The main goal of this paper is to determine whether R&D funds are used efficiently in African countries. The innovativeness of a country’s economy is nowadays one of the key factors stimulating the economic growth and competitiveness. Becoming more innovative is important in particular for developing countries, whose governments are developing national innovation strategies (NIS) and assuming a steady increase in research and development spending. Efficient innovation policies are creating conditions for enterprise development and the increase of competitiveness of the country. A calculation of R&D spending efficiency for selected African economies for the years 2009-2017 was carried out using Data Envelopment Analysis methodology, which allows the evaluation of input-output efficiency. Public and private spending on R&D as % of GDP was the selected inputs indicator. The model examines three output indicators: the number of patent applications (per million inhabitants), high-technology exports (% of export), and number of technical and scientific journal articles (per million inhabitants). Among the analyzed countries, those on the efficiency frontier regarding the use of CRS methodology are South Africa and Tunisia. According to VRS methodology, the most efficient nations are South Africa, Tunisia, and Madagascar. The performed analysis has not confirmed our hypothesis regarding the non-proportional relation between higher R&D spending and innovation outputs. Considering limited innovation capacities across African countries, it appears to be reasonable to increase R&D expenditures gradually to achieve better results on the path toward innovationdriven growth and development.
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the existence of firm digitalization and firm internationalization in selected companies in the European Union (EU). The study provides evidence that upper echelon characteristics bring new competences and skills, including digital skills, which are essential for company internationalization in the modern world of turmoil, crisis and uncertainty. The research paper argues that top management team (TMT) characteristics, and particularly digitalization awareness and skills among the senior management, are critical factors for driving success in international markets and for the sustainability of the business. The dataset in this paper includes around one hundred executive and non-executive profiles in selected European countries, distributed in different industrial sectors. The empirical data have been collected from available online secondary sources on private companies in Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The paper’s findings suggest that a relationship exists between TMT digitalization and firm internationalization. Additionally, the paper’s results illustrate that the companies with an on board Chief Information Officer or Chief Digitalization Officer tend to be more international in comparison to those which do not possess these two job positions in their top management.
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