Industry diversity and its impact on the innovation performance of firms: An empirical analysis based on panel data (firm-level)

This paper investigates empirically the impact of diversity on the innovation performance of a firm. We created a measure for diversity that mirrors differences in the resource base of firms within an industry and tested its impact in addition to more traditional factors such as technology-push, demand-pull, and firm-size, based on panel data stemming from three representative cross sectional surveys carried out in the years 1996, 1999, and 2002, respectively. In fact, diversity has a significant positive impact on the innovation intensity of firms and thus supports more theoretical findings in this area. We also find empirical evidence for the technology push and the demand pull hypotheses, as well as the importance of competition for innovatio

Operating Successfully on a New Technological Path: The Effect of External Search

Switching to a new technological path is often a serious economic challenge for companies. Incumbents, in particular, are often led by their organizational routines, traditional technological orientation, and experience, and run the risk of losing contact with new technologies, which can decrease their competitiveness. We analyze whether opening up the innovation process to external knowledge partners can help to overcome such path dependence and enable firms to operate successfully on a new technological path. We develop a theoretical concept that shows the potential of external knowledge sources for operating successfully on a new technological path and test it empirically using the example of green technologies. Green technologies are not only relevant for addressing the current environmental problems, but they are also an example of a new technological path that is proving difficult for companies to switch to. Overall, we find strong direct effects of external (green) knowledge on green innovation success. The results even indicate that the direct effect of external knowledge tends to be larger for green than for non-green innovation

Green inventions: Is wait-and-see a reasonable option?

We analyze the potential of different knowledge stocks to decrease the technological gap between the leader in green technology inventions and its followers in order to identify if wait-and-see is a reasonable option to benefit from knowledge. Our econometric results indicate that it is difficult to decrease the technological gap and remain competitive in the generation of green technologies without timely accumulating green knowledge. Although effects from external green knowledge stocks also contribute to decrease the technological gap, the effects are moderate and they cannot compensate the lack of internal green competences. Non-green knowledge stocks even tend to increase the technological gap

Clearing the fog: How circular economy transition can be measured at the company level

How far has the transition process to a circular economy progressed? How can this transition process be promoted? So far, the indicators used to analyse such questions have mostly been based on aggregate recycling rates or waste volumes. However, circular economy is much more than that. This paper develops a concept for empirically measuring the transition process along a company’s value chain. The concept distinguishes 27 business activities that are relevant for the circular economy and thus enables detailed statements about the transition to the circular economy along the entire value chain and the three dimensions of the circular economy, i.e. efficiency, closing the resource loop and extending product life. Based on this concept, a representative survey of 8,000 Swiss companies was conducted. The data allow – for the first time and for a representative sample – the analysis of the determinants of the transition process to a circular economy using econometric estimations. The results suggest that the transition process has just started; most companies involved in circular economy activities focus on efficiency enhancing measures rather than on extending the life of products/services or closing the loop. In addition, the results show that circular economy pioneers are characterized by a willingness to invest a significant amount of available capital in the breadth of circular activities, have greater financial flexibility, and in some cases face greater non-price competition. Ultimately, the results suggest that the transition to a circular economy can only be successful if the necessary framework conditions are set in such a way that it is profitable for the company to significantly increase the degree of circularity

Technology proximity between firms and universities and technology transfer

This paper investigates the technological orientation of firms and universities and their propensity to have knowledge and technology transfer (KTT) activities. This study looks at the technological potential for KTT and how it is used, emphasizing differences between smaller and larger firms. To this end we collected information about the technology activities of firms (patent statistics) and the technology activities of universities. Furthermore, we used survey data on technology transfer activities. We combined the three datasets and found—especially for smaller firms—that great technology proximity fosters transfer activities with different universities (case 1). The same is true if proximity is low and expertise is considerable at universities in the respective technology field (case 2). In both cases additional transfer potential exists. In the second case firms engage in transfer activities in order to update and modify their knowledge base and as a consequence improve "competitiveness” in certain technology fields. Furthermore, firms show a tendency to diversify their contacts with universities in order to avoid knowledge lock-i

Firm characteristics and the cyclicality of R&D investments

The aim of this study is to combine micro-aspects of firm behavior with macro aspects of business development and identify market conditions (e.g. price competition) and firm characteristics (e.g. type of R&D partners) that enable a firm to have a pro-cyclical, anti-cyclical, or non-systematic R&D investment behavior. The empirical results confirm to large extent a series of hypotheses as to innovation-relevant firm characteristics that underline the three different behavior categories and allow us to make profiles of the three types of R&D behavio

Do specific forms of university-industry knowledge transfer have different impacts on the performance of private enterprises? An empirical analysis based on Swiss firm data

This study investigates the impact of a wide spectrum of Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) activities (educational and research activities, activities related with technical infrastructure, and consulting) on two innovation indicators (a) in the framework of an innovation equation with variables for specific forms of KTT activities as additional determinants of innovation, and (b) based on a matched-pairs analysis for several specific forms of KTT activities. The data used in the study were collected by means of a survey of Swiss enterprises that took place at the beginning of 2005. We found that research and educational activities improve the innovation performance of firms in terms of sales of considerably modified products, research activities in addition also in terms of sales of new products. This could be shown by several methods: the innovation equation approach with instrument variables for specific forms of KTT activities as well as two matching method

Is there any Impact of University-Industry Knowledge Transfer on Innovation and Productivity? An Empirical Analysis Based on Swiss Firm Data

This study investigates the impact of a wide spectrum of knowledge and technology transfer (KTT) activities (general information; educational activities; research activities; activities related with technical infrastructure; and consulting) (a) on two innovation indicators in the framework of an innovation equation with a endogenized variable of KTT activities as an additional determinant of innovation; and (b) on labour productivity in the framework of a production function with endogenized innovation variables and the variable for KTT activities as additional production factor

The Impact of Environmentally Friendly Innovations on Value Added

While recent literature has focused on explaining the determinants of green innovations, it is not well understood how such innovations affect performance. To analyse the relationship between green innovation and performance, new industry-level panel data were exploited: these include 12 OECD countries, the whole manufacturing sector and a period of 30 years. The results show that green inventions are U-shape related to performance. However, the turning point is quite high and hence only relevant for a few industries. This indicates that—given the current level of green promotion—market incentives alone are not sufficient to allow the green invention activities of industries to rise considerably. To verify these results and to get a better understanding of the mechanisms in the green market, we finally made several interviews with multinational firms that have a good understanding of what happens on the global market of green innovation