Determinants and Policies to Foster the Competitiveness of SME Clusters: Evidence from Latin America

This paper attempts to identify key determinants of competitiveness in SME clusters, with especial reference to Latin America. It takes the debate forward as its extended framework adds country- and firm-level determinants to the existing cluster-level factors of the 'collective efficiency' approach. Based on an enlarged analytical framework, policies recommendations to foster clusters' competitiveness are provided at different levels. Empirical evidence strongly suggests that joint action may not be enough for clusters to face new competitive pressures. This confirms the narrow scope of the 'collective efficiency' approach, and suggests that policy intervention in Latin America should go beyond the mere promotion of inter-firm linkages to foster the competitiveness of SME clusters.

Industrial Realities in Nigeria: From Bad to Worse

This paper assesses the industrial performance and capabilities of Nigeria over the last decade. It explores Nigeria's export and production capacity, growth, structure and technological upgrading and compares it to other Sub-Saharan countries. Evidence shows that Nigerian industry is inexorably falling behind and becoming increasingly marginalized in the international and regional industrial scene. Total manufacturing value added and manufactured exports have significantly declined and there has been a technological downgrading of Nigeria's traditional manufacturing sectors. Moreover, increased dependency on oil extraction puts a serious threat to Nigeria's industrial competitive future. Severe flaws in the education system, technological stagnation of domestic companies, lack of foreign investment in manufacturing, negligible technology transfer and weak ICT infrastructure constitute significant factors for failure. Further analysis should however include other factors not explored in this exercise, including macro-economic and fiscal policies, governance and the regulatory and business environment.

Form factors of the isovector scalar current and the ηπ\eta\pi scattering phase shifts

A model for S-wave $\eta\pi$ scattering is proposed which could be realistic in an energy range from threshold up to above one GeV, where inelasticity is dominated by the $K\bar{K}$ channel. The $T$-matrix, satisfying two-channel unitarity, is given in a form which matches the chiral expansion results at order $p^4$ exactly for the $\eta\pi\to\eta\pi$, $\eta\pi\to K\bar{K}$ amplitudes and approximately for $K\bar{K}\to K\bar{K}$. It contains six phenomenological parameters. Asymptotic conditions are imposed which ensure a minimal solution of the Muskhelishvili-Omn\`es problem, thus allowing to compute the $\eta\pi$ and $K\bar{K}$ form factor matrix elements of the $I=1$ scalar current from the $T$-matrix. The phenomenological parameters are determined such as to reproduce the experimental properties of the $a_0(980)$, $a_0(1450)$ resonances, as well as the chiral results of the $\eta\pi$ and $K\bar{K}$ scalar radii which are predicted to be remarkably small at $O(p^4)$. This $T$-matrix model could be used for a unified treatment of the $\eta\pi$ final-state interaction problem in processes such as $\eta'\to \eta \pi\pi$, $\phi\to\eta\pi\gamma$, or the $\eta\pi$ initial-state interaction in $\eta\to3\pi$.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. v2: Some clarifications and corrections of typo

Identification of a Scalar Glueball

We have performed a coupled channel study of the meson-meson S-waves involving isospins (I) 0, 1/2 and 3/2 up to 2 GeV. For the first time the channels \pi\pi, K\bar{K}, \eta\eta, \sigma\sigma, \eta\eta', \eta'\eta', \rho\rho, \omega\omega, \omega\phi$, \phi\phi, a_1\pi and \pi^*\pi are considered. All the resonances with masses below 2 GeV for I=0 and 1/2 are generated by the approach. We identify the f_0(1710) and a pole at 1.6 GeV, which is an important contribution to the f_0(1500), as glueballs. This is based on an accurate agreement of our results with predictions of lattice QCD and the chiral suppression of the coupling of a scalar glueball to \bar{q}q. Another nearby pole, mainly corresponding to the f_0(1370), is a pure octet state not mixed with the glueball.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. More data are included and reproduced. Some discussions have been rephrase

Scalar-Pseudoscalar scattering and pseudoscalar resonances

The interactions between the f_0(980) and a_0(980) scalar resonances and the lightest pseudoscalar mesons are studied. We first obtain the interacting kernels, without including any ad hoc free parameter, because the lightest scalar resonances are dynamically generated. These kernels are unitarized, giving the final amplitudes, which generate pseudoscalar resonances, associated with the K(1460), \pi(1300), \pi(1800), \eta(1475) and X(1835). We also consider the exotic channels with I=3/2 and I^G=1^+ quantum numbers. The former could be also resonant in agreement with a previous prediction.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures; Contributed oral presentation in (QCHS09) The IX International Conference on Quark Confinement and Hadron Spectrum - Madrid, Spain, 30 Aug 2010 - 03 Sep 201

Indicators of the Relative Importance of IPRs In Developing Countries

There remains considerable controversy on the economic impact of TRIPS (interpreted here as the tightening of IPRs) in developing countries; needless to say, the new round of WTO negotiations adds considerable interest to this controversy. This paper focuses on the long-term structural issues concerning the impact of TRIPS on industrial and technology development in poor countries. It does not, therefore, deal with such important current issues as the cost of medicines, agricultural inputs or genetic materials. Even in the analysis of technology development, it has a limited objective. It seeks to indicate the potential significance of IPRs by differentiating developing countries according to the expected impact of stronger protection. It does not measure statistically the strength of IPR regimes or their impact on development as such.

Determinants of Innovation Capability in Small UK Firms: An Empirical Analysis

The paper is an empirical investigation of key internal and external sources of innovation capability in small and medium firms (SME) in the UK. An experimental measure of innovation capability is designed, which captures not merely the occurrence of innovations but also their scientific complexity and originality. The results obtained with this measure compare favourably to those obtained with more conventional statistics. A range of factors internal to firms are found to be relevant, including owners' technical education and prior working experience in large firms and R&D institutions, technical skills of the workforce, and investments in R&D and training. Significant external factors are: public financial support for R&D, and interaction with nearby R&D and training institutions. Although interaction with customers, suppliers and similar-oriented firms are more frequent than the former, there is no evidence that intensive linkages of this kind would be important for innovative capability. These findings do not support the thrust of current UK policy, which seeks to promote SME innovative performance through the formation of geographical clusters of firms in similar lines of business

Zc(3900)Z_c(3900): Confronting theory and lattice simulations

We consider a recent $T$-matrix analysis by Albaladejo {\it et al.}, [Phys.\ Lett.\ B {\bf 755}, 337 (2016)] which accounts for the $J/\psi\pi$ and $D^\ast\bar{D}$ coupled--channels dynamics, and that successfully describes the experimental information concerning the recently discovered $Z_c(3900)^\pm$. Within such scheme, the data can be similarly well described in two different scenarios, where the $Z_c(3900)$ is either a resonance or a virtual state. To shed light into the nature of this state, we apply this formalism in a finite box with the aim of comparing with recent Lattice QCD (LQCD) simulations. We see that the energy levels obtained for both scenarios agree well with those obtained in the single-volume LQCD simulation reported in Prelovsek {\it et al.} [Phys.\ Rev.\ D {\bf 91}, 014504 (2015)], making thus difficult to disentangle between both possibilities. We also study the volume dependence of the energy levels obtained with our formalism, and suggest that LQCD simulations performed at several volumes could help in discerning the actual nature of the intriguing $Z_c(3900)$ state