Knowledge-intensive Industries Research Articles

When Does the Pre-Entry Experience of New Entrants Improve Their Performance? A Meta-Analytical Investigation of Critical Moderators

While pre-entry experience is widely regarded as a critical asset that positively relates to new entrant performance, empirical support is mixed. To address this inconsistency, we meta-analyze the empirical findings in 272 papers that examine the performance implications of pre-entry experience. We draw theoretically on the organizational learning literature to argue that the relationship between pre-entry experience and new entrant performance will be contingent on the characteristics (i.e., levels and types) of pre-entry experience, the environmental context of the new entrant, and the interaction between the two. In particular, we examine the effects of two levels of pre-entry experience (firm and founder), four types of founder-level pre-entry experience (entrepreneurial, managerial, industry, and functional experience), and two types of environments (industry and institutional). The meta-analysis results show a significant and positive correlation between founder-level pre-entry experience and performance of 0.07, and a partial correlation of 0.06. Meanwhile, the failure rates of spin-outs and de alio entrants are 11% lower than that of de novo entrants. The moderating analysis results show that the correlation of pre-entry experience and economic performance is lower in knowledge or technology intensive (KTI) industries, but higher in manufacturing and service industries that are low KTI. The correlation is also higher in institutions with high power distance and individualism. These findings provide compelling new evidence for the importance of pre-entry experience, and advance our understanding of the boundary conditions on the relationship between pre-entry experience and new entrant performance.

ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАЯ ПОДДЕРЖКА И ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ СТИМУЛЫ РАЗВИТИЯ НАУКОЕМКИХ ПРОИЗВОДСТВ В РЕСПУБЛИКЕ КАЗАХСТАН

This study examines the position of Kazakhstan among oil-producing countries within a single economic space, as well as leading countries in the global competitiveness index. One of the incentives of the development of knowledge-intensive productions was creating the national innovation system and tax preferences. According to the official data of initial R&D expenditures by branches of science and the results of survey about readiness for the transition to the knowledge-based economy it could be noticed an increased interest in the development of knowledge-intensive industries, however, there is a low involvement in innovative activities from domestic companies due to the lack of interaction between science and industry.

Multifunctional role of industrially developed regions in the Russian economy

The Strategy for spatial development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025, which relies on the identification of effective specialisations, does not allow unambigu ously recognising industrial regions and forming approaches to assess their role in ensuring the national security. The paper focuses on the problem of identification of industrially devel oped regions in the context of spatial, scientific, technological and industrial development of the country. The research builds on a set of methodological approaches to the identification of industry-oriented regions, which enables the author to distinguish between two groups of classi fications: the ones based on the structural approach and the ones using industrial specialisation. The structural approach is one of the most widely applied for classifying regions and identify ing industrial-oriented regions among them. The author proposes a multi-criteria classification method, which also is based on the evaluation of the share of industry and manufacturing in GRP, as well as includes a number of additional classification criteria (GRP per capita, fixed capital investment per capita, the share of manufacturing and extractive industries in industry, etc.). Applying the multi-criteria classification, the author identifies the industrially developed regions of Russia and clarifies their role in ensuring the national security. The researcher as sesses the potential for new industrialisation in industrially developed regions on the basis of the high-tech and knowledge-intensive industries in GRP and the volume of domestic research and development expenditures. The theoretical and practical significance of the research lies in justification of the need for optimal choice of priorities for industrial development in the spatial context.

Does High-Speed Rail Network Access Enhance Cities’ Innovation Performance?

This study investigates the impacts of access to high-speed railway networks (HSRN) on urban innovative performance using a difference-in-difference method and a unique dataset including patents, nighttime lights, and HSRN at the city-level in China. First, access to HSRN significantly and positively affects the city’s innovative performance. Results remain robust after substituting different innovation indicators and controlling for city-level factors. Second, the impacts vary with the size of cities. Specifically, the benefits of access to HSRN for large and small cities are greater than for medium-sized cities, which shows a quasi-U-shaped relationship. Third, the positive effects of access to HSRN on innovation performance are stronger in knowledge-intensive industries for large cities and where there is high population mobility among cities.

A guided analytics tool for feature selection in steel manufacturing with an application to blast furnace top gas efficiency

In knowledge intensive industries such as steel manufacturing, application of data analytics to optimise process performance, requires effective knowledge transfer between domain experts and data scientists. This is often an inefficient path to follow, requiring much iteration whilst being suboptimal with regard to organisational knowledge capture for the long term. With the ‘initial Guided Analytics for parameter Testing and controlband Extraction (iGATE)’ tool we created a feature selection framework that finds influential process parameters and their optimal control bands and which can easily be made available to process operators in the form of guided analytics tool, while allowing them to modify the analysis according to their expertise. The method is embedded in a work flow whereby the extracted parameters and control bands are verified by the domain expert and a report of the analysis is automatically generated. The approach allows us to combine the power of suitable statistical analysis with process-expertise, whilst dramatically reducing the time needed for conducting the feature selection. We regard this application as a stepping stone to gain user confidence in advance of introduction of more autonomous analytics approaches. We present the statistical foundations of iGATE and illustrate its effectiveness in the form of a case study of Tata Steel blast furnace data. We have made the iGATE core functionality freely available in the igate package for the R programming language.

The effects of R&D cooperation on innovation performance in the knowledge-intensive business services industry: focusing on the moderating effect of the R&D-dedicated labor ratio

ABSTRACT This study conducted an empirical estimation of the effects of R&D cooperation and the proportion of R&D personnel on the performance of four different kinds of innovation in the two major KIBS industries (t-KIBS and p-KIBS). For the empirical analysis, we used a multivariate probit model with 956 samples from the KIBS industry collected using the officially adopted Korean Innovation Survey of 2016. We found that vertical R&D cooperation had a positive effect on the overall performance in the t-KIBS industry, especially on service and marketing performances. On the other hand, horizontal R&D cooperation (competitor and institutional innovation) had a heterogeneous effect on the innovation of the KIBS industry depending on the type of cooperation. The proportion of R&D-dedicated personnel had a positive effect on service product innovation in the p-KIBS industry, but contrary to expectation, a high proportion of R&D personnel had no positive moderating effect with R&D cooperation in improving innovation performance. On the contrary, a high proportion of R&D personnel combined with institutional cooperation negatively affected the achievement of service innovation.

Transformational Factors of the Development and Implementation of the Innovation Capacity of Regional Economy

The author focuses on the analysis of the conditions necessary for the development of innovation capacity of economy and distinguishes two groups of factors – transformational factors (presented by the human factor – A, technological factor – T, natural factor – Rn) and transactional factors (presented by the institutional factor – Ins, organizational factor – O, informational factor – Inf) – contributing to the development of innovation capacity. Human capital is the historical form of the human factor with intellectual capital as its integral component in the form of resources of intellectual activity which enhances the intellectual capacity and innovation capacity of the region. The technical factor which contributes to the development of the innovation capacity of economy implements the resource element of innovation capacity and results in knowledge-intensive industries where technological changes are defined by the sectoral and technological specialization and differ by their degree of knowledge intensity. The nature factor plays an important role in the development of the innovation capacity of economy, defines its technological base and has an impact on the scale of innovation activity. Natural recourses influence innovation capacity by means of the components of natural environment which are used as means of production or commodities. The role of the nature-resource factor in the structure of innovation capacity and innovation system increases with the abundance of extractive industries and decreases with the processing of raw materials. The human factor is considered to be the major one for the development of innovation capacity, it integrates the functions of technological, organizational and nature factors and contributes to the implementation of the innovation capacity of economy.

Analysis on the Exploitation and Utilization of Non-oil and Gas Mineral Resources in China from 2015 to 2017

A comprehensive understanding of the exploitation and utilization of non-oil and gas mineral resources, which is of great significance to both the mineral resources management departments and mining investors. This article analyzed the exploitation and utilization of non-oil and gas mineral resources in China from 2015 to 2017, by using the authoritative data which issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources, PPC, and the work achievements of the project “Remote Sensing Monitoring of Mineral Resources Exploitation Environment in China”. It was found that the number of non-oil and gas mines in China was generally decreasing, with a decrease of 20.1% from 2015 to 2017. It showed that the exploitation of non-oil and gas mineral resources in China was changing to large-scale and intensification. China’s coal and iron ore production capacity had been significantly reduced in 2015-2017. It showed that the socio-economic dependence on mineral resources was gradually decreasing. It was suggested that the mineral resources management department should strengthen the crackdown on illegal mining. It was suggested that mining investors should strengthen cooperation, and transform to knowledge intensive industries such as deep processing of mineral products.

Powder materials and methods for their preparation

Powder metallurgy, along with other knowledge-intensive industries, is one of the priority areas of high-quality, modern, technologically advanced production, one of the main tasks of which is resource-saving technologies. (Research purpose) The research purpose is in analyzing the existing methods for obtaining metal powders and metal-like compounds in order to review and systematize information. (Materials and methods) The methodological basis is the scientific and technical literature on the topic of manufacturing materials for powder metallurgy. The solution of the problem was carried out by means of comparative and logical analysis based on theoretical and empirical methods of scientific research. (Results and discussion) There are two groups of methods for producing metal powders: mechanical and physical-chemical, as well as methods for manufacturing metal-like compounds. Each of the production methods is analyzed from the point of view of technology, equipment, feasibility of application and the resulting materials. (Conclusions) When manufacturing powders by mechanical methods, there is a high probability of particles of grinding bodies or linings entering the final product. Dispersion allows to automate the process, adjust the properties of powders at a fairly low energy consumption. Physical and chemical methods of production require complex equipment, as well as compliance with safety regulations due to high fire hazard.

Building Sustainable Success with People: The framework of Caring Corporate Culture

In today’s knowledge intensive industries, success is built on people and their ability to work together and create value. Yet, organizational culture remains a fragmented and tacit subject and hence difficult to manage. While strategists, innovation management scholars, organizational and behavioral scientists have tried to get a grip of organizational culture, a research gap exists in finding a simple and pragmatic framework for managing it. This study combines decades of management experience from global companies with thorough theoretical understanding of strategy and innovation management enhanced with organizational theory, leadership and behavioral understanding. As a result of this it characterizes caring as a dominant attribute of today’s organizational culture and suggests foundation and agility as the two key dimensions for managing it. Building on the experience of the writers and enhancing it with recent theories, this study focuses on the actions needed to drive change. The result of the study, framework of caring corporate culture, helps to focus actions where it matters: Purpose, organization and individual. Purpose reflects the strategic direction of a company and ecosystem. Organization consists of leadership and management systems needed to build individual wellbeing and trust through aligned values. The framework is a comprehensive, yet simple and pragmatic tool to identify what matters in organizational culture and it can help people in all levels of the organization to take action in developing company culture towards being more caring.

Challenges and opportunities for creative-innovative clusters partnerships

Abstract Clusters of innovation are global economic “hot spots” where new technologies germinate at an astounding rate and where pools of capital, expertise, and talent foster the development of new industries and new ways of doing business. They are vibrant, effervescent ecosystems composed of startups, businesses that support the startup process, and mature enterprises (many of whom evolved rapidly from a startup history). In these ecosystems, resources of people, capital, and know-how are fluidly mobile and the pace of transactions is driven by a relentless pursuit of opportunity, staged financing, and short business model cycles. The aim of this paper, clustering, which is an important model in the development of the countries and the concept of innovation have been reviewed together. The most prominent feature of the industry is to produce Technology. Countries to focus on knowledge-intensive industries and businesses as a result of regional cluster policies for innovation are seen that there is a relation between. Clustering is an important model for an innovational development in Romania. The analysis was carried out for a period of 3 years, for which there were registered the main achievements in the field of product innovation, processes, organizational forms and marketing methods, new or significantly improved, obtained by companies, starting from January 2016 until December 2018, representing Romania’s contribution to the evaluation of the results of the European statistical research on innovation, 2018. Following the innovative activities in which the companies are engaged does the characterization of the innovation. The National Institute of Statistics provides the necessary means for carrying out statistical research on innovation in businesses in the business and industrial environment.

Does Goliath Help David? Anchor Firms and Startup Clusters

This paper investigates the effects of a large firm's geographical expansion (anchor firm) on local worker transitions into young firms through wage effects in industries economically proximate to the anchor firm. Using hand-collected data matched to administrative Census microdata, I exploit anchor firms' site selection processes to employ a difference-in-differences approach to compare workers in winning counties to those in counterfactual counties. The arrival of an anchor firm induces worker reallocation towards young firms in industries linked through input-output channels by a magnitude of 120 new businesses that account for approximately 2,300 jobs. Consistent with the literature in personnel and organizational economics, incumbent firms experiencing the fastest wage growth due to these shocks shed mid-layer employees who select into or start local young firms in connected and occupationally similar industries. These effects are strongest on workers employed in the most specialized and knowledge-intensive industries. Attracting an anchor firm to a county appears to have limited spillover effects in overall employment that are mainly driven by reorganization of incumbent firms in the anchor's input-output industries that face rising labor costs.

Employers stuck in place? Knowledge sector recruitment between regional embeddedness and internationalization

ABSTRACT Employers are of critical importance in shaping flows of workers. This paper examines how larger employers in knowledge-intensive industries tackle demand for a high-skilled workforce within their specific spatial context. The empirical material stems from a qualitative study of employers in an older industrial German city. The analysis focuses on three interrelated aspects of human resource management: experiences with shortages of high-skilled labour; scales of recruitment; and workforce diversity. It finds that the spatial setting is an important factor, yet the degree by which employers are shaped by it depends on the type of employer and its level of internationalization.

What determines the success of economic transition? Constructing regional advantage for Eastern and Western European regions

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to identify the differences in the determinants of successful transition (understood as the creation of a new development path) between the eastern and the western EU Member States between 1994 and 2014 and elaborate assumptions for a strategy of constructing regional advantage for them at the NUTS2 level. We find that the regional transition requires individual approaches to using comparative advantage at the beginning of the process and then competing with specific advantages that can be consciously constructed throughout the process. Therefore, we hypothesise that a successful transition requires constructing regional advantages based on the knowledge-related factors, leading to specialisation in the knowledge-intensive industries. Furthermore, we state that the way of constructing such advantages differs across the regions. All of our hypotheses were confirmed. Both groups of regions had different comparative advantages at the beginning of the period and constructed competitive advantage based on related knowledge-intensive industries, leading to their specialisation. Interestingly, although the process of building regional advantage was similar, the factors used to create it were different, had a different impact on GDP growth and led to a different specialisation.

The need for an integrated use of the tools of territorial marketing and branding at the regional and municipal levels of government (for example, the Republic of Bashkortostan)

This article substantiates methodological approaches and mechanisms for managing the socio-economic development of depressed territories, aimed at overcoming spatial unevenness of economic growth, asymmetry of economic and social development of regional socio-economic systems, increasing their contribution to the formation of the gross domestic product of the country, ensuring highly effective and competitive development of the economy of regions in the interregional and international division of labor. The purpose of the research is to develop mechanisms for managing the socio-economic development of depressed territories, which are crucial in improving the efficiency and competitiveness of economic and social development of the country's regions, as part of a single reproductive system of the national economy. The study used methods of logical and statistical analysis, systematic approaches to the consideration of phenomena and factors. Based on the example of the Republic of Bashkortostan, methodological approaches and mechanisms for overcoming the crisis state of the economy of depressed territories, ensuring their innovative development through the introduction of advanced equipment and technology into production, increasing the share of knowledge-intensive industries, increasing the role of human capital, providing various benefits and subsidies for the development of new enterprises and productions are proposed. To overcome the crisis state of the economy of depressed territories and ensure their sustainable socio-economic development for the long term, it is necessary to initiate and implement innovative development of these territories on the basis of strengthening state regulation and investment.

Ties that bind: Ethnic inventors in multinational enterprises’ knowledge integration and exploitation

Geographically dispersed reservoirs of knowledge represent significant opportunities for multinational enterprises (MNEs), both in terms of feeding the firm's innovation process, as well as adapting technology to new markets. They face serious challenges in accomplishing these tasks, due to the well-known barriers associated with the transfer of knowledge out of its local context. We argue that ethnic inventors might play a role in alleviating these challenges, by acting as a bridge between their countries of origin (CoO) and the MNE headquarters. Using USPTO data on internationally connected patents granted to US-based MNEs operating in knowledge-intensive industries over the period 1975–2009, our empirical exercise shows that patents involving ethnic inventors from a given CoO are associated with greater integration of knowledge originating from that CoO in the MNE innovation process. Further investigation indicates that this effect is probably limited to knowledge developed within the MNE's network, suggesting that ethnic ties – per se – might not be sufficiently powerful to overcome the joint barriers of national borders and organizational boundaries. Finally, our analysis reveals that ethnic inventors may also be associated with knowledge exploitation in their CoO. This mainly seems to occur in CoOs plagued by market-related institutional voids.

Exploring Firm-Level Antecedents that Drive Motives of Internationalization: A Study of Knowledge Intensive Indian Firms

ABSTRACTWe study firm level antecedents that drive different motives of internationalization of emerging economy firms. Based on firm's resource based considerations of asset exploitation versus asset augmentation and locational advantages of host countries, we provide a framework to classify the motives of internationalization of emerging economy firms belonging to knowledge intensive industries. Motives of internationalization have been classified into three broad categories – market-seeking, opportunity-seeking, and strategic asset-seeking. We determine motives behind different modes of internationalization – alliances, acquisitions, and greenfield ventures. Drawing upon the adaptability, amalgamation, and ambidexterity (AAA) advantages from the springboard perspective, we find that firm characteristics like R&D investments, availability of financial slack, firm's ownership structure, and family control shape up its motive of internationalization.

Comparing the measures of consumer knowledge calibration

Purpose Studies on consumer knowledge calibration have used different measures of calibration. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a comparative assessment of important measures. In addition, it seeks to identify the best performing measure. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports on three studies. The first study uses eight survey data sets. The second and third studies use experiments. Findings The study found that the Brier score component measure is most responsive to feedback and is the most suitable measure of knowledge calibration. The results also indicate that researchers should use measures that use item-level confidence judgements, as against an overall confidence judgement. Research limitations/implications By documenting the relationship between the different measures of knowledge calibration, the study enables proper interpretation and accumulation of results of various studies that have used different measures. The study also provides guidance to researchers in psychology and education where this issue has been noted. Practical implications The study provides guidance to managers in knowledge intensive industries, such as finance and insurance, interested in understanding their consumers’ knowledge calibration. Originality/value This is the first study in consumer research that examines this issue.

State-firm Coordination and Upgrading in Spain's and Korea's ICT Industries

ABSTRACT Generating sustainable growth and reaching advanced economy status depend on the ability of countries to host local, globally competitive firms in skill-, capital-, and knowledge-intensive industries. However, few countries succeed. This paper asks whether state activism is necessary to foster economic transformation at high levels of complexity in the globalisation era, and if so, what strategies are effective. Using evidence from Spain's and Korea's ICT industries since the 1980s, the paper argues that state-firm coordination remains necessary to reach the efficiency frontier in complex industries. However, coordination has shifted from hierarchical structures to nonhierarchical models in which states and firms develop mutually agreed-upon working rules to reach beneficial outcomes. Nonhierarchical coordination may involve adopting different institutional configurations, depending on the identities and capabilities of firms and national governments and on the nature of linkages with other nations. These linkages may lead to alternative pathways to upgrading and diverse productive specialisations.

Eco-Innovation Activities in the Czech Economy 2008–2014: Impact of the Eco-Innovative Approach to the Profit Stream and Differences in Urban and Rural Enterprises

The environmental benefits from the eco-innovation activities of enterprises have the nature of reduced material or water use per unit of output, less pollution and waste, better CO2 ‘footprint’ in production and subsequent business processes. The socioeconomic impacts are associated with circular economy benefits like reduced energy use, decreased pollution and waste, and well-organized recycling possibilities of the product after use. The goal of this paper is to evaluate this innovative approach in the Czech economy. The hypotheses are aimed at the localization of enterprises, appropriability, and characteristics of enterprises that introduce eco-innovations to markets. The dataset is provided by the Czech Statistical Office and contains observations about the innovation activities of firms. Eco-innovation was surveyed in 2008 and 2014. This paper utilizes the estimation principles of CDM (Crépon, Duguet, and Mairesse) method at the firm level. The results suggest that rural–urban separation has no impact on the financial R&D intensity but urban enterprises have a higher probability to engage in innovation activities. The probability to introduce new-to-the-market innovations and eco-innovations is not dependent on localization. High-tech and knowledge-intensive industries have a lower probability to introduce eco-innovations to the market. The change in localization of enterprises to rural areas contributed to the higher sales form innovated goods and services. Higher appropriability was also observed in product eco-innovators. This paper offers a synthesis of factors that stimulate eco-innovation and shows that eco-innovation is a viable and sustainable innovative approach for rural and urban enterprises and identifies directions for future research.