Cooperation resources, absorptive capacity and firm-level innovation

This thesis addresses how firms learn to innovate by using external information and knowledge in the face of limited absorptive capacity. Innovation is an interactive process that requires firms to reach beyond their boundary in search of external knowledge. However, very little is known about this process in developing countries. Using data from a developing country, Nigeria, I provide fresh evidence to the effect that interactive learning generally helps firm-level innovation. However, the positive relationship is contingent upon a firm's current level of innovativeness. As firms become more innovative, it seems less useful for them to rely on a broad spectrum of external sources. Going beyond the limits of the empirical analyses, a new agent based model (ABM) is developed to shed more light on the relationship between interactive learning, absorptive capacity and innovation. Following the notion that networks are a basic infrastructure for knowledge diffusion, the ABM analyses the role of absorptive capacity in the evolution and benefits of innovation networks under different knowledge regimes. Social capital is de-emphasised and firms ally purely for knowledge sharing. Absorptive capacity, which is itself influenced by cognitive distance, drives partner selection. Besides eliciting empirically observed network properties, the model simulation offers novel insight on the coevolutionary process between networks, industrial dynamics and absorptive capacity. In the early stages of an industry when knowledge is highly tacit, firms benefit more from centralised network positions; the reverse is the case as the industry becomes more mature. And firms’ absorptive capacity indeed influences the rate and direction of network evolution. Networks emerge or change depending on firms’ partnership decisions, which are shaped by their absorptive capacity and that of the potential partners. I put forward some implications for policy and practice based on the empirical and simulation results

Spiritual capital, entrepreneurial resilience and firm-level performance in turbulent environments

Increasingly, businesses in the 21st century have to grapple with the challenges of operating in turbulent environments characterised by market volatility, political instability, and terrorism These challenges are relevant to developing countries, where institutional weaknesses exacerbate environmental turbulence; and developed countries, where, for example in the UK, businesses are grappling with the uncertainties of BREXIT. In order to survive and compete, firms mobilise external resources and develop new strategies. For instance, scholars have observed that social capital in the form of cooperative alliances enables rival firms to combine resources, share costs, achieve economies of scale, and mitigate risk and uncertainty in innovation. Recently, a new interest has emerged in the role of spiritual capital-that is, the set of personal, intangible, and transcendent resources that emanate from an individual's spiritual or religious beliefs and experiences and may be used in economic activity. Spiritual capital is especially relevant in sub-Saharan Africa where there are greater institutional voids, and religion and spirituality play a dominant role in society. While recent studies have drawn attention to the impact of spiritual capital on firm level innovation and performance and corporate governance practices, this paper proposes a conceptual framework that interrogates and integrates the relationships between spiritual capital, environmental turbulence, entrepreneurial resilience and firm survival

Complementarity in firm-level innovation strategies: a comparative study of Kenya and Nigeria

We present and analyse firm-level innovation data from Kenya and Nigeria. We test for the existence of complementarities between internal R&D and external innovation activities, and between organizational and marketing innovations. Some evidence is found on the existence of complementarities between internal and external technological innovation strategies in the case of Kenya, but not in the case of Nigeria. However, organizational and marketing innovations do not appear to be complementary in innovation either in Kenya or in Nigeria

Business incubators and entrepreneurship development in Africa’s innovation systems: a bibliometric review

Business incubators are a policy tool for spurring and supporting entrepreneurial businesses. In recent years, many African countries have established many of them. Business incubators in Africa have received some attention in the academic literature but there are no systematic analyses of the body of evidence to help researchers make sense of what we already know and what remains to be known. Herein lays the purpose of this paper. Using standard bibliometric methods, this paper reviews the state of the art of the research in this area and identifies the gaps for future research. The analyses highlight the five major themes in the research literature on incubators in Africa: incubator types and support for different business types; incubator performance in fostering innovation and capability building; impact of incubators on businesses and the economy; role of incubators in supporting emergence and growth of start-ups; and incubators as enablers of firm-level learning. Some remaining gaps in the literature are identified. First, limited evidence exists on how to improve incubator support to businesses across sectors and countries. Second, barely any evidence exists on how to design and implement adaptive, responsive and inclusive incubation systems. Third, rigorous impact evaluations are conspicuously missing from the reviewed body of research. These gaps represent opportunities for future studies

Business incubators and entrepreneurship development in Africa’s innovation systems: a bibliometric review

Business incubators are a useful policy tool for spurring and supporting entrepreneurial businesses, but we know too little about their impact in Africa

Apprenticeship schemes to support post-COVID employment recovery in Africa’s manufacturing sector

It is now abundantly clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on nearly all aspects of our lives and has caused us to rethink “business as usual”. As we adapt to the "new normal", appropriately channeled opportunities can help us improve the way we do business and the way we live. Apprenticeship is one of such opportunities

Human Capital and Economic Growth: The Role of Governance

Economists agree that human capital is an important determinant of economic growth [Arrow (1962); Aghion and Howitt (1992)]. Human capital-led growth generally concludes the positive impact of the two with the help of existing developed theories and empirical evidences. Nonetheless, the standard empirical result of a direct relationship between human capital (however measured) and economic growth, has been criticised on several fronts. First, the impact of other growth-related factors like quality of education, health of the labour force, inflation, corruption, unemployment, rule of law, etc. should not be ignored. These endogenous characteristics of a country are included in Becker‘s (1993) definition of human capital. In addition, as noted by Abramovitz (1986), social capabilities are important in the adoption and diffusion of technologies but countries differ in social capabilities. Therefore, to the extent to which human capital contributes to economic growth through innovation, its effect is conditioned by the country‘s social capabilities which include factors like quality of institutions and governance

Dataset on the production, dissemination and uptake of social science research in Nigeria

open access articleThis dataset presents data collected from three surveys, each among researchers, research administrators and policymakers across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The data were collected from 513 researchers, 118 research administrators and 60 policymakers drawn from randomly selected organizations that are implicated in Social Science Research (SSR) in Nigeria, which include: 53 universities; 5 research institutes; 17 government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and donors; 9 private consultancies; 26 civil society organisations, private consultancies; and 7 Houses of Assembly. The surveys assessed several factors that impart the production, dissemination and uptake of social science research (SSR) in Nigeria, including research personnel, funding, infrastructure, mentoring, communication practices and products, policy-friendliness, among many others. The data are important in understanding the status of SSR and its potential to influence sustainable development in a typical developing country like Nigeria. The usefulness of the data is many folds as every stakeholder in the research-policy-development nexus is implicated. Ultimately, the data is useful in characterizing SSR system and formulating policies to boost its status and potential

Role of social protection in mitigating the impact of coronavirus disease on household welfare: panel data evidence from Nigeria

COVID-19 has had huge impacts on households across the world. The economic impact is particularly great in Africa. This paper analyses the role of social protection in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on household welfare measured in terms of ability to afford food. The results of panel logit regressions on data from 1 925 Nigerian households show that social protection in the form of food or direct cash transfers is associated with a higher probability of households being able to afford the food they need. This positive effect is, however, offset by the increasing intensity of the pandemic. Our results are robust even when using alternative measures of pandemic intensity and controlling for household characteristics. This implies the need for more robust social protection programmes (such as health insurance and employment benefits) that are responsive to household needs, especially in times of crisis

“Frenemies” of innovation: understanding the role of coopetition in service innovation in emerging markets

open access articleCoopetition is considered an important strategy for innovation. However, the literature provides limited evidence on how coopetition relates to innovation in service sector, particularly in emerging markets. Moreover, little is known about the effects of the formal and informal aspects of coopetition on innovation and how absorptive capacity of firm may influence this relationship. Against this background, using the official national innovation surveys of Nigeria (2008 and 2011), this study contributes to the ongoing debate by empirically examining the innovation endeavors of 421 Nigerian SMEs. The study employs logistic regression methods to model and explore the relationships between coopetition and innovation in the sample. The results show that that formal coopetition hinders innovation while informal coopetition supports it and absorptive capacity moderates these relationships. The study provides important insights about the concept of coopetition in emerging markets, especially vis-à-vis their institutional idiosyncrasies. Finally, the study highlights its implications and suggests some avenues for future research