This thesis aims to identify and to close some gaps in the literature dealing with business strategies towards the creation, absorption and dissemination of new technologies. In doing so it comprises four theoretical papers. The following abstracts and Figure 1 briefly link each paper to one ore...

Empirical investigations with enterprise level data from official statistics often use the average wage as a proxy variable for the qualification of the workforce, mostly due to the lack of detailed information on the qualification of the employees. This paper uses unique newly available data...

This empirical research note documents the relationship between composition of a firm's workforce (with a special focus on age and gender) and its performance with respect to innovative activities (outlays and employment in research and development (R&D)) for a large representative sample of...

Recent theoretical research deals with economic costs and benefits of cultural diversity related to immigration. However, empirical evidence regarding the impact of cultural diversity on economic performance is still scarce. This paper investigates the significance of cultural diversity of the...

We integrate international business theory on foreign direct investment (FDI) with institutional theory on intellectual property rights (IPR) to explain characteristics and behaviour of foreign investment subsidiaries in Central East Europe, a region with an IPR regimegap visàvis West European...

Based on findings that academic medical centers (AMCs) that strategically focus on research tend to perform well in the delivery of patient care as well as with respect to the overall performance, this dissertation empirically investigates antecedents of the research of physicians using the...

The object of study is the exchange of knowledge between agents of the private sector and its implications for innovation, social welfare and economic policy. The exchange of knowledge is of great importance, in particular with respect to innovative activity. New Growth Theory for instance...

Innovations have acquired a key-role in the growth and competition strategies of firms today. They are regarded as an essential tool to stimulate growth and enable firms to master the competition brought about by the forces of globalization. In developed countries they are thought to provide a...

Technological advancements, especially in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have enhanced greatly the competition spurred by the globalization of the world economies. Even small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are no more immune to the challenges that the globalization brings...