Cooperation linkages and technological capabilities development across firms

ABSTRACT

Cooperation linkages and technological capabilities development across firms. Regional Studies. This study provides new insights into the role of cooperation in the process of technological capabilities development at the firm level. These are considered in relation to the way innovation is performed, whether by generation or adoption. In addressing this issue, the regional location of firms is taken into account, investigating evidence for spatially mediated knowledge transfer based on cooperation. Results confirm that differences across firms regarding technological capabilities and the role of cooperation cannot be fully appreciated when innovative firms are considered on the same footing, regardless of whether they have been able to develop the new technologies introduced.

摘要

企业间的协作连结与技术能力发展，区域研究。本研究对于协作在企业层级的技术能力发展过程中所扮演的角色，提出崭新的洞见。这些洞见以不论是透过生成或採用的创新展现方式进行考量。为了处理此一议题，企业的区域位置被纳入考量，探讨根据协作而在空间上受到中介的知识转移之证据。研究结果证实，当创新企业在同一个基础上进行考量时，企业间的技术能力差异与协作的角色无法被完全理解，无论它们是否曾有能力发展引进的新技术。

RÉSUMÉ

Les liens de coopération et le développement des capacités technologiques à travers les entreprises. Regional Studies. Cette étude fournit un nouvel aperçu sur le rôle de la coopération dans le processus du développement des capacités technologiques des entreprises. On met ces facteurs-là en considération par rapport à la façon dont les activités d’innovation sont effectuées, soit en les engendrant ou en les adoptant. En abordant cette question, on tient compte de l’emplacement régional des entreprises, tout en examinant des résultats quant au transfert dans l’espace des connaissances faisant l’objet de la médiation et fondées sur la coopération. Les résultats confirment que l’on n’est pas en mesure d’évaluer pleinement les différences à travers les entreprises en ce qui concerne leurs capacités technologiques et le rôle de la coopération si l’on considère les entreprises innovatrices à pied d’égalité, peu importe qu’elles ont pu développer ou non les nouvelles technologies mises en place.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Kooperative Verbindungen und Entwicklung der technischen Fähigkeiten von Firmen. Regional Studies. Diese Studie liefert neue Einblicke in die Rolle der Zusammenarbeit beim Prozess der Entwicklung von technischen Fähigkeiten auf Firmenebene. Hierbei wird untersucht, auf welche Weise Innovation umgesetzt wird, also durch Erzeugung oder Übernahme. Bei der Erörterung dieser Frage wird der regionale Standort von Firmen berücksichtigt und die Evidenz für räumlich vermittelte Wissensübertragung auf der Grundlage von Zusammenarbeit untersucht. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen, dass die Unterschiede zwischen Firmen im Bereich der technischen Fähigkeiten und der Rolle der Zusammenarbeit nicht vollständig gewürdigt werden können, wenn innovative Firmen unabhängig von der Frage, ob sie die neu eingeführten Techniken weiterentwickeln konnten, gleichgestellt behandelt werden.

RESUMEN

Vínculos de cooperación y desarrollo de capacidades tecnológicas en diferentes empresas. Regional Studies. Este estudio aporta una perspectiva nueva al papel de la cooperación en el proceso del desarrollo de las capacidades tecnológicas en las empresas. En este contexto se analiza cómo se introduce la innovación, ya sea por generación o adopción. Se aborda esta cuestión considerando la ubicación regional de las empresas y estudiando las evidencia de la transferencia de conocimientos mediada espacialmente y basada en la cooperación. Los resultados confirman que no se pueden entender totalmente las diferencias entre las empresas con respecto a las capacidades tecnológicas y el papel de la cooperación si se consideran las empresas innovadoras a un mismo nivel, independientemente de si han podido desarrollar las nuevas tecnologías introducidas.

KEYWORDS:

• cooperation for innovation
• technological capabilities
• innovation generation
• spatial proximity
• firms
• regions

关键词:

• 协作创新；技术能力；创新生成；空间邻近性；企业；区域

MOTS-CLÉS:

• coopération en faveur de l’innovation
• capacités technologiques
• engendrer l’innovation
• proximité spatiale
• entreprises
• régions

SCHLÜSSELWÖRTER:

• Zusammenarbeit für Innovation
• technische Fähigkeiten
• Erzeugung von Innovation
• räumliche Nähe
• Firmen
• Regionen

PALABRAS CLAVES:

• cooperación para la innovación
• capacidades tecnológicas
• generación de innovación
• proximidad espacial
• empresas
• regiones

JEL:

• O30
• O31
• O32
• R12

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful suggestions and comments made by Maria Savona, Science and Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; and Michele Capriati, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Department of Political Sciences, and Nicola Coniglio and Laura Serlenga, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Department of Economics, Bari, Italy. The author also thanks two anonymous referees for their extended suggestions on how to improve the paper. The usual disclaimer applies.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2016.1197388

Notes

1. In practice it is unlikely that any firm only generates or adopts innovations. However, since answers to each question are mutually exclusive, some firms could have been excluded, for instance, from the definition of Generation in-house, while they do rely on that, simply because it has been not their main strategy of performing innovation during the reference period.

2. The question refers to formal cooperation agreements for innovation, exactly defined in the harmonized CIS4 questionnaire as ‘active participation with other enterprises or non-commercial institutions on innovation activities’; pure contracting out of work, with no active collaboration, is emphasized to be not regarded as cooperation.

3. Details on the PCA are provided in Appendix A in the supplemental data online.

4. In order to distinguish and keep separated the effects attributable to each partnerships area, these indicators are constructed as mutually exclusive, this way also avoiding potential multicollinearity or high correlation between variables (Badillo & Moreno, 2014; Nieto & Santamaría, 2007).

5. Although there are several alternative ways of measuring a firm’s absorptive capacity based on CIS data (Lewandowska, 2015), this study follows the view (originally put forward by Rosenberg, 1990) that a basic research capability is often indispensable.

6. The list of all variables employed with more details on their definition, plus a descriptive analysis and overview of the micro-data, are reported in Appendix A in the supplemental data online.

7. Details on robustness checks are reported in Appendix A in the supplemental data online.

8. The relationship can possibly run also in the other direction, with R&D and innovation contributing to facilitating the entry of a firm into global markets.

9. This finding contrasts highly with the prediction that increasing use of information and communication technologies (allowing much greater mobility of information and knowledge than in the past) would lead to the dispersal of innovation activities; that is, the thesis of the ‘flat world’ (Friedman, 2005), implying that geographical location no longer matters in a world where economic activities can flourish virtually everywhere at a little cost.

10. For instance, spatial proximity could be crucial when firms’ collaboration involves organizations with different experience and background, such as universities and other scientific institutions (Abramovsky & Simpson, 2011).