Technology and Costs in International Competitiveness: From Countries and Sectors to Firms

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of international competitiveness at the level of sectors and firms. First, we address the relation between cost-related and technological competition in a sample of fifteen OECD countries. Results suggest that the countries' sectoral market shares are indeed mainly shaped by technological factors (proxied by investment intensity and patents) while cost advantages/disadvantages do not seem to play any significant role. Next, we attempt to identify the underlying dynamics at the firm level. We do that for a single country, Italy, using a large panel of Italian firms, over nearly two decades. Results show that also at micro level in most sectors investments and patents correlate positively both with the probability of being an exporter and with the capacity to acquire and to increase export market shares. The evidence on costs is more mixed. A simple measure like total labour compensation is positively correlated with the probability of being an exporter, while unit labour costs show a negative correlation only in some manufacturing sectors.

Small, young, and exporters: New evidence on the determinants of firm growth

“…Quite surprisingly, we do find that "bornglobal" firms are able to perform at least as well, and in many cases better than, more experienced firms in terms of exports and quantity sold on foreign markets. Although, we cannot further interpret such result here, this finding is for instance consistent with the evidence of Huergo and Jaumandreu (2004b,a), who show that young firms have a higher propensity to innovate; the higher innovativeness of young firms might in turn impact on their competitiveness (Dosi et al, 2015a). Since the analysis presented above about the levels of exports does not allow to control for unobservable characteristics that might be specific to the firm (or to the firm-product varieties), we expand our analysis to correct for such potential source of bias.…”

What do firms know? What do they produce? A new look at the relationship between patenting profiles and patterns of product diversification

“…After this final link, we are able to maintain information for around 90% of patent applications (with respect to the ASIA-AMADEUS dataset) and 70% of firms. Such a great proportion of patenting firms that are present both in ASIA and in COE dataset is explained by the general high export propensity of patenting firms (see Dosi et al, 2014). Finally, notice that as COE reports information on exported goods, patenting firms that are active in non manufacturing sectors are less likely to be present in COE: in our case, around 70% of non matched firms are active in non manufacturing firms.…”

“…Knowledge accumulation and innovation, the evidence shows, are indeed positively related to productivity and contribute to boost sales, both on domestic and international markets (for empirical evidence see, among others, Hall and Mairesse, 1995;Wakelin, 1998;Dosi et al, 2014). Product innovation is one of the main forms of such innovative efforts: introducing a new good is likely to benefit the innovating firm in terms of market shares and penetration in new markets.…”

Competitividade e gap tecnológico – uma análise comparativa entre Brasil e países europeus selecionados

“…Nesse sentido, muitos autores têm argumentado que a tecnologia é um dos elementos cruciais para compreender a origem dos diferenciais competitivos entre os países. Segundo Dosi et al (2014), economias capazes de produzir inovações de produto e processo estão mais aptas para ganhar ou manter posições competitivas no comércio internacional. Para os autores, estas duas formas de inovação afetam a competitividade da firma de diferentes formas.…”