Collaborazioni di ricerca e innovazione: il caso del sistema alimentare italiano Percorsi di studio

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Collaborazioni di ricerca e innovazione il caso
del sistema alimentare italiano Percorsi di
studio sullindustria contemporaneaReti locali,
processi internazionali, intervento
pubblicoFisciano, 6-7/02/2009
Ornella Wanda Maietta - Università di Napoli
Federico IIand Centro per la Formazione in
Economia e Politica dello Sviluppo Rurale
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Paper outline

• the characteristics of innovations in the Food
  and Drink (FD) industry
• the questions of the paper
• theoretical background,
• the methodology
• the data
• the results.

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Innovations in the FD industry

• a low-tech industry on the basis of RD
  expenditure on turnover (1.5 in 2005 for Italy)
• but
• - FD uses technology developed by high-tech
  sectors (chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
  biotechnology)
• investment expenditure in industry innovation
  expenditures higher in FD
• incremental rather than radical innovation
  (learning by doing)
• food safety and food quality learning by
  interacting with consumers and with suppliers
  very important
• lack of private incentives intervention and
  regulation very important the public sector
  induces FD firms to adopt innovations.

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Rural Development Plans 2007-2013

• new opportunity to finance RD collaboration the
  measure 124 aimed at introducing innovations both
  in farms and in food industry firms

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Questions which are the determinants if
innovations in the Italian FD industry? do
cooperatives innovate more or less than
investor-owned firms (IOFs)?
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Few theoretical models

• Novkovic (2007)
• evolutionary model in a mixed industry the
  innovation strategy of a cooperative is oriented
  towards labour-intensive technology
• the creation of cooperative networking is the
  resulting survival strategy

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Price-Induced Technical Progress

• relative prices may
• steer innovation and variable input bias over
  time
• RuttanHayami, 1971 Mundlak et al., 1999
  ParisCaputo, 2001

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Methodology bivariate probit regression

• Latent variables y1, y2
• y1 presence of firm RD intra moenia
• y2 presence of firm innovation
• x, z variable vectors which influence those
  probabilities for firm i
• (FRD , Finn)i bivariate variable associated to
  (y1, y2)

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Data

• Capitalia survey on innovation in Italian
  manufacturing firms
• 9th wave 2001-03
• sample of 484 agro-food firms
• also firm balance sheets
• but missing values!
• plus
• turnover classes defined according to AGRA
  classification, 2004
• Size class 3 5 - 25 ml turnover
• Size class 4 25 - 50 ml turnover
• Size class 5 50 ml turnover
• Indicator of social capital in the province
  Sessa, 1998

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Firm RD intra moenia determinants

• FRD
• b0 b1 Skilled employees b2 Non standard jobs
  b3 Subsidies for extra moenia RDb4
  Cooperative
• firm relative prices
• North and South dummies

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Relative prices and cost structure

• user cost of capital - uk
• materials on turnover - ci
• immaterial capital on total capital - imm
• wage w but not significant
• plus their interactions with co-op dummy

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Firm innovation determinants

• Finn d0d1 Imm d2 District d3 Province
  social capital d4 RS extra-moeniad5 Coop d6
  Product quality improvement
• d7 Environment friendly technology
• North and South
• dummies for subsectors

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Descriptive statistics

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Goodness of fit
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Results (1)
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Results (2)
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Results (3)
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Conclusions

• - subsidies for RD extra moenia have the highest
  impact on firm RD and innovation in the Italian
  food industry
• non standard jobs also important
• materials on turnover has a negative impact on
  firm RD and innovation
• size, geographical, territorial and subsector
  dummies not significant
• after including the relative prices, the coop
  dummy is positive and significant (6).

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Thanks for your attention!