Dynamics of innovation in the use of water resources in emerging markets

The advancement of water sustainability and reliance highly depends on the implementation of innovative ideas. However, despite being a vital resource, the water sector still faces many challenges in innovations compared to other industries. This study investigated three different aspects of innovation activities in the water sector in Kazakhstan, which represents a typical developing country. First, the potential water-related issues calling for more innovation activities were investigated. Second, the trend of innovation activities over 30 years was investigated with the help of patents. Third, the disruptions rendered by COVID-19 to innovation activities in the water sector were investigated through a questionnaire survey. The analysis results showed that the total volume of contaminated wastewater generated in Kazakhstan has generally increased with time. The number of water enterprises, patented water-related innovations, and total general patents showed a strong association, with correlation values ranging from 0.66 to 0.99. In all firms, regardless of the scale investigated in this study, the availability of local expertise, the culture of local organizations toward innovation, and the country’s business environment are all considered to have a significant impact on water innovation processes.     

知识视角下创业合成对高新技术产业演化的作用研究

为阐释创新创业活动对新兴产业发展的影响作用,探索创业合成机制驱动下的新兴产业路径演化规律,从知识视角出发,以高新技术产业为代表,探索创业合成过程中的知识创造和知识扩散作用机制。在此基础上,利用复杂网络理论构建创业合成对高新技术产业演化的作用模型,通过Matlab软件对创业合成过程中知识创造和知识扩散作用进行仿真分析,从而解释创业合成促进高新技术产业演化的内在机理。     

外资在华制药企业技术战略分析

生物制药行业是21世纪的前瞻性行业,也是外资大力争夺创新资源的行业。本文基于1985—2005年的专利数据,主要从创新范围和创新规模两方面分析了制药行业外资技术竞争以及创新活动的特点。本文原创性地运用聚类的统计方法,定义了规模-范围矩阵(简称为双 S 矩阵),对外资技术策略的特点进行分类,进而识别各类外资的角色。本文的研究结论为行业相关政策以及企业战略的制定提供参考。     

Whether and how: Effects of international joint ventures on local innovation in an emerging economy

Business groups in emerging economies frequently use international joint ventures (IJV) as a channel for knowledge acquisition and technology advancement. While IJVs provide a business group with access to new technology, how successful a group is in exploiting that new knowledge for innovative purposes depends on the groups’ ability to recombine new knowledge with its existing pool of knowledge and resources. The more resources a group spends in forming IJVs with foreign partners, the less resources the group has in developing and sustaining organizational mechanisms that facilitate integration of existing ideas and resources. Following this theoretical duality, we view the IJV–innovation relationship not as an “either–or” question, but as a question of whether and how. Specifically, viewing business groups as networks of loosely coupled firms, we examine how intra-group network structure and evolving institutional environment moderates the IJV–patenting relationship in Taiwan between 1981 and 1998.     

Fostering entrepreneurship: Changing role of government and higher education governance in Hong Kong

The rise of the knowledge economy has generated new global infrastructures with information technology playing an increasingly important role in the global economy. The popularity and prominence of information technology not only changes the nature of knowledge but also restructures higher education, research and learning. It is in such a wider policy context that an increasing number of institutions of higher learning are being established with new missions and innovative configurations of training, serving populations that previously had little access to higher education. Apart from accommodating a larger number of students, higher education institutions are required to improve their administrative efficiency and accountability in response to the demands of different stakeholders like government, business, industry, and labour organizations, as well as students and parents. The present article sets out in this wider context to examine how and what strategies universities in Hong Kong have adopted to promote entrepreneurial spirit and practices by encouraging academic staff to venture in industrial, business and commercial fields. In addition, this article examines how universities in Hong Kong reform their curricula to make students more creative, innovative and international. More specifically, this article reflects upon the role of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR, hereafter) in promoting entrepreneurship, with particular reference to the interactions between the government, the private sector and the tertiary education sector in promoting a vibrant and dynamic economy.     

国有企业知识密集型服务部门创新激励研究

国有企业创新活力低的原因之一在于没有对其密集型服务(KIBS)部门进行有效的创新激励。虽然一般显性契约设计能够在一定程度上提高KIBS部门创新动力,但由于KIBS部门以及知识产品生产的特点,会使其创新活动存在短期行为。在分析知识产品创新特性的基础上,从多任务委托代理的角度出发,结合声誉机制建立国有企业KIBS部门创新动态激励模型。研究结果显示项目周期之间和创新努力之间的相关性对KIBS部门创新有着显著的影响,随后提出了相关建议。     

International research networks: Determinants of country embeddedness

Research activities are increasingly global so that embeddedness in international knowledge networks is decisive for inventive and innovative performance. We analyze determinants of countries’ embeddedness in the global photovoltaics knowledge network for the period 1980–2015 and argue that positions in this network are determined by the structure and functionality of national research systems and by instruments within the policy-mix for renewable energies. We show that cohesion and connectedness of the national research system positively affect international embeddedness, whereas centralized systems are detrimental to embeddedness. This indicates that a diffusion oriented research system allows better access to international knowledge flows. Policy instruments, especially demand side instruments, show a positive effect on embeddedness.     

Technological trajectory based on micro level technological capability: Evidence from the Brazilian rice industry

This study examines technological capability accumulation and the Brazilian rice industry's technological trajectory. Multiple case design was chosen, with an analysis of seven firms involved in the Brazilian rice industry. The results indicate three factors: The first was the identification of technological landmarks for firms in this sector (peeling and polishing, electronic grain selection, electronic packaging, use of forklifts and palletizers, and Industry 4.0). The second is related to the fact that different firms implemented innovative activities and technologies at different speeds, originating from the sector's different technological trajectories. The third is associated with identifying activities within the Brazilian rice industry that can be generalized to other food industries. These results have implications for formulating public policies in the sector, such as creating producer support mechanisms (research and technology transfer institutions), qualification of professionals, and encouragement for economic efficiency and competition.     

Green Technologies and diversity in the knowledge search and output phases: Evidence from European Patents

The aim of this study is to investigate technological diversity in the knowledge search and the knowledge output stages of the green inventive process. Exploiting a large sample of European patent data, from 1980 to 2013, the paper explores the degree of diversity in green inventions, comparing the recombinant features of green technologies with a control sample of non-green technologies selected through propensity score matching techniques. Empirical results suggest that green technologies show a higher degree of diversity of the knowledge sources and a higher technological diversity in how knowledge is effectively recombined. We further find that the green diversity premium is higher in the knowledge output phase than in the knowledge search phase. We conclude that the assessment of the role of technological diversity along the different phases of the invention process may improve the appropriate organization of innovative activities and policy design necessary for stimulating green technological developments and support a feasible sustainable transition.     

The state of play of blockchain technology in the financial services sector: A systematic literature review

The modern trends of digitalization have completely transformed and reshaped business practices, whole businesses, and even a number of industries. Blockchain technology is believed to be the latest advancement in industries such as the financial sector, where trust is of prime significance. Blockchain technology is a decentralized and coded security system which provides the capability for new digital services and platforms to be created through this emerging technology. This research presents a systematic review of scholarly articles on blockchain technology in the financial sector. We commenced by considering 227 articles and subsequently filtered this list down to 87 articles. From this, we present a classification framework that has three dimensions: blockchain-enabled financial benefits, challenges, and functionality. This research identifies implications for future research and practice within the blockchain paradigm.     

Knowledge mobilisation in communities through socio-technical systems

Enterprises in both the public and private sector undertake knowledge management (KM) initiatives through which they hope to engender a new, more adaptive and flexible culture of learning and innovation in their organisations. Creative activities involving social learning and innovation are, however, more common in less formal entities such as communities of practice at work and community service organisations in civil society. This paper presents the results and implications of collaborative research into the understanding, development and evaluation of socio-technical systems (STS) designed to mobilise collective knowledge in diverse community settings. The research concerns information and communication technologies (ICT)-mediated activities of communities in the broader civil society and also those in formal organisations. The paper describes and critically evaluates a set of three STS that have the potential to support the collective knowledge of innovative groups, teams and networks, which can all be considered forms of community. The findings could be of strategic value to business, government and community service organisations initiating KM programmes aimed at using collective learning to support innovation.     

Reuse of knowledge by efficient data analytics to fix societal challenges

Technology-intensive industries spend huge resources in the production of products to commercialize successful products. If the appetite on the market continues to change, the capacity to rapidly and cost-effectively refresh the offerings is an important competitive advantage. Even if components and designs need to be modified as new models are released, their underlying technology and designs can generally be reused to allow rapid economic development. Data are considered an important raw material that can influence multidisciplinary analysis, government, and business efficiency. In this paper, the Efficient data analytics (EDA) method has been suggested to fix societal challenges. The proposed methods aim to share the authors' views and perspectives on the emerging opportunities and challenges of the efficient data revolution.EDA provides four key aspects of technology reuse: strategy, method, culture, and information technology. The dimensions are further broken down into concepts supporting this technology reuse, including design on the technology platform and the reuse assessments. In practice, the system can evaluate an organization's existing reuse capabilities and offer an overall theoretical review of activities promoting technology reuse. To prove the system's concepts, industrial scenarios highlighting real questions of technological growth are used. Besides, the possible societal benefits of EDA in six ways are illustrated: enhanced decision management and incident prediction, data-informed technologies and innovative market models, direct social and climate benefits, community engagement, accountability, and public trust. Some best practice is suggested to capture these advantages. The experimental results suggested EDA increases reusability knowledge in the organization (96.3%), operational cost (95.1%), prediction ratio (97.4%), Community engagement ratio (94.1%), and public trust (98.5%).     

论企业管理中的创新

创新是企业发展的灵魂,是企业发展的原动力。在管理活动中,最能激发管理者的创新思想的因素是目标、意志、兴趣、情感等。对于管理者来说,他的管理经验、知识水平和文化素养都是创新思想的前提。我们要从传统优秀文化中汲取创新思想的精华,总结实践经验,创造优秀的企业文化。     

非正规部门竞争对企业创新行为的影响研究

现有文献多从宏观层面关注非正规部门的规模变化,很少关注其对微观企业行为的影响。本文利用世界银行营商环境调查数据,考察来自非正规部门的竞争对中国制造业企业创新投入、创新方式以及创新类型等决策的影响。实证结果表明：非正规部门竞争会倒逼企业增加创新投入,对企业的研发投入和研发强度均有显著的正向影响;从创新类型来看,新增的创新资源主要用于产品创新、技术升级以及提高个性化生产能力,对以改善产品质量和降低生产成本为核心的流程创新没有显著影响;从创新方式来看,非正规部门竞争会加剧企业之间的模仿创新和抑制企业的自主创新。政府需要规范非正规生产单位的灰色竞争行为,引导其从模仿生产向草根创新创业过渡。     

组织学习能力对新服务开发绩效的影响机制研究

 分析组织学习能力对新服务开发绩效影响的作用机制。在文献回顾基础上,使用创新文化、学习文化、学习行为和学习效果四个维度描述组织学习能力,构建了组织学习能力对新服务开发绩效影响机制的结构方程模型,并以知识密集型服务业为研究对象进行了实证分析。研究结果显示,组织学习就是在创新文化和学习文化影响下,通过学习行为扩展组织知识基础,从而提高创新绩效的过程。     

基于内生增长模型的区域创新能力影响因素研究

在区域经济日益直接参与全球竞争的背景下,区域创新能力成为了地区经济发展和获得国际竞争优势的决定性因素。本文在内生经济增长模型的基础上,搜集中国大陆30个省、直辖市、自治区9年的面板数据,采用固定效用模型,实证研究了影响区域创新能力的内生因素。研究结果表明:从量化角度,惯性对创新活动确有巨大影响,这说明创新活动与地区的文化积累有很大关系,为打造创新文化以增强创新能力的观点提供了理论支持;我国高技术产业就业人员数是区域创新活动的一个显著因素,应扩大高技术产业人员的就业规模;专利的弹性系数比高技术就业人员数的弹性系数高,说明专利存量是我国取得新专利的重要来源,应强化企业的自主研发和专利保护,以形成知识积淀和专有技术。     

考虑技术外溢的制造商研发策略研究

技术创新研发是企业获得竞争优势的重要手段,由于技术知识具有外溢效果,使得制造商在考虑技术研发策略时必须考虑技术知识的外部性。本文研究两竞争制造商在存在创新技术外溢效果情况下的研发策略,通过对比合作与不合作情形下制造商决策以及相应的消费者剩余和社会福利,探讨了外溢效果和研发效率对制造商最优研发水平、产量和收益的影响。     

数字商业生态系统研究：知识结构及热点分析

以数字商业生态系统(DBE)研究领域的文献为对象,采用文献计量法对文献外部特征、研究知识结构以及研究热点进行分析。研究发现：数字商业生态系统研究知识结构由生态系统类比、DBE与数字技术支持、DBE与数字平台设计、DBE与创新商业模式和DBE价值共创五大内容构成;研究热点围绕以数字技术和数字平台为基础的企业价值共创机制展开;最后,从研究内容、研究方法、研究与实践应用情境三个方面提出数字商业生态系统研究可扩展议题。     

Applying open innovation in business strategies: Evidence from Finnish software firms

Our study aims at shedding light on the innovative business strategies in the software sector and understanding better the economics that underlies the supply of Open Source Software (OSS). We use survey data collected from 170 Finnish software companies to investigate how different properties of software firms, such as size, age, intellectual capital, absorptive capacity, and ownership structure affect their decisions to base their business strategies on OSS supply or proprietary distribution of products and services.Our empirical findings indicate that the adoption of technologically advanced strategies requiring complex legal and managerial knowledge, such as the OSS supply strategy, demands relatively highly educated employees. The support for and development of an education system providing highly skilled people from different fields are essential for the firms’ successful adoption of innovative business strategies. We also find that market entrants have largely driven the OSS adoption, but there are no significant age-related differences in the adoption behavior of incumbent software firms.     

Knowledge exchange in clusters: The contingent role of regional inventive concentration

Geographic clusters confer advantages to collocated firms, in particular access to local know-how. This article argues that the access to local know-how is contingent on the extent to which inventive activity is concentrated in the cluster. We draw on sociological theories of generalized exchange to argue that contrasting logics of exchange emerge in geographic clusters that have opposing effects on the extent to which firms benefit from collaborating with local organizations and source local knowledge. A longitudinal data set of 1903 firms engaged in nanotechnology research is used to examine the relationship between firm co-authorships on scientific articles with firms and public research organizations (PROs) and firm inventive performance. Results indicate that when cluster-level firm inventive concentration is high, collaborations with local firms are associated with lower inventive performance. We also find that firms source less local knowledge for their own inventions when firm inventive concentration is high. In contrast, concentrated inventive activity among PROs increases the positive relationship between collaborations with local PROs and firm inventive performance. Results also show firms source more knowledge from local PROs when local PRO inventive concentration is high. The findings suggest that inventive concentration both helps and hinders spill-over of cutting-edge knowledge.