Productivity, Growth, and Internationalisation: The Case of German and British High Techs

International engagement is often expected to improve firm performance. Especially for small technology-oriented firms, export activities may be important, being regarded as one way to amortise these firms? high product research and development costs. This paper examines the relationship between international business activities and firm performance using a sample of about 200 young high-tech firms in Germany and the UK that were contacted by two surveys in 1997 and 2003. I find out that the performance enhancing effects of internationalisation that were still observed in 1997 are in fact restricted to an early stage of the firms? life cycles and disappear when technology-oriented firms become mature. The results are in line with many other studies: Firms exhibiting superior performance are or will become exporters. --High technology industries,internationalisation,firm growth,productivity,switching

Hidden champions - how young and small technology-oriented firms can attain high export-sales ratios

Determinants of a firm?s export-sales ratio (degree of internationalisation) are frequently discussed in the literature related to individual firms? export activities. Stylised facts show a positive relationship between firm size and firm age on the one hand and the firm?s export-sales ratio on the other hand. However, anecdotic evidence and recent empirical results revealed that it is not size or age per se that leads to a high export-sales ratio. This paper analyses the export-sales ratio of a sample of young technology-oriented firms in Germany and the UK. The empirical results confirm that neither youth nor smallness are necessarily an obstacle to realising a high degree of internationalisation. However, this requires that the firms possess firm-specific assets in order to overcome barriers to entry into the foreign market. These firm-specific assets may be acquired via conducting own R&D activities, buying novel technology from other companies, or by employing internationally experienced managers. --High-technology industries,export-sales ratio,fractional logit model

The Change of Sales Modes in International Markets: Empirical Results for German and British High-Tech Firms

The choice of the appropriate sales mode belongs to the firm?s most important strategic decisions after entering into a foreign market. Thus, it is important that the selected foreign sales mode best suits a firm?s available resources and capabilities. However, these resources and capabilities change over time. Therefore, it might be necessary for a firm to adjust its foreign sales mode to these changing firm-specific conditions. Using a longitudinal data set of newly founded technology-based firms in Germany and the UK, this paper applies logistic regressions and analyses empirically the probabilities of changing between the two sales modes most frequently used by the sampled exporters: direct exports and exporting via an intermediary. The estimation results confirm the importance of the firm?s physical and intangible resources as well as the influence of transaction-specific assets on a sales mode change. However, the effects of the latter factors might be dominated by strategic considerations that are not covered by our data. For example, a young high-tech firm will resort to an intermediary regardless of its resources and transaction-specific assets if this is the only way of coming into contact with foreign customers. --High technology industries,internationalisation,sales modes

Exports and Profitability: First Evidence for German Manufacturing Firms

Using unique recently released nationally representative high-quality longitudinal data at the enterprise level for Germany, this paper presents the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between exports and profitability. It documents that the positive profitability differential of exporters compared to non-exporters is statistically significant, though rather small, when observed firm characteristics and unobserved firm specific effects are controlled for. In contrast to nearly all empirical studies on the relationship between productivity and exports we do not find any evidence for selfselection of more profitable firms into export markets. Due to the sampling frame of the data used we cannot test the hypothesis that firms which start exporting perform better in the years after the start than their counterparts which do not start. Instead, we use a newly developed continuous treatment approach and show that exporting improves the profitability almost over the whole range of the export-sales ratio. Only firms that generate 90 percent and more of their total sales abroad do not benefit from exporting in terms of an increased rate of profit. This means, that the usually observed higher productivity of exporters is not completely absorbed by the extra costs of exporting or by higher wages paid by internationally active firms. --exports,profitability,micro data,Germany

Exports and Profitability: First Evidence for German Manufacturing Firms

Using unique recently released nationally representative high-quality longitudinal data at the enterprise level for Germany, this paper presents the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between exports and profitability. It documents that the positive profitability differential of exporters compared to non-exporters is statistically significant, though rather small, when observed firm characteristics and unobserved firm specific effects are controlled for. In contrast to nearly all empirical studies on the relationship between productivity and exports we do not find any evidence for self-selection of more profitable firms into export markets. Due to the sampling frame of the data used we cannot test the hypothesis that firms which start exporting perform better in the years after the start than their counterparts which do not start. Instead, we use a newly developed continuous treatment approach and show that exporting improves the profitability almost over the whole range of the export-sales ratio. Only firms that generate 90 percent and more of their total sales abroad do not benefit from exporting in terms of an increased rate of profit. This means, that the usually observed higher productivity of exporters is not completely absorbed by the extra costs of exporting or by higher wages paid by internationally active firms.exports, profitability, micro data, Germany

Exports and Profitability - First Evidence for German Manufacturing Firms

Using unique recently released nationally representative high-quality longitudinal data at the enterprise level for Germany, this paper presents the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between exports and profitability. It documents that the positive profitability differential of exporters compared to non-exporters is statistically significant, though rather small, when observed firm characteristics and unobserved firm specific effects are controlled for. In contrast to nearly all empirical studies on the relationship between productivity and exports we do not find any evidence for selfselection of more profitable firms into export markets. Due to the sampling frame of the data used we cannot test the hypothesis that firms which start exporting perform better in the years after the start than their counterparts which do not start. Instead, we use a newly developed continuous treatment approach and show that exporting improves the profitability almost over the whole range of the export-sales ratio. Only firms that generate 90 percent and more of their total sales abroad do not benefit from exporting in terms of an increased rate of profit. This means, that the usually observed higher productivity of exporters is not completely absorbed by the extra costs of exporting or by higher wages paid by internationally active firms.exports, profitability, micro data, Germany

Exports and Productivity Growth – First Evidence from a Continuous Treatment Approach

A recent survey of 54 micro-econometric studies reveals that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. On the other hand, previous empirical studies show that exporting does not necessarily improve productivity. One possible reason for this result is that most previous studies are restricted to analysing the relationship between a firm’s export status and the growth of its labour productivity, using the firms’ export status as a binary treatment variable and comparing the performance of exporting and non-exporting firms. In this paper, we apply the newly developed generalised propensity score (GPS) methodology that allows for continuous treatment, that is, different levels of the firms’ export activities. Using the GPS method and a large panel data set for German manufacturing firms, we estimate the relationship between a firm’s export-sales ratio and its labour productivity growth rate. We find that there is a causal effect of firms’ export activities on labour productivity growth. However, exporting improves labour productivity growth only within a sub-interval of the range of firms’ export-sales ratios.Export-sales ratio, labour productivity, continuous treatment, dose-response function

The KfW/ZEW start-up panel: design and research potential

So far, there has been no data set which observes firm formations in Germany not only on a cross-sectional basis using one-time surveys, but continuously over a number of years. Therefore, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), KfW Bankengruppe and Creditreform set up a panel study of newly founded firms in Germany: the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel. In each of the yearly panel waves computer-aided telephone interviews (CATI) are conducted with about 6,000 start-up firms from almost all industries. The KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel will for the first time enable profound analyses of the temporal development of newly founded firms, including studies of firm survival. This paper describes the design of the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel. The survey's research potential is illustrated using data from the first panel wave conducted in the year 2008. Data access for external researchers and data protection issues of the confidential micro data are discussed. --Firm foundation,micro data,firm data,panel data,Germany

The Interdependence of R&D Activity and Debt Financing of Young Firms

We investigate the interdependence of debt financing and R&D activities of young firms. Using micro-level data of the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel, our estimation results show that firm characteristics are more important than personal characteristics of the founders for explaining young firms' leverage, whereas firm characteristics and human capital of both founders and employees heavily influence R&D intensity. Applying a bivariate Tobit model, we find that there is a positive interdependent relationship between the share of loan financing and R&D intensity. A higher share of loan financing allows for more R&D in young firms and, at the same time, a higher R&D intensity allows for a higher loan share. This relationship cannot be detected by merely estimating single-equation models for R&D intensity and debt financing.innovation financing, capital structure, business start-ups, KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel, Germany

Hidden Champions – How Young and Small Technology-Oriented Firms Can Attain High Export-Sales Ratios

Determinants of a firm's export-sales ratio (degree of internationalisation) are frequently discussed in the literature related to individual firms' export activities. Stylised facts show a positive relationship between firm size and firm age on the one hand and the firm's export-sales ratio on the other hand. However, anecdotic evidence and recent empirical results revealed that it is not size or age per se that leads to a high export-sales ratio. This paper analyses the export-sales ratio of a sample of young technology-oriented firms in Germany and the UK. The empirical results confirm that neither youth nor smallness are necessarily an obstacle to realising a high degree of internationalisation. However, this requires that the firms possess firm-specific assets in order to overcome barriers to entry into the foreign market. These firm-specific assets may be acquired via conducting own R&D activities, buying novel technology from other companies, or by employing internationally experienced managers