Diversity and intensity of information and communication technologies use and product innovation: evidence from Chilean micro-data

This study uses data from two waves of the Encuesta Longitudinal de Empresas (ELE) to examine the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) use and product innovation in Chilean firms. Our findings sustain the hypothesis that ICT act as enablers of innovation. However, the impacts of ICT on product innovation depend on the type of application considered. In particular, we find positive and significant association between production-integrating ICT, i.e. administrative and industry-specific software, and product innovation, while this is not the case for market-oriented ICT such as e-commerce or client relationship manager software. Finally, the results show that not every ICT combination is beneficial for innovation: firms that show a basic use of ICT are not associated with a better likelihood of introducing innovation, while firms with an advanced use of ICT are those with the more likelihood of innovating.     

网络与集群互补视角下企业技术创新影响机制研究

已有文献指出企业外部资源和信息是创新的重要支持，需要进一步深入研究企业创新外部联系机制中各种因素如何影响企业创新以及它们之间如何互补或配置。企业技术创新的网络机制和集群机制是目前文献中认为最重要的企业创新外部联系机制，尽管网络机制和集群机制沿着不同轨迹发展并且有其局限性，但是网络和集群也许可以发挥互补作用或扮演相互替代角色，更好地作用于企业技术创新。列出了创新障碍因素及促进因素以量化企业创新过程，通过解析网络和集群对企业创新过程的影响机制，提供了一个更加丰富、细致的理论框架，可以解释外部变量如何促进或者阻碍企业技术创新。然后，分析两者如何通过互补克服局限性，更好地促进企业创新。最后，引入集群与网络活力变量，探讨在集群和网络不同发展阶段外部联系对企业创新影响的变迁与演化。     

Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investments on innovation and productivity in Italian firms

Both research and development (R&D) and information and communication technology (ICT) investment have been identified as sources of relative innovation underperformance in Europe vis-à-vis the USA. In this article, we investigate the R&D and ICT investment at the firm level in an effort to assess their relative importance and to what extent they are complements or substitutes. We use data on a large unbalanced panel data sample of Italian manufacturing firms constructed from four consecutive waves of a survey of manufacturing firms, to estimate a version of the CDM model of R&D, innovation, and productivity [Crépon–Duguet–Mairesse 1998. Research, innovation and productivity: An econometric analysis at the firm level. Economics of Innovation and New Technology 7, no. 2: 115–58] that has been modified to include ICT investment and R&D as the two main inputs into innovation and productivity. We find that R&D and ICT are both strongly associated with innovation and productivity, with R&D being more important for innovation, and ICT investment being more important for productivity. For the median firm, rates of return to both investments are so high that they suggest considerably underinvestment in both these activities. We explore the possible complementarity between R&D and ICT in innovation and production, but find none, although we do find complementarity between R&D and worker skill in innovation.     

Modes of innovation in knowledge-intensive business services evidence from Lombardy

The present paper investigates the sectoral variety and common patterns across different typologies of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). We examine this issue by considering the case of Lombardy, a highly developed manufacturing area the industrial activities of which are experiencing a pervasive transformation towards higher knowledge content, demanding stronger and more pervasive support by advanced services. Drawing on an original survey-based firm-level dataset, we analyze innovation patterns across KIBS, evaluating the explanatory power of traditional classifications of the service sector, as well as the heterogeneity driven by firm and market specific characteristics. Our findings highlight four profiles of KIBS: interactive innovation mode, product innovation mode, conservative innovation mode and techno-organizational innovation mode. When examining in more depth the variables that are associated with cluster membership, we find that firm strategy is the most significant determinant, with size, customer location, and training also playing a role in defining cluster specificities.

Innovation and productivity in manufacturing and service firms in Catalonia: a regional approach

This article analyses the determinants of research and development (R&D) and the role of innovation on labour productivity in Catalan firms. Our empirical analysis found a considerable heterogeneity in firm performances between the manufacturing and service industries and between low- and high-tech industries. The frontiers that separate manufacturing and service industries are increasingly blurred. In Catalonia high-tech knowledge-intensive services (KIS) play a strategic role in promoting innovation in both manufacturing and service industries, and driving growth throughout the regional economy. Empirical results show new firms created during the period 2002–2004 that have a greater R&D intensity than incumbent firms (54.1% in high-tech manufacturing industries and 68.8% in high-tech KIS). Small and young firms in the high-tech KIS sector are very prone to carrying out R&D and they invest more in innovation projects. R&D expenditures, output innovation, investment in physical capital, market share and export have positive effects on labour productivity in both the manufacturing and service sectors. Firm size, on the other hand, has a positive effect on productivity in manufacturing industries but not in services.     

Innovation and knowledge-intensive business service: the contribution of knowledge-intensive business service to innovation in manufacturing establishments

It is well established that knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) firms can be innovators in their own right. It is also well established that KIBS can contribute to innovation in their client firms. This role of KIBS has been theorised, and some of the processes by which KIBS contribute to innovation have been scrutinised by way of case studies. However, there are few, if any, large-scale analyses that permit the two following questions to be addressed: (i) Do firms that use KIBS systematically introduce more innovations than those that do not? (ii) Is recourse to certain types of KIBS associated with certain types of innovation? Our survey of KIBS use across 804 manufacturing establishments in Quebec shows that KIBS contribute to their client's innovation – thereby confirming in a more general way what has been observed in case studies – but also that different types of KIBS contribute to different types of innovation.     

Social capital, ICT use and company performance: Findings from the Medicon Valley Biotech Cluster

This study explores how some uses of ICTs, as well as having social capital and other means of access to knowledge resources, are related to company performance in a knowledge-intensive business cluster. Data were collected through a survey of companies in the Medicon Valley biotech region located in Denmark and Southern Sweden. Responding companies included established producers of biotechnology-related products as well as small biotechnology start-up firms emphasizing research and development. The results suggest that when ICT use was aimed at accessing and enhancing human and intellectual capital, such as use of online databases for recruitment, intranets to enhance employee access to information and education, and collaborative tools to connect with off-premise researchers, companies reported better performance outcomes. Social capital in the form of connections to people who can provide access to information and opportunity predicted company performance, particularly for small start-up companies. The pattern of results complements prior work that establishes the importance of social capital in regional business clusters by demonstrating how certain ICT uses complement personal relationships to enhance the likelihood of success among companies in the region.     

Capitalism, profits and innovation in the new techno-economic paradigm

Innovative profits (of the kind conceptualized by Schumpeter) are today being increasingly created through international corporate networks for technological development. Such profits through innovation are encouraged by newer more flexible organizational forms, and further encouraged (unlike in the conventional perspective on profits and on the incentive to innovate) by knowledge flows between firms. Our empirical evidence, based on US patent data, shows that multinational companies are currently more likely to develop abroad technologies which are less science-based, and less dependent upon tacit knowledge. However, within the science-based industries firms may generate abroad some technologies which are heavily dependent on tacit knowledge, but normally in fields that lie outside their own core technological competencies. We find some evidence of a convergence in corporate technological diversification across large firms, facilitated by the now common spread in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) as an integrator of formerly separate technological systems. This has led smaller firms to diversify, but giant firms to consolidate activity around those technologies that have become most interrelated.     

知识密集型服务业发展的影响因素——基于空间面板数据模型

在界定知识密集型服务业的基础上,构建空间面板数据模型,对2005—2010年我国知识密集型服务业发展的影响因素进行实证分析。研究结果表明:我国30个省(自治区、直辖市)的知识密集型服务业发展存在明显的正向空间依赖性;区域创新环境在时间维度上具有显著的促进作用,但在空间维度上的作用不显著;教育支撑在空间维度上具有显著的促进作用,但在时间维度上的作用不显著;外部知识联系、政府行为对知识密集型服务业发展具有显著的促进作用。     

The new geography of corporate research in Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

In the new ICT-based paradigm MNCs have increasingly locationally dispersed competence-creating activities. Using patent data granted in the US to the largest European-owned electronic corporations and all the largest companies in other industries for their ICT research in the European regions, this paper investigates the regional dispersion of such research. We find that co-specialised electronic companies do not tend to develop related R&D in the same regional location, but non-electronic firms undertake related ICT development in a common centre of excellence. Thus, intra-industry competition encourages the geographical separation of co-specialised research, while inter-industry cooperation entails the co-location of related research.     

Assessment of innovative software technology: developing an end-user-initiated interface design strategy

Knowledge intensive services and, in particular, R&D services contribute significantly to innovation in firms. The objective of this paper is to find out which characteristics of firms explain the acquisition of R&D services and to analyse whether there are differences depending on the typology of the supplier (universities, technology centres and consulting firms). Three main conclusions emerge from the econometric estimations carried out with information from a survey of innovative firms in the region of Valencia in Spain. First, the results show that firm size and age matter in the decision to buy R&D services. Second, our results are consistent with the relevance that the literature gives to human capital in absorbing external knowledge. Third, innovation policy has a significant influence on the decision to acquire R&D services, particularly from universities and technology centres.     

全球创新网络视角下上海科创中心建设研究

创新资源全球性流动在提升城市创新能力的同时，也拉大了不同城市间的创新差距。以美国专利商标局中专利权人所在城市为上海但专利发明者位于境外的专利为样本，分析上海吸收和转化全球知识的空间格局与作用机理。研究发现，外资跨国公司在上海建立区域总部或区域研发中心，为上海输入全球知识，但本地企业因技术能力不足和企业规模不大，影响有限。基于此，提出上海应通过鼓励外资企业在沪持续投入研发，引导在沪民企进行海外技术并购，建立多样离岸创业创新平台等建议，以助力上海成长为全球卓越创新中心。     

顺水推舟：动态能力如何驱动企业创新战略演化？——基于西门子（中国）的纵向案例研究

创新战略影响企业创新发展方向及成效,但其在数字化转型过程中的演化路径尚不明朗。本文运用纵向单案例研究方法,以西门子（中国）为研究对象,从动态能力视角解剖数字化转型过程中创新战略的演化路径。研究发现：在数字化转型的探索期、成长期、加速期,企业在不同动态能力的推动下顺势实现创新战略演化。其中,在数字识别能力驱动下,企业创新战略主要表现为利用式创新战略,在数字整合能力驱动下,企业创新战略主要表现为探索式创新战略与利用式创新战略并存,而在数字重构能力驱动下,企业创新战略则主要表现为探索式创新战略。本文通过纵向单案例研究,揭示了动态能力驱动下企业数字化转型的内在过程及创新战略演化路径。本文有望拓展动态能力理论在数字化情境中的应用,并从演化视角深化企业创新战略研究,同时为企业有效运用动态能力以推进数字化转型,以及创新战略制定提供理论支撑与路径指引。     

交通发展、要素流动与企业创新——基于高铁开通准自然实验的经验证据

交通发展对于区域经济增长的作用至关重要,创新则是经济增长最为持久的动力。本文利用高铁开通的外生冲击检验交通条件变化对企业创新的影响。研究发现,高铁开通能够显著促进当地企业的创新投资。进一步地,这种促进作用主要体现在高融资约束、高科技行业及民营企业当中。同时,主要的影响渠道包括技术人才的流动、信息环境的改善和融资约束的缓解等。这表明,交通改善有助于加快区域创新要素流动,促进企业创新的投入产出活动。     

创新要素的空间分布及其对区域创新产出的影响——基于中国省域的ESDA-GWR分析

以我国31个省域为研究单元,通过Moran指数I的全局分析,发现创新要素存在正向的空间相关性。Moran散点图和LISA聚类表的局部分析结果显示,不同的省域各个创新要素有着空间相关性的差异和不同的集聚模式。在此基础上,进一步运用GWR,分析我国省域创新要素对创新产出的空间影响差异。结果表明,R＆D经费支出对专利授权量有正相关性,绝大部分沿海省市的R＆D经费支出（对数）估计系数值较大;每万人口在校大学生数对专利授权量具有负相关性;其他变量的参数估计值都有正有负,其中,R＆D人员占总就业人员的比例（对数）的回归系数都不大;高等院校数对专利授权量的影响,新疆和内蒙古具有较大的正相关性,浙江、福建、江西、海南具有较大的负相关性。大多数省区技术合同项目数对专利授权量的影响具有正相关性,福建、广东和海南省除外。     

Broadband connected employees and labour productivity: a comparative analysis of 14 European countries based on distributed Microdata access

In this study, the association between information and communication technology (ICT) intensity in firms and labour productivity is explored across 14 European countries for the years 2001–2010. ICT intensity is approximated by the proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees, a novel indicator measuring not only adoption but also diffusion within and among firms. Data have been retrieved by means of the distributed microdata approach (DMD) from registers on business, trade and education as well as from surveys on production, ICT usage and innovation activities in firms held at the national statistical offices. This pioneering approach allows access to otherwise confidential linked firm-level information in dimensions not earlier available. Pooled OLS estimations based on approximately 400,000 observations in harmonised and representative datasets show that in a majority of countries there is a significant and positive relationship between the proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees and labour productivity in firms. However, the strength of the relationship varies across countries and industries. Manufacturing firms receive 50% larger estimates than the services firms, while the latter instead experience the positive association more frequently.     

产业互动外部性、生产性服务业集聚与城市创新力--对我国七大城市群的一项实证比较

城市群经济在我国经济版图中扮演越来越重要的角色,正成为创新扩散的主要载体和经济增长的新引擎。生产性服务业作为高技术含量的知识密集型产业,其分布与结构的合理性对城市及城市群形成创新竞争力有重要意义。从产业互动外部性与产业集聚外部性角度切入,将城市群作为产业集聚的空间载体,利用2003-2016年我国七大城市群127个城市的面板数据构建动态空间面板模型,考察生产性服务业相对专业化集聚及相对多样化集聚对城市创新力的影响,进而探讨这种影响在城市群之间的差异性。实证结果显示:(1)生产性服务业相对集聚具有空间溢出效应,即某一城市创新力受当地和相邻地区生产性服务业相对集聚水平的影响。(2)就全国整体而言,对城市创新力有持续性影响的主要是相对多样化集聚而非相对专业化集聚,通过生产性服务业嵌入制造业价值链形成动态比较优势来实现城市创新能力的提升。(3)考虑区域异质性的回归结果表明,生产性服务业相对集聚程度对不同发展阶段不同发展模式的城市群内城市创新产生显著的差异性影响。     

ICT diffusion in public administrations and business dynamics: Evidence from Italian municipalities

Public administrations have been adopting information and communication technologies (ICT) to transform their internal organization and provide better public services to citizens and firms. However, the external benefits, despite being deemed relevant, have been empirically overlooked. We first explore the relation between ICT diffusion in public administrations and business demography at the municipal level by studying the Italian context. Our results show that ICT diffusion in the PA contributes to significantly reducing the death rate of firms and boosting their turnover rate. The adoption of ICT in the PA also exerts a positive impact on the firm birth rate, although it is not statistically significant. These results shed light on the importance of promoting e-government and framing coherent digital agendas as public instruments for supporting entrepreneurship and regional economic development.     

信息通信技术（ICT）创新扩散及影响因素空间计量分析

本文运用2001—2018年全国288个地级以上城市统计数据,对信息通信技术(ICT)创新扩散及影响因素进行研究。首先采取改进的Bass模型来测算ICT创新扩散速度,然后构建ICT创新扩散及其影响因素的面板数据固定效应动态SAR模型,并采用拟极大似然估计法对动态SAR模型进行参数估计。研究表明:ICT创新扩散的时空效应显著,创新扩散不仅受本地影响还受邻近城市的影响;人口密度、人口流量、户均ICT消费支出及ICT供给能力等因素对其创新扩散有显著影响,且这些因素短期空间溢出效应和长期回流反馈效应显著。     

The use and impact of business advice by SMEs in Britain: an empirical assessment using logit and ordered logit models

This study assesses the effect of differences in types of client on the use and impact of business advice by SMEs in Britain using new survey evidence from the Cambridge ESRC Centre for Business Research Survey of 1997. The survey, covering over 2500 respondents, is the largest and most definitive assessment available in Britain. Moreover, the survey allows an assessment of the full range of providers of external advice, the private sector, business associations and various public sector bodies, as well as the fields of advice. Using multivariate logit models it is found that size of firm, rate of growth and innovation appear to be the main variables influencing the likelihood of firms seeking external advice, both from different sources and from different fields. Other variables which are investigated include, age, profitability, skill levels, manufacturer/services, and exporter/nonexporter. Ordered logit models of the impact of the advice demonstrate that there are significant differences between clients' perceived impact of advice and the sources of advice they use, chiefly as a result of firm size, and to a lesser extent for growth, innovation and export levels.