New technology-based firms in the European union: an introduction

This paper introduces the Special Issue on New Technology-Based Firms in Europe. It provides an overview of the issues. The role of smaller firms in the development of Europe's high technology sectors is summarized, as are the policy issues, but the paper mainly discusses the characteristics of European NTBFs and their founders. This includes a review of the evidence with regard to the survival, growth and geographical clustering of NTBFs in Europe, as well as the factors facilitating and inhibiting their creation and development.     

New, technology-based firms in small open economies—An analysis based on the Finnish experience

This paper analyses the roles and impacts of new, technology-based firms (NTBFs) in a small open economy, with empirical data from Finland. It is suggested that in small open economies, NTBFs may fall into a resource trap, which might result in their being relatively less growth oriented than NTBFs in countries where the domestic market is larger. Consequently, in small open economies, the systemic impact of NTBFs could be emphasised rather than their organic growth in terms of the employment that they create.     

Public policy measures to support new technology-based firms in the European Union

This paper provides a review of public policy measures implemented in EU countries to support New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) during the 1980s and early 1990s. It identifies five policy areas and provides a synthesis of the policy developments during this period and an assessment of their effectiveness. The policy areas examined are: Science Parks; the Supply of PhDs in Science and Technology, the relationships between NTBFs and Universities/Research Institutions; Direct Financial Support to NTBFs from National Governments; and the Impact of Technological Advisory Services on NTBFs. Although considered independently, these issues are clearly part of an interdependent `system' of policies and we conclude with an overview of the whole policy area, together with our personal recommendations for its improvement.     

Creative adaptation: the role of new technology based firms in Portugal

This paper reviews two recent research studies on Portuguese New Technology Based Firms (NTBFs). Attention is given to the role and contribution of NTBFs to innovation. The main argument is that, by and large, NTBFs are less concerned with the introduction of major innovations and more with creative adaptive improvements to products and services based upon new technologies first introduced elsewhere. The empirical research found that Portuguese NTBFs are a recent phenomenon associated with diffusion of Electronics and Information Technologies (EIT) during the late 1980s. They perform a wide variety of knowledge-intensive activities, which enhance local users' adoption processes and they are associated with different forms of technology transfer through external linkages. Overall, NTBFs undertake a frequently unobserved role as technology searchers and acquirers that, pushed by idiosyncratic local niche market opportunities, selectively choose among and enhance technologies developed elsewhere, introducing them into the local market.     

Licensing as a commercialisation strategy for new technology-based firms

We investigate licensing as a commercialisation strategy for new technology-based firms (NTBFs) in the biopharmaceutical industry using a combination of survey and database research methods. We found that most firms in our sample were not fully integrated regardless of their company age which is consistent with the picture of NTBFs as agents of technology transfer. Comparing fully and not-fully integrated firms we find differences in the use of licensing strategies. According to Ford and Ryan [Harvard Business Review 59 (1981) 117] fully integrated companies apply licensing for strategic reasons and for financially unattractive projects. Our results provide partial support for this theory.     

Novelty-oriented value propositions for new technology-based firms: Impact of business networks and growth orientation

To perform, new technology-based firms (NTBFs) need to develop value for customers that distinguish them from others in the market. Therefore, the development of novelty-oriented value propositions are important, and may be influenced by several factors. We argue that the propensity to become more novelty-oriented can be influenced by an internal drive to grow (growth orientation) and by external contributions (business networks). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse how business networks and growth orientation effects on the novelty orientation of NTBF value propositions. Based on survey data from 401 NTBFs founded between 2013 and 2015, in the nascent start-up phase novelty-oriented value propositions of NTBFs positively relate to informal (management) networks, as well as founders' attitudes towards growth. Thus, such networks and attitudes from founders should be supported in the very early phases of start-up if novelty orientation is to be preferred as a performance determinant.     

In search of complementary assets: The determinants of alliance formation of high-tech start-ups

Why do new technology-based firms (NTBFs) cooperate? Starting from Teece's [Teece, D.J., 1986. Profiting from technological innovation: implications for integration, collaboration, licensing, and public policy. Research Policy 15, 285-305] conceptual framework and taking advantage of subsequent literature on alliance formation in the resource and competence-based tradition and in the social structure perspective, we derive an empirical model that aims at highlighting the inducements and obstacles that these firms face in alliance formation according to firm-specific characteristics and the nature of the alliance. In particular, a distinction is made between exploitative commercial alliances and explorative technological alliances. The econometric estimates, based on a large sample of Italian young high-tech firms that are observed from 1994 to 2003, provide strong evidence supporting two key intuitions of Teece's work. First, the “combination of specialized complementary assets” appears to be a key driver of the formation of exploitative commercial alliances by NTBFs. More specifically, patent holding affects positively the likelihood to establish commercial alliances, but this propensity is found to rapidly decrease with firm size, suggesting that as long as NTBFs become larger and possess specialized commercial assets their urge for commercial alliances diminishes. Second, following the parallelism set forth by Teece between search for alliance partners and access to external financing, the analysis indicates that potentially beneficial alliances may not take place because of the high transaction costs faced by smaller NTBFs. In this respect, our results clearly support the view that sponsor institutions as public research organizations, venture and corporate venture capitalists may sensibly reduce these costs and that their role crucially depends on both the identity of the sponsor and the type of alliance.     

Innovation in project-based firms: The context dependency of success factors

Innovation management literature typically concerns functionally organized firms. In this paper we investigate innovation management in a different type of firm, the project-based firm. Project-based firms, such as engineering and construction companies, consultancies and system integrators, are service firms that solely execute projects for clients. We focus on new service development projects in these firms. Based on an in-depth study of six projects in four different firms, we develop hypotheses on differences between success factors for development projects in project-based firms and in functionally organized firms. Some of the success factors for functionally organized firms, as described in the literature, appear to be more important in project-based firms, others seem redundant. Our findings suggest that the specific structure and capabilities of project-based firms provide an explanation for these differences.     

Against the odds: Small firms in Australia successfully introducing new technology on construction projects

The methods by which small firms overcome the disadvantages of their size to implement innovation on construction projects are examined here through five Australian case studies. It is found that such methods include working with advanced clients, prioritising relationship-building strategies and using patents to protect intellectual property. Key obstacles to innovation implementation by small firms on construction projects are found to be bias in the allocation of government business assistance and regulatory inefficiencies under federal systems of government. The study’s findings derive from a theoretical framework which emphasises firm capabilities and environment, and innovation typologies. Further research is recommended into the impact of government assistance and regulation on small innovative construction firms.     

Policies for science, technology and innovation: Translating rationales into regional policies in a multi-level setting

Departing from a number of theoretical perspectives from which rationales for science, technology and innovation (STI) policy can be extracted, this paper discusses three questions. First, what rationales for public intervention can be derived from different economic theories, including theories usually associated with spatial dynamics and territorial relationships? Second, what policy instruments or policy-mixes can be associated with the various rationales? Third, what do these theories and associated rationales tell us about the territorial level or levels at which STI policies can usefully be designed and implemented?     

An audit of technological innovation capabilities in chinese firms: some empirical findings in Beijing, China

Recent studies have advocated different technological innovation capabilities (TICs) and discussed their impact on a firm’s competitive performance. This paper introduces a study framework of innovation audit and examines the relevance of seven TICs to building and sustaining the competitiveness of Chinese firms. Empirical data was acquired through a recent study of 213 Chinese firms in Beijing, China. Regression analysis was employed to examine the correlation between TICs and innovation rate, sales growth, and product competitiveness among these firms. The findings verify that R&D and resources allocation capabilities are the two most important TICs. A strong R&D capability could safeguard innovation rate and product competitiveness in large and medium-sized firms, whereas a resources allocation capability would enhance the sales growth in small firms. However, the impact of learning and organising capabilities on a firm’s innovation performance has yet to be investigated.The findings of this paper suggest that Chinese firms should consider a more balanced focus on their TICs’ harmonising enhancement. In order to maintain their sustainable development, effectively plan and implement their innovation strategies as well as enhance their whole innovation capability, Chinese firms should closely relate their TICs to the formulation of technology strategy and harmonisation of innovation and R&D activities.     

Latecomer firms and the emergence and development of knowledge networks: The case of Petrobras in Brazil

This paper addresses the emergence and development of firm-centred knowledge networks within learning and innovation systems in late-industrialising countries. A key contribution of the paper is conceptual and methodological: the development of an original typology of knowledge network properties to trace out changes in the form of networks as they evolve over time. A second contribution consists in providing an example of the application of the typology by examining the emergence and development of a firm-centred knowledge network in the case of Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company over more than 30 years between the late 1960s and the early 2000s. This demonstrates that the properties of Petrobras’ knowledge networks continuously evolved through a succession of stages towards (i) increasing intentionality in the management decision-making underlying network development, (ii) growing complexity and diversity in selected cognitive characteristics, and (iii) greater complementarity in the division of innovative labour between Petrobras and its network partners. These original results from applying the typology, in conjunction with retrospective historical methods, illustrate only one aspect of its potential value in the analysis of knowledge networks in late-industrialising economies: tracking out organisational evolution over long periods of time. Others include the comparative examination of network differences across different circumstances and the analysis of relationships between changes/differences in network properties and other characteristics of learning/innovation systems and their contexts.     

Who participates in R&D subsidy programs?: The case of Spanish manufacturing firms

Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of R&D subsidies to firms has produced mixed results so far. One possible explanation is that firms and project selection rules may be quite heterogeneous both across agencies and across industries, leading to different outcomes in terms of the induced additional private effort. Here we focus on the participation stage. Using a sample of Spanish firms, we test for differences across agencies and industries. Our results suggest that firms in the same industry face different hurdles to participate in different agencies’ programs, that participation patterns may reflect a combination of agency goals, and that patterns differ across high-tech and low-tech industries.     

Concentration on the few: mechanisms behind a falling share of innovative firms in Germany

Innovation activities in the German business sector showed two opposing trends over the past two decades: While total innovation expenditures grew substantially, the number of firms conducting innovation activities fell sharply. In this paper, we explore the mechanisms behind the declining trend in the share of innovation active firms. Considering both input (R&D activities) and output (introduction of innovations), we model innovation decisions as a multi-stage process using continuous-time Markov chain analysis. We base our analyses on a 14-year panel from the German part of the Community Innovation Survey. Our results show that smaller firms and firms in sectors with less innovation competition are more likely to stop innovating. We also show that better financial situation and public funding can mitigate the trend towards a falling share of innovating and R&D-performing firms.     

e-Business usage across and within firms in the UK: profitability, externalities and policy

Using data from the third UK Community Innovation Survey we model the usage of e-business across and within firms in the UK in the year 2000 as a single observation upon an integrated process of inter- and intra-firm diffusion. The intra-firm dimension is a significant extension to standard analysis. The model estimates indicate that the pattern of e-business usage reflects the heterogeneity of firms in terms of size, other innovative activity and labour force skills (generating differences in the payoffs to use) as well as market and non-market intermediated externalities. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

Intermediation and the role of intermediaries in innovation

This paper investigates the issue of intermediation and the role of intermediaries in the innovation process. The aim of this paper is three-fold. Firstly, to review and synthesis the literature in this field; from this to develop a typology and framework of the different roles and functions of the intermediation process within innovation; lastly to try and operationalise the typology within the context of UK using case study material.     

基于创新主体视角的山东创新现状分析

从创新主体角度来看,区域创新体系主要包括知识创新、技术创新和公共服务创新三大部分。区域创新成效的关键就是三者之间的协同创新,然其协同基础就是三者创新水平现状。故本研究通过以区域创新三螺旋为理论框架指导,从高校院所、企业、政府与中介服务三大方面对山东省创新发展现状予以研究。发现山东省仍然是大企业带动创新驱动的模式,传统产业占比高;高等院校等知识创新资源力量强,但区域布局不均衡;政府与中介服务的政策与服务体系较为完善,创新硬平台投入大大高于软平台建设,应加大软平台建设力度。     

Editorial: reflecting on 20 years of Prometheus as a joint effort

Abstract

Australian higher education has undergone radical change aimed at transforming universities into commercial enterprises less dependent on public funding. Despite some significant successes, including dramatic increases in the numbers of domestic and international students, decreased Commonwealth subsidies, and more private sector finance, there are ominous indications that institutional failure is endemic, especially financial accountability. Drawing on various theories of institutional failure, this paper attempts to examine the causes of the current crisis. A fourfold taxonomy of Australian university failure is developed that identifies governance failure, accountability failure, quality failure, and information failure as the primary sources of tertiary education institutional breakdown.     

Yes, now we can: Technological change and the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities

The paper investigates how technological change in an industry influence which individuals will identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. We propose that the introduction of new development tools will change knowledge-barriers to entry because they enable the abstraction of specialized knowledge that was previously needed for development. Empirically we test the argument using data from the web design industry in a Nordic country during the period 1992–2003. We compare the education and experience of founders before and after the introduction of web administration tools in 1998 and find a significant difference, which supports the main thesis of our argument.