There is growing evidence that firms increasingly adopt open innovation practices. In this paper we investigate the impact of two such external knowledge acquisition strategies, "buy" and "cooperate", on firm's product innovation performance. Taking a direct (productivity) approach, we test for...

In this paper we investigate empirically, first, the characteristics of the firms that reduced their ICT investment due to the 2008 crisis, particularly the firms' ICT-related characteristics in terms of ICT budget, skills and applications used. The analysis of the ICT characteristics that may...

While previous studies on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) mostly relied on large firms, our study is based on a sample that includes all Swiss M&As that took place in the period 2006-2008, mostly of which have been SMEs. We investigate the firm characteristics that determine the innovation and...

This paper investigates the post-merger performance effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Our study is based on a representative sample that includes all Swiss M&As that took place in the period 2006-2008. In contrast to previous studies in this field most of our M&As took place between...

Research about users as a source of innovation has been largely restricted to case studies exploring specific innovation projects at the firm level. This study assesses empirically the relationship between external end users' knowledge as an input factor to innovation and firms' innovation...

This paper aims at analyzing (a) the factors determining the firms' propensity to outsource various processes (b) the impact of outsourcing on firms' innovation performance as well as labour productivity. The integral investigation of the determining factors as well as the impact of outsourcing...

Human resource management (HRM) practices are generally expected to stimulate a firm's innovation performance. However, which of these practices do really pay off? Based on a unique dataset that includes detailed information for both a firm's innovation activities and different types of HRM...

In this study we investigate the impact of early stage venture capital on innovation activities of Swiss start-ups. This is done based on a cohort of start-ups that is representative of all firms founded in Switzerland in 1996/97 as recorded by a census of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office...

This paper investigates the relationship between indicators for the intensity of use of ICT (examining three different types of ICT widely used in firms: internal, e-sales, e-procurement IS), several forms of workplace organization, and human capital on one hand, and several measures of...

The main objective of this empirical paper is to identify characteristics of imitation and innovation and shed light on possible differences between these two kinds of innovative activity. Thus, it tries to answer the following questions: (a) what are the determinants of imitative performance...