Innovation,networking and the new industrial clusters: the characteristics of networks and local innovation capabilities in the Turkish industrial clusters

Elaborating on the literature on industrial districts, this paper suggests that innovation and networking are the two key issues, which provide the new generation industrial clusters’ competitive capacity in the globalization process. The paper presents the findings on the innovative and networking capabilities of the three important industrial clusters of Turkey based on the data collected from the sample firms in each of these industrial clusters through in-depth interviews. The findings clearly show the importance of local and national networking as well as global linkages and confirm the positive relation between intensity of local networking and innovativeness. Moreover, the paper provides evidence that firms within global networks have higher numbers of innovations than firms with higher intensity of locally embedded linkages.     

The bounds of entrepreneurship: Inter-organizational relationships in the process of industrial innovation

This paper examines the links between entrepreneurship and innovation in modern business corporations. It extends Alford's idea of ‘diffused entrepreneurship’ to the interrelationships between firms. By drawing upon the literatures of business policy and marketing, it draws attention to the ‘porous’ boundaries of industrial organizations as open systems, and to the need to examine the balance between the part played by individuals within such organizations and that played by innovative organizational processes themselves.     

制造业企业对产品创新与流程创新的资源分配

制造业企业进行技术创新有产品创新和流程创新两个方向,企业应将有限的资源合理分配到这两种创新形式中,以提高企业的持续创新能力。针对制造业企业的实际情况出发,文章用系统动力学的思想和工具,建立制造业企业创新系统模型。通过改变产品创新与流程创新资源分配的比例,并比较在不同情况下的模拟输出结果,得到优化产品创新与流程创新资源分配比例的结论。     

Fostering product innovation: Differences between new ventures and established firms

This study combines insights from the entrepreneurship, competency-based view and innovation policy literature to analyze the relationships among different types of public incentives designed to foster innovation and product innovation at both new ventures and incumbent firms. To test our hypotheses, we ran a system of regression models on a cross-national sample comprised of 5238 firms from 29 European countries and found a different pattern for new ventures and incumbents. Our results suggest that support for attendance or participation in trade fairs and networking with other companies are the most effective methods of promoting product innovation for new ventures. However, for incumbent firms, we found that the most effective policies consisted of tax reduction for R&D expenditures and subsidies for acquiring buildings or other infrastructure(s) for innovation activities. This distinction prompts interesting insights related to theory development in research on entrepreneurship and innovation policy.     

The role of human capital in identifying the drivers of product and process innovation: empirical investigation from Italy

Quality & Quantity - Economists recognize that the local availability of higher human capital represents significant knowledge spillovers, especially for innovation process. This research...     

The diffusion of exporting in Brazilian industrial clusters

The present research aimed at understanding the process by which firms in a cluster start to export based on systemic interactions, and the process of diffusion of exporting as a business strategy within the cluster. Diffusion was defined, following Rogers’ (1995: 5) seminal work, as ‘the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system’. The research method used was industry case studies and the unit of analysis selected was the cluster. Two manufacturing industries were chosen to be investigated, and within each geographic area clusters were identified as the origin of dynamic export growth in the industry. Players in each industrial cluster, as well as other significant actors, were interviewed. Extensive secondary data research was done to study clusters’ historical development. Detailed analysis and a comparison of the experiences permitted the extraction of some general conclusions concerning the similarities and differences between the clusters in terms of the adoption and diffusion of exporting. Results showed that the diffusion of exporting in an industrial cluster is quite similar to the dissemination of technical innovation. Social ties were important to facilitate the diffusion of exporting in one of the clusters studied. Also, the role of domestically-owned flagship firms in leading the internationalization process proved to be important in only one of the clusters, while the role of external actors was fully supported in the two industries studied. Finally, a number of support institutions, private and public, interfered in different stages of the internationalization process. In both industries, the federal government had only a late and limited impact on export initiation and development.     

The development of industrial clusters and public policy

This paper assesses the relationships between public policy and the development of industrial clusters. A conceptual model of the relationship between public policies and the development of industrial clusters is developed and tested using data from 43 European industrial clusters. The results indicate that most government policies have no significant impact on the growth of industrial clusters or for the development of co-operation within industrial clusters. There is limited evidence that packages of government policies that are specifically geared towards improving the local asset base are effective in overcoming obstacles to growth of industrial clusters. However, when age is used as a control variable the weak relationship between policy packages and growth of industrial clusters disappear. The results indicate that individual and packages of public policies are not strongly connected to either high levels of co-operation, or high growth in industrial clusters. Moreover, no clear evidence was found that high levels of co-operation were associated with growth in industrial districts. In the light of the failure to find clear-cut associations between public policies and the development of industrial clusters the paper outlines a research agenda to help to increase our understanding of these issues.     

Health status indexes: The trade-off between quantity and quality of life

In the last decade many attempts have been made to combine mortality and morbidity statistics in a single, overall health index. In this paper all of these indexes are shown to involve the same general trade-off between quantity and quality of life. All of them allow increases in the quantity of life to offset decreases in average health status. A formally identical trade-off between population size and average happiness has long been debased in utilitarian ethics, with a marked tendency among modern philosophers to decide in favor of average happiness, that is, precisely contrary to recent health-index researchers. Other considerations also suggest that the trade-off implicit in recent health status indexes may not have general support. The paper concludes with a discussion of various ways of proceeding from this point.     

Enhancing green product and process innovation: Towards an integrative framework of knowledge acquisition and environmental investment

Despite the increasing interest in green innovation literature, little is known on how and under what conditions firms' knowledge transfer activities affect green innovation. There is lack of research that on how particular organizational capabilities are seen more useful and how it influences on green innovation performance. To address this research gap, we examine a mediation model in which we explore whether a firm's knowledge acquisition capability and investment in environmental management mediate the impact of buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities on green product innovation and green process innovation. On the basis of an analysis of a sample of 239 manufacturing firms, we find that buyer-driven knowledge activities have a greater positive impact on green product innovation than green process innovation. Investment in environmental management fully mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green process innovation, and knowledge acquisition capability partially mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green product innovation. The current study provides evidence that internal competencies and the role of buyers in knowledge transfer are critical for explaining the green product innovation and green process innovation. Our results suggest that buyer involvement pushes firms to develop resource acquisition capability to enhance green product innovation. Our results also highlight the importance of investment in environmental management for overcoming the environmental challenges in the manufacturing firms.     

External cooperation and entrepreneurial orientation in industrial clusters

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between external cooperation and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). This relationship is explored in cluster environment, wherein entrepreneurial organizations compete and cooperate simultaneously to pursue opportunities. The following hypothesis is tested: External cooperation is positively correlated with entrepreneurial orientation. The hypothesis is tested with a correlation analysis on a sample of 77 small-sized enterprises operating in the Malopolska region in Poland, wherein several clusters are active. Additionally, the regression analysis is conducted to examine the associations between inter-organizational cooperation and EO dimensions. The findings confirm that external cooperation is positively correlated with EO. This observation is confronted with a pro-competitive approach that is a constitutional element of the entrepreneurship concept. Moreover, the findings show that the correlation between external cooperation and a firm’s performance is stronger than between some other EO dimensions and performance. Additionally, the findings show the important role of relationships between organizations and their clients. In the paper, several remarks for development of the theory are discussed, including the need for incorporating inter-organizational cooperation into a set of entrepreneurial traits and reflecting it in entrepreneurial orientation scales. The findings confirm the importance of that direction of theory development that focuses on inter-organizational collaboration in the context of entrepreneurship.     

面向工业产品外型概念设计系统的研究

为了实现一个基于手绘草图且具备友好交互界面支持概念的设计系统,文章根据该系统需要完成设计不同的功能,采用分不同模块进行系统分析与设计,包括草绘设计环境的设计模块、二维笔画识别与草图规整模块、图形显示模块。本系统克服传统CAD设计工具的特点,结合现有的草图设计技术,构建二维草图技术体系。     

Environmental management systems and environmental product innovation: The role of stakeholder engagement

Environmental product innovation (EPI) is an imperative for contemporary business as it enhances firm competitiveness and provides significant societal benefits. Arguments that the use of environmental management systems—such as ISO 14001—may enhance EPI have not been empirically supported. In this study, we argue that the environmental management systems–EPI relationship is contingent upon the level of a firm's engagement with three groups of stakeholders, namely, suppliers, customers, and the local community. Using a sample of 1,314 manufacturing firms for the period 2003 and 2014, we find empirical evidence that supports our hypothesis for all three groups of stakeholders. Further analysis reveals that for firms with prior experience with quality management systems, engagement with local communities becomes the critical condition. We discuss the implications of these results for both theory and practice.     

RJVs in product innovation and cartel stability

Abstract. We characterise the interplay between firms' decision in product development undertaken through a research joint venture (RJV), and the nature of their ensuing market behaviour. Participant firms in an RJV face a trade-off between saving the costs of product innovation by developing similar products to one another, e.g., by sharing most of the basic components of their products, and investing higher initial efforts in product innovation in order to develop more distinct products. We prove that the more the firms' products are distinct and thus less substitutable, the easier their collusion is to sustain in the marketing supergame, either in prices (Bertrand) or in quantities (Cournot). This gives rise to a non-monotone dependence of firms' product portfolio upon their intertemporal preferences. Received: 1 October 1998 / Accepted: 14 December 2002 We thank the seminar audience at Centre for Industrial Economics, University of Copenhagen, where all three authors were affiliated at the time we presented the first draft of this paper, and also the two anonymous referees for Review of Economic Design for their detailed comments. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Knowledge processing and ecosystem co-creation for process innovation: Managing joint knowledge processing in process innovation projects

Process innovation drives industrial competitiveness and sustainability but remains elusive since it requires co-creation and the sharing of idiosyncratic design knowledge in ecosystems of providers and customers of process equipment. This paper investigates how firms can manage knowledge processing through co-creation in joint process innovation projects. Analysis of cross-comparative case studies –including nine industrial ecosystem actors – identifies three types of technological challenge (complexity, novelty and customization) that creates knowledge-processing requirements (uncertainty, equivocality) during the value co-creation process. To manage these knowledge-processing requirements, this paper explains how three joint knowledge-processing strategies (joint problem solving, open communication and end-user involvement) help ecosystem partners make sense of the requirements and demands in process innovation. In this context, the procurement approach (such as contracting and relationship development) helps to facilitate higher levels of joint knowledge processing, drawing on the diverse knowledge of ecosystem actors to secure successful process-innovation outcomes. The present study contributes to the emerging literature on co-creation in process innovation by developing a framework that highlights the knowledge-processing dynamics in ecosystem relationships for process innovation. The implications for management extends to a practical tool that guides project managers in ensuring appropriate levels of joint knowledge processing among ecosystem actors.

     

Factors shaping the international knowledge connectivity of industrial clusters: a comparative study of two Latin American cases

Abstract

Recent research has emphasized that success of industrial clusters is not only driven by intra-cluster knowledge sharing (‘local buzz’) but also by externally sourced knowledge (‘global knowledge pipelines’). This article examines the factors that determine the channels through which clusters connect with global knowledge pipelines depending on the structure of the global value chain within which they are inserted, their knowledge base and their stage of evolution. Building on a comparative case study of the salmon farming cluster in Chile and the software cluster in Costa Rica, we adopt an evolutionary perspective based on historical analysis to better understand how the configuration of clusters’ international knowledge linkages shifts over time. Our findings suggest that (i) the more hierarchical the global value chain structure, the less room for knowledge co-creation between local and foreign actors; (ii) clusters relying on analytical knowledge bases opt for more formal and coordinated links with high involvement of public actors, whereas in clusters relying on synthetic knowledge bases, international knowledge interaction is based on less formal links mainly between business actors; and (iii) as clusters evolve the channels through which they connect with foreign knowledge increase in number and new ‘hybrid’ varieties develop.     

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.