Firm patenting activity, metropolitan innovative environment and their effects on business survival in a high-tech industry

Tsvetkova, Alexandra and Thill, Jean-Claude and Conroy, Tessa (2016): Firm patenting activity, metropolitan innovative environment and their effects on business survival in a high-tech industry.

Abstract

This paper distinguishes between internal (produced within the firm) and external (produced by other firms) knowledge and studies the effects of both knowledge types on survival in a cohort of computer and electronic product manufacturing companies started in 1991 in the continental US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Estimation results suggest that innovative companies face lower hazard but this effect seems to be driven by company’s initial characteristics, as producing more knowledge measured by successful patent applications does not translate into a higher likelihood of survival. In contrast, an innovative environment decreases survival likelihood in the whole sample, yet this result appears to be driven by non-patenting establishments. In the subset of non-patenting firms an innovative environment has a strong negative effect on survival whereas no significant relationship is identified in the subset of innovative firms.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Business survival, knowledge creation, patents, innovative environment
• Subjects: L - Industrial Organization > L6 - Industry Studies: Manufacturing > L63 - Microelectronics ; Computers ; Communications Equipment; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O51 - U.S. ; Canada

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