The determinants of YIc's R&D activity

This paper examines the determinants of young innovative companies’ (YICs) R&D activities taking into account the autoregressive nature of innovation. Using a large longitudinal dataset comprising Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 1990-2008, we find that previous R&D experience is a fundamental determinant for mature and young firms, albeit to a smaller extent in the case of the YICs, suggesting that their innovation behaviour is less persistent and more erratic. Moreover, our results suggest that firm and market characteristics play a distinct role in boosting the innovation activity of firms of different age. In particular, while market concentration and the degree of product diversification are found to be important in boosting R&D activities in the sub-sample of mature firms only, YICs’ spending on R&D appears to be more sensitive to demand-pull variables, suggesting the presence of credit constraints. These results have been obtained using a recently proposed dynamic type-2 tobit estimator, which accounts for individual effects and efficiently handles the initial conditions problem.

The Innovation and Imitation Dichotomy in Spanish firms: do absorptive capacity and the technological frontier matter?

This paper analyses whether a firm’s absorptive capacity and its distance from the technological frontier affect the choice between innovation and imitation in innovative Spanish firms. From an extensive survey of 5,575 firms during the 2004-2009 period, we found two significant results. With regard to the role of absorptive capacity, the empirical evidence shows that when innovative firms have difficulties in accessing external information and hire skilled workers, their innovative capacity is reduced. Meanwhile, with regard to distance from the technological frontier, the firms that reduce this gap manage to increase their innovative capacity at the expense of imitation. To summarise, when we studied firms’ absorptive capacity and their relative position to the technological frontier in tandem, we found that the two factors directly affected firms' ability to innovate or imitate.

Análisis, desarrolo y posicionamiento de una web 2.0

Anàlisi i desenvolupament d’una web 2.0 per taxistes, en forma de xarxa social, on puguin participar activament, anunciar la venda de les seves llicències de taxi amb informació detallada i trobin publicitat d’empreses del sector que ofereixen ofertes i promocions dels seus serveis o productes gràcies a les eines que ofereix la web a les empreses subscrites. Optimització de la web pels principals motors de cerca d’ Internet.

Determinació de la regió del genoma o gens implicats en la síntesi del polièster extracel•lular present en la variant llisa de Mycobacterium vaccae mitjançant transformació

Estudi realitzat a partir d’una estada a la Universidad de Zaragoza, Espanya, entre novembre del 2007 i abril del 2008. Mycobacterium vaccae és un micobacteri ambiental de creixement ràpid molt estudiat pel seu interès com a possible ús immunoterapéutic en el tractament de la tuberculosis i altres malalties. M.vaccae a l’igual que altres micobacteris presenta dues morfologies colonials: llisa i rugosa. M.vaccae ATCC15483T té originàriament una morfologia llisa. Quant aquest es cultiva en medi sòlid a 30ºC apareixen espontàniament variants rugoses estables que no reverteixen a llises. El motiu pel qual aquest procés té lloc no es coneix, encara que s’ha descrit en Mycobacterium smegmatis i en Mycobacterium avium que els lípids de la paret cel•lular es troben involucrats en aquest canvi de morfologia colonial. L’anàlisi dels contingut en lípids i glicolípids de la paret cel•lular de les dos variants morfològiques de M.vaccae, ens ha indicat que les soques llises presenten un compost extracel•lular que no es troba en les rugoses i que mitjançant l’anàlisi estructural d’aquest compost ha sigut identificat com un polièster extracel•lular de cadena llarga. El present estudi s’ha centrat en determinar els gens implicats en la síntesis d’aquest compost. Per a realitzar aquest anàlisi genètic s’ha construit una llibreria de mutants per transposició de la soca llisa de M. vaccae mitjançant un plàsmid ts/sac i un transposó. S’han obtingut colònies de morfologia rugosa on el plàsmid s’ha insertat en la zona del genoma que codifica per aquest compost extracel•lular. Aquests nous mutants s’han analitzat mitjançant tècniques moleculars (PCR, Southern y seqüenciació). A mès, s’ha construit una llibreria genòmica amb DNA de la soca llisa en plàsmids replicatius de micobacteris derivats de pAL5000 i s’ha transformat la soca rugosa seleccionant per a un fenotip llis estudiant els gens que complementen.

Like milk or wine: Does firm performance improve with age?

Our empirical literature review shows that little is known about how firm performance changes with age, presumably because of the paucity of data on firm age. For Spanish manufacturing firms, we analyse the firm performance related to firm age between 1998 and 2006. We find evidence that firms improve with age, because ageing firms are observed to have steadily increasing levels of productivity, higher profits, larger size, lower debt ratios, and higher equity ratios. Furthermore, older firms are better able to convert sales growth into subsequent growth of profits and productivity. On the other hand, we also found evidence that firm performance deteriorates with age. Older firms have lower expected growth rates of sales, profits and productivity, they have lower profitability levels (when other variables such as size are controlled for), and also that they appear to be less capable to convert employment growth into growth of sales, profits and productivity. Keywords: firm age, firm growth, LAD, financial structure, vector autoregression JEL CODES: L25, L20

La Gestió europea de les ajudes d’estat durant la recent crisi financera i la seva adequació al sistema comunitari de defensa de la competencia

En un context de crisi, els Estats es troben en un trade-off entre “relaxar” el sistema de control d’ajudes d’Estat per reduir l’impacte de la recessió, o mantenir-lo i evitar així distorsions competitives. Es tracta d’un cas especial de trade-off entre el curt i el llarg termini. La present recerca investiga com la política europea ha gestionat la demanda d’ajudes públiques durant la recent crisi financera. Es diferencia entre “llei” i “procediment”, i es determina que mentre la primera s’ha adaptat al nou context de crisi per donar cabuda a mesures de rescat, una sèrie d’evidències suggereixen que el segon s’ha “relaxat”, i que pot haver estat una estratègia second best per reduir el risc moral associat als rescats i una estratègia necessària per a mantenir el propi sistema de control d’ajudes d’Estat

La Capacidad actual de España para liderar la posición europea hacia Cuba

Aquest treball té per objecte analitzar quina és la capacitat actual del govern espanyol per liderar les polítiques europees respecte a Cuba. El període escollit per a la realització d'aquest examen s'inicia l'any 2004, moment en què el PSOE es va fer amb la victòria en les eleccions generals i en què va anunciar un canvi de rumb en l'acció exterior espanyola respecte de la postura promoguda pel PP en els mandats anteriors, i es perllonga fins al moment actual. El balanç dels èxits i fracassos obtinguts pel govern socialista fins ara, mostra una creixent pèrdua d'influència d'Espanya, davant etapes anteriors, si tradicional paper d'interlocutor avantatjat de la UE pel que fa a Cuba. la concurrència de factors com l'adhesió dels PECO a la UE, la capacitat de la Havana per procurar nous aliats i socis estratègics o les innovacions introduïdes pel tractat de Lisboa en matèria d'acció exterior, ha augmentat significativament les dificultats d'Espanya per "europeïtzar" els interessos de la seva política exterior pel que fa a l'Illa

Productivity and human capital: a business-level analysis

This paper aims to analyse the impact of human capital on business productivity, focusing the analysis on the possible effect of the complementarity that exists between human capital and new production technologies, particularly advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) for the specific case of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Catalonia. Additionally, following the theory of skill-biased technological change, the paper analyses whether technological change produces bias exclusively in the skills required for managers, or whether the bias extends to the skills required of production staff. With this objective, we have compared the possible existence of complementarity between AMTs and the level of human capital for different occupational groups. The results confirm the complementary relationship between human capital and new production technologies. The results by occupational group confirm that to maximise the productivity of new technologies, skilled staff are needed both in management and production, with managers and professionals as well as skilled operatives playing a vital role. Keywords: human capital, process technologies, complementarity, business productivity. (JEL D24, J24, O30).

Productivity in southern European small firms: When and how work organization complements process innovation

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of human capital, advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT), and new work organizational practices on firm productivity, while taking into account the synergies existing between them. This study expands current knowledge in this area in two ways. First, in contrast with previous works, we focus on AMT and not ICT (information and communication technologies). Second, we use a unique employer-employee data set for small firms in a particular area of southern Europe (Catalonia, Spain). Using a small firm data set, allows us to analyse the particular case of small and medium enterprises, since we cannot assume they have the same characteristics as large firms. The results provide evidence in favor of the complementarity hypothesis between human capital, advanced manufacturing technologies, and new work organization practices, although we show that the complementarity effects depend on what type of work organization practices are used by a firm. For small and medium Catalan firms, the only set of work organization practices that improve the benefits of human capital and technology investment are those practices which are more quality oriented, such as quality circles, problem-solving groups or total quality management.

Staffing strategies in SME's: determinants of external recruitment and internal promotion

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of use internal or external labour market to fill a firm vacancy in SME’s taking into account the differences existing among blue and white collar jobs. Following different theories we can identify three main reasons for use internal candidates rather than external ones‐ firm specific knowledge, adverse selection problems and motivation‐. However, there are others factors that might affect this choice but the last theories don’t take into account. In this paper we try to shed some light on what are these other factors that may affect firm decision to use internal or external labour market. Particularly we analyses the relationship among new technologies, innovation activity and firm location on the staffing strategy. The results shows difference behaviour on the decision to fill a vacancy using internal or external labour markets between manufacturing and service firms, and this decision depends not only on firm internal characteristics, like technological complexity or innovation activity, but also on firm location. The results also support the hypothesis of ports of entry especially in the manufacturing sector.

Internal and External Determinants of Radical and incremental Innovation in SMEs: the case of Catalonia

There is a major concern in economic literature about innovation, which is the interaction between internal and external factors.. In this paper those activities are hypothesized as being determined by some territorial characteristics like labour skills, technological infrastructure, educational facilities, agglomeration economies and industrial structure. This assumption allows understanding why those innovative activities are not spread across space and are located into specific areas. We use a detailed survey containing microdata for 497 SMEs located in Catalonia.

Innovation or Imitation? The effect of spillovers and competitive pressure on firms' R&D strategy choice

This article provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of a firm's optimal R&D strategy choice. In this paper a firm's R&D strategy is assumed to be endogenous and allowed to depend on both internal firms. characteristics and external factors. Firms choose between two strategies, either they engage in R&D or abstain from own R&D and imitate the outcomes of innovators. In the theoretical model this yields three types of equilibria in which either all firms innovate, some firms innovate and others imitate, or no firm innovates. Firms'equilibrium strategies crucially depend on external factors. We find that the efficiency of intellectual property rights protection positively affects firms'incentives to engage in R&D, while competitive pressure has a negative effect. In addition, smaller firms are found to be more likely to become imitators when the product is homogeneous and the level of spillovers is high. These results are supported by empirical evidence for German .rms from manufacturing and services sectors. Regarding social welfare our results indicate that strengthening intellectual property protection can have an ambiguous effect. In markets characterized by a high rate of innovation a reduction of intellectual property rights protection can discourage innovative performance substantially. However, a reduction of patent protection can also increase social welfare because it may induce imitation. This indicates that policy issues such as the optimal length and breadth of patent protection cannot be resolved without taking into account specific market and firm characteristics. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C35, D43, L13, L22, O31. Keywords: Innovation; imitation; spillovers; product differentiation; market competition; intellectual property rights protection.

R&D cooperation between Spanish firms and scientific partners: what is the role of tertiary education?

This paper explores the factors that determine firm’s R&D cooperation with different partners, paying special attention on the role of tertiary education (degree and PhDs level) in facilitating the connection between the firms and the to scientific bodies (technology centres, public research centres and universities). Here, we attempt to answer two questions. First, are innovative firms that carry out internal and external R&D activities more likely to cooperate on R&D projects with other partners? Second, do Spanish innovative firms with a high participation of researchers with degrees or PhDs tend to cooperate more with scientific partners? To answer both questions we apply a three-dimensional approach on a firm level Panel Data with a sample of 4.998 manufacturing and services Spanish firms. First, we run a complementary test between external R&D acquisition and skilled research workers and find that firms which carry out external R&D activities obtain a greater return on R&D cooperation when they have skilled workers in R&D, especially in high-tech manufactures and KIS services. Second, we carry out a 2-step tobit model to estimate, in the first stage, the determinants that explain whether Spanish innovative firms cooperate or not; and in the second stage the factors that affect the choice of partners. And third, we apply an ordered probit model to test the marginal effects of explanatory variables on the different partners. Here we contrast some of the most interesting empirical hypotheses of previous studies, and which emphasize the role of employees with degrees and PhDs in facilitating cooperative R&D between firms and scientific partners. JEL classification: O31, O33, O38. Key words: Determinants R&D cooperation, industry-university flows, PhD research workers.

Innovation and absorptive capacity: What is the role of technological frontier?

This paper explores how absorptive capacity affects the innovative performance and productivity dynamics of Spanish firms. A firm’s efficiency levels are measured using two variables: the labour productivity and the Total Factor Productivity (TFP). The theoretical framework is based on the seminal contributions of Cohen and Levinthal (1989, 1990) regarding absorptive capacity; and the applied framework is based on the four-stage structural model proposed by Crépon, Duguet and Mairesse (1998) for setting the determinants of R&D, the effects of R&D activities on innovation outputs, and the impacts of innovation on firm productivity. The present study uses a twostage structural model. In the first stage, a probit estimation is used to investigate how the sources of R&D, the absorptive capacity and a vector of the firm’s individual features influence the firm’s likelihood of developing innovations in products or processes. In the second phase, a quantile regression is used to analyze the effect of R&D sources, absorptive capacity and firm characteristics on productivity. This method shows the elasticity of each exogenous variable on productivity according to the firms’ levels of efficiency, and thus allows us to distinguish between firms that are close to the technological frontier and those that are further away from it. We used extensive firm-level panel data from 5,575 firms for the 2004-2009 period. The results show that the internal absorptive capacity has a strong impact on the productivity of firms, whereas the role of external absorptive capacity differs according to nature of the each industry and according the distance of firms from the technological frontier. Key words: R&D sources, innovation strategies, absorptive capacity, technological distance, quantile regression.

Detecció i localització d'impactes a estructures aeroespacials

Projecte de recerca elaborat a partir d’una estada a la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Espanya, entre setembre i o desembre del 2007. Actualment la indústria aeroespacial i aeronàutica té com prioritat millorar la fiabilitat de las seves estructures a través del desenvolupament de nous sistemes per a la monitorització i detecció d’impactes. Hi ha diverses tècniques potencialment útils, i la seva aplicabilitat en una situació particular depèn críticament de la mida del defecte que permet l’estructura. Qualsevol defecte canviarà la resposta vibratòria de l’element estructural, així com el transitori de l’ona que es propaga per l’estructura elàstica. Correlacionar aquests canvis, que poden ser detectats experimentalment amb l’ocurrència del defecte, la seva localització i quantificació, és un problema molt complex. Aquest treball explora l’ús de l'Anàlisis de Components Principals (Principal Component Analysis - PCA-) basat en la formulació dels estadístics T2 i Q per tal de detectar i distingir els defectes a l'estructura, tot correlacionant els seus canvis a la resposta vibratòria. L’estructura utilitzada per l’estudi és l’ala d’una turbina d’un avió comercial. Aquesta ala s’excita en un extrem utilitzant un vibrador, i a la qual s'han adherit set sensors PZT a la superfície. S'aplica un senyal conegut i s'analitzen les respostes. Es construeix un model PCA utilitzant dades de l’estructura sense defecte. Per tal de provar el model, s'adhereix un tros d’alumini en quatre posicions diferents. Les dades dels assajos de l'estructura amb defecte es projecten sobre el model. Les components principals i les distàncies de Q-residual i T2-Hotelling s'utilitzaran per a l'anàlisi de les incidències. Q-residual indica com de bé s'adiu cadascuna de les mostres al model PCA, ja que és una mesura de la diferència, o residu, entre la mostra i la seva projecció sobre les components principals retingudes en el model. La distància T2-Hotelling és una mesura de la variació de cada mostra dins del model PCA, o el que vindria a ser el mateix, la distància al centre del model PCA.