Cluster Typologies and Firm Survival: Complementary and Substitutive Effects

Agglomerations, or clusters, are typically defined as the idea that firms can benefit from shared locations through mutual knowledge, labor pools, and suppliers, and have long been a subject of scholarly interest. However, research in geographic economics has identified a broad array of agglomeration externalities beyond such supply-side clusters, which problematizes the use of the term cluster to refer to any geographic grouping of firms. Clusters can be groups of firms from the same country ( country-of-origin clusters), demand side (clustering to lower search costs for customers), Jacobsian clusters (tight groups of diverse firms), internal (groupings of firms from the same parent company), or urban (focused in areas of high population density). Since the nature of inter-firm interactions should differ in each type of agglomeration, our study contributes to the agglomeration literature by identifying complementary and substitutive relationships between agglomeration typologies. Specifically, we extend prior work which has examined the mutual effects of Jacobsian and Marshallian externalities by attempting to answer our research question, i.e., what combination of agglomeration externalities consistently leads to firm survival? Using establishment-level data from the software and clothing industries in the state of Texas, we identify multiple combinations of cluster types (and their absence) which lead to firm survival on a consistent basis. The results find several combinations of causal mechanisms that lead to the equifinal outcome of firm survival. Our configurations exceed levels supported by prior literature with PRI scores over .7 and coverage scores between .05 and .109.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gradposters2023_business/1001/thumbnail.jp

Slack, Location, Diversification, or R&D Intensity? How the Most (and Least) Innovative Firms Deploy Resources

Firms frequently innovate by recombining knowledge components. Through bringing together diverse scientific or technological concepts, firms can reassemble these extant knowledge components into novel and useful innovations. At the same time, many of the mechanisms firms use to recombine knowledge components carry substantial agency costs. When firms conduct research and development, diversify, hold slack resources, or locate near close competitors, they become vulnerable to misappropriation of investor resources due to opportunistic actions by agents. Using patent citation data from semiconductor firms, we study how firms, which consistently produce high-quality innovations, balance the need for knowledge recombination with the need to protect investors from opportunism. Our results indicate that, consistent with an agency lens, innovative firms operate under a significant debt load. Consistent with the knowledge recombination perspective, however, innovative firms typically engage in multiple activities that lead to innovation via knowledge recombination.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gradposters2023_business/1002/thumbnail.jp

Socio-Economic Management Theory Related to BPM: A Case Study of Dysfunctions in Digital Transformation Strategy

This research claims that dynamic strategies demanded by today’s digital environment exacerbate inconsistency between an organization’s digital transformation efforts and its enterprise architecture (EA) planning process. This phenomenon leads to redundant investments, delayed implementation, and frequent failures in digital transformation projects. In order to investigate this inconsistency, we apply the socioeconomic approach to management (SEAM) theory. Through critical analysis of four case studies in a large manufacturing organization, we clarify the relationship between digital transformation and EA and reveal the dysfunction in strategic implementation from a SEAM and business process management (BPM) perspective. In practice, this research integrates digital transformation and EA to provide a context-specific approach for planning and designing enterprise digital transformation strategies

Regional Development: An Econometric Study of the Role of Water Development in Effectuating Population and Income Changes

Twelve measures of regional economic growth, including populations and three measures of income were compared for areas with and without water investment in 246 counties and 42 water resources subareas in the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada. Simple mean omparisons for these measures compiled for the decades of 1940-1950, 1950-1960, and 1960-1970 failed to support the hypothesis that economic growth of those counties and subareas receiving water investment was significantly highter than in those areas which did not, with the possible exception of the 1940-1950 decade. This result is obciously tempered by the fact that with-without comparisons taken on a cross-sectional basis may be inaccurage to the extent that spatial units used in the analysis are not homogenous in all respects but the presence or absence of water investment. Population, farm income, median family income, and per acre agricultural land values as measures of economic growth were regressed on various classes of water investment (Total, M&1, Recreation, and Irrigation investment, and other related variables) for the spatial units. Results obtained from this analysis were inconclusive with respect to the hypothesized role of water investment in effectuating economic growth. For small areas in New Mexico where more detailed records of water investment were available, a nine equation econometric model was estimated using a three-stage least squares analysis. As specified, this model facilitated an examination of the interactive effect of water development as a causal variable and as an endogenous variable which responds to other growth inducements. Test statistics for multi-equation systems are only indicative, and the statistical results were nonconclusive, although expected signs on the coefficients were obtained in most instances. Input-output and economic base-models were used to examine two case studies of water investment in Western Coloado. The objective was to demonstrate the methodology and the magnitudes of change in regional economic activity (gross regional output, exports, income, and employment) which could be associated with major irrigation-type water developments. In this analysis it was found that total gross output attributable to the projects ranged from zero in the petroleum and mining sectors to a high of 260,302 in the dairy industry. Multiplicative effects on employment income and gross economic activity ranged from 1.06 to 2.30 times their initial magnitude. Income and employment multipliers were of similar magnitude. it should be recognized that these estimates cannot e viewed in the same manner as similar growth increments at the national level, as would typically be done, because of the strong possibility of regional offsets occurring in other regions not participating in water development. To the extent that growth in other areas is reduced by the growth of a particular region, these reductions should be subtracted from the growth measured in the latter set of regions. In all tests conducted no conclusive evidence was found taht water development causes regions to grow faster than those regions which did not receive water investment. This is not to say that growth in those regions receiving water investment was not higher than it would have been had the investment not been made. However, it does provide evidence that, an average among the regions included within this analysis, that those areas which did not receive major water investments grow at a faster rate than those which did. Thus, the input-output approach shows potential inpacts from water investment in a general equilibrium context, but rest son the assumption that other concurrent events which could produce similar or offsetting effects in the region are held constant. The cross-section analysis measures total changes in a regional economy overtime, but the multiplicity of events, other than water investment, may obscure the effects of water investment

Preparing to work: dramaturgy, cynicism and normative ‘remote’ control in the socialization of graduate recruits in management consulting

online) This paper examines the socialization of graduate recruits into a knowledge intensive labour process and organizational culture. Theoretically the paper draws upon the idea of ‘preparing for work’ to position this early socialization as a crucial moment in the production of subjectivities suited (and booted) for the labour process of management consulting. Empirically the paper reports on a two-day induction session for new graduate recruits joining a global management consultancy and their responses to this training. Particular attention is given to the use of role-play and a dramaturgical workshop used in part of the training process. The paper argues that the utilization of dramaturgy in training is consistent with the overall approach to control developed in the firm in response to the fact that the labour process of consulting is often conducted on client sites, away from any direct supervisory gaze. As such, the consultants were subjected to a form of cultural control that was designed to function independently of direct supervision. This control did not operate directly upon the new employees professed values, however, but at one step removed so that a ‘cynical distance’ from the content of the organization’s culture was accepted so long as a professional ‘ethic of behaviour’ was established. By focusing on an ‘ethic of behaviour’ these young professionals were encouraged to internalize a self-control akin to that of an actor, rather than internalizing the corporate values entirely

Methodology of Natsal-COVID Wave 2: A large, quasi-representative, longitudinal survey measuring the impact of COVID-19 on sexual and reproductive health in Britain [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]

Background: The National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles COVID study (Natsal-COVID) was designed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on Britain’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Natsal-COVID Wave 1 survey and qualitative follow-up interviews were conducted in 2020. The Wave 2 survey was designed to capture one-year prevalence estimates for key SRH outcomes and measure changes over the first year of the pandemic. We describe the Wave 2 survey methodology and assess the sample representativeness. Methods: Natsal-COVID Wave 2 was conducted March-April 2021; approximately one year after the start of Britain’s first national lockdown. Data were collected using an online web-panel survey administered by Ipsos. The sample comprised a longitudinal sample of Wave 1 participants who had agreed to re-contact plus a sample of participants residing in Britain, aged 18-59, including a boost sample comprising people aged 18-29. Questions covered reproductive health, relationships, sexual behaviour and SRH service use. Quotas and weighting were used to achieve a quasi-representative sample of the British population. Comparisons were made with recent national probability surveys, Natsal-3 (2010-12) and Natsal-COVID Wave 1 to understand bias. Results: A total of 6,658 individuals completed the survey. In terms of gender, age, ethnicity, and rurality, the weighted Natsal-COVID Wave 2 sample was like the general population. Participants were less likely to be married or to report being in good health than the general population. The longitudinal sample (n=2,098) were broadly like participants who only took part in Wave 1 but were older. Among the sexually active, longitudinal participants were less likely to report multiple sexual partners or a new sexual partner in the past year compared to those who only took part in Wave 1. Conclusions: Natsal-COVID collected longitudinal, quasi-representative population data to enable evaluation of the population-level impact of COVID-19 on SRH and to inform policy

Climate vulnerability assessment for Pacific salmon and steelhead in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem.

Major ecological realignments are already occurring in response to climate change. To be successful, conservation strategies now need to account for geographical patterns in traits sensitive to climate change, as well as climate threats to species-level diversity. As part of an effort to provide such information, we conducted a climate vulnerability assessment that included all anadromous Pacific salmon and steelhead (Oncorhynchus spp.) population units listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Using an expert-based scoring system, we ranked 20 attributes for the 28 listed units and 5 additional units. Attributes captured biological sensitivity, or the strength of linkages between each listing unit and the present climate; climate exposure, or the magnitude of projected change in local environmental conditions; and adaptive capacity, or the ability to modify phenotypes to cope with new climatic conditions. Each listing unit was then assigned one of four vulnerability categories. Units ranked most vulnerable overall were Chinook (O. tshawytscha) in the California Central Valley, coho (O. kisutch) in California and southern Oregon, sockeye (O. nerka) in the Snake River Basin, and spring-run Chinook in the interior Columbia and Willamette River Basins. We identified units with similar vulnerability profiles using a hierarchical cluster analysis. Life history characteristics, especially freshwater and estuary residence times, interplayed with gradations in exposure from south to north and from coastal to interior regions to generate landscape-level patterns within each species. Nearly all listing units faced high exposures to projected increases in stream temperature, sea surface temperature, and ocean acidification, but other aspects of exposure peaked in particular regions. Anthropogenic factors, especially migration barriers, habitat degradation, and hatchery influence, have reduced the adaptive capacity of most steelhead and salmon populations. Enhancing adaptive capacity is essential to mitigate for the increasing threat of climate change. Collectively, these results provide a framework to support recovery planning that considers climate impacts on the majority of West Coast anadromous salmonids

A Pilot Study Combining a GC-Sensor Device with a Statistical Model for the Identification of Bladder Cancer from Urine Headspace

There is a need to reduce the number of cystoscopies on patients with haematuria. Presently there are no reliable biomarkers to screen for bladder cancer. In this paper, we evaluate a new simple in-house fabricated, GC-sensor device in the diagnosis of bladder cancer based on volatiles. Sensor outputs from 98 urine samples were used to build and test diagnostic models. Samples were taken from 24 patients with transitional (urothelial) cell carcinoma (age 27-91 years, median 71 years) and 74 controls presenting with urological symptoms, but without a urological malignancy (age 29-86 years, median 64 years); results were analysed using two statistical approaches to assess the robustness of the methodology. A two-group linear discriminant analysis method using a total of 9 time points (which equates to 9 biomarkers) correctly assigned 24/24 (100%) of cancer cases and 70/74 (94.6%) controls. Under leave-one-out cross-validation 23/24 (95.8%) of cancer cases were correctly predicted with 69/74 (93.2%) of controls. For partial least squares discriminant analysis, the correct leave-one-out cross-validation prediction values were 95.8% (cancer cases) and 94.6% (controls). These data are an improvement on those reported by other groups studying headspace gases and also superior to current clinical techniques. This new device shows potential for the diagnosis of bladder cancer, but the data must be reproduced in a larger study. © 2013 Khalid et al

Identifying the science and technology dimensions of emerging public policy issues through horizon scanning

Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security.Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security

The use of antibiotic-loaded bone cement and systemic antibiotic prophylactic use in 2,971,357 primary total knee arthroplasties from 2010 to 2020: an international register-based observational study among countries in Africa, Europe, North America, and Oceania.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Antibiotic-loaded bone cement (ALBC) and systemic antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP) have been used to reduce periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) rates. We investigated the use of ALBC and SAP in primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). PATIENTS AND METHODS This observational study is based on 2,971,357 primary TKAs reported in 2010-2020 to national/regional joint arthroplasty registries in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA. Aggregate-level data on trends and types of bone cement, antibiotic agents, and doses and duration of SAP used was extracted from participating registries. RESULTS ALBC was used in 77% of the TKAs with variation ranging from 100% in Norway to 31% in the USA. Palacos R+G was the most common (62%) ALBC type used. The primary antibiotic used in ALBC was gentamicin (94%). Use of ALBC in combination with SAP was common practice (77%). Cefazolin was the most common (32%) SAP agent. The doses and duration of SAP used varied from one single preoperative dosage as standard practice in Bolzano, Italy (98%) to 1-day 4 doses in Norway (83% of the 40,709 TKAs reported to the Norwegian arthroplasty register). CONCLUSION The proportion of ALBC usage in primary TKA varies internationally, with gentamicin being the most common antibiotic. ALBC in combination with SAP was common practice, with cefazolin the most common SAP agent. The type of ALBC and type, dose, and duration of SAP varied among participating countries