Persistence of innovation and patterns of firm growth

In this work we exploit a long-in-time panel of Spanish manufacturing firms observed during the period 1990–2012 to examine the long-run contribution of innovation persistence to sales growth and market share dynamics. We examine two main research questions. First, do persistent innovators grow more than other firms? Second, do persistent innovators show more persistent growth patterns over time compared to other firms? We find negative answers to both questions: firms that persistently innovate over the first decade, do not grow more and do not display more persistent growth dynamics in the succeeding years, regardless of whether innovation persistence is defined in terms of R&D, patenting activity, or product or process innovation. These findings lend support to luck and random theories of firm growth, in turn challenging innovation persistence theories commonly suggesting that persistent innovators enjoy large and sustained comparative advantages.     

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.     

创新开放度与企业绩效:基于外向型开放创新的视角

基于2010—2012年中国176家高技术上市公司数据,从专利技术许可视角,研究外向型开放创新模式下创新开放度与企业绩效的关系。研究表明,目前我国企业对外创新输出的开放程度总体较低,开放广度对企业财务绩效、创新绩效均无显著性影响,开放深度与财务绩效、创新绩效则呈现倒U型关系。企业可以通过调整外向型开放深度和优化创新广度和深度的协调关系提升创新绩效和财务绩效。     

Trademarks,specialized complementary assets,and the external sourcing of innovation

In this article, I study the relationship between valuable trademarks and a firm’s technology sourcing strategy. The Profiting from Innovation (PFI) and Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) perspectives have generated competing predictions regarding firms’ historical stock of valuable trademarks and their decision to pursue external technology sourcing. To conduct the empirical analysis, I use a sample of innovator firms in the manufacturing sectors from the Division of Innovative Labor survey, matched to the USPTO trademark data. Consistent with the TCE perspective, I find that firms with valuable trademarks are less likely to commercialize external inventions, and are likely to have lower innovation performance if they do so. I further show a boundary condition for PFI such that when firms are new entrants to an industry but already holding valuable trademarks, they are more likely to commercialize external innovations.     

Self-employment and innovation. Exploring the determinants of innovative behavior in small businesses

This paper explores the determinants of innovation in small businesses from a survey of more than 700 self-employed workers in Andalusia (Spain). Self-employed people running businesses with and without employees were included in the study and two types of innovation - product and process innovation - were differentiated.The theoretical framework adopted distinguishes between three levels of factors affecting the innovative activities of the self-employed: (1) the personal characteristics of the self-employed - such as their motivations and their educational and professional background. (2) The organization characteristics - such as the sector, the number of employees, the dependence on suppliers or clients and the management styles. (3) The characteristics of the external environment.Education appears as a key factor whose impact on innovation comes through two main sources: its effect on self-employed motivations and its influence on the management style of small businesses. Also previous experience as an employee and the comparative level of income in the area where the business is located are shown to be influential factors explaining innovation. Though firm size favors innovation, it does not play a determining role. Furthermore, results show significant differences between the factors explaining product and process innovation. The determinants for innovation in small businesses also vary substantially across sectors.     

地理邻近对企业创新绩效的影响

本文运用2003-2016年中国生物技术企业的面板数据,考察了地理邻近对企业创新绩效的影响,同时将企业内部网络特征纳入研究框架,分析了企业内部网络的集聚度和平均路径长度对地理邻近与企业创新绩效关系的调节作用。研究结果表明,地理邻近促进企业创新绩效的提升;企业内部网络的集聚度正向调节地理邻近对企业创新绩效的促进作用;企业内部网络的平均路径长度负向调节地理邻近对企业创新绩效的促进作用。本文研究结论对中国企业的内部知识结构设计提供借鉴。     

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.     

The relationship between technology, innovation, and firm performance—Empirical evidence from e-business in Europe

This article analyzes the relationship between the usage of Internet-based technologies, different types of innovation, and performance at the firm level. Data for the empirical investigation originates from a sample of 7302 European enterprises. The empirical results show that Internet-based technologies were an important enabler of innovation in the year 2003. It was found that all studied types of innovation, including Internet-enabled and non-Internet-enabled product or process innovations, are positively associated with turnover and employment growth. Firms that rely on Internet-enabled innovations are at least as likely to grow as firms that rely on non-Internet-enabled innovations. Finally, it was found that innovative activity is not necessarily associated with higher profitability. Possible reasons for this and implications are discussed.     

Sources of ideas for innovation in engineering design

This paper explores the sources of ideas for innovation in engineering design. It shows that engineering designers involved in complex, non-routine design processes rely heavily on face-to-face conversations with other designers for solving problems and developing new innovative ideas. The research is based on a case study and survey of designers from Arup, a leading international engineering consultancy. We examine the role of different mechanisms for learning about new designs, the motivations of designers, problem-solving and limits to designers’ ability to innovate. We explore how the project-based nature of the construction sector shapes the ways in which designers develop new ideas and solve problems. We suggest that among the population of designers in Arup, there are a number of different design strategies for innovating and that these can have important implications for how design is managed. We locate our approach in the research on innovation in project-based firms, outlining patterns of innovation in firms that survive on the basis of their success in winning and managing projects.     

Learning,innovation and firm performance: knowledge management in small firms

This study aims to examine the relationships between managerial learning as a facet of knowledge absorption (KA), firm innovation as a facet of knowledge exploitation (KE), and performance of small firms (i.e., firms with fewer than 50 employees). It builds on the knowledge-based view of the firm and the upper echelons theory to describe the effects of KA on KE, and that of KE on firm performance, in the small-firm context. Using survey data of 1441 small firms in New Zealand, the study applies a partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling to test the main hypotheses of the study. The main findings show the positive and significant effects of three types of managerial learning, namely, practice-based, proximal, and distal learning, on innovation and on innovation in firm performance. However, the curvilinear relationships suggest rather that the effects are finite and, potentially, confounded by factors unaccounted for in the models.     

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.     

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.     

Technological paradigms, regimes and trajectories: Manufacturing and service industries in a new taxonomy of sectoral patterns of innovation

This article presents a new sectoral taxonomy that combines manufacturing and service industries within the same framework. This exercise is relevant because it aims at greater integration between the study of sectoral patterns of innovation in manufacturing and services, stressing the increasing importance of vertical linkages and inter-sectoral knowledge exchanges between these interrelated branches of the economy. The relevance of the new taxonomy is illustrated with reference to the innovative activities and economic performance of manufacturing and service industries in Europe. This empirical evidence, which presents fresh results from the Fourth Community Innovation Survey, supports the relevance of the taxonomy by showing the great variety of sectoral patterns of innovation in European industries.     

中小企业科技创新途径的研究

中小企业是创造就业机会,推动我国经济增长的重要力量,有关中小企业科技创新发展的研究一直是社会各界共同关注的热点。论文结合中小企业发展的特点,针对中小企业如何更有效地进行科技创新展开深入系统的研究,从中小企业发展现状、科技创新能力和科技产业化发展等方面进行详细分析,提出适合中小企业创新发展的新途径。     

Ownership and firm innovation in a transition economy: Evidence from China

We examine innovation performance of firms in a transition economy from an ownership perspective. We focus specifically on the relationship between ownership structures and firm innovation performance. Drawing on data from 548 Chinese firms we find volume of patent registration to be most strongly influenced by foreign ownership in the firm along with firm affiliation within a business group. The influence of state and institutional ownership on innovation performance is positive but lagged. Contrary to expectations, insider ownership leads to lower innovation performance and concentrated ownership has no significant impact. Our study has two principal contributions. Firstly, we utilize a comprehensive treatment of ownership characteristics, overcoming weakness in previous studies that have used a more narrow focus on ownership type. Secondly, we contribute to understanding of how firms in transition economies build ‘indigenous’ capabilities for innovation by drawing attention to the interplay of foreign and domestic control of agents’ innovation.     

Technological cooperation,R&D outsourcing,and innovation performance at the firm level: The role of the regional context

Much has been said about the role that technological networking activities play on the innovative performance of firms, but little is known about how the regional context influences the efficiency of such networking activities. In this paper we hypothesize that the transformation of firms’ networking activities into innovation may vary depending on the regional environment in which the firm is located. For Spanish manufactures in the period 2000-12 and through the use of a multilevel framework, we obtain that after controlling for the firm’s characteristics, the regional context has not only a direct effect on firms’ innovation performance, but it also conditions the returns to firms’ networking activities, although differently in the case of cooperation and outsourcing. Cooperating in innovation activities is more beneficial for those firms located in a knowledge intensive region, whereas R&D outsourcing seems to be more profitable for firms in regions with a low knowledge pool.     

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.     

The effects of offshore production on onshore innovation: Evidence from Japanese multinationals

This paper examines a largely unexplored channel of the effects of offshore production on onshore (domestic) innovation performance. We combine a comprehensive dataset mapping the global operations of Japanese multinational firms with patent statistics to measure innovation. The study finds that increased offshore production have little effects on onshore innovation performance once properly correcting a simultaneity bias. Furthermore, we find some weak evidence of increased offshore production downgrades the quality of innovation, measured by citations. Consistent with other studies, we find that an increase in overseas R&D is the main driver of innovation creation for multinational firms.     

Market orientation and product strategies in small internationalising software companies

This study examines how market orientation is manifested in the context of small, rapidly internationalising software companies. It is concluded from the four company cases that any internationalising software company should focus its market orientation more on the individual-customer level than on the overall-market level. For providers of standardised software products, cooperating with global leading customers plays a key role in terms of obtaining the most accurate market intelligence and staying ahead in the competition. In contrast, providers of tailor-made software projects should emphasise interfunctional coordination: the quality of the response to customer needs should be well managed regardless of the geographical location. Further, the concepts of reactive and proactive market orientation are intertwined: neither contributes to better customer satisfaction in isolation. However, depending on the time needed for responding to customer needs, either may require more attention.