We first examine the effect of having innovation cooperation arrangements on the productivity level among firms with innovation activities. Then, we examine whether a firm's productivity level is ...affected by its number and types of innovation cooperation partners among those with innovation cooperation arrangements. Data on Norwegian firms with innovation activities is used. In the analysis, we differentiate between small and large firms. The estimation results show that unlike small firms, large firms can benefit from cooperation arrangements by achieving productivity improvements. Using the group of internal partners as the reference category, the results show that the productivity level is relatively higher in the short term among all and small firms that had cooperation arrangements with competitors or other enterprises in their sector, and relatively lower both in the short and medium term among all and small firms that had arrangements with partners in the academic sector. This level is relatively higher among large firms that had arrangements with consultants or consulting enterprises, and relatively lower among large firms that had arrangements with commercial labs or R&D-enterprises, in the medium term. We also find that most effects of the number of different types of cooperation partners are not significant.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of R&D investment as a determinant of ongoing or abandoned innovation activities. The literature review focuses especially small and ...medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that deploy R&D investment as a way of developing innovation processes.
Design/methodology/approach
This study’s design used a sample of 4,229 Portuguese SMEs to analyse the effects R&D investment has on the innovation activities; the results obtained demonstrate the great importance of firms investing in R&D internal activities for the development of their innovation process.
Findings
The most important findings highlight the types of activities that emerge as relevant to innovation processes susceptible for development to avoid abandoning and maintaining ongoing innovation activities. Among them, the authors would highlight the design of products or services, the introduction of innovations to the market and the acquisition of machinery, equipment and specific software, among others.
Originality/value
In addition, other types of activities emerge as relevant to innovation processes susceptible for development to avoid abandoning and maintaining ongoing innovation activities. This research adds value to the current literature mainly showing several determinants related to R&D, which could be used by SMEs to improve and develop their activities of innovation.
The literature revealed that 70-80% of South African small businesses, including informal micro-enterprises, fail in the first year of their existence. Innovation has been recognized as a catalyst ...that can enhance informal micro-enterprises' probabilities to survive and transform them from survivalists to sustainable businesses that grow the economy and create jobs. As far as it can be reasonably determined, there has not been a systematic review of the literature on innovation activities of informal micro-enterprises in the Gauteng province, South Africa. This study aims to present a systematic review of the literature, as well as research gaps identified in the literature, and future research opportunities. This paper thus systematically reviews the literature on innovation activities of informal micro-enterprises in the Gauteng province. The study revealed that the innovation capacity of informal micro-enterprises is severely hampered by innovation tradition and social tax. Subsequently, informal micro-enterprises engage less in innovation activity and those that do innovate often engage in incremental rather than radical innovation. Radical innovations are more crucial than incremental innovations. Thus, there is a need for researchers and government organizations to establish initiatives that can aid the informal micro-enterprises to engage more in radical innovation.
The measurement of innovation has been developed by various previous studies with a specific focus and goal. However, the existing measurement framework still cannot be applied all that easily by ...companies in Indonesia for assessing, evaluating, and improving their innovations. This study aims to propose a measurement framework using a multiple case study approach. Cases were selected from companies in the pharmaceutical and information and communications technology (ICT) industries because they contribute substantially to the manufacturing sector and both are vital to Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that the measurement model of innovation consists of technological innovation and the management of technological innovation. There are three phases in the technological innovation process which include the initiation phase (conceiving ideas and acquiring information, then transforming it into knowledge), the development phase (validating knowledge and checking its appropriateness), and the diffusion phase (getting users' feedback and Go & scaling up ). Meanwhile, the management of technological innovation consists of having a strategy, the necessary resources, and operation . The analytical generalization of this study is still considered to be limited, so further studies are needed to analyze cases in other industrial sectors. In addition, a quantitative study is required to construct a measuring instrument for the variables proposed in this study.
Disruptive innovation (DI) poses a significant challenge for firms due to their uncertain nature and unique diffusion patterns before entering the market. A proactive strategy to address the issue of ...DI can turn a potential disruption into a business opportunity. To implement such an aggressive approach, firms should enhance their intrapreneurship capabilities through middle managers’ disruptive innovation activities (DIA). However, research on managing and promoting DI by middle managers is still at a nascent stage. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap in the literature by examining the influence of a firm’s customer orientation (i.e., mainstream and emerging) and middle managers’ mastery achievement goals on their DIA. It analyses the direct and interaction effects of firms’ customer orientation and middle managers’ achievement goals on their DIA. The data from 337 middle managers are analyzed in structural equation modelling. The results indicate that managers’ perception regarding their firm as ‘emerging customer orientated’ positively influences their DIA. Perception regarding the firm as ‘mainstream customer orientated’ negatively influences. Mastery achievement goals of middle managers positively impact their DIA. The interaction of emerging customer orientation and mastery achievement goals significantly influence middle managers’ DIA. Later, interviews were conducted to elaborate on the survey data results, which complemented the findings and provided further insight into the identified effects. These results provide a comprehensive understanding of middle managers' strategic role in nurturing DI in an organizational setting and contributing to the theory and practice.
Although micro-enterprises represent most of the enterprises across different sectors, they are excluded from official statistics on innovation activities. What we know about micro-enterprises is ...based on smaller quantitative and qualitative studies that are country- and sector-specific. To understand the innovation activities of Slovenian enterprises in the forest-wood sector, we conducted our own quantitative study in 2019 based on the Eurostat’s Community Innovation Survey (CIS) questionnaire. Based on responses from 294 enterprises, we compare how micro-enterprises and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) differ in innovation strategies, product, and process innovations, co-operation with other organisations, innovation activities, and innovations with environmental benefits. The results indicate that, in some respects, enterprises with two to nine employees are at least as innovative as small to medium enterprises, or even more so. We argue that innovation surveys should lower the employee count threshold to attain better representative insight into the innovation landscape.
•We study what funding sources can finance firms’ innovation activities in China.•The effectiveness of funding sources varies according to institutions’ qualities.•Secured property rights make ...internal finance by net profits more important.•Reliably enforced contracts enable trade credit and bank finance to be significant.
Using novel firm-level micro-panel data in China from 2000 to 2009 and data on institutional factors, we study which funding sources effectively finance firm innovation activities in China and how the effectiveness of funding sources varies according to the quality of institutions. We show that institutional factors impact the effectiveness of each funding source in different ways. First, when property rights are better protected against the risk of expropriation by the government, internal financing from net profit—namely, the reinvestment of profit—is more important in financing firm innovation activities. Second, as contracts are enforced more reliably, trade credit finance and bank finance play larger roles in financing firm innovation activities.
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