Product and process innovation in manufacturing firms: a 30-year bibliometric analysis

Built upon a thirty-year dataset collected from the Web of Science database, the present research aims to offer a comprehensive overview of papers, authors, streams of research, and the most influential journals that discuss product and process innovation in the manufacturing environment. The dataset is composed of 418 papers from more than 150 journals from the period between 1985 and 2015. Homogeneity analysis by means of alternating least squares (HOMALS) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) are used to accomplish the objectives listed above through the keywords given by authors. Initially, the paper highlights and discusses the similarity between the topics debated by the main journals in this field. Subsequently, a wide-range map of topics is presented highlighting five main areas of interests; namely, performance, patent, small firm, product development, and organization. A SNA is also performed in order to validate the results that emerged from HOMALS. Finally, several insights about future research avenues in the manufacturing field are provided

Firm survival and innovation: direct and indirect effects of knowledge for SMEs

This paper explores the effects of innovation on firm survival by using data from a representative survey of small and medium manufacturing firms in the province of Salerno, Italy. We innovate upon the literature by (a) comparing the impact of different sources of internal and external knowledge (including universities) on the probability of firm survival; (b) assessing the mediating impact of the human capital of workers and entrepreneurs on learning from these knowledge sources. Finally, we measure the impact of different types of innovation on firm survival. Our evidence upholds the link between innovation and firm survival, particularly for product and organisational innovation. Results regarding the impact of different sources of knowledge highlight the roles of employee training, the human capital of entrepreneurs and workers and the productivity of university departments providing relevant knowledge. Other elements of external knowledge, such as proximity to the University of Salerno or being in the city of Salerno, are significant facilitators of survival only if mediated through high levels of the human capital of entrepreneurs and workers

Non-maximizing output behavior for firms with a cost-constrained technology

Indirect output distance function, Shadow cost, Shadow prices, Input preference, Allocative efficiency, C31,

Parametric estimation of inefficiency in cargo handling in Spanish ports

Parametric allocative inefficiency, Parametric technical inefficiency, Normalized quadratic cost function, Cargo handling, Port economics, D21, C33, L92,

Scale, scope and survival: a comparison of cooperative and capitalist modes of production

This paper draws on a comprehensive data set from Portugal to investigate the activities, internal characteristics and survival prospects of cooperatives and capitalist enterprises. Consistent with theory, high levels of market concentration and low entry costs were shown to be conducive to cooperatives. Cooperatives were found to be, on average, older and to operate with a larger, more highly educated and more productive labour force than do their capitalist counterparts. Finally, we show that cooperatives have a markedly higher probability of survival than do capitalist enterprises due, in part, to differences in industry of operation and internal characteristics.CompeteQRENFEDERFundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi