IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/48267.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effects of the frequency of spatially proximate and distant interaction on innovation by Irish SMEs

Author

Listed:
  • Doran, Justin
  • Jordan, Declan
  • O'Leary, Eoin

Abstract

This paper introduces a new measure to test whether more frequent interaction has a positive effect on innovation by SMEs in the South-West and South-East of Ireland. Based on an original survey, it finds that more frequent interaction increases innovation likelihood, with the probability increasing at a diminishing rate. Distant interaction is more valuable than geographically proximate interaction, although there is a tendency for enterprises to concentrate either on local/regional or national/international interaction. The results question the hypothesis that local interaction is more productive and imply that policy should focus on facilitating SME access to distant agents.

Suggested Citation

  • Doran, Justin & Jordan, Declan & O'Leary, Eoin, 2012. "The effects of the frequency of spatially proximate and distant interaction on innovation by Irish SMEs," MPRA Paper 48267, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:48267
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/48267/1/MPRA_paper_48267.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    2. Oerlemans, L.A.G. & Meeus, M.T.H. & Boekema, F.W.M., 2001. "Firm clustering and innovation," Other publications TiSEM c4398688-1710-449a-83e7-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Ian R. Gordon & Philip McCann, 2005. "Innovation, agglomeration, and regional development," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(5), pages 523-543, October.
    4. Crepon, B. & Duguet, E. & Mairesse, J., 1998. "Research Investment, Innovation and Productivity: An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level," Papiers d'Economie Mathématique et Applications 98.15, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    5. Alan D. MacPherson, 1998. "Academic-industry linkages and small firm innovation: evidence from the scientific instruments sector," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 261-276, January.
    6. Hans Loof & Almas Heshmati, 2006. "On the relationship between innovation and performance: A sensitivity analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4-5), pages 317-344.
    7. Leon Oerlemans & Marius Meeus, 2005. "Do Organizational and Spatial Proximity Impact on Firm Performance?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 89-104.
    8. Peters, Bettina & Lööf, Hans & Janz, Norbert, 2003. "Firm Level Innovation and Productivity: Is there a Common Story Across Countries?," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-26, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Kaufmann, Alexander & Todtling, Franz, 2001. "Science-industry interaction in the process of innovation: the importance of boundary-crossing between systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 791-804, May.
    10. Philip McCann & Jaakko Simonen, 2005. "Innovation, knowledge spillovers and local labour markets," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 465-485, August.
    11. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    12. Love, James H. & Roper, Stephen, 2001. "Location and network effects on innovation success: evidence for UK, German and Irish manufacturing plants," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 643-661, April.
    13. Allison Bramwell & Jen Nelles & David Wolfe, 2008. "Knowledge, Innovation and Institutions: Global and Local Dimensions of the ICT Cluster in Waterloo, Canada," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 101-116.
    14. Glaeser, Edward L & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(6), pages 1126-1152, December.
      • Edward L. Glaeser & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1991. "Growth in Cities," NBER Working Papers 3787, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Glaeser, Edward Ludwig & Kallal, Hedi D. & Scheinkman, Jose A. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Scholarly Articles 3451309, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    15. Markus Balzat, 2006. "An Economic Analysis of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4011.
    16. Cohen, Wesley M & Klepper, Steven, 1996. "A Reprise of Size and R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 925-951, July.
    17. Roper, Stephen & Du, Jun & Love, James H., 2008. "Modelling the innovation value chain," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6-7), pages 961-977, July.
    18. Bruno Crepon & Emmanuel Duguet & Jacques Mairesse, 1998. "Research, Innovation And Productivity: An Econometric Analysis At The Firm Level," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 115-158.
    19. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    20. George Van Leeuwen & Luuk Klomp, 2006. "On the contribution of innovation to multi-factor productivity growth," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4-5), pages 367-390.
    21. Emilie-Pauline Gallie, 2009. "Is Geographical Proximity Necessary for Knowledge Spillovers within a Cooperative Technological Network? The Case of the French Biotechnology Sector," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 33-42.
    22. Seung Ho Park & Michael V. Russo, 1996. "When Competition Eclipses Cooperation: An Event History Analysis of Joint Venture Failure," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(6), pages 875-890, June.
    23. repec:crs:wpaper:9833 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Stephen Roper, 2001. "Innovation, Networks and Plant Location: Some Evidence for Ireland," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 215-228.
    25. Freel, Mark S., 2003. "Sectoral patterns of small firm innovation, networking and proximity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 751-770, May.
    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. Robbins Peter & O’Gorman Colm, 2016. "Innovation processes: do they help or hinder new product development outcomes in Irish SMEs?," The Irish Journal of Management, Sciendo, vol. 35(1), pages 88-103, April.
    2. Jean-Marie Dubois & Laurence Lizé & Patrick Rousset, 2020. "Du recrutement à la formation : le renouvellement des compétences au cœur de la politique des entreprises du numérique," Post-Print hal-03023479, HAL.
    3. Timo Mitze & Björn Alecke & Janina Reinkowski & Gerhard Untiedt, 2015. "Linking collaborative R&D strategies with the research and innovation performance of SMEs in peripheral regions: Do spatial and organizational choices make a difference?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 55(2), pages 555-596, December.
    4. Crowley, Frank & Jordan, Declan, 2018. "The trade-off between absorptive capacity and appropriability of the returns to innovation effort," SRERC Working Paper Series SRERCWP2018-2, University College Cork (UCC), Spatial and Regional Economic Research Centre (SRERC).
    5. Martin Mathews & Peter Stokes, 2013. "The creation of trust: the interplay of rationality, institutions and exchange," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(9-10), pages 845-866, December.
    6. Frédéric Lainé & Yannick Fondeur, 2020. "Les canaux de recrutement au prisme de la gestion de l’emploi et de la configuration productive de l’entreprise," Post-Print hal-03890804, HAL.
    7. Kafouros, Mario & Wang, Chengqi & Piperopoulos, Panagiotis & Zhang, Mingshen, 2015. "Academic collaborations and firm innovation performance in China: The role of region-specific institutions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 803-817.
    8. Frank Crowley & Declan Jordan, 2022. "Do local start-ups and knowledge spillovers matter for firm-level R&D investment?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(5), pages 1085-1102, April.
    9. Stephen Roper & James H. Love, 2018. "Knowledge context, learning and innovation: an integrating framework," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 339-364, April.
    10. Leckel, Anja & Veilleux, Sophie & Dana, Leo Paul, 2020. "Local Open Innovation: A means for public policy to increase collaboration for innovation in SMEs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    11. Manuela Presutti & Cristina Boari & Antonio Majocchi, 2013. "Inter-organizational geographical proximity and local start-ups' knowledge acquisition: a contingency approach," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5-6), pages 446-467, June.
    12. Robert Huggins & Daniel Prokop & Piers Thompson, 2020. "Universities and open innovation: the determinants of network centrality," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 718-757, June.
    13. Huasheng Zhu & Kebi Chen & Yunlong Lian, 2018. "Do Temporary Creative Clusters Promote Innovation in an Emerging Economy?—A Case Study of the Beijing Design Week," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, March.
    14. Charlie Karlsson & Jonna Rickardsson & Joakim Wincent, 2021. "Diversity, innovation and entrepreneurship: where are we and where should we go in future studies?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 759-772, February.
    15. Jean-Marie Dubois & Laurence Lizé & Patrick Rousset, 2020. "Du recrutement à la formation : le renouvellement des compétences au cœur de la politique des entreprises du numérique," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-03023479, HAL.
    16. François Deltour & Sébastien Le Gall & Virginie Lethiais, 2017. "Innovating not Only in Cities: Evidence from SMEs," Post-Print hal-01758281, HAL.
    17. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2015. "Entrepreneurship, innovation and regional growth: a network theory," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 103-128, June.

    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. Justin Doran & Declan Jordan & Eoin O'Leary, 2012. "The Effects of National and International Interaction on Innovation: Evidence from the Irish CIS: 2004--06," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(5), pages 371-390, July.
    2. Justin Doran & Eoin O'Leary, 2011. "External Interaction, Innovation and Productivity: An Application of the Innovation Value Chain to Ireland," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 199-222.
    3. JUSTIN DORAN & NOIRIN McCARTHY & MARIE O’CONNOR, 2019. "The Importance Of Internal Knowledge Generation And External Knowledge Sourcing For Sme Innovation And Performance: Evidence From Ireland," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(07), pages 1-30, October.
    4. J Doran & G Ryan, 2016. "The effectiveness of R&D and external interaction for innovation: Insights from quantile regression," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 21(1), pages 47-65, March.
    5. Frank Crowley & Jane Bourke, 2018. "The Influence Of The Manager On Firm Innovation In Emerging Economies," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(03), pages 1-21, April.
    6. Frank Crowley & Jane Bourke, 2017. "The Influence Of Human Resource Management Systems On Innovation: Evidence From Irish Manufacturing And Service Firms," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(01), pages 1-28, January.
    7. Justin Doran & Geraldine Ryan & Jane Bourke & Frank Crowley, 2019. "In-House Or Outsourcing Skills: How Best To Manage For Innovation?," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(01), pages 1-25, February.
    8. Doran, Justin, 2012. "Are different forms of innovation complements or substitutes?," MPRA Paper 44580, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Bourke, Jane & Roper, Stephen, 2017. "Innovation, quality management and learning: Short-term and longer-term effects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1505-1518.
    10. Doran, Justin & O'Leary, Eoin, 2013. "The Roles of R&D and networking for innovation by Irish and foreign-owned firms: evidence from the Irish CIS 2006-08," MPRA Paper 47291, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Justin Doran & Eoin O'Leary, 2016. "The Innovation Performance of Irish and Foreign-owned Firms: The Roles of R&D and Networking," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(9), pages 1384-1398, September.
    12. Bourke, Jane & Roper, Stephen, 2016. "AMT adoption and innovation: An investigation of dynamic and complementary effects," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 55, pages 42-55.
    13. Bronwyn Hall & Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse, 2009. "Innovation and productivity in SMEs: empirical evidence for Italy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 13-33, June.
    14. Sverre J. Herstad, 2018. "Beyond ‘related variety’: how inflows of skills shape innovativeness in different industries," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 396-420, February.
    15. Cui, Jingbo & Li, Xiaogang, "undated". "Innovation and Firm Productivity: Evidence from the US Patent Data," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235603, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Peters, Bettina & Lööf, Hans & Janz, Norbert, 2003. "Firm Level Innovation and Productivity: Is there a Common Story Across Countries?," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-26, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Doran, Justin & Jordan, Declan & O'Leary, Eoin, 2013. "Effects of R&D spending on Innovation by Irish and Foreign-owned Businesses," MPRA Paper 44579, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Burcu Fazlıoğlu & Başak Dalgıç & Ahmet Burçin Yereli, 2019. "The effect of innovation on productivity: evidence from Turkish manufacturing firms," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 439-460, April.
    19. Helen McGuirk & Declan Jordan, 2011. "Local Labour Market Diversity and Business Innovation: Evidence from Irish Manufacturing Businesses," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(12), pages 1945-1960, June.
    20. Joseph Dery Nyeadi & Victor Kunsofah Kunbuor & Ernest Domanaanmwi Ganaa, 2018. "Innovation and Firm Productivity: Empirical Evidence from Ghana," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 14(5), pages 127-140, OCTOBER.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; SMEs; Spatial Proximity; External Interaction;
    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
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    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:pra:mprapa:48267. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.