Coopetition and innovation. Lessons from worker cooperatives in the Spanish machine tool industry

This is an electronic version of the accepted paper in Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing[EN] Purpose – This paper aims to investigate how the implementation of the inter-cooperation principle among Spanish machine-tool cooperatives helps them to coopete–collaborate with competitors, in their innovation and internationalization processes and achieve collaborative advantages. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a multi-case approach based on interviews with 15 CEOs and research and development (R&D) managers, representing 14 Spanish machine tool firms and institutions. Eight of these organizations are worker-cooperatives.. Findings – Worker -cooperatives achieve advantages on innovation and internationalization via inter-cooperation (shared R&D units, joint sales offices, joint after-sale services, knowledge exchange and relocation of key R&D technicians and managers). Several mutual bonds and ties among cooperatives help to overcome the risk of opportunistic behaviour and knowledge leakage associated to coopetition. The obtained results give some clues explaining to what extent and under which conditions coopetitive strategies of cooperatives are transferable to other types of ownership arrangements across sectors. Practical implications – Firms seeking cooperation with competitors in their R&D and internationalization processes can learn from the coopetitive arrangements analyzed in the paper. Social implications – Findings can be valuable for sectoral associations and public bodies trying to promote coopetition and alliances between competitors as a means to benefit from collaborative advantages. Originality/value – Focusing on an “ideal type” of co-operation -cooperative organisationsand having access to primary sources, the paper shows to what extent (and how) strong coopetitive structures and processes foster innovation and internationalization

Science and Technology Parks in Two Lagging Regions of Spain: A Comparative Evaluation Using an Innovation Network Approach

Science and Technology Parks (STPs) have been widely used as innovation support and regional development instruments in most European countries. In Objective 1 regions of South Europe STPs projects were developed during the 90s through regional, national or EU structural funds as tools for promoting innovation and technology upgrade. Most existing studies cast doubt on the effectiveness of parks in achieving their goals, focussing on the traditional measures of the parks added-value (profitability and growth) to the tenant companies, the university-industry linkages developed. However, more recent developments of territorial innovation models stress the role of networks and interactions for knowledge creation and diffusion. While these approaches imply that the Parks – in their strict spatial nature – may become redundant in a networked space, they can also be used to identify additional performance assessment criteria focusing on the role of the park for the development of interactions, linkages and cooperation inside as well as outside its area. The quantity and quality of linkages inside and outside the STP area and its operation as an innovation cooperation promoter in the regional and broader space are used in this assessment. The present work assesses the performance of STPs in Objective 1 regions of South Europe. It develops an evaluation framework that integrates – together with the traditional linear performance criteria – the concepts of networking, interaction and cooperation and uses it to compare the performance of Parks in two regions in Greece (Thessaloniki and Crete) and two in Spain (Asturias and Andalusia). Our preliminary results from in depth analysis show that while there are different levels of success in terms of the traditional metrics/criteria, we observe in general low levels of interaction and cooperation developed inside the parks as well as with the broader region. The Parks do not seem to operate – at least so far – as places that facilitate intensive knowledge exchange inside and outside their area.

Green jobs – good practices

The concept of green jobs began to spread along with the development of the concept of the green economy. The development of the green economy requires structural changes, including the creation of green jobs. Their creation is important from the economic, ecological and social points of view. For this reason, the article presents their essence, regulations associated with them, the good practices of European players in the creation of green jobs as well as the benefits associated with them.Wydanie współfinansowane ze środków Miasta Łodzi w ramach zadania “Współpraca z wyższymi uczelniami” – umowa 100/03/201

Peculiarities in the Development of Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks in Russia

open access journalThis paper investigates the process of developing and implementing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and industrial parks in Russia. Governments commonly use SEZ policies to develop and diversify exports, create jobs, and launch technology and knowledge sharing. The industrial cluster concept is based on the significance of rivalry and supplier networks within the cluster, the combination of geographical specificities and government policies that lead to innovation and productivity growth. This study reveals that, in Russia, the government’s approach in developing these initiatives has strongly interfered with business activities and prevented the vital competitive and collaborative behavior of firms within these economic zones

Strategies and Resources for Integrated Community Sustainability Planning in St. Paul’s, NL

Under the Federal Gas Tax Agreement, Canadian municipalities are required to complete an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) by March, 2010. Integration and sustainability are two key concepts that have become the foundation of recent models for community planning. The purpose of such planning is to provide a broad, long‐term plan for a community that will help it maximize economic and social benefits, without depleting the environmental resources upon which community members depend. Like many coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, St. Paul’s is currently facing many challenges to future sustainability. The town also has opportunities to develop linkages between its many assets in order to build a stronger community. This document discusses some of these challenges and opportunities in the context of integrated community sustainability planning. The document also includes strategies and resources that St. Paul’s, and other, similar coastal communities can use to develop linkages between community assets

Marine Spatial Planning: Case Studies

With marine planning developing in many parts of the world, especially the E.U., U.S. and Australia, it is important for industry to be part of the creation of a shared vision for a marine area and the necessary elements (e.g., outreach, funding, boundaries) of such an effort. World Ocean Council, with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, undertook a project to inform and, as appropriate, engage a diverse range of ocean industries on marine planning and encourage the use of credible science and risk assessment.The project identified industry sectors and business categories and researched industry perspectives on marine planning in part through the following five case studies. These case studies were selected to provide a broad range of regions across the globe and MSP examples at different stages of design, implementation, monitoring and adaptive management. The case studies are based on interviews with many private sector and government sector participants of planning processes, online documents, maps and available information, and a review of MSP literature. Stakeholder feedback, benefits and challenges from these five case studies are incorporated into the WOC report Ocean Industries and Marine Planning.

Business Environment Institutions in the Light of the Operational Programme Innovative Economy (OP IE)

Realizacja jednego z siedmiu projektów przewodnich wskazanych w „Strategii Europa 2020 – Polityka przemysłowa w erze globalizacji” nakłada na instytucje otoczenia biznesu obowiązek świadczenia usług na rzecz MŚP na najwyższym poziomie. Z uwagi na to, że udoskonalenie oferty dla MŚP wymaga zaangażowania odpowiednich środków finansowych, które zwykle przewyższają możliwości budżetowe tych instytucji, konieczne jest skorzystanie z zewnętrznych źródeł finansowania przeznczonych na ten cel. Dla instytucji otoczenia biznesu w Polsce takie źródło stanowi m.in. PO IG. Zatem dokonanie wstępnej oceny aktywności aplikacyjnej instytucji otoczenia biznesu w ramach wybranych działań i poddziałań PO IG może stanowić jeden z parametrów weryfikujących ich zaangażowanie w udoskonalanie oferty dla MŚP. Ponieważ MŚP korzystają zwykle z usług podmiotów funkcjonujących w regionie ich lokalizacji, zasadne jest przeprowadzenie zbiorczej oceny dla instytucji otoczenia biznesu z poszczególnych województwach. Odpowiednim narzędziem do przeprowadzenia takiej oceny jest benchmarking wyników, który umożliwia wskazanie zarówno: 1) województw liderów – benchmark-ów – pod względem łącznej aktywności aplikacyjnej instytucji otoczenia biznesu zlokalizowanych na ich obszarze, jak i 2) dystansu dzielącego pozostałe województwa objęte benchmarking-iem. Przeprowadzony benchmarking wyników dla wybranych działań i poddziałań PO IG wyróżnił cztery województwa wiodące: mazowieckie, małopolskie, dolnośląskie i śląskie. Znaczący był również dystans między wskazanymi województwami a pozostałymi objętymi benchmarking-iem, zwłaszcza dwoma: lubuskim i opolskim, z których instytucje otoczenia biznesu nie znalazły się na żadnej z analizowanych list podpisanych umów o dofinansowanie. Co więcej, do podmiotów z województw uznanych za benchmark-i trafiła większa część wsparcia przyznanego dotychczas w ramach każdego z analizowanych działań i poddziałań. Projekty instytucji z tych województw były również źródłem dobrych praktyk

Success factors for managing purchasing groups: an empirical survey

In this article, we identify success factors for managing small and intensive purchasing groups by comparing successful and unsuccessful Dutch purchasing groups in a large-scale survey. Transaction costs economics and social exchange theory are used as theoretical frameworks for our broad empirical investigation. We found that the success factors studied that are related to interorganizational trust, the formality of the group, and uniformity of the group members are not success factors for managing purchasing groups. For our data set, the most important success factors are no enforced participation, sufficient total contribution of efforts, all members contribute knowledge, all members rarely change representatives, fair allocation of savings, and communication. We discuss the academic and practical implications of the success factors found