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Knowledge is a necessary and critically important factor in generating growth and increased prosperity. The extent to which such effects are materialized depends however on its diffusion and how it transcends into innovation, entrepreneurship and growing firms. This doctoral thesis consists of four papers that examine how labor mobility and innovation strategies influence the performance at the firm level with respect to new ventures, firm level growth and innovativeness.   The first paper provides empirical support of the validity of the knowledge-based spillover theory of entrepreneurship by employing a detailed database. The results indicate that both inter-regional labor inflows and intra-regional labor mobility exert a strong positive effect on entrepreneurship, while inter-regional outflows negatively affect entrepreneurial entry.   The second paper examines the influence of the labor mobility of knowledge workers on innovation at the firm level. New evidence are provided that reveals a positive and significant impact of labor mobility on firms’ innovations measured as patent applications.   In the third paper the influence of labor mobility between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and other firms on innovation is investigated. Looking at firms having different owner structures, empirical evidence are provided that particularly domestically owned MNEs generate strong knowledge spillovers to non-MNEs that translates into innovations.   The fourth paper examines the relationship between innovation and firm growth. We implement a classification of innovations based on whether they are explorative or exploitative. The more radical explorative innovations are shown to have a persistent growth effect in the long term, while exploitative innovation increases the labor demand predominantly in the short term. / <p>QC 20160401</p>

Based on panel data collected from 41 countries over the period 2007-2017, this paper analysis how population ageing affects technological innovation through three aspects from the perspective of human capital: the loss of knowledge and talents; reverse force and knowledge spillover. In this paper, the technological innovation index (TII) is calculated by using the factor analysis method. Further with this, a fixed-effects regression model is applied to discover that population exerts a significant positive effect on technological innovation through reverse force, while exerts negative effects on technological innovation through the loss of knowledge and talents and knowledge spillover.

This thesis consists of three papers that examine Marshallian sources of growthand interdependent location of Swedish firms and households. Paper [I] examines the impact of static and dynamic knowledge externalitiesand their impact on Swedish market operating firms growth pattern between1997 and 2005. The three types of externalities are: (i) Marshall-Arrow-Romer(MAR), (ii) Jacobs, and (iii) Porter. My empirical findings for the 40 industriescan briefly be summarized in the following points: (i) static MAR, Jacobsand/or Porter externalities are present in all but nine industries; (ii) except for five cases all industries are exposed to one or more of the MAR, Jacobs and/orPorter type of dynamic externalities; (iii) contrary to previous studies but inline with theoretical predictions, we do find positive and significant effects forstatic as well as dynamic Jacobs externalities. Paper [II] focuses on the presence of agglomeration economies in the form of labor pooling and educational matching and their impact on economic growth in Swedish manufacturing and service industries from 1997 to 2005. To accomplish this I employ a translog production function that enables me to decompose the total agglomeration elasticities into returns that accrue to: direct agglomeration effects, an indirect effect of agglomeration at given input levels, a cross agglomeration effect of matching on labor pooling and vice versa. Household services is the single industry where both the labor pooling and matching hypothesis is supported by our data. Publishing is the sole instance of betterinput usage due to matching consistent with the theoretical claim. Paper [III] studies the interdependent location choices of households and firms expressed as population and employment in Swedish municipalities. Using a model of the Carlino-Mills type to investigate the impact of various location attributes such as differences in public revenue and spending patterns, accessibility to jobs and potential workforce, quality of the labor pool, concentration ofcommercial, private and public services. The findings suggest that fiscal factors significantly alters the impact of housing and accessibility attributes compared to exiting studies on Swedish data. Another finding, in line with previous studies, indicate that there is a significant degree of inertia in household and firm location choices.

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Inom revisionsbranschen upptar tilläggstjänster en betydande del av tjänsteutbudet. Utöver revision erbjuder revisionsbyråerna även tjänster inom redovisning, skatt och rådgivning. Forskning visar att när tilläggstjänster och revision säljs till samma kund så uppstår en synergieffekt som inom forskningsvärlden benämns kunskapsöverföring. Denna synergieffekt har enligt forskarna en positiv inverkan på revisionen vilket i sin tur kan leda till en effektivare revision. Mot denna bakgrund har denna studie som mål att ta reda på vad som konkret bidrar till att kunskapsöverföring kan uppstå inom en revisionsbyrå.Ett delsyfte är att studien ska fungera som en kartläggning av vad kunskapsöverföring kan innebära för revisorers dagliga arbetsuppgifter i praktiken. Eftersom effekten kunskapsöverföring uppstår mellan olika tjänsteområden och avdelningar har studien även som delsyfte att undersöka vilken betydelse kommunikation har för effektens uppkomst.På grund av studiens explorativa karaktär och vår frågeställning valde vi att genomföra dubbla metoder vilket innebar både intervjuer och enkäter. För att utöka vår förståelse och skapa underlag för enkäten genomförde vi sex intervjuer med fem auktoriserade/godkända revisorer och en konsult. Dessa respondenter representerar fem olika revisionsbyråer, varav fyra var big-4 byråer. Efter intervjuerna genomfördes även en enkätundersökning baserad på intervjuernas resultat som vände sig till alla auktoriserade/godkända revisorer i Sverige.Den teoretiska referensramen utgår från den tidigare arkivforskning som gett indikationer på kunskapsöverföringens existens inom revisionsbranschen. Utöver detta behandlas även forskning kring revisorns oberoende samt revisionskvalitet. För att anknyta till studiens delsyfte kring kommunikation presenteras även teorier kring överföring av kunskap.Resultaten från intervjuerna och enkäten presenteras i empirin tillsammans inom gemensamma teman utifrån vilka bidragande effekter vi har hittat. Dessa teman är förberedande arbete och förvarningar, användande av andras arbete, kommunikation, informationsvärdering samt påverkan på revisionsprocess. Empirikapitlet avslutas med två egna förklaringsmodeller för fenomenet kunskapsöverföring.Studien visar att revisorerna i stor utsträckning anser att kunskapsöverföring existerar. Revisorer kan effektivisera revisionsprocessen genom användande av det arbete som andra konsulter gjort under året samt få förvarningar som bättre förbereder dem inför revisionen. Kommunikation är nödvändig för att dessa faktorer ska kunna uppstå och revisorerna värderar information från konsulter individuellt sett. De förklaringsmodeller vi konstruerade kan till 38 % respektive 55 % förklara vad som bidrar till att kunskapsöverföring uppstår mellan tilläggstjänster och revision. / Within the audit industry, non-audit services constitute a significant part of the services that is offered. In addition to auditing, the audit firms also offer services within accounting, tax and advisory. Research has shown that a synergy effect known as knowledge spillover occurs when audit and non-audit services are sold to the same customer. According to the researchers, this synergy effect has a positive influence on the audit service which in turn could lead to a more efficient audit process. With this in mind, this study aims to find out which factors that contributes to the occurrence of knowledge spillover within an audit firm.A subsidiary aim is that the study shall work as an investigation of what knowledge spillover can mean for the daily work tasks of auditors. Since the knowledge spillover effect occurs between different service areas and departments, the study also aims to discover how communication can affect the emergence of the effect.Because of our research question and the explorative character of the study, we choose to perform mixed methods i.e. both interviews and surveys. With the purpose of expanding our understanding and create a basis for our survey, six interviews were performed with five APCs and one advisory consultant. These respondents represented five different audit firms, of which four were big-4. After this, a survey based on the results of the interviews was distributed to all APCs in Sweden.The theoretical framework sets out from earlier archival research that has indicated that knowledge spillover exists within the audit industry. Apart from this, research within the area of auditor independence and audit quality will also be presented. To link with the study’s subsidiary aim regarding communication, theories within the area of knowledge transfer will also be discussed.The empirical findings from the interviews and the survey are presented together in themes based on the contributing effects we’ve found. These themes are preparatory work and warnings, using the work of others, communication, information, evaluation and impact on the audit process. The chapter is then ended with two of our own explanatory models for the phenomenon of knowledge spillover.The results show that auditors to a great extent find that knowledge spillover exists. Accountants can streamline the audit process by using the work of other consultants performed during the year and also by getting early warnings that better prepare them for the audit. Communication is necessary for these factors to occur and auditors’ values information they receive from consultants individually. The explanatory models constructed can explain what factors that contributes to knowledge spillover between audit and non-audit services to 38 % respectively 55 %

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Entrepreneurship is increasingly recognised as an important component of the contemporary knowledge based economy and crucial to the attainment of economic growth and development. However, entrepreneurial activity varies significantly across space within countries. This thesis makes an original contribution by examining the determinants of spatial variations in entrepreneurship across sub-regions of Great Britain from 2008-2010. Through utilising newly available data on firm births and applying exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial econometric techniques, two prominent theories of entrepreneurship are examined. First, the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship posits that underutilised knowledge by incumbent firms creates entrepreneurial opportunities. The appropriation of these opportunities through entrepreneurial activity, in the form of a new firm, leads to dynamic knowledge spillovers, which generate economic growth. The empirical analysis presented in this thesis concludes that more knowledge intensive regions exhibit significantly higher firm birth rates; however the composition of the regional knowledge stock is critical, as a diverse knowledge stock generates more entrepreneurial opportunities. Second, several theories emphasise the importance of idiosyncratic knowledge and human capital, in the form of entrepreneurial ability, on the discovery and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities. The results of this thesis suggest that human capital is vital to the entrepreneurial process, and that university education is a greater source of entrepreneurial ability than labour market experience. Furthermore, the results also suggest that the regulatory burden of the public sector, financial constraints, regional unemployment, and the absence of a local entrepreneurial culture can significantly detract from regional entrepreneurial activity. In light of these results, there are several implications for policy which include: emphasising the importance of effective policy towards intellectual property rights, targeting entrepreneurial education initiatives towards university students and graduates, and reducing unnecessary public sector regulation that can act as a ‘barrier’ to entrepreneurship.

Denna studie ger en insikt i Stockholms stads IT-kluster. Genom kvantitativ metod undersöktes hur området uppfyllde de tre krafterna inom agglomerationsekonomier, samt åsikter kring krafternas betydelser. Studien ämnade att särskilja IT-kluster från andra typer av kluster genom dessa krafter. Urvalet bestod av 98 respondenter som tillhörde IT-bolag inom Stockholms stad. “Knowledge Spillovers” och “Labour Market Pooling” uppfylldes väl. “Customer-Supplier Interactions” uppfylldes i mindre utsträckning, då det endast var tillgång till leverantörer som Stockholms stad uppfyllde. Resultaten visade på skillnader kring betydelsen av geografisk närhet till kunder mellan respondenter från mjukvaruproducerande och konsulterande företag, där den förstnämnda gruppen värdesatte detta lägre än den sistnämnda. Detta resultat var i enlighet med tidigare forskning. Ytterligare resultat som var i enlighet med tidigare kunskapsbidrag var betydelsen av “Labour Market Pooling”. / This study provides insight into the IT cluster of Stockholm city. It quantitatively examined how the area fulfilled the three forces within agglomeration economies, as well as opinions regarding the significance of these forces. The study attempted to differentiate IT-clusters from other types of clusters via these forces of agglomeration. The results were gathered from 98 respondents, who were employees of IT companies in Stockholm city. “Knowledge Spillovers” and “Labour Market Pooling” were well fulfilled. “Customer-Supplier Interactions” was less fulfilled, as only the need for access to suppliers was supported by Stockholm city. The results found significant differences regarding the importance of geographical proximity to customers between respondents from software and consulting firms. The former group valued this aspect lower than the latter. This finding was in accordance with previous research. Another result that was consistent with prior research was the importance of “Labour Market Pooling”.

This thesis examines the factors affecting audit and non-audit fees and the effects of the joint provision of audit and non-audit services on auditing. The first essay focuses on environmental factors. Using data for Swedish listed companies over a six year span, including pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis periods, the essay investigates whether changing economic conditions affect the level of fees paid for audit and non-audit services. The finding suggests that auditors increase their risk premium for auditing during a financial crisis andtend to charge higher audit fees as a response to lower risk levels in the post-crisis period. On the other hand, a significant reduction in non-audit fees suggests that companies are less willing to invest in consulting services during thecrisis and post-crisis periods. The second essay also studies the effects of environmental factors on audit pricing. Using data for financial institutions in 24 European countries, the study examines whether the level of effort spent on the evaluation of fair values is higher for more uncertain fair values.The result suggests that an increasing level of complexity and risk requires greater audit effort. Furthermore, the results showthat the strength of a country’s institutional setting is positively associated with the effort spent on the evaluation of high uncertainty fair value estimates. The finding implies that auditors spend more effort in stronger regulated countries, possibly due to higher potential litigation costs. The third essay focuses on the factors related to an individual audit partner. Based on the data of publicly listed Swedish companies, it investigates whether partner special competencies are reflected in the prices charged for auditing. The findings show that partner industry expertise and client-specific expertise are associated with higher audit fees. A further finding isthat female partners are considerably under-represented among specialists. However,the under-representation of females among higher qualified partners does not seem to negatively affect their possibilities to earn higher fees. The fourth essay investigates how the joint provision of audit and non-audit services affects perceived knowledge spillover and audit efficiency. The essay makesuse of survey data from a large sample of Swedish auditors and finds that the levels of communication and trust are positively associated with knowledge spillover. The result further suggests that the information gained from the provision of non-audit services can reduce auditors’ effort (time) spent on different audit procedures, thereby increasing audit efficiency.