Learning from openness: The dynamics of breadth in external innovation linkages

We explore how openness in terms of external linkages generates learning effects, which enable firms to generate more innovation outputs from any given breadth of external linkages. Openness to external knowledge sources, whether through search activity or linkages to external partners in new product development, involves a process of interaction and information processing. Such activities are likely to be subject to a learning process, as firms learn which knowledge sources and collaborative linkages are most useful to their particular needs, and which partnerships are most effective in delivering innovation performance. Using panel data from Irish manufacturing plants, we find evidence of such learning effects: establishments with substantial experience of external collaborations in previous periods derive more innovation output from openness in the current period. © 2013 The Authors. Strategic Management Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

An investigation of coworker relationships and psychological collectivism on employee propensity to take charge

This study examines how coworker interactions and psychological collectivism impact an employee's likelihood of engaging in taking charge behavior. Work group contextual factors examined include team–member exchange (TMX), coworker support and psychological collectivism. Results show that TMX and psychological collectivism were significantly related to an individual's propensity to engage in taking charge behavior. This study highlights the importance that one's interactions with coworkers can have on an employee's willingness to engage in taking charge behavior, contributing an important new perspective to the literature on the contextual antecedents that drive an individual's behavioral efforts to bring about innovation and change. Implications for research and practitioners are discussed.     

The organisation of innovation: collaboration, cooperation and multifunctional groups in UK and German manufacturing

Marked differences exist between the institutional and socialcontext for innovation in the UK and Germany. The question addressedhere is how these different contexts affect the objectives andorganisation of innovation in UK and German manufacturing. Inparticular, the paper examines the extent to which UK and Germanplants engage in inter-plant collaboration and cooperation andmultifunctional working as part of their innovative activity,and explores the reasons for differences in these patterns ofinvolvement. The investigation is based on a large-scale, comparativesurvey of manufacturing plants in the two countries. In Germany,institutional and social norms are found to encourage collaborativeinter-plant innovation, but aspects of the German skills trainingand industrial relations systems make the adoption of more flexibleinternal systems more difficult. In the UK, by contrast, themore adversarial nature of inter-firm relations makes it moredifficult to establish external collaborations based on mutualtrust, but less restrictive labour market structures make iteasier for UK plants to adopt multifunctional working. Thisis linked to differences in attitudes to the property rightsand transaction cost problems inherent in innovation.     

The Theory of Innovation,Jon Sundbo.

Review of Industrial Organization -     

WHO GAINS FROM WHOM? SPILLOVERS,COMPETITION AND TECHNOLOGY SOURCING IN THE FOREIGN‐OWNED SECTOR OF UK MANUFACTURING

There is a growing literature explaining foreign direct investment flows in terms of ‘technology sourcing’, whereby multinational firms invest in certain locations not to exploit their firm‐specific assets in the host environment, but to access technology that is generated by host country firms. However, it is far from clear whether the literature has found significant evidence of such activity beyond a few isolated examples. This paper extends this work by allowing for the possibility of multinational enterprises (MNEs) sourcing technology not only from host country firms but also from each other within a host economy. The paper demonstrates that MNEs in the UK do indeed appropriate spillovers both from indigenous firms and from other foreign investors, but that there are also significant competition effects that act to reduce productivity in certain industries. The paper also explores which countries' affiliates gain most from technology sourcing in the UK, and which generate the greatest spillovers within the foreign‐owned sector.     

THE DETERMINANTS OF EXPORT PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FOR MANUFACTURING PLANTS IN IRELAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND

The dramatic GDP and export growth of Ireland over the last decade forms a marked contrast with that of its nearest neighbour Northern Ireland. In Ireland, export volume growth averaged 15.5% p.a. from 1991 to 1999 compared with 6.3% from Northern Ireland. Using data on individual manufacturing plants this paper considers the determinants of export performance in the two areas. Larger, externally owned plants with higher skill levels are found to have the highest export propensities in both areas. Other influences (plant age, R&D, etc.) prove more strongly conditional on location, plant size, and ownership. Structural factors (e.g. ownership, industry) explain almost all of the difference in export propensity between larger plants in Northern Ireland and Ireland but only around one‐third of that between smaller plants. Significant differences are also evident between plants in terms of their sources of new technology. For indigenously owned plants, in‐house R&D is important. For externally owned plants, R&D conducted elsewhere in the group – typically outside Ireland and Northern Ireland – proves more significant. This external dependency and lower than expected export propensity on the part of small plants in Northern Ireland represent significant policy challenges for the future.     

Business strategies and the small professional firm: Evidence from the conveyancing market

This paper examines the use of business strategies by firms of solicitors in England. Although still often seen as the epitome of the traditional profession, recent deregulation and liberalisation of the legal services market has forced solicitors to consider the use of more business-like approaches to the operations of their firms. Using the framework provided by John Kay, it is possible to identify distinctive capabilities among some firms in the provision of conveyancing, despite the fact that this is a relatively routine service provided mainly by small professional firms. The use of reputation is crucial here. Analysis of the conduct of sample firms suggests that business strategies can be identified with respect to pricing and advertising, and that the advertising behaviour of law firms closely matches the predictions of relevant economic theory. The paper concludes that it is meaningful to speak of strategy among at least some small professional firms.     

Industrialization and Values Evolution: The Case of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China

This field study evaluated the convergence, divergence, crossvergence, and multi-crossvergence perspectives of value system evolution in industrializing regions. Value differences were identified among graduating business university students in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and the United States. Specific value dimensions in this study reflected the primary influence of either industrialization or regional culture. Thus, our overall results suggest that both industrialization and culture influence the combination of values held in Hong Kong. This finding could be interpreted as supporting the crossvergence perspective of value system evolution. A more precise interpretation, however, is that some value dimensions converge with increasing industrialization, while others remain divergent.