Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Firms innovation'

One need only look at the list of the world's most valuable firms, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft, to understand that there is a link between innovation and success. However, little has been done to explore why some firms are more innovative. In this thesis we explore one possible reason that some firms are more innovative than others: innate ability. The first essay explores the importance of abilities on the innovative process, defined as a firm's ability to spot and implement new technologies. We observe that if the more able firm possesses both an ability and timing advantage, it always becomes the dominant firm. However, if an ex ante low ability firm has an investment timing advantage it can become the ex post market leader if and only if the a priori ability gap is not too large. The second essay analyses whether a firm's incentive to agglomerate, when research spillovers are location based, survives the existence of asymmetric abilities which may generate heterogeneous unit costs. First, we find that agglomeration is never optimal, not even when the firms are symmetric, due to the threat of rapidly escalating of price competition. Second, where a firm is better able to both reduce its own costs and assimilate a rival's economic knowledge, it becomes more aggressive in terms of both location and investment, leading to increasingly asymmetric outcomes. The third essay examines the impact abilities have on venture capital funding. Specifically, we consider the impact of venture capital from the firms' perspectives. We find evidence of both a direct and indirect impact of venture capital. Furthermore, we find that the commonly held assertion that venture capital spurs success is too vague. Instead, venture capital only spurs innovation amongst the "lucky", chosen few, but unambiguously suppresses innovation of non-VC-backed firms.

The economic environment in which a firm operates is constantly changing. This thesis contains three essays to examine how firms adapt their innovation and international activities to a variety of external changes. The first paper, “Information Frictions and the Law of One Price: ‘When the States and the Kingdom became United’”, shows how information frictions affect the exporting behavior of merchants, exploiting a unique historical experiment: the transatlantic telegraph, established in 1866. Using a newly collected data set on cotton trade based on historical newspapers, I find that information frictions result in large and volatile deviations from the Law of One Price. There are also real effects, because exports respond to information about foreign demand shocks, and average exports increase after the telegraph and become more volatile. I provide a model in which exporters use the latest news about a foreign market to forecast expected selling prices when their exports arrive at the destination. Their forecast error is smaller and less volatile the more recent the available information. The welfare gains from the telegraph are estimated to be around 8% of annual export value. The second paper, “Survive another day: Using changes in the composition of investments to measure the cost of credit constraints” is joint work with Luis Garicano. We introduce a novel empirical strategy to measure the credit shocks that were triggered by the recent financial crisis: Theoretically, we show that credit shocks affect long term investments by more than short term ones. Credit shocks can then be measured within firms by the relative drop of long run relative to short run investments; using firm-times-year fixed effects to absorb idiosyncratic demand shocks. Using data on Spanish manufacturing firms we find that credit constraints are equivalent to an additional tax rate of around 11% on the longest lived investment. While the trade literature has established a positive impact of globalization on the productivity of firms, there is lacking consensus about the underlying mechanism at work: Trade theory focuses on a market access mechanism, but empirical papers point out that import competition matters as well. The third paper, “The roles of import competition and export opportunities for technical change”, conducts a “horse race” between the two mechanisms. Using Spanish firm level data, I find robust evidence that access to export markets leads to productivity increases, but only for firms that were already highly productive before. The evidence on import competition is weaker and very heterogeneous, pointing towards an omitted variable bias in earlier papers.

The ability of firms to innovate has become a cornerstone in the economy of many developed and developing countries. The performance of firms is not exclusively linked to their internal capability. Other external factors, such as technology, globalisation of the market, knowledge, and evolving approaches to value offering, force them to constantly change their approaches to wealth creation. Innovation is vital for firms’ competitive advantage. Hence, a firm with higher innovation prosperity compared to its rivals has a crucial advantage that enables it to compete in local and global markets. However, innovation is a complex phenomenon, and a holistic view is required for a deep understanding of the factors that influence firms’ innovation performance. Day after day, markets are becoming more dynamic, increasing the necessity to understand how such momentum affects innovation performance. With a focus on how they develop strategic routines that enhance their assessment of opportunities and resource-configuration capabilities, firms may better align their products and services with market demands. Using state-of-the-art dynamic-capability theory, this research highlights the routines of firms that influence their abilities to acquire and multiply knowledge and technology consistent with market status, leading to more novel and successful innovative products and processes as well as better economic advantage. This research aims to provide a framework that comprises factors that may influence Saudi firms’ innovation performance. Furthermore, the research aim attempts to understand the impact of information technology on firms’ innovation performance. The research is based on survey data from 203 Saudi firms registered at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The empirical results suggest that firms may enhance their ability to acquire, assimilate, transform, and exploit knowledge by increasing their breadth of knowledge sources and by internationalizing their searching activities for knowledge and skills. Moreover, both explorative and exploitative innovation strategies, although paradoxes, are significant to increasing firms’ overall innovative performance. Mutually, information technology (IT) plays a critical role in complementing firms’ dynamic capabilities through better provision of IT infrastructure, while IT effectiveness and IT flexibility are vital to increasing firms’ abilities to maintain both long-term and short-term competitiveness.

The present thesis is made up by three separate chapters covering topics related to international trade, intellectual property right, business groups and knowledge flows and finally, an attempt to identify promising and innovative young firms. The first paper focuses on the role of institutions, and it shows howdifferent types of institutions are important to determine comparative advantage for countries at different stage of development. The papers finds that intellectual property rights (IPR) protection changes export composition of OECD countries toward IP-intensive sectors, whereas contract enforcement is a driver of export of relation-specific inputs in non-OECD countries. However, better IPR quality encourages technology transfer by redirecting non-OECD imports toward IP-intensive industries. The second chapter studies how subsidiaries of Business Groups interact between each other. In particular, the paper highlights productivity gains that affiliates enjoy from intangible assets developed by other firms within the same group. The analysis shows that a key element to consider in order to understand these flows, is to take into account the hierarchical links between subsidiaries. This crucial step allows to show that within Business Groups knowledge flows upwards, i.e. subsidiaries in lower layers share their knowledge to subsidiaries in upper layers. The third chapter presents a novel dataset assembled during my experience at the OECD on innovative start-up. Combining information from two different data provider, Crunchbase and Dealroom, and implementing several cleaning and matching procedure, we managed to gather this dataset which covers almost the universe of innovative start-ups all over the world. This data are a key element that will be exploited in several work at the OECD, for example to study the determinants of start-ups success (innovation, scale-up) and how relevant are Killer Acquisitions in start-ups.

This compilation thesis consists of a cover and five appended articles. The research purpose of this thesis is to investigate the third party logistics phenomena from the logistics firm’s perspective with a focus on logistics innovation and network development. The thesis applies a qualitative research method and employs multiple case studies. Resource-based view, industrial network approach and strategy-as-practice perspective have been applied and combined to analyze the empirical findings. It is found that logistics firms focus on customers’ requirements and they provide differentiated services accordingly. Based on the type of customers and the region served, each logistics firm innovates in a different way. The logistics innovation process is complicated and it includes both top-down and bottom-up process. Both intra-organizational interactions and inter-organizational interactions are critical for logistics firms to generate logistics innovation. Besides, the interaction capabilities are crucial for logistics firms to innovate. The development of interaction capabilities enables logistics firms to proactively identify customer needs and to translate customer requirements into new service offerings. The development of interaction capabilities also guides logistics firms to innovate in the right direction and helps them to overcome barriers. Further, a theoretical model is developed to illustrate that logistics firms have clear differences in capabilities and network focus. These firms follow different dominating logics of value creation, developing their service networks in various ways. The thesis addresses two critical issues, logistics innovation and network development. Theoretically, it contributes to the third party logistics literature in general and to the logistics innovation research in particular as well as the network development of logistics firms. Adopting several theoretical frameworks, the thesis takes a closer look at the logistics innovation process in logistics firms. Empirically, the thesis covers logistics firms both in Sweden and China, turning it into an international investigation of the how and why of logistics innovation.

Abstract for Chapter 2:Most of the debate related to innovation now focuses on the disruption theory.This theory is the result of years of research and multiple contributions over the last forty years, the most important ones coming from Clayton Christensen.Still it comes with limitations. This paper therefore examines the usefulness of the theory compared with the contributions of the strategy literature.It concludes that the disruption theory is mostly descriptive, that using it as a prescriptive theory to build a strategy can be quite dangerous, and that incumbents could probably design more relevant strategies using contributions from the strategy literature. Abstract for Chapter 3:Innovation is widely recognized as a major driver of long-term corporate growth. Successful innovators who manage to dominate new markets enjoy Schumpeterian rents for their inventions. How then can a firm dominate a new market? Two streams of literature have proposed opposite answers to this question.The First Mover approach indicates that by setting up a strong differentiation strategy,companies are supposed to create a new area where profits abound. This approach issupported especially by Kim and Mauborgne (2004) who coined the term Blue Ocean to describe it.The Fast Second approach, defended by Markides and Geroski (2005), contends, onthe contrary, that companies should not try to become pioneers, but should target the newly created market in second position, and colonize it.But neither Blue Ocean nor Fast Second are able to convincingly explain successfulmarket domination. Our study of 24 innovation cases suggests that innovation which leads to market domination is instead achieved by using four kinds of breakthroughs, separately of simultaneously.Abstract for Chapter 4:The question addressed in this study is: "Is there a relationship between the level of R&D internationalization and the innovation performance?"Using a sample of 237 companies, representing 126,824 priority patents with country information, it turns out that no link can be found between innovation performance and the proportion of foreign R&D (the proportion of patents which were not invented in the company home country), but that innovation performance is positively related to the geographical dispersion of R&D (the number of countries where a given company invented patents), and that this relationship is statistically significant at the 1% level. This paper also discards the possibility of any reverse causality.Abstract for Chapter 5:This paper investigates the dynamics of innovation, profits and economic performance of multinational corporations. Using a panel of 1130 companies with financial data over a three-year period (2011, 2012 and 2013), this paper confirms that contemporaneous relationships exist between innovation performance and profits, but comes up with two unexpected results: 1) innovation performance is positively related to profits and 2) profits are negatively related to innovation performance.Models are estimated using alternative methods as suggested by the literature. The modelling methods are not implemented to suggest a simultaneous structure per se, and are implemented to mitigate concerns related to circularity (endogeneity) issues. Innovation performance and profits are used as independent variables including a proxy for economic performance as dependent variable. Empirically, this paper indicates that economic performance is positively related to both innovation performance and profits, and that this relationship is statistically significant at the 1% level.
Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

L’objectif de cette thèse est de répondre à trois questions principales ; commentexpliquer et interpréter un réseau de collaboration, est-ce que des firmes avec une positionparticulière dans un réseau bénéficient d’une performance accrue et enfin, existe-t-il desstructures de réseaux qui favorisent l’innovation ?Pour répondre à ces questions, la thèse est organisée en trois parties. La première partieprésente, dans un premier chapitre, une revue analytique de la littérature suivie d’un chapitrequi présente la théorie derrière une des méthodes d’analyse réseau utilisée dans cette thèse :les Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGM).La seconde partie présente trois analyses empiriques. Le premier chapitre empirique analysel’impact du cycle de vie de la technologie sur la dynamique du réseau de collaboration autourdes composites structuraux en aéronautique. Les deux chapitres suivants se concentrent sursecteur aéronautique et le secteur des biotechnologies respectivement. L’objectif de ceschapitres est d’analyser la dynamique structurelle et d’identifier s’il existe un lien entreposition dans le réseau et la performance de la firme.La dernière partie cherche à identifier des structures de réseaux qui favorisent l’innovation.Un modèle à base d’agents (ABM) est proposé pour répondre à cette question
This thesis aims to answer three main questions ; how can one explain andinterpret the structure of an innovation network, are there positions in a network which allowfor an increased performance for firms and finally, are there network structures which favourinnovation ? In order to answer these questions, the thesis is organised in three parts.The first part presents, in a first chapter, an analytical review of the literature followed by achapter presenting the theory behind one of the network analysis methods: ExponentialRandom Graph Models (ERGM).The second part of the thesis presents three empirical analyses. The first empirical chapteranalyses the impact of the life-cycle of the technology on the structural dynamics of thecollaboration network for Structural Composite Materials. The following two chapters focuson two sectors, the aerospace and biotech sector. The aim of these chapters is to analyse thestructural dynamics of collaboration networks as well as identifying a link between networkposition and firm performance.The third and final part of this thesis searches for network structures which might favourinnovation. An Agent-Based Model is used to answer this final question

In the context of the prolonged rural crisis affecting both the UK and many other Western regions, the adding of value to agricultural products at, or near the locality of, the farmgate represents a potentially rich form of rural development. One common method for adding value to such products is through the small-scale production of high quality food products that command price premiums in the marketplace, through the targeting of niche consumer demands. Despite a growing interest in this form of value adding, formal understanding of the mechanics of how the businesses that produce these products operate remains limited. This thesis attempts to contribute towards this understanding by taking innovation as a central point of analysis. It aims to contribute both towards our theoretical understanding of micro food firm dynamics and, practically, towards the development of effective policy tools to support food micro firm supply chains. This is achieved through the development of a broad conceptual framework developed through a multidisciplinary literature review. Through this framework, a longitudinal study of six micro food firms is undertaken along with a comprehensive postal survey of Welsh food businesses. The empirical data is subsequently co-analysed and related back to the existing theoretical understanding of the research issues. The thesis concludes by drawing upon a number of central issues that influence the development of food micro firms. Among the findings of the research are that the aims and objectives of microfirm entrepreneurs are central to the development of the firm. Moreover, these are failing to be understood by both policymakers and mainstream food industry interests. In a broader context, the thesis argues that small scale quality food systems must learn to exist under the shadow of conventional interests, and follow development paths that are able to resist mainstream appropriation. Only the development of systems that effectively bridge the two production ethics in a form that ensures the integrity of small scale activities can enable the alternative values encompassed within many microfirm entrepreneurs to cease being alternative.

Service innovation is increasingly becoming a basis for manufacturing firms to reach and sustain competitive advantages. While traditional product innovation typically includes how new technology can be utilized in new products, service innovation spans a broader area that is not exclusively focused on new technology, but rather how resources can be developed into value propositions and then integrated in the customer’s process in order to support customer value creation through realization. However, manufacturing firms that infuse services struggle with service innovation; this becomes especially evident in the realization phase. This thesis is a compilation of five papers discussing different aspects of service innovation realization and the inherited challenges. The study builds upon empirical data from four Swedish manufacturing firms that infuse services and develop new value propositions that include both products and services to support customer processes. The thesis illustrates realization as a phase in service innovation where the firm interacts with its customer in order to adjust, revise and further find new ways of improving the customer’s processes through for example customer training. Realization is characterized by a deployment phase and a post-deployment phase that represent the ongoing relationship between the customer and the firm. Depending on who has the competencies or ability to integrate the resources that are needed for service innovation, different interaction patterns are identified. Through indirect interaction, the firm facilitates the customer’s value creation through, for example, preventive maintenance, while through direct interaction the firm acts as a co-creator in the service innovation process and hence work jointly together with the customer in order to improve customer value creation. This thesis contributes to the literature by characterizing service innovation realization and by increasing the understanding for different interaction patterns in the service innovation process.

This thesis examines how the services of design firms, which belong to the category of service sector called Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS), contribute to the innovation in the product firms. In this study, I have examined the role played by the design firm IDEO, in the product innovation of a start-up technology firm, a matured technology firm and a matured consumer product firm. The services provided by IDEO satisfy different needs of the product firms in their product innovation. The services of the design firm is useful in showcasing the technology to attract more funding for the startup technology firms and in licensing the new technology to other established firms. For established firms with a strong focus in technology research, the services of the design firms, which have the expertise in the user knowledge, is useful in balancing exploration and exploitation of their technical knowledge. For a firm whose origin is in contract manufacturing, the services of the design firms is useful in its movement upstream along the value chain in establishing its own brand identity in the end. In this study, I have also observed that the design firms carry out research experiments to explore knowledge in the user domain and to understand new technology. With the increase in the knowledge of the design firms, product firms increase their collaboration with the design firms for product innovation.

The development of information technologies and the reduction of trade barriers have fostered the international fragmentation of production and the expansion of knowledge networks. Globalization has stimulated an unprecedented economic growth across the globe, shifting the balance in the world economy, with a decline of developed countries and the rise of emerging economies. The response of rms in mature economies to global competition is an increased engagement in internationalization and innovation strategies. In this thesis we investigate rst how trade protectionism might not be an e cient instrument to prevent the negative e ects of international competition, nding mixed e ect of EU anti-dumping measures on Chinese products, with temporary bene t for domestic producers, but a negative impact on importers and long-run perverse e ect on productivity. Second, we analyse the role of innovation in fostering the international performance of rms. Our results show that R&D investment, innovation and outsourced R&D improve the export performance of European rms, exporting more products and accessing new and more di cult foreign markets. Only by investing in innovation European rms will be able to positively internalise the externalities linked to globalization, increasing human capital and the stock of knowledge, boosting productivity and creating new value-added jobs.

Inovação é o impulso para o desenvolvimento econômico, e é entendida, sobretudo, como um resultado advindo de setores de alta intensidade tecnológica. No entanto, em muitos países, os setores de baixa intensidade tecnológica, tais como de alimentos, têxteis e calçado, são responsáveis por uma grande parte de suas economias. No Brasil, 76% das empresas pertencem a setores industriais de baixa ou média-baixa tecnologia (IBGE, 2009). A inovação é realmente um produto de esforços realizados exclusivamente por setores de alta tecnologia? A presente Tese preocupa-se em explorar a inovação em setores de baixa tecnologia, especialmente em uma economia emergente como o Brasil. Setores de baixa tecnologia são setores tradicionais que trabalham com tecnologia madura e conhecimento altamente difundido. As empresas nestes setores não necessariamente têm como base de seu sucesso os investimentos em pesquisa e desenvolvimento (P&D). Na verdade, elas são empresas não intensivas em P&D, que produzem os mesmos produtos por longos períodos. A realidade é muito mais complexa e ampla do que a simples ideia dicotômica de setores de alta/baixa tecnologia. Há empresas que, apesar de pertencer a um setor de baixa tecnologia, são inovadoras. Se a inovação é necessária para a sobrevivência e perpetuidade de qualquer empresa, então ela deve estar presente em qualquer setor, independentemente da sua classificação de intensidade tecnológica, seja de alta ou de baixa tecnologia. A inovação tem diferentes interpretações e Schumpeter ([1942] 2008b, p. 83) já a relacionava ao desenvolvimento econômico, dizendo que o impulso para manter o motor capitalista em movimento vem de “novos bens de consumo, novos métodos de produção ou transporte, novos mercados, e novas formas de organização industrial”. A expressão muito usada por Schumpeter – novo – lembra mudança e, por essa razão, fazer algo novo ou mudar alguma coisa é uma característica inata da inovação, ou seja, é de sua natureza. Em essência, a inovação é o resultado de mudanças impulsionadas pelas capacidades de inovação da empresa (de desenvolvimento, de operação, de gestão e de transação). A configuração interna das capacidades permite que as empresas promovam essa mudança. Essa inovação pode ser em aspectos tecnológicos e de novos produtos, ou referente a outras áreas, muitas vezes esquecidas em estudos de inovação, tais como aquelas relacionadas a novas formas de transação, gestão ou operação. Afinal, qual é a natureza da inovação em empresas de baixa intensidade tecnológica? Este estudo visa contestar a sabedoria convencional e explorar a ideia de que é possível ter empresas inovadoras em setores de baixa intensidade tecnológica. A discussão sobre a inovação a partir da perspectiva interna, ou seja, das capacidades, amplia a definição de inovação e permite identificar um fenômeno que tem sido muitas vezes negligenciado. O principal objetivo da pesquisa é compreender a natureza da inovação nas empresas de baixa tecnologia. O objetivo proposto é atingido por uma combinação de métodos incluindo análise de clusters e fuzzy set/qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA). Foram identificados três tipos de empresas de baixa intensidade tecnológica que, com base em suas características, no nível das suas capacidade e do seu desempenho, foram nomeados de Baixa Capacidade, Capacidade Intermediária e Alta Capacidade. No geral, as empresas de Baixa Capacidade têm o menor desempenho dentre as empresas, e as empresas de Alta Capacidade, o melhor. método fsQCA foi usado para explorar possíveis configurações de capacidades que impactam na inovação das empresas e identificou quatro diferentes combinações possíveis que levam as empresas de baixa tecnologia a alcançar um alto desempenho inovador: TC.MC.dc, TC.mc.DC, TC.MC.oc, TC.oc.DC. A capacidade de transação está presente em todas as configurações, mas precisa estar combinada com um alto nível de capacidade de gestão ou de desenvolvimento, independentemente do nível das outras capacidades. Portanto, o desempenho inovador em empresas de baixa tecnologia ocorre quando eles seguem um dos dois padrões de inovação: orientadas para o design ou orientadas para os negócios. Atualmente, apenas 13% das empresas de baixa tecnologia são altamente inovadores, no entanto, com os incentivos adequados, esse número pode crescer. As políticas públicas que visam a promoção da inovação dentro das empresas brasileiras devem olhar para aquelas de baixa tecnologia, uma vez que representam uma grande fatia da economia. Os gestores devem identificar qual padrão de inovação é o mais adequado para sua empresa e, a partir disso, trabalhar para melhorar as capacidades necessárias para alcançar um desempenho inovador. Por exemplo, focar no desenvolvimento da marca, no reforço do relacionamento com fornecedores e clientes, na integração de todos os processos da empresa e em se manter atualizados com as tecnologias do setor. Com a identificação dessas configurações, é possível combinar quais delas são mais apropriados para as os diferentes tipos de empresas. Isso permitirá que as empresas escolham o padrão mais adequado de inovação, dependendo de suas características, pontos fortes e fracos, uma vez que não existe uma única “melhor” maneira de ser inovador. Após analisar o conjunto de todas essas informações, uma compreensão mais rica do que é, de fato, a natureza da inovação nas empresas de baixa intensidade tecnológica foi finalmente possível.
Innovation is the impulse to economic development; however, it is mostly understood as a result of high-technology (high-tech) firms and industries. Yet, in many countries, low-technology (low-tech) industries are responsible for a large share of their economies. Reality is much more complex and diverse than the simple dichotomised idea of high/low-tech sectors. There are firms that, despite belonging to a low-tech industry, are innovative. Innovation has many different interpretations and a discussion about innovation from the internal perspective, i.e., capabilities (development – DC, operations – OC, management – MC and transaction – TC), opens up its definition and allows identifying a phenomenon that often has been overlooked. This research’s main objective is to understand the nature of innovation in low-tech firms. The proposed goal is achieved through a hybrid-method approach comprising cluster analysis and fuzzy set/qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA) with 631 low-tech manufacturing firms. Three types of low-tech firms were identified and, based on their general characteristics, the level of their innovation capabilities and of their innovative performance, they were named Low capabilities, Intermediate capabilities and High capabilities. Overall, Low capabilities low-tech firms have the lowest performance, and High capabilities have the highest. The fsQCA, used to analyse the configurations of innovation capabilities, identified four different possible combinations that lead firms to achieve high innovative performance: TC.MC.dc, TC.mc.DC, TC.MC.oc, and TC.oc.DC. Transaction capability is present in all causal conditions, but it needs is combined with either high-level of development capability or high-level management capability. Therefore, innovative performance in low-tech firms occurs when they follow one of the two patterns of innovation: design-oriented or business-oriented. Currently, only 13% of low-tech firms are highly innovative, however, with the right incentives, this number could grow. Public policies aiming at promoting innovation within Brazilian firms must look into low-tech firms, since they represent a large share of the economy. Managers should identify which pattern of innovation is the most adequate for their firm and, from there, work to improve the necessary capabilities to achieve innovative performance. For example, they may focus on brand development, on enhancing the relationship with suppliers and clients, on integrating all firm’s processes and on being up-to-date with the industry’s technologies.

This dissertation focuses on firms' innovation, diversity and behaviour. The first chapter highlights how the relation between competition and innovation can additionally be shaped by the structure, distribution and heterogeneity of knowledge across competing innovators. We provide panel data evidence using data on the evolution of multi-dimensional features and attributes of smartphones. The second chapter explores the implications of the diversity of R\&D sources on firm innovativeness, focusing on the different impact on financially constrained and unconstrained firms. Finally, the third chapter deals with the impact of legal institutions on creditor's protection, firms' innovation and access to credit in Italy.

This paper investigates the effects of going public on firm innovation by comparing the innovation activities of firms that go public with firms that choose to not undergo an initial public offering (IPO) and remain privately held. Going public here is a transformation of a privately held firm into a public firm, i.e. the first time for the firm to publicly trade in stock markets. The combination of a propensity score matching (PSM) and a difference-in-difference (DiD) methods are adopted to measure the innovation trends in terms of patent applications. Using the patent-based metric, firm innovation increases following IPOs. Comparing to the innovation activities of privately held peers, going public can boost the patent growth rate of firms and delay the downward trend of patent growth in the two years following IPOs.

2015 - 2016
The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the debate on the relationship between innovation and internationalization. After providing in Chapter 1 a comprehensive overview of the theoretical and empirical debate on this relationship, we investigate in chapter 2 the impact of being involved in international market on innovation disentangling different strategies of foreign activity in order to add empirical evidence to the branch of the literature on learning-to-innovate-by-internationalization (LIBI) (Chapter 2). Finally, in Chapter 3, we examine the role of persistency in both innovation and export activity to see if the long-lasting involvements ensure higher returns on productivity. We will go through these different steps using data on Italian manufacturing firms covering an eight year time-span (1998-2006), drawn from three waves (VIII, IX, X) of the AIDA Capitalia Survey of Manufacturing firms. Going more in detail, in Chapter 1 we go through the debate going on in the literature in recent decades analyzing the change in theoretical perspective from an industry level approach that was in the vogue up to the end of ‘90s, to the growing importance of firms’ heterogeneity that has been introduced at start of the century. This change in perspective has been reflected in the empirical literature and we will see the different branches and the main contributions to them. The contribution to the literature we want to give in Chapter 2 is not only focused on exports as in the majority of the works in this field (see for surveys Wagner 2007, 2012; and, for Italy, Gattai, 2015) but the novelty of our approach is to consider different level of involvements in international activities: export, FDI and outsourcing. Moreover, we measure the impact of these strategies on different kinds of innovation: first of all, we will see if and how each strategy influences innovation performance as a whole, then we distinguish between product and process innovation. Our estimation models have been carried out through complementary methodologies: starting, first of all, FIRM PERFORMANCES, INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND INNOVATION. 
 A MICRO LEVEL ANALYSIS ON ITALIAN FIRMS. with probit estimation, then moving to propensity score matching estimation to cope with endogeneity issues, and finally also using Heckman correction to control for any selection bias due to unobservable. What comes out from our results is that: 1) both exports and FDIs have a positive impact on innovation and the latter strategy has also an higher impact on the probability of introducing innovation if we consider any type of innovation; 2) when we consider product innovation, exporting and investing abroad raise the probability of introducing such kind of innovation; 3) outsourcing, instead, shows positive and significant coefficient when we consider process innovation suggesting that firms contracting out to other partners some stages of the production may introduce some innovation to optimize the whole process. Then, since destination of international activities may influence the outcome, we also distinguish countries of destination in three different classes (EU15, Industrialized non-European countries and non-industrialized non-European countries) and we find, that exporters and FDI makers have higher probability to introduce innovation if they undertake their activities in countries outside the Europe, but, in particular and somehow surprisingly, exporting towards non-European and less developed countries raise the probability of introducing product innovation since firms have to face greater consumer heterogeneity in less-developed countries than in more developed ones, since Italian customers have more similar tastes to customers from developed countries so firms have to modify their products to meet foreign tastes. In Chapter 3 we change our perspective considering both innovation and internationalization strategies jointly and changing the variable of interest analyzing how the persistence in innovation activity influences the performance of the firm (measured through the total factor productivity à la Levinsohn and Petrin) and if this relationship changes if firms export persistently or do not. Using OLS and then a two step system Arellano-Bond GMM, we at first consider the effects of these strategies separately, and then, we consider them jointly. What we find is that when we consider the strategies separately they do not seem to allow firms to gain productivity. Our estimation results are in favour of the hypotheses of learning-by-exporting and learning-by-doing: persistent innovation efforts must be associated with a permanent presence on foreign markets since firms that persistently innovate and persistently export have better results in terms of productivity than persistently exporting firms that do not innovate persistently and than firms that do not export persistently. [edited by author]
Obiettivo fondamentale della tesi è fornire un contributo al dibattito sulla relazione tra innovazione ed internazionalizzazione. Dopo aver fornito nel Capitolo 1 una esaustiva e completa rassegna della letteratura (teorica ed empirica) sull’argomento, nel Capitolo 2 passeremo, considerando diverse strategie di internazionalizzazione, ad analizzare l’impatto della partecipazione ad attività internazionali sull’innovazioneper fornire ulteriore evidenza empirica al filone della letteratura noto come “learning-by-internationalization” (LBI). Un ulteriore importante obiettivo di tale capitolo è considerare se le destinazioni di attività internazionali influiscono sui ritorni in termini di innovazione per le imprese. Nel capitolo conclusivo dell’elaborato, infine, esamineremo il ruolo della persistenza, sia nelle decisioni di innovazione che nell’attività di export, per vedere se un più duraturo coinvolgimento in tali attività (solo in una o in entrambi) possa assicurare un maggiore ritorno in termini di produttività. Tutte le analisi, volte al raggiungimento degli obiettivi sopracitati, sono state condotte attraverso l’utilizzo di dati sulle imprese manifatturiere italiane, osservate per un periodo di tempo di 8 anni, forniti da tre diverse wave (VIII, IX, X) dei dati Unicredit-Capitalia (19982006). Approfondendo più nel dettaglio i contenuti dei vari capitoli che compongono l’elaborato, nel Capitolo 1, affrontiamo il dibattito, ancora aperto, che ha attraversato la letteratura nelle ultime due decadi, mettendo in risalto come progressivamente, l’oggetto di analisi si sia progressivamente spostato da un approccio più industry-level – più in voga fino alla fine degli anni ’90 del secolo scorso – verso una sempre crescente attenzione al ruolo centrale che hanno le caratteristiche specifiche delle imprese e la loro eterogeneità. Il contributo del secondo capitolo di questo elaborato, invece, non è incentrato solo sull’importanza delle esportazioni, come la maggior parte dei lavori in questo campo (per delle rassegne esaustive vedere Wagner 2007, 2012; e, per l’Italia, Gattai, 2015); uno degli FIRM PERFORMANCES, INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND INNOVATION. 
 A MICRO LEVEL ANALYSIS ON ITALIAN FIRMS. elementi di principale novità è aver considerato congiuntamente tre diverse strategie di internazionalizzazione: esportazioni, investimenti diretti esteri (IDE) e outsourcing. In questo capitolo, inoltre, la dimensione per valutare la performance dell’impresa e, quindi, il diverso impatto delle diverse strategie di internazionalizzazione, è l’innovazione (che noi consideriamo sia senza distinguere tra le diverse tipologie, sia anche solo come innovazione di prodotto). Le stime di questo capitolo sono state condotte attraverso l’utilizzo di tecniche econometriche complementari: partendo dall’utilizzo di stime con variabili dipendenti binarie, in particolare di probit con random effects, implementeremo il propensity score matching per affrontare i problemi di enodgeneità e di “selection bias on observables”; infine, attraverso l’utilizzo della procedura di Heckman, controlleremo eventuali “selection bias due to unobservables”. I risultati principali di questo capitolo sono: 1) sia le esportazioni che gli IDE hanno un effetto positivo sulla probabilità delle imprese di introdurre innovazione e gli IDE hanno anche un effetto maggiore, se consideriamo l’innovazione senza distinguerne le tipologie; 2) se consideriamo, invece, l’introduzione di innovazioni di prodotto, anche in questo caso, le imprese coinvolte in tale tipo di attività hanno un probabilità maggiore di innovare se confrontate con le rispettive controparti non attive sui mercati internazionali; 3) l’outsourcing, invece, mostra un coefficiente positivo e significativo solo nel caso dell’innovazione di processo, suggerendo che le imprese che esternalizzano alcune fasi della produzione possono avere un ritorno in termini di innovazione che consentirebbe loro di migliorare l’intero processo produttivo. Dato che le destinazioni delle attività internazionali possono avere effetti differenti sull’innovazione, le raggrupperemo in 3 differenti classi (i Paesi che fanno parte dell’Europa a 15, Paesi non europei industrializzati, Paesi non europei meno industrializzati). I nostri risultati sottolineano come le imprese esportatrici e che investono all’estero abbiano una maggiore probabilità, se comparate con le loro controparti non attive sui mercati internazionali, di introdurre innovazioni se le loro attività sono rivolte a Paesi al di fuori dell’Europa a 15. In particolare, risultato forse inaspettato, esportare verso Paesi non appartenenti all’Europa a 15 e meno sviluppati, sembra garantire una maggiore probabilità di introdurre innovazioni di prodotto. Questo risultato sembra sottolineare come le imprese che si rivolgono a tali mercati, a causa di una maggiore eterogeneità delle preferenze dei mercati di destinazione rispetto al mercato domestico italiano, debbano fare uno sforzo maggiore in termini di innovazione per rendere appetibili i propri prodotti. Nel terzo ed ultimo capitolo della tesi, analizzeremo la relazione tra innovazione e internazionalizzazione sotto una diversa prospettiva. Considereremo, infatti, congiuntamente, le scelte strategiche sia in termini di innovazione che di internazionalizzazione, cambiando anche la variabile di interesse con cui misuriamo la performance delle imprese: la produttività totale dei fattori á la Levinsohn and Petrin. Oggetto di interesse di questo capitolo, in particolare, è analizzare se le performance delle imprese cambiano se le imprese intraprendono separatamente o congiuntamente le due strategie e, inoltre, se portarle avanti nel tempo in maniera continua ha effetti positivi. Analizzeremo, prima singolarmente, poi congiuntamente le diverse scelte strategiche attraverso l’utilizzo prima di un OLS e poi di un two-step system GMM á la Arellano-Bond. Quello che emerge dalla nostra analisi è che quando consideriamo le strategie separatamente, queste non sembrano assicurare alle imprese vantaggi in termini di produttività, ma, a conferma delle ipotesi di learning-by-exporting e di learning-by-doing, le imprese che innovano costantemente nel tempo devono associare anche una costante attività di export per avere benefici. Imprese che intraprendono una sola attività, infatti, anche se costantemente nel tempo, non sembrano invece avere ritorni positivi in termini di produttività. [a cura dell'autore]
XV n.s.

In recent years the concept of disruptive innovation has become central to business and innovation. A disruptive innovation can be defined as a product, service, technology, or business model that enters the market as either a low-end entrant, while simultaneously bringing some new attribute to the market; or as a new market disruptor that creates a distinct foothold in a previously undiscovered market. Much of the previous research into disruptive innovation has been through case study frameworks, and by selection of specific firms that fit the model. The question is, does the model have merits beyond expounding on past successes and failures across industries, and can it forecast successful disruptors? In this paper I analyze all Technology Sector firms that have entered the public markets between Jan 2002 - Dec 2013. I attempt to determine if a disruptive strategy leads to high growth performance for firms over a twelve quarter period. I also seek to find out if disruptive firms are market leading companies, in terms of having a high market capitalization. I find that a firm being a disruptor has a significant correlation to the growth factor across firms. I also find significance between a firm being a disruptor and holding a max market cap position above the 90th percentile in the sample. In a similar regression for the 80th percentile of firms, I do not find any significant correlation.

Innovation and commercialization are crucial for the competitiveness and economic well-being of countries. Despite the importance of innovation, recent studies have showed that Canada is lagging behind other countries in terms of its innovation and commercialization performance. The claim is often made that Canada performs well in generating the knowledge needed for innovation; however, the problem lies in transforming this knowledge into commercial success. Thus, a major preoccupation is how to turnaround this weak commercialization performance. Despite the wide range of programs, policies and regulations implemented by the Canadian Government along with its provincial counterparts to engender a turnaround, little has changed in Canada’s commercialization performance. Therefore, the search for solutions continues. Given that commercialization takes place at the firm-level, this study will explore the relationship between firm-size and commercialization. Several existing studies have examined the link between innovation and firm size, but few have examined the link between commercialization and firm size. Despite the arguments supporting medium-sized firms’ ability to commercialize innovations, there is a weak empirical base that explores the position of Canadian medium-sized firms and their innovation and commercialization capabilities. This study will contribute to the existing knowledge by covering the gap in the literature concerning the role of medium-sized firms in commercialization, compared to small and large firms. This study provides evidence suggesting that small and medium-sized firms should be considered differently.

Does Swedish firms’ organisational structure matter for innovation and productivity? The objective is to identify the most influential aspects in firms’ organisational structure concerning their propensity to innovate. We compose indices of both concepts to explain differences in productivity. The results suggest that measuring customer satisfaction, letting employees take part in discussions on progress, cooperating with other firms and having elements of learning in the daily work seem to distinguish innovative firms from non-innovative ones. Moreover, the results indicate that organisation and innovation activities matter for productivity.
Learning organisations matter, Statistics Sweden

The telecom industry is moving from a stable environment to a very dynamic industry where the entrance of new players and the macro economic factors like crisis have been pushing it towards commoditization. In spite of the fact that the Telco consumer base is increasing the value generation capability of this industry has been challenged in the past years. The management is well aware of the situation but due to the traditionally monopolistic nature of these organizations finds it difficult to push any radical change. The purpose of the study is to identifying those factors which contributed to the success of these firms in past and later identifying those elements which are needed for these organizations to foster an innovative culture capable of bringing the needed changes. The major objectives of the research include identifying the main reason behind the need for innovation today and factors that have been hindering the innovation process in these firms. The next step was to study the best practices outside the Telcos industry which have helped other firms to be the Innovation leaders. Finally the study identifies those strategies and best practices which are viable in the Telecom industry. It has been found that the size and political nature of these organizations makes it difficult to push ideas to reality. Therefore the first need is the need of a culture change and a separate path (apart from the traditional line management) for the escalation of ideas. Secondly the Telco industry is not able to keep pace with the innovation of its complementing industries and therefore there is a dire need make innovation a priority from exploring new revenue sources to the innovation of business models with its existing partners. In the past the industry has tried the industrial silos model by decentralizing and given complete autonomy to its major revenue generating services but now it needs to demolish these departmental silos and be open to provide services which cut across many of its existing services without thinking too much about cannibalization.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-105).
Architectural innovation is achieved using architectural knowledge to reconfigure an established system to link together components in a new way that provides a competitive advantage. Components in professional service firms are the expertise areas in which the firms have developed proficiency or those in which they plan to develop it. Competitive advantage in professional service firms is related to the capacity of the firm to add continuing value to a dynamic set of clients and to itself. In order to add value, professional service firms, being knowledge intensive, must develop capabilities that enhance the knowledge capital they possess, which is valuable to both its clients and to the professionals they employ. This knowledge capital can be classified into Human Knowledge, Relational Knowledge and Structural Knowledge. The first two types are comprised mainly of tacit knowledge, while the third one consists of explicit knowledge. Architectural innovation modes result from the reconfiguration of these knowledge types in ways that enhance the value creation processes of professional service firms. This work explores the ways professional services firms achieve these reconfigurations and offers insights into the key characteristics of successful practices.
by Fernando Espinosa Vasconcelos.
S.M.

Thesis: S.M. in Management Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2014.
Title as it appears in MIT commencement exercises program, June 6, 2014: Best practices in innovation centers. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 37-40).
Past research has shown that breakthrough innovations are often prevalent in the context of entrants rather than incumbents. There are many challenges associated with radical and open innovation initiatives for established firms. Innovation theory provides insights into one main challenge which is the definition of innovation and innovativeness itself especially with regards to its level of radicalism. The shift towards the paradigm of open innovation described by Chesbrough has made it even harder for established companies to set a strategy for managing innovation. This thesis draws on academic research as well as practitioners of innovation management recommendations to prescribe innovation strategies together with key success factors. It focuses on the case of "Innovation centers" - pockets of innovation-minded employees embedded in the larger structure. These innovation centers encompass different types of initiatives such as incubation and acceleration, rapid prototyping, identification of strategic partnerships, trend watching and ethnography. This thesis provides an illustration of innovation centers through a study of the organizational setup and challenges encountered by four innovation centers.
by Charlotte Leroy.
S.M. in Management Studies

This dissertation is organised in four chapters. In Chapter 1, I present an overview of the thesis depicting rationale behind study, research methodology, empirical settings, and data collection. Further, I reflect on my PhD journey, from a student to an independent researcher. Chapter 2 consists of the first research paper of this dissertation - Collaborative innovation in family firms: Past research, current debates and agenda for future research. The paper presented in Chapter 2 has been published in Journal of Family Business Strategy, volume 8, issue 3, 2017. The paper has been presented at International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) 2017 Annual Conference Zadar, Croatia and received tremendous positive response. Chapter 3 contains the research paper - The transaction cost approach to collaborative innovation in family firms: A process of internal collaboration through integration of human assets, an empirical research that is based on a longitudinal single case study on an innovative family firm based on the North-west of UK. The paper has been presented at Alliance Manchester Business School Doctoral and Research Conference 2017 and Northern Advanced Research Training Initiative (NARTI) 12th Annual Doctoral Conference. The paper has also been presented at the Annual Family Business Day 2017, organized by Centre for Family Business at Lancaster University Management School and received many helpful feedback for improvements. Chapter 4 encloses the research paper – Forming international collaborative innovation and government funding as a doubleedged sword. This empirical paper presents a longitudinal comparative case study sampling on Lancaster China Catalyst Programme (LCCP), with the support from the LCCP team. The paper has been presented at a PhD workshop held by the Department of Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Innovation within Lancaster University Management School on 4th December 2017. The aim of each of the three research pieces of this dissertation is to contribute to the advancement of our knowledge on collaborative innovation in family firms by which collaborations within and beyond enable family firms to innovate. First research paper provides literature review on collaborative innovation from both general management and family business literature, and opens up future research avenues. While the second research paper examines the internal aspect of collaborations, third research paper examines the external aspect of collaborations.

Sin dalla fine degli anni 90 la Corea ha iniziato a basare la propria strategia di sviluppo economico sull’importanza delgli investimenti in R&D e oggi il paese puo’ essere considerato tra i paesi OCSE con i maggiori tassi di investimento. Tale risultato e’ stato raggiunto principalmente attraverso una forte specializzazione nei settori ad alta intensita’ di tali investimenti. Ciononostante sono recentemente emersi alcuni problemi cruciali legati alle politiche per R&D. Tra gli altri la disoccupazione giovanile legata all’effetto labour-saving delle innovazioni, la forte specializzazione in industrie ad alta tecnologia, e l’eccessiva importanza attribuita alla ricerca. Le tre questioni vengono analizzate in questo lavoro utilizzando dati a livello di impresa. Il primo contributo tratta degli effetti di R&D sull’occupazione. Le evidenze suggeriscono che tale effetto e’ inesistente nelle imprese Coreane. Il secondo conributo prende in esame la produttivita’ degli investimenti in ricerca. I risultati mostrano che tali investimenti hanno effetti non solo sulle imprese ad alta tecnologia ma anche in altri settori. Nel terzo contributo si studia il comportamento innovativo delle imprese prestando attenzione alle imprese giovani. Per queste imprese, infatti, le evidenze mostrano che investimenti in ricerca fatti internamente non sono cosi’ importanti per la produzione di innovazione.
Since 1990s Korea has started to ground the strategy for economic growth upon the role of R&D and nowadays the country shall be considered among top R&D investors in the OECD countries. This result has been achieved mainly through strong specialization in R&D-intensive industries. Nonetheless some critical issues related to R&D policy have recently emerged; Among others the problem of youth unemployment related to the labour-saving effect of innovation, the excessive specialization in high-tech industries and the magnified importance attributed to R&D. The three issues are accordingly investigated in this work by using data at the firm level. The first contribution concerns the effect of R&D investments on employment. The aim of the work is to test for the existence of a labour-saving effect of R&D investments. The evidence suggests that such an effect does not characterize Korean firms. Second contribution examines the productivity of knowledge capital. The results indicate that R&D affects firms’ productivity not only in high-tech industries but also in other sectors. In the third contribution the innovative behavior of firms is studied paying attention to young firms. In these, in fact, the evidence reveals that internal R&D is not as important for the production of innovation.

Sin dalla fine degli anni 90 la Corea ha iniziato a basare la propria strategia di sviluppo economico sull’importanza delgli investimenti in R&D e oggi il paese puo’ essere considerato tra i paesi OCSE con i maggiori tassi di investimento. Tale risultato e’ stato raggiunto principalmente attraverso una forte specializzazione nei settori ad alta intensita’ di tali investimenti. Ciononostante sono recentemente emersi alcuni problemi cruciali legati alle politiche per R&D. Tra gli altri la disoccupazione giovanile legata all’effetto labour-saving delle innovazioni, la forte specializzazione in industrie ad alta tecnologia, e l’eccessiva importanza attribuita alla ricerca. Le tre questioni vengono analizzate in questo lavoro utilizzando dati a livello di impresa. Il primo contributo tratta degli effetti di R&D sull’occupazione. Le evidenze suggeriscono che tale effetto e’ inesistente nelle imprese Coreane. Il secondo conributo prende in esame la produttivita’ degli investimenti in ricerca. I risultati mostrano che tali investimenti hanno effetti non solo sulle imprese ad alta tecnologia ma anche in altri settori. Nel terzo contributo si studia il comportamento innovativo delle imprese prestando attenzione alle imprese giovani. Per queste imprese, infatti, le evidenze mostrano che investimenti in ricerca fatti internamente non sono cosi’ importanti per la produzione di innovazione.
Since 1990s Korea has started to ground the strategy for economic growth upon the role of R&D and nowadays the country shall be considered among top R&D investors in the OECD countries. This result has been achieved mainly through strong specialization in R&D-intensive industries. Nonetheless some critical issues related to R&D policy have recently emerged; Among others the problem of youth unemployment related to the labour-saving effect of innovation, the excessive specialization in high-tech industries and the magnified importance attributed to R&D. The three issues are accordingly investigated in this work by using data at the firm level. The first contribution concerns the effect of R&D investments on employment. The aim of the work is to test for the existence of a labour-saving effect of R&D investments. The evidence suggests that such an effect does not characterize Korean firms. Second contribution examines the productivity of knowledge capital. The results indicate that R&D affects firms’ productivity not only in high-tech industries but also in other sectors. In the third contribution the innovative behavior of firms is studied paying attention to young firms. In these, in fact, the evidence reveals that internal R&D is not as important for the production of innovation.

This work is a collection of three essays about innovation and productivity of Italian firms. In the first chapter, we show that the historical North-South gap of the country has a relationship with firm-level productivity, which are more heterogeneous in the South than in the North. We find that new and more productive firms systematically self-select in the NUTS 3-digit locations where more productive firms are already present, even after controlling for agglomeration economies, and other classical determinants of firm location. The second essay analyzes how knowledge spillovers can influence firm productivity. As compared to the previous literature in which spatial econometric models are used to investigate local geographical spillovers, we consider interfirm relationships. In particular, we focus our attention on the network of interlocking directorates. We find that a spatial model which includes interlocking directorates as well as distance performs better than traditional models of localized knowledge spillovers. We find that interlocking directorates play a crucial role for knowledge spillovers in science-based industries. The third chapter studies the impact of Italian Law 221/2012 (i.e. "Startup Act"), which provides benefits for innovative, small, and young companies, in the aftermath of the Great Recession. We find that the Startup Act has met its main goals. In particular, we find that the positive effects on value-added and productivity continue even after the treatment period.

In global markets firms respond to increased technological complexity, rising R&D costs, shortened product life cycles and improved market institutions by opening up their boundaries and leveraging inflows and outflows of knowledge and technology. Given these developments, the fundamental assumption of this dissertation is that firms increasingly transform from a closed to an open innovation model. While prior work has developed a first understanding of antecedents and outcomes of Open Innovation (OI), it has, so far, been less clear how firms create and capture value from OI. In that sense this work investigates how global firms adopt open innovation strategies to benefit from external knowledge sources and to improve their competitiveness. OI is implemented in global firms through the opening up of their business model and the adoption of a network structure. Previous studies show that building relationships with different types of partners has a positive impact on innovation performance. This supports my research, finding in networked business model a source of competitive advantage in innovation. Furthermore I find that, external technological sources are not enough to innovation success, increasing attention must be paid to a firm’s capability to integrate external knowledge and manage relationships with partners who possess critical resources, and to environmental contingencies (organizational culture, technological turbulence, dynamics of competition). In connection with a greater engagement in boundary spanning innovation activities, openness and inter-organizational interactions pose new managerial challenges. Despite its growing importance, many firms experience several challenges to actively manage the processes of OI and to benefit from it. Research on large firms highlights that OI requires internal organizational complements that facilitate the absorption of external knowledge and to capture value from it. Thus the shift towards OI requires firms to implement new managerial practices and structures, in terms of ‘how to do Open Innovation’. First case studies on firms that evolve from a closed towards an open innovator indicate that these firms implement new managerial capabilities for Open Innovation at different managerial levels. Finally, to establish these new capabilities firms need to go through an organizational change process. However, the transformation process from closed to Open Innovation is still little understood. In that sense the Panasonic case provides new insights into the managerial dimensions of OI, analyzing the struggling transformation process from a closed technological innovation model to an open one. The Panasonic case suggests that the adoption of OI is a systemic shift that requires re-thinking many aspects of one’s business to utilize it effectively. R&D alone cannot fully implement OI. Other parts of the organization, in marketing, in business development, and in supporting functions must get on board for it to work effectively. Furthermore, evidence from Panasonic confirms that internal and external environmental conditions (organizational culture, technological turbulence, high competitive dynamics) have an important impact on the potential value of acquiring and integrating external knowledge.

Le processus d'innovation au sein d'une firme est influencé par les facteurs internes de la firme ainsi que par des facteurs externes, ces derniers résultant de l'impact de l'environnement territorial. La question centrale du travail de thèse est d'analyser comment la région, plus précisément l'ensemble des acteurs et des activités constituant l'environnement de la firme, est perçue par les firmes qui y sont situées, et si ces perceptions sont liées aux phénomènes d'innovation. Ce sujet est analysé dans deux régions voisines, mais appartenant à des contextes nationaux différents: l'Alsace et le pays de Bade. Dans le cadre d'une première partie, les conceptions de l'innovation et de l'influence régionale sont passées en revue. En particulier, l'analyse se concentre sur les approches soulignant le lien entre innovation, territoire et proximité. A l'heure actuelle, la vision interactive du processus de l'innovation – référant notamment au chain-linked model of innovation développé par Kline et Rosenberg (1986) - est largement acceptée. D'une façon générale, l'approche par les systèmes régionaux d'innovation souligne le caractère interactif et systémique des processus d'innovation en mettant l'accent sur la dimension sociale, la proximité des acteurs ainsi que sur l'importance des flux de connaissances. Cette approche est enracinée dans les conceptions évolutionnistes et l'hypothèse de rationalité limitée (bounded rationality) des acteurs économiques qui agissent dans des contextes déterminés par incertitude. La géographie économique et l'économie régionale s'attachent à explorer les liens entre territoire et développement. L'innovation joue un rôle crucial pour les régions qui réussissent à s'établir et à prospérer dans un contexte de compétition globale. Les districts industriels et les milieux innovateurs ont valeur d'exemple. Tandis que les districts mettent en avant la production spécialisée et flexible et des co-opérations verticales souvent dans les secteurs artisanaux, les milieux se concentrent sur l'analyse des processus "d'apprentissage interactif" (interactive learning), et des conditions préalables à l'innovation. L'approche par les "régions apprenantes" (learning regions) place les processus d'apprentissage et de créativité ainsi qu'une atmosphère favorable à la création et à la diffusion d'idées au centre de la réflexion. Finalement, l'hypothèse de "retombées de connaissances" (spillover) à proximité des lieux de génération de connaissance semble se confirmer notamment dans les phases initiales de création technologique et dans les industries fortement basées sur la science. L'approche par les perceptions ajoute une dimension subjective et individuelle à l'analyse de l'innovation et des territoires. D'un point de vue psychologique, la perception peut être définie comme une réaction suivant un stimulus provenant de l'environnement. L'exploitation des informations extérieures génère une représentation subjective de l'environnement. Les contributions sociologiques partent de l'hypothèse que chaque individu "construit" sa réalité, qui résulte de processus cognitifs fondés sur les perceptions. Important sont des relations avec l'environnement. Dans cette logique, le milieu ou l'environnement ne peut pas exercer une influence directe sur les processus internes d'un système – un individu ou une firme - mais stimuler (trigger) l'évolution des composants du système. La géographie de la perception souligne les aspects cognitifs et les interactions entre l'individu et le contexte social (qui forme le cadre mental du processus de perception) dans le contexte territorial. L'analyse empirique s'efforce de retracer l'évolution des perceptions de l'environnement régional à l'égard de l'innovation par les dirigeants d'entreprise et des responsables en charge de la recherche et développement. L'analyse a pour objectif de déterminer l'existence de structures de perceptions par les firmes dans des contextes régionaux différents. En outre, le travail analyse les liens potentiels entre perceptions et comportements innovateurs des firmes. A l'issue d'une présentation des profils socio-économiques des deux régions, les caractéristiques d'innovation des acteurs régionaux, ainsi que des cadres nationaux, des perceptions régionales (de la main d'œuvre locale, de la recherche et la technologie et du climat d'innovation) sont analysées et comparées aux caractéristiques d'innovation des firmes observées. A cette fin, une enquête portant sur 93 firmes innovatrices a été effectuée. Cet échantillon contient des entreprises manufacturières et des entreprises du tertiaire supérieur (knowledge-intensive business services) situées dans les deux régions analysées. Les firmes en question ont été interrogées à deux reprises: en 1995/96 et en 2004/05, ce qui permet de retracer leur évolution. Le travail empirique – fondé sur des analyses descriptives et sur une l'analyse multi variables de type categorical principal components analysis – révèle que les firmes alsaciennes et badoises poursuivent des activités d'innovation distinctes. D'où la conclusion que les processus d'innovation observés revêtent caractère territorial spécifique. Les structures d'innovation apparaissent comme relativement stables entre 1995/96 et 2004/05. En revanche, les perceptions semblent évoluer: les conditions régionales dans lesquelles se déroulent les processus d'innovation sont perçues par les firmes innovatrices avec davantage de netteté à l'heure actuelle que dix ans auparavant. En général, l'intégration des perceptions permet d'obtenir une vision plus complète des activités d'innovation internes de la firme et de leurs relations avec les acteurs, institutions et organisations de soutien à l'innovation
Firms' innovation processes are assumed to be influenced by firm-internal and external factors, the latter resulting from the impact of the spatial environment of the innovating firm. At the centre of this thesis is the question how the region, more precisely the sum of actors and activities determining the environment of a firm, is perceived by the firms located there, and if those perceptions are related to firms' innovation processes. These topics are analysed in two neighbouring regions belonging to different national contexts: Alsace and Baden. The thesis starts with theoretical reflections referring to innovation and the region, with a special focus on the relationship between innovation, proximity and space. Nowadays, innovation is understood as interactive process, referring for instance to the chain-linked-model of innovation of Kline and Rosenberg (1986). The regional innovation system approach emphasises the interactive and systemic character of innovation. It focuses on the social dimension of innovation involving diverse actors, on proximity relations, the importance of knowledge generation, exchange and use. The innovation system approach is rooted in evolutionary economics and the assumption of bounded rationality of economic agents who act under conditions determined by uncertainty. Economic geography and regional economics aim at exploring the relationship between space and development. In the general framework of globalisation, innovation is of high importance for regions in order to compete and to prosper. Industrial districts and innovative milieus for instance focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, their interrelations and their embeddedness in the territorial context in order to explain the success of local production regimes. While the industrial districts concept emphasises flexible and specialised production modes and vertical integration of firms mainly in handcraft branches, the innovative milieu approach focuses on informal networks, interactive learning processes in innovation-supporting local settings. At the centre of the learning regions approach are creativity, learning and favourable framework conditions for the creation and diffusion of ideas and knowledge. Finally, the hypothesis of knowledge spillover from places of knowledge generation to actors located in close proximity seems to be particularly pertinent in science-based industries, as well as in initial phases of technology creation. The perception perspective adds a subjective and individual dimension to the analysis of firm innovation and the regional environment. Perception can be broadly defined as a reaction following a stimulus from the environment. The information of the external world transferred by the stimulus and the exploitation of this information are the base for a subjective representation of the environment. Psychological perception research focuses on these transfer processes between external environments' characteristics and the subjective representations of individuals. Sociologist approaches are based on the assumption that individuals "construct" their reality, a process that is based on perceptions and cognitive processes. Individuals and firms are considered as systems that interact with their environment. The latter, however, cannot directly influence system-internal processes, but rather "trigger" the evolution of the system elements. Perception geography finally focuses on the spatial behaviour of persons, based on their perceptions of the environment, thus assumes interactions between the individual and the social context - which shapes the mental framework of perception processes - in the territorial context. The analysis aims at investigating innovation-related perceptions that firm managers and persons responsible for research and development have of their environment. The analysis seeks to answer the question if there are region-specific patterns of firms' perceptions, and if perception and firms' innovation behaviours are associated. After a presentation of the socio-economic profiles of the surveyed regions, the innovation characteristics of regional actors and the respective national contexts, regional perceptions with respect to the available workforce, research and technology and the innovation climate, as well as innovation characteristics of the sample firms are analysed. The analysis is based on a survey of 93 innovating firms - manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises and knowledge-intensive business service firms - in the surveyed regions of Alsace and Baden. The sample firms have been analysed in 1995/96 and in 2004/05, which enables to retrace their innovation and perception characteristics in time. The empirical analysis – based on descriptive analyses, supplemented by a multivariate categorical principal components analysis – shows that the Alsatian and the Baden sample firms generally differ in their innovation models. This points at region-specific innovation characteristics. The sample firms' innovation patterns seem to be relatively stable between 1995/96 and 2004/05. Firms' perceptions concerning their regional environment, on the other hand, seem to have a rather evolutive character: There is a tendency among the sample firm representatives towards more decisive assessments concerning the selected characteristics of the regional environment nowadays than about ten years ago. Generally, the integration of the perception perspective enables to get a more complete picture of firm-internal innovation-related activities and their relationships with external innovation supporting actors, institutions, and organisations

Business model and Business model innovation are highly crucial aspects for incumbent firms in today’s very fast paced and dynamic environment. In this thesis, we seek to integrate strategic entrepreneurship theory with business model innovation. By doing so, we show how entrepreneurship, strategy and business models all lies squarely at the intersection of innovation and change. Most of the research on business models have been in the context of startups. In this study, we, however, decide to explore the context of incumbent firms and how they explore and exploit opportunities to innovate their business model.  This study contributes to a better understanding of how incumbent firms innovate their business models. It does this by answering three fundamental questions;  - How does the incumbent firm explore and exploit opportunities to innovate their business model?  - What are the drivers for innovating the incumbent firms business model?  - How does the decision-making process look like during the business model innovation processes in the incumbent firm?  To answer these questions, we have conducted a thorough literature review of the business model literature, business model innovation literature, as well as strategic entrepreneurship literature. By doing this, we highlight the most relevant aspects of these three concepts and theories, also providing the reader with a historical development of the concepts. To further build on towards answering our research questions we compliment the three central concepts with supporting theories of strategic management and innovation theory. We have answered these questions by conducting a qualitative study that is mainly explorative. Interviewing four incumbent firms that act in different industries; Banking Co, Technology Co, Productivity Co, and Software Co. Moreover, we interviewed two experts that together have over 70 years of experience in leading and consulting incumbent firms through different significant market changes. Thus, the six interviews together with internal and external organizational documents, triangulation has been used to produce the empirical results and analysis of this study.  With the empirical findings, we contribute to a comprehensive picture of how incumbent firms can efficiently adopt strategic entrepreneurship together with their business model innovation process. By doing so incumbent firms can find an optimal balance between opportunity-seeking and advantage-seeking behavior. Our findings show that incumbent firms today have a culture and structure that does not optimally promote business model innovation. The empirical findings provide two different viewpoints; one from the incumbent firm showing the current process and culture. The other viewpoint shows how the experts describe the incumbent firms and how they should change. Thus, these two different perspectives provide two different realities that we connect back to the theoretical frameworks. Moreover, this thesis contributes by showing that strategic entrepreneurship and business model innovation needs to be combined for incumbent firms to succeed in today’s fast-paced and dynamic environment.

Thesis (M.S.)--Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004.
Shapira, Philip, Committee Chair ; Hicks, Diana, Committee Member ; Lewis, Gregory, Committee Member. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-59).

Background: Today’s business environment is characterized by high competitiveness and fast-changing markets. Moreover, useful knowledge and expertise cannot only be found within a company but also outside the organizational boundaries. Therefore, a shift from closed and internal R&D processes to open and collaborative innovations with external sources can be noted in order to stay competitive.   Purpose: The concept of open innovation is well researched by various scholars in the context of large organizations and SMEs. However, the link to family firms is often missing and under researched. Resulting of the importance of the “how” component in family firm research, it is interesting to see how family firms actually implement the concept of open innovation and how it is influenced by unique family firm characteristics. Therefore, this study sheds light on how the family involvement affects the implementation of open innovation.   Method: We want to contribute to the theory with an exploratory research design and a multiple case-study method of eight selected family firms. Through semi-structured interviews with four family managers and four non-family managers, we gained insights from the organizational level concerning their open innovation strategy and implementation process. We used a cross-case analysis to compare the cases and indicate similarities and differences in order to draw our conclusions.   Conclusion: In general, the owning family is significantly important and influential for the open innovation strategy. First, family firms with family CEOs used open innovation as a response to internal drivers, however with non-family CEOs in charge internal and external forces are the drivers for an open innovation strategy. Second, families that are engaged in daily operations, execute an informal implementation process with loose communication practices, whereas family firms with an external CEO apply a formal implementation process. Additionally to this, we point out two managerial implications: open innovation needs to be embedded in the organizational culture and managers need to lead by example when implementing the concept.

Esta tesis se compone de tres trabajos empíricos, cada uno de los cuales presenta un análisis diferenciado sobre el tema de innovación en las empresas familiares y gobierno corporativo. Nuestro objetivo es proporcionar evidencia sobre bajo qué circunstancias, propietarios y gerentes pueden mejorar la innovación de una empresa. El primer artículo estudia cómo el tipo de diferentes propietarios impacta en la innovación de una empresa, explorando también el efecto moderador de las contingencias de poder en esta relación. El segundo artículo se centra en las empresas familiares, e investigamos cómo los directivos no familiares en estas empresas se comportan ante la innovación y cómo los sistemas descentralizados de toma de decisiones pueden moderar su comportamiento. Finalmente, el tercer trabajo examina "la paradoja de la capacidad y la voluntad" en la innovación de las empresas familiares. En este capítulo evaluamos el impacto de la implicación familiar en las capacidades e innovación y ofrecemos recomendaciones útiles a empresas familiares sobre cómo afrontar eficazmente sus desafíos específicos de gobernabilidad mientras siguen siendo innovadoras.
This dissertation consists of three empirical papers, each presenting a differentiated analysis on the subject of innovation in family firms and corporate governance. Our aim is to provide evidence about the circumstances in which owners and managers can enhance a firm’s innovation. The first article studies how different owners’ type can impact a firm’s innovation, exploring also the moderating effect of the power contingencies on these relationships. The second paper focuses on family firms, and we investigate how the non-family managers affect a firm’s innovation and how decentralized decision-making systems can moderate their behavior. Finally, the third paper examines “the ability and willingness paradox” in family firm innovation. There, we assess the impact of family involvement on firm’s capabilities and innovation, and provide useful recommendations to family firms concerning how to deal effectively with their specific governance challenges while remaining innovative.

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics
Environmental issues are critical for business either as a constraint or an opportunity. Hence, they should be addressed by firms as a strategic priority integrated in their operations strategy. In order to do so, firms need to develop green capabilities and assets that support their green strategies. This paper discusses the green capabilities necessary to develop green innovation initiatives. It presents a framework that structures the relationship between drivers of green operations strategies, firms’ resources and green innovation as a source of competitive advantage. Case study research is used to support and extend the framework. Case study evidences validate the framework, provide additional insights and suggest new lines of research on these topics.

Social innovations are solutions related to humanistic needs and the betterment of mankind with the intent of creating social value and eventual societal level changes. Social innovation therefore broadens traditional views of innovation to include processes of societal transformations and human behaviors. These social innovations are becoming more commonplace across all sectors, including capital markets. Private equity and venture capital firms in the capital markets sector engage in social innovation by investing capital with the goal of delivering both economic and social value. Despite the critical importance of venture capital (VC) in the success of social innovations through socially responsible investing, there is a paucity of research in understanding the factors that affect the performance of these social VC firms. This research gap is addressed by asking the following primary research question: What is the role of strategic and structural factors in the performance of socially innovative venture capital firms? The firm level research is theoretically based on the well-established design school. This framework highlights the overarching importance of strategy and structure in the accomplishment of firm goals. In the context of the venture capital industry, it was hypothesized that certain unique strategic and structural factors (i.e., stage of investment, age, size, and network relationships) would influence the performance of socially innovative VC firms. A moderated mediation model was proposed to examine these factors and their influence on performance variation. The sample of socially innovative VC firms was generated from the ThomsonOne Private Equity Database. The research design and methodology followed a systematic and objective process. This included identification of the sample of 381 VC firms, collection of mission statements for each VC firm, development of key word list pertaining to social innovation for content analysis and the collection of archival data on each VC firm. Content analysis was then used to identify the degree to which the firm’s strategic orientation (mission statement) was related to social innovation. Finally, both traditional and more cutting edge statistical analyses (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) were used to evaluate the moderated mediation model. The results of this study provide several key take-a-ways for both researchers and practitioners focusing on social venture capital. Firstly, results indicated that firms adopt distinct foci of social investing that directs their strategic orientation. These various foci have vastly differing effects on the firm’s overall performance, the strategic decisions they make, and the architecture of their structural design. It is therefore necessary to treat each focus area separately given differences in strategies, industry and investment focus, and market orientations. Secondly, including socially related language in the firm’s mission statement does not guarantee that a VC firm will actually implement a social orientation or seek to create the social value inherent in social innovation. Thirdly, certain investment strategies appear to be more advantageous depending of the size of the firm and the socialness of the firm’s orientation. Lastly, results supported that the adoption of a social orientation did not negatively influence firm performance. Overall, results suggest that pursuing a social orientation is viable and effective in delivering blended value strategies for VC firms engaging in social innovation. These findings offers socially oriented venture capital firms insights into strategic and structural aspects that are important to their success in achieving positive exists of their portfolio companies, thus increasing both financial and social value.

This research developed a stage-based model for the management of building information modelling (BIM) implementation in construction organisations based on the theories of business process change management, innovation management, and IT implementation. The model identified five distinct stages: awareness, consideration, readiness assessment, deployment, evaluation and improvement plan and their related enablers, which are aligned with the organisational goals and objectives as a precursor to the successful and sustained implementation of BIM. Comparative case studies of five construction firms were used to test the applicability of the model within the broader spectrum of the construction supply chain in Australia.

Nowadays, firms increasingly rely on strategic alliances to reach out for unique technological knowledge that firms cannot develop internally. However, in previous literature, we find inconsistent findings regarding the drivers and outcomes of a firm's leverage of alliance partners' technological knowledge. In this dissertation, I consider opposite propositions in prior studies simultaneously and examine two research questions: 1) what motivates a firm to search technological knowledge from alliance partners? And 2) how configurations of alliance knowledge and alliance network affect firm innovation? I argue that alliance knowledge search motivation is determined by the allocation of managerial attention to local domains and distant domains. While distant attention motives alliance knowledge search, local attention suppresses the motivation. I hypothesize that innovation performance below the aspiration level intensifies both local and distant attentions and has an inverted U-shaped relationship with alliance knowledge search intensity. This curvilinear relationship is moderated by the focal firm's knowledge stock size since firms with large knowledge stock are more likely to develop distant attention in the presence of poor innovation performance. I further argue that exploration and exploitation play key roles in the configurations of both alliance knowledge and alliance network. Alliance knowledge leveraging can contribute more to firm innovation, if the firm can establish a balance between exploration and exploitation. I propose that balancing exploration and exploitation within a single domain (e.g., search moderately explorative alliance knowledge) generates great managerial costs. However, firms can balance exploration and exploitation across domains: they can leverage explorative knowledge through exploitative alliances, such as repeated partnerships and strong ties. I test related hypotheses using longitudinal data from the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry. Results show that: 1) innovation performance below the aspiration level has an inverted U-shaped relationship with alliance knowledge search, demonstrating that both distant and local attention play important roles in developing the motivation for alliance knowledge search; 2) increasing knowledge stock size increases both positive and negative effects of innovation performance below aspiration; 3) technological distance of searched alliance knowledge has a linear negative effect on firm innovation; and 4) leveraging explorative knowledge from repeated partnership, but not strong ties, leads to superior innovation performance, supporting the idea of establishing the balance across domains. The findings make important contributions to alliance knowledge leveraging, aspiration, and exploration-exploitation literatures. The managerial implications of the study are also discussed.
Ph. D.

Research on Open Innovation (OI) is flourishing and opening the innovation process is increasingly perceived as a vital source for sustained competitive advantage. Nascent research on OI in family firms left us to wonder whether the performance-enhancing effects of OI also hold true for family firms. What we do know so far is despite that family firms typically possess greater ability to innovate, they lack the willingness to do so. Taking this as a starting point, the purpose of this study was to identify sources of family firm heterogeneity, in order to explain how these differences influence their willingness to engage in OI and further assess the overall relevance of OI models for family firms. In an attempt to resolve the innovation paradox, the present study builds upon a multi-theory approach of behavioral lenses, to capture the inherent complexities of family firm innovation. Empirical evidence from a cross-industry analysis of 176 German Mittelstand firms provides strong support for the importance of OI practices in a family firm context. Precisely, we affirm that family firms generate increased performance outcomes when engaging in OI. Our findings unearth a double-edged sword that higher generations foster a family firm’s willingness to engage in OI, but hamper their ability to benefit from it. Our findings are especially relevant in light of current market dynamics and build the bridge between OI and family firm research in an insightful manner. We thereby contribute to solving one piece of the innovation puzzle and identify promising areas for future research.