Innovation, Reallocation and Growth

Daron  Acemoglu; Ufuk  Akcigit; Harun  Alp; Nicholas  Bloom; William R. Kerr

Article | American Economic Review | Forthcoming

Innovation, Reallocation and Growth

by Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Harun Alp, Nicholas Bloom and William R. Kerr

Abstract

We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth, and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A new and central economic force is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using U.S. Census microdata on firm-level output, R&D, and patenting. The model provides a good fit to the dynamics of firm entry and exit, output, and R&D. Taxing the continued operation of incumbents can lead to sizable gains (of the order of 1.4% improvement in welfare) by encouraging exit of less productive firms and freeing up skilled labor to be used for R&D by high-type incumbents. Subsidies to the R&D of incumbents do not achieve this objective because they encourage the survival and expansion of low-type firms.

Keywords: entry; Growth; industrial policy; innovation; R＆D; Reallocation; selection; Market Entry and Exit; Growth and Development; Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; Performance Productivity;

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Citation:

Acemoglu, Daron, Ufuk Akcigit, Harun Alp, Nicholas Bloom, and William R. Kerr. "Innovation, Reallocation and Growth." American Economic Review (forthcoming).

The global race for talent is on, with countries and businesses competing for the best and brightest. Foreign talent has transformed U.S. science and engineering, reshaped the economy, and influenced society at large. But America is bogged down in thorny debates on immigration policy, and the world around the United States is rapidly catching up, especially China and India. The future is quite uncertain, and the global talent puzzle deserves close examination. This book combines insights and lessons from business practice, government policy, and individual decision-making to give voice to data and ideas that should drive the next wave of policy and business practice.

Article | Harvard Business Review

Navigating Talent Hot Spots

William R. Kerr

Innovation clusters like San Francisco and Boston have long had an outsize impact on the global economy, and their influence keeps growing. In 2017, for instance, America’s ten largest tech hubs accounted for 58% of U.S. patents. Globally, cities such as Tokyo, Paris, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Seoul produced a similar proportion. The increased geographic concentration of innovation activity poses a challenge for firms based in suburban industrial parks. To stay relevant, they need to tap into urban hotbeds, but setting up operations there can be extremely expensive. In his work on global talent flows, Harvard Business School’s Kerr has seen organizations try three solutions: At one extreme, they can relocate their headquarters to a hub, as GE recently did (but make them much smaller). A less expensive strategy is to create an innovation lab or corporate outpost in a talent cluster, as Walmart did with Walmart Labs. The most conservative strategy is to run executive retreats and immersions in talent clusters—a tactic Vodafone uses effectively. These three options aren’t mutually exclusive. Given the need to stay in touch with multiple clusters, companies may want to try them all. Each one involves substantial risks that executives must manage. But together they offer a good playbook to firms that are finding themselves outside the action as the clout of a handful of cities grows.

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Innovation and Invention; Urban Scope; Industry Clusters; Innovation and Management;

Citation:

Kerr, William R. "Navigating Talent Hot Spots." Harvard Business Review 96, no. 5 (September–October 2018): 80–86. View Details

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The case opens in 2017 with two of the five co-founders of MISHA telling the company’s CEO Michal Portz that they believe it is time for the global venture to shut down its operations and cease investments. Portz and another co-founder believe MISHA can still work.
The case describes the origins of the ready-to-use capsule solution for shisha smokers and the evolution of MISHA from idea to product design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. Consequent mishaps slow down the performance of MISHA, and after five years of the product being in the market and four financing rounds, numbers are far behind what they were in the business plan. The case explores the pivots the company goes through. The central dilemma is this: should the cofounders pull the plug on the company or invest more time and money to try to turn it around? When and according to which criteria should Portz make such a decision?

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Innovation, Reallocation and Growth

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