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.     

Dynamic R&D choice and the impact of the firm's financial strength

ABSTRACT

This article investigates how a firm's financial strength affects its dynamic decision to invest in R&D. We estimate a dynamic model of R&D choice using data for German firms in high-tech manufacturing industries. The model incorporates a measure of the firm's financial strength, derived from its credit rating, which is shown to lead to substantial differences in estimates of the costs and expected long-run benefits from R&D investment. Financially strong firms have a higher probability of generating innovations from their R&D investment, and the innovations have a larger impact on productivity and profits. Averaging across all firms, the long-run benefit of investing in R&D equals 6.6% of firm value. It ranges from 11.6% for firms in a strong financial position to 2.3% for firms in a weaker financial position.     

The evolution of corporate entrepreneurship in Swedish industry—was Schumpeter wrong?

This paper analyzes the evolution and role of corporate entrepreneurship in Swedish industry, particularly for the 1945–1980 period, based on data on the 100 economically most important innovations during this period. Privately owned large corporations (Schumpeter Mark II) dominated in launching innovations in almost all industrial sectors and in all subperiods but decreasingly so. 20% of the innovations were launched by new firms (Schumpeter Mark I) but most of these new firms were spun-off and/or acquired by large corporations. State entrepreneurship was marginal. Universities played an important role, although sector-specific. New firms and existing firms had similar growth rates and almost identical and short gestation times to international markets for their innovations. 80% of the corporate innovations were product renewals rather than product diversifications or process innovations. No evidence of an evolution from autonomous over corporate to state entrepreneurship, as hypothesized by Schumpeter, was found. Evolution of a dynamic coexistence of. these forms of entrepreneurship is hypothesized in this paper. The paper finally presents a model, synthesizing Schumpeter Mark I and II, for analyzing technological change and entrepreneurship.     

Do innovative firms rely on big secrets? An analysis of IP protection strategies with the CIS 4 survey

Innovative companies have a variety of instruments at their disposal to protect themselves from imitators, and this paper investigates the determinants of the protection choices with a focus on highly innovative respondents. While the patent system's aim is that firms apply to patent their innovations, especially the most important ones, theoretical results in the existing literature suggest that large innovations will rather be protected by secrecy because of the legal uncertainty surrounding intellectual property rights. In line with the predictions of their model, our probit analysis conducted using data from the Community Innovation Survey 4 shows that, in the intermediate goods industry, small innovations are patented while secrecy is used to protect large ones. For very innovative small firms, the share of innovative sales in total sales has a negative effect on patent application. These findings support the view that many innovative firms regard patent filing as no more secure than secrecy, which therefore limits the diffusion of knowledge.     

Intra‐industry Knowledge Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment in Research and Development: Evidence from China's “Silicon Valley”

This study examines a specific channel of technology diffusion from multinational enterprises to domestic firms in less developed regions: research and development (R&D) activities of multinational enterprises in the host country. Using firm‐level panel data from a Chinese science park, known as China's “Silicon Valley,” we find that the R&D stock of foreign‐owned firms has a positive effect on the productivity of domestic firms in the same industry, while the capital stock of foreign firms has no such effect. These results suggest that foreign firms' knowledge spills over within industries through their R&D activities, but not through their production activities. In addition, we find no evidence of spillovers from domestic firms or firms from Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan, suggesting that the size of knowledge spillovers is larger when the technology gap between source and recipient firms is larger.     

The nonlinear effects of firm size on innovation: an empirical investigation

ABSTRACT

In conventional studies, large firms tend to emphasize more on process innovation than product innovation. This paper explores factors that could indicate a distinct pattern of firms’ innovation-size relationship: threshold size that implies a positive effect of firm size on the probability of product innovation success; cannibalization effect that creates incentives for large firms to favor product innovations; and financial constraints that have differential effects given different firm sizes. A hypothesis about a non-monotonic relationship between the proportion of product innovation and firm size is tested with nonlinear and dynamic econometric models. For the large firms, empirical evidence shows product innovations result in an overall larger share of new products in total sales, relative to existing products in which process innovations are rooted.     

Twin Brothers in Marshallian Thought: Knowledge and organization

The development of Marshallian thought in the realm of business theory has contributed to the appearance of a new branch of economic theory: Industrial Organization, as pioneered by Stigler. This theory relies, to a large degree, on the idea that a mutually beneficial relationship is produced in the industrial environment between the creation of new information and the organizational improvement of related firms. This symbiosis between knowledge and organization is the driving principle behind the ‘industrial districts’ which Marshall announced a century ago, and is most recently embodied in the contemporary industrial clusters such as Silicon Valley. However, Marshall distances himself from his equilibrium model when dealing with the issues of obtaining and managing information within the firm itself, creating a weak link in his own argument.     

Asset Specificity,R&D Financing,And The Signalling Properties of The Firm's Financial Structure

Equity financing is the optimal strategy for innovating firms, which can use their financial structure as a signalling device to attract outside investors. This situation is likely to arise when the firm undertakes a specific purpose R&D project aimed at developing a certain product innovation. Typically, innovations of this kind draw on the firm's cumulative. idiosyncratic knowledge base and, accordingly, the innovation process involves an high degree of asset specificity. Under such circumstances, the terms of debt financing will be adjusted adversely, and equity financing will represent the most economically efficient solution.

These arguments are developed in standard static principal-agent models dealing with New Technology Based Firms and publicly held large firms undertaking an aggressive R&D strategy. In the case of NTBFs, two kinds of optimal venture capital contracts are considered, which render the sharing rules independent (a) of the agent's action and (b) of both the agent's action and the specific assets involved in the transaction. Regarding innovating large firms, it is argued that in this case, too, equity represents the optimal financing strategy, and that top executives use their equity share to signal the firm's expected return stream and value to outside investors.     

Firms as knowledge repositories

One reason firms exist is to serve as knowledge repositories. Firms compete against other firms and need profits to survive. Firms must be entrepreneurial to discover and act on profit opportunities. Knowledge required to spot profit opportunities is disbursed among economic actors and often is tacit knowledge that can only be obtained by those in close proximity. This gives rise to agglomeration economies, which can be leveraged within firms. In a competitive economy people have an incentive to keep knowledge from people in other firms, but to share it with those in their firm. One role of the firm is to act as a repository of knowledge for those within the firm’s boundaries, and to lower the cost of obtaining knowledge about profit opportunities. Entrepreneurs need firms to contain and capture the profits from their innovations.     

The Indian Challenge: The Evolution of a Successful New Global Strategy in the Pharmaceutical Industry

UK and European public policy has sought to encourage young biotechnology firms adopt American-inspired strategies. The venture-backed start-up associated with Silicon Valley and Route 128 in Boston, has been the preferred model. These policies have had limited success thus far. Indian companies are evolving indigenous business models that are achieving success within the pharmaceutical industry. Some Indian pharmaceutical firms, established initially as low cost suppliers, are investing in building innovative capabilities. This paper analyses the strategies and trajectories of a number of Indian pharmaceutical companies that are expanding successfully in Western markets. It assesses the local and international contextual factors that have underpinned the strategies and discusses relevant conceptual frameworks.     

Celtic Phoenix or Leprechaun Economics? The Politics of an FDI-led Growth Model in Europe

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we argue that Ireland’s post-crisis economic recovery in Europe was driven by foreign direct investment (FDI) from Silicon Valley, and while this growth model was made possible by Ireland’s low-corporate tax rates, it was also a result of these firms using Ireland to directly access the European labour market. We evidence this contention via sectoral and geographic analyses while simultaneously showing that Irish fiscal policies have not redistributed gains from the recovery to the broader population. As a result, the economic recovery has been most actively felt by those in the FDI sectors, including workers from the EU and beyond. Building on theories from the study of comparative capitalism, we suggest that this experience indicates that Ireland’s FDI-led growth model has created clear winners and losers, with significant distributional implications. The FDI growth regime been made possible by inward migration and European integration, but given the unequal distribution of the economic benefits that this generates, it is unlikely to be politically, or electorally, sustainable.     

Exploring the role of human resources in technology out-licensing:an empirical analysis of biotech newtechnology-based firms

Out-licensing is a technology exploitation option to generate revenues without investing in downstream complementary assets. Despite its increasing strategic relevance, the strong complexity of out-licensing activity determines a substantial discrepancy in firms’ ability to extract monetary benefits from this practice. Searching for determinants of out-licensing performance, the paper focuses in particular on the role of licensing managers. Based on a multiple case study analysis involving 26 out-licensing deals executed in seven Italian biotech NTBFs, the study shows that expert scientific skills, extensive licensing practice and prior employment in multinationals, but not an intense social network, characterise successful licensing managers, while high delegation and powerful intrinsic rewards enable individual capacities of licensing managers to translate into actual economic value.     

硅谷绿色能源经济发展及启示

当今国际倡导的绿色能源经济架构,不仅契合了全球经济日趋紧迫的可持续发展现实需求,更是新一轮科技革命中,各国积极培育经济增长点、抢占创新高地的重要战略。以这一趋势的领跑者——硅谷为研究对象,分析其绿色能源经济发展现状、驱动机制和相关策略,总结其经验,为我国经济可持续发展提供决策借鉴。     

Water as an investment: liquid yet illiquid!

The water industry is in great need of further large investments to address existing severe water shortages worldwide which requires the participation of private sector investors. This industry is heavily infrastructure based and is therefore saddled with fixed assets-in-place or illiquid assets. This exposes the industry to what is termed as ‘illiquidity risk’, and hence, investors in this industry should be compensated for bearing this risk with an appropriate return premium (i.e. extra return). In this study, we provide evidence as to whether illiquidity risk indeed significantly affects returns in this industry. We examine the case of all 76 firms that compose the five major global water indices. After controlling for other factors that impact on returns, our results suggest that asset illiquidity is positively associated with stock returns. Specifically, water firms with a larger proportion of illiquid assets-in-place are observed to have greater stock returns than those with a smaller proportion of illiquid assets. Our results have important implications for the financing of water-related projects particularly those which involve the participation of investors from the private sector.     

Bridge over troubled waters? problems and opportunities in interfirm research collaboration

Effective interfirm collaboration is an incresingly significant factor in technological innovation. A wide and complex range of options exists within collabotative arrangements which affect the outcome and rewards for both partners. Firms are often unaware of the strategic implications of collaborative ventures. While some large firms may be invloved in strategic alliances at the corporate level in order to establish or maintain competitiveness, many remain unaware or unconvinced of the potential for the generation of innovations through collaborations with small, flexible, 'hi-tech” firms. the pace of change and the challenge of international competition threatens Western European firms with a 'technology gap' within a 'disorganized capitalist' setting. Various forms of interfirm cooperation within and across natinal boundaires may be important responses to such uncertainty and amy ultimately provide successful strategic remedies to the situation. This article presents the findings of a recently completed research project in which 27 pairs (mostly small/large) of collaborating, innovative firms were studied in order to examine the strategic and operational issues involued in interfirm research cooperation. Whilst highlighting the advantages of collaboration, and the potential problems for both the small and the large partner, we argue that the adoption of 'cooperative game' rules id vital for successful collaborative innovation. Additionally, we attempt to posit our findings within the current debate on organized/disorganized capitalism.     

A way to foster innovation: a venture capital district from Silicon Valley and route 128 to Waterloo Region

Although the US economy is traditionally cited as the model, there are other technology frontier examples, such as Canada, arising from strong linkages among firms, research communities, the financial community and government. This paper compares the most important American districts—Route 128 and Silicon Valley—with the Waterloo Region of Ontario. Second, it focuses on the linkage between venture capital and Canadian universities and shows some successful cases of knowledge and technology transfer at the University of Waterloo. Taken together, these sections provide a snapshot of the nature and status of technology transfer at Canadian universities and how it compares with that in the US.     

竞争、不确定性与企业间技术创新合作

新古典经济学认为企业间结网合作与利己短视的理性经济人假设不相一致。对此 ,目前经济理论已有所突破。较早的博弈论无名氏定理指出 ,只要有足够的耐心重复进行博弈就可能达到合作的效果。近来提出的网络形成理论则认为网络的形成及稳定完全依赖于结网的直接间接收益与成本的权衡。但是 ,它们都还不能反映企业所面临的不确定性和市场竞争环境对企业策略行为的影响 ,从而无法解释合作分享为什么会发生在硅谷那样竞争空前激烈、流动异常频繁的地方而在另一些得到政府扶持保护的地方却难现其踪。本文以硅谷为代表的自组织创新网络为研究原型 ,构造了一个基于企业复合实物期权创新合作行为的创新网络模型 ,从中得到了两点新的重要发现 :①与无名氏定理的要求相反 ,体现竞争压力和不确定性的急切感是企业间结网合作的必要条件 ;②能够实现最大增值的创新网络是不断更新的概率暂存网络。     

社会资本的治理机制——以硅谷风险投资为例

本文以硅谷高新技术产业集群中的风险投资为背景,在分析硅谷中社会网络的结构以及社会资本构成的基础上,探讨了在风险投资中企业治理过程中,社会资本的治理作用与机制。提出硅谷中风险投资网络和社会资本特征能有效地减少交易成本,有利于信息的扩散以及知识和技术的溢出,特别是社会资本独特的治理机制创造了有利于自我实施模式实现的治理环境,促进了技术创新,推动了整个产业集群的发展。     

A DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF COOPERATIVE RESEARCH IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY*

In this article I construct a dynamic oligopoly model of research joint ventures (RJVs) where firms, investing to improve product quality, fully share the rewards of research success. RJVs benefit firms by eliminating duplicative research efforts, but firms also give up the possibility of becoming a solo innovator. Consumers benefit from lower prices, but may have to wait longer for new products to arrive. I show that RJVs are welfare enhancing by quantitatively evaluating these trade‐offs with data from the semiconductor industry. I also analyze how changes in product market competition affect research cooperation.     

Environmental management practices: good or bad news for innovations delivering environmental benefits? The moderating effect of market characteristics

We examine empirically whether environmental management practices (EMPs) (environmental audits, ISO 14001 standard, etc.) promote (or not) additional innovations delivering environmental benefits. Using a large sample of French firms (N=4114) and simultaneous equations model (SEM), we found that EMPs positively influence the decision of firms to introduce innovations delivering environmental benefits, but this positive relationship is moderated by market characteristics. The findings indicate that EMPs promote such environmental-related innovations when the market of the main activity of the firm is growing. However, when the market is uncertain or competitive, this relationship turns out to be negative.