Do firms rely on sources of information for organizational innovation?

The growing literature on knowledge and information has focused on the impact of information sources on technological innovation. Our objective was to explore the use made by firms of internal and external (market, research and generally available) sources of information for their organizational innovation practices? implementation. Furthermore, we studies whether these sources may vary according to whether the firm operates in the manufacturing or service industry. Multivariate probit models? results on 2008 Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data show notable differences between services and manufacturing, for instance that employees? skill levels are more important for manufacturing than for services. Overall, this paper provides strong evidence of the heterogeneity in firms? sources of information to engage in organizational innovation. On one hand, differences appear in the sources of innovation used for the various types of organizational innovation, indicating the appropriateness to differentiate organizational innovation practices rather than using an aggregated measure of organizational innovation. On the other hand, the sources of information vary according to the type of industry, even though some similarities appear. Managerial and theoretical implications for organizational innovation are provided.CIS; manufacturing/services; organizational innovation; sources of information

The impact of non-technological innovation on technical innovation: do services differ from manufacturing? An empirical analysis of Luxembourg firms

Generally speaking, the support of technological innovation has been viewed in terms of input such as R&D and instruments such as legal protection. The literature on innovation highlights the interactive nature of the innovation process in which non-technological activities are essential. However, few works have taken into account the role of other innovative strategies such as marketing and organisational innovation, a role which may differ according to whether the firm is involved in manufacturing or in services. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to fill this gap by highlighting the effects of non-technological innovation strategies on technological innovation. For the empirical work, we used firm-level data drawn from the Community Innovation Survey 2006 for Luxembourg. Our results show that the effects of non-technological innovations differ depending on the phase of the innovation process. Marketing and organisational innovations significantly increase the likelihood of innovation, but not the commercial success of innovation. The study also shows the differentiated effects of the two types of non-technological innovation in manufacturing and service, and confirms the key role of organisational innovation for services.CIS; Innovation; Marketing; Organisation; Technological Innovation

Management international. Des pratiques en mutation, Synthèse de l'ouvrage de U. Mayrhofer et S.Urban, Pearson

International audienceSynthèse réalisée par Caroline Mothe, Professeur des Universités, IREGE, U. de Savoie L'importance du management international n'est aujourd'hui plus à démontrer tant l'activité internationale représente un aspect croissant de la vie des entreprises, mais aussi de tous les hommes. En effet, les pratiques du management international affectent les décisions d'investissement et de localisation des activités et, par voie de conséquence, la distribution des revenus au niveau mondial. Par ailleurs, les activités internationales entraînent le développement de nouveaux liens socioéconomiques entre les hommes, les entreprises et les territoires, liens qui sont souvent déséquilibrés à l'échelle internationale entre les nations. Les entreprises multinationales ne sont pas étrangères à la création de ces relations de pouvoir d'influence, de dépendance ou de subordination, rendant les décisions de leurs managers internationaux clés pour cet équilibre souvent précaire et source de conflits, notamment politiques. Le métier et le rôle du manager international, dans un tel contexte d'interdépendance des espaces à l'échelle planétaire, deviennent ainsi à la fois plus délicat, plus risqué, plus complexe, mais aussi plus stimulant. Cet ouvrage poursuit trois objectifs : 1. décrire et faire comprendre, le plus objectivement possible, la réalité des phénomènes internationaux, 2. susciter la réflexion critique du lecteur et 3. fournir au lecteur des concepts, schémas, outils et grilles de lecture pour faciliter la prise de décision. Il présente une analyse tant conceptuelle qu'opérationnelle des multiples sujets qui préoccupent les managers actifs dans le domaine international en tenant compte des évolutions profondes et rapides des échanges internationaux et d'une globalisation progressive. Véritable guide de management international, il intègre de nombreux schémas pertinents de réflexion et d'action, des repères et concepts utiles, de nombreux exemples d'entreprises et des cas illustratifs. Tous ces éclairages sont conçus dans la perspective d'une interaction féconde entre théorie, concept et pratique, qui s'épaulent mutuellement dans la gestation d'une décision internationale qui, loin d'être un exercice solitaire, se trouve souvent être le fruit d'actions concertées et de négociations collectives. La démarche adoptée dans cet ouvrage, qui se veut plus qu'un manuel par son approche systémique et de réflexion d'ensemble, se veut donc holistique, ce qui permet d'éviter des approches réductrices tout en fournissant des connaissances actionnables sur le terrain. L'ouvrage se compose de dix chapitres proposant une progression thématique en entonnoir, partant de considérations macroéconomiques pour arriver au contrôle des opérations internationales en passant par l'élaboration et la mise en oeuvre d'une stratégie internationale. L'ouvrage dans son ensemble se veut interdisciplinaire incluant, entre autres, des approches issues de la psychosociologie, de la science politique, de l'histoire des sciences et technologies ou du droit, pour éviter le réductionnisme d'une approche étroite. Le management international y est appréhendé comme l'art de conduire l'évolution d'une organisation dans un contexte impliquant plusieurs nations, ce qui pose la question de la diversité des souverainetés nationales, donc un problème de pouvoir politique, et celle de la diversité des cultures, donc des comportements sociaux

Purification and Analysis of Folate-Dye Conjugate

Folate receptor has achieved great importance for use in targeted drug delivery and in vitro and in vivo diagnostic assays. Folate receptor (FR) is over expressed on several cancer cell types and activated macrophages, but exists in relatively low abundance on the surface of non-cancerous tissue and non-inflammatory cells. This unique attribute is the hallmark of folate – targeted methodologies allowing the diagnostic agent and/or drug to be ferried to the specific disease sites while preventing “off target” effects in normal tissues. Although several folate-based dyes have been reported, simple and detailed synthetic and purification methods for these conjugates have not been reported. Our objective is to develop a new folate-based dye and the corresponding HPLC methods for the purification and analysis of this conjugate. Folate- DylightTM 800 was successfully synthesized by very simple, inexpensive and safe method. The whole synthesis method can be performed in small laboratories with minimum resources and small quantity of reagents required. The synthesis of Folate-DylightTM 800 conjugate was successfully purified by HPLC. The purified Folate-DylightTM 800 conjugate was evaluated by microplate reader, UV-Vis and HPLC

CSR firm profiles and innovation: An empirical exploration with survey data

This paper explores the relationship between different Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies and innovation. Using a survey carried out on CSR behavior of Luxembourg firms, we found two types of firms as far as CSR practices are concerned. Cluster 1 firms adopted CSR practices to achieve economic goals without resorting to the formalization of these practices. In contrast, cluster 2 firms "learn CSR by doing" and by establishing CSR procedures and tools. Then  we match Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data and specific data collected on CSR clusters. We estimate Logit models to explain the different types of innovation (product, process, organizational). In comparison with the firms which don't adopt CSR, firms in Cluster 1 are more innovative in  terms of product and process once we control for firm characteristics and innovation drivers while firms in cluster 2 tend to reject innovation in process and adopt organizational innovation. These results, which show the link between the various CSR practices and innovation types, have important consequences in terms of managerial recommendations and public policy support for innovation.Corporate Social Responsibility; Innovation; Organizational; Practices; Product; Process

Analyse des paramètres de recherche d'information: Etude de l'influence des paramètres sur les résultats

International audienceCet article présente une analyse détaillée d'un ensemble de 2 millions de résultats de recherche d'information obtenus par différents paramétrages de systèmes de recherche d'information. Plus spécifiquement, nous avons utilisé la plateforme Terrier et l'interface RunGeneration pour créer différentes exécutions (run en anglais) en modifiant les modèles d'indexation et de recherche. Nous avons ensuite évalué chacun des résultats obtenus selon différentes mesures de performance de recherche d'information. Une analyse systématique a été menée sur ces données afin de déterminer d'une part quels étaient les paramètres qui ont le plus d'influence, d'autre part quels étaient les valeurs de ces paramètres les plus susceptibles de conduire à de bonnes performances du système

Technological innovation persistence: Literature survey and exploration of the role of organizational innovation

In this paper, we will review the literature on technological innovation persistence and provide a general theoretical framework to analyze the main determinants of this innovative behavior. Moreover, no previous empirical study has taken into account organizational innovation practices as possible determinants of innovation persistence. We will therefore include them, as previous studies have shown the interaction effects between the two types of innovation, and produce empirical results on technical innovation persistence. A multinomial probit model was used to estimate the likelihood of belonging to each of the three longitudinal innovation profiles. Results confirm the differentiated impact of determinants on process and technological innovation persistence, and the effect of R&D intensity, R&D cooperation and competition intensity. As hypothesized, we also found that organizational innovation is a determinant factor for innovation persistence and, more generally speaking, for technological innovation, in particular organizational practices such as knowledge management and external partnerships.Persistence; Innovation; Technological innovation; Organizational innovation; R&D

Synergistic effects of organizational innovation practices and firm performance

Organizational innovation has been shown to be favourable for technological innovation. However, the question of which organizational practices should be combined ? and thus of their compatibility ? remains unanswered. We here empirically investigate the complementarities between different organizational practices (business practices, knowledge management, workplace organization and external relations). Firm-level data were drawn from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) carried out in 2008 in Luxembourg. Supermodularity tests provide evidence of the impact of complementary asset management to raise firms? innovative performance. The organizational practices? combinations differ according to whether the firm is in the first step of the innovation process (i.e. being innovative) or in a later step (i.e. performing as far as innovation is concerned). When adopting organizational practices, managers should therefore be aware of their effects on technological innovation. These results also have implications for public policies in terms of innovation support.Complementarities; Organizational innovation; Technological innovations; Supermodularity; Innovative performance