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What Drives Enterprise Product Innovation? Assessing How Regional, National, And International Inter-Firm Collaboration Complement Or Substitute For R&D Investments

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  • JARLE AARSTAD

    (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway)

  • OLAV ANDREAS KVITASTEIN

    (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway)

  • STIG-ERIK JAKOBSEN

    (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway)

Abstract

We study whether regional, national, and international inter-firm collaboration complement or substitute for enterprise R&D investments as drivers of product innovation. Analysing a large-scale dataset of 6,584 Norwegian enterprises, we find that for enterprises without R&D investments, regional collaboration, in particular, has a positive innovation effect. Unsurprisingly, R&D investments also have a positive innovation effect, but more interestingly; for enterprises with R&D investments, international collaboration has an additive effect, whereas regional and national collaboration have no effect. The findings imply that regional collaboration, in particular, substitutes for enterprise R&D investments as a driver of product innovation, whereas international collaboration has an additive and complementary effect. We moreover find that in particular enterprises with R&D investments, but without international collaboration, are more innovative the smaller they are. Conversely, enterprises with R&D investments have a stronger innovation effect from international collaboration the larger they are.

Suggested Citation

  • Jarle Aarstad & Olav Andreas Kvitastein & Stig-Erik Jakobsen, 2019. "What Drives Enterprise Product Innovation? Assessing How Regional, National, And International Inter-Firm Collaboration Complement Or Substitute For R&D Investments," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(05), pages 1-25, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:23:y:2019:i:05:n:s1363919619500403
    DOI: 10.1142/S1363919619500403
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    Cited by:

    1. Jarle Aarstad & Stig-Erik Jakobsen, 2020. "Norwegian Firms’ Green and New Industry Strategies: A Dual Challenge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, January.

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