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This paper explores the decision of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in official standard setting alliances. Based on micro data of German firms in the electrical engineering and machinery industry, we show that innovation-related variables follow the predictions of our hypotheses. Research and development (R&D) intensity exhibits an inverse U-shaped relationship on the likelihood to join alliances. The positive relation suggests that SMEs aim to access the knowledge of larger firms whereas the negative relationship indicates that SMEs exceeding a certain threshold of R&D activity are reluctant to participate in standardization because their knowledge is too essential to disclose to competitors. The importance to access external knowledge via standardization committees is underlined by a positive correlation with the relevance of incoming knowledge spillovers and a negative correlation with the relative size of companies' patent portfolios. Besides these variables, we also explore the traditionally considered factors for alliance formation and show that firm size and export intensity are positively correlated with participation.
We use a new database of food producing firms to explain different outcomes of third party certification audits across firms. The database from the retailer-initiated certification scheme of the International Featured Standard (IFS) includes auditing reports from more than 13,000 firms producing in 96 countries over the period 2011 to 2013. Information on each firms' conformance with the private standard require-ments as well as company specific characteristics such as branch, region, past experience with the standard and firm size is provided. While the previous literature emphasizes the role of auditor independence for differing audit results, we suggest that company specific variables play an important role. In our empirical analysis, we find a U-shaped relationship between firm size and performance: microenter-prises and large companies are more likely to conform to the requirements of the standard than small to medium sized companies – confirming our predictions from organizational theory. We conclude our research with suggestions for further re-search.
We base our paper on data from a global company survey of certified companies carried out by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) in 2010/11. We use multivariate Probit and ordered Probit models to analyze how company internal and external factors influence the perception of benefits from accredited certification. Benefits from accredited certification are divided into added value for the organization, increased sales and regulatory compliance. As for company external factors, we find that benefits from certification are higher for companies that went through a challenging certification process, had a competent certification body team, and are aware of the importance of accreditation. Internal factors are related to different motives for seeking certification. We find that the benefits from accredited certification are largest when companies become certified in order to improve their own business performance. Dividing our sample in high-income and middle income countries shows that the latter put more emphasis on company internal improvement through certification and are more likely to benefit from certification when they employ an external consultant. Finally, we can show that benefits are unequally distributed among companies. That is, smaller companies have a lower probability to benefit from certification compared to larger companies.
Using a new database on Standards in China, we estimate the impact of voluntaiy and mandatory Standards - either harmonized to international norms or purely domestic — on Chinese food exports. The data covers seven Chinese products over the period 1992-2008. We find that Standards have a positive effect on China's export performance, as the benefits to Standardization in terms of reducing potential Information asymmetiy and signaling enhance food safety and quality in foreign markets seem to surpass compliance costs. Our estimation results Show that the positive effect of Chinese Standards is larger when they are harmonized to international measures. The results suggest that there are clear benefits to China’s Steps to base their domestic Standards and regulations on international measures.
Using a new database on standards in China, we estimate the impact of voluntary and mandatory standards – either harmonized to international norms or purely domestic – on Chinese food exports. The dataset covers seven Chinese products over the period 1992–2008. We find that standards have a positive effect on China's export performance, as the benefits to standardization in terms of reducing potential information asymmetry and signaling enhance food safety, and quality in foreign markets seem to surpass compliance costs. Our estimation results show that the positive effect of Chinese standards is larger when they are harmonized to international measures. The results suggest that there are clear benefits to China's steps to base their domestic standards and regulations on international measures.
El sólido vínculo entre las instituciones sociales de control de la calidad y la innovación no siempre resulta obvio. En los párrafos que siguen se sostiene que los servicios de normalización, metrología, evaluación del cumplimiento de las normas y acreditación prestados por la Infraestructura Nacional de la Calidad (INC) son grandes propulsores de nuevos avances sociales y tecnológicos. Todos los elementos de la infraestructura de la calidad ayudan a la sociedad a hacer frente a distintos desafíos en un entorno cambiante, mediante la creación y difusión de nuevas tecnologías.