Fostering new product success through learning competences

Drawing on the resource-based view and the dynamic capability approach, the present paper analyses the effect of learning competences and innovation strategy on new product success (NPS). The study uses a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms. Results highlight that the new product innovation strategy is positively related to NPS and both exploration and exploitation competences. The study also finds that technological dynamism plays a moderator role in these relationships that weakens the effect of innovation strategy on both NPS and exploitation. Finally, it was also concluded that both exploitation and exploration competences not only have a positive and curvilinear effect on NPS, but also compete for scarce resources. This suggests that a balance between exploitation and exploration is needed.     

Firm persistence in technological innovation: the relevance of organizational innovation

Organizational innovation favors technological innovation, but does it also influence persistence in technological innovation? This paper empirically investigates the pattern of technological innovation persistence and tests the potential impact of organizational innovation using firm-level data from three waves of French Community Innovation Surveys. The evidence indicates a positive effect of organizational innovation on persistence in technological innovation, according to the various measures of organizational innovation. Moreover, this impact is more significant for complex innovators, i.e. those who innovate in both products and processes. The results highlight the complexity of managing organizational practices with regard to the technological innovation of firms. They also add to understanding of the drivers of innovation persistence through the focus on an often forgotten dimension of innovation in a broader sense.     

Boundaries innovation through knowledge convergence-developing triad strategic communities

This paper discusses the process of implementing a micro innovation strategy for the development of the company’s mainstay business at present (incremental innovation) and a future growth strategy (radical innovation) in an age when there are dramatic changes in the environment and the future is hard to predict from the perspective of boundaries innovation that the company should implement based on the creation of boundaries knowledge and convergence knowledge. To implement knowledge convergence processes, outstanding companies dynamically establish various project teams and diverse mixed teams, which are strategic communities, as well as network organisations that integrate these teams and continually generate new boundaries innovation. The paper presents a theoretical framework, a detailed case study, and new insights regarding combination of exploration and exploitation through triadic strategic community formations for boundaries innovation strategies where dynamic strategic communities that overcome and transcend various boundaries create boundaries knowledge from various different types of knowledge and dynamically converge these different types of knowledge to create new convergence knowledge (such as the development of new products and services and the development of new business models, etc.).     

Internal and external factors in innovation persistence

This paper contributes to the analysis of the persistence of innovation activities, as measured by total factor productivity (TFP), and explores its internal and external determinants stressing its path-dependent characteristics. The external conditions, namely the quality of local knowledge pools and the strength of the Schumpeterian rivalry, along with the internal conditions (the actual levels of dynamic capabilities, as proxied by wage levels and firm size) exert a specific and localised effect upon the persistent introduction of innovations. A multiple transition probability matrixes (MTPMs) approach has been implemented to capture the contingent effects of external factors on long-term innovation persistence. The empirical analysis of the dynamics of firm-level TFP for a sample of approximately 7000 Italian manufacturing companies observed during the years 1996–2005 is based on both the comparison of different transition probability matrixes and on dynamic discrete choice panel data models. The evidence provided by the test of MTPMs in sub-periods suggests that innovation persistence is path-dependent, as opposed to past-dependent.     

Product innovation,process innovation and export propensity: persistence,complementarities and feedback effects in Spanish firms

Drawing on a longitudinal data of Spanish manufacturing firms, this study explores the persistence of technological innovation and exports, their potential complementary relations and feedback effects. Empirical results suggest the presence of both true and spurious state dependence in all three activities. True state dependence in technical innovation and exports implies intertemporal spillovers relevant to the evaluation of innovation and export policy measures. However, given that results also suggest spurious state dependence, firm-specific characteristics should be taken into account in promoting technological innovations and exports. In addition, we find a strong complementarity between product and process innovation both through a contemporaneous effect and via unobserved firm characteristics. However, concerning complementarity between innovation and exports, results suggests complementarity only through contemporaneous effects. Finally, we find no support for the causal link from past product and process innovations to current export activities.     

Key success factors for a growing technology innovation system based on SMS Application-to-Person in Norway

The case of short message service (SMS) Application-to-Person in Norway documents how SMS has re-emerged as a significant channel for customer dialogue: SMS is increasingly used for everything from dentist appointments to communicating with tax authorities. The Technology Innovation Systems perspective is the basis for an assessment of inducement mechanisms for the case, and thus the critical success factors. More specifically, the case serves as an example of a platform-based business ecosystem where the ownership of the platform is shared and a core resource is provided by the mobile network operators. It is shown how the current growth of the SMS channel is founded on collective action in the system, and how the subsequent legitimation process has aligned the SMS channel with user expectations and practices. The actors’ ability to collaborate and strike a balance between developing and sharing the market has been critical.     

Top management team social capital,exploration-based innovation,and exploitation-based innovation in SMEs

Despite increasing interest in ambidextrous innovations, mainstream literature has excluded discussions on developing and combining exploratory innovation (ERI) and exploitative innovation (EII) in the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector. This issue from the SME perspective is worth addressing. Recent studies have conceptually argued the importance of the top management team (TMT) in managing ambidextrous innovations. Building on this argument, we explore how the top manager external social relationships foster ambidextrous innovations and whether internal social relationships among senior executives can be used to integrate such innovations. The results show that (a) distinct external managerial relationships cause differential innovations for SMEs, and (b) internal social capital among top managers could be used effectively to manage ambidextrous innovations. This research indicates that SMEs engaging in both high ERI and EII perform better when they focus on the balancing benefits of TMT internal social capital and the bridging benefits of TMT external social capital.     

Matthew effect,capabilities and innovation policy: the Argentinean case

The purpose of this paper is to test the presence of Matthew effects in different types of public funding for innovation – non-refundable grants, subsidized loans and tax credits. According to the literature, Matthew effect refers to the impact of past accessing to public funds on reputation, which increases the probability of accessing in the present. The dataset is made of 966 firms that accessed the Technological Argentinean Fund (FONTAR), main instrument to foster innovation in Argentina, during 2007–2013 – 3300 observations. Results confirm the existence of Matthew effects: past accessing to FONTAR increases the probability of accessing in the present, but only when different instruments are taken altogether. Then, Matthew effect is positively associated with the diversification of access to promotional instruments rather than the repeated access to one type of funding tool. Additionally, results show that firm’s innovation investments, R&D activities, and human resources, explain the increase in probability of accessing, which provides evidence regarding the presence of capability effects. All of this suggests that once the firm enters the system of public funding, it remains with an active innovative behaviour, not just because of reputation effects, but because it has accumulated capabilities in the pursuit of a technological advantage.     

Exploration or exploitation of knowledge from universities: does it make a difference?

In the first step, based on the existing theoretical and empirical literature, we develop a series of hypotheses with respect to the relative importance of possible determinants of exploration and exploitation of knowledge in collaboration with universities and test them on Swiss firm data. In the second step, we investigate the impact on innovation performance of knowledge exploration versus knowledge exploitation. We obtain a clear pattern of the differences between firms that are engaged both in exploitative and explorative activities (‘exploration’-oriented firms) and purely ‘exploitation’-oriented firms. We find that exploration-oriented firms have a greater knowledge absorptive capacity, are technologically more diverse and are strongly exposed to intensive non-price competition compared with exploitation-oriented firms. We further find a positive effect on innovation performance for exploitation-oriented firms but not for those that were exploration oriented.     

How knowledge flow affects Korean ICT manufacturing firm performance: a focus on open innovation strategy

The paper presents an integrated viewpoint of technological innovation strategy by considering both the firm and industry levels. Further, we provide a new open innovation framework by adopting a knowledge flow perspective using patent citation information. Finally, we consider a firm’s outbound open innovation performance using cites per patent information together with financial performance to look at both the practical and the potential effects of technological innovation strategy. Through these analyses, this study examines determinants of open technology innovation activity in the information and communication technology manufacturing industry in Korea and draws managerial and policy implications for effective industry promotion and improvement of technology innovation capability.     

The persistence of innovation: a panel data investigation on manufacturing firms

This paper represents a contribution to empirical debate on the persistence of innovation in the firm, by exploiting an innovative panel database that, for the first time, links three waves of the Italian Community Innovation Survey with an administrative data source providing economic and financial information for firms in the Italian manufacturing sector, 1996–2003. By using both a dynamic logistic model and a Granger causality approach, we show that in order to innovate successfully it is much more important to have an adequate flow of profits during an appropriate time span rather than high profits only during one period before innovation. Our causality tests prove the existence of a dynamic interaction between innovation and profitability: successful innovation can, in the short run, generate the profitability conditions that can then enhance the financial resources needed to reinvest in new technological opportunities, thus causing the firm to persist in its innovative behaviour. We have also shown that another important source of persistence is represented by past innovative experience. A firm with consolidated innovative behaviour would have a higher probability of future successful innovation with respect to a firm that occasionally (or accidentally) innovates. Persistence in innovation enables a firm to take advantage of substantial technological and organizational learning effects, which improve with time.     

Financial innovation in the UK

This study employs a national survey of over 1100 British financial firms to ascertain the determinants of financial innovation and their sales success using the logit and the generalized Tobit models. We find that the likelihood of financial innovation rises with the size of financial firms, employee education, greater expenditure on research and development, the availability of finance and the extent to which firms cooperate with each other. Perceptions of economic risk and innovation costs are also influential. R&D, cooperation and human capital are the main variables driving the success of financial innovation, measured by the percentage share of innovations sold. Firms in London/the south have a significantly greater tendency to innovate, though Scotland also does well. Stock broking, fund management and related activities are more innovative than firms in the financial intermediation and pension/insurance sectors.     

Regional and gender differentials in the persistence of unemployment in Europe

The persistence of unemployment increased during the recent great recession in many European countries, although with diversified impacts. We therefore analyse such impacts in four European countries – Italy, Spain, France and the UK – which represent different institutional frameworks and may reflect the so-called continental European and Anglo-Saxon frameworks. We analyse the determinants of unemployment persistence using individual-level data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) panel for the period 2007–2013. These data enable us to take into account initial conditions and state dependence in addition to individual and household characteristics. We focus on gender and regional effects, which have a strong impact on the persistence in the state of unemployment. We find that gender gap is significant in Italy and the UK, implying that male workers show a higher probability of remaining unemployed. In Italy, such a pattern is due to the worsening of male workers’ conditions during the crisis, whereas in the UK, male workers show higher unemployment rates than women. Regional effects are significant in all countries analysed and underline a relevant structural factor that should be addressed on policy grounds in Europe. Such effects are greater in Spain and Italy.     

Firm innovation persistence: a fresh look at the frameworks of analysis

This paper introduces the special issue on innovation persistence. It delineates three complementary theoretical frameworks assessing drivers and implications of innovation persistence: ‘knowledge accumulation’ approach, the ‘success-breeds-success’ hypothesis and the concept of sunk costs in R&D activities. It emphasizes how path dependence could be related to innovation persistence. It provides an extensive overview of the main empirical findings of recent papers and suggests a new research agenda about firms’ dynamic capabilities and innovation persistence. Finally it highlights a set of issues that deserve further investigation in the future. The contributions to this issue are set out as well.     

The technology element model,path-dependent growth,and innovation policy

This paper uses a multi-element model of technology-based growth, including characterizations of both private and public components of such elements, to assess expansion paths for high-tech industries. Such a technology element model (TEM) maintains the traditional proprietary (excludable) technology element that directly results in innovations, while adding the ‘technology platform’ – a quasi-public (non-excludable) proof of concept that bridges the gap between an industry's science base and proprietary technology development, and a diverse technical infrastructure that has substantial impacts on industry productivity. These three elements are related to each other and to the production of technical knowledge by a homothetic technology production function. The TEM is then applied to assess the concept of constrained expansion paths. Such path dependence is shown to be a natural evolutionary process in that the evolving character of a technology over time is not necessarily the result of market failures. Finally, the TEM and the concept of path dependence are combined to assess the factors affecting both adaptive and allocative efficiency with respect to the expansion path, thereby better informing innovation policy.     

企业创新“悖论”及其解决之策

新产品开发,是企业知识探索与知识利用有机结合的过程。本文在对二者的悖论关系进行辨析的基础上,借鉴矛盾管理的思想,对创新过程悖论问题处理的4种方略做了归纳和比较,评析了依靠高层管理的协调作用及员工角色可变换的结构来实现二者对立统一而存在的空间上或时间上的分割问题,由此提出在较低的组织层次上构建具有两栖能力的组织的主张。两栖不是一个连续统的两极,而是同一事物的两个构面,是可以且应该得到统一的。     

Impact of Korean pro-market reforms on firm innovation strategies

This paper investigates how market-oriented reforms affect firm incentives to innovate. We utilise the market reforms enacted in Korea following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 as an empirical setting to show why an institution-based view is crucial to understanding the factors that incentivize firms to innovate. Additionally, we draw on the competitive strategy literature to investigate how market reforms – combined with industry competition and firm-specific factors – affect innovation-related investments. Our findings suggest that market reforms positively influence both innovation input and output, but these associations are contingent on firm-specific factors.     

浅析国有企业管理创新

管理创新对国企生存发展极为重要,而要搞好管理创新,就要依靠管理创新理论及经验,紧贴实际,努力抓好战略管理创新、人力资源管理创新和知识管理创新。     

Measuring the persistence in innovation in Spanish manufacturing firms: empirical evidence using discrete-time duration models

This paper measures the level of persistence in innovation using a large representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990–2008. We determine survival in innovation activities using discrete-time duration models, which control for some of the existing problems in the continuous-time duration models used in previous studies (namely, unobserved heterogeneity and the proportional hazards assumption). This paper examines the relationship between the firm-specific characteristics of technological regimes and the persistence measured by innovative spells at the firm level. The results show that high technological opportunities, patents, cumulativeness of learning based on previous experience and accumulated R&D, as well as the use of generic knowledge provided by universities enhance persistence in innovative activity.