Exporte gelten als Wachstumsmotor der deutschen Wirtschaft und werden von der Wirtschaftspolitik auf vielfältige Weise gefördert. Doch führt die Förderung der Aufnahme von Handelsbeziehungen mit dem Ausland durch Betriebe, die bislang nicht exportierten, wirklich zu einem Wachstum der...

In this paper, we examine how the effect of movements in the real exchange rate on manufacturing plants depends on the plant's placement within the productivity distribution. Appreciations of the local currency expose domestic plants to more competition from abroad as export opportunities shrink...

We use a unique rich newly built data set for German manufacturing enterprises to investigate the product differentiation firm performance relationship. We find that an increase in the degree of product diversification has a negative impact on profitability when observed and unobserved firm...

We use a unique rich newly built data set for German manufacturing enterprises to investigate the relationship between product diversification and the stability of sales and employment. We find that contrary to portfolio theoretic considerations more diversified firms exhibit a higher...

Using data collected by the World Bank, we empirically investigate the relationship between Chinese manufacturers' supply chain attributes, raw material and finished goods inventory turnover, and return on sales. Our findings indicate that location proximity, relationship continuity, and the...

The recent economic and financial crisis highlights the role of balance sheets on firm survival. This paper considers the role of initial financial leverage (debt-to-asset ratio) on the survival of entrant Canadian manufacturing firms. Due to limited data availability, little is known about how...

Industrial clusters are increasingly being viewed as channels for economic growth both at the country level and as sources of enhanced performance at the firm-level by strengthening the agglomerated firms and providing them a platform to access global markets more successfully. Previous studies...

The objective of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of the estimated relationship between innovation and firm performance. In doing so, we rely on a knowledge production function approach and carry out comparisons in a number of respects. The sensitivity analysis is based on the...

We examine the impact of R&D and technology imports on firm performance in Taiwan's manufacturing industry in a policy context of industrial upgrading. To do so, we estimate a Translog production function on two panels (covering 1992-1995 and 1997-2003), using stochastic frontier estimation. We...