Abstract
We test the hypothesis that large firms devote a higher proportion of their research and development (R & D) expenditure on process innovation thansmaller firms. According to the estimates, process- and product R & D expenditure rise less than in proportion to size. The size effect is somewhat stronger for process R & D but the difference to product R & D is in no way dramatic. This difference with regard to size elasticity of process- and product R & D is somewhat more pronounced when accounting for possible interrelationships between expenditure on process- and product R & D but remains statistically non-significant.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acs, Z., and D. B. Audretsch (1990) Innovation and Small Firms. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Arrow, K. J. (1962) ‘Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention’, in R. R. Nelson, ed., The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 609–626.
Arvanitis, S. (1997) ‘The Impact of Firm Size on Innovative Activity — An Empirical Analysis Based on Swiss Firm Data’, Small Business Economics, 9, 473–490.
Baldwin, W. L., and J. T. Scott (1987) Market Structure and Technological Change. Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers.
Bound, J., D. A. Jaeger, and R. A. Baker (1995)’ Problems with Instrumental Variables Estimation when the Correlation between the Instruments and the Endogenous Explanatory Variable is Weak’, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 90, 443–450.
Brezinski, H., and M. Fritsch (1995) Transformation: The Shocking German Way, Moct-Most, 5(4), 1–25.
Cohen, W. M. (1995) ‘Empirical Studies of Innovative Activity’, in P. Stoneman, ed., Handbook of the Economics of Innovation and Technological Change. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 182–264.
Cohen, W. M., and S. Klepper (1996a) ‘A Reprise of Size and R&D’, Economic Journal, 106, 925–951.
Cohen, W. M., and S. Klepper (1996b) ‘Firm Size and the Nature of Innovation within Industries: The Case of Process and Product R&D’, Review of Economics and Statistics, 78, 232–243.
Cohen, W. M., and D. A. Levinthal (1989) ‘Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D — Implications for the Analysis of R&D Investment’, Economic Journal, 99, 569–596.
Ewers, H.-J., C. Becker, and M. Fritsch (1990) ‘The Nature of Employment Effects of New Technology’, in E. Matzner and M. Wagner, eds., The Employment Impact of New Technology —The Case of West Germany. Aldershot: Avebury/Gower, pp. 23–41.
Flaig, G., and M. Stadler (1998) ‘On the Dynamics of Product and Process Innovations’, Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, 217, 401–417.
Fritsch, M., and R. Lukas (1999) ‘Innovation, Cooperation, and the Region’, in D. B. Audretsch and R. Thurik, eds., Innovation, Industry Evolution and Employment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 157–181.
Fritsch, M., and J. Mallok (1998) ‘Surviving the Transition: The Process of Adaptation of Small and Medium-Sized Firms in East Germany’, in H. Brezinski, E. Franck, and M. Fritsch, eds., The Microeconomics of Transition and Growth. Cheltenham: Elgar, pp. 163–184.
Fritsch, M., G. Franke, and C. Schwirten (1999) ‘Innovation in Manufacturing — An East-WestGerman Comparison’, in M. Fritsch and H. Brezinski, eds., Innovation and Technological Change in Eastern Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers, pp. 167–183.
Geroski, P. (1995) ‘Markets for Technology: Knowledge, Innovation and Appropriability’, in P. Stoneman, ed., Handbook of the Economics of Innovation and Technological Change. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 90–131.
Gujarati, D. N. (1995) Basic Econometrics. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Klepper, S. (1996) ‘Entry, Exit, Growth, and Innovation over the Product Life Cycle’, American Economic Review, 86, 562–583.
Kraft, K. (1990) ‘Are Product-and Process-Innovation Independent of Each Other?’, Applied Economics, 22, 1029–1038.
Levin, R., A. K. Klevorik, R. R. Nelson, and S. G. Winter (1987) ‘Appropriating the Returns from Industrial R&D’, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 783–820.
Lunn, J. (1982) ‘Research and Development and the Schumpeterian Hypothesis: Alternate Approach’, Southern Economic Journal, 49, 209–217.
Lunn, J. (1986) ‘An Empirical Analysis of Process and Product Patenting: A Simultaneous Equation Framework’, Journal of Industrial Economics, 34, 319–330.
Nelson, Ch. R., and R. Startz (1990) ‘Some Further Results on the Exact Small Sample Properties of the Instrumental Variable Estimator’, Econometrica, 58, 967–976.
OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) (1992) OECD Proposed Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Technological Innovation Data. Paris: OECD (General Distribution (92)26).
Pavitt, K., M. Robson, and J. Townsend (1987) ‘The Size Distribution of Innovating Firms in the UK: 1945–1983’, Journal of Industrial Economics, 35, 291–316.
Scherer, F. M. (1982) ‘Inter-Industry Technology Flows in the United States’, Research Policy, 11, 227–245.
Scherer, F. M. (1984) ‘Using Linked Patent and R&D Data to Measure Interindustry Technology Flows’, in Z. Griliches, ed., R&D, Patents, and Productivity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 417–461.
Scherer, F. M. (1991) ‘Changing Perspectives on the Firm Size Problem’, in Z. J. Acs and D. B. Audretsch, eds., Innovation and Technological Change: An International Comparison. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, pp. 24–38.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fritsch, M., Meschede, M. Product Innovation, Process Innovation, and Size. Review of Industrial Organization 19, 335–350 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011856020135
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011856020135