Gaining from interactions with universities: Multiple methods for nurturing absorptive capacity

This paper examines the various methods through which firms benefit from interactions with universities, arguing that such benefits are instrumental in nurturing the multiple facets of a firm's absorptive capacity. We bring together data collected from a survey of UK firms that collaborated with universities, and firm-level data on past partnerships with universities. The results show that benefits from interactions with universities are multifaceted, including enhancement of the firm's explorative and exploitative capabilities. Results also indicate that firms’ R&D commitments, geographical proximity to and research quality of university partners have a distinct impact on the different types of benefits from interactions with universities. We find geographical proximity is crucial for assessing problem-solving as an important benefit, while interactions with top quality universities have a positive influence on the benefits associated with firms’ downstream activities. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and policy.     

Entrepreneurial orientation in turbulent environments: The moderating role of absorptive capacity

The literature on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has confirmed the positive relationship between EO and firm performance and that relationship's dependence on several contingencies. The present study connects the resource-based view and its dynamic capability extension to introduce absorptive capacity (ACAP) as a moderator of the relationship between EO and firm performance. This theoretically derived research model is empirically validated using survey data from 219 small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany. Our empirical findings are that ACAP strengthens the EO–performance relationship in turbulent markets.     

Search patterns and absorptive capacity: Low- and high-technology sectors in European countries

Searching for externally available knowledge has been characterised as a vital part of the innovation process. Previous research has, however, almost exclusively focused on high-technology environments, largely ignoring the substantial low- and medium-technology sectors of modern economies. We argue that firms from low- and high-technology sectors differ in their search patterns and that these mediate the relationship between innovation inputs and outputs. Based on a sample of 4500 firms from 13 European countries, we find that search patterns in low-technology industries focus on market knowledge and that they differ from technology sourcing activities in high-technology industries.     

Brave old world: Accounting for ‘high-tech’ knowledge in ‘low-tech’ industries

‘Lower-tech’ sectors are still commonly regarded as unusual suspects in the modern process of innovation and economic change. In this paper we try to understand better how organisations specialising in traditional businesses have been transformed by a period of paradigm-shift such as the one that characterised the final decades of the twentieth century. We focus on a population of nearly 500 of the world's largest innovative companies to assess the extent to which companies belonging to ‘old-economy’ sectors have been developing cutting-edge knowledge about clusters of new technologies such as ICT, new materials and biotechnology. We find that ‘non-high-tech’ corporations transformed their patent portfolios in a non-trivial way. Companies in mature trades contributed significantly to the development of technologies that are at the core of the so-called Third Industrial Revolution.     

University-industry collaborations in Japan: The role of new technology-based firms in transforming the National Innovation System

This paper examines the role of new technology-based firms in university/industry collaborative (UIC) activities in Japan. UIC activities have been widely diffused into small startup firms over the past 5 years, according to quantitative analysis of RIETIs UIC Survey. In this paper, it is found that these smaller firms achieve higher productivity through UICs than large firms. In light of the findings of this paper, it appears that UICs are gaining momentum and are likely to play a strong role in reducing the dependence of Japan's system of innovation on in-house R&D conducted within large corporations.     

The effect of financial constraints, absorptive capacity and complementarities on the adoption of multiple process technologies

This paper investigates the factors affecting the multiple adoption of new process technologies in manufacturing. We focus our attention on the effect of both financial resources and absorptive capacity on the decision to introduce the technology. We argue in favour of a negative effect of financial constraints and provide reasons for a differential effect of internal and external R&D on innovation adoption. Additionally, the methodology allows us to consider the possible complementarities arising when firms adopt several new process technologies. Our results show that financial constraints are dependent on the technology analyzed, whereas only internal R&D investments are strong predictors of adoption. We are also able to present evidence that the three technologies analyzed (numerically controlled machines, computer aided design and robotics) are, to some extent, complementary.     

The technology clubs: The distribution of knowledge across nations

The convergence clubs literature in applied growth theory suggests that countries that differ in terms of structural characteristics and initial conditions tend to experience diverging growth performances. What is the role of technological knowledge for the formation of clubs? The paper investigates this unexplored question by carrying out an empirical study of the cross-country distribution of knowledge in a large sample of developed and developing economies in the 1990s. The results indicate the existence of three technology clubs characterized by markedly different levels of development. The clubs also differ with respect to the dynamics of their capabilities over the decade, as the most advanced group and the intermediate one are found to be much more dynamic than the large cluster of less developed economies.     

The role of ICT knowledge flows for international market share dynamics

This paper investigates the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) related knowledge flows for international market shares. Using bibliometric data on scientific publications, we analyse the relationship between the strength of 14 OECD countries in four ICT-related scientific fields and the ability of those countries to maintain and acquire export market shares in the OECD market, across 16 manufacturing industries over the period 1981-2003. We find that domestic and foreign ICT-related scientific knowledge flows have a positive and significant impact on export market shares in ICT industries, while only domestic flows positively affect export shares in non-ICT industries. We also find that small open economies benefit more than other countries from foreign knowledge flows both in ICT and in non-ICT industries.     

不同外部知识环境下企业吸收能力的动态重构

自"吸收能力"诞生以来,其研究视角正在逐渐转变。近三年来吸收能力与外部环境之间的动态演进成为研究主流。此研究在国外最新理论研究的基础上进一步提出,鉴于企业资源的有限性和学习成本,企业不可能将其吸收子能力全部保持在巅峰水平,而需要根据外部环境的不同,对子能力进行选择性投资,利用它们特定的组合推进企业的创新绩效和财务绩效;这个过程从整体上来看便是企业吸收能力随环境变化而进行的动态重构。文章采用实证研究的方法,在113个企业样本的基础上进行统计分析,研究结果支持上述假设;同时还证明,外部知识环境也影响沟通机制对吸收能力的作用。本文的理论创新点在于从动态能力的角度研究企业吸收能力,指出其内部构成随环境变化的模式,以及沟通机制在其间的作用。此外,企业管理者可以根据对外部知识环境显隐性的判断,对吸收子能力进行选择性投资,以达到资源的最佳配置。     

Performance of Spanish universities in technology transfer: An empirical analysis

This paper investigates the performance of universities in the transfer of technology using a unique university-level dataset for Spain. The results suggest that universities with established policies and procedures for the management of technology transfer perform better. Universities with large and experienced technology transfer offices (TTOs) generate higher volumes of contract research, but the TTO characteristics appear to matter less for university performance in terms of licensing and creation of spin-offs. Furthermore, universities with a science park perform better than those without, which suggests that the agglomeration of knowledge close to universities has a positive effect on universities’ technology transfer performance.     

What hampers innovation? Revealed barriers versus deterring barriers

Innovating firms are likely to face several challenges and experience different types of barriers. In this paper we argue that it is necessary to distinguish between two kinds of barriers to innovation. The first corresponds to what we describe as revealed barriers and reflects the degree of difficulty of the innovation process and the learning experience consequent on the firm engaging in innovation activity. The second type of impediment, which we label deterring barriers, encompasses the obstacles that prevent firms from committing to innovation. We use data from the 4th UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) to investigate the relationship between firms’ engagement in innovation and their assessment of the barriers to innovation. We show that the relationship is curvilinear in the case of costs and market barriers. These results have important implications for innovation policy and innovation management.     

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.     

Resolving the knowledge paradox: Knowledge-spillover entrepreneurship and economic growth

The knowledge paradox suggests that high levels of investment in new knowledge do not necessarily and automatically generate the anticipated levels of competitiveness of growth. In particular, knowledge investments do not automatically translate into balanced growth and competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to explain why knowledge investments are inherently unbalanced, so that the competitiveness and growth ensuing from knowledge are not equally spread across individuals, firms, and spatial units of observation, such as regions and countries. Based on a data set linking entrepreneurial activity to growth within the context of German regions, this paper shows that entrepreneurship serves a conduit of knowledge spillovers.     

企业知识吸收能力的主要影响因素

本文讨论了影响企业吸收外界知识的主要因素。研究表明 ,企业的吸收能力主要受到先验知识的存量与内涵、研发投入的程度、学习强度与学习方法、组织学习的机制等四项因素的影响。文章对落后地区企业发展吸收能力的策略及效果进行了比较 ,最后提出了企业发展知识吸收能力的建议     

International scientist mobility and the locus of knowledge and technology transfer

Despite the growing interest of scholars and policymakers to better understand the determinants for researchers in public science to transfer knowledge and technology to firms, little is known how temporary international mobility of scientists affects both their propensity to engage in knowledge and technology transfer (KTT) as well as the locus of such transfer. Based on a sample of more than 950 German academics from science and engineering faculties, we investigate how the duration and the frequency of scientists’ visits at research institutions outside their home country affect KTT activities. We find that most mobile scientists engage in KTT to firms both in the host and in their home country, suggesting that KTT activities to firms abroad do not substitute or crowd out, but complement KTT to firms in the home country. We further find that the longer research visits abroad are, the higher the likelihood that scientists engage in KTT to firms, again both in the host and the home country. However, the more frequently scientists visit institutions abroad, the more likely they are to engage in KTT to firms only in their home country. Our results therefore provide evidence for the benefits of “brain circulation”. The article contributes to the growing strand of the literature on scientist mobility and on the determinants of industry-science linkages at the individual level.     

R&D internationalization, R&D collaboration and public knowledge institutions in small economies: Evidence from Finland and the Netherlands

This paper investigates domestic and foreign innovating firms’ determinants of R&D collaboration with domestic universities and public knowledge institutes in Finland and the Netherlands. We put particular emphasis on the impact of incoming academic spillovers on the probability to co-operate with these public R&D institutes.Based on data from Community Innovation Surveys we find that foreign firms in the Netherlands are less likely to co-operate with domestic public knowledge institutions than domestic firms, while in Finland no significant difference can be detected. Another result is that incoming knowledge spillovers are an important determinant for R&D collaboration with domestic public knowledge institutions in both countries. In case of foreign firms in Finland, incoming knowledge spillovers affect the probability to co-operate with public knowledge institutions more positively compared to domestic firms. For the Netherlands no substantial difference could be found in this respect. Further, innovating firms in Finland that require academic or basic knowledge do not co-operate significantly more with public knowledge institutions than those that need applied knowledge. At the same time they are willing to share knowledge with public R&D partners. In the Netherlands innovating firms that require relatively more basic than applied knowledge, increase the probability of co-operation with Dutch universities and public knowledge institutions but there is reluctance to share proprietary knowledge with public R&D partners. For both countries no significant difference between foreign and domestic firms with regard to academic knowledge requirements could be found. This raises the issue whether Finnish innovation policies with a strong focus on R&D co-operation provide incentives for strategic behaviour by domestic public partners to put more emphasis on applied research.     

Diversification and hybridization in firm knowledge bases in nanotechnologies

The paper investigates the linkages between the characteristics of technologies and the structure of a firms’ knowledge base. Nanotechnologies have been defined as converging technologies that operate at the nanoscale, and which require integration to fulfill their economic promises. Based on a worldwide database of nanofirms, the paper analyses the degree of convergence and the convergence mechanisms within firms. It argues that the degree of convergence in a firm's nano-knowledge base is relatively independent from the size of the firm's nano-knowledge base. However, while firms with small nano-knowledge bases tend to exploit convergence in each of their patents/publications, firms with large nano-knowledge bases tend to separate their nano-R&D activities in the different established fields and achieve diversity through the juxtaposition of the output of these independent activities.