Spyros Arvanitis

The Determinants Of The Adoption Of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

The paper investigates empirically the decision of firms to adopt ‘Advanced Manufacturing Technologies’ (AMT) based on a comprehensive specification of a ‘rank model’ of technology adoption using firm-level data for Swiss manufacturing. The explanatory variables include numerous dimensions of (anticipated) benefits from and costs of technology adoption allowing for uncertainty as well as for information and adjustment costs. Moreover, the effect of complementarities between various functional groups of AMT (design, fabrication, communication, etc.) as well as of learning from the use of previous technology vintages within such functional groups is analyzed, Finally, the size-dependence of the adoption decision is studied in detail. The model yields a quite robust pattern of explanation across estimates with different adoption variables (time period of introduction of AMT, intensity of use of AMT, etc.) with plausible differences of the results based on the alternative adoption measures used.

Industrial Innovation in Switzerland: A Model-based Analysis with Survey Data

The general objective of this study is to explain empirically the innovation behaviour of Swiss manufacturing firms, drawing on the main theoretical arguments put forward in industrial economics with respect to this subject. In this way, we hope to add to already available empirical knowledge on the innovation-generating activities of industrial firms in general and to identify the main characteristics of the Swiss pattern of innovation in particular. Comparisons with corresponding patterns in other countries might contribute significantly to a better understanding of the common as well as distinguishing aspects of innovation behaviour of private enterprises under different economic and institutional environments, a precondition for designing successfully innovation-related policy measures.

The Impact of Spillovers and Knowledge Heterogeneity on Firm Performance: Evidence from Swiss Manufacturing

This chapter explores the impact of knowledge capital (computed on the basis of firm patent counts and R&D expenditures, respectively) and patent, as well as R&D spillovers, on total factor productivity at the firm level for Swiss manufacturing in the usual setting of a Cobb-Douglas production function. We introduce spillovers from R&D or patents by constructing two types of spillover measures: one based on material flows between sectors, and the other one reflecting technological proximity at the firm level. In a further step, international R&D as well as patent spillovers from eight technologically highly developed countries are taken into consideration.

Innovation and Labour Productivity Growth in Switzerland

This study investigates the determinants of labour productivity growth of Swiss fi rms in the period 1994–2002 particularly emphasizing the role of innovation activities. Thus, the main research question pursued is: to what extent do different types of fi rm-level innovations affect labour productivity of fi rms in Switzerland? This is a question of particular interest for Swiss policy-makers in the light of the unsatisfactory growth performance of the Swiss economy in the 1990s (see Federal Department for Economic Affairs 2002). Most observers consider the low growth of labour productivity as the main single factor for explaining this unfavourable performance as measured by GDP growth. Labour productivity depends on physical and human capital as main production factors as well as on new knowledge and innovation. Economies that develop more and more in the direction of a knowledge-based economy are relying increasingly on technological innovation. Hence, it is important to gain some insights with respect to the (quantitative) relationship between innovation and economic performance. A better understanding of the relative importance of the factors determining productivity growth could contribute to an explanation of the low productivity growth of the Swiss economy in the 1990s.