Technology-driven Firms Research Articles

The Impact of Scientific Research Level on Financing for High-tech Enterprises in China: Machine Learning Analysis Based on the STAR Market

Amid the prevailing trend of technological supremacy, the scientific research level plays a pivotal role in elevating economic growth and national comprehensive strength. As crucial forces propelling industrial advancement and economic expansion, high-tech companies share an intricate relationship between scientific research level and enterprise strengths. This study delves into the influence of research level on the financing capacity of enterprises in the STAR market. It employs Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and Gradient Boosting Regression Trees (GBRT) techniques to analyze data between 2019 and 2022. The findings underscore that patent research capabilities and research investment intensity are key factors impacting financing capacity. Specifically, patent quantity exhibits a negative correlation with Asset-liability ratio (ALR), while research investment intensity shows a positive correlation. On the other hand, patent quantity correlates positively with commercial credit financing (CCF) capacity, whereas the proportion of research personnel correlates negatively. The GBRT analysis further validates the significant impact which patent quantity and research investment have on financing capacity. This suggests that high-tech companies should focus on enhancing research efficiency and the proportion of research personnel, while also carefully considering the degree of emphasis on innovation. These measures can balance CCF and debt ratio considerations. The study provides essential decision-making insights for managers and investors of technology-driven firms, emphasizing the significance of technological innovation in business development. Also, it offers guidance for optimizing corporate development and personnel structures in the technology and innovation sectors.

The Key to Digital Scaling: Simultaneous Automation, Individualization and Interdisciplinarity

In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework that explains how digital technologies can help firms generate competitive advantages that enable firms to scale. To gain and sustain competitive advantages firms traditionally had the strategic choice between cost leadership and differentiation. Digital technologies, however, enable more and more firms to reduce their costs and at the same time enhance the value of their market offerings through differentiation. The aim of this paper is to explain the role of digital technologies in such hybrid strategies. We first identify automation, individualization and interdisciplinarity as the dimensions of digital technologies that together enable technology-driven firms to gain and sustain considerable competitive advantage and to scale rapidly. Second, we integrate the three dimensions into a theoretical framework, which we, third, test and confirm in an explanatory case study.

The key to scaling in the digital era: Simultaneous automation, individualization and interdisciplinarity

ABSTRACT In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework that explains how digital technologies can help small businesses generate competitive advantages for scaling. To gain and sustain competitive advantages, small businesses traditionally had to choose between cost leadership and differentiation strategies. Digital technologies enable small businesses to reduce their costs and at the same time enhance the value of their market offerings through differentiation. The aim of this paper is to explain the role of digital technologies in such hybrid strategies for small businesses. We first identify automation, individualization and interdisciplinarity as the three dimensions of digital technologies that together enable technology-driven firms to gain and sustain competitive advantages and to scale rapidly. Second, we integrate these three dimensions into a theoretical framework. Third, we test and confirm the theoretical framework in an explanatory case study and discuss the results.

Capturing Digital Opportunities - The Role of Founder Experience

In young, technology-driven firms, founders play an important role in determining the technological direction of the firm. Digital technologies offer risky but promising technological opportunities for those firms that are able to recognize and capture them. This ability is influenced by the technical expertise and experience of the founder. Using a sample of start-ups which were founded in Germany between 1999 and 2016, we investigate the effect of founder technical experience - both prior to founding and acquired through in-firm activities - on the ability of the firm to capture digital opportunities. We find that prior related experience influences the speed at which firms are able to recognize and capture digital technologies and demonstrate the persistence of this effect which extant studies have not directly considered. Related prior experience allows firms to overcome the constraint of their original technology choices and capture opportunities in new technologies. The results have implications for founders in terms of their choice of founding team members and individuals that join the top management team at a later stage.

How do banks interact with fintech startups?

The increasing pervasiveness of technology-driven firms that offer financial services has led to growing pressure on traditional banks to modernize their core business activities and services. Many banks tackle the challenges of digitalization by cooperating with startup firms that offer technology-driven financial services and novel service packages (fintechs). In this article, we examine which banks typically collaborate with fintechs, how intensely they do so, and which form of alliance they prefer. Using hand-collected data covering the largest banks from Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, we provide detailed evidence on the different forms of alliances occurring in practice. We show that banks are significantly more likely to form alliances with fintechs when they pursue a well-defined digital strategy and/or employ a chief digital officer. Moreover, in line with incomplete contract theory, we find that banks more frequently invest in small fintechs but often build product-related collaborations with larger fintechs.

Digital design implications: a comparative study of architecture education curriculum and practices in leading architecture firms

Leading architectural firms in professional practice are expanding their range of design possibilities using digital design strategies. A digital design strategy enables architects to make informed decisions and better handle the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline, while dealing with various complexities, uncertainties and an infinite number of the potential solutions. One of the main responsibilities of architectural education is to educate students on the breadth of professional opportunities and career paths. Therefore, it is highly important to examine the sufficiency of available digital design courses in the architectural education curriculum. To achieve this, the study examines the curriculum of two architectural programs in the Middle East and compares the findings with award-winning architectural firms in international professional practice from a digital design perspective. In the first step, various cutting-edge technology-driven firms were investigated, then three award-winning firms were subsequently selected and studied using a deliberate review. Secondly, the curriculum of each architecture school was reviewed and the responsible instructors were interviewed through a qualitative method of in-depth interviews; the perceptions and suggestions of eight academic staff members from both schools (four each) were recorded to facilitate an assessment of the status of the integrated digital design methodologies in the architecture education of the intended schools. The findings indicate that the current structures of architecture education curricula cannot match the innovative challenges and social demands of architecture in the digital age. The importance of curriculum review, as well as different incorporation alternatives of the digital design applications, are also suggested.

How Do Banks Interact with Fintech Startups?

The increasing pervasiveness of technology-driven firms that offer banking services has led to a growing pressure on traditional banks to modernize their core business activities. Many banks tackle the challenges of digitalization by cooperating with startup firms that offer technology-driven financial services (fintechs). In this paper, we examine which banks typically collaborate with fintechs, how intensely they do so, and which form of alliance they prefer. Using hand-collected data covering the largest banks from Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, we provide detailed evidence on the different forms of alliances occurring in practice. We show that banks are significantly more likely to form alliances with fintechs when they pursue a well-defined digital strategy and/or employ a chief digital officer. Moreover, in line with incomplete contract theory, we find that banks more frequently invest in small fintechs but often build product-related collaborations with larger fintechs.

Exploring the impact of the level of absorptive capacity in technology development firms

Absorptive capacity (ACAP) is widely recognized as an effective means of obtaining and sustaining a competitive advantage. Although ACAP was globally introduced decades ago, researchers from Central and Eastern Europe have since underestimated its importance. The research objective of this paper is to answer the following questions: how does the level of ACAP influence the performances of technology-driven firms, and how does it catalyse their innovation outputs? Furthermore, we argue that exporting technology-driven firms possess even higher levels of ACAP than those who are weak or not-at-all exporters. ACAP measured value is examined alongside the innovation outputs of firms and their business performance, with an extended focus on exporters. A selected population of >600 Croatian firms were asked to fill in the questionnaire. Out of the 103 firms that completed the survey, 45 were recognized as intensive technology development performers, and 34 were identified as large exporters. Both populations were tested against formulated hypotheses, ultimately proving that higher levels of ACAP can be seen to positively drive innovation performance which, notably, can be seen most clearly with exporters.

Unpacking Coopetition and Innovation: Contingency Roles of Pluralistic Network Embeddedness

Extant research suggests the “double-edged sword” nature of coopetition in technology-driven industries. Specifically, coopetition may enhance value creation in firm technological innovation by providing complementary resources and learning opportunities. However, close interactions with competitors may spur competitive attacks, such as knowledge misappropriation, technological imitation, and learning races, leading to value destruction in firm innovation. The contextual conditions under which coopetition may enhance value creation or exacerbate value destruction remain unclear. In this study, we elucidate the contingency factors stemming from multiple network embeddedness of technology-driven firms, namely, centrality and structural hole spanning in a collaboration network and a knowledge network on the organizational level. We expound the direct effects of the structural characteristics of a firm’s network positions on its innovation economic value, and the moderation effects on the impacts of firm coopetition pursuits on innovation outcome. In so doing, we clarify the network-based conditions under which innovation-driven firms may augment value creation and mitigate value destruction as they pursue coopetition strategies, hence making a contribution to the current coopetition research. Additionally, our results contribute to the network pluralism literature by elucidating how doubly embedded firms achieve differential innovation outcomes under the structural influences from collaboration network and knowledge network.

Using online textual data, principal component analysis and artificial neural networks to study business and innovation practices in technology-driven firms

In this paper we introduce a method that combines principal component analysis, correlation analysis, K-means clustering and self organizing maps for the quantitative semantic analysis of textual data focusing on the relationship between firms’ co-creation activities, the perception of their innovation and the articulation of the attributes of their product-enabled services. Principal component analysis was used to identify the components of firms’ value co-creation activities and service value attributes; correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between the degree of involvement in specific co-creation activities, the online articulation of firms’ service value attributes and the perception of their innovativeness. K-means and self organizing map (SOM) are used to cluster firms with regards to their involvement in co-creation and new service development, and, additionally, as complementary tools for studying the relationship between co-creation and new service development.The results show that, first, there is a statistically significant relationship between firms’ degree of involvement in co-creation activities and the degree of articulation of their service value attributes; second, the relationship should be considered within the context of firms’ innovation activities; third, OS Software-driven firms are the best example in terms of co-creation and new product-enabled service development, i.e. the collaborative principles built in their customer participation platforms should be adopted by other (non-software) firms interested in enhancing their innovation capacity through involvement in co-creation and new product-enabled service development.

Roadblocks to competitive advantage: how organizational constraints and individual decision biases hinder investments in strategic assets

Resource-based theory suggests that unique and tacit resources may be key sources of sustainable competitive advantage. This framework is particularly compelling for technology-driven firms, where knowledge-based strategic assets are critical resources. In this paper we argue that managers pursuing a resource-based advantage are impeded by two mutually reinforcing and potentially interacting barriers: [a] structural and procedural characteristics of the resource-allocation process, and [b] individual cognitive biases in decisions involving uncertain, long time horizon investments. While the competitive challenge of implementing resource-based theory arises from the strategy literature, we describe how firms must address problems that exist at the organizational and individual levels to achieve a sustainable advantage.

The breakfast of champions: associations between champions and product development environments, practices and performance

According to conventional wisdom, if an innovative new product development (NPD) effort is to stand any chance for success, the project must have a champion. The role of the champion has taken on almost mythic proportions, through oft-told tales of the development of such disparate products as instant cameras, automobiles, and microprocessors. Notwithstanding the purportedly essential role that champions play, however, we have only anecdotal evidence of the manner in which effective champions operate and the benefits that they offer. Stephen K. Markham and Abbie Griffin suggest that before we can explore questions about how champions affect product development performance, we must address an even more fundamental issue: whether champions actually influence performance. Using data from the 1995 PDMA study of best practices in product development, they test various widely held assumptions about champions and NDP performance. Specifically, they investigate the association between championing and the following variables: NPD performance at the program, firm, and project levels; industry characteristics; and project- and firm-related NPD characteristics. In several respects, the results of their study run counter to current beliefs about product development champions. For example, the study suggests that champions are just as likely to be found in large firms as they are in small firms. Similarly, the results indicate that the likelihood of finding a champion does not differ significantly between technology-driven firms and marketing-driven firms. For the firms in this study, champions are no more likely to support radical innovations than they are to back incremental innovations or product line extensions. The results of the study suggest that champions do not directly affect firm-level NPD performance. Instead, the results of this study associate increased championing with higher levels of NPD program performance, which positively affects firm-level performance. The results of this study also do not support the notion that a champion can directly improve the market success of a particular project.

New Product Development: The Performance and Time-to-Market Tradeoff

Reduction of new product development cycle time and improvements in product performance have become strategic objectives for many technology-driven firms. These goals may conflict, however, and firms must explicitly consider the tradeoff between them. In this paper we introduce a multistage model of new product development process which captures this tradeoff explicitly. We show that if product improvements are additive (over stages), it is optimal to allocate maximal time to the most productive development stage. We then indicate how optimal time-to-market and its implied product performance targets vary with exogenous factors such as the size of the potential market, the presence of existing and new products, profit margins, the length of the window of opportunity, the firm's speed of product improvement, and competitor product performance. We show that some new product development metrics employed in practice, such as minimizing break-even time, can be sub-optimal if firms are striving to maximize profits. We also determine the minimal speed of product improvement required for profitably undertaking new product development, and discuss the implications of product replacement which can occur whenever firms introduce successive generations of new products. Finally, we show that an improvement in the speed of product development does not necessarily lead to an earlier time-to-market, but always leads to enhanced products.