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Succeeding in innovation: key insights on the role of R&D and technological acquisition drawn from company data

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  • Andrea Conte
  • Marco Vivarelli

Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between a company’s investment in innovation and its success in introducing new product and/or process innovations. In doing so, this analysis departs from the standard approach which puts forward a homogenous R&D-based knowledge production function by introducing different types of innovation investments (R&D and technology acquisition) for different sets of companies. Using the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) dataset comprising more than 3,000 Italian manufacturing companies, the econometric analysis adopts a set of techniques which allows to control for the sample selection, endogeneity and simultaneity problems which arise when dealing with CIS data. The main findings are summarised as follows: (1) beyond the acknowledged effect of R&D in increasing the probability of success of product innovation, a larger-than-expected role is played by technology acquisition in the innovation process; (2) the relative importance of R&D and technology acquisition varies significantly across different types of companies where crucial dimensions of analysis are company size and the technological domain of a sector. Copyright European Union 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Conte & Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Succeeding in innovation: key insights on the role of R&D and technological acquisition drawn from company data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1317-1340, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:47:y:2014:i:4:p:1317-1340
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-013-0779-1
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    R&D; Product innovation; Process innovation; Embodied technical change; Sample selection; SUR; Community innovation survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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