Development Of Innovation Capabilities Research Articles

The impacts of networking on the innovation process inside industrial cluster firms: experiences from China

This paper deals with the development of innovation capabilities inside industrial cluster firms and discusses the relationship between: firms networking with other firms and external partners inside their clusters; and the effects of this networking on the innovation performance of the cluster firms. The paper reports findings from a research study conducted in China's Zhejiang Province, where 212 out of 336 enterprises based in six industrial clusters responded to our questionnaire survey. Our study shows that 'strategic networking' inside clusters improves both product innovation performance and overall speed of the innovation process inside technology-based SMEs, which ultimately effects competitive performance.

Assessment of technological capability in science industry linkage in China by patent database

In this paper, China’s development of innovation capabilities is examined by using the Chinese patent database. In order to provide an overall assessment of technological development, a patent database is developed by using individual patent information from State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). This database covers 679,056 invention patents from 1985 to 2005 with the information of dates of application, technology type, applicant name and location. As well as providing an overview of patent activities, this paper also sheds light on science and industry linkage activities. Such activities can be tracked by joint patent application by science sector (universities or public research institutions) and industry sector (firms). It is found that the firm’s collaboration with universities are increasing, while that with public research institutions slows down.

Integrating the development of continuous improvement and innovation capabilities into engineering education

In this paper, a study is presented in which engineering students at a Danish university developed Continuous Improvement (CI) and innovation capabilities through action research and experiential learning methods. The paper begins with a brief overview of the literature on CI and innovation, followed by an account of how the students designed and implemented solutions to self-identified problems within their educational program using the principles of CI, and how these learning activities facilitated the development of basic innovation capabilities. The paper concludes with insights regarding how such an innovative design of teaching methods based on learning-by-doing may not only support the development of CI and innovation in engineering students, which is increasingly demanded by industry, but also represent a way in which to enhance sustainability and innovation of the education itself.

Competing with MNEs: developing manufacturing capabilities or innovation capabilities

A challenge facing local firms in China is the selection of effective technology strategies to compete against MNEs in the era of globalization. The existing literature suggests two alternatives, developing strong manufacturing capabilities or developing innovation capabilities, but provides no clear answer to the question of how to select one strategy or the other. This paper explores this issue by introducing two concepts: “barriers to appropriability” and “opportunities for improvement.” We develop four propositions to specify the boundary conditions for local firms to choose their technology strategies and analyze two local firms’ technology strategies to illustrate two of the propositions. We find that development of strong manufacturing capabilities will not necessarily be an effective strategy for local firms competing against MNEs. If there are opportunities for improvement, it might be possible for local firms to compete against MNEs by developing innovation capabilities and core technologies.

Singapore's transition to innovation‐based economic growth: infrastructure, institutions and government's role

Technological progress and innovation plays a central role in a country's economic progress. As an economy advances to the global technological frontier and narrows the technological gap, an innovation‐based growth strategy that focuses on investments in R&D and technology creation offers the greatest potential for economic growth. In this paper, we discuss the requirements for a successful transition, in terms of changes to the technology infrastructure, economic institutions and the incentives' structure. This paper outlines the efforts made by Singapore to re‐make itself as an innovation‐based economy, and the challenges faced by the government in transforming the nation's infrastructure and institutions to develop innovation capabilities and encourage entrepreneurship.

From technology transfer to the emergence of a triple helix culture: the experience of Algeria in innovation and technological capability development

Based on the post-independence industrialization experience of Algeria, this paper explores the need for and the challenges and prospects of shifts of policies and strategies from central planning to decentralization and liberalization; from a heavy industry-dominated scenario to one dominated by SMEs; and from reliance on technology transfer to the development of a culture of innovation and technological learning. The paper highlights the business incubation system as an aspect of the triple helix model of innovation in which universities, industry, government and non-government organizations feature as principal actors in the national innovation system. The paper notes the need for both technology transfer and the development of the triple helix culture in developing countries. It also underlines the need for policy in developing countries to ensure that the former played only a residual role, while the latter took the lead in providing for the development of a culture of innovation. The culture of bureaucracy and institutional fragmentation has been a major factor militating against initiatives for technological capability development; and the conventional technology transfer practice has reinforced this culture. A major policy initiative is needed in developing countries to put the national system of innovation in place and remove the constraints on the development of the triple helix culture.

Catching up through developing innovation capability: evidence from China's telecom-equipment industry

The significance of the innovation capability of domestic firms in late-industrialized countries is highly debated in the literature. This research studies the history of China's telecom-equipment industry from the middle of 1980s to 2002, with a focus on the innovation capability development of four domestic firms: Huawei, ZTE, DTT, and GDT. The research finds that innovation capability and self-developed technologies have been the key to leading domestic firms' catching up with the multinational corporations. This finding is substantiated by both regression analysis between ‘leadership of the telecom-equipment industry’ and ‘innovation capability’ and development experience at the company level. This research emphasizes that domestic firms should prioritize building innovation capability from the very beginning to build up their competitiveness and to survive the competition with the multinational companies as well as other domestic companies. It also suggests that domestic firms should focus on in-house R&D development to build their innovation capability, supplemented with external alliances.

Impact of the length of relationships upon the use of research institutes by SMEs

Recent studies of US industrial modernisation programmes argue that difficulties of establishing long-term relationships with users prevent them from facilitating development of innovation capabilities. The paper supports this argument through a survey of Japanese research institutes the US programmes were modelled on. In view of information asymmetries in their use, it tests the hypothesis that small and medium-sized firms start using the research institutes with ‘low information gap’ services and gradually move on to ‘high information gap’ services that often require more absorptive capacity. This is demonstrated both under one-to-one relationships and between groups of firms and a research institute.

Complexity and learning behaviors in product innovation

Successful product innovation and the ability of companies to continuously improve their innovation processes are rapidly becoming essential requirements for competitive advantage and long-term growth in both manufacturing and service industries. It is now recognized that companies must develop innovation capabilities across all stages of the product development, manufacture, and distribution cycle. These Continuous Product Innovation (CPI) capabilities are closely associated with a company’s knowledge management systems and processes. Companies must develop mechanisms to continuously improve these capabilities over time. Using results of an international survey on CPI practices, sets of companies are identified by similarities in specific contingencies related to their complexity of product, process, technological, and customer interface. Differences between the learning behaviors found present in the company groups and in the levers used to develop and support these behaviors are identified and discussed. This paper also discusses appropriate mechanisms for firms with similar complexities, and some approaches they can use to improve their organizational learning and product innovation.

Imported Machinery for Export Competitiveness

This article analyzes the relationship between export competitiveness and investment in machinery, allowing for imperfect substitution between domestically produced and imported machinery. A translog export price function is estimated for developed, exportoriented developing, and import‐substituting developing economies in a panel data setting. Between 1967 and 1990 imported machinery helped lower export prices for export‐oriented developing economies. Moreover, throughout the period imported machinery was not a substitute for domestic machinery. Import‐substituting developing economies were unable to harness imported machinery to reduce costs early in the period, but from about the early 1980s, with the opening of their trade regimes, they were able to benefit from the cost‐reducing effect. The results imply that innovative effort based on imported technologies can be a precursor to the development of domestic innovation capabilities.

Machinery Imports for Export Competitiveness

We analyse the relationship between export competitiveness and investment in machinery, allowing for imperfect substitution between domestically produced and imported machinery. A translog export price function is estimated for developed, export-oriented developing, and import-substituting developing countries in a panel data setting. Between 1967 and 1990, imported machinery helped lower export prices for export-oriented developing countries. Throughout, imported machinery was not a substitute for domestic machinery. Import-substituting developing countries were unable to harness imported machinery to reduce costs in the early years, though from about the early 1980s, with an opening up of their trade regimes, they were also able to benefit from the cost-reducing effect. Our results also imply that innovative effort based on imported technologies can be a precursor to the development of domestic innovation capabilities, which may ultimately become the main nexus of a country's innovation efforts.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND THE INNOVATION SYSTEM IN FRANCE 1985-2000

This paper investigates the relations between corporate governance and innovation in France over the period 1985-2000, with special focus on the development of firms' capabilities. The literature on innovation has often referred to a fit between environmental niches and institutional arrangements of corporate governance. By contrast, this paper presents the French case as an illustration of the numerous possibilities for institutional arrangements in ownership and control of industry and their multiple combinations with the national innovation system. The paper discusses the changing role - and importance - over time performed by the French system of corporate governance and its impact on the development of innovative capabilities by firms. The paper demonstrates that the impact of the national system of corporate governance on the innovative system is strongly mediated by the distribution of power and the conduct of business strategy inside large domestic firms.

Change and innovation in modern manufacturing practices: An expert panel survey of U.K. companies

The aim of this research was to examine the change and innovation capabilities of U.K. manufacturing companies across a range different sectors, and with regard to a variety of modern manufacturing practices. This was achieved by interviewing experts drawn from research, consultancy, professional bodies, and manufacturing companies. The findings indicate that there are optimistic signs for believing that U.K. companies are improving their change capabilities (e.g., project planning, selling and communicating change, consulting end users). More pessimistically, it was found that companies could develop their change capabilities further in a number of key areas (e.g., strategic and systemic thinking, end user participation, management of learning and expertise, evaluating change). It is also suggested that companies are particularly poor at learning from their experiences of managing change, and that this inhibits the further development of change and innovation capabilities. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Key quality management practices of leading firms in Brazil: findings of a pilot‐study

Notes that quality management practices of leading firms have increasingly been considered benchmarks for other companies in quest of successful competitive technologies. Shares the most relevant findings of the authors’ study on key quality practices of leading firms in Brazil. Includes comparisons with results of research in the USA. Identifies socio‐cultural factors as a root‐cause for the difficulties of employing these practices effectively in Brazil. Recommends the development of innovative capabilities and cultural synergies, in the scope of the increasing associations with foreign firms, to overcome at least some of the difficulties at issue.