Industrial and Corporate Change

Abstract Policymakers have increasingly supported collaborative R&D, recognizing its role in enhancing the innovation performance and scientific reputation of organizations. This paper proposes a three-step procedure to examine collaborative patterns and participation dynamics over consecutive research programs by integrating Social Network Analysis and statistical methods. First, participant…

Abstract While the extant strategy literature has emphasized the importance of adaptation in response to exogenous changes in the environment, a recent development takes a design view and suggests that firms can shape their environments. We ask: under what circumstances can a shaper beat out adapting incumbents following an effective shaping attempt? We propose that (1) the process of shaping lea…

Abstract This paper looks at how industrial strategy can use conditionalities to make sure that public-private partnerships are goal-oriented with conditionalities that serve public purpose. Conditionality can be a key tool to shape markets and foster inclusive and sustainable economic growth. We develop a taxonomy to understand the range of conditionalities that governments and policymakers can …

Abstract In times of inflation, the fear of so-called wage-price spirals becomes a central motif for policymaking. Yet, empirical studies on this phenomenon of spiraling input costs remain scarce. Lacking altogether is an assessment of the distributional effects of this form of cost-push inflation. Drawing on a standard sector-level cost-push inflation model, we examine the potential first- and s…

Abstract This study demonstrates the effects of business service inputs on the export share of high-quality products. It uses data covering 12 manufacturing sectors in 31 countries during 2000–2014 and constructed using the subsystem approach. The main finding is that the effect is positive and large, and reduces gradually as product quality declines. By manufacturing sector, the effect is higher…

Abstract This study examines how temporary intermediary organizations enable episodic coordination across spatially segmented capital markets. Using accelerator cohorts as an empirical setting, we show that greater geographic diversity among participants is associated with a higher likelihood of fundraising during the accelerator period and with the formation of cross-regional investment ties, pa…

Abstract We examine the Finnish pulp and paper industry’s century-long catch-up journey, focusing on the intertwined development of technical and institutional capabilities. Using historical methods, we highlight how a private, self-organized R&D alliance evolved into an institutional architect, ultimately shaping not only governance but also regulation and entire innovation systems. Our find…

Abstract In this paper, we explore how the rise of remote collaboration has shaped the pursuit of new ideas in scientific discovery. To systematically distinguish between disruptive breakthroughs and incremental discoveries, we use citation data for over 10 million research teams—publishing in 11 fields of research from 1961 to 2020. On average, we document a robust and significant negative corre…

Abstract To more closely align theories of paradigm-shifting discoveries and their empirical quantification, we propose a novel measure that incorporates a discovery’s impact, novelty, and tendency to break with the past into a single, coherent measure. Calibration using the National Inventor Hall of Fame data reveals that the three dimensions are strict complements, meaning, for example, that gr…

Abstract In recent decades, models of circular and cumulative causation (CC), based on the endogenous relationships between prices, exports, and labor productivity, have lost prominence in explaining economic dynamics, such as the divergence within the euro area. We argue that the combination of price-sensitive exports and the triggering effect of exports on productivity can enable feedback loops…

Abstract We examine the effect of changes in a firm’s horizontal scope on its position moves, disentangling the effect of scope economies, exploration, inertia, and crowding. We argue that scope economies emanate from the contemporaneous breadth of a firm’s scope while exploration and inertia relate to the sequence of historical choices a firm makes about whether to change or maintain its scope. …

Abstract Government intervention in venture capital markets is typically justified by “funding gaps” arising from market failures. However, recent policies do not neatly fit this logic, demonstrating more interventionist government roles that leverage venture capital to achieve broader societal goals, such as combating climate change and strengthening technological sovereignty. The current litera…

Abstract Motivated by recent evidence of a carbon risk premium Bolton and Kacperczyk (2021, J. Financ. Econ., 142, 517549), we analyze firm-level patenting in Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage (CCUS) technologies and its impact on stock market performance from 2010 to 2022. Using zero-inflated Poisson regressions on patent and financial data and CO2 emissions, we find CCUS patents respond …

Abstract In this paper, we analyze firms that participated in two waves of the French ICT survey to identify key antecedents, measured in 2018, associated with the first-time adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in 2020. The analysis shows that the presence of data security systems, ICT training for employees, and the use of websites to collect customer information are all positi…

Abstract This paper investigates whether foreign direct investment (FDI) significantly facilitates the access of firms in developing countries to digital transformation. It also examines if the level of access varies across firms of different geographical regions and operating sectors. Empirical analysis on a sample of more than 8000 firms in Vietnam during 2019 indicates that FDI plays an import…

Abstract In this paper, we examine the extent to which public funding of research-related investments in the UK contributes to regional development and the fostering of regional convergence processes. This issue arises against the backdrop of the UK’s ‘Leveling Up’ agenda, in which there is an explicit mission to significantly increase the share of R&D public support in the regions outside of…

Abstract The paper advances a new framework to analyze how policy-driven changes in demand regimes trigger firm-level structural cycles of technological change and organizational reconfiguration, ultimately affecting industrial leadership. With a focus on renewable energy technologies, and Germany as a critical case, we study how the shift from feed-in tariffs to auctions triggered different indu…

Abstract This paper examines the Japanese Beveridge curve in order to identify a possible structural break prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and uncover its potential causes. We utilize two levels of analysis. First, the relationship for the period January 2000–June 2024 is estimated by means of a vector error correction model, through which we detect a structural break at the end of 2019. Second, w…

Abstract Economic growth has been slow in the Information Age despite rapid progress in information and communication technology (ICT). The root cause, as pointed out in (David (1990, The American Economic Review, 80, 355–361), is that co-invention of useful applications lags behind invention of ICT. This paper asks why that lag has been so long, and why it has persisted through so much innovatio…

Abstract The economics of science, and thus the subject of what has come to be known as “open science,” is omnipresent in Paul David’s work. Throughout his writings, David has never ceased to return to it, enriching it with new contributions. Better still, with the emergence of the Internet—whose importance is asserting itself at a time when the evolution of Intellectual Property law was threaten…