Innovation paths and the innovation performance of low-technology firms—An empirical analysis of German industry

This paper analyses innovation paths and the innovation performance of low-technology firms in comparison to medium- and high-technology firms. Firstly, it shows that low-, medium- and high-technology sectors consist of a considerable mix of low-, medium- and high-technology firms. Thus, it is necessary to look at the firm level when analysing how innovation patterns differ depending on the level of R&D intensity. Secondly, the product and process innovation performance of low-technology firms in German industry is analysed based on data from 1663 firms in the German Manufacturing Survey 2006, applying a set of both product and process related innovation output indicators. The empirical results show that low-technology manufacturing firms lag behind their medium- and high-tech counterparts regarding their product and service innovation performance, to a large degree on purely definitional grounds, but that they seem to perform equally well and in some respects even better at process innovation.     

The role of corporate technology strategy and patent portfolios in low-, medium- and high-technology firms

Previous research into technology strategies and patent portfolios has focused on high-technology firms, whereas low- and medium-technology companies have been relatively neglected. Therefore, we analyze how corporate technology strategy and the size and composition of patent portfolios affect the performance of low-, medium- and high-technology firms. Data from 136 European companies are used to examine four hypotheses relating financial performance to technological diversification, technological aggressiveness, patent portfolio size, and patent portfolio quality. The cross-industry sample allows analyzing the different consequences of these strategic parameters in low-, medium- and high-technology firms by considering technological intensity as a moderator. Our first finding is that the positive impact of technological aggressiveness is limited in low- and medium-technology companies. Secondly, technological diversification has a positive effect in high-technology firms and a negative effect in low-technology firms. Thirdly, patent portfolio size has a positive effect only in high-technology firms. Finally, patent portfolio quality has an equally positive influence on all firms’ performance. In part, these results conflict with the findings of previous research into high-technology companies, and they call for rethinking the role of technology strategies and intellectual property portfolios in firms across industries.     

Beyond formal R&D: Taking advantage of other sources of innovation in low- and medium-technology industries

This study deepens our knowledge of critical success factors in the innovation process of low- and medium-technology (LMT) industries. To accomplish this, it explores how the innovation process in LMT firms may depend on non-formal R&D activities and the use of external sources. The empirical analysis is based on a representative panel of Spanish manufacturing firms. The results strongly support the view that non-R&D activities such as design, the use of advanced machinery and training are crucial to understanding the innovation process of any firm. The study finds, however, that the impact of these activities is especially important in LMT industries, particularly for the achievement of product innovations. The empirical evidence also reveals the importance of external sources such as the use of consultants, the hiring of personnel, collaboration agreements and external R&D, with the greatest differences between LMT and high-technology (HT) firms being observed in process innovations.     

Learning through informal local and global linkages: The case of Taiwan's machine tool industry

Most existing studies of successful late industrialization, which draw on findings from high-technology industries, emphasize the need to invest in formal channels of technology acquisition to allow latecomers to catch up. This line of reasoning neglects the fact that in some industries, including low- and medium-technology (LMT) sectors, much knowledge can be acquired by informal means. Through the study of Taiwan's machine tool (MT) industry, this article demonstrates the significance of informal learning activities in LMT industries and the possibility for latecomer clusters to climb the technological ladder through exploiting various local and global informal knowledge linkages.     

中低技术企业的创新模式与创新绩效研究――基于中国制造业创新调查的实证分析

本文利用2009年中国企业创新调查数据,首先对中低技术企业进行界定,并在此基础上分析了中低技术企业与中高、高技术企业在创新模式和创新绩效方面的差异。结果发现：（1）行业内部企业R&D研发强度存在高度的异质性,中低技术行业内存在相当比例的高R&D研发强度企业,中高、高技术行业内同样也存在相当比例的中低R&D研发强度企业。企业创新模式除了存在行业差异,基于企业R&D投入强度的企业类型差异也非常明显。（2）从创新绩效看,相对于同行业内的中高和高技术企业,中低技术企业在产品创新方面表现较差;但在服务创新方面并没有显著差别;在过程创新在某些方面甚至优于中高和高技术企业。     

创新目标、信息来源与创新成功关系实证研究

由于企业自身知识和能力的局限性,创新搜索是其获得所需资源、推动创新发展的有效方式。现有研究表明,企业所采取的创新搜索策略会对其创新成果有显著的影响。采取开放式创新模式能够使企业接触到原本难以获得的资源,并对内部创新的驱动因素产生影响,促进创新的绩效。另外,对企业认知过程的研究也指出了创新搜索广度在消除其认知偏误方面的重要性。当面对创新风险带来的不确定性时,企业可以通过增加创新搜索的广度来有效应对。除了拥有多个创新目标之外,企业也可以通过增加创新信息来源数量来提升创新成功的可能性。本文以创新目标、信息来源与创新成功之间的关系为切入点,主要探讨了创新搜索广度对创新成功的影响程度,检验了创新搜索的"广种"效应。本研究主要回答以下三个问题:首先,企业的创新目标广度是否会提升其创新成功可能性?其次,企业的创新信息来源广度是否会提升其创新成功可能性?另外,创新搜索广度(包括创新目标广度与创新信息来源广度)与企业创新成功之间的关系是否会受到单一依赖性的影响?针对这三个问题,本文通过经济学与统计学相结合的理论分析建立了理论框架,并运用2008年中国企业创新调查数据进行了大样本(共包括30个制造业细分行业的870家企业信息)的实证分析,对创新搜索广度、创新信息来源广度对企业创新成功可能性的作用以及单一依赖性的影响进行了检验,发现并总结出关于我国制造业企业创新搜索"广种"效应的规律。研究发现:企业的创新目标广度与其创新成功可能性正向相关,即企业的创新目标越多,其创新成功可能性越大;企业的创新信息来源广度与其创新成功可能性正向相关,即企业的创新信息来源越多,其创新成功可能性越大;另外,企业的单一信息来源依赖性会负向调节信息来源广度对创新成功可能性的正向作用,但并不会完全抵消其正向影响。替换变量、分组回归等稳定性检验的结果进一步支持了本研究结论的正确性与可靠性。研究结论证明,我国制造业企业中创新搜索确实存在"广种"正效应,无论是增加创新目标还是扩展创新信息来源都对企业创新活动的成功有着显著的正向影响;同时,若企业对于少数创新信息来源依赖性过高,这种单一信息来源依赖性会削弱信息来源广度的正向作用,减小创新搜索的"广种"正效应。     

Innovation patterns and location of European low- and medium-technology industries

Does a specific innovation pattern of low- and medium-low-technology (LMT) industries exist, and if so, can this pattern be the basis for autonomous, economically successful development? This study based on Fourth Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) data finds, as predicted by Pavitt [Pavitt, K., 1984. Sectoral patterns of technical change: towards a taxonomy and a theory. Research Policy 13, 343-373], that LMT industries are characterised by process, organisational and marketing innovations, by weak internal innovation capabilities and by strong dependencies on the external provision of machines, equipment and software. Suppliers are the most important source for their information and knowledge. On the one hand, firms in LMT industries are an essential pillar of advanced industrial regions. On the other hand, an alternative growth path-based predominantly on LMT industries does not appear to exist. LMT industries are shrinking in Western Europe and companies in these industries are relocating to Eastern Europe. In general, regions with a high proportion of LMT industries have a lower gross domestic product, though so do regions with high proportions of high- and medium-high-technology industries. The economic potential of regions specialised in knowledge-intensive services and characterised by high employment rates and qualified employees is higher than that of industrial regions.     

Knowledge integration mechanisms in high-technology business-to-business services vendors

Employing a multidisciplinary approach this paper addresses an important area of how born global high-technology firms develop knowledge integration capability through their internal and external networks. Knowledge integration is noted as a critical capability in the innovation process. Our exploratory study contributes by: presenting evidence from India’s high-technology IT/BPO offshore outsourcing business-to-business (B2B) vendors; adding to the theoretical body of knowledge by identifying the three critical operational routines of learning, market and quality orientations that are critical in developing knowledge integration capability and supporting innovation processes; and develops a theoretical framework for future researchers to test it through survey designs. We conclude by identifying future research and managerial implications for firms operating in such milieus.     

Selective search, sectoral patterns, and the impact on product innovation performance

The shift toward more open and interconnected innovation activities has been a major topic in recent academic and practitioner discussions. Firms must connect their in-house R&D activities with external partners, such as leading customers or universities, to increase the effectiveness of their innovation activities. Hence, management needs to define where to search for valuable knowledge in its environment. In this paper we argue that knowledge search has to reflect the heterogeneity of various knowledge sources with regard to the knowledge they can provide and how these sources can be activated. We hypothesize that search strategies driven by science, suppliers and the product market will contribute differently to innovation success with new-to-market versus imitated products. Moreover, we explore the effect of these types of knowledge search within different sectoral patterns of innovation. Our empirical analysis rests on a sample of almost 5000 firms from five Western European countries. The results support our hypotheses and highlight the potentials and shortcomings of different types of knowledge search.     

Knowledge bases and regional innovation systems: Comparing Nordic clusters

The analysis of the importance of different types of regional innovation systems must take place within a context of the actual knowledge base of various industries in the economy, as the innovation processes of firms are strongly shaped by their specific knowledge base. In this paper, we shall distinguish between two types of knowledge base: analytical and synthetic. These types indicate different mixes of tacit and codified knowledge, codification possibilities and limits, qualifications and skills, required organisations and institutions involved, as well as specific competitive challenges from a globalising economy, which have different implications for different sectors of industry, and, thus, for the kind of innovation support needed. The traditional constellation of industrial clusters surrounded by innovation supporting organisations, constituting a regional innovation system, is nearly always to be found in contexts of industries with a synthetic knowledge base (e.g. engineering-based industries), while the existence of regional innovation systems as an integral part of a cluster will normally be the case of industries-based on an analytical knowledge base (e.g. science-based industries, such as IT and bio-tech). In the discussion of different types of regional innovation systems five empirical illustrations from a Nordic comparative project on SMEs and regional innovation systems will be used: the furniture industry in Salling, Denmark; the wireless communication industry in North Jutland, Denmark; the functional food industry in Scania, Sweden; the food industry in Rogaland, Norway and the electronics industry in Horten, Norway. We argue that in terms of innovation policy the regional level often provides a grounded approach embedded in networks of actors acknowledging the importance of the knowledge base of an industry.     

Evaluating the impact of R&D tax credits on innovation: A microeconometric study on Canadian firms

This study examines the effect of R&D tax credits on innovation activities of Canadian manufacturing firms. Over the 1997-1999 period the Federal and Provincial R&D tax credit programs were used by more than one third of all manufacturing firms and by close to two thirds of firms in high-technology sectors. We investigate the average effect of R&D tax credits on a series of innovation indicators such as: number of new products, sales with new products, originality of innovation, etc. using a non-parametric matching approach. Compared to a hypothetical situation in the absence of R&D tax credits, recipients of tax credits show significantly better scores on most but not all performance indicators. We therefore conclude that tax credits lead to additional innovation output.     

What exactly are technological regimes?: Intra-industry heterogeneity in the organization of innovation activities

This empirical study analyzes the patterns of innovation within and across industries using firm-level survey data from Finland and Denmark. The theoretical starting point is evolutionary theory with its premise that firms in different technological regimes pursue different paths to innovation. Similar modes of behaviour are found in the two datasets, and they closely correspond to those found in earlier studies. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, however, the results show that industries are not at all uniform in terms of how firms innovate; in almost all four- or five-digit NACE industries, three or more different modes of innovation can be identified. This suggests that firms’ strategic differentiation or local search activities overcome pressures in the technological environment towards homogenous behaviour, at least in the short term.     

国际搜索与本地搜索的抉择——企业外部知识搜索双元的创新效应研究

开放式创新已成为企业的主导创新模式,然而已有研究对于企业"是否应该以及是否能够同时实施本地和国际知识搜索战略,以及在什么条件下实施更为有利"的问题并没有给出满意的答案。通过创新性地整合组织双元与外部知识搜索理论,界定了外部知识搜索双元的2个维度(平衡维度和联合维度)的含义,并实证检验了外部知识搜索双元的平衡和联合维度对创新绩效的影响,以及创新复杂性和产业竞争压力对上述影响的调节效应。基于中国219家制造企业的问卷调查结果表明:(1)外部知识搜索双元的平衡维度和联合维度对创新绩效均具有显著正向影响;(2)创新复杂性、产业竞争压力均正向调节外部知识搜索双元的2个维度与创新绩效的关系。     

Innovation performance and channels for international technology spillovers: Evidence from Chinese high-tech industries

This paper empirically investigates the impact of different channels for international technology spillover on the innovation performance of Chinese high-tech industries, using panel data analysis. We report that learning-by-exporting (and importing) promotes innovation in Chinese indigenous firms. Foreign R&D activities by multinational enterprises in a host country significantly affect the innovation performance of domestic firms only when absorptive ability is taken into account. The findings indicate that both international technology spillover sources and indigenous efforts jointly determine the innovation performance of Chinese high-tech sectors.     

知识搜索节奏、知识重用轨迹与企业创新绩效

本文依据组织学习理论和吸收能力理论,从时间维度出发,将企业知识搜索节奏和知识重用轨迹纳入研究框架,分析企业知识搜索节奏、知识重用频次和知识重用时滞对知识搜索量与企业创新绩效间关系的调节作用,运用风能发电行业81家企业2008-2017年的专利数据和负二项回归模型验证相关假设。研究发现,新知识搜索量对企业创新绩效有倒U型影响;知识搜索节奏正向调节知识搜索量对企业创新绩效的影响;知识重用轨迹中,知识重用频次负向调节知识搜索量对企业创新绩效的影响,知识重用时滞负向调节知识搜索量对企业创新绩效的影响。     

Product innovation rumors as forms of open innovation

Prior studies of open innovation have highlighted the effects of different flows of knowledge between firms and external partners—such as flows of software code, technical solutions, or new product ideas—and how firms face a “paradox of openness” about how open to be to external sources while also appropriating value. There are increasingly flows of more provisional knowledge as well, in the form of product innovation rumors exchanged within online technology blogs. Our study objective was to understand how product innovation rumors are used by firms as both inflows and outflows of provisional knowledge and their effect on the innovation process. Using interview data within a high-technology firm whose forthcoming products were the subject of rumor within technology blogs, we develop propositions regarding how inflows of product innovation rumors affect innovation decisions (while addressing concerns about appropriability and intrafirm knowledge flows) and how outflows from firms may affect stakeholders outside the firm (through selective revealing and influence of technology blog editors). Product innovation rumors in part address the paradox of openness by forming an informal means of open innovation alongside formal processes, and we suggest further research opportunities in this domain.     

Research, development, and firm growth. Empirical evidence from European top R&D spending firms

Following recent literature, we present a model of endogenous firm growth with R&D investment as one of the main mechanisms of growth. Our study evidences a positive effect of R&D intensity on the sales growth by using OLS, quantile regressions, and GMM system estimators for a sample of 754 European firms for the 2003-2007 period. We also find this association is more intense in high-growth firms and is especially significant when referring to high-technology sectors. This paper gives empirical support to those recommendations from policy makers and business leaders for maintaining the R&D expenditures especially in high-technology sectors even when facing a recession.     

To trademark or not to trademark: The case of the creative and cultural industries

Research on the use of trademarks by innovating companies is growing. Yet, large research gaps exist in our understanding of the use of trademarks beyond manufacturing and beyond specific service sectors. This study focuses on the creative and cultural industries (CCIs) and argues that these industries represent a salient case to advance research on trademarks. After reviewing the main characteristics of CCIs, a conceptual framework is developed to classify motives to trademark and motives not to trademark for firms in these industries. The paper offers original empirical evidence on the relevance of these motives from survey results on a sample of 486 European firms in five selected CCIs.Results from principal component analysis are used to propose a taxonomy of firms with specific attitudes and strategies towards trademarking. All results are discussed in terms of their implications for using trademarks as the basis for novel economic indicators of product variety and innovation.