Incentives to innovate

This empirical study investigates the factors that influence firms' incentives to innovate. We study the variables stimulating, enabling and conditioning the idea generation process in small and medium-sized service firms. The employees and their context determine the richness of the early stages of the innovation process, and thus the firms' incentives to innovate. Of the final set of explanatory variables, the most significant 'manageable' variable is the formulation of clear innovation objectives in the corporate strategy. Furthermore, fostering freedom to experiment and applying multifunctional teams have positive effects on the incentives to innovate. Besides, two factors (quality competition and high� uncertainty of market demand) are market related. Finally, in contradiction to our expectations, having well-educated employees has a negative effect on the incentives to innovate.

Determinants of innovative ability

Deze strategische verkenning gaat in op de vraag welke factoren bepalend zijn voor het innovatievermogen van dienstverlenende bedrijven met 10 tot 100 werknemers. Voor deze bedrijven is de invloed van 38 factoren op het innovatievermogen onderzocht.

Access to telecommunications networks

telecommunication;telecommunication industry;networks;access to market;policy;allocation;microeconomics

Innovation and firm performance

Understanding the relation between innovation and performance in both large, medium, and small firms is of crucial importance for ongoing economic growth, but still hardly understood. The topic of understanding innovations and their relationship with firm performance has become more relevant since the EU stated, in March 2000 in Lisbon, the ambition to become the world's most competitive and innovative region by 2010. The underlying rationale is that encouraging firms to innovate will lead to a better economic performance; higher growth, more jobs and higher wages. Is this rationale empirically validated, and is there a preferential one-size-fits-all innovation trajectory for all European companies? The objective of this paper is to depict the current state of knowledge regarding the relation between innovation and performance in general, and for SMEs in particular.

Innovation and firm performance

In this paper, the current state of knowledge regarding the relation between innovation and firm performance is reviewed. The relationship is empirically tested. There is a special focus on small and medium-sized firms. In the literature, there is a trend towards a system approach. Empirical studies using this approach distinguish four parts in the innovation-performance relationship. First of all, a company decides whether or not to innovate. Secondly, if a company decides to innovate, what is the level of input in innovation. The innovative input will be transformed into innovative output. And finally, the innovative output will result in a better firm performance. In the model several feedback loops are incorporated, for instance, from firm performance to innovative input.

Wavelets Applied to the Detection of Point Sources of UHECRs

In this work we analyze the effect of smoothing maps containing arrival directions of cosmic rays with a gaussian kernel and kernels of the mexican hat wavelets of orders 1, 2 and 3. The analysis is performed by calculating the amplification of the signal-to-noise ratio for several anisotropy patterns (noise) and different number of events coming from a simulated source (signal) for an ideal detector capable of observing the full sky with equal probability. We extend this analysis for a virtual detector located within the array of detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory, considering an acceptance law.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of the Young Researchers Meeting, 2010. Available in: http://www.ifi.unicamp.br/physicae/ojs-2.1.1/index.php/physicae/article/view/191; Physicae, Proceedings of the Young Researchers Meeting, Vol 1, 201

Determinants of Growth of Start-ups in the Netherlands

The dynamics and growth of firms are considered to be important for enhancing economic growth. Organizations can benefit from growth in many ways, including greater efficiency through economies of scale, increased power, the ability to withstand environmental change, increased profit and increased prestige for organizational members.It is important to obtain a better grip on the growth development of start-ups. The aim of this study is to map the development of start-ups in terms of employment growth and, in addition, to understand: what are the determinants of growth of start-ups?

Diffusion Paths for Micro Cogeneration Using Hydrogen in the Netherlands

We estimate the diffusion of micro cogeneration systems (MiCoGen) using hydrogen produced from natural gas in the Netherlands for the 2000-2050 period on the basis of economical factors. The diffusion is important for the transition to a hydrogen economy based on renewables, with natural gas paving the way for hydrogen from renewables which. For three scenarios full diffusion takes place in the period 2020-2050. The most important factors behind the diffusion are: growing energy demand, resulting in lower hydrogen costs and higher energy costs in the reference case and lower costs of MiCoGen stemming from learning economies. The model is very ad-vanced by considering all costs components for heterogeneous users which have been calculated for the entire diffusion period. It is the first threshold diffusion model that is being applied to the diffusion of technological clusters involving new or adapted infrastructures.diffusion model, hydrogen, hydrogen economy, micro cogeneration