Exposing the role of relational capabilities in business–research–government cooperation: examples from the transition towards a bioeconomy in Finland

ABSTRACT

An organization’s capability to build, handle and exploit relationships and learn from these relations, defined here as relational capabilities, is increasingly important in a networked economy and in innovation activities. The paper introduces a framework that helps understand and analyse the relational capabilities of various organizations engaged in innovation activities. Based on theoretical discussion and empirical analysis the paper argues that the literature on organizational level capabilities and relational capabilities would benefit from deeper integration with the systems of innovation perspective. The empirical findings from three Finnish regions indicate that relational capabilities become particularly relevant in research–business–government cooperation contributing to innovation in the field of bioeconomy. Relational capabilities embedded in an organization’s capability configurations can boost the efficient use of that organization’s resources, bring greater flexibility, a chance to create value in networks and support renewal and innovation. Missing or underdeveloped relational capabilities may also hinder an organization’s ability to tap into the economic opportunities that arise leading to failures at the regional and system level thus hampering the transition towards a bioeconomy.

KEYWORDS:

• Capabilities
• relational capabilities
• network capabilities
• innovation system
• bioeconomy

Acknowledgements

I would particularly like to acknowledge the support given by Research Director Jari Kolehmainen, Professor Markku Sotarauta and Professor Jukka Vesalainen, especially for their valuable comments on the earlier drafts of this article. I am also thankful to anonymous reviewers of a previous version of this paper for their valuable comments which helped me to further elaborate and sharpen the arguments herein.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This piece work was a part of the ITU research programme (ITU, Local and Regional Innovation Environments) funded by Tampere University, the Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia, the City of Seinäjoki, Into Seinäjoki Ltd., the University Consortium of Seinäjoki and the Higher Education Fund of South Ostrobothnia. The work was also supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the South Ostrobothnia Regional Fund [10161948] and The Foundation for Municipal Development sr.