Jutta Günther

Innovation and skills from a sectoral perspective: a linked employer–employee analysis

Science and engineering skills as well as management and leadership skills are often referred to as sources of innovative activities within companies. Broken down into sectoral innovation patterns, this article examines the role of formal education, actual occupation and work experience in the innovation performance in manufacturing firms within a probit model. It uses unique micro data for Germany (LIAB) that contain information about corporate innovation activities and the qualification of employees in terms of formal education, actual professional status and work experience. We find clear differences in the human capital endowment between sectors according to the Pavitt classification. Sectors with a high share of highly skilled employees engage in above average product innovation (specialised suppliers and science-based industries). However, according to our estimation results, across as well as within these sectors a large share of highly skilled employees does not substantially increase the probability of a firm being innovative.

FDI as a multiplier of modern technology in Hungarian industry

Foreign direct investment is generally expected to play a significant role as a multiplier of modern production and management know-how in Central Eastern European transition economies. The following paper examines the various mechanisms by which such technological spillover effects could in theory take place and compares them with the results of an empirical study of their practical significance for Hungarian industry.

Innovation cooperation: experiences from East and West Germany

This paper deals with innovation cooperation as a means to support the ongoing catch-up process of the East German economy. Against prevalent beliefs, it can be shown that East German enterprises are more often involved in innovation cooperation than West German firms, and differences in cooperation partner priorities only reflect the given structural differences between the two regions. While cooperating enterprises in East and West Germany are clearly more innovative than their non-cooperating counterparts, a productivity advantage of these firms is (so far) only observable in West Germany. Reasons for this surprising finding are discussed. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Does Local Technology Matter for Foreign Investors in Central and Eastern Europe? Evidence from the IWH FDI Micro Database

This article analyzes investment motives, scope, and intensity of R&D and innovation, in foreign affiliates and the extent and determinants of linkages to the host countrys scientific institutions. The analysis uses the IWH FDI micro database that offers evidence for 809 foreign affiliates in Central and East Europe. Foreign direct investment into the region seems to be still dominated by market- and efficiency-seeking motives. Tapping into localized knowledge, skills, and technology seems to be of secondary importance. Yet, the majority of foreign affiliates actively engage in R&D and innovation, although fewer foreign firms build technological linkages with local scientific institutions.

Determinants of Foreign Technological Activity in German Regions - A Count Model Analysis of Transnational Patents

This paper analyses the determinants of spatial distribution of foreign technological activity across 96 German regions (1996-2009). We identify foreign inventive activity by applying the ‘cross-border-ownership concept’ to transnational patent applications. The descriptive analysis shows that foreign technological activity more than doubled during the observation period with persistent spatial heterogeneity in Germany. Using a pooled count data model, we estimate the effect of various sources for externalities on the extent of foreign technological activity across regions. Our results show that foreign technological activity is attracted by technologically specialised sectors of regions. In contrast to existing findings this effect applies both to foreign as well as domestic sources of specialisation. We show that the relation between specialization and foreign technological activity is non-linear and that it is influenced by sectoral heterogeneity. Externalities related to technological diversification attract foreign R&D only into ‘higher order’ regions.

European Integration and Outward FDI from Central and Eastern Europe – Is There Any Evidence of Knowledge‐Seeking?

The European Union (EU) Member States in central and eastern Europe (CEE) witnessed a surge in outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) between 2000 and the start of the global financial crisis. This article investigates whether the European integration process altered the relative importance of host country location factors. In particular, we investigate to what extent knowledge-seeking is a relevant investment motive, which has been documented as a key determinant for OFDI from other emerging economies. We apply a discrete choice approach to model foreign location choice of firms from CEE countries (CEECs) within the EU 27 (1996–2010). We find that the EU integration process is related with increasing importance of market access and less emphasis on labour cost advantages. We find heterogeneity in the valuation of foreign knowledge-related assets. The location probability within the EU15 is positively associated with knowledge-seeking. It also plays a role for technology-intensive industries and larger firms.

Which Regions Benefit from Emerging Industries

MATTHIAS BRACHERT∗, UWE CANTNER∗∗, HOLGER GRAF∗∗, JUTTA GÜNTHER∗∗∗ & MICHAEL SCHWARTZ∗ ∗Department of Structural Economics, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Halle (Saale), Germany, ∗∗Department of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany, Department of Marketing and Management, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, Faculty of Business Administration, Technische Universität Bergakademie, Freiberg, Germany

The Importance of Localized Related Variety for International Diversification of Corporate Technology

Dettmann E., Dominguez Lacasa I., Günther J. and Jindra B. The importance of localized related variety for international diversification of corporate technology, Regional Studies. Internationalization of research and development has increased substantially in recent years. This paper analyses the determinants of spatial distribution of foreign technological activities across 96 regions in Germany. It identifies foreign technological activities by applying the cross-border ownership concept to patent applications. The main proposition is that regions with higher related variety of technological activities between sectors attract more foreign technological activities. The estimations show that this is the case in regions characterized by a high overall technological strength. This suggests that related variety facilitates technological diversifications of foreign corporations in regions at the top of the geographic hierarchy.

Scientific Cooperation in a German Polish Border Region in the Light of EU Enlargement

This paper evaluates the economic advantages and disadvantages of the Eastern expansion of the European Union for the old and the new EU member states, and introduces support programmes which aim to integrate regions on both sides of the border. It focuses especially on the development of cross-border scientific cooperation between Germany and Poland. An empirical study on the example of the Europa University Viadrina (EUV), a newly founded university in the German-Polish border region, shows the extent of German-Polish cooperation based on co-publication activity. In our small-scale empirical investigation for the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics of the EUV, we identified quite a number of co-publications between EUV staff and Polish colleagues. Most of them take place within the EUV, and many relate to cooperative work with scientific entities in both Poland and Germany. The entire intensity and frequency of cooperative scientific activities is, however, much broader than the publication analysis shows and offers scope for further integration with possible positive spillovers for the economic development as well.

Foreign Direct Investment as a Source of Technology-Spillovers in Central East European Candidate-Countries

There are a number of ‘Western’ transition economies in Eastern Europe which applied for membership in the European Union in the early 1990s and have visibly succeeded in preparing for EU-accession. Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland but also Slovenia, Slovakia and the Baltic states are frequently mentioned as the most advanced transition economies and promising candidates for EU eastern enlargement. In preparation for EU-accession, the economy and society of these countries has gone through substantial changes.1