Individual-Level Collaboration and Firm-Level Innovation in the Biotechnology Industry

Malgrat el gran nombre de recerques sobre els acords col·laboratius i la innovació, són pocs els estudis que examinen la influència de la col·laboració individual entre els membres d'una mateixa organització i la seva repercussió en la innovació de l'empresa. Això resulta sorprenent, perquè bastants estudis destaquen el paper important que les persones poden acomplir en els processos d'aprenentatge i adquisició de coneixements (p. ex., la mobilitat dels enginyers i els científics, els investigadors estrella i "boundary spanners"). En conseqüència, aquesta tesi investiga l'impacte de les col·laboracions interorganitzatives dels científics -recollides per la coautoria dels seus papers de recerca- en les innovacions patentades de les empreses. Els resultats indiquen que, fins i tot després de controlar alguns factors que ja han estat identificats per la seva incidència en els resultats innovadors de l'empresa -com ara les aliances estratègiques de l'empresa, els científics estrella i els que no ho són, la capacitat científica individual i la inversió en R+D-, el grau en què els científics d'una empresa col·laboren externament en articles científics influeix positivament en el seu acompliment innovador. A més, les col·laboracions individuals entre els investigadors d'empresa i els investigadors universitaris són especialment útils, i els transvasaments regionals milloren l'impacte de les col·laboracions individuals. Avalant les prediccions derivades de l'economia evolutiva i de les teories de la conducta, les empreses amb un nombre més alt de col·laboracions individuals externes tenen més probabilitats de créixer més a prop de la frontera de la innovació emergent. En canvi, les empreses amb més aliances estratègiques i col·laboracions individuals internes probablement creixeran més allunyades de la frontera de la innovació i l'especialització tecnològica redueix l'alineació de les empreses amb la frontera innovadora. Així doncs, aquesta tesi aïlla i destaca el paper de la col·laboració individual en el procés d'innovació de l'empresa.Pese al gran número de investigaciones sobre las colaboraciones y la innovación, solo unos pocos estudios examinan la influencia de la colaboración individual entre los miembros de una misma organización y su repercusión en la innovación de la empresa. Ello resulta sorprendente, puesto que bastantes estudios destacan el importante rol que las personas pueden desempeñar en los procesos de aprendizaje y adquisición de conocimientos (p. ej., la movilidad de los ingenieros y los científicos, los investigadores estrella y los "boundary spanners"). En consecuencia, esta tesis investiga el impacto de las colaboraciones interorganizativas de los científicos -recogidas por la coautoría de sus papers de investigación- en las innovaciones patentadas de las empresas. Los resultados indican que, incluso después de controlar algunos factores que ya han sido identificados por su incidencia en los resultados innovadores de la empresa -como son las alianzas estratégicas de la empresa, los científicos estrella y los que no lo son, la capacidad científica individual y la inversión en I+D-, el nivel en que los científicos de una empresa colaboran externamente en artículos científicos influye positivamente en su desempeño innovador. Además, las colaboraciones individuales entre los investigadores de empresa y los investigadores universitarios son especialmente útiles, y los trasvases regionales mejoran el impacto de las colaboraciones individuales. Avalando las predicciones derivadas de la economía evolutiva y las teorías conductuales, las empresas con mayor número de colaboraciones individuales externas tienen mayores probabilidades de crecer más próximas a la frontera de la innovación emergente. En cambio, las empresas con mayor número de alianzas estratégicas y colaboraciones individuales internas probablemente crecerán más alejadas de la frontera de la innovación y la especialización tecnológica reduce la alineación de las empresas con la frontera innovadora. Así pues, esta tesis aísla y destaca el rol de la colaboración individual en el proceso de innovación de la empresa.Despite the vast amount of research on collaborative arrangements and innovation, only a few studies examine influence of individual collaboration of members within an organization and their influence on firm innovation. This is surprising since several studies illustrate the important role individuals can play in knowledge acquisition and learning (e.g. mobility of engineers and scientist, star researchers and boundary spanners). Therefore, this dissertation investigates the impact of inter-organizational collaborations of scientists - as captured by co-authorship of research papers - on the patented innovative of firms. The results indicate that even after controlling for factors that have been previously suggested to impact the innovative output of a firm - including the firm's strategic alliances, star and non-star scientists, individual-level scientific ability, and R&D investment - the extent to which a firm's scientists collaborate externally on scientific articles positively influences the firm's innovative performance. Furthermore, individual collaborations between firm researchers and university researchers are particularly useful and regional spillovers enhance the impact of individual collaborations. Supporting the predictions derived from evolutionary economics and behavioral theories, firms with greater numbers of external individual collaborations are likely to grow increasingly aligned to the frontier of emerging innovation. Firms with greater numbers of strategic alliances and internal individual collaborations are likely to grow more distant from the innovation frontier and technological specialization decreases the alignment of firms to the innovative frontier. Thus this dissertation isolates and highlights the role of individual level collaboration in the firm innovation process

Frequency dependency of temporal contrast adaptation in normal subjects

AbstractThe aim of this study was to determine the influence of temporal frequency of temporal contrast adaptation on contrast sensitivity in healthy subjects. Temporal contrast sensitivities (TCS) were measured monocularly in seven healthy subjects with a modified ERG full-field bowl stimulator at eight different test temporal frequencies (9, 15, 20, 25, 31, 37, 44, 51Hz) using a two-alternative-forced-choice strategy. Before each presentation of the test stimulus, a 100% contrast adapting flicker stimulus was presented (frequencies: 9, 15, 20, 25, 31, 37, 44, 51, 100Hz). At each adapting frequency, a complete set of TCSs was measured. All temporal contrast sensitivities decreased with increasing temporal frequencies. Adaptation led to a general temporal contrast sensitivity decrease. Largest adaptation effects were seen at an adaptation frequency of 25Hz. Reduction of contrast sensitivity was significantly larger at 25Hz adaptation than at 9Hz adaptation (t-test of paired samples, Bonferroni corrected). The results of this study showed a general TCS decrease with the largest effect at an adaptation frequency of 25Hz. This finding indicates that the contrast adaptation probably occurred in the magnocellular-pathway. In future clinical studies adaptation effects could be investigated in patients with reduced temporal contrast sensitivity

25 Hz adaptation: Influence on recovery time in glaucoma

INTRODUCTION. Normal temporal contrast sensitivity is maximally influenced by pre-adaptation with 25-Hz temporal contrast flicker. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 25-Hz contrast adaptation on recovery of contrast sensitivity in normals, patients with ocular hypertension, preperimetric, perimetric and advanced perimetric open-angle glaucoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Temporal contrast sensitivity was examined after pre-adaptation with 25 Hz in the following: 43 normals, 14 ocular hypertension, 10 preperimetric primary open-angle glaucoma, and 33 perimetric open-an­gle glaucoma patients. After pre-adaptation (the time after which a test stimulus could be detected again), recovery time (RT) was measured at 3% and 5% test contrast. Additionally, 25 patients with advanced perimetric open-angle glaucoma were measured at 12%, 25%, and 35% contrast and compared to a normal group consisting of 15 subjects. RESULTS. 1. Measurements of RT are reliable (Cronbach’s a > 0.8). 2. RT was age-dependent requiring an age-correction in further analyses. 3. RT3% and RT5% were significantly prolonged in perimetric primary open-angle glau­coma compared to normals (3% test contrast: p = 0.007; 5% test contrast: p = 0.035). 4. Within each group, RT3% and RT5% were significantly different at both test contrasts (normals, perimetric open-angle glaucoma: p < 0.001; ocular hypertension: p = 0.007; preperimetric open-angle glaucoma: p = 0.035). 5. RT3% and RT5% were significantly correlated with mean defect (p < 0.001) and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (p = 0.018). RT5% was correlated with loss variance (p = 0.048). 6. RT12%, RT25% and RT35% were significantly prolonged in advanced perimetric glaucoma (p < 0.001), and correlated with mean defect (p < 0.001, p = 0.002, p = 0.013) and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (p < 0.001, p = 0.003, p = 0.013). RT12% was also correlated with loss variance (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS. Measurements of RT after 25-Hz pre-adaptation can be used in glaucoma diagnosis and follow-up examination, especially in monitoring glaucoma progress in advanced perimetric primary open-angle glaucoma

Temporal contrast sensitivity: A potential parameter for glaucoma progression, especially in advanced stages

INTRODUCTION. Previously it could be shown that temporal contrast sensitivity is affected by glaucoma and maximally influenced after 25-Hz adaptation in normals. This study investigated different kinds of 25-Hz temporal contrast adaptation on TCS in patients with ocular hypertension, preperimetric primary open-angle glaucoma, and perimetric open-angle glaucoma. Additionally, correlations of measured data with parameters of glaucoma diagnostic were done and assessed for the potential use of TCS as a parameter for glaucoma progression. MATERIALS AND METHODS. One hundred and four subjects were included: 44 normals, 14 ocular hypertensions, 11 preperimetric primary open-angle glaucomas, and 35 perimetric open-angle glaucomas. Using the Erlangen Flicker Test, temporal contrast sensitivity was measured without adaptation, after pre-adaptation and after pre- and re-adaptations at 25 Hz. Reliability analyses were done. RESULTS. All test strategies showed high reliability (a-Cronbach’s > 0.86). In normals, age-dependency of temporal contrast sensitivity without adaptation (p = 0.052) and after pre- and re-adaptation (p = 0.008) was observed. Temporal contrast sensitivity is significantly reduced after pre-adaptation for all subjects (p < 0.001). Reduction of temporal contrast sensitivity after pre- and re-adaptations was significant in all groups (p < 0.001), but it was smaller than after single pre-adaptation (p < 0.001). Temporal contrast sensitivity without adaptation was significantly reduced in patients with perimetric glaucoma (p = 0.040) but not in patients with ocular hypertension and preperimetric glaucoma. Correlation analyses yielded a significant correlation between temporal contrast sensitivity without adaptation and mean defect (p = 0.003, r = –0.329), loss variance (p = 0.027, r = –0.256), and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (p < 0.001, r = 0.413) for all subjects and between temporal contrast sensitivity after pre-adaptation and mean defect (p = 0.045, r = –0.239). CONCLUSIONS. Temporal contrast sensitivity seems to be affected in perimetric glaucoma with an overall reduction after adaptation. Significant correlations of temporal contrast sensitivity with perimetric and morphologic parameters offer new aspects of its potential use as a glaucoma progressions marker, especially in advanced stages when perimetric diagnosis is limited

Gaussian Copula Regression in the Presence of Thresholds

Park and Gupta’s (2012) introduction of the Gaussian Copula (GC) approach to deal with endogeneity has made a significant impact on empirical marketing research with many papers using this approach. Recent studies have however started to explore and examine the approach and its underlying assumptions more closely, resulting in a more critical picture of it. A particular challenge is the non-testable assumption that the dependency structure between the endogenous regressor and the error term should be described by a Gaussian copula. In general, there exists a limited understanding of what this assumption implies, what causes its violation, and potential remedies. Our study addresses this explicitly. We provide a detailed discussion of the dependency structure assumption and how thresholds in the data can lead to its violation and biased results. We use real and simulated data to show how threshold detection before applying the GC approach can overcome this problem and thereby provide researchers with a useful tool to increase the likelihood of the GC approach’s assumptions being met

Configurations of social media-enabled strategies for open innovation, firm performance, and their barriers to adoption

The use of social media offers tremendous innovation potential. Yet, while current research emphasizes success stories, little is known about how firms can leverage the full potential of their social media use for open innovation. In this paper, the authors address this gap by conducting a configurational analysis to develop an integrative taxonomy of social media-enabled strategies for open innovation. This analysis stems from the integration of internal and external variables such as social media communication activities, organizational innovation seekers, potential innovation providers, the stages of the open innovation process, and their relationship with different performance outcomes and barriers to social media adoption for open innovation. Through an empirical study of 337 firms based in eight countries, four clusters have been identified that are characterized as distinct strategies: “marketing semi-open innovators,” “cross-department semi-open innovators,” “cross-department full process semi-open innovators” and “broad adopters open innovators.” The findings reveal the trade-offs associated with different strategies for implementing social media for open innovation and provide insights of the use of these strategies. By doing so, they suggest a more nuanced approach that contrasts with the traditionally positive (or even rosy) depiction of the effects of social media on open innovation. Accordingly, managers are encouraged to contemplate their organizational competencies, capabilities, and their strategic intent when drafting social media strategies for open innovation. Selective approaches, along with greater adoption leading to greater benefits, are shown to be more rewarding than a middle way that spreads things too thin. Avenues for further research include qualitative explorations of the trajectories unfolding through implementing social media strategies for innovation activities and the use of objective performance measures rather than subjective perceptions from informants to understand the complex relationships between social media adoption and performance.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Revisiting James March (1991): Whither Exploration and Exploitation

We revisit March’s seminal 1991 article, “Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning”, and analyze the impact it has had on scholarly thinking, providing a comprehensive and structured review of the extensive and diverse research inspired by this publication. We show that although this influence has changed significantly over the years, there are still unexplored opportunities left by this seminal work. Our approach enables us to identify promising directions for future research that reinforce the themes anchored in March’s article. In particular, we call for reconnecting current research to the behavioral roots of this article and uncovering the microfoundations of exploration and exploitation. Our analysis further identifies opportunities for integrating this framework with resource-based theories and considering how exploration and exploitation can be sourced and integrated within and across organizational boundaries. Finally, our analysis reveals prospects for extending the notions of exploration and exploitation to new domains, but we caution that such domains should be clearly delineated. We conclude with a call for further research on the antecedents of exploration and exploitation and for studying their underexplored dimensions

Online_Appendices-al – Supplemental material for Revisiting James March (1991): Whither exploration and exploitation?

<p>Supplemental material, Online_Appendices-al for Revisiting James March (1991): Whither exploration and exploitation? by Ralf Wilden, Jan Hohberger, Timothy M Devinney, Dovev Lavie in Strategic Organization</p