The Dependence of Innovativeness on the Local Firm Population—An Empirical Study of German Patents

Local clusters and the co-location of firms are repeatedly related to a high level of innovativeness in the literature. The underlying argument is that firms that are co-located with other firms of the same industry undertake more innovation than “lonely” firms because of spillovers, local labour markets and cooperations. These arguments are tested here for four industries in Germany. To this end, four different hypotheses about the impact of co-location on the innovativeness of firms are formulated and empirically compared. The results show that the innovativeness of firms indeed depends on the existence of other firms in the same region. However, the relationship between co-location and innovation output depends on the industry studied.     

The External Sourcing of Technological Knowledge by US Pharmaceutical Companies: Strategic Goals and Inter-organizational Relationships

This study of the organization of the discovery function by large US pharmaceutical companies (LPCs) examines an important knowledge acquisition strategy—external sourcing of compounds and technologies. Through a critical examination of the “capabilities” thesis in strategic management and of the theoretical conceptualization in organization studies of innovation networks, we undertake an in-depth qualitative analysis of the network relationships LPCs establish with biotechnology firms/public research laboratories. We additionally examine the motivations and degree of strategic intent of R&D managers involved in external knowledge sourcing. The paper identifies the tensions and contradictions in network relationships and indicates how these lead to changes in knowledge sourcing. This qualitative analysis is placed in its industry and technology context. This reveals both the pressures towards and the trends in external knowledge sourcing, as compared with in-house discovery. Extensive interviews with US LPCs and biotechnology firms provide a rare glimpse of how some of the most important actors in global innovation networks handle a significant new innovation strategy.     

Patent and literature statistics – The case of optoelectronics

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of different statistical analyses from patent and literature databases that in combination are helpful for a variety of mostly strategic decision settings in firms. For the case of optoelectronics we assess the patenting and publishing activity of firms and individuals and their citation frequency.The analyses identified leading players in the field, revealed technological dependencies, and the existence of patent clusters as patenting strategies. Co-citation analysis highlighted technological similarities between two firms involved in patent litigation trials. In this science-based technology field individuals combining characteristics of key inventors (a high activity and citation level in patenting) as well as core scientists (a high activity and citation frequency level in publishing) – therefore labelled “R&D dualists” – successfully bridge the gap between science and technology, but are exceptionally rare. Citation-weighted patent counts demonstrated the pivotal impact of one “R&D dualist” in an industrial R&D laboratory, severely affecting the laboratories’ outcome when this individual left. An increasing level of R&D cooperation in particular technological subfields after the individual’s departure could be found. However, patent analysis did not find evidence for long-term competence transfer in these subfields.     

Strategic Thrust of Manufacturing Automation Decisions: A Conceptual Framework

American manufacturing firms increasingly consider automation as the means to increase productivity and improve their competitiveness. However, decisions to automate do not always produce the expected results and lead to further frustration. The so called “islands of automation” are often blamed for such failures and other technological alternatives such as computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) are adopted on a piece-meal fashion. This paper examines the adoption of new technology in general, and die decision to automate in particular, from a strategic perspective. In order to deal with the underlying complexities of automation, a conceptual framework is developed that can guide decision makers through a step-by-step process. Within an experimental analysis context, a decision support system is built that uses the “Expert Choice” cell to test the effectiveness of the introduced framework. The results indicate that the study's method can greatly enhance the decision making capabilities of firms contemplating automation     

Ethics of family planning

The expression, “ethics of family planning,” it is argued, has no firm meaning, and should not be taken to imply that a full set of moral rules and principles governing family planning has been or is likely to be established. A survey is made of recent views on population and economic and social development, and it is argued that, although there is, indeed, no “universal problem” of population, the optimistic — as well as the pessimistic — view of this relationship is open to doubt. It is further argued that “ethics” cannot be imposed on subject matter of population from without: The very identification of a “problem” of population is evaluative from the start. A scheme of analysis to appraise the ethical status of measures to arrest or promote population growth is proposed, and a number of such measures are critically analyzed.     

Keep it Simple: A Companion for Simple Wikipedia?

In this paper, we inquire about some of the ways in which the community around Simple Wikipedia—an offspring of Wikipedia, the notorious free online encyclopedia—manages the online collaborative production of reliable knowledge. We focus on how it keeps its collection of articles “simple” and easy to read. We find that the labeling of pages as “unsimple” by core members of the community plays a significant but seemingly insufficient role. We suggest that the nature of this mode of decentralized knowledge production and the structure of Wiki-technology might call for the implementation of an editorial companion to the community.     

Numerical interpretation of cone crack initiation trends in a brittle coating on a compliant substrate

Finite element analysis is used to interpret trends in experimentally observed critical loads for contact damage in a brittle (porcelain) coating on a compliant (polymeric) substrate. Different forms of cracking in the brittle layer—both “cone” cracking initiating at the surface, and “radial” cracking at the layer/substrate interface—are considered, with varying coating thicknesses.

The resulting predicted critical loads agree qualitatively with the experimentally observed figures. It is postulated that a previously unexplained peak in critical loads for the onset of cone cracking is caused by a transition between differing modes of cone cracking.     

Basic research: Its impact on China's future

Not only have science and technology received growing priority in China's development strategy, but basic research has also received greater attention in the country's policies on science and technology. From Deng Xiaoping's notion that “science and technology are the primary productive force” to the national strategy of “invigorating China through science and education,” China has experienced a deepening and maturing process in understanding the characteristics and values of modern science—especially basic research—and the roles of science in the country's economic and social development.     

Redefining Firm Competencies, Innovation and Labour Mobility: A Case Study in Telecommunication Services

The search amongst large high-technology firms to generate flexible competencies has been paralleled by growing interest in establishing flexible employment relationships with “knowledge workers” and greater labour mobility as a means of meeting the organization's growing diverse strategic requirements. This paper argues that while greater labour mobility may well aid greater flexibility, the consequent break down of internal labour markets as attractive career options for knowledge workers may also lead to the weakening of essential firm competencies. The discussion suggests, that rather than relying exclusively on labour mobility, large firms involved in innovation activity are developing novel employment practices to broaden their scope of knowledge while enhancing internal capability.     

Annealing Textures for Drawability: Influence of the Degree of Cold Rolling Reduction for Low-Carbon and Extra Low-Carbon Ferritic Steels

This work considers the optimization of deep drawing properties by studying the influence of hot rolling conditions, cold reduction rate, and final annealing on the evolution of steel sheet textures. Two steels have been selected: a low-C steel used for enameling applications, and an extra-low-C steel of the interstitial-free type. Results show that the intensity of {111} component—and, consequently, drawability—is considerably higher in the textures of cold-rolled and annealed sheets than in hot-rolled sheets. It is suggested that drawability of sheets annealed after cold rolling improves if greater than conventional reduction rates are used during rolling. Finally, it is shown that, contrary to what has sometimes been claimed, improvements of the “r” coefficient are not accompanied by a “pancake” morphology of the ferrite grains.     

Innovation in Industrial Districts: Evidence from Italy

The aim of this paper is to show that Italian manufacturing firms belonging to Marshallian industrial districts carry out a higher innovative effort than is usually acknowledged. The empirical analysis makes use of a panel of 1,218 district and non-district firms belonging to traditional sectors. Data refers to the years 1992 and 1995. We have estimated an augmented Cobb-Douglas production function. The estimates make it possible to empirically identify three different determinants of firms' productivity: (i) the intentional innovative activity; (ii) the “district effect”; and (iii) the joint district and innovation effect. The results show that firms' membership in industrial districts and product innovations are key factors in explaining the productivity of firms working in traditional Italian sectors.     

Searching Near and Far: Determinants of Innovative Firms' Propensity to Collaborate Across Geographical Distance

The paper explores the relation between absorptive capacity and the propensity to collaborate across geographical distance. The analysis is based on quantitative data from two neighbouring Danish regions on the location of the main partner in product-innovation activities. The findings indicate that the importance of absorptive capacity in relation to collaboration across geographical distance depends on the location of the innovative firm. Firms located in the relatively sparsely populated region are more likely to collaborate with firms located outside the region; and for these firms, the level of absorptive capacity matters for the distance to the collaboration partners—firms with a low level of absorptive capacity tend to collaborate with domestic partners, while those with a high level of absorptive capacity are much more likely to find their main product-innovation partner abroad.     

A Relational Approach to Organization Design

The paper criticizes the currently dominant view of organization forms as “discrete alternatives” and “coherent” set attributes, and proposes a more refined and micro-analytic view of organization forms as particular combinations of coordination mechanisms and rights allocations. This view is relevant for understanding and devising “new” forms and proposing solutions for governing the composite and fast changing systems of today. The view is “relational” as it offers a procedure for devising “superior” configurations as combinations—relations between organizational components—in a quasi-continuous space of possibilities. The approach is sustained by the quantitative methods of network analysis as applied to relations among firm's resources and activities. Theoretically, the approach revisits organization design, integrating classic organization theory tenets with the new inputs provided by organizational economics. Substantively, it is argued that a mix of much differentiated coordination mechanisms is usually superior to the codified, “packaged”, allegedly “coherent”, forms of organization. The procedure presented in the paper is applied to a field experiment in a medium size firm.1     

Sources of Inter-Firm Heterogeneity in Accessing Knowledge-Creation Benefits Within Technology Clusters

We build on recent literature to highlight the distinction between knowledge-diffusion and knowledge-creation benefits of technology clustering and argue that firms located in technology clusters will have differential access to the latter. To explain the antecedents of such differential access, we first argue that clustering gives rise to three knowledge-creation benefits: easier identification of potential knowledge partners with complementary knowledge, easier initiation of knowledge partnerships and increased effectiveness of knowledge partnerships. Subsequently, we develop a conceptual model and propositions that focus on a cluster firm's awareness of knowledge assets inside the cluster, attractiveness as a knowledge partner and ability to benefit from knowledge partnerships to explain differential access by firms to these three knowledge-creation benefits that clustering provides. This study highlights the theoretical significance of distinguishing externality-type benefits of technology clustering from benefits that firms need to actively pursue, and discusses implications for firms' location decisions.     

A typology for drinking driving offenders: Methods for classification and policy implications

Comprehensive arrest histories were obtained for 353 DUI offenders who were referred to a probation and rehabilitation demonstration program. The average number of total offenses was 7.9, with 89% of all tracked offenders having more than one offense. Approximately 63% of all recorded offenses were other types of offenses besides DUI. The overall arrest history profile of the group suggested that many DUI offenders are habitual violators of other laws as well. To identify distinctive arrest profiles within the referral sample, a Q mode factor analysis followed by a discriminant function analysis was used to classify offenders into profile subgroups. Five distinctive subgroups emerged. A “low offense” group was characterized by the lowest average number of overall arrests and also contained all offenders with no arrest besides the index DUI arrest. A “mixed” group had a higher average number of total arrests than the “low offense” group and diverse types of offenses. A young “traffic” group was distinguished by many hazardous moving violations other than DUI. Two smaller and older groups—a “public drunkenness” group and a “license” group—had the highest average number of arrests including DUI, public drunkenness, license violations, equipment violations, disturbance arrests and assault arrests. These subgroups were found to differ on demographic variables and drinker status variables. The “public drunkenness” group was found to have the highest accident rate. Groups were compared to groups found in other cluster analyses. Also, treatment implications were discussed. It was suggested that treatment programs focusing exclusively on changing alcohol consumption behavior are not likely to reduce accident risk for some of the offender groups. For example, it was suggested that effective intervention for the “traffic” group should target driving behavior, whether drunk or sober, rather than focus exclusively on consumption behavior. Other alternatives are also discussed.     

The density deficit in stretching shaped charge jets

A thorough review of the pertinent literature supports the conclusion that there is an unexplained density deficit of at least 6.5%, in the stretching, unparticulated shaped charge jet, after all known sources of error are evaluated and all contributing factors (e.g. heating due to plastic work) are considered. It is suggested that a “vacancy avalanche” mechanism, which is operating only during the highest strain — rate interval, preceding particulation, can generate the high transient vacancy concentrations, required to explain the observed density deficit.     

Interaction of a crack with certain microcrack arrays

Interaction of a crack with microcracks (modelling “damage”) can significantly alter the stress concentration at the crack tip. Certain important effects of interaction—shielding effect (“toughening by microcracking”), amplification effect, influence of the orientations of microcracking and irregularities in its patterns, change of the character of interaction (shielding to amplification and vice versa) with change of the mode of loading, etc.—are demonstrated on several microcrack systems. It appears that these relatively simple systems exhibit the essential features of the crack-damage interactions. Consideration is based on the method of analysis of elastic solids with many cracks proposed recently [Kachanov, Int. J. Fracture 28, R11–R19 (1985); Kachanov, Int. J. Solids Structures (in press)] and briefly presented here.     

Innovation and firm growth over the business cycle

This paper investigates how the macroeconomic business cycle impacts the empirical relation between innovation and firm growth. Based on representative panel data of Swiss firms ranging from 1996 to 2014, the paper finds that firms with innovations based on R&D activities show higher sales growth rates than non-innovative firms in periods dominated by economic recessions. This finding is in line with the idea that recessions play an important role in the adaptation process of the economy towards the innovative. In contrast, the paper finds that firms with innovations based on other, non-R&D innovation activities show higher sales growth rates than non-innovative firms in periods dominated by economic booms. Hence, while firms with innovations based on R&D activities are more resilient to business cycle fluctuations than non-innovative firms, firms with innovations based on other, non-R&D innovations activities are more sensitive to business cycle fluctuations than non-innovative firms.