Community Innovation Survey Data Research Articles

Collected worker experiences and the novelty content of innovation

In this paper we investigate whether the novelty content of innovations introduced by Norwegian manufacturing firms reflect the composition of work-life experiences collected by employees. Distinguishing between ‘related’ (RV) and ‘unrelated’ (URV) variety and using employer-employee registers merged with Community Innovation Survey data to observe experiences prior to innovation strategies and results, we find the probability of incremental innovation increasing strongly with RV when firms are located in a large-city region. URV provide additional support for incremental innovation among firms that are not R&D active, and increases more generally the probability of radical (new-to-the world) innovation. However, these relationships flatten out at moderate levels, and the maximum impact of URV on radical innovation is limited compared to the average impact of firms’ R&D efforts. Thus, whereas incremental innovation is highly receptive to related worker experiences when collected and combined in urban contexts, radical innovation depend to a larger degree on the innovation strategies and efforts of the firm itself.

THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL KNOWLEDGE GENERATION AND EXTERNAL KNOWLEDGE SOURCING FOR SME INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM IRELAND

This paper analyses the knowledge sourcing, transformation, and exploitation stages of the innovation value chain for a sample of Irish small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) using Community Innovation Survey data. It explores the role of internal research and development (R&D) and external knowledge on SMEs’ innovation and performance. The open innovation paradigm, which stresses the importance of external linkages, is used to examine the impact of different external knowledge sources on SMEs’ innovation. The consideration of external linkages in the innovation performance of SMEs is crucial as these firms may be constrained in their ability to perform R&D due to their size. The analysis expands the traditional CDM methodology beyond the consideration of research and development as the sole source of knowledge for innovation by also considering a range of potential external knowledge sources. The findings indicate that SMEs generate knowledge internally through the performance of R&D, while also exploiting linkages to external agents. However, the impact of external sources of knowledge is not uniform. The results suggest that backward linkages have a positive impact on SME product innovation, but negatively affect SME process innovation, while public knowledge sources are positively related to the probability of product innovation occurring. This may have important policy implications. Finally, process innovation is also found to be a key determinant of SME productivity, while product innovation has no impact on SME performance.

Innovation, industry and firm age: are there new knowledge production functions?

In this paper we investigate how the knowledge production function is at work in different industrial sectors comparing mature and young companies in Italy. We estimate a two-step model using community innovation survey data. We provide evidence that young firms are particularly effective in translating R&D into product innovation in ‘entrepreneurial sectors’ (especially in services where it is likely that capital requirements and experience are negligible), while mature companies turn out to be more effective in translating technological acquisitions (TAs) into process innovation in ‘routinized sectors’ (especially in low-tech manufacturing industries where the main strategy is cost reduction).

A closer look at the relationship between innovation and employment growth at the firm level

This paper considers in detail how different types of innovation (products, processes, patents, combinations) are related to different employment growth characteristics (exit or survival, with employment upscaling or downscaling at moderate or high rates). Using Norwegian Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data collected in 2008 and merged with public employer-employee registers for the years 2004–2010, it finds that growth persists over time, and increases the probability that ‘bundles’ of complementary product and process innovations are introduced that strengthen employment further. Downscaling also persists, and reduces the probability that ‘bundles’ are introduced that could turn the negative trend. While standalone product innovations follow in the wake of rapid expansion, such have limited impact on employment beyond sustaining growth at moderate levels. Standalone process innovations, by contrast, tend to be introduced after a period of moderate growth, yet, might give rise to large subsequent expansions. These results demonstrate that innovation and employment growth are multi-dimensional characteristics of the firm, which are interlinked with each other in virtuous or vicious circles that unfolds over time.

Customer orientation and operations: The role of manufacturing capabilities in small- and medium-sized enterprises

The discovery and development of new operations and manufacturing routines are marked by some controversy regarding how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefit from external knowledge inflows. This study investigates the practice-performance link between external knowledge utilisation and the discovery and development of manufacturing capabilities, which lead to operation performance. Based on a partial least squares analysis, a moderated mediation model is tested using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data from 1663 SMEs. Results show that information inflow can be used to increase flexibility in production, and reduce costs of production mediated/moderated through new operations and manufacturing routines, as well as minimise liabilities resulting from SMEs' small size. The findings of this study contribute to a better under-standing of how manufacturing capabilities increase flexibility and cost efficiency by identifying main mediating and moderating effects. Further, this study adds clarification to the practice-performance link by highlighting that this link is only effective under certain conditions. In addition, contributions are made to the discussion on manufacturing capabilities by demonstrating how small business can benefit from external knowledge.

Networking theory of innovation in practice - The Hungarian case

According to the European Innovation Scoreboard (2017) report, Hungary’s summarised innovation score is 67.4 against the EU28 average of 102. This implies that the Hungarian economy has got rather serious disadvantages in the European Union community. This statement is more pronounced in the case of the food industry. From an innovation point of view food industry is seen as a slow one, which is lagging behind the technology pushed possibilities, but sometimes behind the customers’ desires and requirements as well. In our research, we determine why the food companies in Hungary do not engage in innovation activities and if they do so, what are the main drivers of their innovation performance? We use the Community Innovation Survey (CIS 2012a) data and employ double hurdle estimation because of the nature of the innovation distribution. This method also helps in overcoming the selection bias problem, which necessarily occurs in this situation. Results prove that networking scope as well as networking intensity, play an important role in explaining innovation performance. The size and market obstacles are also significant factors.

The Differentiated Effects of Human Resource Diversity on Corporate Innovation

By linking theoretical perspectives on human resource diversity to the distinction between knowledge exploration and exploitation, this paper contributes to the growing research literature on diversity and innovation by following up on the original argument by March [1991] that different dimensions of organizational learning depend on different inputs and processes. Empirically, the paper draws on a unique dataset constructed by merging Norwegian employer–employee register data for 2004–2008 with Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data covering the years 2008–2010. Bivariate probit regressions with controls for innovation strategy find patenting propensities more responsive to the diversity of experience-based knowledge accumulated in firms, than the propensities to improve production processes or introduce new products onto the market. The latter depends foremost on firms’ investments in innovation, and responds positively to human resource diversity only when the financial commitment of firms to development work is limited.

Measurement of open innovation in the marine biotechnology sector in Oman

National economies are often strengthened by diversification, which is built in turn on a healthy and productive culture of national innovation. Innovation is a complex process, which is difficult to measure in an objective manner. In this work and for the first time, a quantitative measure for open innovation has been developed and validated to determine the performance of a firm within the marine biotechnology sector in Oman. This breakthrough was achieved in four steps. First, the characteristics of the two dimensions of open innovation (‘breadth’ and ‘depth’) were identified using a critical review of the literature and a series of pre-tests of a survey design with industrial experts. Second, a quantitative index for open innovation by measuring these two dimensions at firm level was developed. Third, validation of this five-item scale was conducted using the UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data set. Fourth, the five-item scale was applied to 22 firms in the marine bio-industry sector in Oman using a case study approach, and was used to rank the firms according to their open innovation index. This analysis shows how Omani marine bio-industry firms could strengthen their open innovation efforts, for example by collaborating more effectively with government organizations and research institutes to thereby boost the quality of their open innovation activities in a measurable way.

Creativity, innovations and firm performance in an emerging transition economy

Despite the longstanding consensus that creativity is the seedbed of innovation, the limited literature in this area fails to explore the contribution of various aspects of creativity to different stages of the innovation process or the mechanisms used by the management to foster the creativity of employees. This paper adopts a more complex strategy in order to highlight the role of creativity in the entire innovation process from the decision to innovate to investment in innovation, the transformation of innovation input into output and the effect of innovation output on productivity. A multi – stage CDM – type model encompassing different elements of creativity and practices designed to enhance creative potential is applied to the most recent Community Innovation Survey data. In modelling the management of creativity a distinction is made between decisions of firms to hire creative employees and the methods used to foster creativity of personnel such as multidisciplinary work teams, financial incentives and training for creativity. The results indicate that employees with creative skills and the adoption of creativity – enhancing methods by the management are important factors for innovation and better performance of enterprises. They also point to sectoral differences in the impact of creativity on innovation.

Bulding ambidexterity through creativity mechanisms: Contextual drivers of innovation success

Do creativity methods consistently produce a significant net effect on innovation? Are the impacts of creativity methods related to operating context? Based on an ambidexterity perspective, we examine the effectiveness of different creativity methods on overcoming the tensions of the innovation process at individual and team levels. Drawing on European Union Community Innovation Survey (CIS2010) data collected from 23,537 firms, we estimate causal effects of creativity on innovation through a multivalued treatment effect methodology. Our results show that implementing ambidexterity in creativity methods increases the firm´s propensity to innovate and to introduce a market novelty. However, the effect on firm turnover is not always clear. Also, we detect that ambidexterity is more effective in firms that are large in size, have high levels of R&D investment and operate in manufacturing sectors. We discuss the implications of these findings for practice and for future research.

Marketing Innovation and New Product Portfolios. A Compositional Approach

Product innovation performance is often measured by means of the percentages in the product portfolio from: (a) innovative products launched for the first time in the market; (b) new products to the firm already extant in the market; and (c) unchanged products. These percentages have often been used to assess the impact of open innovation. More recently, innovation in marketing mix has attracted interest per se, beyond the traditional role of marketing in providing external information about consumer needs. Thus far, portfolio data have been analyzed without considering their constant 100 sum. Apart from violating the usual statistical assumptions, the analysis has interpretational flaws. In this article, we use compositional data analysis methods and show how these shortcomings can be overcome by simple transformations. With Community Innovation Survey data in Spain (2012), we show that marketing innovation is a driver of both sales of new-to-the-firm and new-to-the-market products.

Cooperation for Innovation in the European Union: Outlook and Evidences Using CIS for 15 European Countries

Cooperation for innovation is understood as an essential element in the innovation process of European firms. The aim is to compare how the different sources of information (external and internal) and cooperation for innovation are used in manufacturing and services in Europe using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data for 15 European countries. The empirical study uses a sample of firms included in the CIS (2008), which covers 15 European countries and applies multivarious data analysis techniques to extract results. The results of this research suggest that firms use simultaneously different sources of information for cooperation, revealing different patterns of cooperation according to the activity sector in Europe. This paper brings some important insights about cooperation for innovation and suggests some patterns in Europe useful to design public policies, due de similar behavior of some countries grouped according with geography, development status or other economic features. Thus, this article seeks to frame the subject based on a literature review that raises a set of study hypotheses and presents an empirical study applied to cooperation for innovation in Europe using the CIS for 15 European countries.

LBOs’ effects on innovation: evidence from France

Using Community Innovation Survey data from France, we provide an empirical analysis of the innovative efforts of a sample of manufacturing firms that underwent a leveraged buyout. We find no evidence that LBOs have a negative effect on firm level of innovation expenditure. In contrast, results suggest that buyouts have a positive effect on incremental innovation and that private equity firms help to make innovation spending more effective and even more efficient. It could be that private equity firms help the company to focus on its core innovative capabilities and bring innovative products to the market without increasing innovation spending.

Bulding Ambidexterity through Creativity Mechanisms: Contextual Drivers of Success (WITHDRAWN)

Do creativity methods consistently produce a significant net effect on innovation? Are the impacts of creativity methods related to operating context? Based on an ambidexterity perspective, we examine the effectiveness of different creativity methods on overcoming the tensions of the innovation process at individual and team levels. Drawing on European Union Community Innovation Survey (CIS2010) data collected from 23,537 firms, we estimate causal effects of creativity on innovation through a multivalued treatment effect methodology. Interesting, our results show that whereas implementing ambidexterity in creativity methods increases the firm´s propensity to innovate and to introduce a market novelty, the effect on the share of innovative sales on firm’s turnover is not so clear. Also, we detect that ambidexterity is more effective in large firms, in firms operating in manufacturing sectors, and in firms with high levels of R&D investment. Finally, cultural tightness also plays a significant role. We discuss the implications of these findings for practice and for future research.

Information use and working methods as drivers of innovation in tourism companies

ABSTRACTThis paper demonstrates how the strategic use of external information and an internal working method – that is, cross-functional work teams – increases the probability that tourism companies will innovate. This is demonstrated by logistic regression analyses using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data. Simultaneously and contrary to expectations in much of the literature, the two practices are not complementary, as their interaction effect is negative. Nevertheless, the companies still win by using both external information and cross-functional work teams. Even though the effect of each variable is reduced, companies can manage the strategies to maximize the total effect. The study contributes knowledge about the drivers of innovation in tourism industries and responds to a call for more quantitative research and the use of CIS data. In addition, it contributes to the literature on complementarities between internal and external innovation practices. The paper rounds off by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and the need for further research in the area.

Innovation strategy choices in the urban economy

This paper analyses how the innovation strategies of individual firms reflect the density, diversity and international connectivity of their urban locations. It makes three contributions. Theoretically, it argues that observed strategies reflect a series of inter-related choices, and that each may be influenced differently by the knowledge dynamics of firms’ locations. Empirically, it uses Norwegian Community Innovation Survey data to demonstrate how firms in the Capital are less inclined to engage in innovation activities, but also more likely to commit strongly once engaged, than are comparable firms located elsewhere. Methodologically, it illustrates how the results of sequential regressions on inter-related strategy choices differ from those obtained using a more conventional estimation strategy. Implications for innovation policy and research are drawn.

Regional Innovation Systems or Innovative Regions? Evidence from Italy

AbstractThe literature on regional innovation systems (RIS) has focused so far just on a few exemplary cases of regions where innovation resulted from systemic interactions between firms and institutions. This paper aims at evaluating quantitatively which regions can be considered RIS using Community Innovation Survey data on Italy. The analysis reveals a new geography of innovation in the country as compared to results emerging from studies on the 1990s, suggesting a high dynamism in innovation capabilities of Italian regions. Four clusters of regions are identified, but none of them can be described as a true RIS: the most innovative ones lack ‘systemicness’ and those that come closest to the RIS model have not the best innovative performance.

Proclivity for open innovation: Construct development and empirical validation

Over the past decade, the concept of open innovation has received substantial attention. Research has ranged from case study representations to large-scale quantitative studies using the Community Innovation Survey data or developing novel approaches to measuring open innovation. In this study, we conceptualise and validate a firm-level measure of proclivity for open innovation, which relates to the firm’s predisposition to perform inbound and outbound open innovation activities. To do so, we focus on smaller firms, assessing their organisational and behavioural perspectives related to open innovation. Building on existing scholarly research and a field study, we begin by conceptualising the theoretical framework of the multidimensional construct. We then develop and validate its measurement scale on two cross-cultural samples. The measure contains the following dimensions: inward IP licensing and external participation, outsourcing R&D and external networking, customer involvement, employee involvement, venturing, and outward IP licensing. Our results indicate that the measure has good reliability and validity. Implications for future research are also discussed.

Foreign workers and international partners as channels to international markets in core, intermediate and peripheral regions

Past contributions stress that international ties in the form of foreign workers and international collaboration enable firms to be present in international markets by providing access to diverse knowledge, and professional and social networks. These mechanisms have, however, not undergone the same empirical scrutiny for firms in intermediate and peripheral regions. If firms in more peripheral regions are able to tap into the global economy using international channels, this has important implications, for example, for the localization decision of firms. The empirical analysis builds on linked employer–employee data (LEED) merged with community innovation survey (CIS) data. The results demonstrate that there is a positive association between international ties and international market presence for firms in core, intermediate and peripheral regions, demonstrating that peripheral regions are not detached from global processes. There are, however, slight different patterns observed, for example, indicating that different collaboration partners are used in order to reach international markets for firms in core, intermediate and peripheral regions.

Innovation in the portuguese health sector organizations: empirical evidence from the community innovation survey

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the innovation on the Portuguese healthcare sector organizations.In this study, we followed a quantitative approach, combining statistical and documental analysis, through the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data analysis and processing, thus performing an exploratory, descriptive and transversal study.The healthcare sector reveals dynamism in introducing products that are new to the market and the company, mainly through a closed innovation process. External cooperation is preferably R&D-oriented, and there is low involvement of market agents in R&D activities, through partnerships. However, these are seen as an important source of information and organizations seek to meet their needs. Different types of organizations adopt different innovation strategies, depending on their market and current situation, which translates into a contextual innovation policy, in line with the current theoretical developments.