Kristie Briggs

R&D and the export decision of new firms

Recent literature on the firm-level decision to export has focused on identifying factors that influence the export decision by firms regardless of the number of years they have been in operation. This article, alternatively, examines the factors that influence new firms to export within the first four years of operation. The results support two key findings that have commonly emerged from entrepreneurial case studies: (1) There is a positive link between research and development (R&D) and early internationalization, and (2) international ties of managers, as is evidenced by the effect of foreign-born owners, positively impact the firms decision to export. The former result is the emphasis of this article. In addition, we find that innovation spillovers from neighboring firms impact the export decision of new firms that engage in R&D.

More is better: evidence that joint patenting leads to quality innovation

Joint ownership of a patent is most often viewed by firms as a second-best option compared to single, monopoly ownership. However, the results of this article suggest that there may be reason for businesses and policymakers to incentivize joint patenting behaviour. This is because, joint patent ownership is found to positively impact the quality of an innovation (as measured by forward patent citations). In addition, the degree of quality increases with the number of patent owners. Since past research confirms the important links between patent quality and ongoing innovation, and between innovation and growth, those factors that impact patent quality are deserving of attention. Economic research on joint patenting is currently limited, but we hope to shed light on the importance of expanding dialogue on this topic.

There will be exports and licensing: The effects of patent rights and innovation on firm sales

Previous work has focused on how intellectual property rights affect inward technology transfer. This paper is among the first to study whether patent rights contribute to outward technology transfers. Patent protection can affect the ability of firms to be sources of technology through its effects on innovation and commercialization. Using micro data, this paper finds that patent rights and innovation are positively associated with the exporting and licensing of firms, controlling for other determinants of technological capacity, although the effect is not symmetric across firms in all countries. Patent rights have a strong impact on the export and licensing activities of firms in developed countries, and only on the licensing activities of firms in developing countries. Moreover, transfers of technology develop sequentially – namely, exporting before licensing – due to the differing sunk costs of each type of entry. The results have implications for how innovation policies and activities contribute to the outward orientation of firms.

Institutional quality as a barrier to trade

Improvement of institutional quality abroad encourages new domestic firms to export to these countries, but has no effect on the volume of exports from incumbent firms. Thus, poor institutional quality acts as a barrier to the extensive margin of trade. As a result, policies that encourage the strengthening of foreign institutions coincide with national export initiatives such as the one launched by President Obama in 2010.

Intellectual property rights and development: the spatial relationships

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence that the U-shaped relationship between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) observed in the past literature using a panel of data is not a consequence of longitudinal forces, as has been previously postulated, but instead a consequence of cross-sectional influences. Design/methodology/approach - Differences in the longitudinal and cross-sectional relationship between IPRs and per capita GDP are analyzed through a variety of methods, including pooled regression analysis that isolates the regional differences that are critical in making an accurate longitudinal analysis from the panel data. Findings - Analyzing the country data reveals that a longitudinal U-shaped relationship is counterfactual, as countries generally do not weaken their IPRs once they are in place, barring a regime change or other alteration in their political economy. The significant U-shape link between IPRs and per capita GDP empirically observed in preliminary analysis of the panel data is instead a result of cross-sectional influences. Originality/value - Making the distinction between the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationship between IPRs and per capita GDP provides a more accurate insight about how IPRs change in a country as it develops.

The Effect of Real Exchange Rate Volatility on the Trade of Educational Services

ABSTRACT This article finds that high levels of real exchange rate volatility between two trading partners significantly decrease the amount of educational services traded. Many academic institutions are actively looking to expand exports of educational services as a means of increasing revenues. Internal policies that reduce real exchange rate uncertainty may help encourage trade of educational services between countries where volatility is high. The discovery that real exchange rate volatility serves as a significant barrier to attracting educational export opportunities to certain countries underscores an obstacle that should and/or could be addressed as academic institutions strive to expand their international enrollments.

Income differences in services trade partners

This article examines how differences in the income levels of trading partners influence the bilateral trade of services from 2000 to 2010. Overall, the results show that dissimilar per capita income levels across trade partners positively and significantly influence services trade. These findings hold not only when utilizing bilateral data on aggregate services trade, but also when considering bilateral services trade at the industry level. Our findings suggest that policy-makers looking to expand trade in services should foster trading relationships with partners that have dissimilar income profiles.

Reducing copyright piracy using entrepreneurial intermediary platforms.

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of intermediary platforms, such as Pandora and Spotify, in reducing piracy of digital music. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors modify a predator-prey theoretical framework of copyright piracy to account for the impact of intermediary platforms on the consumption of original works and illegal copies. Findings - – The theory shows that an increase in the number of legal alternative platforms available to consumers of digital music results in an unambiguous increase in the consumption of legitimate music and an unambiguous decrease in the consumption of unauthorized copies. Practical implications - – The results suggest that policies to encourage entrepreneurship by intermediary platforms in the music industry serve as a complement to other policies currently being employed to combat piracy of digital music. Originality/value - – The paper is the first of its kind to analyze the important role of intermediary platforms in reducing piracy of digital music while encouraging innovation by artists. Historically, entrepreneurship in this field has been controversial, given the gray areas surrounding what is and is not copyright infringement in the ever-evolving digital age. This paper highlights that once copyright laws are clearly defined, business growth in this area can be a highly effective solution to the piracy problem.

An Analysis of Technologically Radical Innovation and Breakthrough Patents

Abstract Breakthrough innovations – commonly defined by innovations with patents surpassing a critical threshold of forward citations – generate benefits for innovators, businesses, and society. Analyzing more than five million patents and citations from 1976 to 2017, this paper adds to the existing literature by examining whether the radicalness of a patented good – that is, the more technology classes cited as contributing prior arts not identified in the patent’s own technology identity – impacts the likelihood an innovation is a breakthrough. In essence, the paper tests the common belief that it is beneficial to “think outside the box” when innovating. The results show that increased radicalness increases the likelihood of a breakthrough up to a certain threshold, after which increased radicalness decreases the likelihood of a breakthrough. Additionally, established innovators and university ownership of a patent each extend the range for which increased radicalness increases the probability of a breakthrough, while joint patent ownership decreases the range.

Innovative partnerships resulting from high-skilled emigration

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether emigration of high-skilled labor creates a positive effect in the home country by generating multi-country joint patent relationships between home and destination country-pairs. Design/methodology/approach A panel of data that uniquely captures the country of origin of patent applicants is used to assess if and how high-skilled emigration contributes to the prevalence of multi-country joint patents in a country. The analysis is conducted both in aggregate and across sub-samples based on the per capita income level of the home country. Finally, the role of absorptive capacity as a control variable is robustly considered. Findings Results suggest that emigration of high-skilled labor positively impacts the prevalence of multi-country joint patent ownership when emigration originates from middle- and high-income countries. Support for such “brain gain” via knowledge sharing in innovation is absent when high-skilled labor emigrates from low-income countries. Originality/value The analysis highlights a specific avenue by which the home country benefits from high-skilled emigration. It also provides comparative analysis across home countries of different income levels, which can provide insight into the external validity of papers using high-income country samples of innovative performance when assessing knowledge spillovers.