Innovation and Social Capital: A Cross-Country Investigation

This study explores the impact of social capital on innovation by constructing a more general measure of social capital, which consists of generalized and institutional trust, associational activities and civic norms. We test the hypothesis that social capital has a positive impact on innovation at the national level. After controlling for research and development expenditure and human capital, we find that there is a positive relationship between social capital and innovation. Social capital interacts with entrepreneurship; the strongest relationship is between associated activities and entrepreneurship. This study supports the need to build strong social relationships in today's networked economy.     

Innovation and market regulation: evidence from the European electricity industry

This paper studies the effects of changes in the level of product market regulation on the industry-level innovation intensity in the EU electricity sector during years 1990–2009. In order to test the impact of deregulatory policies on the propensity to innovate in energy technologies, we match data on R&D budgets and European Patent Office patent applications from International Energy Agency and Eurostat Databases with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development indexes of product market regulation. The analysis addresses innovations in the traditional electricity-related technologies, but keeping aside renewable energy technologies. Findings show an increase in patenting activities following market deregulation, measured along three factors: entry barriers, public ownership and vertical integration. In particular, econometric results suggest that policies aimed at reducing vertical integration – i.e. to unbundle networks from energy generation and supply – have a positive impact on innovation activity. Results are robust to the introduction of controls for country-level public R&D expenditures in the electricity field.     

Innovation in the European creative industries: a firm-level empirical approach

This paper explores the innovative performance of firms active in the creative industries (CIs). It identifies potential differentials in various innovation indicators between CI and non-CI young firms and examines drivers of the innovative performance of firms in the creative sectors. Our findings suggest that firms in the CIs outperform those in non-CIs both in terms of product innovation and R&D intensity, but not in terms of process and organisational innovation. Empirical analysis also suggests that the human capital of the founders as well as specific firm characteristics play a significant role in the innovative activity of firms in the CIs.     

Local Nodes in Global Networks: The Geography of Knowledge Flows in Biotechnology Innovation

The literature on innovation and interactive learning has tended to emphasize the importance of local networks, inter-firm collaboration and knowledge flows as the principal source of technological dynamism. More recently, however, this view has come to be challenged by other perspectives that argue for the importance of non-local knowledge flows. According to this alternative approach, truly dynamic economic regions are characterized both by dense local social interaction and knowledge circulation, as well as strong inter-regional and international connections to outside knowledge sources and partners. This paper offers an empirical examination of these issues by examining the geography of knowledge flows associated with innovation in biotechnology. We begin by reviewing the growing literature on the nature and geography of innovation in biotechnology research and the commercialization process. Then, focusing on the Canadian biotech industry, we examine the determinants of innovation (measured through patenting activity), paying particular attention to internal resources and capabilities of the firm, as well as local and global flows of knowledge and capital. Our study is based on the analysis of Statistics Canada's 1999 Survey of Biotechnology Use and Development, which covers 358 core biotechnology firms. Our findings highlight the importance of in-house technological capability and absorptive capacity as determinants of successful innovation in biotechnology firms. Furthermore, our results document the precise ways in which knowledge circulates, in both embodied and disembodied forms, both locally and globally. We also highlight the role of formal intellectual property transactions (domestic and international) in promoting knowledge flows. Although we document the importance of global networks in our findings, our results also reveal the value of local networks and specific forms of embedding. Local relational linkages are especially important when raising capital—and the expertise that comes with it—to support innovation. Nevertheless, our empirical results raise some troubling questions about the alleged pre-eminence of the local in fostering innovation.     

Organizing the Innovation Process: Complementarities in Innovation Networking

This paper contributes to the developing literature on complementarities in organizational design. We test for the existence of complementarities in the use of external networking between stages of the innovation process in a sample of UK and German manufacturing plants. Our evidence suggests some differences between the UK and Germany in terms of the optimal combination of innovation activities in which to implement external networking. Broadly, there is more evidence of complementarities in the case of Germany, with the exception of the product engineering stage. By contrast, the UK exhibits generally strong evidence of substitutability in external networking in different stages, except between the identification of new products and product design and development stages. These findings suggest that previous studies indicating strong complementarity between internal and external knowledge sources have provided only part of the picture of the strategic dilemmas facing firms.     

I'll Find it Where I Can: Exploring the Role of Resource and Financial Constraints in Search Behaviour among Innovators

The search for new knowledge is often driven by problems that firms face in their innovative activities. Although a considerable effort has been made to explore the search for innovation, little attention has been placed on the concept of problemistic search. Indeed, there are only few studies that examine how the challenges that firms face in their innovation processes shape the nature and direction of their search activities. Using the Finnish Innovation Survey, this study explores the impact of different types of problems on the use of internal and external knowledge sources. The results show that firms under resource constraints tend to use external sources of knowledge in their search activities rather than internal ones. However, those firms who are constrained by finance tend to search both internally and externally. The paper explores the implications of these results for theory and future empirical research.     

Patterns of Innovation Capabilities in KIBS Firms: Evidence from the 2003 Statistics Canada Innovation Survey on Services

The aim of this paper is to shed light on complementarities and substitutions between various types of innovation capabilities in knowledge-intensive-based service (KIBS) firms. The data used in this study are the responses of 2,625 innovative firms to the 2003 Statistics Canada Innovation Survey on services. The empirical results suggest the presence of three patterns of complementary innovation capabilities, one pattern of substitute activities and finally, four patterns of innovation capabilities that are independent from each other. Hence, the results suggest the presence of complementarities: first, between internal R&D, external R&D, acquisition of equipment and machinery, and marketing activities; second, between external R&D, acquisition of equipment and machinery, acquisition of external knowledge and marketing activities; third, between acquisition of equipment and machinery, acquisition of external knowledge and marketing activities. Such complementarities lead to the conclusion that, in practice, managers of KIBS firms consider the consolidation of these capabilities jointly instead of separately. The paper also discusses issues related to patterns of capabilities that are substitutes and independent from each other. The results of this study also show significant heterogeneity in the determinants of the different patterns of innovation capabilities.     

Patterns of Innovation in Industrial Districts: An Empirical Analysis

Research has proved how the industrial district model can deliver sustained economic growth and sustains firms' competitiveness. Studies have also shown how spatial proximity helps in the process of knowledge generation and diffusion. Indeed, the literature on industrial districts since the earliest studies has stressed how districts are “loci” where sustained innovation activity is undertaken. However, this innovative dimension of districts' activities has not yet been fully explored. Sufficient theoretical background and empirical evidence as to whether the peculiar socio-economic characteristics of the industrial district model influence firms' innovation performance and the way innovation activity is carried out is lacking. The aim of this paper is thus to explore the determinants of innovation activities in firms located inside and outside industrial districts in the Italian region of Lombardy, investigating whether the district provides a favourable environment for the development of innovations and identify possible competitive advantages.     

Reaching Out and Reaching Within: A Study of the Relationship between Innovation Collaboration and Innovation Performance

A large body of research has thoroughly discussed and examined agglomeration advantages for innovation of geographically concentrated firms. However, there is an increasing awareness that this intellectual tradition tends to overemphasize the role of geographic proximity in the transfer of knowledge between firms and to under-theorize the contribution of nonlocal knowledge flows. With a sample of 143 manufacturing firms from Singapore, this research attempts to answer three interrelated questions: (1) Does local networking effort provide firms with added value above and beyond what is available to them by just “being there?” (2) Does local collaboration contribute more to innovation performance than nonlocal collaboration? (3) What is the joint impact of local and nonlocal collaborations on innovation performance? We find that while local and nonlocal collaborations are statistically indistinguishable from each other in terms of their relative importance, they represent complementary spurs to innovation. Despite the unique research setting of Singapore as a city state, we argue that our findings may be generalizable to geographic systems in other parts of the world.     

Innovation capability: The impact of e-CRM and COVID-19 risk perception

The e-CRM application has currently offered benefits for companies in different business sectors, especially in hospitality industry. The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of e-CRM components (i.e. technology-based CRM, knowledge management and customer orientation) on firms’ innovation capabilities. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire survey conducted in Vietnam. The dataset consists of 213 valid responses by managers. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to examine the causal relationships among technology-based CRM, knowledge management, customer orientation, long-term relationships and innovation capability. The results show that knowledge management, customer orientation and technology-based CRM have positively influence on long-term relationships and innovation capability. Covid-19 risk perception has the role in enhancing the link between long-term relationships and innovation capability. From these findings, this study provides an improved understanding of how knowledge management, customer orientation and technology affect on innovating activities. This study also provides several implications for practice.     

Social Capital and Effective Innovation in Industrial Districts: Dual Effect of Absorptive Capacity

This paper deals with the factors that affect the heterogeneity in the access to knowledge and its exploitation through innovation in firms located in industrial districts. The aim of the study is to analyze the moderating role of the components of the absorptive capacity – identification and combination – in the process that leads firms in industrial districts with social capital to obtain effective innovations through the knowledge acquisition. We have developed the empirical analysis on a sample of 166 firms located in the industrial districts of the footwear industry in Spain. Findings suggest that the firms in industrial districts improve the acquisition of novel and valuable knowledge from external networks of information when they have identification capabilities to explore their potential. The results also indicate combinative capability strengthens the acquired new knowledge to develop and exploit successful innovations.     

What hampers green product innovation: the effect of experience

ABSTRACT

Based on representative firm-level survey data for Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, this study systematically analyses the relevance and drivers of barriers to green product innovation using the example of green energy technologies. ‘Low willingness to pay’, ‘high development costs’, ‘high commercial uncertainty’, and ‘lack of favourable political framework’ are identified as the most important barriers. Moreover, we find that the firms’ innovation experience is an important driver of the level of green innovation barriers. Green innovation barriers are more accentuated for firms with green innovation activity than for firms with no green innovation activity. However, experience from different fields of green innovation and experience from non-green innovation activities help to limit these barriers.     

Economic crisis and company R&D in Spain: do regional and policy factors matter?

The economic crisis which began in 2008 has had a far-reaching impact, including effects on the innovation behaviour of firms. Many companies have reduced their innovation-related activities, although some firms have been more resilient than others. Using a representative microdata panel of Spanish firms, we study the probability of companies abandoning in-house R&D during the crisis and its relationship to regional and policy factors. We find significant regional heterogeneity related to regional economic size and the type of the regional innovation system; regional government R&D support only reduces R&D abandonment rates in regions where a strong system of knowledge exploitation is in place.     

External Knowledge and Innovation Performance in Clusters: Empirical Evidence from the Uruguay Software Cluster

The importance of geographic proximity for innovation has been widely stressed in the cluster literature. Yet, new insights from the inter-organisational network and cluster literatures underline the role of non-local linkages in enabling firms in networks to enhance learning and to innovate. This paper contributes to this literature by examining the importance of local and non-local knowledge networks for the innovation performance of firms in clusters. Our analysis is based on primary data from a survey of 95 software firms clustered in Montevideo, Uruguay. The results highlight that the most innovative firms in clusters heavily rely on non-local knowledge networks. Moreover, the number of indirect local ties to other firms is a better predictor of innovative performance than the number of direct local ties. Finally, our findings confirm the presence of knowledge gatekeepers in clusters and emphasise their role in enhancing innovation in clusters by absorbing knowledge from extra-cluster sources and diffusing it to other local firms.     

The effect of innovation on productivity: evidence from Turkish manufacturing firms

This paper systematically explores the effects of firms’ innovation activities on their productivity changes for Turkish manufacturing firms, differentiating between different typologies of innovation. We employ endogenous switching methodology, controlling for endogeneity and selection bias issues, as well as analysing counterfactual scenarios. The main finding of the study points to firm heterogeneity in terms of propensity both to innovate and to benefit from innovation activities. Our results indicate that all types of innovation activity have positive effects on the productivity of firms when compared with non-innovating firms. We find robust evidence for the differential impact of innovation on firm productivity across different innovation types. Further, this relationship alters across different phases of the economy with respect to the 2008 financial crisis.     

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.     

Service Innovativeness and Innovation Success in Technology-based Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: An Intellectual Capital Approach

This paper analyzes the influence of the three components of intellectual capital (human, social and organizational) and intensity in collaboration with clients on service innovativeness in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). It also includes a discussion on the impact of both service innovativeness and intensity in collaboration with clients on innovation success. An empirical study is conducted on a sample of companies belonging to two technology-based KIBS industries: software and R&D services. The results suggest that the positive effect of human capital on service innovativeness is moderated by intensity in collaboration with clients, being human capital enhanced by organizational and social capital. The effect of social capital on service innovativeness is partially mediated by human capital and also moderated by intensity in collaboration with clients. Finally, service innovativeness positively affects innovation success, while intensity in collaboration with clients has a higher effect.     

关于技术创新问题的若干认识

讨论了科学、技术、工程、产业的本质与含义，研究了科学-技术-工程-产业的知识链，指出技术、工程与经济的关联程度远高于科学与经济的关联程度。文章强调科学与基础研究是资金向知识的转化，而技术创新则是在资本的支持下，使知识通过市场向效益、利润的转化。工程师是新生产力的重要创造者，也是新兴产业的积极开拓者。工程师要面对的是不同层次、不同领域、不同尺度上的技术创新。在经济快速成长时期，应该更加重视工程师的创造性劳动。培养大批工程技术创新人才是推进经济发展、社会进步的必然要求。     

Break on Through: Sources and Determinants of Product and Process Innovation among UK Construction Firms

While construction is often seen as a low‐technology sector, it has witnessed substantial changes in practices, processes, technology and performance over the past 20 years. Understanding the sources of these changes is important for innovation strategy and policy to improve performance within the sector, and because it produces the capital goods—buildings and structures—to enable other sectors to develop. Logistic regression is applied to data from the UK Innovation Survey to examine sources of product and process innovation among construction firms. Results show that working with customers, suppliers and having a broad market orientation can help construction firms break through the confines of their particular industrial context. The paper concludes by exploring implications of these findings for policy and theory and by considering questions for further research.