Etla » globalisation

Network! Network! Network! How global technology start-ups access modern business ecosystems

Antti-Jussi Tahvanainen — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:56:09 +0000

Abstract: This study explores the very first mile in entrepreneurial networking by examining what entrepreneurs really do to connect to critical stakeholders and, thereby, to integrate into foreign business ecosystems. Reverting to explorative, inductive methodology, the study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by approaching networking from a rare angle; networking as practice. The study examines (i) the precepts and principles that direct the start-ups’ networking efforts, (ii) the practices they employ to identify relevant partners and establish connections to them, (iii) the practices they make use of in the interface of newly established connections to sway and commit the respective partners to their cause and network, and finally (iv), the practices that offshore governmental agency nodes apply to help start-ups assimilate to foreign local ecosystems. We found that firms need to embrace and learn how to exploit serendipitous networking opportunities to gain access to stakeholders that purely ansoffian planning approaches could never uncover. The exploitation of serendipity necessitates flexibility with regard to the start-ups’ existing product or service concepts, strategies and business plans because in the serendipitous mode these are often re- and co-designed with newly encountered stakeholders. Many of the actual networking practices were found to have evolved together with the progress of other dominant megatrends such as the spread and acceptance of social and other digital media. Such progress seems to have endogenously affected some of the conventional cultural tenets of networking, helping to bypass hierarchical gatekeepers in organizations, for instance. In addition, the diffusion and acceptance of more content- and context-rich communication techniques such as social and mobile video, prototyping and story-telling have made pitching a proposal faster, more holistic, experiential and interactive. We further found that offshore governmental agency nodes can play a decisive role in accelerating and facilitating the integration of foreign newcomers into a local ecosystem. Important prerequisite for the capability to provide such services is a respected and established status within the ecosystem, a vast, cross-sectoral network, and professional employees with hands-on industrial experience in the respective ecosystem.

Publication year: 2013
Pages: 32
Price: 15 €
Language: English

ETLA Working Papers No 4
ISSN 2323-2439

Sähkö-, elektroniikka- ja tietotekniikka-ala. Tuotantoketjut hajautuvat, osaamistarpeet muuttuvat

admin — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

There is a deep structural transformation going on In the Finnish electrical, electronics and IT services sector. The main reason is a major turning point in ICT due to diminishing production and employment in mobile telecom industry where large amount of high-skill jobs will disappear in the next few years. The main reasons are major shift in global markets and dispersion of supply and value chains. However, at the same time when mobile ICT industry is experiences decline in production and employment IT services sector is growing. New ICT related jobs are created also in mechanical and electrical engineering industries as these industries are integrating increasingly software, intelligence and services in their products. The structural transformations in electronics and ICT pose major challenges to educational system and make it difficult to foresee future skill requirements.

JEL: J62, L63, O25, O33
Publication year: 2012
Pages: 20
Price: 10€
Language: Finnish
Discussion Papers no. 1273

Outsourcing, occupational restructuring, and employee well-being: Is there a silver lining?

Mika Maliranta — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This paper explores the effects of outsourcing on employee well-being through the use of the Finnish linked employer-employee data. The direct negative effect of outsourcing is attributable to greater job destruction and worker outflow. In terms of perceived well-being, the winners in international outsourcing are those who are capable of performing interactive tasks (i.e., managers, professionals and experts), especially when offshoring involves closer connections to other developed countries.

JEL: J28, F23
Publication year: 2012
Pages: 32
Price: 10€
Language: English
Discussion Papers no. 1271

Kilpailukyky ja globaalin toimintaympäristön muutos – Suomen koneteollisuus maailmantaloudessa

Paavo Suni — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:00:00 +0000

The report analyses the impacts of globalization on competitiveness of national economies, industries and firms. The focus is in mechanical and electrical engineering and machinery. Global division of labor has significantly changed over the past few decades when the large emerging economies notably China have increased their role in worlds industrial production. Prices of industrial goods relative to GDP prices of developed countries have been falling thereby pressing the price competitiveness of industrial-country- firms who have been looking for new competitive edge on the global market. This includes offshoring and outsourcing and moving to service provision. The Finnish mechanical and engineering industry has adapted to changing global competitive environment through major structural changes the firm and plant structures have changed as consequence of exits and major reallocation of resources from less productive to higher productive units.

JEL: F13, L60, l64, O12
Publication year: 2011
Pages: 44
Price: 10€
Language: Finnish
Discussion Papers no. 1255

Globalization, Creative Destruction, and Labor Share Change: Evidence on the Determinants and Mechanism from Longitudinal Plant-level Data

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:00:00 +0000

We examine the sources and micro-level mechanisms of the changes in the labor share of value added. We link the micro-level dynamics of the labor share change with that of productivity and wage growth. Using a useful variant of the decomposition method we make a distinction between the change in the average plant and the micro-level restructuring. With Finnish plant-level data covering three decades we show that micro-level restructuring is the link between the declining labor share and increasing productivity in 12 manufacturing industries of four regions, and that increased international trade is a factor underlying those shifts.

JEL: F16, J31
Publication year: 2009
Pages: 34
Price: 10€
Language: English
Discussion Papers no. 1178

Who Is Afraid of Globalisation? Finns´ Hopes & Fears and Realized Impacts

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:00:00 +0000

According to EVAŽs annual attitude and value survey, two out of three Finns believe that globalization means loosing increasing amounts of jobs to low-cost-countries. However, 70 percent of the respondents think that their job is not easily transferrable and only 8 % are afraid that their own job is going to be offshored. As both national and international research indicates that the employment effects of globalization are rather modest, who is afraid of globalization and why? In this analysis it is found that highly educated, service sector, and male employees are the least afraid of globalization. Additionally, it is noticed that attitudes are more important than actual labour market experiences, when it comes to the expectations and perceptions of globalization.

JEL: F02, Z10
Publication year: 2008
Pages: 16
Price: 10€
Language: Finnish
Discussion Papers no. 1167

Domestic Employment Effects of Offshoring: Empirical Evidence from Finland

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:00:00 +0000

This study empirically explores whether the propensity to offshore affects the total domestic employment at the firm level. The analysis is based on a Finnish weighted sample of 652 firms and screens the effect of offshoring different kinds of tasks. Two main channels of offshoring tasks are taken into account : offshore outsourcing and in-house offshoring. The main conclusion is that offshoring can significantly affect the total domestic employment but that the significance and the direction of the effect depend on which kind of offshoring is involved. Our results offer evidence that in both the manufacturing and service sectors offshore outsourcing of services has a positive effect on employment. In addition it was found that the effect of R&D offshoring on the probability to anticipate an increase of total domestic employment depends on the offshoring channel. Offshore outsourcing of R&D has a positive effect on the anticipated domestic employment, whereas in-house offshoring of R&D has a negative effect. Specific for the manufacturing sector is that offshore outsourcing of production also has a negative significant effect. A final conclusion is that only in the service sector does in-house offshoring of services have a negative effect on the probability to anticipate an increase of domestic employment. By dissecting offshoring by tasks and channels the above empirical findings contribute to a better understanding of the aggregate effects of offshoring on domestic employment.

JEL: F16, F23, L20
Publication year: 2008
Pages: 25
Price: 10€
Language: English
Discussion Papers no. 1166

Domestic R&D Employment Effects of Offshoring R&D Tasks: Some Empirical Evidence from Finland

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:00:00 +0000

This study empirically explores whether R&D offshoring affects the domestic R&D employment at the firm level. Overall, the Finnish survey data suggest that the impact of R&D internationalization on domestic R&D employment depends on the mode of internationalization (in-house offshoring vs. offshore outsourcing vs. in-house expansion of R&D abroad). Moreover, manufacturing and service firms are found to be different when it comes to R&D internationalization and its domestic employment effects. In the manufacturing sector, especially in-house offshoring of R&D has a significant negative impact on the plan to increase R&D employment. But the relationship between the in-house expansion of R&D abroad and domestic R&D employment turns out to be complementary. In the service sector, it is in the first place offshore outsourcing of R&D that has a significant negative impact on the plan to increase R&D employment. A final result supports the view that R&D does not always follow production but that a strong location link between production and R&D does have a significant negative effect on the domestic R&D employment.

JEL: J6, J3
Publication year: 2008
Pages: 31
Price: 10€
Language: English
Discussion Papers no. 1163

The Home Country Effects of Internationalisation

admin — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:00:00 +0000

The widening range of countries acting as home and host to MNEs, and the continuing growth in all forms of cross-border economic activity, have prompted a large literature on the effects of outward MNE activity on the host countries. A smaller body of work has examined the effects on the home countries of MNEs, but this literature has remained quite fragmented. The purpose of this paper is to bring together and review the different strands of the literature examining the home country effects, and to discuss how some of the changes ongoing in the global economy are likely to impact the analyses on the complementarity between home and host country activities.

JEL: D21, D24, F21, F23, M16
Publication year: 2007
Pages: 43
Price: 10€
Language: English
Discussion Papers no. 1100

Family Businesses and Globalization in Finland

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:00:00 +0000

This paper studies whether family businesses (FBs) differ from non-family businesses (non-FBs) in various dimensions of globalization with a representative sample of businesses in Finnish manufacturing and private services. FBs and non-FBs are not so different when it comes to export and off-shore (includes both in-house moves and outsourcing) probabilities and intensities. After controlling for other relevant factors, however, family businesses are less likely to have employment abroad and their shares of foreign employment are likely to be lower than their non-family counterparts. FBs foreign employment may also be qualitatively different : Compared to non-FBs, FBs seem to be more prone to have employment in the neighboring country rather than in ones geographically more distant. The strategic role of FBs foreign employment also seems to be different, although due to data limitations we are unable to pin down exactly how. FBs are somewhat more likely to increase their overall Finnish employment in the course of the next few years. This overall observation is largely be-cause family businesses are particularly more likely to hire those with somewhat lower levels of formal education, who also initially tend to command a relatively larger share of their employment.

JEL: G32, L21, L26, M14
Publication year: 2007
Pages: 35
Price: 10€
Language: English
Discussion Papers no. 1080