Absorptive capacity and radical innovation in industrial districts

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to adopt the absorptive capacity (ACAP) framework to understand radical innovation in industrial districts (IDs), adopting a multi-level perspective. By performing a longitudinal case study on an ID that has successfully introduced a radical innovation – the plastic ski boot innovation developed within the Montebelluna Sportsystem district in Italy – the paper highlights how key elements of the ACAP framework (i.e. its components, antecedents, and contingent factors) allow understanding wherein IDs might indeed successfully introduce radical innovations, and what are the specificities as respect as considering a single organisation as unit of analysis. Important policy implications arise, regarding how to support IDs competitiveness and resilience thanks to radical innovation.

KEYWORDS:

• Industrial district
• radical innovation
• absorptive capacity
• technological adaptation
• cluster

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Interestingly, some of these efforts also resulted in new-to-market products, including the Moonboot après ski by Tecnica (1970), the motor boot by Alpinestar in the 1970s, and the inline skates by Roces in 1982.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Universitat Jaume I under Grant [UJI–B2018–29] and by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under Grant [RTI2018–100823–B–I00].

Notes on contributors

Francesc Xavier Molina Morales

Francesc Xavier Molina-Morales is Full Professor at the Universitad Jaume I de Castelló, Spain. He has a degree in Economics at Valencia University (Spain), MBA at the Maastricht School of Management (Netherland), and Doctorate in Management at the Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). He has been a visiting scholar at the Maastricht School of Management (Netherland); the Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), the Università Ca’ Foscari (Italy); University of Bologna (Italy) and the INGENIO (UPV-CSIC) (Spain). His research interests include effects of proximity in clusters and districts, social capital dimensions and implications on innovation. He has been supervisor of several doctorate theses, and coordinator of a number of research projects and contracts. His papers have appeared in leading journals as: Strategic Management Journal, Environment and Planning A; Research Policy; Long Range Planning; Journal of Small Business Management; Regional Studies, European Urban and Regional Science; Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. He has also published some books and chapters of books, and actively participates in conferences and seminars on the fields related to his research interests. He is coordinator of the AERT research group and the Doctorate program of Local Development and International Cooperation of the Universitat Jaume I de Castelló.

Valentina De Marchi

Valentina De Marchi is Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and Management ‘Marco Fanno’, University of Padova, Italy. She graduated at Ca Foscari University of Venice (Italy) and gained her Ph.D. in University of Padova (Italy). She has been visiting scholar at Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), Duke University (USA), Jaume I (Spain). She is interested in environmental innovations and sustainability and on the evolution of Italian industrial districts and global value chains. She has published in journals such as Research Policy, European Planning Studies, Business Strategy & the Environment, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Knowledge Management, Competition & Change, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie and co-edited the book ‘Local Clusters in Global Value Chain. Linking Actors and Territories Through Manufacturing and Innovation’ (Routledge, 2018). She actively participates in conferences and seminars on the fields related to her research interests and is national representative at the Europeain International Business Association (EIBA).

Luis Martínez-Cháfer

Luis Martínez-Cháfer is MBA by Instituto de Empresa (Madrid, Spain), Chemical Engineer and Doctorate in Management at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). Luis accounts with professional experience in IT business in different areas such as: Sales, Business consulting and Project Management. He worked for Sogecable group in Madrid (Spain), Oracle and Google in Dublin (Ireland), SAP in Barcelona (Spain) and currently in Universitat Jaume I as Associate Professor. His research work is focused on Social Network Analysis, Innovation, Knowledge Transmission, Social Capital and Industrial Clusters, among other topics. His work has been published leading journals in Management such us: Journal of Business Research, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management and Regional Studies. Finally, his research has also been presented in several national and international congress proceedings. He is member of AERT research group and IIDL.