Government R&D subsidies and international competitiveness of labor-managed firms

The literature postulates that government subsidization of strategic R&D activities of profit maximising firms (PMFs) increases their shares in international markets. Will this also hold for labor-managed firms (LMFs) which are owned by employees and aim to maximize the profit per labor? This pa...

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Main Authors: Jerry C. Ho, Viet-Ngu Hoang, Clevo Wilson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021-02-01
Series:Heliyon
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021001596
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author Jerry C. Ho
Viet-Ngu Hoang
Clevo Wilson
author_facet Jerry C. Ho
Viet-Ngu Hoang
Clevo Wilson
author_sort Jerry C. Ho
collection DOAJ
description The literature postulates that government subsidization of strategic R&D activities of profit maximising firms (PMFs) increases their shares in international markets. Will this also hold for labor-managed firms (LMFs) which are owned by employees and aim to maximize the profit per labor? This paper provides a theoretical model that examines how such governmental interventions can help LMFs in their home countries to compete better with PMFs in international markets. Our model shows that in most, but not all cases, investing more in R&D activities benefits LMFs by increasing their shares in international markets and decreasing the market share of their competitors. The optimal government R&D subsidy or tax for LMFs depends on the R&D elasticity of LMFs as well as how their competitors react to R&D investment. In contrast, the optimal government R&D subsidy for PMFs depends solely on the slope of the R&D reaction curve of their competitors. Our results present useful policy implications for those governments that seek ways to support LMFs - or more broadly cooperatives - to attain more sustained growth given their advantages over PMFs in the context of sustainable development.
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spelling doaj.art-ad17e462a6914f67a769ee1f61e8e1922022-12-21T22:56:16ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402021-02-0172e06054Government R&D subsidies and international competitiveness of labor-managed firmsJerry C. Ho0Viet-Ngu Hoang1Clevo Wilson2School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, AustraliaInternational School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, VietnamSchool of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia; Corresponding author.The literature postulates that government subsidization of strategic R&D activities of profit maximising firms (PMFs) increases their shares in international markets. Will this also hold for labor-managed firms (LMFs) which are owned by employees and aim to maximize the profit per labor? This paper provides a theoretical model that examines how such governmental interventions can help LMFs in their home countries to compete better with PMFs in international markets. Our model shows that in most, but not all cases, investing more in R&D activities benefits LMFs by increasing their shares in international markets and decreasing the market share of their competitors. The optimal government R&D subsidy or tax for LMFs depends on the R&D elasticity of LMFs as well as how their competitors react to R&D investment. In contrast, the optimal government R&D subsidy for PMFs depends solely on the slope of the R&D reaction curve of their competitors. Our results present useful policy implications for those governments that seek ways to support LMFs - or more broadly cooperatives - to attain more sustained growth given their advantages over PMFs in the context of sustainable development.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021001596DuopolyCooperativesLabor-managed firmsProfit-maximizing firmR&D subsidy
spellingShingle Jerry C. Ho
Viet-Ngu Hoang
Clevo Wilson
Government R&D subsidies and international competitiveness of labor-managed firms
Heliyon
Duopoly
Cooperatives
Labor-managed firms
Profit-maximizing firm
R&D subsidy
title Government R&D subsidies and international competitiveness of labor-managed firms
title_full Government R&D subsidies and international competitiveness of labor-managed firms
title_fullStr Government R&D subsidies and international competitiveness of labor-managed firms
title_full_unstemmed Government R&D subsidies and international competitiveness of labor-managed firms
title_short Government R&D subsidies and international competitiveness of labor-managed firms
title_sort government r d subsidies and international competitiveness of labor managed firms
topic Duopoly
Cooperatives
Labor-managed firms
Profit-maximizing firm
R&D subsidy
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021001596
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