Breadth of external knowledge search in service sectors

There is a dearth of empirical research on the impact of external knowledge search on innovation performance in different categories of service firms. This study explores the effectiveness of the breadth of external search on product and process innovations in German firms. In particular, we model a non-linear relationship between the breadth of knowledge and product and process innovations. Drawing on the Mannheim Innovation Panel (MIP) data for the German service firms in the period 2014-2016, we report findings from a bivariate probit model, which takes into account mutual interdependence between product and process innovations. Moreover, the model is separately estimated for knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and other services. For comparative purposes, we also estimate the model for manufacturing firms. Empirical findings uniformly show an inverted U-shaped effect of the breadth of knowledge on both product and process innovations. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that using up to three knowledge sources increases the probability of a joint implementation of product and process innovations. These findings hold for both KIBS firms and other services. However, those service firms that focus on a single type of innovation experience diminishing returns to external knowledge when exploiting more than one source of knowledge. These results suggest that a simultaneous introduction of different types of innovation requires diverse knowledge sources. In contrast, when focusing on a single type of innovation, service firms experience diminishing returns when using multiple sources. However, this finding is only partially found for manufacturing firms. Accordingly, our findings provide support for the demarcation approach, insofar as the breadth of knowledge has a heterogenous impact on innovation in manufacturing relative to service firms. Previous studies on the breadth of knowledge search mostly examined its influence on innovation performance without separately analysing manufacturing and service firms. The present study focuses on service firms, that are further divided into KIBS and other service firms. By investigating potentially non-linear relationships between knowledge breadth and product and process innovations, it illustrates how different innovation strategies are affected by a diverse pool of external knowledge sources

National and international R&D support programmes and technology scouting in European small and medium enterprises

This study evaluates the effectiveness of national and international R&D support programmes on firms' technology scouting, defined as firms' use of external knowledge sources. Drawing on a unique dataset on R&D support programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in both manufacturing and service sectors across 28 European countries, this study reports treatment effects estimated by the copula-based endogenous switching model, which takes into account unobserved firm heterogeneity. Empirical results indicate that R&D support programmes have heterogeneous effects on technology scouting. In particular, a crowding out effect arises in the case of informal sources of external knowledge, while additional effects are reported for formal, strategic sources. For informal sources of external knowledge, a random distribution of R&D measures would have a substantially larger effect rather than using current selection criteria. This is among first study to explore the policy effects on technology scouting applying a copula-based endogenous switching model. Most cross-sectional empirical studies employ matching estimators, although their main disadvantage is the selection on observables

In-house R&D, external R&D and cooperation breadth in Spanish manufacturing firms: is there a synergistic effect on innovation outputs?

This study explores the nature of relationship between in-house R&D, external R&D and cooperation breadth and their joint impact on patent counts as well as technological, product and process, innovations in Spanish manufacturing firms. With regards to patent counts, empirical findings from a Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimator suggest a complementarity effect of internal and external R&D activities conditional on the breadth of R&D cooperation. Concerning technological innovation, results from dynamic random-effects probit models indicate no synergistic effects. In addition, we find evidence of persistence of all three innovation output measures. Our results suggest policy implications in relation to strengthening firms’ absorptive capacity that could have long-run effects

Financial and Non-Financial Barriers to Innovation and the Degree of Radicalness

The aim of this study is to analyse the effects of barriers to innovation on firms’ propensity to engage in radical and incremental innovations. We look at innovative and potentially innovative firms and estimate the effect of three types of barriers—financial, knowledge and competition—on the propensity to radical innovation new to the world, radical innovation new to the market and incremental innovation. An empirical study has been performed, drawing on data collected from the German Mannheim Innovation Panel covering the period from 2014 to 2016. Empirical results reveal heterogeneous effects of barriers depending on the degree of radicalness. In particular, knowledge and competition barriers are an impediment to radical innovation, whereas financial and knowledge barriers reduce a probability of incremental innovation. Based on the findings, we discuss policy recommendations for mitigating barriers to innovation conditional on the degree of radicalness

Regulatory barriers of internationalisation for the SMEs: an emerging market context

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to identify, categorise and compare regulatory barriers of internationalisation for the SMEs from an emerging market context. Design/methodology/approach -Using primary data from a questionnaire survey, this paper has developed and validated a partial least square-based structural model to assess the key regulatory barriers of internationalisation with particular attention to the SMEs in Bangladesh. Findings -The results indicate that both administrative and economic regulatory barriers are significant for the internationalisation of SMEs where administrative regulatory barriers are slightly more substantial in Bangladesh. Originality/value –Internationalisation of SMEs has received increasing attention over recent decades, but the association between these two components (regulatory barriers and internationalisation of SMEs) is under explored particularly from emerging country context. By integrating findings from previous studies, this study provides further discussion from both theoretical and methodological aspects, and points out the directions for future research

Relative effectiveness of open innovation strategies in single and complex SME innovators

This study examines the impact of inbound and coupled open innovation (OI) strategies in single and complex innovators, whereby the former concerns firms that engage in either product or process innovation, while the latter encompasses firms that simultaneously engage in product and process innovations. Moreover, the relative performance effects of OI strategies in complex and single innovators are largely unexplored. Data are derived from the German innovation survey. It focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing sectors. Logit regression is used to measure the impact of breadth and depth of inbound OI and the breadth of coupled OI strategy on innovation performance of complex and single innovators. Empirical findings suggest that among single innovators, search depth is more effective in stimulating product than process innovations. Besides product innovators, complex innovators also benefit from search depth relative to single process innovators. With respect to other dimension of OI, search breadth has no differentiating effect among single and complex innovators, while cooperation breadth is more effective in complex innovators relative to single innovators, whether product or process

Productivity Gap between the “New” and “Old” Europe and Role of Institutions

The present study examines how policy makers should consider the quality of institutional framework to reduce the productivity gap and increase a country’s ability to absorb superior technologies developed elsewhere. This paper analyzes the impact of components of economic freedom, such as the size of government, regulation, and freedom to trade internationally, and world government indicators, such as political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, regulatory quality, and control of corruption on the productivity gap between the “Old” and “New” Europe countries. This is among the first studies to investigate, in a sample of former socialistic countries, the impact of institutions on a country’s ability to adopt superior technology developed elsewhere. A static panel analysis was applied on cross-sectional data from the eleven EU countries. The results strongly support the productivity convergence between the “Old” and “New” Europe countries, with a positive impact of the institutions on the productivity growth. However, the impact of the institutions fades the further the country is from the frontier

The Impact of Environmental Management on Labour Productivity

The green transition and green economic growth are policy priorities in the European Union. In this context, this study estimates the effects of environmental management on firm performance, in particular labour productivity. There is currently a lack of empirical evidence on this topic, although it is of great importance due to the increasing need for environmental practices across the globe. Therefore, to address this gap, we explore the relationship between several environmental variables on labour productivity, through the use of cross-sectional firm-level data. These data were obtained using the sixth wave of the Business Environment and Enterprise Survey (BEEPS VI). This study focuses on ten EU countries. The results obtained from the empirical analysis reveal that firms who employ an environmental manager and firms that are subject to energy taxes or levies both have higher productivity than those who do not; thus, firms that have employed or are subject to certain environmental practices reap the benefits of higher labour productivity. Furthermore, firms that use renewable energy have higher labour productivity than those that do not. Therefore, the results obtained allowed us to draw implications for both policy makers and managers

Product innovation, process innovation and export propensity: persistence, complementarities and feedback effects in Spanish firms

Drawing on a longitudinal data of Spanish manufacturing firms, this study explores the persistence of technological innovation and exports, their potential complementary relations and feedback effects. Empirical results suggest the presence of both true and spurious state dependence in all three activities. True state dependence in technical innovation and exports implies intertemporal spillovers relevant to the evaluation of innovation and export policy measures. However, given that results also suggest spurious state dependence, firm-specific characteristics should be taken into account in promoting technological innovations and exports. In addition, we find a strong complementarity between product and process innovation both through a contemporaneous effect and via unobserved firm characteristics. However, concerning complementarity between innovation and exports, results suggests complementarity only through contemporaneous effects. Finally, we find no support for the causal link from past product and process innovations to current export activities

Revisiting feminism, entrepreneurship, and internationalization foundations to examine institutional factors affecting women-owned SMEs’ entry in foreign market

Participation of women-owned SMEs in the international trade is getting more importance in the transformation of institutional changes. Although women entrepreneurs are contributing to the social and economic development, the role of social, cultural and legal institutions of any given economy is still debatable. This argument remains controversial, as there is no single theory that has explained the phenomenon of women-owned firms in international trade so far. Because of the missing link between gender sensitivity with the existing theories of entrepreneurship and internationalization, there is a serious research gap. To fill up this research gap, this study revisits existing theories from three research domains: feminism, entrepreneurship and internationalization. Factors derived from revisiting theories of entrepreneurship and internationalization has been evaluated based on findings of review of feminist theories. Finally, key parameters have been selected to assess internationalization of women-owned SMEs, which need empirical investigation. This study discusses the need for incorporating feminism, entrepreneurship, and internationalization foundations to assess institutional factors in international women entrepreneurship. This discussion addressed two major questions: How do we use evaluation method to examine international women entrepreneurship? How do we incorporate feminism and entrepreneurship to study internationalization of women owned SMEs. As social action is significant, this study advances an integrative view of internationalization of women-owned SMEs as a meaningful action by incorporating feminist and entrepreneurship concepts in the interplay of choice, rationality and interpretation. This study presents evidence sufficient to show scales regarding the criteria and parameters for assessing growth and expansion of women-owned SMEs. Hence, the findings of this research will contribute at theory developing and at policymaking level and in practice at managerial level