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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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  • Conte, Andrea

    (European Commission)

  • Vivarelli, Marco

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

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 3000 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Conte, Andrea & Vivarelli, Marco, 2013. "Succeeding in Innovation: Key Insights on the Role of R&D and Technological Acquisition Drawn from Company Data," IZA Discussion Papers 7671, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7671
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    community innovation survey; SUR; process innovation; product innovation; R&D; embodied technical change; sample selection;
    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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