Medium-tech Sectors Research Articles

INNOVATION WITHOUT R&D: HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS AND DUI MODE OF INNOVATION ON THE EXAMPLE OF GERMAN ENTERPRISES

Economically and technically advanced nations differ from developing countries by having numerous competitive, innovative and active enterprises. High-tech innovations are particularly important for the global economy, for this reason, many economists and politicians tend to underestimate the importance of innovations introduced by small and medium-sized firms from low- and medium-tech sectors of the economy. In their innovation activities, SMEs acquire ready–made technological solutions on the market, or introduce innovations in a special way – in the DUI mode. The theoretical concept of DUI (learning by doing, using and interacting) explains why many small and medium-sized enterprises succeed in innovation without research and development (R&D) efforts. This article examines the theoretical issues of introducing innovations without R&D, and also provides data from empirical studies of innovation activity obtained during the surveys Mannheim Innovation Panel of the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research and German Manufacturing Survey of the Frauenhofer ISI Research Institute for the period 2002–2020.

ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЙ РОСТ В НИЗКОТЕХНОЛОГИЧНЫХ И СРЕДНЕТЕХНОЛОГИЧНЫХ ОТРАСЛЯХ ТРАНСГРАНИЧНОГО РЕГИОНА «ЧЕРНОЕ МОРЕ»: ЗАКОНОМЕРНОСТИ И ПРОБЛЕМЫ

In the reseach the aprobation of proposed method is done based on the data of the cross-border region «Black Sea» by performing a comprehensive analysis of development of tourist and recreational complex ethnic regions, in the context of innovation development and clustering of economy. The first description of the innovation and clustering economic growth in the tourism industry of the cross-border region is presented. It was found that the growth of the cross-border region "Black Sea" is almost not associated with clustering and innovative development of the tourism industry of the cross-border region "Black Sea", but at the same time there is an absolute relationship with the level of employment in high-tech and medium-tech sectors of high level (0,91); positive relationship with population density (0,73), with business spending on science per capita (0,74), with government spending on science per capita (0,72).

Going clubbing in the eighties: convergence in manufacturing sectors at a glance

This paper employs the distribution dynamics framework for assessing labour productivity convergence, in the period 1980–1995, among 28 developed and developing countries, in different manufacturing compartments, identified as according to their research and development intensity. Three competing hypotheses are considered: absolute, conditional and club convergence. The key result of the analysis is twofold. First, consistently with very recent evidence, absolute convergence is found in manufacturing as a whole. Second, convergence tendencies are sector specific. In particular, club convergence characterizes traditional and medium- technology compartments, while the absolute one qualifies high-tech productions. Overall, these findings support the view that cross-country labour productivity convergence might be hindered by the sub-optimal structural reallocation from nonconvergence to convergence activities. Moreover, as the clustering dynamics in traditional and medium-tech sectors is related either to physical capital stock or technological development, laggard economies should purse ad hoc catching-up strategies. Finally, the result of high tech provides supportive evidence for the theory of dynamic comparative advantages. Thus, it seems desirable that emerging countries enter into technology-intense markets and that they develop the necessary capabilities for exploiting such endogenous advantages.

Formation of Foreign Direct Investment Policy: Case of Estonia

The problems towards foreign direct investment (hereinafter FDI) have been the subject of debate from the 1980s. The benefits of FDI are obvious: it is one of the main sources of external finance, which is especially important for developing economies. It is highly important to attract foreign direct investments for countries with rapidly growing economies. In order to direct foreign investments into the problematic business areas or problematic regions, targeted FDI policy is essential. However, because the countries with growing economies usually seek to attract foreign capital by any means, uncontrolled foreign investment can bring more harm than benefit.The aim of the article is to develop a complex-targeted FDI policy that would bring the greatest benefit to the state. The authors raise the question how to attract targeted FDI inflows.When selecting a method for the formation of FDI policy, another problem arises: the methods based on correlation-regression analysis are frequently applied in the literature. This analysis is helpful in assessing relationships between individual factors; however, it does not allow determining the complex components of FDI policy. The authors assume that FDI policy is characterized by multi-criteria, therefore one of the qualitative multi-criteria methods – ANP – has been chosen for an empirical study because of the fact that, using this method, not only the effect of a criterion or sub-criterion but also the relationships between the sub-criterion are assessed. The criteria system is based on SWOT analysis. Four alternatives to current FDI policy are suggested which account for the threats and weaknesses that are characteristic of the Estonian economy. The following alternatives for FDI policy are proposed: FDI policy focused on the service sectors; FDI policy focused on the export promotion; FDI policy focused on R&D, and FDI policy focused on the manufacturing sectors. According to the research, FDI policy in Estonia is mostly influenced by its strengths and opportunities. The main weakness is the research and innovation system that may prevent from the attraction of FDI in knowledge-intensive sectors. A repeated synthesis highlighted Estonia’s potential to successfully attract FDI and to exploit them in the knowledge-intensive services, high-tech and medium-tech sectors. The research results indicate that attracting FDI to the service sector would be the most effective policy that would bring a long-term positive impact on the country’s economic development.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.25.2.4263

Beyond R&D activities: the determinants of firms’ absorptive capacity explaining the access to scientific institutes in low–medium-tech contexts

A firm's search strategy is to use innovation inputs from external sources such as suppliers, clients, competitors, universities and research transfer offices (RTOs) to complement their in-house knowledge. Thus, a firm needs to be capable of identifying and valuing the potential value of certain external knowledge, i.e. absorptive capacity. Most of the studies regarding search patterns are reduced mostly to medium–high- and high-tech industries in which only the level of investment in R&D activities as determinant of a firm's search strategy is considered. In addition, when the flows of external knowledge arise from firm–university interactions, the evidence is still inconclusive, specifically for SMEs and low–medium-tech environments. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to explore the pattern of a firm's search strategy through its absorptive capacity to acquire external flows of knowledge from universities and RTOs. The paper draws especially on the role of non-R&D innovation activities in low–medium-tech sectors. Seven hundred and forty three innovative firms from the Spanish Ministry of Industry are analysed. Results suggest that human resources and other non-R&D activities are the core drivers explaining the cooperation agreements to access external knowledge from universities and RTOs. Surprisingly, R&D expenditures do not contribute to the explanation. This paper presents important implications for policy-makers beyond the classic R&D policies.

Service innovation in manufacturing firms: Evidence from Spain

The ways in which manufacturing firms come to offer services to customers – servitisation or servicisation – are attracting considerable attention. This paper examines an innovation survey of Spanish firms in order to investigate one aspect of this phenomenon: the introduction of new or improved services by manufacturers. Specifically, the paper analyses the determinants of service innovations in manufacturers and determines whether they differ from those of product or process innovations in these same firms. The study finds that almost 20 percent of the firms in the sample have introduced such services in the recent past and that important differences exist between service and product (goods) innovations, with service innovations being particularly related to human resource development and closer links to customers. This suggests that service innovation by manufacturers has much in common with the innovation patterns detected in service sector firms. Intriguing differences across manufacturing sectors are also noted, with the lowest- and highest-tech sectors reporting more service innovations than the medium-tech sectors.

Corporate R&D and firm efficiency: evidence from Europe’s top R&D investors

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate research and development (R&D) activities on firm performance, measured by labour productivity. To this end, the stochastic frontier technique is used on a unique unbalanced longitudinal dataset comprising top European R&D investors over the period 2000–2005. In this framework, this study quantifies technical inefficiency of individual firms. From a policy perspective, the results of this study suggest that if the aim is to leverage firms’ productivity, the emphasis should be put on supporting corporate R&D in high-tech sectors and, to some extent, in medium-tech sectors. On the other hand, corporate R&D in the low-tech sector is found to have a minor effect in explaining productivity. Instead, encouraging investment in fixed assets appears important for the productivity of low-tech industries. Hence, the allocation of support for corporate R&D seems to be as important as its overall increase and an ‘erga omnes’ approach across all sectors appears inappropriate. However, with regard to technical efficiency, R&D intensity is found to be a pivotal factor in explaining firm efficiency and this turns out to be true for all industries.

University–industry interactions in an immature system of innovation: evidence from Minas Gerais, Brazil

This paper evaluates interactions between firms and universities in Minas Gerais, one of the Brazilian states. The heterogeneity in Minas Gerais replicates the heterogeneity that exists in Brazil as a whole. This paper adapts the pioneering Yale and Carnegie Mellon surveys (USA) to an immature national system of innovation. We found that, in immature systems of innovation, beyond their traditional functions, universities perform a dual role in their interactions with firms: they substitute for and complement the research and development done by the firms themselves. In addition, contrary to conventional wisdom, even in the so-called low-tech and medium-tech sectors, universities matter. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Corporate R&D and Firm Efficiency: Evidence from Europe’s Top R&D Investors

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate R&D activities on firms' performance, measured by labour productivity. To this end, the stochastic frontier technique is applied, basing the analysis on a unique unbalanced longitudinal dataset consisting of 532 top European R&D investors over the period 2000–2005. R&D stocks are considered as pivotal input in order to control for their particular contribution to firm-level efficiency. Conceptually, the study quantifies the technical inefficiency of a given company and tests empirically whether R&D activities could explain the distance from the efficient boundary of the production possibility set, i.e. the production frontier. From a policy perspective, the results of this study suggest that – if the aim is to leverage companies' productivity – emphasis should be put on supporting corporate R&D in high-tech sectors and, to some extent, in medium-tech sectors. By contrast, supporting corporate R&D in the low-tech sector turns out to have a minor effect. Instead, encouraging investment in fixed assets appears vital for the productivity of low-tech industries. However, with regard to firms' technical efficiency, R&D matters for all industries (unlike capital intensity). Hence, the allocation of support for corporate R&D seems to be as important as its overall increase and an 'erga omnes' approach across all sectors appears inappropriate.

The integration of old and new technological paradigms in low- and medium-tech sectors: The case of mechatronics

This article addresses the internal transformation of low- and medium-tech (LMT) sectors from a technological perspective, analysing the absorption of radical new technologies by low- and medium-technology (LMT) firms and their integration into frameworks dominated by older technologies. Through an empirical analysis of a cluster of mechatronic companies, the paper highlights some of the main features of the integration process and provides a preliminary assessment of whether the phenomenon is more likely to occur within or between companies, that is through the absorption of new technologies by each firm individually or by means of linkages between specialised mono-technology companies.

Measuring the knowledge base of an economy in terms of triple-helix relations among ‘technology, organization, and territory’

Can the knowledge base of an economy be measured? In this study, we combine the perspective of regional economics on the interrelationships among technology, organization, and territory with the triple-helix model, and offer the mutual information in three dimensions as an indicator of the configuration. When this probabilistic entropy is negative, the configuration reduces the uncertainty that prevails at the systems level. Data about more than a million Dutch companies are used for testing the indicator. The data contain postal codes (geography), sector codes (proxy for technology), and firm sizes in terms of number of employees (proxy for organization). The configurations are mapped at three levels: national (NUTS-1), provincial (NUTS-2), and regional (NUTS-3). The levels are cross-tabled with the knowledge-intensive sectors and services. The results suggest that medium-tech sectors contribute to the knowledge base of an economy more than high-tech ones. Knowledge-intensive services have an uncoupling effect, but less so at the high-tech end of these services.