2016, and three in 2016–2017. Winter survival was scored in a 1‐to‐9 scale. Data were analysed for each year and location separately. Additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis were carried out on combined data of 35 genotypes that were commonly grown in each year and location. Highly significant (p < 0.001) variations were observed among genotypes, environments and genotype‐by‐environment interaction (GEI). The first three interaction principal components (IPCs) were highly significant (p < 0.001), explaining 96% of GEI. Broad sense heritability ranged from 46% to 93%, while heritability for all environments combined was relatively low (24.6%). At the end of the two cycles (2014/2015‐to‐2016/2017) of selection, mean winter survival was improved by more than 38% per cycle compared with the base population mean. Genotypes CIav 4390, CIav 6909 and CIav 7618 showed significantly higher winter survival than the standard checks Okay and Dallas. Genotypes CIav 4390 showed 20% and 35% improvement over the standard checks Okay and Dallas, respectively. Winter survival improvement in oat will remain a difficult task because of high GEI and low heritability. The identified superior genotypes will be used as crossing parents to transfer cold tolerance genes to other elite lines.     

Specialization in a Declining Industrial District

Although flexible specialization is regarded as one of the hallmarks of industrial districts, its consequences for firm performance have not attracted much empirical attention. Using event-history data on a complete population of textile-clothing firms in Baden-Württemberg in the Reutlingen (Germany) district from 1946 to 1993, this paper tests the proposition that specialized firms have a survival advantage over more integrated firms. Logistic regression models of failure probabilities show that, contrary to predictions derived from the district model, horizontally and vertically integrated firms have outlived more specialized firms. This study demonstrates the importance of dynamic research designs that incorporate information on strategic differences in a complete population of district firms, observed over an extended time frame.     

Internal and external constraints of the Cuban production sector

This paper aims to explain the growth of the Cuban production sector between 1975 and 2014 by considering both demand and supply factors simultaneously. The research provides new empirical data on this topic through the application of a simultaneous equation model that considered the effect on the product of internal and external constraints most relevant to the Cuban economy, and the impacts of these over time. Its results confirm that the growth of the Cuban production sector was primarily limited by two factors: On the one hand, an overly centralized regulatory framework that reduces the global efficiency of the Cuban economy; and, on the other hand, a foreign exchange deficit that restricts its import capacity and the sustained growth of the Cuban capital stock. Therefore, the Cuban production sector's growth could be fostered by both a greater decentralization of its regulatory framework and the implementation of industrial and commercial policies geared to make Cuban exports more competitive.     

How does industrial agglomeration affect regional innovation? A spatial econometric analysis

This study empirically investigates the direct and indirect (spillover) effects of three types of industrial agglomeration with different cognitive distances, namely, industrial specialization, industrial related variety, and industrial unrelated variety, on regional innovation. Accordingly, we applied the concepts of related and unrelated variety and used spatial econometric analysis. Based on panel data of 283 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2016, the empirical results reveal that both industrial specialization and industrial related variety significantly improve regional innovation and produce positive spatial spillover effects on the surrounding regions. However, industrial unrelated variety has a significant negative impact on regional innovation and produces a negative spatial spillover effect on the surrounding regions. Moreover, the direct and indirect effects of the three types of industrial agglomeration on regional innovation between China's coastal and inland cities. The findings have important theoretical and policy implications.     

不同处理对百香果扦插繁殖的影响

对百香果进行扦插试验研究,明确影响百香果扦插效果的关键因素,优化扦插处理的最佳组合,为百香果的快速繁殖提供技术支持。采用3因素3水平正交试验设计,研究分析插穗茎段部位、NAA浓度、扦插基质3个因素对百香果扦插效果的影响,并采用排队评分和公式评分法对扦插成活效果进行综合分析,筛选优化出百香果扦插繁殖的最佳处理组合。插穗部位对百香果扦插成活率的影响最大,NAA浓度和扦插基质的影响相对较小。对根数、平均根粗的影响由大到小为插穗部位、扦插基质、NAA浓度,对平均根长、新生蔓长、新生叶片数的影响由大到小为插穗部位、NAA浓度、扦插基质。综合评分结果表明,插穗部位是影响百香果扦插效果的最主要因素,其次为扦插基质,而NAA浓度的影响最小。百香果扦插的最佳组合为A₂B₃C₃处理,即以中部半木质化茎段为插穗,用300 mg/L的NAA溶液浸泡20 min,选用泥炭混合基质（泥炭:黄壤=1:1）为扦插基质时,百香果的扦插效果最为理想。