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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2009‒11‒07
three papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Ana Pérez-Luño (Department of Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Carmen Cabello Medina (Department of Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Antonio Carmona Lavado (Department of Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Gloria Cuevas Rodríguez (Department of Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | This research analyzes the effects of interorganizational links on innovation using a comprehensive framework that integrates three research streams: social capital, knowledge based view and innovation. Using data from 143 R&D and/or marketing departments of innovative manufacturing and service companies, our results show that while knowledge complexity, per se, exerts a clear influence on the degree of innovations radicalness, the effect of knowledge tacitness appears only when it is combined with social capital. Similarly, the mere existence of strong cooperation agreements (relational social capital) does not guarantee more radical innovations. It is only when this social capital is combined with tacit knowledge that it really produces more innovative products. We also find that such radical products have an important impact on firm performance. |
| Keywords: | : Innovation; radicalness; social capital; knowledge complexity; knowledge tacitness; firm performance |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpbsad:09.04&r=knm |
| By: | Federica Rossi; Margherita Russo; Stefania Sardo; Josh Whitford |
| Abstract: | The linear model of innovation has been superseded by a variety of theoretical models that view the innovation process as systemic, complex, multi-level, multi-temporal, involving a plurality of heterogeneous economic agents. Accordingly, the emphasis of the policy discourse has shifted over time. It has gone from a focus on direct public funding of basic research as an engine of innovation, to the creation of markets for knowledge goods, to, eventually, the acknowledgement that knowledge transfer very often requires direct interactions among innovating actors. In most cases, these interventions attempt to facilitate the match between “demand” and “supply” of the knowledge needed to innovate. A complexity perspective calls for a different framing, one focused on the fostering of process characterized by multiple agency levels, multiple temporal scales, ontological uncertainty and emergent outcomes. The article explores what it means to design interventions in support of innovation processes inspired by a complex systems perspective. It does so by analyzing two different examples of coordinated interventions: an innovative public policy funding networks of innovating firms, and a private initiative supporting innovation in the mechanical engineering industry thanks to the set up of a technology broker. Relying on two unique datasets recording the interactions of the various organizations involved in these interventions, the article combines social network analysis and qualitative research in order to investigate the dynamics of the networks and the roles and actions of specific actors in fostering innovation processes. Building upon this comparative analysis, some general implications for the design of coordinated interventions supporting innovation in a complexity perspective are derived. |
| Keywords: | Innovation policy; local development policies; regional development policies; evaluation management |
| JEL: | D78 O31 O32 O38 R58 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:depeco:0619&r=knm |
| By: | Natário, Maria Manuela |
| Abstract: | The innovation is the main locomotive of the economic growth and competitiveness. The understanding about innovation process has updated in last decades. The innovation concept not only includes the innovation, but also increases innovation, that can be operated in products but also in the production process, that can be in the conception of the product but also at the level of the market and even at the organizational level. The interactive models of innovation process are put upon linear models and are related with the context, environmental territory. The innovation as a system of innovation became fundamental to competitiveness. Based on these observations, this work intends to analyze the processes and innovation factors, but also enhancing the importance of innovation in system and discussing the main factors which stimulate innovation. The analysis happens on 5 NUTS III at the border of Portugal and Spain. We used the clusters analysis to verify how the companies are positioned in relation to the innovation activities. We intend to characterize the factors and processes of innovation, which distinguish the company’s groupings. The results appear to reveal the existence of three groups of companies and the distinction factors are linked to: general characteristics of companies and its director; initial objectives and innovate sources; cooperation relationships; financial support and obstacles to innovate. |
| Keywords: | Process of Innovation; Regional Innovation Systems; Innovation. |
| JEL: | R58 O31 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:18302&r=knm |