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.     

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.     

Revisiting the Roles of the University in Regional Economic Development: A Triangulation of Data

There is a general understanding that university plays a crucial role in regional development under the current age of knowledge economy. At the same time, we have observed a fair number of counter‐evidentiary studies, demonstrating several regions that do not thrive despite strong research universities or other patterns of development in the absence of research universities. However, they are based on case studies of individual universities or regions, and the findings currently cannot be generalized. Another set of studies that have challenged the effect of universities at the nationwide scale and demonstrated its disproportionately small impact of universities, but their scope is limited to spin‐offs, patents, and license activities. In this article, we propose to investigate this subject more systematically by triangulating three methods: 1) national‐scale regression models with Business Dynamics Statistics and National Establishment Time Series data, 2) a regional survey of IT and life science firms in four so‐called “second tier regions,” and 3) a microeconomic firm‐level analysis based on interviews with founders of technology intensive firms. Furthermore, we test the roles of university beyond those explicit, direct measures of spin‐offs and patents by analyzing the firm formation rate and firm growth rate at the regional level, as well as the sources of growth at the company level. All results point in the same direction: The research function of the university has been overstated, and the teaching function of the university has been underappreciated. These findings provide profound implications for the policy of regional development.     

Ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: On many measures of ethno‐linguistic diversity, Papua New Guinea is the most fragmented society in the world. I argue that the macro‐level political effect of this diversity has been to reduce, rather than increase, the impact of ethnic conflict on the state. Outside the Bougainville conflict, and (to a lesser extent) the recent upsurge of violence in the Southern Highlands, ethnic conflicts in Papua New Guinea have not presented a threat to national government. In contrast to most other ethnically diverse societies, the most consequential impacts of ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea are at the local level. This paper therefore examines the disparate impacts of local‐ and national‐level forms of ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea.     

Network Structure,Knowledge Governance,and Firm Performance: Evidence from Innovation Networks and SMEs in the UK

It is increasingly understood that learning and thus innovation often occurs via highly interactive, iterative, network‐based processes. Simultaneously, economic development policy is increasingly focused on small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) as a means of generating growth, creating a clear research issue in terms of the roles and interactions of government policy, universities, and other sources of knowledge, SMEs, and the creation and dissemination of innovation. This paper analyses the contribution of a range of actors in an SME innovation creation and dissemination framework, reviewing the role of various institutions therein, exploring the contribution of cross‐locality networks, and identifying the mechanisms required to operationalise such a framework. Bivariate and multivariate (regression) techniques are employed to investigate both innovation and growth outcomes in relation to these structures; data are derived from the survey responses of over 450 SMEs in the UK. Results are complex and dependent upon the nature of institutions involved, the type of knowledge sought, and the spatial level of the linkages in place but overall highlight the value of cross‐locality networks, network governance structures, and certain spillover effects from universities. In general, we find less support for the factors predicting SME growth outcomes than is the case for innovation. Finally, we outline an agenda for further research in the area.     

The Firm as Social Networks: An Organisational Perspective

ABSTRACT This paper offers an organizational perspective on the firm in new economic geographies. It starts with the premise of the firm as a production function in neoclassical economics and a cost minimisation device in transaction cost economics. By pointing out the inadequacy in these mainstream economic perspectives on the firm, I draw upon recent behavioral and managerial theories to develop a relational conception of the firm as social networks in which actors are embedded in ongoing power relations and discursive processes. In further elaborating this relational perspective on the firm as an organisational device, I show how the firm is governed through social relations among different actors, how it is a site of contested ideologies and political representations among these actors, and how space and geographical scales matter in shaping its social construction. Taken together, this organisational perspective aims to shift our research agenda in urban and regional development from promoting the growth of the firm per se to understanding how the firm serves as a relational institution that connects spatially differentiated actors in different places and regions.     

Political contestation,resource control and conservation in an era of decentralisation at Indonesia's Kerinci Seblat National Park

Since the fall of long‐time strongman Suharto and his authoritarian ‘New Order’ government in 1998, Indonesia has embarked upon a series of decentralisation and democratisation reforms. This new era of decentralised politics has come to be known as Reformasi and has significantly altered the political landscape of the archipelago as national and subnational levels of administration continue to contest the balance of power. Indonesia's national parks, which remain under the authority of the national government, have become arenas for negotiated encounters between local resource users, aspiring district elites and the national government. This essay explores three legacies of incomplete and unfinished decentralisation as they related to national‐park‐based conservation, using Sumatra's Kerinci Seblat National Park as a case study.     

New Firm Formation and Industry Clusters: A Case of the Drugs Industry in the U.S.

The importance of new firms in regional growth led many scholars to probe the determinants of new firm formation. A close examination of cluster theory predicts that industry clusters can enhance new firm births as well as the productivity of existing firms. Linkages among firms and related institutions, which are the key characteritics of the cluster phenomenon, can serve as an important determinant of new firm formation. The network aspect of clusters helps nascent entrepreneurs find resources and information easier and faster than in an isolated environment. In addition, nascent entrepreneurs in industry clusters often have rich experience in existing local firms, which becomes important prior knowledge to explore new market opportunities. This study examines the effects of clusters on new firm formation. We found that the cluster based on knowledge sharing (i.e., knowledge–labor cluster) significantly affects the new firm formation process, whereas the cluster based on market transactions (i.e., value‐chain cluster) does not seem to play a role in new firm formation.     

A Spatial Analysis of the R&D‐Productivity Nexus at Firm Level

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of research and development (R&D) on productivity by taking into account productivity spillovers. To this end, by using a sample of Italian manufacturing firms over the period 2004–2006 provided by the Xth UniCredit‐Capitalia survey (2008), we have analyzed the role of R&D in firm productivity by using a spatial autoregressive model. In so doing, we have allowed the productivity of each firm to be affected by the productivity of nearby firms. Results show that R&D significantly affects Italian firm productivity and that productivity spillovers across firms matter. Moreover, productivity is found to be positively affected by intrasectoral R&D spillovers, while intersectoral R&D spillovers do not have a significant effect.     

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.     

System of Financial Management in Branch Organization of Web-based Firm in Different Place

Information technique,espcialling network technique on the development and application in the manufacturing firms,has made working activity of them from innner data processing to resource's controlment and management(united) by time and space gradually.Financing information in the firm is the foremost managing information,and how to manage the financing systems of ecedemic branch organizations of the firms compositively in the network environment is a crucial subject.This paper gives a supporting web-based system of finacial management,establishes the sturcture of this system and researches the key techinique on system exploit and inner financial system of firm based the need of finacial management in the most of firms when they place branch organization in different place.At last,the authors certificate this system effective and pratical through the real examples.     

Integrating Firm Dynamics into the Shift‐Share Framework

ABSTRACT This article integrates firm birth and death data into a shift‐share analysis framework. The proposed methodology can be used when data availability does not allow for the direct association of employment changes to business demographics at the regional level. It may be also used as an exploratory step before any explanatory econometric work is undertaken as a means of identifying classes of potential control variables. Applying the method to Greek data suggests that firm‐size heterogeneity should not be ignored, that local conditions matter more than regional economic structure, and that the latter are asymmetrical across sectors when it comes to the effects of business demographics on regional employment or output growth.     

The Role of Pre‐Entry Experience of Firm Founders in Peripheral Regions: Routines,Business Contacts,and Local Starting Conditions

This paper investigates how spinoffs in peripheral regions can profit from the work experience of their founders. More specifically, it discusses which firm routines and business contacts entrepreneurs gather through their prior work experience, and how this experience influences the organizational structure and orientation of the newly founded firm. The transfer of capabilities from parent firm to spinoff has been identified as important aspect of industrial clustering, but empirical evidence from peripheral areas is still sparse. It compares 22 semi‐structured interviews with founders of manufacturing firms from different peripheral regions in Switzerland to investigate whether routine and network transfer differs in varying peripheral contexts. The results show that not only inherited routines are important, but also inherited business contacts. Further, instead of simply reproducing acquired routines and networks, founders employ a mixture of continuity and change to find a good trade‐off between relying on well‐proven practices and introducing novelty. Finally, the geographical proximity of inherited business contacts seems to have an influence on the implementation strategy founders choose. Entrepreneurs with strong inherited local business contacts do not have to invest as much in building up new business contacts as those entrepreneurs in more isolated locations.     

Government support and firm innovation performance in Chinese science and technology parks: The perspective of firm and sub-park heterogeneity

Science and technology parks (STPs) are established to promote the firm innovation performance via agglomeration economy and government support in China. On-site qualified firms obtain government R&D funding as a type of government support, and they are offered differential innovation service caused by the differential capabilities of sub-parks which scatter throughout a single city. It is debatable whether those government supports at firm and sub-park levels can promote firm innovation capabilities. This study takes Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, Shanghai as an example. It applies a Tobit regression model to analyse the databases of Zhangjiang Annual Sampling Survey of Firms 2015 and Zhangjiang Development Report 2015. We find out at the firm level, government R&D funding has a significant and positive influence on firms' innovation, but government R&D funding generates a crowing-out effect the innovation performance of on-site firms with more R&D investment themselves. At the sub-park level, innovation service agencies of sub-parks do not exert an important role in influencing firms' innovation, and they even have negative moderating effects on the relationship between firm R&D investment and firm innovation performance. It reflects the mismatch between innovation service of STPs and firms' needs in China.     

Firm employment growth in China: The role of marketization and regional economic factors

Very heterogeneous patterns of firm employment growth characterize the Chinese provinces, suggesting the existence of a relationship between these and regional factors. This empirical work explores this topic by providing novel evidence of the role played by regional institutional and regional factors in firm employment growth in China during the decade 1998–2007, an important period in the Chinese transition towards a market economy. The results show that controlling for the internal determinants of firm performance, the firms located in provinces converging faster towards a market economy, exhibiting relatively better patterns (in terms of agglomeration, endowment of human capital, innovation and environmental protection) tend to expand their employment relatively more. These findings confirm the existence of a macro–micro-connection as to what firm heterogeneity is concerned, as they reveal a differential growth channel along the regional dimension. In particular, local progress in government–market relationships appears as the most relevant dimension of marketization process. Given the regionally decentralized institutional system in China and considering its process of transformation, these findings inform local authorities concerned with the promotion of regional employment.     

Conservation costs: Nature‐based tourism as development at Cuc Phuong National Park,Vietnam

Abstract: Local communities are frequently displaced from areas selected for environmental protection. Development of nature‐based tourism, believed to be more environmentally benign than traditional agricultural systems, has been encouraged by governments and national park managers in the hope of providing alternative livelihoods for local people. This paper examines the extent to which indigenous peoples resettled from within one Vietnamese national park have engaged with the nascent tourism industry, thereby providing a perspective on the success of their resettlement, through the eyes of those communities affected. The perspectives of resettled peoples are contrasted with those of villagers who have continued to reside within the national park, using traditional means of survival, along with new initiatives designed to supplement their livelihoods and to reduce their dependence on national park resources for survival. Resettled villagers are unable to survive on agricultural activity alone, tourism has done little to provide an alternate livelihood and the park environment is still threatened by the use of park resources by resettled communities in their struggle to survive.     

Benefits and risks for Melanesian households from commercialising Canarium indicum

This research note discusses the benefits and risks for Melanesian households arising from attempts to increasingly commercialise Canarium indicum, an edible tree nut indigenous to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Qualitative data were generated during workshops and interviews with Canarium industry stakeholders about the impacts associated with a series of interventions designed to encourage further commercialisation of Canarium. The findings are organised according to three dimensions that elucidate the social implications of industry development for local communities: (i) income and growth; (ii) equity; and (iii) voice and choice. Broader distribution of benefits within and between countries, as well as among supply chain actors, requires a stronger policy response at regional (Melanesia) and national scales, equitable gender representation to avoid reinforcing existing inequalities, and delegation of decision‐making power to the appropriate level to facilitate effective community participation and their links with other stakeholders. Thus, it remains to be seen whether Canarium‐related benefits arising from its commercialisation can be sufficiently reliable compared with either other sources of income (e.g. existing employment opportunities for those located near urban areas) or utilising the resource for subsistence purposes.     

Innovation in suburban development zones: Evidence from Nanjing,China

While suburban areas have been typically related with urban sprawl, low density, cheap land price and low‐end manufacturing industries, relatively little attention has been paid to the spatial organization of innovation in suburban areas. In some Chinese cities, development zones (kai fa qu) in their suburban areas which are generally regarded as major spaces for traditional manufacturing industries have been transforming into spaces for innovation. This paper provides a case study of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province in Eastern China by investigating and explaining the learning and innovation processes in suburban development zones. Drawing upon a unique database on 733 state‐certified high‐tech firms in Nanjing from 2008 to 2012 which contains detailed information on their addresses and number of patents, we observe strong spatial disparity in the distribution of innovation. Suburban districts of Nanjing where its three national‐level development zones and many provincial‐level development zones are located have become major spaces for innovation of the city. The planning of industrial clusters in development zones, the place‐based investment in the suburbs, and the suburbanization of universities are three major mechanisms behind the learning and innovation processes in Nanjing’s suburban development zones.     

Twenty‐first century nomadic city: Ger districts and barriers to the implementation of the Ulaanbaatar City Master Plan

Since the early 1990s, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, has experienced rapid rural to urban migration and population growth resulting in the growth in informal settlements across the city. The informal settlements are known as ‘ger’ districts. In response to these pressures, since the 1990s, the central government has adopted a programme of land reform and metropolitan planning. These new reforms take place in the context of a unique, post‐socialist political, economic and institutional context. The land reform process has attempted to privatise land ownership, which has traditionally resided with the state. The privatisation process was initiated under the new Constitution of Mongolia, which initiated reforms in all sectors of social and economic development, and since 2003, targeted land reform in ger districts. Running parallel, a series of urban land‐use planning schemes have been introduced to frame the development of Ulaanbaatar in the context of an emerging market economy. Although master plans for urban development have been established since the 1950s, urban land‐use planning is a new concept in this emerging market economy. The aim of this paper is to trace the rationales and challenges of implementing master plans and land privatisation processes in Ulaanbaatar. Drawing on interviews with city, national and local government officials conducted in 2009, the paper focuses on the implications of these reforms for both the government and the residents of ger districts.     

Compensating for development: Orang Asli experiences of Malaysia's Sungai Selangor dam

Abstract: In 2001, two indigenous Orang Asli communities living in Peninsula Malaysia were forced to leave their homelands to make way for the Sungai Selangor dam. The dam, built to resolve water shortages in Kuala Lumpur, came with a comprehensive compensation package designed to alleviate the hardships faced by the displaced communities. This paper explores the discursive and material impacts of these compensation packages. We argue that the emerging literature on compensation for displaced people values the same sorts of economic and social criteria as the Malaysian government does in its pursuit of modernising the Orang Asli. Their shared belief that effective compensation would improve the quality of life for affected communities above pre‐displacement levels helped to publicly legitimise the dam‐building project. Interviews with the displaced communities, however, found stark differences in community satisfaction which have more to do with losses of intrinsic place‐based cultural and spiritual values, for which there may be no effective or adequate compensation, than social and economic criteria. We conclude that compensation programmes will always struggle to effectively cope with these less tangible place‐based values and that open acknowledgement of this weakness is required if alternatives to displacement‐inducing development projects are to be more readily considered.