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This work provides a new empirical assessment of global economic hierarchies and the associated unequal distribution of value between core and peripheral economies. This is accomplished by looking at the functional division of labour induced by the international fragmentation of production and the related value capture dynamics in global value chains (GVCs). To this aim, we introduce and compute an indicator of 'functional specialization' of economies based on their ability to attract Foreign Direct Investment, which allows us to detect the value adding activities in which more than 100 countries have specialized from 2003 to 2018. We show that the most intangible-intensive activities are concentrated in core capitalist economies, while production operations at the lower end of the value chain are mainly the prerogative of low- and middle-income countries. Although China and India have emerged as partial but significant outliers, a substantial persistence of this functional division of labour across world macro-regions is also observed over the period. Most notably, we find that a higher specialization in the most intangible-intensive functions allows countries to capture a greater amount of value from trade in GVCs, thus providing novel empirical support to the 'Smile curve' hypotheses and the underlying 'intellectual monopoly' perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how foreign multinationals (FMN) and domestic multinationals (DMN) differ in R&D outsourcing and cooperation. We argue that the propensity of DMN and FMN to create such R&D linkages reflects their specific balance between advantages and challenges of multinationality. On the one hand, both FMN and DMN rely on a combination of home-base advantages and learning capacities, which positively affect their R&D linkages with national and international counterparts. On the other hand, the costs and risks associated with unfamiliar contexts reduce the propensity of FMN to create R&D linkages with local counterparts; while they will not penalise DMN, which do not suffer any liability of foreignness when dealing with local counterparts in their country of origin. This interpretive framework is tested using data on R&D investors active in Italy over 2003–2010, controlling for firms' internal R&D efforts, internationalisation, age and regional distribution of R&D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the effect of host‐country environmental policy stringency on the offshoring of green patents for 2000 top world R&D performers. It is shown that a more stringent environmental regulation triggers patent offshoring in the field of green technologies. Results are robust to various different specifications, to alternative definitions of innovation offshoring and of regulatory restrictions, to controls for firm and country‐level characteristics and to the consideration of possible endogeneity of regulation. We interpret these findings as evidence that MNEs can take advantage from their exposure to multiple institutional settings, reducing the costs of, and increasing the payoff from, green innovation offshoring. It is also suggested that R&D subsidies and non‐market‐based regulatory measures are more important than market‐based instruments as drivers of cross‐border environmental innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Public e-services are a broad and growing research field in which scholars and practitioners from different domains are involved. However, the increasing attention devoted to public e-services only partially captures the extreme variety of aspects and implications of the diffusion of information and communication technologies at all levels of public administrations. The paper aims to develop a meta-analysis of the literature on the delivery, diffusion, adoption and impact of public e-services and examines differences in methodologies, approaches and key indicators across five service categories: e-government, e-education, e-health, Infomobility and e-procurement. We examined 751 articles appeared in 2000–2010 in the top international academic journals listed in the SSCI-ISI, as classified in the following fields: Communication, Economics, Education, Environmental Studies, Geography, Health Policy and Services, Information Science and Library Science, Law, Management, Planning and Development, Public Administration, Transportation and Urban Studies. We highlight a significant heterogeneity in scientific production across service categories, indicators used, and affiliation of authors. We also show an increasing diffusion of quantitative methods applied to different research fields which still appears to be constrained by data limitations. The overall picture emerging from the analysis is one characterized by largely unexplored domains as well as scarcely analyzed issues both across and within individual service categories. Thus many research opportunities seem to emerge and need to be exploited from different disciplinary perspectives in this field of analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study which examined the impact of foreign direct investments on host economies which has been noted for its divergent effects, particularly on the presence of multinational companies over domestics firms. It highlighted the corrections referring to the model of productivity spillovers. Suggested is a more radical view stressing more focus on the concept of externality based on definition entailing the idea of not-paid-for advantages/disadvantages.

Using firm-level data on the Italian manufacturing industry, we examine how trade activities are related to workforce composition and wages. We contribute to empirical research on these issues in three ways. First, we provide new evidence that is consistent with multi-attribute models on firm heterogeneity and trade. We show that even after controlling for various company characteristics, including size and capital intensity, exporters still pay higher wages and employ more skilled workers than nonexporters. Second, we consider engagement in international transactions, either by means of exports, imports, or a combination of the two. We show that failing to control for importing activities may bias upward export premia. Third, we look at how the wage and the employment structures of trading firms change with the country of destination and origin of trade flows. We find that wage and skill premia are influenced by the characteristics of partner countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the diffusion of eGoverment in Italian Public Administrations. In particular, this work proposes statistical indicators able to summarize, on one side, quantity and quality of the eGovernment services provided to citizens ("Front Office indicators") and, on the other side, the informatization degree of Public Administrations ("Back Office indicators"). Results show that the asymmetric geographical diffusion of eGovernment also depends on different characteristics of the administrations and of the local dimension in which they are embedded; this suggests that different local features have to be taken into account when defining strategies for fostering informatization of Public Administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent empirical works on the within-sector impact of inward investments on domestic firms' productivity have found rather robust evidence of no (or even negative) effects. We suggest that, among other reasons, a specification error might explain some of these results. A more general specification, which includes the usual one as a special case, is proposed. Using data on Italian manufacturing firms in 1992-2000, we find positive externalities only once we allow for the more flexible specification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of intra-industry heterogeneity and internationalisation. We show that, after controlling for sector, location, firm age and size, Italian manufacturing companies exhibit different economic and innovative performance according to their involvement in foreign activities. In particular, exporters show intermediate innovative performance between non-internationalised firms and those carrying out foreign production. Multinationals with a lower commitment to foreign markets, i.e. with non-manufacturing activities abroad only, exhibit a higher productivity than exporters but they do not appear to innovate more than the latter. Heterogeneity in productivity is robust to controlling for innovation inputs and outputs, suggesting that the difference in economic performance cannot be entirely attributed to different innovative activities, and that the involvement in international operations can be a distinct channel of knowledge accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the formation, evolution and crisis of the 1989 AT&T-Italtel collaborative venture, which eventually led to a new partnership between the Italian equipment manufacturer and Siemens AG in 1994. This experience is discussed in the more general setting where the partners' mutual advantages from cooperation are defined and evolve over time, in the presence of high information asymmetry and of a turbulent competitive environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Provides information on a case study which analyses a customer-supplier relationships in the information technology market. Illustration of the complexities of vertical coordination processes; Examination of the strategic and organizational criteria used by suppliers and customers; Methodology used in the case study; Discussion on the findings of the case study.

Investigates the impact of foreign presence on the productivity of domestic enterprises in some European firms. Introductions of productivity gaps between foreign and domestic firms; Relationship between the size of technological gaps and growth opportunities induced by foreign investments; Role of domestic absorptive capacity an of coherence between foreign and domestic technology as determinants of virtuous effects of inward investments.

Abstract: This paper applies an open and transparent methodology to construct a composite indicator for the analysis of the diffusion of ICT in the public sector and the development of public e-services across Italian regions. This methodology, based on OECD/EC-JRC Handbook and incorporating experts′ opinion into a Data Envelopment Analysis, will allow us to define a ranking of Italian regions in terms of ICT adoption and of e-service development. Data are obtained by merging four different surveys carried out by Between Co. (2010–2011) and Istat – Italy′s National Bureau of Statistics (2009). We add to extant empirical literature in three ways. First, we offer a comprehensive measurement of advances in digital government that is not circumscribed to a single domain (e.g. administrative procedures of public administrations) but is rather aimed to capture a wide spectrum of public e-services (e-government, e-education, Intelligent Transport Systems, e-health). Second, we tackle a major drawback of existing statistics and benchmarking studies which are largely based on the count of services provided online, by including more sophisticated indicators on the quality of services offered and on back office changes. The results – both in terms of scores and regional rankings – highlight the presence of different patterns of adoption and use of public e-services at the local level. Third, we offer a rich account of the extreme heterogeneity of public e-service development and of the underlying technological and organizational change at the sub-national level, and hence provide a basis for the differentiating policy measures across regions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]