IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v41y2012i8p1344-1356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Selective search, sectoral patterns, and the impact on product innovation performance

Author

Listed:
  • Köhler, Christian
  • Sofka, Wolfgang
  • Grimpe, Christoph

Abstract

The shift toward more open and interconnected innovation activities has been a major topic in recent academic and practitioner discussions. Firms must connect their in-house R&D activities with external partners, such as leading customers or universities, to increase the effectiveness of their innovation activities. Hence, management needs to define where to search for valuable knowledge in its environment. In this paper we argue that knowledge search has to reflect the heterogeneity of various knowledge sources with regard to the knowledge they can provide and how these sources can be activated. We hypothesize that search strategies driven by science, suppliers and the product market will contribute differently to innovation success with new-to-market versus imitated products. Moreover, we explore the effect of these types of knowledge search within different sectoral patterns of innovation. Our empirical analysis rests on a sample of almost 5000 firms from five Western European countries. The results support our hypotheses and highlight the potentials and shortcomings of different types of knowledge search.

Suggested Citation

  • Köhler, Christian & Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2012. "Selective search, sectoral patterns, and the impact on product innovation performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 1344-1356.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:41:y:2012:i:8:p:1344-1356
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2012.03.020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733312000819
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.respol.2012.03.020?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Birgit Aschhoff & Tobias Schmidt, 2008. "Empirical Evidence on the Success of R&D Cooperation—Happy Together?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 33(1), pages 41-62, August.
    2. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1992. "Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 383-397, August.
    3. Sirilli, Giorgio & Evangelista, Rinaldo, 1998. "Technological innovation in services and manufacturing: results from Italian surveys," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 881-899, December.
    4. Slater, Stanley F. & Narver, John C., 2000. "The Positive Effect of a Market Orientation on Business Profitability: A Balanced Replication," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 69-73, April.
    5. Fulvio Castellacci, 2010. "Structural Change And The Growth Of Industrial Sectors: Empirical Test Of A Gpt Model," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(3), pages 449-482, September.
    6. Gautam Ahuja, 2000. "The duality of collaboration: inducements and opportunities in the formation of interfirm linkages," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 317-343, March.
    7. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Kenneth W. Koput, 1997. "A Chaotic Model of Innovative Search: Some Answers, Many Questions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(5), pages 528-542, October.
    9. Grimpe, Christoph & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2009. "Search patterns and absorptive capacity: Low- and high-technology sectors in European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 495-506, April.
    10. K Ojah & L Monplaisir, 2003. "Investors' valuation of global product design and development," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 34(5), pages 457-472, September.
    11. Castellacci, Fulvio, 2008. "Technological paradigms, regimes and trajectories: Manufacturing and service industries in a new taxonomy of sectoral patterns of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6-7), pages 978-994, July.
    12. Hagedoorn, John & Cloodt, Myriam, 2003. "Measuring innovative performance: is there an advantage in using multiple indicators?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1365-1379, September.
    13. Christian Geisler Asmussen & Torben Pedersen & Charles Dhanaraj, 2009. "Host-country environment and subsidiary competence: Extending the diamond network model," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(1), pages 42-57, January.
    14. Breschi, Stefano & Malerba, Franco & Orsenigo, Luigi, 2000. "Technological Regimes and Schumpeterian Patterns of Innovation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(463), pages 388-410, April.
    15. Wesley M. Cohen & Richard R. Nelson & John P. Walsh, 2003. "Links and Impacts: The Influence of Public Research on Industrial R&D," Chapters, in: Aldo Geuna & Ammon J. Salter & W. Edward Steinmueller (ed.), Science and Innovation, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Robert Salomon & Byungchae Jin, 2010. "Do leading or lagging firms learn more from exporting?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(10), pages 1088-1113, October.
    17. Link, Albert N. & Scott, John T., 2005. "Universities as partners in U.S. research joint ventures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 385-393, April.
    18. Dosi, Giovanni, 1993. "Technological paradigms and technological trajectories : A suggested interpretation of the determinants and directions of technical change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 102-103, April.
    19. Nelson, Richard R. & Winter, Sidney G., 1993. "In search of useful theory of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 108-108, April.
    20. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    21. Cowan, Robin & David, Paul A & Foray, Dominique, 2000. "The Explicit Economics of Knowledge Codification and Tacitness," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 211-253, June.
    22. Gallouj, Faiz & Weinstein, Olivier, 1997. "Innovation in services," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4-5), pages 537-556, December.
    23. Sendhil Mullainathan & Marianne Bertrand, 2001. "Do People Mean What They Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 67-72, May.
    24. Nancy T. Gallini, 2002. "The Economics of Patents: Lessons from Recent U.S. Patent Reform," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 131-154, Spring.
    25. Arundel, Anthony & Kabla, Isabelle, 1998. "What percentage of innovations are patented? empirical estimates for European firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 127-141, June.
    26. Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2009. "Specialized search and innovation performance: evidence across Europe," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-016, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    27. Criscuolo, Chiara & Haskel, Jonathan E. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2010. "Global engagement and the innovation activities of firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 191-202, March.
    28. Aija Leiponen & Constance E. Helfat, 2011. "Location, Decentralization, and Knowledge Sources for Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 641-658, June.
    29. Pavitt, Keith, 1984. "Sectoral patterns of technical change: Towards a taxonomy and a theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 343-373, December.
    30. Mohan Subramaniam & N. Venkatraman, 2001. "Determinants of transnational new product development capability: testing the influence of transferring and deploying tacit overseas knowledge," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 359-378, April.
    31. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. Dirk Czarnitzki & Andrew Toole, 2007. "Business R&D and the Interplay of R&D Subsidies and Product Market Uncertainty," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 31(3), pages 169-181, November.
    33. Edwin Mansfield, 1986. "Patents and Innovation: An Empirical Study," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 173-181, February.
    34. James G. March & Zur Shapira, 1987. "Managerial Perspectives on Risk and Risk Taking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(11), pages 1404-1418, November.
    35. Pierre Dussauge & Bernard Garrette & Will Mitchell, 2000. "Learning from competing partners: outcomes and durations of scale and link alliances in Europe, North America and Asia," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 99-126, February.
    36. Lori Rosenkopf & Atul Nerkar, 2001. "Beyond local search: boundary‐spanning, exploration, and impact in the optical disk industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 287-306, April.
    37. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    38. Albert N. Link & Donald S. Siegel & Barry Bozeman, 2007. "An empirical analysis of the propensity of academics to engage in informal university technology transfer ," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(4), pages 641-655, August.
    39. Kaiser, Ulrich, 2002. "An empirical test of models explaining research expenditures and research cooperation: evidence for the German service sector," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 747-774, June.
    40. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2006. "In Search of Complementarity in Innovation Strategy: Internal R& D and External Knowledge Acquisition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 68-82, January.
    41. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2002. "Patents, Real Options and Firm Performance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(478), pages 97-116, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Köhler, Christian & Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2009. "Selectivity in search strategies for innovation: from incremental to radical, from manufacturing to services," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-066, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2009. "Searching for innovation in market and transition economies: evidence across Europe," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-061, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Schmidt, Tobias & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2009. "Knowledge sourcing: legitimacy deficits for MNC subsidiaries?," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2009,09, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    4. Peeters, T.J.G., 2013. "External knowledge search and use in new product development," Other publications TiSEM 300ebb34-b090-4210-b95e-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Cohen, Wesley M., 2010. "Fifty Years of Empirical Studies of Innovative Activity and Performance," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 129-213, Elsevier.
    6. Schmidt, Tobias & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2009. "Liability of foreignness as a barrier to knowledge spillovers: Lost in translation?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 460-474, December.
    7. Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2009. "Specialized search and innovation performance: evidence across Europe," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-016, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Grimpe, Christoph & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2007. "Search Patterns and Absorptive Capacity: A Comparison of Low- and High-Technology Firms from Thirteen European Countries," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-062, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Grimpe, Christoph & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2016. "Complementarities in the search for innovation—Managing markets and relationships," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 2036-2053.
    10. Christoph Grimpe & Ulrich Kaiser, 2010. "Balancing Internal and External Knowledge Acquisition: The Gains and Pains from R&D Outsourcing," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(8), pages 1483-1509, December.
    11. Grimpe, Christoph & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2009. "Search patterns and absorptive capacity: Low- and high-technology sectors in European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 495-506, April.
    12. Aschhoff, Birgit & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2008. "Successful Patterns of Scientific Knowledge Sourcing: Mix and Match," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-033 [rev.], ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Frank T. Rothaermel & Maria Tereza Alexandre, 2009. "Ambidexterity in Technology Sourcing: The Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 759-780, August.
    14. Ethan Gifford & Daniel Ljungberg & Maureen McKelvey, 2022. "Innovating in knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial firms: exploring the effects of a variety of internal and external knowledge sources on goods and service innovations [Advancing knowledge-intensiv," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 31(5), pages 1259-1284.
    15. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    16. Dennys Eduardo Rossetto & Roberto Carlos Bernardes & Felipe Mendes Borini & Cristiane Chaves Gattaz, 2018. "Structure and evolution of innovation research in the last 60 years: review and future trends in the field of business through the citations and co-citations analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(3), pages 1329-1363, June.
    17. Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2008. "Managing Search Strategies for Open Innovation: The Role of Environmental Munificence as well as Internal and External R&D," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-075, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. de Faria, Pedro & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2010. "Knowledge protection strategies of multinational firms--A cross-country comparison," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 956-968, September.
    19. René Belderbos & Leo Sleuwaegen & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2010. "Market Integration and Technological Leadership in Europe," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 403, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    20. Aschhoff, Birgit & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2009. "Innovation on demand--Can public procurement drive market success of innovations?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1235-1247, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Knowledge search; Sectoral innovation patterns; New-to-market innovation; Imitation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:41:y:2012:i:8:p:1344-1356. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/respol .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.