External shocks and enterprises' dynamic capabilities in a time of regional distress

We study if dynamic capabilities alleviate enterprises' revenue losses after an external shock. Contextually, we study Norwegian enterprises before and after the price decline of crude oil in 2014, which strongly affected economic activities across industries in some regions, while others were practically unaffected. Empirically, we combine data of regional oil dependency and enterprise- and person-level data before the decline and enterprise-level revenues before and after the decline. Analyses of 4,060 enterprises in 51 labor market regions show that unrelated education diversity alleviates revenue losses for enterprises in strongly affected regions, while related education diversity has an opposite negative effect. R&D investments and innovation alter revenue growth, but as the effects are consistent across more or less affected regions, the concepts are static enterprise resources and not dynamic capabilities.publishedVersio

Sliding Contact Dynamic Force Spectroscopy Method for Interrogating Slowly Forming Polymer Cross-Links

Dynamic Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy (SMFS), conducted most commonly using AFM, has become a widespread and valuable tool for understanding the kinetics and thermodynamics of fundamental molecular processes such as ligand-receptor interactions and protein unfolding. Where slowly forming bonds are responsible for the primary characteristics of a material, as is the case in crosslinks in some polymer gels, care must be taken to ensure that a fully equilibrated bond has first formed before its rupture can be interpreted. Here we introduce a method, sliding contact force spectroscopy (SCFS), which effectively eliminates the kinetics of bond formation from the measurement of bond rupture. In addition it permits bond rupture measurements in systems where one of the binding partners may be introduced into solution prior to binding without tethering to a surface. Taking as an exemplar of a slowly forming bond the ‘eggbox’ junction crosslinks between oligoguluronic acid chains (oligoGs) in the commercially important polysaccharide alginate, we show that SCFS measures accurately the equilibrated bond strength of the crosslink when one chain is introduced into the sample solution without tethering to a surface. The results validate the SCFS technique for performing single molecule force spectroscopy experiments, and show that it has advantages in cases where the bond to be studied forms slowly and where tethering of one of the binding partners is impractical

Single molecule investigation of the onset and minimum size of the calcium-mediated junction zone in alginate

One of the principal roles of alginate, both natively and in commercial applications, is gelation via Ca2+-mediated crosslinks between blocks of guluronic acid. In this work, single molecule measurements were carried out between well-characterised series of nearly monodisperse guluronic acid blocks (‘oligoGs’) using dynamic force spectroscopy. The measurements provide evidence that for interaction times on the order of tens of milliseconds the maximum crosslink strength is achieved by pairs of oligoGs long enough to allow the coordination of 4 Ca2+ ions, with both shorter and longer oligomers forming weaker links. Extending the interaction time from tens to hundreds of milliseconds allows longer oligoGs to achieve much stronger crosslinks but does not change the strength of individual links between shorter oligoGs. These results are considered in light of extant models for the onset of cooperative crosslinking in polyelectrolytes and an anisotropic distribution of oligoGs on interacting surfaces and provide a timescale for the formation and relaxation of alginate gels at the single crosslink level

Alginate sequencing: Block distribution in alginates and its impact on macroscopic properties

PhD i bioteknologiPhD in Biotechnolog

Has the popularity of battery electric vehicles in Norway affected total new car sales? A synthetic control method study

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have gained popularity in Norway, chiefly due to generous tax incentives. Using the synthetic control method, we study if BEVs’ popularity has complemented or substituted for conventional new car sales. Comparing Norway with weighed control units from a donor pool of 16 other European countries between 1990 and 2018 as a counterfactual, we find that conventional new car sales since 2011 have fallen steeply in the country. Analyses also indicate that total new car sales have decreased since 2011. We conclude that BEVs substitute for conventional cars and probably even subtract total new car sales. An implication is that tax revenue loss from BEVs is probably higher than previously estimated, and the fleet of cars in Norway is probably older than in the absence of BEVs’ generous tax incentives

Do New Firms Recruit Employees From Small or Large Firms, and Do Small or Large Firms Recruit Employees From Firms That Cease to Operate?

Panel data of Norwegian industries show that when they increase in the number of firms, firm size inequality in employees decreases. Decreasing firm size inequality implies that large firms become smaller in employees, and an increasing number of firms in an industry implies that more new firms are established than closed, i.e., ceasing to operate and going out of business. Thus, new firms chiefly recruit employees from large firms. Similarly, the data show that when industries decrease in the number of firms, firm size inequality in employees increases. Increasing firm size inequality implies that large firms become larger in employees, and a decreasing number of firms in an industry implies that more firms are closed than established. Thus, large firms chiefly recruit employees from firms that cease to operate. An implication of our findings is that large firms are crucial in recruiting employees to new firms and in recruiting employees from firms that cease to operate

Is There a Link between the 2021 COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake in Europe and 2022 Excess All-Cause Mortality?

Purpose: We primarily study a possible link between 2021 COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Europe and monthly 2022 excess all-cause mortality, that is, mortality higher than before the pandemic. Methods and Results: Analyses of 31 countries weighted by population size show that all-cause mortality during the first 9 months of 2022 increased more the higher the 2021 vaccination uptake; a one percentage point increase in 2021 vaccination uptake was associated with a monthly mortality increase in 2022 by 0.105% (95% CI, 0.075–0.134). When controlling for alternative explanations, the association remained robust, and we discuss the result emphasizing causality as well as potential ecological fallacy. Furthermore, the study shows that 2021 all-cause mortality was lower the higher the vaccination uptake, but this association became non-significant when controlling for alternative explanations. Conclusion: Despite a possible preventive effect in 2021, we cannot rule out that COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Europe has led to increasing 2022 all-cause mortality between January and September

Effect of Long-Term Absenteeism on the Operating Revenues, Productivity, and Employment of Enterprises

(1) Background: Previous studies have shown that absenteeism is negatively associated with employee-level performance, but we do not know how exactly absenteeism affects enterprise-level performance. To bridge this knowledge gap, we investigate how average long-term absenteeism affects Norwegian enterprises’ operating revenues and productivity. Also, we investigate if absenteeism decreases employment and whether operating revenues mediate the association. (2) Methods: We performed an enterprise-level dynamic unconditional quasi-maximum likelihood fixed-effects panel regression. (3) Results: The average share of long-term absenteeism nonlinearly decreases operating revenues and overall productivity at an increasing rate. The nonlinear effect may indicate deteriorating value creation among the share of employees largely not absent, but their productivity actually increases at an increasing rate. Thus, the overall findings indicate that the least productive employees first tend to opt out of the workforce, and as absenteeism increases, those subsequently opting out are otherwise increasingly productive. In parallel, those remaining in the workforce are increasingly productive. Absenteeism, moreover, decreases employment the following year, which is partly explained by revenue losses. However, enterprises cut their workforce due to factors beyond the impact of absenteeism on revenues

Related and unrelated variety in a tourism context

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.Although the topic of destination development has received much attention (Haugland, Ness, Grønseth, & Aarstad, 2011), there has been a limited focus on how the composition of an industry structure can influence growth in a tourism region. In this research note we will argue that a tourism destination in a region with abundant related variety (where firms operate in different industries sharing similarities), yet with limited unrelated variety (where firms operate in different industries sharing few similarities), is optimal for growth and development. We will further aim to exemplify how related and unrelated variety can be studied in tourism research