This paper examines the determinants of innovation and the role of innovation in productivity growth, shifts in market share and survival in the Canadian manufacturing sector. The paper presents a model that examines the effect of innovation on plant performance and plant survival. It uses a unique data set that allows us to develop a detailed time profile of plant performance both before and after the introduction of an innovation. We find strong evidence that labour productivity growth is faster and survival rates higher after the introduction of a process innovation. Process innovation is also linked to gain in market shares through its effect on productivity growth. In contrast, product innovation appears to have little impact on plant performance and a negative impact on plant survival. We find that R&D, technology competencies and past innovation are linked to higher rates of innovation. Previous nnovation experience is linked to innovation but previous growth is not.
This paper examines the determinants of innovation and the role of innovation in productivity growth, shifts in market share, and survival in the Canadian manufacturing sector. It presents a model that examines the effect of innovation on plant performance and plant survival, using a unique data set that allows development of a detailed time profile of plant performance both before & after the introduction of an innovation. Both process innovation and product innovation are considered along with their linkages to labour productivity, survival rates, plant performance, and gain in market share. Relationships between innovation and research & development, technology competencies, and previous innovation & growth are also explored.
This study reviews the importance of the manufacturing sector to the Canadian economy. The first part analyzes the sector in seven sections, each of which outlines a different thread related to sectoral performance: the presence of manufacturing industries in the Canadian economy, labour productivity in Canada and in comparison with other countries, employment performance, destinations of manufacturing shipments, production costs, and capital investment by industrial group. The second & final part attempts to explain the similarities & differences found in the performance of individual industries described in part one. It reports on the use of advanced technologies, summarizes connectedness in manufacturing, discusses innovation and human capital issues, and notes major challenges faced by the sector.
This report builds on 2 types of research on the structure and performance of Canadian manufacturing industries. One line addresses industries of domestic producers who serve the small Canadian market in competition with imports and is concerned with the productive efficiency of these industries but not with their short-run responses to international competition. The other line concerns the short-run sensitivity of responses of the manufacturing industries' prices, output, and employment levels to disturbances, focused on responses to domestic disturbances but not international. Using annual data on many individual industries, the study builds a statistical model of adjustments to changes in international competition such as changes in prices and varieties of importable goods, and in Canadian tariffs and the exchange rate. It tracks the effects of those changes on the selling prices of Canadian producers, quantities of imports and exports, and the key input decisions of employment and capital expenditures. It draws conclusions about these adjustment processes for the typical manufacturing industry but also shows how these adjustments vary among sectors and types of industries.
From the Executive Summary: The purpose of this study is to measure and analyse the recent performance of Canadian manufacturing and to examine the extent to which the recent weakness of this key sector of the Canadian economy reflects cyclical factors in Canada and other industrialized countries as opposed to structural problems which are long-term in nature. The analysis proceeds first at an aggregate level in which the performance of the manufacturing sector as a whole is viewed relative to the performance of the overall economy. Then the manufacturing sector is divided into 32 separate industries in order to get a clearer view of Canada's areas of strength and weakness within manufacturing.
Wilks provides a historical background, list of publications, and description of activities for most of the major science initiatives undertaken at the federal level. He surveys a wide range of government documents and monographic and serial science collections used by both faculty and students.