Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Beyond formal R&D: Taking advantage of other sources of innovation in low- and medium-technology industries

Contents:

Author Info

  • Santamara, Llus
  • Nieto, Mara Jess
  • Barge-Gil, Andrs

Abstract

This study deepens our knowledge of critical success factors in the innovation process of low- and medium-technology (LMT) industries. To accomplish this, it explores how the innovation process in LMT firms may depend on non-formal R&D activities and the use of external sources. The empirical analysis is based on a representative panel of Spanish manufacturing firms. The results strongly support the view that non-R&D activities such as design, the use of advanced machinery and training are crucial to understanding the innovation process of any firm. The study finds, however, that the impact of these activities is especially important in LMT industries, particularly for the achievement of product innovations. The empirical evidence also reveals the importance of external sources such as the use of consultants, the hiring of personnel, collaboration agreements and external R&D, with the greatest differences between LMT and high-technology (HT) firms being observed in process innovations.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V77-4TYXKYM-1/2/d7f74b1c81b023aa8e7fadb5814f5eb3
Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Research Policy.

Volume (Year): 38 (2009)
Issue (Month): 3 (April)
Pages: 507-517

as in new window
Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:38:y:2009:i:3:p:507-517

Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/respol

Related research

Keywords: Low- and medium-technology industries Technological activities External sources Innovation outputs Market characteristics;

Other versions of this item:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Rebecca Henderson & Iain Cockburn, 1996. "Scale, Scope, and Spillovers: The Determinants of Research Productivity in Drug Discovery," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(1), pages 32-59, Spring.
  2. Miotti, Luis & Sachwald, Frederique, 2003. "Co-operative R&D: why and with whom?: An integrated framework of analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1481-1499, September.
  3. Cassiman, Bruno & Veugelers, Reinhilde, 2006. "In search of complementarity in innovation strategy: Internal R&D and external knowledge acquisition," Open Access publications from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven urn:hdl:123456789/99507, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
  4. Jaumandreu, Jordi & Fariñas García, José Carlos, . "Diez años de encuesta sobre estrategias empresariales," Open Access publications from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid info:hdl:10016/5312, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
  5. Alessandro STERLACCHINI, 1998. "Do innovative activities matter to small firms in non-R&D-intensive industries? An application to export performances," Working Papers 109, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
  6. Belderbos, Rene & Carree, Martin & Diederen, Bert & Lokshin, Boris & Veugelers, Reinilde, 2004. "Heterogeneity in R&D cooperation strategies," Open Access publications from Maastricht University urn:nbn:nl:ui:27-15273, Maastricht University.
  7. Bessant, John & Rush, Howard, 1995. "Building bridges for innovation: the role of consultants in technology transfer," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 97-114, January.
  8. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2002. "R&D Cooperation and Spillovers: Some Empirical Evidence from Belgium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1169-1184, September.
  9. Veugelers, Reinhilde & Cassiman, Bruno, 1999. "Make and buy in innovation strategies: evidence from Belgian manufacturing firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 63-80, January.
  10. Teubal, Morris, 1997. "A catalytic and evolutionary approach to horizontal technology policies (HTPs)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1161-1188, January.
  11. Freeman, Chris, 1994. "The Economics of Technical Change," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(5), pages 463-514, October.
  12. Leiponen, Aija, 2005. "Skills and innovation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 303-323, June.
  13. Ulset, Svein, 1996. "R&D outsourcing and contractual governance: An empirical study of commercial R&D projects," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 63-82, July.
  14. Nieto, María Jesús & Santamaría, Lluís, 2007. "The importance of diverse collaborative networks for the novelty of product innovation," Open Access publications from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid info:hdl:10016/12680, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
  15. Fischer, Manfred M. & Varga, Attila, 1999. "Technological Innovation and Interfirm Cooperation," ERSA conference papers ersa99pa010, European Regional Science Association.
  16. Kamien,Morton I. & Schwartz,Nancy L., 1982. "Market Structure and Innovation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521293853.
  17. Kumar, Nagesh & Saqib, Mohammed, 1996. "Firm size, opportunities for adaptation and in-house R & D activity in developing countries: the case of Indian manufacturing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 713-722, August.
  18. Pavitt, Keith, 1984. "Sectoral patterns of technical change: Towards a taxonomy and a theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 343-373, December.
  19. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Un, C. Annique, 2007. "Regional economic integration and R&D investment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 227-246, March.
  20. Elena Huergo & Jordi Jaumandreu, 2004. "How Does Probability of Innovation Change with Firm Age?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3_4), pages 193-207, 04.
  21. Huergo, Elena, 2006. "The role of technological management as a source of innovation: Evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1377-1388, November.
  22. Beneito, Pilar, 2006. "The innovative performance of in-house and contracted R&D in terms of patents and utility models," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 502-517, May.
  23. Tether, Bruce S., 2002. "Who co-operates for innovation, and why: An empirical analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 947-967, August.
  24. Alfred Kleinknecht & Kees Van Montfort & Erik Brouwer, 2002. "The Non-Trivial Choice between Innovation Indicators," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 109-121.
  25. Iansiti, Marco, 1997. "From technological potential to product performance: an empirical analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 345-365, October.
  26. Robertson, Paul L. & Patel, Parimal R., 2007. "New wine in old bottles: Technological diffusion in developed economies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 708-721, June.
  27. Arora, Ashish & Gambardella, Alfonso, 1990. "Complementarity and External Linkages: The Strategies of the Large Firms in Biotechnology," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 361-79, June.
  28. Man, Ard-Pieter de & Duysters, Geert, 2005. "Collaboration and innovation: a review of the effects of mergers, acquisitions and alliances on innovation," Open Access publications from Maastricht University urn:nbn:nl:ui:27-13046, Maastricht University.
  29. Oxley, Joanne E, 1997. "Appropriability Hazards and Governance in Strategic Alliances: A Transaction Cost Approach," Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 387-409, October.
  30. Christopher Palmberg, 2004. "The sources of innovations - looking beyond technological opportunities," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 183-197.
  31. Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen & David Jacobson & Paul Robertson, 2006. "'Low-tech' Industries: Innovativeness and Development Perspectives—A Summary of a European Research Project," Prometheus, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 3-21.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2009. "How Do Young Innovative Companies Innovate?," IZA Discussion Papers 4301, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Santiago-Rodriguez, Fernando & Dutrenit, Gabriela, 2010. "Determinants of PRO-industry interactions in pharmaceutical R&D: the case of Mexico," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 053, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology.
  3. Bergman, Karin, 2011. "Internal and External R&D and Productivity – Evidence from Swedish Firm-Level Data," Working Papers 2011:27, Lund University, Department of Economics.
  4. Fassio Claudio, 2011. "Sectoral invariances or distance-from-the-frontier effect among European mid-low tech sectors," Dipartimento di Economia "S. Cognetti de Martiis" LEI & BRICK - Laboratorio di economia dell'innovazione "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio Carlo 201115, University of Turin.
  5. Hendry, Chris & Harborne, Paul, 2011. "Changing the view of wind power development: More than "bricolage"," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 778-789, June.
  6. Xulia González & Daniel Miles-Touya & Consuelo Pazó, 2012. "R&D, Worker Training, and Innovation: Firm-level evidence," Working Papers 1203, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.
  7. Huang, Can & Arundel, Anthony & Hollanders, Hugo, 2010. "How Firms Innovate: R&D, Non-R&D, and Technology Adoption," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 027, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology.
  8. Ortega-Argilés, Raquel & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2011. "The Transatlantic Productivity Gap: Is R&D the Main Culprit?," IZA Discussion Papers 5586, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  9. Barge-Gil, Andrés, 2011. "Open strategies and innovation performance," MPRA Paper 31298, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  10. Ewa Balcerowicz & Marek Peczkowski & Anna Wziatek-Kubiak, 2009. "The Innovation Patterns of Firms in Low and High Technology Manufacturing Sectors in the New Member States," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0390, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
  11. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Young firms and innovation: A microeconometric analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 329-340.
  12. José Albors-Garrigos & José L. Hervas-Oliver, 2011. "Making sense of innovation by R&D and non-R&D innovators in low technology contexts: a forgotten lesson for policymakers," Working Papers. Serie EC 2011-06, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
  13. repec:pra:mprapa:29083 is not listed on IDEAS
  14. Roberta Piergiovanni & Enrico Santarelli, 2010. "The More You Spend, the More You Get? The Effects of R&D and Capital Expenditures on the Patenting Activities of Biotechnology Firms," JRC-IPTS Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2010-06, Institute of Prospective Technological Studies.
  15. Hervas-Oliver, Jose-Luis & Sempere-Ripoll, Francisca & Boronat-Moll, Carles, 2012. "Process innovation objectives and management complementarities: patterns, drivers, co-adoption and performance effects," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 051, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:38:y:2009:i:3:p:507-517

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Wendy Shamier).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.