Academic-industry linkages and small firm innovation: evidence from the scientific instruments sector

This paper explores the role of academic linkages in the product development efforts of small and medium-sized manufacturing firms (SMFs). Data from a sample of 204 SMFs in New York State's scientific instruments sector suggest that university research units can play a helpful role in small firm innovation. Knowledge spillovers from the academic sector are shown to be geographically localized. A key finding is that the intensity of academic-SMF interaction varies inversely with the time-distance that separates firms from major campuses. A related finding is that innovation rates are higher among SMFs that enjoy close proximity to academic resources. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the role of micro-geographical factors in regional knowledge diffusion.     

Integrated risk management and product innovation in China: The moderating role of board of directors

This study explored the role of the board of directors in the relationship between integrated risk management and product innovation. We focused on a board's direct involvement in risk oversight and its use of external audit in risk oversight, and examined their moderating effects on the relationship between integrated risk management and product innovation. Panel data from a survey of 1178 Chinese firms was analyzed to test the hypotheses. A board's direct involvement in risk oversight was found to negatively moderate the positive relationship between integrated risk management and product innovation success. The use of external audit in risk oversight similarly weakens the relationship. These results show how an effective board contributes to the innovation benefits associated with risk management in product innovation. They also have important implications for emerging economy firms pursuing an integrated approach to risk management in product innovation.     

企业技术创新的新趋势——合作创新

文章从技术发展的特征,现代企业生产方式的变革,全球化经济发展趋势,论证了合作创新正成为企业技术创新的新趋势,分析了合作创新的优势。提出了我国企业发展合作创新的策略。     

The strategic decision making of entrepreneurs within small high innovator firms

The study examines strategic decision making among entrepreneurs from small firms engaged in early stage commercialisation. It is based on a questionnaire survey of 57 firms and the results suggest that if entrepreneurs within small innovator firms feel the innovation can be commercialised with relatively few obstacles they will tend to downgrade the importance of external advisors. Greater value is placed on the views of customers and where the entrepreneur has the power to proceed with the innovation without recourse to other stakeholders he/she is most likely to go ahead if a positive response is received from leading customers. The article expands upon these findings to outline the design, development and application of a diagnostic assessment and screening tool to assist such entrepreneurs, formulate more systematic strategies than the response to an initial customer.     

Managing risk in the formative years: Evidence from young enterprises in Europe

This paper empirically investigates aspects of risk management in young small enterprises? effort to survive and grow. We use a new dataset on several thousands small businesses in their “formative age” (2–8 years old) in 10 European countries and 18 sectors. Firms across all types of sectors use internal risk mitigation strategies to manage technology risk and operational risk. Financial risk is managed by tapping formal and informal networks. Market risk appears less amenable to internal management action. Formal network participation (strategic alliances) is a strategy cutting across all kinds of risk with the exception of operational risk. Firms in knowledge-intensive sectors (high-tech manufacturing and KIBS) engage in risk management activities more extensively. Firms led by more educated entrepreneurs and/or operating in demanding volatile markets tend to network more and to use internal risk mitigation strategies more extensively.     

Entrepreneurial orientation and social capital as small firm strategies: A study of gender differences from a resource-based view

Women entrepreneurs have recently been the subject of many studies which have revealed that though women possess some of the same resources as male entrepreneurs, success levels are not the same. The current study looks at the resources utilized by small business owners within downtown business districts. Using a sample of 467 small business owners, we test differences in entrepreneurial orientation and social capital between men and women entrepreneurs. Though women actually reported higher levels of entrepreneurial orientation and social capital, there were no differences in their abilities to utilize these two resources in achieving firm performance. We offer discussion of why these findings are relevant, as well as research implications.     

论高校财务会计管理体制创新的理论评析

创建高校会计核算中心是整顿高校财务会计秩序,规范会计行为的需要。事业单位会计管理体制是高校会计运行机制得以形成和存在的基础。随着高等教育体制改革的日益发展,针对高等教育的规律和特点,首先要重视高校财务会计管理体制的创新。会计核算中心体制成为“内部人控制”进行约束的有效手段,建立会计核算中心正是实行会计委派制的一种重要形式,是会计委派制的深化和发展。     

商业银行个人理财：产品创新、风险表现及建议

本文总结了商业银行个人理财产品创新的＂三化＂特征,揭示了商业银行个人理财产品创新中的风险表现,提出了促进银行理财业务健康发展的建议。     

中小企业技术创新与管理创新整合:机制创新

文章探讨了中小企业技术创新与管理创新整合存在的问题,认为现代中小企业要突破发展“停滞”,不能仅靠单一的技术创新或管理创新,必须依靠两者的有效整合,通过技术创新增强竞争优势,以管理创新协调企业内部的矛盾,发挥整合优势。     

中小上市公司风险成因分析——基于中小板块上市公司的研究

本文结合中小企业自身特点以及其所处环境,对中小上市公司面临的各种风险进行了分析,发现中小上市公司比大型公司面临更多的风险。建议中小企业在上市时要充分考虑上市的利弊,切勿盲目上市。     

Supplier relationship-specific investments and the role of safeguards for supplier innovation sharing

The vast majority of the supplier innovation literature has focused on how buying firms can effectively “pull” innovations from their suppliers. Yet, we know remarkably little about the factors that contribute to a supplier voluntarily “pushing” innovations to its customers. The present study addresses this research gap in the context of industrial buyer–supplier relationships and with a specific focus on relationship-specific investments. Drawing on theory from the relationship-marketing literature and on transaction cost theory, we devise and test a proposed theoretical model that links the level of a supplier's relationship-specific investments to its sharing of innovative ideas regarding products and processes with customers. The model also considers the role of contract length, relationship age, and buyer–supplier cooperation as possible safeguards. The empirical results suggest that a supplier's relationship-specific investments encourage a supplier to suggest ideas of process innovations but to refrain from suggestions about product innovations. The latter effect, however, can be attenuated by appropriate formal and informal safeguards.     

Innovation,external technical linkages and small firm commercial performance: an empirical analysis from Western New York

This paper examines the role of external service linkages in the innovation and market peformance of small manufacturing firms (SMFs). Survey data from a technological cross-section of 146 Western New York SMFs are summarized. The data suggest a helpful role for consultants in the product development efforts of innovative firms, especially those that serve foreign export markets. Several multiple discriminant models are presented, each of which suggests an interactive connection between SMF commercial performance, externa) technical links, innovation propensity and in-house R&D. It is argued that innovative SMFs that exploit specialized technical services perform significantly better than comparably sized firms that rely solely on in-house resources. It is also argued that the quality of a region's producer service environment may have a significant bearing on the growth potential of its SMF population. The paper concludes by discussing the main academic and public policy implications that flow from the empirical results.     

Organizational practice transfer within a transnational professional service firm: the role of leadership and control

Most cross-border organizational practice transfer involves implementation challenges, yet key literature in this field largely overlooks the mediating role of the transfer coalition, which serves as a ‘bridge’ between headquarters and subsidiaries in transferring an organizational practice. By exploring an in-depth case study of a top-tier professional service firm, this study contributes to the literature on cross-border human resource management practice transfer. We show that the transfer coalition displayed activities that translated into two separate managerial roles – transfer leadership and control – that were practiced with quite different levels of commitment by different members and impacted the successful management of the transfer process. We propose two distinctive transfer coalition archetypes – the entrepreneurial and the ceremonial type – where the leadership and control roles were practiced quite differently and reached different levels of organizational practice adoption. Furthermore, we suggest practical implications for HR professionals in order to improve global leadership and control competence.     

Servitization: Disentangling the impact of service business model innovation on manufacturing firm performance

As manufacturing businesses operate in an ever more competitive, global economy where products are easily commoditized, innovating by adding services to the core product offering has become a popular strategy. Contrary to the economic benefits expected, recent findings pinpoint implementation hurdles that lead to a potential performance decline, the so-called ‘servitization paradox’. In this paper, we analyze this paradox by disentangling the value creation and value appropriation processes of 44 national subsidiaries of a global manufacturing firm turned product-service provider, in the 2001–2007 period. Our findings show that the firm under study is able to successfully transcend the inherent substitution of products by services and to enact complementary sales dynamics between the two activities. Moreover, labor-intensive services such as maintenance, which imply higher levels of customer proximity, further enhance product sales. Empirical results also reveal a positive yet non-linear relationship between the scale of service activities and profitability: while initial levels of servicing result in a steep increase in profitability, a period of relative decline is observed before the positive relationship between the scale of services and profitability re-emerges. These findings suggest the presence of initial short-term gains but also indicate the existence of a ‘profitability’ hurdle; profitable growth seems feasible only to the extent that investments in service capability are translated into economies of scale. In helping to clarify the performance implications of service innovation, our findings suggest pathways to sustainable growth through servitization for manufacturing firms.     

中小企业基于社会资本的债务融资模式探析

文章介绍了我国中小企业社会资本型债务融资模式的主要形式,并在此基础上分析了该融资模式的产生原因及对中小企业现阶段融资的适用性与局限性。     

论中小企业技术创新

我国中小企业技术创新活动具有多样性和广泛性,它们的技术创新在许多行业占据了主导地位,研究中小企业的技术创新问题对经济发展和社会进步具有重要意义。文章围绕中小企业的技术创新概念、企业与技术创新的关系、内外部环境分析进行讨论,提出新形势下中小企业技术创新的对策。     

资本市场开放推动经济均衡发展和技术创新

中国经济发展的不均衡影响到发展的可持续性,本文重点讨论了对经济不均衡发展的承受能力和转向均衡发展的有效路径,考察了对经济竞争力有重要影响的制度改革、人力资源成本、内外投资环境和规模效应等四个方面的因素,以期通过对这些要素进行合理调整,借助资本市场开放,推进制度创新和技术创新,在保持竞争力的情况下,优化产业结构,使经济均衡发展。     

浅谈中小企业技术创新

文章阐述了中小企业技术创新的概念,分析了湖南省中小企业技术创新的现状和影响因素,为完善湖南省中小企业技术创新政策环境提供一些思路。     

The impact of stakeholder heterogeneity on risk perceptions in technological innovation

Managing risk has been widely acknowledged as a crucial managerial task in the development of new technology. More recently, the acceptance of new technologies has increasingly been influenced by secondary stakeholders, some of which are difficult to identify, or whose concerns are not easily reconciled. This paper develops a conceptual framework based on the management of technology and research & development literature, stakeholder theory, risk and social judgment to describe how traditional approaches based on reducing uncertainties through estimating probabilities may not work for social uncertainties; different heuristics are needed to understand and resolve such heterogeneous stakeholder perspectives. We contribute to the discourse by describing how risk perceptions among stakeholders vary, and how this may change over time. The framework suggests that the perception of primary stakeholder towards a specific innovation is ‘Standard’ when information is well known, but becomes riskier when information is unclear. For secondary stakeholders, when there is a low degree of imperfect information, the stakeholder relationship is an ‘Irritant’ but becomes increasingly ‘Dangerous’ when information becomes ambiguous. We conclude with implications for management and future research.     

民营中小企业可持续发展与制度创新

作为我国民营企业的重要组成部分,民营中小企业的发展状况对我国国民经济全局产生重要影响。对于广大民营中小企业而言,制度对其健康有序发展意义重大。文章阐述了民营中小企业几大突出特征,全面阐述了民营中小企业可持续发展与制度创新策略。