| By: |
Martin Srholec (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo);
Bart Verspagen (Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: |
The aim of the paper is to assess heterogeneity of the innovation process.
Using exploratory factor analysis on micro data from the third Community
Innovation Survey in 13 countries, we identify four factors that that can be
interpreted as research, user, external and production ingredients of
innovation. All too often it is assumed that the differences between the rates
at which these factors are found in firms' innovation strategies can be
accounted for by differences across sectors and/or countries. To put this
proposition under scrutiny, we partition variability of the innovation process
into components identified by the different levels. The analysis shows that
sectors and countries matter to a certain extent, but far most of the variance
is given by heterogeneity among firms within either sectors or countries. On
the other hand, a grouping of firms produced by cluster analysis accounts for
a much higher share of the variance, which implies that the most relevant
contextual factors cut across the established boundaries between sectors and
countries. We discuss the implications of these findings for the literature on
national and sectoral systems of innovation, and for the way in which
evolutionary economics has analyzed the role of selection. |
| Keywords: |
Innovation, heterogeneity, sectoral systems of innovation, factor analysis, variance components analysis. |
| Date: |
2008 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20080220&r=ino |