Technological upgrading in Taiwan's TFT-LCD industry: signs of a deeper absorptive capacity?

Firms from several advanced developing countries have successfully upgraded to higher levels of capability and competitiveness on the international stage. This study explores how leading Taiwanese latecomer firms acquired strong capabilities in the display (thin film transistor-liquid crystal display, TFT-LCD) industry. We identify how these firms acquired the technology base to catch up rapidly and move from one set of advanced products and technologies to another, focusing on both the accumulation of technological capabilities and the underlying absorptive capacity of each firm. Empirically, we distinguish three phases of capability building, namely pre-entry, entry, and innovation and diversification. Theoretically, we suggest that the notion of ‘latecomer’ absorptive capacity, centred on engineering and design rather than R&D, might explain both the rapidity of recent technological catch up and the diversification across products and technologies as latecomer firms approach the technology frontier.     

Technological interdependence and knowledge diffusion in the building of national innovative capacity: The role of Taiwan's chemical industry

While the significance and effectiveness of patents in the chemical industry has been demonstrated in many industrialized countries, this study examines the role of the chemical industry and knowledge diffusion in building the innovative capacity of a nation in latecomer country Taiwan. The development of process innovation plays an integral role in the strategic industries of Taiwan, but few attempts have been made to address how the efficiency of process development can be enhanced. As a latecomer, Taiwan has built its national innovative capability on strategic industries such as semiconductors, consumer electronics and flat panel displays. Through patent data analysis, this study demonstrates the significant and indispensable role played by the chemical industry in technological interdependence and knowledge diffusion with other Taiwanese strategic industries. This study suggests that while the public resources of Taiwan are focused on accelerating the development of emerging sectors and technologies, the chemical industry serves as an effective linkage and catalyst in problem-solving.     

服务创新资源与能力对商业模式创新选择的影响

我国现代服务业相对落后,后发企业大多通过商业模式创新实现赶超。聚焦服务型企业的商业模式创新选择及其前置影响因素,从资源、能力角度构建了服务创新资源与能力影响商业模式创新意愿的概念模型。以现代服务业为背景,访问调查武汉、荆州、深圳三地服务企业,收集数据并进行分析。结果表明,服务创新资源与能力4个维度（新服务开发战略能力、聚焦新服务开发流程能力、市场敏锐性、IT与“互联网＋”经验）均对企业商业模式创新意愿产生正向影响,但影响程度各不相同,且具有行业差异性;组织环境既能直接正向影响企业商业模式创新,又在创新资源与能力对商业模式创新意愿的影响关系中起正向调节作用。     

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。     

Strategic Patenting in Biotechnology

Patents can be used by their owners in a variety of strategic ways in the market place that do not necessarily conform with the original idea of patents as a remedy against market failure. More patenting does not lead to more innovation in all cases. This article looks at the relevance of patents and their strategic uses in the biotechnology industry. The article considers the different motives for applying for patents and various strategies. Theoretical considerations are made based on empirical findings from a survey of the Swiss biotechnology industry carried out in 2003. The empirical data confirm that patents for biotechnological inventions are important as an incentive for investment in R&D and that patents are an efficient tool for protecting biotechnological inventions. Strategic patenting is not very common in Switzerland and there are no signs for an abusive level of strategic patenting.     

Strategic Patenting in Biotechnology

Patents can be used by their owners in a variety of strategic ways in the market place that do not necessarily conform with the original idea of patents as a remedy against market failure. More patenting does not lead to more innovation in all cases. This article looks at the relevance of patents and their strategic uses in the biotechnology industry. The article considers the different motives for applying for patents and various strategies. Theoretical considerations are made based on empirical findings from a survey of the Swiss biotechnology industry carried out in 2003. The empirical data confirm that patents for biotechnological inventions are important as an incentive for investment in R&D and that patents are an efficient tool for protecting biotechnological inventions. Strategic patenting is not very common in Switzerland and there are no signs for an abusive level of strategic patenting.     

Middle-ground players in dynamic imitative markets: global entry strategies of Korean firms in the biosimilars market

ABSTRACT

This study examines the strategies used to enter the biosimilars market – the emerging biogeneric market – by five Korean biopharmaceutical firms. The analysis is based on a conceptual framework that characterises the use of imitative innovation by middle-ground firms. These middle-ground firms are positioned between globally innovative firms from major developed economies and latecomer firms from large emerging economies. The study finds that the five Korean firms used three entry modes that resemble the typology of strategies commonly used in the previous catch-up stage: exploiting scale economies and specialisation. The study also reveals the risk and potential of each entry mode.     

新兴市场后发企业逆向创新路径研究

作为一种全新的创新全球化扩散模式,逆向创新理论研究尚处于起步阶段。选取华为公司作为逆向创新研究案例,从技术和市场两大维度探讨其逆向创新发展模式,总结其可以复制推广的经验和做法,并提出新兴市场后发企业逆向创新路径与驱动力模型。在丰富并发展逆向创新理论的同时,也为中国企业特别是后发高科技企业提高创新能力以及加快国际化进程提供了借鉴与启示。     

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。     

资源、创新决策取向与后发企业创新追赶路径演化研究

聚焦全球网络化背景下后发制造企业创新追赶问题，通过将资源与创新决策取向相结合，基于本土制造企业纵向案例研究，运用探索性研究方法分析本土企业创新追赶的内在机理，多维度分析企业创新追赶内涵，归纳不同情境下企业创新追赶路径。研究结果表明：创新追赶过程中，企业内部资源与外部网络嵌入的有效互动形成后发企业资源摘取机制，有助于克服资源能力弱势；基于适宜的创新决策，企业实现资源整合利用和新的资源能力优势创造，以促进持续创新追赶；后发企业因不同阶段拥有的资源差异，其所作出的创新决策取向不同。     

Innovation and the Business Cycle: A Comparison of the U.S. Semiconductor and Automobile Industries

This paper examines data for U.S. automotive and semiconductor firms from 1976 to 2000 to analyze the cyclical nature of innovation, and to find if it is the same across the two industries. Although previous studies have used aggregate data, it does not follow that distinct industries respond to economic fluctuations in the same way. Using patenting as a proxy for innovation, this study finds that there is evidence that innovation is procyclical in the semiconductor industry, but there does not appear to be a similar cyclical pattern in the automobile industry. This has implications for government policy aimed at increasing private sector innovation, particularly at the regional level.     

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...     

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).     

Taiwan's pharmaceuticals: A failure of the sectoral system of innovation?

The study investigates Taiwan's sectoral system of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, which has failed to achieve international competitiveness, despite strong state support. Our investigations were designed and carried out in two stages. In the first stage, we developed a statistical method to measure the institutional drivers in Taiwan's pharmaceutical industry. This finding received strong support in our second stage of analysis, which involved the use of both: (1) inductive processes (through the use of interviews) and (2) deductive (i.e., mathematical) approaches to analyze the innovation performance in Taiwan's pharmaceutical industry. In particular, we compared patenting and publication activities in Taiwan versus those of India. The results of our study demonstrate that the intellectual property regime (i.e., patents and publications) is playing a critical role in linking actors and institutions and is highly associated with the effectiveness of the innovation system in the pharmaceutical sector.     

A theory of competitive industry dynamics with innovation and imitation

Empirical evidence on industry life-cycle reveals a pattern in which innovation rates remain fairly stable or are perhaps even higher at early stages, while patenting increases sharply as the industry matures. This increase in patenting in later stages is accompanied by net exit and lower rates of output growth and price decline. In this paper, we develop a dynamic model of a competitive industry with innovation and imitation that is consistent with these stylized facts. We derive an equilibrium growth path, along which leading firms invest in increasing the stock of technological knowledge and choose not to prevent imitation by other firms as long as the industry remains relatively small. As the industry expands including new entry, the leaders' optimal amount of investment gradually declines. We show that under some rather general conditions, there would exist a scale of the industry where innovating firms would choose to start preventing free imitation, bringing further expansion of the industry through new entry to a halt and causing net exit.     

海外情境下本土后发企业颠覆性创新演化路径研究——价值创新视角

近年来，我国后发企业在海外市场面临着政策限制、市场挤压和技术竞争等挑战。颠覆性创新作为管理实践中重要的创新理论与分析工具，价值创新为进一步探索颠覆性创新技术演化与市场侵入提供了新的着眼点，从而为海外情境下后发企业突围提供了重要理论支持。基于颠覆性创新和价值创新相关理论研究，采用扎根理论并借助NVivo12对一加手机案例进行自下而上编码，归纳其演化路径。结果发现：本土后发企业在海外市场的颠覆性创新演化模型主要由4个主范畴构成，其中异质性需求定位是颠覆性创新价值主张的前提，用户中心化技术创新是价值创造的源泉，融入文化的商业化创新是价值传递的手段，市场侵蚀是价值实现的终端。结论可拓展颠覆性创新理论情境，对本土后发企业开拓海外市场具有实践价值。     

机会窗口、复合式战略与后发企业追赶——基于大华股份的纵向案例研究

基于中国本土化理论——复合基础观，以浙江大华技术股份有限公司（以下简称大华）为例，结合后发企业追赶需要考虑的重要情境即机会窗口，分析后发企业在追赶过程中，如何合理、灵活地采取复合式战略回应机会窗口，并利用机会窗口带来的发展机遇，实现从初始追赶到超越追赶再到行业前沿的追赶历程。研究发现，同一行业内不同机会窗口之间环环相扣、相互影响，某一机会窗口的出现也会触发其它机会窗口出现，进而引致整个行业机会窗口涌现；基于复合基础观视角，后发企业追赶路径的演变过程为：最初以技术模仿式创新为导向实现边缘赶超，继而以市场把握和扩张为导向实现商业模式创新，然后以全面协同创新为导向实现系统竞争力提升；后发企业通过实施复合式战略回应机会窗口的开启，能够帮助其更好地把握住发展机遇，实现追赶；与追赶路径演变相关联，随着企业内部资源与能力的积累，战略回应机制也相应地呈现为“被动回应—主动回应—引领拓展”的演变过程。     

机会窗口、复合式战略与后发企业追赶——基于大华股份的纵向案例研究

基于中国本土化理论——复合基础观,以浙江大华技术股份有限公司（以下简称大华）为例,结合后发企业追赶需要考虑的重要情境即机会窗口,分析后发企业在追赶过程中,如何合理、灵活地采取复合式战略回应机会窗口,并利用机会窗口带来的发展机遇,实现从初始追赶到超越追赶再到行业前沿的追赶历程。研究发现,同一行业内不同机会窗口之间环环相扣、相互影响,某一机会窗口的出现也会触发其它机会窗口出现,进而引致整个行业机会窗口涌现;基于复合基础观视角,后发企业追赶路径的演变过程为：最初以技术模仿式创新为导向实现边缘赶超,继而以市场把握和扩张为导向实现商业模式创新,然后以全面协同创新为导向实现系统竞争力提升;后发企业通过实施复合式战略回应机会窗口的开启,能够帮助其更好地把握住发展机遇,实现追赶;与追赶路径演变相关联,随着企业内部资源与能力的积累,战略回应机制也相应地呈现为“被动回应—主动回应—引领拓展”的演变过程。     

科技服务业何以激发区域创新“一池活水”——基于中国内地31个省级区域的fsQCA分析

为了探究科技服务业对区域创新能力提升的影响机制,以我国内地31个省级区域为研究样本,运用模糊集定性比较分析方法（fsQCA）,选取技术、人才、资金、市场、产业、基建、政策7个条件变量,从条件组态视角,探讨科技服务业促进区域创新能力提升的组态构型和发展路径。结果显示,科技服务业并不能通过单个变量达到提升区域创新能力的效果,而是通过条件组态形式发挥作用;技术、市场、产业是促进区域创新能力提升的核心条件,三者的变化组合分别在不同条件组态中发挥关键作用;科技服务业促进区域创新能力提升的路径有5条,可以归纳为4种模式：技术+市场+产业驱动型、技术+产业驱动型、市场驱动型、技术+市场驱动型。     

Intellectual capital and new product development performance: The mediating role of organizational learning capability

Previous studies rarely examined the relationship between intellectual capital and organizational learning capability. Moreover, most studies neglect the mediating effect of organizational learning capability in the relationship between intellectual capital and new product development performance. This study uses interviews and the survey method to discuss the relationships governing intellectual capital, organizational learning capability, and new product development performance. Results are based on empirical data from Taiwan's IC design industry, and are generated by the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method. Results show that human capital and relational capital actually improve new product development performance through organizational learning capability. Although structural capital positively affects organizational learning capability, managers should pay attention to possibly negative effects of structural capital on new product development performance. Relational capital is the greatest factor among these three types of intellectual capital in Taiwanese IC design companies, structural capital is second, and human capital is last. Comparing three types of intellectual capital of Taiwan's large enterprises with those of Taiwan's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) reveals that the relational capital of Taiwan's SMEs is marginally less than that of large enterprises.