Die Innovationskraft ist nicht nur für Nationen, sondern auch für Regionen eine elementare Voraussetzung für wirtschaftliche Leistungsfähigkeit und Wohlstand. Gemessen an der FuE-Beschäftigung im verarbeitenden Gewerbe ist die regionale Konzentration seit 1998 unverändert hoch. Mit großem...

This paper surveys the recent literature devoted to the analysis of the interactions between the adoption of voluntary or negotiated agreements as a tool of environmental policy and market structure. The goal of this survey is twofold. On the one hand, we would like to identify the market...

The paper explores the impact of a third-party product ecolabel (i.e. green label) on competition and the environment, and the firms' strategies during the negotiation of the minimum environmental requirements underlying a product's eligibility for the ecolabel. The introduction includes some...

Contrary to most of the literature, which focuses only on the level of investment in innovation, this paper examines both the variety of research projects undertaken and the amount of duplication of research. A characterization of the equilibrium market portfolio of R&D projects and the socially...

This paper examines the effect of competition on the irreversible investment decisions under uncertainty as a generalization of the "real option" approach. We examine this issue with reference to an industry where each firm has only one investment opportunity which is completely irreversible and...

This paper analyzes how competition works in mobile telecommuncations markets and, bases on this analysis, we discuss whether regulatory intervention in mobile telephone markets is justified from an economic perspective. Starting point of our analysis is the observation that an evaluation of...

This paper deals with innovative activities of firms, the resulting market success as well as the interdependencies between both. In a first theoretical part, different cases of those interdependencies are investigated by the way of a simple model based on replicator dynamics. It is shown that...

We analyze a two-stage game between two heterogeneous players. At stage one, common risk is chosen by one of the players. At stage two, both players observe the given level of risk and simultaneously invest in a winner-take-all competition The game is solved theoretically and then tested by...

Does competitive pressure foster innovation? In addressing this important question, prior studies ignored a distinction between discrete innovation aiming at entirely new technology and continuous improvement consisting of numerous incremental improvements and modifications made upon the...

In this paper we experimentally test whether competing for a desired reward does not only affect individuals' performance, but also their tendency to cheat. Recent doping scandals in sports as well as forgery and plagiarism scandals in academia have been partially explained by competitive...