IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/unumer/2013029.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is money all? Financing versus knowledge and demand constraints to innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Pellegrino, Gabriele

    (University of Barcelona, and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza and Milano)

  • Savona, Maria

    (SPRU, University of Sussex,)

Abstract

The paper adds to the scattered empirical evidence on the role of obstacles to innovation in a three-fold way. First, we correct for the usual sample selection bias by filtering out firms not interested in innovation from 'potential innovators'. We then analyse the impact of obstacles on the translation of firms' engagement in innovative activities onto actual innovative outputs. Second, we assess what mostly affects firms' rate of failure in this process, whether finance or, rather, knowledge or demand-related constraints. Third, we do so in a panel framework, which allows to account for endogeneity and firms' unobserved heterogeneity through individual effects. We find that demand- and market-related factors are as important as financing conditions in determining firms' innovation failures. This evidence puts much of the latest hype on finance in perspective and brings back into the picture traditional demand and market structure arguments of why firms fail to innovate. The empirical analysis is based on an unbalanced panel of firm data from four waves of the UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS) between 2002 and 2010 merged with the UK Business Structure Database.

Suggested Citation

  • Pellegrino, Gabriele & Savona, Maria, 2013. "Is money all? Financing versus knowledge and demand constraints to innovation," MERIT Working Papers 2013-029, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
  • Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2013029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2013/wp2013-029.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohnen, Pierre & Roller, Lars-Hendrik, 2005. "Complementarities in innovation policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1431-1450, August.
    2. Pablo D'Este & Francesco Rentocchini & Jaider Manuel Vega Jurado, 2010. "Lowering barriers to engage in innovation: evidence from the Spanish innovation survey," Openloc Working Papers 1020, Public policies and local development.
    3. Bronwyn Hall, 2004. "The financing of research and development," Chapters, in: Anthony Bartzokas & Sunil Mani (ed.), Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Amaresh K. Tiwari & Pierre Mohnen & Franz C. Palm & Sybrand Schim Loeff, 2008. "Financial Constraint and R&D Investment: Evidence from CIS," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Cees Beers & Alfred Kleinknecht & Roland Ortt & Robert Verburg (ed.), Determinants of Innovative Behaviour, chapter 10, pages 217-242, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Frederique Savignac, 2008. "Impact Of Financial Constraints On Innovation: What Can Be Learned From A Direct Measure?," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(6), pages 553-569.
    6. Pierre Blanchard & Jean-Pierre Huiban & Antonio Musolesi & Patrick Sevestre, 2013. "Where there is a will, there is a way? Assessing the impact of obstacles to innovation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 679-710, June.
    7. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2005. "Simple solutions to the initial conditions problem in dynamic, nonlinear panel data models with unobserved heterogeneity," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 39-54, January.
    8. Schiantarelli, Fabio, 1996. "Financial Constraints and Investment: Methodological Issues and International Evidence," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 70-89, Summer.
    9. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2007. "Is demand-pulled innovation equally important in different groups of firms?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(5), pages 691-710, September.
    10. Baldwin, John & Lin, Zhengxi, 2002. "Impediments to advanced technology adoption for Canadian manufacturers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Galia, Fabrice & Legros, Diego, 2004. "Complementarities between obstacles to innovation: evidence from France," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1185-1199, October.
    12. Mohnen, Pierre & Rosa, Julio, 2001. "Les obstacles à l’innovation dans les industries de services au Canada," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 77(2), pages 231-254, juin.
    13. Giulio Cainelli & Rinaldo Evangelista & Maria Savona, 2006. "Innovation and economic performance in services: a firm-level analysis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 435-458, May.
    14. Stephen Bond & Dietmar Harhoff & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Investment, R&D and Financial Constraints in Britain and Germany," NBER Chapters, in: Contributions in Memory of Zvi Griliches, pages 433-460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Narula, Rajneesh & Zanfei, Antonello, 2003. "The international dimension of innovation," Research Memorandum 010, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    16. Klepper, Steven, 1996. "Entry, Exit, Growth, and Innovation over the Product Life Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 562-583, June.
    17. Agustí Segarra-Blasco & José García-Quevedo & Mercedes Teruel-Carrizosa, 2007. "Barriers to Innovation and Public Policy in Catalonia," Working Papers XREAP2007-10, Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP), revised Nov 2007.
    18. Jacques Mairesse & Pierre Mohnen, 2002. "Accounting for Innovation and Measuring Innovativeness: An Illustrative Framework and an Application," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 226-230, May.
    19. Simona Iammarino & Francesca Sanna-Randaccio & Maria Savona, 2007. "The perception of obstacles to innovation. Multinational and domestic firms in Italy," Working Papers of BETA 2007-12, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    20. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2009. "The role of skills as a major driver of corporate R&D," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(8), pages 835-852, November.
    21. Hanna Hottenrott & Bettina Peters, 2012. "Innovative Capability and Financing Constraints for Innovation: More Money, More Innovation?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(4), pages 1126-1142, November.
    22. Maria Luisa Mancusi & Andrea Vezzulli, 2010. "R&D, Innovation and Liquidity Constraints," KITeS Working Papers 030, KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised May 2010.
    23. Pablo D'Este & Simona Iammarino & Maria Savona & Nick von Tunzelmann, 2008. "What hampers innovation? Evidence from the UK CIS4," SPRU Working Paper Series 168, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    24. Jaeyong Song & Paul Almeida & Geraldine Wu, 2003. "Learning--by--Hiring: When Is Mobility More Likely to Facilitate Interfirm Knowledge Transfer?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 351-365, April.
    25. Dominique Tourigny & Can Le, 2004. "Impediments to innovation faced by Canadian manufacturing firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 217-250.
    26. Alessandra Canepa & Paul Stoneman, 2008. "Financial constraints to innovation in the UK: evidence from CIS2 and CIS3," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(4), pages 711-730, October.
    27. Galende, Jesus & de la Fuente, Juan Manuel, 2003. "Internal factors determining a firm's innovative behaviour," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 715-736, May.
    28. D’Este, Pablo & Iammarino, Simona & Savona, Maria & von Tunzelmann, Nick, 2012. "What hampers innovation? Revealed barriers versus deterring barriers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 482-488.
    29. Simona Iammarino & Francesca Sanna-Randaccio & Maria Savona, 2009. "The perception of obstacles to innovation. Foreign multinationals and domestic firms in Italy," Revue d'économie industrielle, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 75-104.
    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. Marin,Giovanni & Marzucchi,Alberto & Zoboli,Roberto, 2014. "SMEs and Barriers to Eco-Innovation in EU: A Diverse Palette of Greens," INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) Working Paper Series 201404, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV).
    2. María Teresa Costa‐Campi & Néstor Duch‐Brown & José García‐Quevedo, 2019. "Innovation strategies of energy firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(5), pages 1073-1085, September.
    3. Costa-Campi, M.T. & Duch-Brown, N. & García-Quevedo, J., 2014. "R&D drivers and obstacles to innovation in the energy industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 20-30.
    4. José García-Quevedo & Gabriele Pellegrino & Maria Savona, 2017. "Reviving demand-pull perspectives: The effect of demand uncertainty and stagnancy on R&D strategy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 41(4), pages 1087-1122.
    5. Heike Belitz & Anna Lejpras, 2016. "Financing patterns of R&D in small and medium-sized enterprises and the perception of innovation barriers in Germany," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 43(2), pages 245-261.
    6. Trabelsi Ramzi & Akri Ben Salah, 2018. "The Determinants of Innovation Capacity in the Less Innovative Countries in the Euro-Mediterranean Region," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(2), pages 526-543, June.
    7. Ibrahim Alnafrah & Sulaiman Mouselli, 2020. "Constructing the Reconstruction Process: a Smooth Transition Towards Knowledge Society and Economy in Post-Conflict Syria," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(3), pages 931-948, September.
    8. Angela Rocio Vasquez-Urriago & Andrés Barge-Gil & Aurelia Modrego Rico, 2016. "Which firms benefit more from being located in a Science and Technology Park? Empirical evidence for Spain," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(1), pages 107-117.
    9. Heike Belitz & Anna Lejpras, 2014. "Financing Patterns of Innovative SMEs and the Perception of Innovation Barriers in Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1353, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Davide Antonioli & Alberto Marzucchi & Maria Savona, 2017. "Pain shared, pain halved? Cooperation as a coping strategy for innovation barriers," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 841-864, August.
    11. Massimiliano Volpi, 2014. "Universities as sources of information: comparing the role of 'open innovation' and companies' motivations," SEEDS Working Papers 0514, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Mar 2014.
    12. Levan Bzhalava & Uwe Cantner, 2018. "The journey towards open innovation: why do firms choose different routes?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(3), pages 245-265, September.
    13. Anabela Santos & Karel Haegeman & Pietro Moncada-Paternó-Castello, 2021. "The impact of Covid-19 and of the earlier crisis on firms’ innovation and growth: a comparative analysis," JRC Working Papers on Territorial Modelling and Analysis 2021-03, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    14. Gabriele Pellegrino, 2015. "Barriers to innovation: can firm age help lower them?," Working Papers 2015/3, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    15. Vargas, F. & Guillard, Charlotte & Salazar, Monica & Crespi, G.A., 2022. "Harmonized Latin American innovation Surveys Database (LAIS)," MERIT Working Papers 2022-020, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    16. Gabriele Pellegrino, 2018. "Barriers to innovation in young and mature firms," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 181-206, January.
    17. Massimiliano Volpi, 2017. "Sources of information for innovation: the role of companies’ motivations," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(8), pages 817-836, November.
    18. Hölzl, Werner & Janger, Jürgen, 2014. "Distance to the frontier and the perception of innovation barriers across European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 707-725.
    19. Serenella Caravella & Francesco Crespi, 2021. "The role of public procurement as innovation lever: evidence from Italian manufacturing firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(7), pages 663-684, October.
    20. Nestor Duch-Brown & Andrea de Panizza & Ibrahim Kholilul Rohman, 2016. "Innovation and productivity in a S&T intensive sector: the case of Information industries in Spain," JRC Research Reports JRC101847, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    21. Enrique Loredo & Nuria Lopez-Mielgo & Gustavo Pineiro-Villaverde & María Teresa García-Álvarez, 2019. "Utilities: Innovation and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-13, February.
    22. José García-Quevedo & Gabriele Pellegrino & Maria Savona, 2017. "Reviving demand-pull perspectives: The effect of demand uncertainty and stagnancy on R&D strategy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 41(4), pages 1087-1122.
    23. Pinget, Amandine, 2016. "Spécificités des déterminants des innovations environnementales : une approche appliquée aux PME [Specificities of determinants for environmental innovation : an approach applied to SMEs]," MPRA Paper 80108, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. Giovanni Marin & Alberto Marzucchi & Roberto Zoboli, 2015. "SMEs and barriers to Eco-innovation in the EU: exploring different firm profiles," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 671-705, July.

    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. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Savona, Maria, 2013. "Is money all? Financing versus knowledge and demand constraints to innovation," MERIT Working Papers 029, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Savona, Maria, 2017. "No money, no honey? Financial versus knowledge and demand constraints on innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 510-521.
    3. José García-Quevedo & Gabriele Pellegrino & Maria Savona, 2017. "Reviving demand-pull perspectives: The effect of demand uncertainty and stagnancy on R&D strategy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 41(4), pages 1087-1122.
    4. José García-Quevedo & Gabriele Pellegrino & Maria Savona, 2017. "Reviving demand-pull perspectives: The effect of demand uncertainty and stagnancy on R&D strategy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 41(4), pages 1087-1122.
    5. Giovanni Marin & Alberto Marzucchi & Roberto Zoboli, 2014. "SMEs and Barriers to Eco-Innovation in EU: A Diverse Palette of Greens," SEEDS Working Papers 0614, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Apr 2014.
    6. Giovanni Marin & Alberto Marzucchi & Roberto Zoboli, 2015. "SMEs and barriers to Eco-innovation in the EU: exploring different firm profiles," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 671-705, July.
    7. D’Este, Pablo & Iammarino, Simona & Savona, Maria & von Tunzelmann, Nick, 2012. "What hampers innovation? Revealed barriers versus deterring barriers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 482-488.
    8. Hölzl, Werner & Janger, Jürgen, 2014. "Distance to the frontier and the perception of innovation barriers across European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 707-725.
    9. Vicente Salas-Fumás & Javier Ortiz, 2019. "Innovations’ Success and Failure in the Business Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-22, August.
    10. Davide Antonioli & Alberto Marzucchi & Maria Savona, 2017. "Pain shared, pain halved? Cooperation as a coping strategy for innovation barriers," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 841-864, August.
    11. D'Este,Pablo & Rentocchini,Francesco & Vega Jurado,Jaider M., 2012. "The role of human capital in lowering barriers to engage in innovation: evidence from the Spanish innovation survey," INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) Working Paper Series 201206, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV), revised 03 Aug 2012.
    12. Gabriele Pellegrino, 2015. "Barriers to innovation: can firm age help lower them?," Working Papers 2015/3, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    13. Ortiz, Rodrigo & Fernandez, Viviana, 2022. "Business perception of obstacles to innovate: Evidence from Chile with pseudo-panel data analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    14. Gabriele Pellegrino, 2018. "Barriers to innovation in young and mature firms," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 181-206, January.
    15. Luisa Gagliardi & Simona Iammarino, 2017. "Innovation in risky markets. Multinational and domestic firms in the UK regions," Working Papers 37, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Mar 2017.
    16. Luisa Gagliardi & Simona Iammarino, 2018. "Innovation in risky markets: ownership and location advantages in the UK regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(5), pages 1177-1201.
    17. García-Quevedo, José & Segarra-Blasco, Agustí & Teruel, Mercedes, 2018. "Financial constraints and the failure of innovation projects," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 127-140.
    18. Mohieddine Rahmouni, 2014. "Perception des obstacles aux activités d'innovation dans les entreprises tunisiennes," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 22(3), pages 69-98.
    19. Werner Hölzl & Jürgen Janger, 2012. "Innovation Barriers across Firms and Countries," WIFO Working Papers 426, WIFO.
    20. Amara, Nabil & D'Este, Pablo & Landry, Réjean & Doloreux, David, 2016. "Impacts of obstacles on innovation patterns in KIBS firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4065-4073.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Barriers to innovation; Innovative firms; Potential Innovators; Failed Innovators; Panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:unm:unumer:2013029. 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: Ad Notten (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meritnl.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.