Using novel data on European firms, this paper investigates the relationship between business groups and innovation. Controlling for various firm characteristics, we find that group affiliates are more innovative than standalones. We examine several hypotheses to explain this finding, focusing...

This paper studies how an independent upstream capital good sector in a technology based industry can act as a mechanism for the transmission of growth across countries. Technologies, once developed, can be ‘transferred’ to other countries at low incremental cost. If there are upstream firms...

This paper analyses the development of software in India and Ireland. The development patterns of the software industry in Ireland and India clearly show both the advantages and disadvantages of being a follower. The most obvious advantage is the ability to sustain growth without a broad based...

This paper provides an explanation of the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in information-intensive vertical supply relationships. Specifically, we explore the connection between stronger property rights and the enhanced viability of specialized (versus vertically integrated) input...

Although market transactions for technologies, ideas, knowledge or information are limited by several well known imperfections, there is increasing evidence that they have become more common than in the past. In this paper we argue that these markets change the traditional mindset in which the...

We contribute a novel approach to the existing literature on the effects of restructuring on R&D investment by focussing on a single industry, chemicals. The chemical industry is very research intensive and has experienced thorough restructuring since the early 1980s. By focussing on a single...

A significant amount of software development is being outsourced to countries such as India. Many Indian software firms have applied for and received quality certifications like the ISO9001, and the number of quality certified software firms has steadily increased. Despite its growing popularity...

This paper reports on the results of research on the Indian software industry, carried out at Carnegie Mellon University. We use a variety of sources, including a questionnaire survey of Indian software firms, and field visits and interviews with industry participants, observers, and US based...

We present an economic model of fixing or patching a software problem after the product has been released in the market. Specifically, we model a software firm’s trade-off in releasing a buggy product early and investments in fixing it later. We first show that patching investments and time to...

Although the prospect of obtaining patent protection is believed to encourage R&D investments and thus the rate of inventive activity, there is little by way of direct evidence to support this belief. We use original data from the 1994 Carnegie Mellon survey on the appropriation of R&D in the US...