Large Firms and Knowledge Flows in the Dutch R&D System: A Case Study of Philips Electronics

This paper uses data on patent-to-patent citations and patent-to-science-literature citations to study the spillover network of companies and research institutes around Philips Electronics. The theoretical section of the paper surveys the literature on innovation regimes and regional systems of innovation, and uses this to derive a number of testable hypotheses on the Philips network. The main findings of the paper are that the importance of local firms in the technology network around Philips is small, but the impact of local (semi-)public institutes is larger. Also, it is found that large firms generate a large part of the scientific literature that is referred to in Philips patents.     

创新网络生成因素的重要性识别研究——以上海医药产业为例

本文以上海医药产业为研究对象,基于随机森林模型检验了诸多因素对于创新网络生成和拓扑的影响,并且对这些生成因素的重要性进行了识别研究.研究发现:(1)创新网络个体属性为大学或者科研机构对于网络生成的影响最为重要,表明公共研发机构的知识外溢是网络生成重要动力;(2)创新网络个体的节点度有助于进一步的创新合作,证明了"合作的...     

Is newest always best? Firm-level evidence to challenge a focus on high-capability technological (product or process) innovation

This paper sets out to address a gap in the empirical literature on the importance of ‘low-capability’ innovation for firms. The study is framed around discussion of the conceptual bias that remains in policy and academic literature towards a narrow subset of technological (product or process) innovation labelled ‘high-capability’ innovation in this paper. The paper argues that this bias influences the public and business community's understanding of the term ‘innovation’ and has implications for innovation measurement, research, policy and strategy. The study uses data from an economy-wide, regional innovation survey based on the Oslo manual, and includes 648 innovative firms covering all industry sectors. The paper combines elements of both subject and object approaches to innovation measurement, using data from an open-ended survey question to explore the alignment between what firms report as their ‘most important innovation’ (MII) and firm capabilities for introducing ‘high-capability’ technological innovation. Results show that a substantial share of firms report an MII that is a ‘low-capability’ innovation, including those firms with high R&D intensity, those with novel technological innovation, and firms in more innovative sectors of manufacturing and knowledge intensive business services. The paper discusses the implications of this result for future innovation measurement and research.     

Innovation strategy of local pharmaceutical firms in Korea: a multivariate analysis

This article examines 37 local pharamaceutical firms in Korea to identify different patterns of innovation behaviour associated with four types of firms, which are categorized by two variables: the scale of operation and technological capability. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses support the hypotheses that these four types of firms exhibit different innovation strategies and in turn the level of performance they achieved. Specifically, large firms with high technological capability diversify their efforts, investing in their own R & D and tapping foreign capabilities, and as a result exhibit the highest degree of innovativeness, while large firms with low technological capability resort primarily to the transfer of foreign technology for short-term profitability. In contrast, small firms with high technological capability rely mainly on their own R & D efforts with the assistance from local R & D institutes and enjoy the highest growth rate, whereas small firms with low technological capability imitate technologically low-grade products by hiring experienced technical personnel from other firms. There are also fragmented indications that many local firms have long evolved from small firms with low capability to large firms with high capability. Finally, managerial and theoretical implications for the innovation strategies in LDCs/NICsE are discussed.     

市场环境影响下颠覆式创新实现路径研究——基于小米公司案例的扎根分析

市场环境对颠覆式创新具有重要影响,探讨市场环境影响下颠覆式创新实现路径能够丰富颠覆式创新理论研究。在文献讨论的基础上,选取小米公司作为研究对象,运用扎根理论研究方法对案例进行剖析。结果发现：市场环境对颠覆式创新的影响主要表现在技术、需求和产业3个方面,后发企业在市场环境的影响下可以通过技术创新和价值网络重构两条路径实现颠覆式创新。在理论上,为探讨市场环境与颠覆式创新关系提供分析框架,并提出后发企业在市场环境影响下实现颠覆式创新的思路。在实践上,为后发企业正确认知市场环境并有针对性地构建颠覆式创新实现路径提供对策建议。     

不同生命周期阶段我国电子信息产业区域技术创新网络演化比较分析

电子信息产业作为国家智能制造发展战略的基础产业,其源动力来自于产业内技术创新网络的成熟度与运行效率。通过梳理相关文献,归纳出我国电子信息产业沿京津冀、珠三角、长三角、成渝地区依次演进的板块化空间分布格局,并根据各板块产业形成机制和成长特征分别将其对应于产业生命周期各阶段（成熟期、准成熟期、成长期和进入期）。基于专利数据,运用社会网络分析法分别绘制出各板块电子信息产业在2001-2003年、2004-2006年、2007-2009年、2010-2012年、2013-2015年5个阶段的技术创新网络演化图。结果发现：处于成熟期的京津冀板块以高校和科研院所为中心,并衍生出大量高科技企业;处于准成熟期的珠三角板块高效利用跨地区资源,激发了本地企业创新活力;处于成长期的长三角板块科研创新资源丰富,技术创新网络成长潜力强劲;处于进入期的成渝板块本地科研资源缺乏,对外部创新型企业技术输入依赖较大。     

Innovation strategy of local pharmaceutical firms in Korea: a multivariate analysis

This article examines 37 local pharamaceutical firms in Korea to identify different patterns of innovation behaviour associated with four types of firms, which are categorized by two variables: the scale of operation and technological capability. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses support the hypotheses that these four types of firms exhibit different innovation strategies and in turn the level of performance they achieved. Specifically, large firms with high technological capability diversify their efforts, investing in their own R & D and tapping foreign capabilities, and as a result exhibit the highest degree of innovativeness, while large firms with low technological capability resort primarily to the transfer of foreign technology for short-term profitability. In contrast, small firms with high technological capability rely mainly on their own R & D efforts with the assistance from local R & D institutes and enjoy the highest growth rate, whereas small firms with low technological capability imitate technologically low-grade products by hiring experienced technical personnel from other firms. There are also fragmented indications that many local firms have long evolved from small firms with low capability to large firms with high capability. Finally, managerial and theoretical implications for the innovation strategies in LDCs/NICsE are discussed.     

The impact of foreign direct investment on innovation: Evidence from patent filings and citations in China

This paper studies how foreign direct investment (FDI) affects innovation in the host country, using matched firm-level patent data of Chinese firms. The data contain multidimensional information about patent counts and citations, which, together with an identification strategy based on Lu et al. (2017), allows us to measure innovation comprehensively and to uncover the causal relationship. Our empirical analysis shows that FDI has positive intra-industry effects on the quantity and quality of innovation, as well as radical innovation, by Chinese firms. We show that these positive effects are driven by increases in competition, rather than by knowledge spillovers from FDI which is measured by patent citations between domestic firms and foreign invested enterprises (FIEs). We further investigate the inter-industry effects of FDI and find that FDI has positive vertical effects on innovation in upstream sectors through backward knowledge spillovers.     

本地网络联系和全球网络联系与集群企业创新绩效的关系——吸收能力的中介作用

从全球化和本土化的双重视角出发,以吸收能力为中介变量,构建双重网络联系对集群企业创新绩效影响的概念模型。利用长三角地区196家高科技企业的调研数据,采取多元回归方法对上述概念模型进行检验。研究结果表明:本地网络联系不仅直接促进集群企业创新绩效的改善,而且通过影响吸收能力间接改善创新绩效;全球网络联系通过影响吸收能力而间接改善集群企业的创新绩效;本地网络联系与全球网络联系的匹配关系和平衡关系通过影响吸收能力而间接改善集群企业的创新绩效。因此,集群企业在积极构建外部网络联系以获取创新资源的同时,还应努力培养和提升吸收能力,以便更好地将外部创新资源转化为自身的创新能力。     

The relationship between innovation network and innovation capability: a social network perspective

The key for acquiring innovation capability is knowledge transmission which is primarily based on the closer and tighter connections among businesses and other actors within innovation networks. Previous literature of patent analysis based on social network only explains the most influential corporations within an industry through social network indicators, but did not investigate the impact of these indicators on a firm’s innovation capability. This study uses social network perspective ‘centrality, cohesion and density’ to investigate the relationship between innovation network and innovation capability in the global semiconductor industry. Two purposes of this study are: (1) to investigate the innovation network relationship within the semiconductor industry at different periods and its evolution and (2) to study whether network position occupied by a firm in innovation network influences innovation capability. The empirical results show that firms with higher centrality and higher density have stronger innovation capability, but the weaker innovation capability with closer connection of sub-cluster (cohesion).     

结构洞度对联盟网络中企业创新绩效的影响研究

对于结构洞是否可以真正促进企业创新网络中的成员提高创新绩效,不同学者持有不同观点。在国内外相关研究文献的基础上,发现企业在联盟网络中所处的结构洞位置与局部网位置都将对企业的创新性产生影响,从而提出结构洞度概念。结合社会网络分析法与负二项回归方法,以社会网络理论为基础,以中国家用视听设备制造业企业联盟网络为研究对象,研究了企业在战略联盟网络中网络位置的结构洞度对企业创新绩效的影响。研究结果表明,企业所处联盟网络的结构洞度的确可以对企业的创新绩效产生显著促进作用,这将为企业在选择联盟伙伴时提供重要的参考依据。     

R&D cooperation with scientific institutions: a difference-in-difference approach

Economists and business managers have long been interested in the impact of research and development (R&D) cooperation with scientific institutions on the innovation performance of firms. Recent research identifies a positive correlation between these two variables. This paper aims to contribute to the identification of the relationship between R&D cooperation with scientific institutions and the product and process innovation performance of firms by using a difference-in-difference approach. In doing so, we distinguish between two different types of scientific institutions: universities and governmental research institutes. For the econometric analyses, we use data from the German Community Innovation Survey. In total, data from up to 560 German service and manufacturing firms are available for the difference-in-difference analyses. The results suggest that R&D cooperation with universities and governmental research institutes has a positive effect on both product innovation and process innovation performance of firms.     

R&D, patents and stock return volatility

Recent finance literature highlights the role of technological change in increasing firm specific (idiosyncratic) and aggregate stock return volatility, yet innovation data is not used in these analyses, leaving the direct relationship between innovation and stock return volatility untested. The paper investigates the relationship between volatility and innovation using firm level patent data. The analysis builds on the empirical work by Mazzucato (Rev Econ Dyn 5:318–345, 2002; J Evol Econ 13(5):491–512, 2003) where it is found that stock return volatility is highest during periods in the industry life-cycle when innovation is the most ‘radical’. In this paper we ask whether firms which invest more in innovation (more R&D and more patents) and/or which have more important innovations (patents with more citations) experience more volatility in their returns. Given that returns should in theory be higher, on average, for higher risk stocks, we also look at the effect of innovation on the level of returns. To take into account the competition between firms within industries, firm returns and volatility are measured relative to the industry average. We focus the analysis on firms in the pharmaceutical industry between 1974 and 1999. Results suggest that there is a positive and significant relationship between volatility, R&D intensity and the various patent related measures—especially when the innovation measures are filtered to distinguish the very innovative firms from the less innovate ones.     

Innovation and the geographical and organisational dimensions of outsourcing: Evidence from Italian firm-level data

The paper investigates the diversified patterns of outsourcing in the Lombardy region and relates them to the probability of introducing product and process innovation. Based on a large firm-level survey, we show that outsourcing processes are strongly regionally embedded and that offshoring is still a limited phenomenon. Outsourcing strategies are shown to be positively related to firms’ innovation. In particular, the outsourcing of service activities is mostly related to product innovation, thus suggesting that firms successfully pursue core strengthening strategies. Our econometric estimates show that both geographical and organisational proximity matter. Indeed, the positive association of services with innovation is strongly related to their regional dimension, which points towards the importance of local user–producer relationships. When outsourcing crosses national borders, keeping the outsourced activities within extended organisational boundaries (i.e. within the group or network of affiliates) appears relevant, particularly with reference to R&D activities.     

区域创新系统中合作、资源与产出关系的实证研究

首先综述了区域创新系统关于互动合作的研究现状,许多学者论述了区域创新主体之间合作对区域创新能力的影响,但是仅仅停留在定性研究。目前尚未发现对区域创新中资源、合作与产出关系的实证研究。以31个省级区域创新系统3年93个样本,运用结构方程模型,定量验证了创新主体之间合作对区域创新产出的影响,结论是：主体之间合作能够提高区域创新能力。但是,我国区域创新主体之间合作互动并不充分,大有潜力可以挖掘。最后,从树立合作观念、构建核心技术能力、加强组织学习能力和寻找文化相容性合作伙伴4个方面提出建议,以便增强中国区域创新主体之间的合作互动。     

How a firm's position in a whole network affects innovation performance

A whole network consists of the relationships that exist among members of a population. However, prior studies treated the whole network as a metaphor, and consequently, existing empirical research is limited. As such, this paper investigates the effects of a whole network on firm innovation performance among firms engaged in the Korean semiconductor industry using three variables, namely main component, eigenvector centrality, and closeness centrality. The effects are then analysed using two-step generalised method of moments estimates. The results show a firm is included among the main component in a whole network, and the more centralised it is in terms of connectivity and distance, the more advantageous it is for firm innovation. The significance of this paper is two-fold; First, unlike previous studies that use variables reflecting collective characteristics, this study uses variables reflecting the characteristics of individual firms in a whole network. Second, it is a rare empirical study of a whole network.     

Does social capital determine innovation? To what extent?

This paper deals with two questions: Does social capital determine innovation in manufacturing firms? If it is the case, to what extent? To deal with these questions, we review the literature on innovation in order to see how social capital came to be added to the other forms of capital as an explanatory variable of innovation. In doing so, we have been led to follow the dominating view of the literature on social capital and innovation which claims that social capital cannot be captured through a single indicator, but that it actually takes many different forms that must be accounted for. Therefore, to the traditional explanatory variables of innovation, we have added five forms of structural social capital (business network assets, information network assets, research network assets, participation assets, and relational assets) and one form of cognitive social capital (reciprocal trust). Based on the survey data administered from April to June 2000 to 440 manufacturing firms of diverse industries in a region in the southwest of Montréal, we have found that 68.5% of the firms have developed product or process innovations during the 3 years preceding the survey. Assuming that innovation is not a discrete event but a complex process, we have modeled the decision to innovate as a two-stage decision-making process: in the first stage, the firms deal with the decision about whether to innovate or not whereas, at the second stage, the firms that have decided to innovate must make a decision about the degree of radicalness of the innovation to undertake. In a context where empirical investigations regarding the relations between social capital and innovation are still scanty, this paper makes contributions to the advancement of knowledge in providing new evidence regarding the impact and the extent of social capital on innovation at the two decision-making stages considered in this study. Regarding the decision to innovate or not that firms must initially make, we have provided strong evidence that diverse forms of social capital influence this decision and, more importantly, that marginal increases in social capital, especially in social capital taking the forms of participation assets and relational assets, contribute more than any other explanatory variable to increase the likelihood of innovation of firms. As for the decision to be made at the second stage concerning the magnitude of radicalness to bring in the development of new product or process innovations, this paper contributes to the advancement of knowledge by supplying the strongest evidence that diverse forms of social capital determine the radicalness of innovation, and more importantly, that social capital taking the form of research network assets contributes more than any other explanatory variable to explain the radicalness of innovation. The second variable that exerts the strongest impact on the radicalness of innovation is the number of different advanced technologies employed by firms for production.     

A Method for Identifying Actors in a Knowledge Based Cluster

The objective of the paper is to develop a method through which we can identify the actors (industrial, institutional and individual) who are active in technology development in the same or similar knowledge fields. The paper is, thus, aimed to make a methodological contribution to the literature, which has emerged on the systemic nature of innovation. The method involves broadening out from a starting point in a specific patent class, which corresponds as closely as possibly to the technological area of interest, to a set of related patent classes by using co-classifications and citations. After close scrutiny of both patent classes and patents, the actors in the new classes, as well as in the original class, are then identified. We try out the method on radio wave antennas for communication technology in Sweden. We find a range of firms and other actors in a whole set of industries, which bear little relation to one another in an input-output sense. Although we cannot ascertain the extent of linkages or relations between these actors, our hypothesis is that they constitute a cluster around radio wave antenna technology in Sweden.     

多元知识探寻与后发企业技术创新

当后发企业由追随向引领转型时，将致力于对全球化技术、基础科学等多种知识来源的积极探寻，以推进自身技术创新。基于专利及引文数据，分析海外技术知识与科学知识对后发企业技术创新的影响效应。实证研究发现：海外技术知识转移水平与后发企业创新呈U型关系；知识来源的地理多样性则正向作用于后发企业创新。另外，企业科学关联度对后发企业技术创新未起到显著促进作用。在后发转型背景下，明晰企业对多元知识的技术学习机制和效果，对企业创新追赶及其国际化具有重要指导意义。     

外资研发与本地高技术企业创新能力间的关系——基于技术溢出的视角

将行业对外资开放程度、内外资企业间技术差距和本地企业的技术吸收能力纳入研究框架,利用1995—2010年我国13个高技术产业子行业的数据,建立动态面板数据模型,实证分析了外资研发的技术溢出与本地企业的创新能力之间的关系。结果表明:外资研发的技术溢出对本地企业的创新能力产生显著的正向影响,但与本地企业的自主创新投入相比,其影响相对较小;较高的外资开放度和较大的技术差距都会对外资研发的技术溢出产生不利影响,但外资研发的技术溢出是否存在主要取决于本地企业的吸收能力。