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The purpose of this paper is to explain the effects of innovation, specialisation, qualifications and sectoral structure on the resilience of German regions (municipal level) facing the Great Recession in 2008/2009.

To calculate the effects of various variables on the resilience of German regions against the Great Recession, the authors use quantile regressions. To measure resilience, the authors create a number of indexes representing different parts of the economy: resistance performance index, recovery performance index, shift-share resistance index, shift-share recovery index, manufacturing resistance index, manufacturing recovery index, service resistance index and service recovery index.

The results of this study confirm that locations with employment growth before the crisis and with a good industry structure show better employment dynamics during and after the crisis. The authors find evidence for positive relationship between innovativeness, qualification, the share of the service sector, specialisation and resistance. The authors obtain positive results for related variety and both resistance and recovery. The share of the manufacturing sector only shows a positive relationship with recovery.

The authors expand the existing literature in three aspects: First, instead of using regions as observation units, the authors conduct the analyses on the basis of municipalities and their surroundings. By doing so, the authors reduce the modifiable area unit problem because the authors do not rely on regions defined for administrative reasons. Second, the authors apply quantile regressions to detect nonlinear effects. Third, in addition to the resilience of the whole economy, the authors also study the resilience of the manufacturing and service sectors separately and examine the resilience of the local shift effect.

Book review by Joseph R. Bell. Patzelt, Holger and Thomas Brenner, eds. Handbook of Bioentrepreneurship. New York: Springer, 2008. ISBN 9780387483436

The Handbook of Bioentrepreneurship represents volume 4 in the International Handbook Series on Entrepreneurship.This book is a collection of articles covering the rapidly evolving biotechnology industry.

This paper aims to examine the short-term structure of the impact of R&D investments on turnover growth, indicating differences between tangible and intangible investments. The main questions are whether R&D and capital investments accompany firms' growth in the subsequent periods and how this relationship depends on other characteristics of the firms, such as size and industry. In addition, the authors study the relationship between R&D investments and the autocorrelation dynamics of firm growth.

The paper uses the European Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard as data source. This data source includes 1,000 European companies with information on employees, turnover, sector affiliation and details on capital expenditure and R&D expenditure.

The authors find that R&D activities have, on average, a positive effect on turnover growth, while capital investments show both, positive and negative, relationships with firm growth. The relationship and its temporal structure strongly depend on firm size and industry affiliation as well as whether investments are considered as one-time or permanent activities.

Usually, the impacts of firm characteristics on firm growth are studied without explicitly considering time. Firm characteristics and firm growth are usually measured and examined at the same point in time. In contrast, the study will focus on the short-term structure of the influence of firm characteristics on turnover growth, especially the impact of R&D investments.

This chapter examines the selling practices of street vendors at a popular weekend market in Washington, DC. I discuss the role of social and moral norms in vendors' behavior toward one another, customers, and their work. Vendor success in this marketplace over the long term is influenced not only by their products and sales skills, but also by their understanding and acceptance of an ethical framework partly shaped by stories they tell about each other. As such, this study illustrates the embedded nature of sellers in marketplaces, as opposed to theoretical notions of how abstract individuals are supposed to act in a decontextualized “market.” Furthermore, stories that arise from encounters between vendors and customers add value to the products people buy. Objects in this marketplace, then, gain value not only through the interaction of supply and demand, but also through buyer and seller interaction, which provides a narrative base for future communication.

At the end of the nineteenth century, in the era of the second industrial revolution, falling working hours, rising disposable income, increasing urbanisation, rapidly expanding transport networks and strong population growth resulted in a sharp rise in the demand for entertainment. Initially, the expenditure was spread across different categories, such as live entertainment, sports, music, bowling alleys or skating rinks. One of these categories was cinematographic entertainment, a new service, based on a new technology. Initially it seemed not more than a fad, a novelty shown at fairs, but it quickly emerged as the dominant form of popular entertainment. This paper argues that the take-off of cinema was largely demand-driven, and that, in an evolutionary process, consumers allocated more and more expenditure to cinema. It will analyse how consumer habits and practices evolved with the new cinema technology and led to the formation of a new product/service.