IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00457550.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The French defence industry in the knowledge management era: A historical overview and evidence from empirical data

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Guillou

    (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Nathalie Lazaric

    (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Christian Longhi

    (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Sylvie Rochhia

    (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

In the defence industry the recent development of ‘market for technology', the creation of new European high-technology companies as well as transformations in government agencies have conducted firms to reposition their technological and organisational skills. Our objective is to show that the transformations that have occurred in the past ten years have not only redefined skills and the organisation of production but have also given a more strategic place to knowledge management practices. Thus, we provide a contextual and historical overview with qualitative interviews in order to better understand the relation between KM and innovative behaviour in this industry. We have also built an original industrial and technological database with various samples that provides quantitative information concerning KM and innovative practices. The results of the statistical analysis reveal the specificity of firms in the defence industry. Taking into account the size of the firms and their technological intensity, we show that the behaviour of firms in the defence industry in terms of KM practices is different to that of other firms. The technological performances, the innovation intensity and the patent intensity also show the specificity of this industry. This structural tendency is explained as an innovative behaviour of the French NIS rather than as a mere "trend"

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Guillou & Nathalie Lazaric & Christian Longhi & Sylvie Rochhia, 2009. "The French defence industry in the knowledge management era: A historical overview and evidence from empirical data," Post-Print hal-00457550, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00457550
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00457550
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-00457550/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacobides, Michael G. & Knudsen, Thorbjorn & Augier, Mie, 2006. "Benefiting from innovation: Value creation, value appropriation and the role of industry architectures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1200-1221, October.
    2. Paul Dowdall & Derek Braddon & Keith Hartley, 2004. "The UK defence electronics industry: adjusting to change," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(6), pages 565-586.
    3. Renelle Guichard, 2005. "Suggested repositioning of defence R&D within the French system of innovation," Post-Print hal-00292994, HAL.
    4. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Ruttan, Vernon W., 2006. "Is War Necessary for Economic Growth?: Military Procurement and Technology Development," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195188042.
    6. 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.
    7. Molas-Gallart, Jordi & Tang, Puay, 2006. "Ownership matters: Intellectual Property, privatization and innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 200-212, March.
    8. Lionel Nesta & Pier-Paolo Saviotti, 2006. "Firm knowledge and market value in biotechnology," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 15(4), pages 625-652, August.
    9. Mustar, Philippe & Laredo, Philippe, 2002. "Innovation and research policy in France (1980-2000) or the disappearance of the Colbertist state," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 55-72, January.
    10. Virginia Acha & Lucia Cusmano, 2005. "Governance and co-ordination of distributed innovation processes: patterns of R&D co-operation in the upstream petroleum industry," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1-2), pages 1-21.
    11. Davies, Andrew & Brady, Tim, 2000. "Organisational capabilities and learning in complex product systems: towards repeatable solutions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7-8), pages 931-953, August.
    12. Maurizio Zollo & Sidney G. Winter, 2002. "Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 339-351, June.
    13. Keith Hartley, 2006. "Defence R&D: Data Issues," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 169-175.
    14. Hobday, Mike, 2000. "The project-based organisation: an ideal form for managing complex products and systems?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7-8), pages 871-893, August.
    15. Lazaric, Nathalie & Mangolte, Pierre-Andre & Massue, Marie-Laure, 2003. "Articulation and codification of collective know-how in the steel industry: evidence from blast furnace control in France," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1829-1847, December.
    16. Paul Dowdall, 2004. "Chains, networks and shifting paradigms: the UK defence industry supply system," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(6), pages 535-550.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1342 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Robert M. Grant, 1996. "Prospering in Dynamically-Competitive Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(4), pages 375-387, August.
    19. J. Molas-Gallart, 1999. "Measuring defence R&D: A note on problems and shortcomings," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 45(1), pages 3-16, May.
    20. Dunne, J. Paul, 1995. "The defense industrial base," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 14, pages 399-430, Elsevier.
    21. Breschi, Stefano & Lissoni, Francesco & Malerba, Franco, 2003. "Knowledge-relatedness in firm technological diversification," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 69-87, January.
    22. Jerker Denrell & Niklas Arvidsson & Udo Zander, 2004. "Managing Knowledge in the Dark: An Empirical Study of the Reliability of Capability Evaluations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(11), pages 1491-1503, November.
    23. Elisabeth Kremp & Jacques Mairesse, 2004. "Knowledge Management, Innovation, and Productivity: A Firm Level Exploration Based on French Manufacturing CIS3 Data," NBER Working Papers 10237, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Hobday, Mike & Rush, Howard & Tidd, Joe, 2000. "Innovation in complex products and system," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7-8), pages 793-804, August.
    25. Claude Serfati, 2001. "The Adaptability Of The French Armaments Industry In An Era Of Globalization," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 221-239.
    26. Ann Majchrzak & Lynne P. Cooper & Olivia E. Neece, 2004. "Knowledge Reuse for Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 174-188, February.
    27. Coombs, Rod & Hull, Richard, 1998. "'Knowledge management practices' and path-dependency in innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 237-253, July.
    28. V. Acha & S. Brusoni, 2008. "The Changing Governance Of Knowledge In Avionics," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1-2), pages 43-57.
    29. Stowsky, Jay, 2004. "Secrets to shield or share? new dilemmas for military R&D policy in the digital age," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 257-269, March.
    30. Ruttan, Vernon W., 2005. "Military Procurement and Technology Development," Staff Papers 13639, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    31. Michael Hobday & Andrew Davies & Andrea Prencipe, 2005. "Systems integration: a core capability of the modern corporation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 14(6), pages 1109-1143, December.
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Rukhsana Kalim & Muhammad Shahid Hassan, 2014. "Public Defense Spending and Poverty in Pakistan," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 211(4), pages 93-115, December.
    2. Manuel Acosta & Daniel Coronado & Rosario Marin, 2011. "Potential Dual-Use Of Military Technology: Does Citing Patents Shed Light On This Process?," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 335-349.
    3. Sarah Guillou & Basheer Kalash & Lionel Nesta & Michele Pezzoni & Evens Salies & Marc-Antoine Faure, 2023. "Impact de la nature du financement de la recherche sur ses résultats," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-04026916, HAL.
    4. Manuel Acosta & Daniel Coronado & Rosario Marín & Pedro Prats, 2013. "Factors affecting the diffusion of patented military technology in the field of weapons and ammunition," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 94(1), pages 1-22, January.
    5. Jean Belin & Marianne Guille & Nathalie Lazaric & Valérie Mérindol, 2019. "Defense Firms Adapting to Major Changes in the French R&D Funding System," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 142-158, February.
    6. Cécile Ayerbe & Nathalie Lazaric & Michel Callois & Liliana Mitkova, 2014. "The new challenges of organizing intellectual property in complex industries," Post-Print halshs-00974973, HAL.
    7. Jurčić Marina & Lovrenčić Sandra & Kurnoga Nataša, 2020. "Croatian Defense Industry Competitiveness Cluster: Knowledge Management and Innovation Perspective," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 59-72, March.

    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. Nathalie Lazaric & Valerie Merindol & Sylvie Rochhia, 2011. "Changes in the French Defence Innovation System: New Roles and Capabilities for the Government Agency for Defence," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(5), pages 509-530.
    2. Jean Belin & Marianne Guille & Nathalie Lazaric & Valérie Mérindol, 2019. "Defense Firms Adapting to Major Changes in the French R&D Funding System," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 142-158, February.
    3. Papachristos, George & Papadonikolaki, Eleni & Morgan, Bethan, 2024. "Projects as a speciation and aggregation mechanism in transitions: Bridging project management and transitions research in the digitalization of UK architecture, engineering, and construction industry," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    4. Krafft Jackie & Quatraro Francesco & Colombelli Alessandra, 2011. "High Growth Firms and Technological Knowledge: Do gazelles follow exploration or exploitation strategies?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201114, University of Turin.
    5. Antonelli, Cristiano & Krafft, Jackie & Quatraro, Francesco, 2010. "Recombinant knowledge and growth: The case of ICTs," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 50-69, March.
    6. Landon Kleis & Paul Chwelos & Ronald V. Ramirez & Iain Cockburn, 2012. "Information Technology and Intangible Output: The Impact of IT Investment on Innovation Productivity," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 42-59, March.
    7. Gholz, Eugene & James, Andrew D. & Speller, Thomas H., 2018. "The second face of systems integration: An empirical analysis of supply chains to complex product systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1478-1494.
    8. Liao, Tung-Shan & Rice, John, 2010. "Innovation investments, market engagement and financial performance: A study among Australian manufacturing SMEs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 117-125, February.
    9. Dibiaggio, Ludovic & Nasiriyar, Maryam & Nesta, Lionel, 2014. "Substitutability and complementarity of technological knowledge and the inventive performance of semiconductor companies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1582-1593.
    10. Jackie Krafft & Francesco Quatraro & Pier-Paolo Saviotti, 2008. "Evolution of the knowledge base in knowledge intensive sectors," Working Papers hal-00264261, HAL.
    11. Martin Kalthaus, 2020. "Knowledge recombination along the technology life cycle," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 643-704, July.
    12. Alessandra Colombelli & Gianluca Orsatti & Francesco Quatraro, 2021. "Local knowledge composition and the emergence of entrepreneurial activities across industries: evidence from Italian NUTS-3 regions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 613-635, February.
    13. Emanuele Pugliese & Lorenzo Napolitano & Andrea Zaccaria & Luciano Pietronero, 2019. "Coherent diversification in corporate technological portfolios," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-22, October.
    14. Cacciatori, Eugenia, 2008. "Memory objects in project environments: Storing, retrieving and adapting learning in project-based firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1591-1601, October.
    15. Sam Tavassoli & Nunzia Carbonara, 2014. "The role of knowledge variety and intensity for regional innovation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 493-509, August.
    16. Giovanni Dosi & Marco Grazzi & Daniele Moschella, 2017. "What do firms know? What do they produce? A new look at the relationship between patenting profiles and patterns of product diversification," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 413-429, February.
    17. Colombelli, Alessandra & Krafft, Jackie & Quatraro, Francesco, 2013. "Properties of knowledge base and firm survival: Evidence from a sample of French manufacturing firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(8), pages 1469-1483.
    18. Jackie Krafft & Francesco Quatraro & Pier Saviotti, 2014. "Knowledge characteristics and the dynamics of technological alliances in pharmaceuticals: empirical evidence from Europe, US and Japan," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 587-622, July.
    19. Carbonara , Nunzia & Tavassoli, Sam, 2013. "The Role of Knowledge Heterogeneity on the Innovative Capability of Industrial Districts," Papers in Innovation Studies 2013/35, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    20. Patricia Laurens & Christian Bas & Antoine Schoen & Stéphane Lhuillery, 2016. "Technological contribution of MNEs to the growth of energy-greentech sector in the early post-Kyoto period," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 18(2), pages 169-191, April.

    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:hal:journl:hal-00457550. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.