A inovação é reconhecida como o processo de renovação da firma, garantindo sua sobrevivência e sucesso. Devido ao ambiente constantemente em mudança, na era digital, as empresas exigem inovação tecnológica e resposta gerencial para se manterem competitivas. Embora, combinar e recombinar todos os recursos não é uma tarefa fácil. Em um mundo ideal e utópico, uma empresa seria composta por trabalhadores com conhecimentos iguais e completos sobre todas as operações, métodos, processos e técnicas das atividades da empresa. A crescente onda de empresas que cooperaram trouxe sucesso a algumas empresas, mas não a todas. Estudos como os de Nesheim (2015), Chatterji (2014) e Mina (2014) nos mostram que o conhecimento é complicado de se gerenciar e é comum que os pesquisadores identifiquem um conhecimento obtido de origem externa preso em certas unidades. Os autores argumentam que esse fenômeno pode acontecer devido a aspectos comportamentais, mas também devido a padrões de processo ou organizacionais. Do ponto de vista intra-firma, Paruchuri (2010) argumenta que uma empresa que melhore a difusão do conhecimento internamente ira aprimorar sua atividade inovadora. Aalbers (2015), refletindo sobre a governança do compartilhamento de conhecimento dentro das organizações, sugere que o conhecimento pode ser difícil de transferir por causa da dinâmica das interações. Essas dinâmicas podem criar uma relutância em compartilhar conhecimento com pessoas de outras unidades. Vários autores, como Hansen (1999 e 2002) e Cross (2003 e 2004) argumentam que os pesquisadores, em grande parte, que se concentraram no fluxo de conhecimento dentro de uma empresa, têm focado apenas nos indivíduos, independentemente da sua posição na organização, e acabam muitas vezes ignorando os limites das unidades da empresa, como possíveis obstáculos para que o conhecimento seja transferido. Devido a esta dinâmica, centrada na inovação, é importante criar novas formas de analisar e desenvolver as atividades da empresa, visando aprimorar seu desempenho e compreender melhor os facilitadores de soluções para que se gere inovação. Portanto, surge a questão da pesquisa: Como as empresas podem gerenciar interações intra-firma para melhorar as atividades inovadoras? Assim, este trabalho tem seu núcleo nas interações intra-firma para fins de inovação. Em outras palavras, exploramos fatores-chave que podem nos permitir analisar melhor as atividades inovadoras da empresa em uma perspectiva intra-firma. O principal objetivo é apresentar os aspectos chave na coordenação intra-firma, baseada nas interações, capaz de melhorar o fluxo de conhecimento para a inovação dentro da empresa. Assim, elaboramos e realizamos um estudo qualitativo com 8 FAI (Firmas Altamente Inovadoras), 4 localizadas no Brasil e 4 localizadas na França. 11 Utilizamos as dimensões e os papéis de corretagem adaptados de Aalbers (2015), Tsang (2015) e Indarti (2010) para desenvolver um instrumento semiestruturado para as entrevistas. Analisamos as interações de um projeto de desenvolvimento de produto em cada empresa e as interações foram classificadas de acordo com: Hierarquia (Horizontal ou Vertical); Alcance (unidade ou unidade cruzada); Tipo (Formal ou Informal) e utilizamos a Intensidade (Frequência) como base para a análise. Nossos resultados demonstram três formas de coordenação intra-firma usadas pelas empresas em suas atividades relacionadas a inovação e um mecanismo específico para a gestão do fluxo de conhecimento com o uso das interações intra-firmas. A primeira forma teve a hierarquia como base para a estrutura organizacional utilizada no projeto, centralizando o controle das interações no coordenador da unidade de desenvolvimento. A segunda forma foi orientada para as interações, os indivíduos com alta posição hierárquica estavam conscientes da importância do fluxo de conhecimento para os processos inovadores. As interações foram centralizadas e depois descentralizadas, em um movimento de interações que seguia o fluxo baixo para cima e cima para baixo. A terceira forma foi chamada de Coordenação do Fluxo de Conhecimento, pois seguiu uma sequência de interações inter-unidades e intra-unidades, usando interações informais para reunir as informações e as interações inter-unidades verticais formais para divulgar a informação. Além disso, as empresas adotaram uma nova abordagem, única para suas atividades inovadoras, atribuindo uma pessoa designada para reportar as atividades aos altos gerentes em uma interação formal, mas coletando informações com o uso de ferramentas para interações informais. A dinâmica das interações teve mudanças relevantes nas empresas analisadas. O compartilhamento de conhecimento sempre deve ser promovido, mas sem destruir o foco na inovação. No entanto, se é mais proveitoso formalizar as interações para o trabalho de ideação ou tentar usar interações informais de maneira mais sutil é uma questão que cada empresa deve responder. Esperamos que o nosso estudo forneça insights importantes sobre a inovação nas empresas. A definição das tipologias de interações foi um primeiro passo e mostrar a coordenação intra-firma, em um desenvolvimento de inovação, pode ajudar as empresas a entender o poder que as interações têm para gerenciar os processos de compartilhamento de conhecimento. / Innovation is recognized as the process of renovation of the company, ensuring its survival and success. Although, to combine and recombine all these aspects is not an easy task. In an ideal and utopic world, a firm would be composed by workers with equal and complete knowledge about all the operations, methods, processes and techniques enrolled in the firm’s activities. To the intra-firm perspective, Paruchuri (2010) argues that a firm that can improve the diffusion of knowledge internally will enhance its innovative activity. Aalbers (2015), reflecting on the governance of knowledge sharing inside organizations, suggests that knowledge may be difficult to transfer because of the boundaries dynamics. Due to this dynamic, innovation centered, it is important to create new ways of analyzing and developing the firm’s activities, aiming to enhance its performance and to better understand solution enablers for the new challenges to come. Therefore, the research question emerges: How can firms manage intra-firm interactions to enhance the innovative activities? To answer this question, we designed and performed a qualitative study with 8 HIFs (Highly Innovative Firms), 4 located in Brazil and 4 located in France. We used the dimensions of interactions and brokerage roles adapted from Aalbers (2015), Tsang (2015) and Indarti (2010) to develop a semi-structured instrument for the interviews. We analyzed the interactions during a project of product development in each firm, and the interactions were classified according to: Hierarchy (Horizontal or Vertical); Reach (Unit or Cross-unit); Type (Formal or Informal) and we used Intensity (Frequency) as the base for the analysis. Our results of the firms’ intra-firm coordination for innovative processes showed us three different forms of intra-firm coordination and one specific mechanism for the intra-firm coordination. We hope that this thesis can provide insights to the innovation studies, defining the interactions was a first step and showcasing the intra-firm coordination, at a product development, might help the firms to understand the power that the interactions have to manage the knowledge sharing processes.

Cette thèse étudie différents aspects de la dynamique des firmes, à la fois de manière théoriqueet empirique. Tous les chapitres utilisent largement différentes bases de données microéconomiquespour tester les prédictions théoriques. Le premier chapitre s’intéresse au premiumde l’innovation, c’est à dire la réaction du salaire des employés d’une entreprise qui augmenteson intensité de R&D et qui devient ainsi plus proche de la frontière technologique. L’évaluationde cette réponse se fait en utilisant une base de donnée sur le salaire de 1% de des travailleursbasés au Royaume-Uni. Le second chapitre s’intéresse à la réponse de l’innovation et de laproductivité des firmes à un choc de demande à l’export, considérant les entreprises françaisesayant au moins un brevet, et utilisant pour cela des bases de données à la fois d’origine fiscaleou provenant des douanes. Enfin le troisième chapitre étudie le rôle des coûts d’ajustementdes facteurs de production, et en particulier de l’immobilier des entreprises, sur la dynamiquede l’emploi des entreprises à la suite d’un choc de productivité. Ce chapitre utilise un largeéchantillon d’entreprise mono établissement française.Pris tous les trois, ces chapitres étudient différentes dimensions de la réponse des firmes à unchoc de demande ou de productivité, que ce soit une réponse en termes d’emploi, de salaire,d’innovation ou de taille. / This thesis studies different aspects of firm dynamics both theoretically and empirically. All chapters extensively rely to large microeconomic dataset that are used to test theoretical predictions.First chapter looks at the innovation premium, that is the response to workers’ wage when their firm increases its R&D intensity and therefore becomes closer to the technological frontier. This response is evaluated using matched employers-employees data with information on the wage of 1% of all UK based workers. Second chapter focuses on the response to an export demand shock to a firm’s innovation and productivity looking at all French firms with at least one patent and using both fiscal and customs micro data. Finally, the third chapter considers the role of factor adjustment costs, especially on corporate real-estate, on firms employment dynamism following a productivity shock. This chapter uses a large sample of single-establishment French firms. Taken together, these three chapters explore different dimension of the response to firms to a demand and/or a productivity shock, either in terms of employment and wage, or in terms of innovation and size.

My thesis contributes to the firms and trade literature, both theoretically and empirically, focusing on the export participation strategy by firms in one particular market, introducing products sequentially. I illustrate differences in export dynamics between firms according to their experience in that destination, and move further in my analysis by exploring how fast that experimentation is. I am particularly interested in the influence of trade liberalisation, as well as differences between products in terms of production effciency. Chapters 3 and 4 present a two-period analysis on firms' sequential exporting strategy to a single destination. Chapter 3 shows theoretically, inspired by Albornoz et al. (2012), that new exporters in a market tend to grow faster in that destination than expert exporters, both at the intensive and extensive margin, across products; but those newcomers are also more prone to exit that business, while trade liberalisation, as well as the focus on \core competence" products, helps new exporters to remain in the market and continue experimenting. With a rich dataset of Peruvian export transactions to the USA market, Chapter 4 backs most predictions from the theory empirically. In Chapter 5, I go deeper into the sequential exporting strategy with a theoretical framework, based on Nguyen (2012), to explain how quickly exporters in one market move from one product to another. I find, supported by empirical evidence, that trade liberalisation accelerates firms' experimentation in that destination.

This thesis examines the impact of CEO compensation, analysts' characteristics, earnings management and country governability on the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts. In summary, the thesis includes the following chapters: Firstly, Chapter 2 examines the interplay between CEO compensation and analysts' forecast errors over different forecasting horizons. A unique analyst-level sample for U.S. firms covering the period between 1992 and 2015 has been employed. Evidence obtained from this analysis suggests that CEO compensation, measured by various forms such as restricted stock holdings and stock ownership would correct for optimism in analysts' earnings forecasts, whereas CEO bonus and sensitivity to changes in firm's value would exacerbate analysts' optimism. Results also show that CEO compensation would augment the effect of earnings management on analysts' forecasts with CEO bonus being of importance. The findings of this chapter also indicate that analysts' characteristics and regulation can affect earnings forecasts. Next, Chapter 3 investigates the effect of governance on analysts' earnings forecasts. By employing a comprehensive dataset of 911 U.S. firms for the period 2000 – 2014, this chapter demonstrates a strong positive association between the government effectiveness and analysts' earnings forecasts. We extend this analysis employing corporate governance variables such as CEO equity incentives and CEO power, whilst a possible cross-term association between governability and the former has also been examined. This chapter explores further the effects of earnings management on analysts' forecasts accuracy documenting a negative impact of the former on the latter. Lastly, underlying causality strands and endogeneity issues are addressed opting for a flexible panel VAR model. Finally, Chapter 4 presents evidence of the effects of corruption on the accuracy of analysts' forecasts. Using a global sample, this chapter reveals that analysts face greater difficulty in forecasting earnings in advanced and emerging countries due to the detrimental effect of corruption. Interestingly, findings suggest that for firms located in developing countries, corruption enhances analysts' accuracy. This chapter also shows that the effect of earnings manipulation on the accuracy of forecasts is aggravated in the presence of corruption, whilst greater country freedom would enhance analysts' accuracy when corruption is present.

The thesis summarizes current state of art for the most recent research capabilities of innovation activities analysis. Its main goal is to assess the factors influencing pace and volume of technological innovativeness throughout the European industry and services sectors considering time span 2002-2008 using country-level Community Innovation Surveys and R&D data. It also attempts to evaluate trends in innovation policy instruments targeted to close the gap between Europe and world innovation leaders such as USA. Complex literature overview, basic empirical and extended instruments' analyses lead to recommendations of optimal governments' policy approaches towards different groups of countries divided by level of innovative performance.

This research examines the relationship between places and firms and how this contributes to competitive advantage. This is a vitally important topic at present, as businesses are adjusting to the dislocations of Brexit, trade wars, nationalism and other reactions to globalisation. Firms need a place strategy more than ever. How should resources be located in relation to markets, suppliers, skilled workers, laws, incentives, infrastructure, quality of life and the myriad other factors affecting business? Global connectivity presents so many options but also so many threats. Despite its importance, this is a subject that is relatively poorly served by existing literature and theory. A review of strategic management work relating to competitive advantage, including reflections on Chandler, Ansoff, Porter, Barney, Mintzberg, and many other authors, reveals an emphasis on management and organisation but a virtual blindness to the role of place. A review of economic geography literature related to competitive advantage, including consideration of work from Marshall to Maskell, Storper, Sassen, Glaeser, Florida and many others, shows an emphasis on place but a relative neglect, with only a few significant exceptions, for the view from the firm and the role of individuality in organisation and management. The two disciplines show a striking complementarity in their omissions. This interdisciplinary study draws on the wide range of existing material to build a new and comprehensive model of the place-firm relationship (the PFR) that brings convergence to the thinking around competitive advantage. This model is then tested and adjusted through empirical research leading to recommendations for firm strategy, government policy, academic theory and future research. The empirical study is based on the most important business sector in the UK in terms of size, growth and impact, namely financial services, and is set in the top two centres of activity in the UK for this sector outside London, namely Edinburgh and Glasgow. At the heart of the work is a series of 29 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with senior executives in these cities investigating how firms see the contribution of place to their competitive advantage, a necessarily qualitative methodology to unravel the complexity and contradictions inherent in the existing theory. The interviews have been transcribed and coded and analysis of the feedback has been used to both refine the new model and to derive insights about how it works in practice. The results of the application of the model show that the PFR is highly complex but also that it can be rigorously assessed and the key factors contributing to competitive advantage can be identified and prioritised. These factors can be grouped under the main themes of the ease of doing business, talent, quality of life, local networks and legacy. It is clear that every business enjoys a unique PFR but that the individual organisational profiles can be aggregated in line with the main themes to show agglomeration and cluster effects around places, industry sectors, types of business and other groupings. In the case of the financial services businesses tested here, the availability of talent stands out as the most important contribution to competitive advantage firms receive from places, but this is closely linked to other factors in a web of connections. Also evident is the pragmatic co-existence of competition and collaboration in firm strategies and practice and the emergence of different but overlapping cluster types, particularly one underpinned by legacy in Edinburgh and the other underpinned by government intervention in Glasgow. This research gives business managers a tool and methodology with which to assess and compare how place contributes to their competitive advantage. It thus gives an added vital dimension to most strategic decisions and particularly to considerations about relocation, expansion, off-shoring, and geographical dispersal and diversification. The agility necessary for businesses to respond to the current turbulent political and economic environment must extend to managing place and place-firm relationships in the more systematic way proposed in this work in order to maintain and extend competitive advantage. This model can also help development agencies and national and local government to interpret the competitive advantages of places as seen by firms and to make comparisons with other places. It can give an informed basis for discussion with businesses and point to where improvements can be made in line with the place objectives and overall development plans. The new model gives a common framework for different parties to reconcile their objectives to mutual benefit. Last but not least, the research presents academics with possibilities for more interdisciplinary work to address gaps in theory about one of the most pressing issues of the day. The model opens the door to new research opportunities to test its applicability in different combinations of places, businesses and industry sectors, for different types of agglomeration and cluster formation. This is an opportunity for the academic research community to furnish the objective, sound and informed view necessary to support potentially controversial decision making in these uncertain times.

abstract: 中国律师制度自“文化大革命”结束后恢复至今，已有近四十年。中国律师行业伴随着中国改革开放的进程，得到了飞速的发展，当然，同时也面临着诸多的问题。重要的问题之一便是，中国律师事务所采用“加盟制合伙人”模式和采用“权益制合伙人”模式之争。本文试图从回顾企业边界的三大理论出发，提出“加盟制合伙人”模式和 “权益制合伙人”模式与合伙人律师的业务专业化程度、业务复杂化程度以及大客户和律师事务所规模关系的四个假设，通过实证分析的方式，试图以企业边界三大理论解释前述四个假设中的关系，并以此期望对律师行业的发展有所启发。 / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2019

Consumers are spending more time online and their involvement in social media is also growing. Furthermore, consumers truly trust the information they find online. Therefore, I expect that positive social media mentions of a given brand will influence a consumer’s awareness, attitudes, affection, etc. towards that brand. The brand value chain model suggests that such a change in consumer mindset should translate into improved marketplace performance and, ultimately, better firm financial performance. Previous researchers have studied the relationship between online user generated content and firm performance. They find that various metrics, (e.g. user ratings, comment volume or valence) impact firm performance. However, the extant research focuses on a single online platform (e.g., CNET), type of online posting (e.g., blog posts), or industry. In this study, I focus on social media sentiment expressed across multiple platforms for 180 monobrand firms spanning 10+ industries. I use total comments, total positive comments, total negative comments, proportion of positive comments, and proportion of negative comments as my social media variables. First, I use the portfolio sort method to determine if firms with higher social media comment volume or higher positive (negative) comments generate higher (lower) abnormal returns, as determined by the Fama French 4 factor model. Using monthly and daily returns data over a period of more than 2 years, I find no significance differences between the returns earned by the top and bottom 20% of the firms as ranked by various social media metrics. Contrary to prior research, this result suggests that social media sentiment is already fully priced into stock returns. I then examine the possible relationship between social media metrics and firm financial performance by analyzing whether social media sentiment improves forecasts of a firm’s quarterly cash flow. I modify the Lorek & Willinger (1996) multivariate time-series regression model to include social media comment volume and sentiment information to predict future cash flow. Using the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) a guide to forecast accuracy I find that utilizing social media information does not provide any improvement in the prediction of future quarterly cash flow forecast. I further analyze the relationship between social media comment volume & sentiment metrics, and firm quarterly cash flow by utilizing a cross sectional regression model. I find no significant effect of social media comment volume and sentiment information on the ability to predict future firm quarterly cash flow. Panel data estimation of both the cash flow model also does not find any significant effect of the social media metrics on quarterly cash flows.

Utilizing the random effects model and Faccio (2010)’s methodology for classifying political connections, I find that politically connected Southeast Asian firms tend to have higher taxes and accounting performance than non-politically connected firms. The type of connection matters, with state-ownership producing the strongest benefits for market share. Contingent country-level variables, such as the economy, corruption, and the legal environment, also influence the value of corporate political ties. I find that Faccio (2010)’s results are likely more economically important than mine, even when controlling for the panel data effect.

With the decreasing labor forces throughout the United States, if leadership of the ship repair industry does not incorporate knowledge sharing and innovation into their daily business practices, knowledge will be lost during employee departures and turnover of teams from project-to-project, resulting in decreasing firm performance within their organizations. This was a correlation study to determine if there was a correlation between knowledge management, innovation, and firm performance. Data were collected from 69 CEO/Presidents, Human Resource personnel, or members in leadership positions of the Virginia Ship Repair Association in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The theoretical framework for this study was the unified model of dynamic knowledge creation with the key constructs of the socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization process; places of knowledge sharing, whether they are virtual, physical, or mental; and leadership. Data collection occurred through an online survey. Multiple linear regression analyses significantly predicted the dependent variable, F(2, 66) = 17.33, p = .000, R2 = .344. Increasing knowledge sharing and innovation practices provides for positive social change for the personnel of these organizations, since the skills they learn within their organizations are immediately usable in their personal endeavors in their churches, neighborhoods, and family relationships and are transferrable to those they interact with outside of their organizations.