Strategic knowledge management, innovation and performance

Our aim is to shed light on the consequences of knowledge management (KM) strategies on firm's innovation and corporate performance. Organisations are not aware of the real implications that KM may have. Based on an empirical study consisted of 310 Spanish organisations and structural equations modelling, results show that both KM strategies (codification and personalisation) impacts on innovation and organisational performance directly and indirectly (through an increase on innovation capability). Also, findings demonstrate a different effect of KM strategies on diverse dimensions of organisational performance. Our conclusions may help academics and managers in designing KM strategic programs in order to achieve higher innovation, effectiveness, efficiency and profitability.     

The reconfiguration of National Innovation Systems—the example of German biotechnology

The concept of the National System of Innovation (NSI) has been applied in order to analyze the interrelation of institutions and technological development. It has been diversified as a growing number of studies recognized the emergence of autonomous innovation systems at various territorial levels. Focusing on German biotechnology, this article takes an alternative perspective arguing that functions of the NSI became part of a multi-level governance system. By proposing a multi-level approach, which directs on the dynamic reconfiguration of NSIs towards the subnational as well as the international level, we are trying to bridge the gap between innovation system approaches that analytically highlight one specific territorial level only.     

China's innovation policies: Evolution, institutional structure, and trajectory

China has transformed itself from a planning to a market-oriented economy over the past three decades and has sustained a fairly long period of rapid economic growth, to which the contributions from innovation in science and technology (S&T) have become increasingly important. Then, how have China's innovation policies evolved to reflect the changing and supposedly better understanding of innovation by China's policy makers? The paper tries to answer this question through a quantitative analysis of 287 policies issued by China's central government agencies between 1980 and 2005 and of 79 policies introduced between 2006 and 2008 to implement the Medium- and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology (2006-2020). China has shifted its S&T and industrial policy-centered innovation strategy and has pursued a series of better coordinated, innovation-oriented economic and technology initiatives that give greater attention to a portfolio of policies that include critical financial, tax, and fiscal measures. There has been a gradual departure from the pattern in which innovation policies are formulated by one single government agency, therefore steering China to a different and probably more promising innovation trajectory.     

External knowledge sourcing in biotechnology through acquisition versus alliance: A KBV approach

Knowledge sourcing is important for firms, especially in fast-paced industries. However, few studies explore the effects of knowledge-based predictors on the comparative choice of employing acquisitions versus alliances for sourcing external knowledge. This study extends the limited existing research on this topic. It simultaneously examines the effects of knowledge domain attributes, seeker and source experience-based knowledge, and dyad knowledge similarity and digestibility on whether a firm chooses an acquisition or alliance when sourcing external knowledge. Data is comprised of 209 research-driven acquisitions and alliances of biotechnology firms based in North America. Our findings reveal that external knowledge sourcing through acquisition is more likely when the knowledge domain is more complex and valuable. Acquisition is also preferred when the seeker has greater acquisition experience and when the source has accumulated a moderate level of alliance experience. Alliance, in contrast, is the chosen mode for accessing external knowledge when the knowledge is high in specificity and when the seeker has prior alliance experience. In addition, increasing similarity and digestibility of the dyad's knowledge bases strengthen the relationship between knowledge value and the probability of acquisition versus alliance. These results extend understanding of how firms decide to augment their knowledge resources in a knowledge-intensive industry. They also demonstrate that a multilevel KBV approach emphasizing knowledge characteristics uncovers important predictors of strategy and structure in research-driven organizations.     

Codified-tacit and general-specific knowledge in the division of labour among firms: A study of the software industry

This paper explores the organisation and codification of knowledge in software firms. It analyses various economic incentives to codification, including the need to improve the productivity and quality of software production and the networks of inter-firm alliances.The paper examines the experience of five Italian software firms specialising in software packages and services. It compares their capabilities, main sources of tacit knowledge, specific incentives to invest in knowledge codification and the formal development methodologies and quality control systems adopted. Finally, the paper analyses two distinct technological collaborations that two of these firms have recently established.     

Contemporaneous peer effects,career age and the industry involvement of academics in biotechnology

This study explores the role of contemporaneous peer effects in driving an academic's involvement with industry. Specifically, we examine the influence of workplace peers and personal collaborators and how these effects are moderated by the career age of the scientist. Moreover, we look at situations in which both types of social influence are incongruent and the academic is faced with “dissonance”. Based on survey data of 355 German academics in the field of biotechnology and publication data from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), we find that the scientist's involvement with industry increases with the orientation of the scientist's department toward industry (“localized peer effect”). This effect turns out to be moderated by the scientist's age, such that the localized peer effect decreases with age and finally turns negative for very senior scientists. Moreover, we find that a scientist's involvement increases with the industry orientation of the scientist's co-authors (“personal peer effect”), irrespective of the scientist's age. In case both types of social influence are incongruent, younger scientists will revert to localized norms while more experienced scientists will orient themselves more toward their personal collaborators.     

创新网络技术多元化、知识基础与企业创新绩效

在新一轮科技革命浪潮下,企业组建创新联合体成为大势所趋。合作创新网络中的多元化技术已经成为企业创新的关键外部资源,但关于创新网络技术多元化如何影响企业创新绩效的研究仍然缺乏,且现有研究往往忽略企业内外部资源的不同组合对企业创新绩效可能产生的差异性影响。文章融合社会网络理论、知识基础理论与动态能力理论,依据信息技术产业上市公司联合申请专利数据构建合作创新网络,采用面板数据随机效应负二项回归法,从个体网络视角分析创新网络技术多元化影响企业创新绩效的权变因素与内在机制,检验了一个被中介的调节效应模型。研究结果表明：创新网络技术多元化正向影响企业创新绩效;企业知识基础深度正向调节创新网络技术多元化与企业创新绩效的关系,而企业知识基础宽度的调节效应并不显著;企业知识基础深度对创新网络技术多元化与企业创新绩效关系的调节通过吸收能力的中介实现。研究结论对企业技术创新具有重要的理论及现实指导意义。     

Schumpeterian innovation and entrepreneurs in capitalism: A case study of the U.S. biotechnology industry

This paper uses the theoretical framework developed by Joseph Schumpeter to examine the first ten years of the U.S. biotechnology industry. The role of the entrepreneur, scientist/inventor, manager and capitalist are distinguished. There is a discussion of the obstacles the small firms have had to overcome to create a “New Economic Space” in the marketplace. It is argued that the earlier Schumpeter of The Theory of Economic Development and Business Cycles emphasizing the role of small firms more accurately describes the U.S. biotechnology industry in 1985, than Schumpeter's later work Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy which postulated that the large established firms have preempted the role of small firms in innovation. A discussion of the role of large established firms and the small entrepreneurial firms presents the tensions inherent in the “cooperative” arrangements between these two types of business enterprises. The role of small biotechnology firms in reducing these innovations to practice and in their ability to continue to grow demonstrates that the independent entrepreneur recognized by the early Schumpeter has been very active in the biotechnology industry.     

Currents and sub-currents in innovation flows: Explaining innovativeness using new-product announcements

The creation of new knowledge is a haphazard process: not every sector in an economy is equally involved. The effect of industry structure on innovativeness has been a focus of attention for a long time by both academics and policymakers. In a much quoted article, using unique data - new-product announcements - Acs and Audretsch [Acs, Z.J., Audretsch, D.B., 1988. Innovation in large and small firms: an empirical analysis. American Economic Review 78(4), 678-690] identified several characteristics of industry structure and their effects on innovativeness. By analyzing a new and more consciously compiled database, we re-examine their original claims. Our results largely support their findings: industry concentration and degree of unionization for instance hamper innovation; skilled labor promotes it. Our findings diverge in one significant respect from theirs: we suggest that the large firms do not contribute more to an industry’s innovativeness than small firms. At the industry level, we find strong support for the Schumpeter Mark I perspective of creative destruction by small firms rather than creative accumulation by large firms. In addition, we show that less dedicated innovators prove more susceptible to firm-external industry factors than more committed innovators. An unfavorable competitive environment decreases the likelihood that less successful innovators will announce new products.     

The geography of opportunity: spatial heterogeneity in founding rates and the performance of biotechnology firms

One of the most commonly observed features of the organization of markets is that similar business enterprises cluster in physical space. In this paper, we develop an explanation for firm co-location in high-technology industries that draws upon a relational account of new venture creation. We argue that industries cluster because entrepreneurs find it difficult to leverage the social ties necessary to mobilize essential resources when they reside far from those resources. Therefore, opportunities for high tech entrepreneurship mirror the distribution of critical resources. The same factors that enable high tech entrepreneurship, however, do not necessary promote firm performance. In the empirical analyses, we investigate the effects of geographic proximity to established biotechnology firms, sources of biotechnology expertise (highly-skilled labor), and venture capitalists on the location-specific founding rates and performance of biotechnology firms. The paper finds that the local conditions that promote new venture creation differ from those that maximize the performance of recently established companies.     

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.     

Scientific foundation, organization structure, and performance of biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms

Technologists seek to advance practical applications of science while scientists seek to advance knowledge which may or may not have a practical application. Firms with a stronger basic science focus, e.g. biology and chemistry, seek to advance their scientific knowledge foundation in addition to developing and selling innovative products. Firms with a more highly applied science foundation (medicine, engineering, etc.) prioritize the development and sale of innovative products. Combining an Absorptive Capacity (AC) approach with Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) this study explores and explains how firms gain knowledge and perform given their scientific focus.Findings indicate that firms with a stronger basic science orientation are less profitable than firms with a stronger applied science orientation. Applied science firms had more acquisitions and cooperative organizations but both types of firms were more likely to acquire other firms in their quest to build knowledge stores rather than partner. Partnerships with universities were more prevalent among basic science firms than with applied science firms.     

The impact on innovation performance of different sources of knowledge: Evidence from the UK Community Innovation Survey

This paper considers two main categories of knowledge sources and their impact on the innovation performance of enterprises: own-generation through R&D versus knowledge transfers via bought-in resources for innovation purposes, external collaborations on R&D, and internal sources within the company. The national and international dimensions of both internal networks and external collaborative agreements are explored, as is the interaction between R&D and other sources. Data from two UK Community Innovation Surveys allow for the lagging of relevant variables. Our results suggest that, while intra-company knowledge sources, own-generation, and bought-in R&D matter in innovation performance, the benefits of joint innovation efforts in the form of cooperation are less clear. The international dimension of internal networks is highly relevant, and interactions between the own-generation of knowledge and external sources increase the innovation potential of enterprises.     

知识源、知识获取方式与产业创新绩效研究-以中国高技术产业为例

基于1995年到2007年的面板数据,本文分析了中国高技术产业在外部知识获取对于创新绩效的影响机制。研究结果表明企业不仅直接从外部获取知识还可以借助本地网络间接获取外部知识。不同类型知识的转移方式是不同的,总体上知识的异质性程度越高,知识转移的方式就会越复杂。     

Spatial collocation and venture capital in the US biotechnology industry

Biotechnology firms operate in a high-risk and high-reward environment and are in a constant race to secure venture capital (VC) funds. Previous contributions to the literature show that the VC firms tend to invest locally in order to monitor their investments and to provide operating assistance to their target firms. Further, biotechnology is a knowledge-based industry that tends to exhibit spatial clusters, and the firms in such industries may collocate to benefit from gaining access to local markets for specialized inputs (e.g., skilled researchers) and from local knowledge spillovers and network externalities. If such gains exist, we expect that the collocated firms should exhibit positively correlated performance, including in their ability to attract venture capital funds. The purpose of this paper is to empirically measure the strength and spatial extent of the relationships among the amount of funds raised by proximate biotechnology firms. We model these relationships with a spatial autoregression (SAR) model, and we control for characteristics of the biotechnology firms and the VC firms that provide their funds as well as site-specific factors. Based on our fitted SAR model, we find that the amount of venture capital raised by a particular biotechnology firm is significantly influenced by the number of VC firms and the VC funding levels raised by biotechnology firms located within a 10-mile radius, but these relationships are not statistically significant beyond this range.     

Commercialization strategies of young biotechnology firms: An empirical analysis of the U.S. industry

We studied the commercialization strategies of young biotechnology companies in the United States building on previous studies by assuming that commercialization also includes intermediate forms like hierarchical or bilateral cooperation. Our hypotheses are derived from the Resource-Based View, Transaction Cost Economics, and Property Rights Theory. The results show that the propensity to integrate is related to the appropriability regime, direct capabilities, financial resources, and synergies between the products. Our results show that the Resource-Based View and Property Rights Theory contribute a great deal to explaining commercialization strategies, whereas Transaction Cost Economics explains less.     

产业集群技术创新与知识市场的协同关系研究

分析产业集群形成机理,给出知识市场与产业集群内全要素协同技术创新概念模型。以陕西纺织产业为例,揭示产业集群技术创新与集群内知识市场存在显著的协同关系。即产业集群内企业技术创新的关键是建立完善和开放的知识市场;集群内知识市场发展的目标是提高产业集群的整体技术竞争优势,最终促进区域经济综合能力的提升。     

技术来源对高技术产业创新影响的比较研究

本文采用2000~2012年高技术产业面板数据,利用面板数据模型全面研究了技术来源的四种渠道与技术创新产出之间的关系。研究发现:自主研发对技术创新产出的贡献最大,弹性系数为0.336,更新改造和技术引进的弹性系数分别为0.175、0.129,购买国内技术的作用并不显著。自主研发和技术引进具有明显的地区效应,二者对东部地区技术创新的推动作用明显,而西部地区的技术创新以更新改造为主。然后,本文又建立了向量自回归模型(PVAR),利用脉冲响应函数和方差分解研究了四种技术来源冲击下技术创新产出的动态变化,发现技术引进对技术创新产出的影响呈现下降趋势。     

Openness, knowledge, innovation and growth in UK business services

We explore the causal links between service firms’ knowledge investments, their innovation outputs and business growth based on a bespoke survey of around 1100 UK service businesses. We combine the activity based approach of the innovation value chain with firms’ external links at each stage of the innovation process. This introduces the concept of ‘encoding’ relationships through which learning improves the effectiveness of firms’ innovation processes. Our econometric results emphasise the importance of external openness in the initial, exploratory phase of the innovation process and the significance of internal openness (e.g. team working) in later stages of the process. In-house design capacity is strongly linked to a firm's ability to absorb external knowledge for innovation. Links to customers are important in the exploratory stage of the innovation process, but encoding linkages with private and public research organisations are more important in developing innovation outputs. Business growth is related directly to both the extent of firms’ service innovation as well as the diversity of innovation, reflecting marketing, strategic and business process change.     

Institutional frameworks and innovation in the German and UK pharmaceutical industry

This paper analyzes how governance structures impact the innovation capabilities of leading German and UK firms in the pharmaceutical industry. Our main objective is to show how variation in national institutional frameworks influences the innovation process, and thus, relative performance. There are two main conclusions. First, the corporate governance structure allowed leading UK firms to more quickly adapt than German firms to rapidly changing external environmental conditions in the global pharmaceutical industry. Secondly, leading UK firms have an advantage in generating innovative drugs (“blockbusters”) than do German firms due to the nature of the institutional framework in which they are embedded.