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This article analyzes the impact of the national culture, the dependence of the sector of activity on human capital, and the multinational character of the firm involved, on the degree of implementation of high performance work practices (HPWPs) in Ibero-American companies.

This quantitative study results from a survey of 614 Ibero-American firms, in 6 different countries. Multiple regressions were performed to test the hypothesis proposed.

HPWPs for employee recruitment and selection have been frequently implemented in Ibero-American countries. Three factors, i.e. national culture, degree of multinationality, and degree of dependence of the sector of activity on human capital, have a strong influence on the degree of implementation of HPWPs in general, at different degrees. For example, recruitment and selection practices are conditioned by the degree of multinationality, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance, while they are not influenced by masculinity and by the sector of activity.

HR managers must align the design and execution of HPWPs with the national culture, and with the characteristics of the sector of activity, they belong to. Domestic companies should also aspire to achieve the higher standards of multinational companies for specific HPWPs.

This study, to the authors’ best knowledge, is the first to provide insights into the influence of the three factors mentioned above on the degree of implementation of HPWPs in Ibero-American firms, using multiple regression analysis. The authors examine in this article a larger set of HPWPs than does most of the existing empirical literature.

Most developing countries are characterized by large informal sectors. A substantial proportion of firms in these countries began operations in the informal sector, eventually becoming formal. The purpose of this paper is to study whether, after formalization, firms that began operations in the informal sector are more or less likely to use intellectual capital in the form of disembodied technology licensing than firms that began operations in the formal sector. The moderating roles of being a downstream firm, age and the country’s per capita income are also analyzed.

The effect of initial informality on the probability of licensing is estimated using firm-level data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey, conducted in several Latin American countries in 2006–2017.

Formal firms that began informally are less likely to use licensed technology, suggesting the existence of long-run effects of informality. The effect of initial informality is more negative among downstream firms.

The analysis uses cross-sectional data. Unobservable firm fixed effects could be controlled for using longitudinal data.

Initial informality affecting the innovation strategies of firms should be considered when designing policies that incentivize formality.

If, in light of the results of this analysis, policies are designed which foster a better allocation of resources, there will be a tangible impact in the lives of many people in developing countries.

This is the first paper that analyzes the relationship between initial informality status and technology licensing, a relevant channel for the international diffusion of technology.

This paper takes a closer look at the way firms combine human resources from different departments by analyzing firm-level data obtained from a series of innovation surveys conducted in Colombia by Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE). In particular, the authors inquire into whether there are differences in innovation performance between firms that combine human resources from different departments and firms that choose not to do so.

The authors apply a complementarity test between firms that combine human resources from different departments and firms that choose not to do so. As performance variables, the authors consider the propensity to innovate, the number of new innovative products that the firm introduces, the proportion of sales coming from products new to the firm and sales from new products as a percentage of current innovation expenditures.

The authors find that firms with an internal research and development (R&D) department have a better innovation performance, but the authors do not find evidence of the existence of complementarity between workers in R&D and workers in other departments, and the authors find some evidence that suggests substitutability in the case of product innovations.

This paper provides managers with insights about how to deploy employees to improve firm innovation performance of employees.

This paper combines innovation literature with human resources management literature and applies a robust methodology to data not previously tested for the same purposes.

Este artículo mira detenidamente la manera en que las empresas colombianas combinan recursos humanos de diferentes departamentos analizando datos de empresas obtenidos de una serie de encuestas sobre innovación realizada en Colombia por el DANE. En concreto, los autores se preguntan si existen diferencias en el desempeño de innovación entre las empresas que combinan recursos humanos de diferentes departamentos y aquellas que eligen no hacerlo.

Los autores aplican una prueba de complementariedad entre las empresas que combinan recursos humanos de diferentes departamentos y aquellas que eligen no hacerlo. Como variables de desempeño, los autore toman la disposición a innovar; número de nuevos productos innovadores que la empresa introduce, la proporción de venta que ingresa por productos nuevos de la empresa, y venta de nuevos productos como porcentaje de gastos actuales de innovación.

Los autores encuentran que las empresas con un departamento de I&D tienen mejor desempeño de innovación, pero no encuentran evidencia de complementariedad entre trabajadores de I&D y trabajadores de otros departamentos. Los autores encontran alguna evidencia que sugiere sustitución en el caso de innovación de producto.

Este artículo combina literatura proveniente del área de innovación con literatura del área de gestión de recursos humanos y aplica una metodología robusta a datos que no han sido analizados previamente con este propósito.

Este artículo ofrece a los gerentes y directivos una mirada distinta sobre cómo desplegar colaboradores en las distintas áreas para mejorar el desempeño de innovación de las firmas.