Nationally representative data on family businesses are available in the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, alongside comparable information for other types of firms. We use these data to compare differences in the use of different consultation and communication procedures. We cover such...

Although the U.K. has a common political system, there are distinct regional differences. These differences are reflected in the outcomes of U.K. Government attempts to devise and implement innovation strategy within all parts of the U.K. Northern Ireland's (NI) regional differences are...

This study considers the determinants of whether a firm exports, undertakes R&D and/or innovates, and, in particular, the contemporaneous links between these variables using three waves of the UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS). Where appropriate, an instrumental variables procedure is...

This paper presents an overview of various models of regional growth that have appeared in the literature in the last 40 years. It considers the past, and therefore supply-side models, such as the standard neoclassical, juxtaposed against essentially demand-side approaches such as the...

Recent work (including that of the author) on the impact of FDI has been based on microlevel (i.e. firms, establishments or plants) data, since this allows much greater control when examining such issues as whether FDI plants are more productive or innovative; whether there are spillovers to...

This paper provides a survey and critique of how spatial links are taken into account in empirical analysis by applied economists/regional scientists. Spatial spillovers and spatial interrelationships between economic variables (e.g. unemployment, GDP, etc) are likely to be important, especially...

Data for the UK show Northern Ireland remains at the bottom of the productivity league table, and that its R&D performance is consistently amongst the lowest across the UK regions. This paper analyses the data from a survey of some 250 matched firms operating in Northern Ireland (approximately...

The North American housebuilding industry has been neglected in urban and housing studies. Its firm size structure and instability have long been cause for concern, but have rarely been given more than anecdotal treatment. This paper examines the transience of housebuilders in Ontario from 1978...

This paper models the determinants of exporting (both in terms of export propensity and export intensity), with a particular emphasis on the importance of absorptive capacity and the endogenous link between exporting and undertaking R&D. Based on a merged dataset of the 2001 Community Innovation...