Research usually finds a positive size-efficiency relationship, but few studies focus on sectors dominated by small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). This paper fills this gap by analyzing this relationship in the German mechanical engineering industry sector, which is both successful and...

Unternehmen in den entwickelten Volkswirtschaften stehen unter großem Wettbewerbs- und Innovationsdruck. Makroökonomische Untersuchungen zeigen, dass Investitionen in sogenanntes wissensbasiertes Kapital (Knowledge Based Capital - KBC) eine wichtige Voraussetzung sind, um diesem Druck...

Companies invest in research and development (R&D) to safeguard their competitive ability and increase productivity. Using extensive company data for Germany, the study shows that manufacturing companies that engage in R&D activities and that are located in a central urban agglomeration are...

Unternehmen investieren in Forschung und Entwicklung (FuE), um ihre Wettbewerbsfähigkeit zu sichern und die Produktivität zu erhöhen. Mit umfangreichen Unternehmensdaten für Deutschland kann hier gezeigt werden, dass forschende Industrieunternehmen in zentralen städtischen...

In Germany, the productivity of professional services, a sector dominated by SME, declined by 40 percent between 1995 and 2014. Similar developments can be observed in several other European economies. Using a German dataset with 700,000 firm-level observations, we analyze this largely...