Innovation Performance Of Firms Research Articles

Innovation performance of biotechnology firms in Bulgaria: opportunities for enhancing

This paper deals with the investigation of the possibilities to improve the innovation performance in Bulgarian biotechnology firms. The main research purpose is to analyze Bulgaria's position concerning the innovative development of bio-based production. Methodological tools of the research methods were processing quantitative data, content analysis, and comparative situational analysis in combination with dynamic graphic analysis. The results of the research showed that there is a significant deficit in Bulgaria in the innovative development of biotechnology firms. The enhancement of the innovative biotechnological state of Bulgarian firms is a matter of great importance to their successful production and market performance on both the local and international markets. A small number of firms manage to find an adequate solution to creating stable market advantages and face insurmountable difficulties in trying to make it on the global market. Furthermore, Bulgaria's membership in the EU creates additional formal demands for providing a high quality of the production process, putting the local biotechnology firms in an even more challenging position. It suggests that companies need to focus their attention on producing goods with high added value (which is the basis of innovation) and applying and perfecting successful market-oriented approaches. In that relation, the arguments were summarized for the practical benefits of designing a complete model focused on biotechnology firms' market orientation, which is of crucial importance for their long-term innovative development. The study presents an author's conceptual model for measuring innovation performance of biotechnology firms which contains three constructs: market orientation, knowledge integration orientation, R&D effectiveness. The results from the conducted research could be helpful to research and practice R&D developers of firms with an established presence and long market history and upstart enterprises that cannot rely on income from their market activity, market or production experience.

Foreign Trade, Education and Innovative Performance: A Multilevel Analysis

This research analyses the innovative performance of 5273 companies across 64 different economic sectors and 32 different regions in Colombia. We assess the different effects on the innovative performance of firms by analyzing firm, sector, and regional level determinants. The study involves the multilevel approach of the innovation process considering the structure and behavior of innovation systems in developing countries. We furthermore focus on technology transfer from foreign trade and the role of education in the process of innovation. We find that education and open economy variables have a significant relationship with innovation performance at the firm and regional levels.

The Role Of CEO Characteristics In Firm Innovative Performance: A Comparative Analysis Of EU Countries And Russia

In this paper, we investigate whether CEO characteristics (owner-manager status, age and gender) influence firm innovative performance and test empirically if the effect differs for market and transition economies. We use cross-sectional data of manufacturing firms in six EU countries and in Russia. To address heterogeneity, we explore innovation performance by size among SMEs and large businesses and by Pavitt sector. In both institutional settings, the presence of a family CEO either has no effect or improves innovative performance. On the contrary, the role of CEO gender is different in Russia and in the EU. In the EU, female CEOs are associated with less innovation, especially in SMEs and in the traditional sector. In Russia, CEO gender is not associated with differences in innovative performance and when it is (for the traditional sector), it favors female-run firms. For CEO age, considering product innovations, the oldest group of CEOs are less active in European firms while mature CEOs are more innovative in Russia.

Founder Imprinting: Innovation Performance Differences between Founders Versus Agent CEOS

Using founder imprinting literature, we theorize the innovation performance of founder versus agent CEOs. While founder imprinting is a unique mechanism that is exclusively available to founder CEOs, few studies have explored this phenomenon with corporate innovation performance. Previous studies addressing founder imprinting are in smaller context such as family firms. The role of founder imprinting in large publicly traded companies and its mechanisms that impact innovation performance are underexplored. To address this gap in literature, we created a large longitudinal dataset of 2,716 publicly traded companies from 1992 to 2010. We identify hiring board members with technological backgrounds as an initial imprinting condition and long tenured founder CEO with co-working boards as imprinting institutionalizing conditions that enable successful innovation performance of public firms. Our findings have theoretical and practical implications for how founder CEOs can imprint conditions that enhance the innovation performance of large publicly traded organizations.

How can digital technology-related acquisitions affect a firm's innovation performance

How can digital technology-related acquisitions affect a firm's innovation performance

How can digital technology-related acquisitions affect a firm's innovation performance

How can digital technology-related acquisitions affect a firm's innovation performance

Artificial Intelligence and Industrial Innovation: Evidence From Firm-Level Data

Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents a set of techniques that enable new ways of innovation and allows firms to offer new features of products and services, to improve production, marketing and administration processes, and to introduce new business models. This paper analyses the extent to which the use of AI contributes to the innovation performance of firms. Based on firm-level data from the German part of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2018, we examine the contribution of different AI methods and applications to product and process innovation outcomes. The representative nature of the survey allows extrapolating the findings to the macroeconomic level. The results show that 5.8% of firms in Germany were actively using AI in their business operations or products and services in 2019. The use of AI generated additional sales with world-first product innovations in these firms of about €16 billion, which corresponds to 18% of total sales of world-first innovations in the German business sector. Firms that developed AI by combining in-house and external resources obtained significantly higher innovation results. The same is true for firms that apply AI in a broad way and have already several years of experience in using AI.

The Strength of Weak and Strong Ties in Bridging Geographic and Cognitive Distances

The proximity framework has attracted considerable attention in a scholarly discourse on the driving forces of knowledge exchange tie formation. It has been discussed that too much proximity is negatively associated with the effectiveness of a knowledge exchange relation. However, little is known about the key factors that trigger the formation of the boundaryspanning knowledge ties. Going beyond the “dyadic” perspective on proximity dimensions, this paper argues that the key factor in bridging distances may reside at the “triadic” level. We build on the notion of “the strength of weak ties” and its recent development by investigating the innovative performance and relations of more than 600,000 German firms. We explored and extracted information from the textual and relational content of firms’ websites by using machine learning techniques and hyperlink analysis. We thereby proxied the innovative performance of firms using a deep learning text analysis approach and showed that the triadic property of bridging dyadic relations is a reliable predictor of firms’ innovativeness. Relations embedded in cliques (i.e., strong ties) that connect cognitively distant firms are more strongly associated with firms’ innovation, whereas inter-regional relations connecting different parts of a network (i.e., weak ties) are positively associated with firms’ innovative performance. Also, the results suggest that a combination of strong inter-community and weak inter-regional relations are more positively related with firms’ innovativeness compared to the combination of other relation types.

From venture capital towards venture firm innovation performance: evidence from SMEs of China

Based on information asymmetry, agency theory and resource-based view (RBV), this study investigates the impact of venture capital (VC) on venture firm innovation performance, ascertains the extent to which VC affects venture firm innovation performance and finds the mediating effect of management incentives. Constructing a sample of a novel panel dataset of firms listed on the SME Board of China, we examined a sample of 927 start-ups between 2008 and 2017, showing a notable negative relationship between VC and Patent, and a positive relationship between VC and total factor productivity (TFP), providing stable evidence that VC could not spur firm patent directly, but facilitate the commercialization of innovation. Moreover, it shows that management equity incentives (MEI) and management cash incentives (MCI) playing significant positive mediating role between VC and TFP, while there is no mediating effect between VC and Patent. Findings of this study strengthen the experience of VC and suggest how practitioners of SMEs to enhance the commercialization of innovation, considerably extends our understanding of the impact of VC on venture firm innovation performance.

Does R&D offshore outsourcing improve innovation in vendor firms from emerging economies? A study of biopharmaceutical industry in India

PurposeWhile the phenomenon of R&D offshoring has become increasingly popular, scholars have mostly focused on R&D offshore outsourcing from the point of view of the client firms, who are often from an advanced country. By examining vendor firms, in this paper the authors shift the focus to the second party in the dyadic relationship of R&D offshore outsourcing. Specifically, the authors compare vendor firms with nonvendor firms from the same emerging economy and industry to look at whether vendor firms from emerging economies can improve their innovation performance by learning from their clients. The authors also look at the role of depth and breadth of existing technological capabilities of the vendor firm in its ability to improve its innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on firm-level data from the Indian biopharmaceutical industry between 2005 and 2016. The authors use the Heckman two-stage model to control for self-selection by firms. The authors compare the innovation performance of vendor firms with nonvendor biopharmaceutical firms (group vs nongroup analysis) as well as innovation performance across vendor firms (within group comparison).FindingsThe authors find that, compared to nonvendor firms, R&D offshore outsourcing vendor firms from emerging economies have higher innovation performance. The authors argue that this higher innovation performance among vendor firms is due to learning from their clients. Among vendor firms, the authors find that the innovation gains are contingent upon the two factors of depth and breadth of the vendor firms' technological capabilities.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper makes three contributions: First, the authors augment the nascent stream of research on innovation from emerging economy firms. The authors introduce a new mechanism for emerging economy firms to learn and upgrade their capabilities. Second, the authors contribute to the literature on global value chains, by showing that vendor firms are able to learn from their clients and upgrade their capabilities. Third, by examining the innovation by vendor firms, the authors contribute to the R&D offshore outsourcing, which has largely focused on the client.Practical implicationsThe study findings have important implications for both clients and vendors. For client firms, the authors provide evidence that knowledge spillovers do happen, and R&D offshore outsourcing can turn vendors into potential competitors. This research helps firms from emerging economies by showing that becoming vendors for R&D offshore outsourcing is a viable option to learn from foreign firms and improve innovation performance. Going outside geographic boundaries may be a large hurdle for these resource-strapped, emerging economy firms. Providing offshore outsourcing services for narrow slices of R&D activities may be a starting point for these firms to upgrade their capabilities.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first to quantitatively study the innovation performance of vendor firms from emerging economies. The authors also contribute to the nascent literature on innovation in emerging economy firms by showing that providing R&D offshore outsourcing services to client firms from advanced countries can improve firms' innovation performance.

Vínculos, complejidad y desempeño innovador en Argentina

La innovación es reconocida como un proceso interactivo de generación, difusión y aplicación de conocimiento. El trabajo propuesto explora el impacto de los vínculos por distintos objetivos (I+D, diseño e ingeniería industrial, capacitación, entre otros) sobre el desempeño innovador de firmas industriales en Argentina. Los vínculos son agrupados según su grado de complejidad. Se identifican diferencias estadísticamente significativas en el desempeño innovador a favor de las empresas que participan tanto de vínculos de mayor como de menor complejidad. Sin embargo, estas diferencias se explican principalmente por las características propias de las firmas, no así por el impacto diferencial de los vínculos.

Enhancing quality and innovation performance: the role of supplier communication and knowledge development

Although effective supplier communication has been suggested as a crucial approach for enhancing supply chain quality and innovation, research on how and under what conditions it affects performance is still in its evolving domain, especially in emerging and turbulence markets. Using the knowledge-based view, this study suggests that supplier communication and knowledge development can be complementary assets to enhance firm innovation and quality performance. Using empirical data collected from 165 manufacturing plants in Vietnam, this study exerted that supplier communication practices alone might not be enough for quality and innovation improvements. The results indicated that supplier knowledge development acts as a mediator in realising supplier collaboration for improving both new product development and quality performance. The findings highlight the importance of leveraging supplier external technical knowledge and implementing innovation processes for quality and innovation improvements. Besides, in a more turbulence environment, supplier communication strengthens the positive impact on supplier knowledge development on quality conformance and innovation. By including both supplier knowledge development and supplier communication, this paper adds greater comprehensiveness and richness to the relationship between quality and knowledge management practices.

Which forms of R&D internationalisation behaviours promote firm's innovation performance? An empirical study from the China International Industry Fair 2016–2018

ABSTRACT Chinese enterprises are increasingly operating R&D internationalisation to promote their innovation performance in forms of cross-border R&D collaboration, setting up offshoring R&D centres and transnational merger and acquisition (M&A), but the existing literature has not yet discussed this topic thoroughly regarding the effect of various forms of R&D internationalisation behaviour. Based on 738 Chinese enterprises examined using a questionnaire survey at the China International Industry Fair (CIIF) 2016–2018, this study analyses the impacts of different R&D internationalisation behaviour on firms’ innovation performance and the moderating effect of a firm's absorptive capacity and international experience on the relationship. The empirical results reveal (1) that three different forms of R&D internationalisation behaviour all contribute to enhancing a firm's innovation performance, (2) that Chinese enterprises can capture their innovation performance by operating multiple R&D internationalisation behaviour forms simultaneously, and (3) that a firm's absorptive capacity only exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the cross-border R&D collaboration and the firm's innovation performance, which implies to some extent that operating R&D internationalisation in the form of cross-border R&D collaboration for Chinese firms demands higher absorptive capacity in comparison to setting up offshoring R&D institutions and transnational merger and acquisition (M&A).

Exploring Factors Affecting Sustainable Innovation Performance of Food Firms. A Case of Korean Food Industry

This study examines the influence of government support, research and development (R&D) investment and cooperation networks on sustainable innovation performance of the medium-sized food firms in South Korea. Climate change, population growth, lifestyle change and consumer demands for new products allow firms to explore innovation for sustainable growth. In the food industry, where various stakeholders are involved in the value chain, government support, R&D investment and cooperation are affecting firms’ sustainable performance. However, there are few empirical studies that examine the relationship among them, especially regarding medium-sized food firms. This study aimed to analyze data regarding Korean food firms through a structural equation model. To overcome data scarcity, this study collected new data for 67 medium-sized food firms. The data is matched with the firms’ 10-year data on management, innovation performance, and cooperation networks. This study can contribute to filling the literature gap by exploring what innovation strategies should be used to improve food SMEs’ innovation performance in the latecomer countries, which have developed their food industries relatively recently.

Cooperation and novelty innovation: a study for Argentina

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the influence of cooperation on the degree of novelty of technological innovations introduced by industrial firms in Argentina. This influence is analysed from three perspectives: cooperation by partner type [business partners or scientific and technological centres (S&T) partners]; cooperation by number of partner types, from no cooperation to cooperation with two partner types; and cooperation by goals pursued by firms.Design/methodology/approachThe data come from one of the last national innovation surveys conducted in Argentina. The study controls for endogeneity, using instrumental variable procedures within the conditional mixed-process (CMP) framework.FindingsThe main result is the influence of cooperation with universities and S&T centres on the introduction of more novel innovations, which was found both in estimations with and without endogeneity correction. This influence was verified for more complex goals (R&D, technology transfer and industrial design and engineering) as well as for less complex ones (tests and trials, human resources training, quality management and certification). Business cooperation seems to impact only on a lower degree of novelty for more complex goals. The increase in the number of partners that the firm cooperates with, from no cooperation to joint cooperation with two partner types, influences more novel innovations.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations and proposals for future research are discussed at the end of the study.Practical implicationsThe results of this study contrast with the high propensity to cooperate with business partners shown by firms in Argentina and other Latin American countries. Therefore, this paper may help formulate more effective policies to promote cooperation conducive to firm innovation performance. Limitations and proposals for future research are discussed at the end of the study.Originality/valueAlthough there is empirical evidence on this topic for developed countries, firm-level studies on cooperation and degree of novelty are scarce for Latin America. In addition, this paper analyses cooperation not only by type of partner but also by type of goal. This study attempted to control for endogeneity by using instrumental variables within the CMP framework.

Analyzing the relationship between green innovation and environmental performance in large manufacturing firms

Extant literature suggests that green intellectual capital (GIC), green human resource management (GHRM), and green innovation (GI) impacts the environmental performance of firms. In this paper, we argue that the relationship between GIC, GHRM, GI and environmental performance is more complex than previously suggested. We propose that neither GIC nor GHRM are directly related to environmental performance. We argue instead that GI mediates the relationships between GIC, GHRM, and environmental performance. Further, we suggest that environmental strategies are directly related to environmental performance, while also moderating the relationship between GI and environmental performance. We tested our proposed model on a sample of 244 large manufacturing firms. The results of a structural equation modeling analysis provide support for most of our hypotheses.

THE EFFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS AND ALLIANCE PORTFOLIO DIVERSITY ON PRODUCT INNOVATION AND FIRM GROWTH

This study examines the extent to which the intra-industry knowledge spillover and a firm’s alliance portfolio diversity have an effect on product innovation performance and the growth of different size of firms. A model was proposed and empirically tested using structural equation modelling with Bayesian estimation. The data was extracted from the Colombian innovation survey EDIT from 2011 to 2016 and comprised a sample of 913 manufacturing firms. The results demonstrated that less-developed and resource-scarce settings, such as Colombia, foster interfirm collaboration regardless of their size. Nevertheless, even when considered the positive and significant effect of collaboration, spillovers are the most relevant external knowledge source in explaining the product innovation performance and growth of small and medium firms. The findings also showed that knowledge spillovers can be detrimental to the large firms’ outcomes, possibly associated with a weaker appropriability regime and the loss of knowledge derived from outgoing spillovers.

Service experience innovative performance in hospitality firms from a network perspective

The purpose of this article is to provide a conceptual framework capable of capturing the complexity of the dynamics of innovation in the particular case of hospitality services. The conceptual essence and scope of hospitality services are examined. It also addresses the level of diversity among network agents and how this affects innovative performance. The findings suggest that one possible way to succeed is to draw out all the advantages offered by the network to provide innovative service experiences.

Does international talent promote innovation performance of latecomer firms? Empirical investigation into mainland Chinese firms in the Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, Shanghai

ABSTRACT Against the background of ‘brain circulation’ between developed and developing economies, latecomer firms (LCFs) in Taiwan and India were dedicated to attracting international talent to improve their innovation performance in order to catch up with leading global firms. Inspired by their success, LCFs in mainland China are carrying out a similar internationalisation strategy. However, it is debatable whether international talent can promote their innovation performance due to their business model of ‘Technology outside, market inside’, which is different from the ‘Technology outside, market outside’ model of Taiwanese and Indian firms. In this paper, we attempt to identify the relationship between international talent and the innovation performance of mainland Chinese LCFs, as well as other factors influencing their relationship, by studying 4,685 mainland Chinese enterprises in Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, Shanghai. The results show that there is a curvilinear relationship (U-shaped) between international talent and a firm’s innovation performance, and both the internationalisation of R&D and export positively moderate the relationship between international talent and the firm’s innovation performance. This paper has important practical implications showing that it is essential to enhance the embeddedness of international talent within firms to promote the innovation capacities of LCFs.

The Roles of Organizational Learning Capability and Firm Innovation in the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Performance

This research aims to examine the relationships among entrepreneurial orientation, organizational learning capability, firm innovation, and firm performance. To achieve a data collection, a mail survey procedure via questionnaire was implemented by using executives or managers of gems & jewelry industries, textile and clothing industries, leather and accessories, fashion apparel industries in Thailand as the key informants. Of the surveys completed and returned, 388 were usable. Hence, a model with a structural equation was used to evaluate the data survey of 388 respondents. The results reveal that, in terms of the mediating effect, organizational learning capacity and firm innovation can complement each other in order to improve entrepreneurial orientation. Findings show that entrepreneurial orientation improves firm innovation, which in turn improves firm efficiency. Firm innovation acts as a variable mediating between enterprise orientation and firm performance. Our findings contribute to the current emergence of organizational learning capacity that mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Entrepreneurial orientation is normally a firm performance that enterprises develop which can have use the information available and make an impact. It can be considered through the mediation of organizational learning capability, and firm innovation variable and as stated in previous literature, it can influence firm performance.