Innovation and Productivity A Microdata Analysis

Sammanfattning: This doctoral thesis consists of four papers. The first two papers deal with firms’ innovation strategies, knowledge spillover and their impact on growth and productivity. The last two papers are focused on spinoffs and their survival.The first paper finds a strong indication of variation in the capacity of firms to benefit from external knowledge among persistent innovators, temporary innovators and non-innovators. It considers the distinct and complementary effect of internal innovation efforts and spillovers from the local milieu.The second paper shows that persistently innovative exporters benefit considerably more than other exporters from access to a rich spectrum of neighbouring knowledge. The level of productivity among non-innovative exporters and exporters that are only temporarily engaged in innovation is positively influenced by externalities in the most knowledge-intense local milieus.The third paper reveals that there is a substantial difference in ex-post entry performance between genuinely new ventures and spinoffs in the manufacturing and service sectors based on their location. The proposed superiority of start-ups by ex-employees depends on the performance measures and the sector. Moreover, knowledge and the technology intensity of the industry matter for the viability of the new firms.The fourth paper focuses on exports, innovation, tenure and management and investigates how the incumbent firm characteristics affect the viability of its spinoffs. While experience from an exporting parent has a significant and positive effect on market success, no spillover effect from innovative firms can be found.