Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Science & Technology, Technology, Management, Operations Research & Management Science, Business & Economics, R&D output efficiency, Space industry, Clusters, R&D specialisation, Anchor firms, Public R&D capacity, PUBLIC RESEARCH, NETWORK-DEA, FIRM SIZE, HIGH-TECH, INNOVATION, KNOWLEDGE, PERFORMANCE, PRODUCTIVITY, TECHNOLOGY, COLLABORATION, 0102 Applied Mathematics, 1503 Business and Management, 1505 Marketing, Operations Research, 3503 Business systems in context, 3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour

Abstract:

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Dynamic slacks-based data envelopment analysis is applied to measure output performance efficiency of space R&D active private firms. Fractional logit panel analysis is used to identify associations between this firm level R&D output efficiency and space industry level R&D specialisation, presence of anchor firms, and public R&D capacity within geographical clusters. Primary data collected for the entire population of space R&D active firms in Belgium for the period 2011–2015 reveals that an environment specialized in the focus firm's space activities exerts a positive influence on R&D output efficiency. The public space R&D capacity and the presence of space anchor firms within the cluster do not influence R&D output efficiency. Firm age, a mixture of space and non-space R&D, and larger amounts of public funding positively affect R&D output efficiency. These findings should be seen in a context of a space industry dominated by SMEs and in a five year time-span.