Att mäta hur effektivt aktiviteter och processer utförs för att lokalisera förbättringspunkter är både svårt och komplext på en utvecklingsavdelning. Förbättringsmöjligheterna står i relation till hur väl de anställda är benägna att förmedla upplevelser av processerna, vad som kunde gjorts annorlunda för att korta ned delprocesserna inom avdelningen men likväl tvärfunktionellt. Utförandet av examensarbetet har varit förankrat på Scania Tekniskt Centrums avdelning för transmissionsutveckling. Fokus har legat på att, genom kartläggning av provprocessen och dess aktiviteter utföra en fallstudie mellan tidigare utförd dokumentation och pågående ärende för att se om liknande problematik upprepas och på så vis pekar på att inga förbättringsåtgärder implementerats sedan föregående version växellådor. Genom att analysera orsaker som ligger till grund för att provobjekt inte utnyttjas effektivt, utvärderades om ett gemensamt arbetssätt saknades och om implementering avstandardiserade arbetssätt skulle kunna medföra minskade ledtider samt säkra att informationsflöden inte faller bort. En nulägeskartläggning utfördes genom intervjuer och observationer för att under bearbetning sedan analyseras och belysa hur tillvägagångssätt ilika aktiviteter mellan grupper skiljer sig. Resultatet av fallstudien blev grunden till att ett ramverk för hur definitioner i förhållande till provobjektets värdeskapande-, icke värdeskapande men nödvändiga- och icke värdeskapande aktiviteter skapades. Detta för att möjliggöra framtida mätbarhet av provobjektens effektiva utnyttjande då definitionen tidigare inte varit klar. Definitionerna står i relation till teorin om slöseri men är anpassad till provobjekten i samråd med Scaniaanställda. Av studien kunde författarna med hjälp av hängiven personal peka påbrister i och emellan provprocessens aktiviteter. / Measuring how efficiently activities and processes are performed to identify improvement pointsis both difficult and complex for a research and development department. The possibilities of improvement are related to how well the employees are inclined to convey experiences of the processes, what could have been done differently to shorten the sub-processes within the department but also cross-functional. The execution of the thesis project has been based at Scania Technical Center’s department for transmission development. The focus has been on, by mapping the test process and its activities, carrying out a case study between previously performed documentation and an ongoing case to see if similar problems are repeated and thus pointing out that no improvement have been implemented since the previous version of gearboxes. By analyzing causes that determine test objects not being used effectively, the authors evaluated whether a common work method was lacking and whether implementing standardized working methods could lead to reduced lead times and ensure that information would not disappear in the process. A current situation survey was carried out through interviews and observations in order to analyze and clarify during the processing how approaches in equal activities between groups differ. The result of the case study formed a framework to define the relations to the test objects value added-, non-value-added but necessary- and non-value-added activities. This is to enable future measurability of the test objects effective utilization when the definition has not previously been completed. The definitions are in relation to the theory of waste but are adapted to the test objects in consultation with Scania employees. From the study, the authors could, with the help of dedicated staff, point out deficiencies in and between the test process activities.

This research study elaborates on one of the most important features of the modern International Business (IB) area; the multinational R&D subsidiary. Taking into consideration the strategic importance and the particular role the R&D subsidiary plays, this study sheds light on the multiple forms of knowledge networks in which the R&D subsidiary is embedded. Accordingly, based on the two already known dichotomies of subsidiary knowledge networks (external home vs. external host and external host vs. internal) this thesis draws on the existing theory and empirical evidence and proposes a triangular view (i.e. external home, external host and internal) between the R&D subsidiary and its embeddedness within the surrounding knowledge networks. Accordingly, based on three major theories of the management in the IB area, Social Network Theory (SNT), Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) and Agency Theory (AT), this study provides answers on a number of under researched questions. First, what are the determinants of each type of R&D subsidiary embeddedness in each of the three available knowledge networks? Second, considering the relative costs influencing R&D subsidiaries to rely more or less on one form of embeddedness compared to another, what sort of relationship exists (i.e. complementary or substitutive) between the aforementioned forms of R&D subsidiary embeddedness? Finally, considering the contextual- and HQ-specific factors that impact the overall functioning of the R&D subsidiary, what sort of effect do the multiple forms of R&D subsidiary embeddedness have on the latter’s innovative performance? This study adopts a quantitative approach and employs appropriate econometric methods in order to provide answers to the aforementioned research questions. Furthermore, data from three different sources are amalgamated. First, a unique survey questionnaire is utilised. This instrument was originally developed in the University of Reading and corresponds to both subsidiaries and the HQ. The sample covers Fortune 500 Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). Second, and in order to augment the information derived from the survey, supplementary information on patent characteristics is sourced from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database. Third, a range of aggregate-level (secondary) data enriches the existing dataset. The findings reveal that each form of R&D subsidiary embeddedness is determined by a set of different predictors. Precisely, it is found that host location’s macroeconomic uncertainty positively influences subsidiary’s embeddedness in the home location’s knowledge network. Being an R&D subsidiary and having an adaptation and support-oriented profile, as well as being highly centralised to the HQ, negatively influences the R&D subsidiary’s embeddedness in the host location’s knowledge network. On the other hand, having a more research intensive and internationally integrated R&D role positively influences the R&D subsidiary’s embeddedness in the internal knowledge network of the MNE. The findings also indicate that a complementary relationship exists between external home and external host, as well as among external host and internal knowledge networks. On the contrary, a substitutive relationship is indicated between external home and internal networks under which the R&D subsidiary is embedded. Finally, as regards the last research question the results indicate that only internal embeddedness has a positive and significant impact on innovative performance, while scientific and research endowment of the host locations is also found to positively influence the innovative output of the R&D subsidiary. Implications for academics and practitioners (both managers and policy makers) are widely discussed and suggest that the three-dimensional view of embeddedness is useful in understanding and explaining the way MNEs’ foreign R&D subsidiaries operate.

The research performed throughout this dissertation aims at implementing quantitative methods in order to assess economic and technological performances of firms, i.e. it tries to assess the impacts of the determinants of technological activity on the results of this activity. For this purpose, a representative sample of the most important R&D firms in the world is constituted. The micro-economic nature of the analysis, as well as its international dimension are two main features of this research at the empirical level. The second chapter illustrates the importance of R&D investments, patenting activities and other measures of technological activities performed by firms over the last 10 years. The third chapter describes the main features as well as the construction of the database. The raw data sample consists of comparable detailed micro-level data on 2676 large manufacturing firms from several countries. These firms have reported important R&D expenditures over the period 1980-1994. The fourth chapter explores the dynamic structure of the patent-R&D relationship by considering the number of patent applications as a function of present and lagged levels of R&D expenditures. R&D spillovers as well as technological and geographical opportunities are taken into account as additional determinants in order to explain patenting behaviours. The estimates are based on recently developed econometric techniques that deal with the discrete non-negative nature of the dependent patent variable as well as the simultaneity that can arise between the R&D decisions and patenting. The results show evidence of a rather contemporaneous impact of R&D activities on patenting. As far as R&D spillovers are concerned, these externalities have a significantly higher impact on patenting than own R&D. Furthermore, these effects appear to take more time, three years on average, to show up in patents. The fifth chapter explores the contribution of own stock of R&D capital to productivity performance of firms. To this end the usual productivity residual methodology is implemented. The empirical section presents a first set of results which replicate the analysis of previous studies and tries to assess the robustness of the findings with regard to the above issues. Then, further results, based on different sub samples of the data set, investigate to what extent the R&D contribution on productivity differs across firms of different industries and geographic areas or between small and large firms and low and high-tech firms. The last section explores more carefully the simultaneity issue. On the whole, the estimates indicate that R&D has a positive impact on productivity performances. Yet, this contribution is far from being homogeneous across the different dimensions of data or according to the various assumptions retained in the productivity model. The last empirical chapter goes deeper into the analysis of firms' productivity increases, by considering besides own R&D activities the impact of technological spillovers. The chapter begins by surveying the alternative ways proposed in the literature in order to asses the effect of R&D spillovers on productivity. The main findings reported by some studies at the micro level are then outlined. Then, the framework to formalize technological externalities and other technological determinants is exposed. This framework is based on a positioning of firms into a technological space using their patent distribution across technological fields. The question of whether the externalities generated by the technological and geographic neighbours are different on the recipient's productivity is also addressed by splitting the spillover variable into a local and national component. Then, alternative measures of technological proximity are examined. Some interesting observations emerge from the empirical results. First, the impact of spillovers on productivity increases is positive and much more important than the contribution of own R&D. Second, spillover effects are not the same according to whether they emanate from firms specialized in similar technological fields or firms more distant in the technological space. Finally, the magnitude and direction of these effects are radically different within and between the pillars of the Triad. While European firms do not appear to particularly benefit from both national and international sources of spillovers, US firms are mainly receptive to their national stock and Japanese firms take advantage from the international stock.

Models of R&D account for technical, technological and administrative factors of R&D implementation but underestimate the influence of behavioural and political factors such as power and conflict. They assume that R&D organisation is “well-insulated” from partisan, emotions, political reactions and contextual factors and that decision makers are rational and decisions are taken to best fit the content of R&D programme. The present study explores the effects of rational and irrational factors in the R&D implementation process on the performance of publicly funded research projects in universities. It uses realist and qualitative exploratory semi-structured interviews with 22 active researchers in Sultan Qaboos University provides “depth and detail” of the complexities of R&D implementation effects on its performance. The study discovers 18 measures of success of academic research and 30 effects of R&D implementation of the performance of publicly funded research.The study concludes that the iterative, non-linear and processual nature of R&D implementation is a continuous dynamic system. R&D success builds up the capacity for future success whilst failures decrease the chances of future successes. The integrated effects of implementation (IEI) influence R&D performance through technical and administrative capability of the R&D organisation as well as through behaviours of organisation members. These include leaders’ behaviours, conflict and political skills within individuals. Both success dynamism and IEI suggest contextualism implementation of R&D.

Ever since the first Industrial Revolution, during which many textile artisans lost their jobs to weaving machines, the relationship between technological progress and unemployment has been explored and examined by researchers and policy makers. Existing empirical research, mostly at the microeconomic level, has presented ambiguous results. Procuring data on 51 U.S. states for a period of 19 years and a large number of controls, this paper studies the employment effect of technological innovations with a novel state-level macroeconomic analysis. Using commercially-supplied Research and Development expenditure as a proxy, this paper finds that although technological innovations have a non-significant effect on employment at the general state level, there are a few factors that determine how well each state’s labor market responds to technological changes. More specifically, non-urbanized, non-tech-savvy, or states with a large number of workers employed in Manufacturing or Accommodation and Food Services industry experience a more severe unemployment effect than the other states. The results also suggest that unemployment rate is more negatively affected by technological innovations during the Obama Administration, compared with the Clinton and Bush Administration. This paper adds to the limited, macroeconomic literature on technological unemployment, and provides policy makers with important implications on how to prepare citizens for the imminent waves of technological changes.

Interest of STI policies to influence the innovation behaviour of firms has been increased considerably. This gives rise to the notion of behavioural additionality, broadening traditional evaluation concepts of input and output additionality. Though there is empirical work measuring behavioural additionalities, we know little about what role distinct firm characteristics play for their occurrence. The objective is to estimate how distinct firm characteristics influence the realisation of behavioural additionalities. We use survey data on 155 firms, considering the behavioural additionalities stimulated by the Austrian R&D funding scheme in the field of intelligent transport systems in 2006. We focus on three different forms of behavioural additionality project additionality, scale additionality and cooperation additionality and employ binary regression models to address this question. Results indicate that R&D related firm characteristics significantly affect the realisation of behavioural additionality. Firms with a high level of R&D resources are less likely to substantiate behavioural additionalities, while small, young and technologically specialised firms more likely realise behavioural additionalities. From a policy perspective, this indicates that direct R&D promotion of firms with high R&D resources may be misallocated, while attention of public support should be shifted to smaller, technologically specialised firms with lower R&D experience.

Cette thèse est une collection de travaux théoriques sur les effets concurrentiels des stratégies de croissance externe (opérations de fusions-acquisitions) et interne (activités de R&D). Il s’agit de déterminer l’impact de ces deux modes possibles d’expansion sur le comportement des firmes, leur profitabilité et le bien-être social. La thèse est divisée en deux parties principales. Partie I (effets concurrentiels des stratégies de croissance externe) : On considère que les fusions horizontales génèrent un choc sur le coût des entreprises.Celui-ci se traduit soit par une incertitude sur le coût de production expost de l’entité fusionnée (chapitre 1), soit par un mécanisme de transfert technologiquedans une perspective internationale (chapitre 2). Dans le chapitre 1, nous étudions l’impact de l’incertitude sur la profitabilité des stratégies de fusionsacquisitionsen considérant un oligopole de Stackelberg. Dans le chapitre 2, nous vérifions si l’option d’entrée par fusions-acquisitions est plus efficace par rapport à d’autres modes d’entrée sur des marchés étrangers, tels que l’Investissement Direct Etranger ou l’exportation.Partie II (effects concurrentiels de stratégies de croissance interne):Les efforts R&D ou le bénéfice d’effets de spillovers contribuent `a une réductiondu coût (chapitre 3) mais aussi `a une amélioration de la qualité (chapitre 4). Endistinguant les décisions de long-terme (choix en R&D) et des décisions de court terme (choix en prix ou en quantité), nous étudions l’effet de régimes complets etpartiels de collusion dans le chapitre 3. Nous considérons l’impact des choix en R&D sur l’incitation à adopter un régime de délégation partielle ou totale, dans le chapitre 4. / This thesis is a collection of theoretical essays in the area of horizontal M&As and R&D with spillovers. As we know, organizations consider horizontal M&As as the external mode of expansion, and regard R&D as one of the most efficient internal expansion modes, to achieve and maintain sustainable growth. This thesis pursues the firm growth’s tactic to trace the impact of two aforementioned expansion modes on firm’s performance and profitability. The dissertation is divided into two parts, which respectively focus on the following issues:Part I: (competitive effects of external growth strategies)Horizontal M&As generate cost variation via uncertainty (Chapter 1) or via technological transfer (Chapter 2). We aim to study different types of horizontal M&A and find out which one is the most profitable from the national perspective, and to verify whether the M&A entry option is more efficient compared to others, such as Greenfield FDI and exporting, from the international perspective.Part II: (competitive effects of internal growth strategies)R&D effort contributes to cost reduction (Chapter 3) or to quality enhancement (Chapter 4), and it can be beneficial to other firms at no cost due to spillover effect. By considering the long-run R&D decision and the short-run price (or quantity) decision, we attempt to distinguish between full and partial regimes in terms of collusion (Ch.3) or delegation (Ch.4), and to illustrate whether firms have incentive to adopt partial regime.

Since the 21st century, with the further development of globalization, innovation resources came into an open innovation era. Innovation resources can flow freely in a global scale. In the process of flow, innovation resources agglomeration in some cities, makes these cities become the global science and technology innovation center. Innovation has become the most important source of competitive advantage, and building innovative capacity can provide a strong impetus for the comprehensive competitiveness and economic prosperity (Porter & Stern, 2001). Innovation resources agglomeration makes innovation happen continuously, thus makes the global science and technology innovation center becomes the new engine and important support of national comprehensive strength. After two major industrial structure shift, the traditional development advantages are vanishing. The current economic growth of Shanghai is below the national average; the traditional development advantage is gradually weakening. At the same time, China's economy is faced with an L-shaped recession (Lei, 2016). Therefore, to become the global science and technology innovation center is not only necessary for Shanghai’s own transformation and development, but also accordance with the national development strategy. The aim of the Chinese government is to preliminarily finishes the work of develop Shanghai into the global science and technology innovation center during the period of 13th Five-Year Development Plan1 (from 2016 to 2020). Improve the innovation resources agglomeration capacity of Shanghai, and maximum accumulate innovation resources is the key to success. The existing studies have shown that innovation resources agglomeration has the characteristic of self-organizing, and there is the Matthew effect in this process: the better the innovation foundation, the more obvious the agglomeration effect, and vice versa. This research will from the perspective of the innovation system theory, using DEA method to study the R&D resources utilization efficiency of Shanghai’s industrial enterprises above designated size, demonstrates the deficiencies of Shanghai’s innovation resources agglomeration foundation, and put forward suggestions for improvement.

This thesis analyzes the effectiveness of public spending on defense research and development (hereafter R&D) financed from the state budget in chapter of the Czech Ministry of Defence. I evaluated the spending effectiveness based on usability criteria and based on my own evaluation criteria. The findings prove the spending on defense R&D to be ineffective as the effectiveness coefficient resulted to be only 51%.

Conventional wisdom suggests that firm’s patenting choice is largely due to strategic considerations such as industry competition and the prominence of the invention. We explore this issue from a managerial discretion perspective, suggesting that patenting choice facilitates managerial discretion via earnings management. On the one hand, not filing patents generates a more opaque information environment for market scrutiny, suggesting higher chance of earnings management. On the other hand, stewardship theory indicates that managers use trade secrets to protect their intellectual property. We find that non-patenting firms do not engage in financial earnings management while their real activity based earnings management is lower than patenting counterparts. On average, non-patenting choice does not lead to harmful opaqueness.