Selective subsidies, entrepreneurial founders' human capital, and access to R&D alliances

Abstract

We investigate if and to what extent the receipt of a "selective" subsidy-a public subsidy awarded through a competitive procedure-helps new technology-based firms (NTBFs) to access R&D alliances. In particular, we theoretically enquire and empirically analyze which founding team-level characteristics allow NTBFs to: i) get a selective subsidy; and ii) access an R&D alliance with another firm or a public research organization/university, once the subsidy is awarded. We use a sample of 902 NTBFs that operate in Italy, where industrial policy has never had an explicit and exclusive mandate neither for targeting NTBFs nor for easing their access to R&D networks. By means of several identification strategies and estimation methods, our results point to the relevance of selective subsidies in facilitating NTBFs to enter R&D alliances, independently from the objective of the policy measure. Second, founders' technical education figures as a key determinant to get the first selective subsidy. Finally, founders' previous industry-specific work experience allows NTBFs to better exploit the selective subsidy, by positively moderating the impact of the subsidy on the likelihood to establish a corporate R&D alliance.

The Role of a Manager’s Intangible Capabilities in Resource Acquisition and Sustainable Competitive Performance

“…It is doubtless that top management social capital effectively stimulates the R&D of a firm. However, in addition to the social capital, business experience helps them to access useful resources and to establish a corporate R&D alliance [73]. Intellectual abilities of top managers can assist them in operational processes.…”

Whom do nascent ventures search for? Resource scarcity and linkage formation activities during new product development processes

“…A fundamentally important condition that shapes a venture's opportunities to pursue a linkage formation path is its human resources. While also financial resources can limit a venture's opportunities as they are interrelated to hiring decisions (van Burg et al 2012), recent evidence shows that it is in particular human capital which shapes the learning behavior of entrepreneurs (Zhao et al 2020;Grilli et al 2014) and, more specifically, the formation of alliances (Grilli and Murtinu 2018). Depending on the human resources available, opportunities to follow pathways creating and entering external linkages should therefore differ substantially across firms (Ahuja 2000;Hoang and Antoncic 2003).…”

“…The rather vague notion of resources and their value is considered a shortcoming of the resource-based view(Kraaijenbrink 2011). We therefore follow the reasoning of strategic human resource management, which argues that human capital and human resources are at the core of a firm's competitiveness(Wright et al 2001)-also in line with prior work on alliances(Grilli and Murtinu 2018).…”

“…Given the central role of resources for a firm's competitiveness (Barney 1991), we argue that the resource scarcity of nascent ventures shapes both the paths and drivers of linkage formation during the new product development process-but in different ways than established by the strategy literature. While it is theoretically well established-and the basis for numerous policies-that small firms are resource scarce (Lee et al 2010;Grilli and Murtinu 2018;van Burg et al 2012;Cunha et al 2014), we do not know whether and, if so, how resource scarcity shapes the exploration and exploitation linkage formation path of nascent ventures. By highlighting the crucial role of existing resources for the formation of distinct paths of linkage formation activities, we also respond to calls for more work on how scarce resources (Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven 1996) and the liability of newness (Shi and Prescott 2011) shape the linkage formation of nascent ventures.…”

Labor division and advantages and limits of participation in creation of intangible assets in industry 4.0: humans versus machines

“…M€ annasoov et al (2018) note the important contribution of human capital and expenditures for R&D for provision of convergence of general growth of efficiency factors of production. Grilli and Murtinu (2018) note that in case of limited financial resources, the preferable object of selective subsidies is human capital, as it stimulates the increase of the innovative activity and expands business's access to alliances in the sphere of R&D. Roy (2018) points out the main role of human resources in ability and implementation of cooperation of companies in the sphere of R&D. Vancauteren (2018) deems the influence of human capital on efficiency of R&D and innovative activity of a company significant (shown by the example of the patent activities of Dutch food companies). Park (2018) sees the connection between direct foreign investments, R&D and human capital and sustainable development of China.…”