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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2014‒03‒08
five papers chosen by Laura Stefanescu European Research Centre of Managerial Studies in Business Administration |
| By: | Tor Eriksson (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark); Zhihua Qin (Renmin University, China,); Wenjing Wang (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between employee turnover, HRM practices and innovation in Chinese firms in five high technology sectors. We estimate hurdle negative binomial models for count data on survey data allowing for analyses of the extensive as well as intensive margins of firms’ innovation activities. Innovation is measured both by the number of ongoing projects and new commercialized products. The results show that higher R&D employee turnover is associated with a higher probability of being innovative, but decreases the intensity of innovation activities in innovating firms. Innovating firms are more likely to have adopted high performance HRM practices, and the impact of employee turnover varies with the number of HRM practices implemented by the firm. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, HRM Practices, Employee Turnover |
| JEL: | L22 M50 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2014-09&r=knm |
| By: | Sadaf Bashir; Uwe Matzat; Bert Sadowski |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes processes and effects of ICT enabled innovation in the Dutch design sector. Although the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is considered as vital in the design sector, little is known about whether and how ICTs affect the firm performance of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the industry. In introducing a conceptual distinction between ICT supporting the information processing and communication, the paper first examines the determinants of ICT adoption. Next, we analyze the effects of ICT adoption on product and process innovation as well as on firm performance, focusing on the mediating role of the innovation processes. The analyses rest on survey data of a sample of 189 Dutch companies in the Web, Graphic, and Industrial Design Sector in the Netherlands. The results indicate that information processing role of ICT supports the exploitation and communication role facilitates the exploration in organizational learning. The exploitation enables process innovation while exploration enables product innovation. Lastly, Information processing technologies and product innovation are important determinants of superior firm performance. |
| Keywords: | ICT, design, innovation |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ein:tuecis:1401&r=knm |
| By: | Benjamin Rene Kern (University of Marburg); Juan Manuel Mantilla Contreras |
| Abstract: | The firms that compete with one another in terms of innovation do not necessarily coincide with the relevant competitors on pre-innovation product markets. As a consequence, the findings about the ambiguous interrelation between (product) market concentration and innovation cannot be transferred one-to-one to the interrelationship between innovation competition and innovation. By identifying and classifying the most relevant effects, which are decisive for the impact of mergers on the incentives to invest in product innovation oriented R&D, we will demonstrate that the interrelation between innovation competition and innovation is not always as unclear as it seems. Hence, by analyzing the model-theoretic industrial organization literature, this article aims to contribute to the discussion about the development of a decision theoretic assessment framework for analyzing the impact of mergers on innovation and is therefore also in line with the idea of a rule-based competition policy which is, from a law and economics perspective, ought to reduce error costs, give legal guidance and reduce legal uncertainty. |
| JEL: | K21 L12 L41 O31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201417&r=knm |
| By: | Levsen, Nils; Herstatt, Cornelius |
| Abstract: | The trend of population aging is affecting an increasing number of countries around the world, especially advanced economies. One consequence of a growing population share of aged persons is a shift in consumer needs, reflected by a rising number of products and services designed particularly for elderly users. Thus, population aging is a catalyst for new markets and a driver of innovation. A common objective of such age-based innovations is the delay of an age-associated decline in individual autonomy or the restoration of autonomy losses already incurred. In particular, age-based innovations aim to compensate ageassociated deficiencies in sensory perception, cognitive skills, and musculoskeletal status. Age-based innovations are marked by a high level of heterogeneity, both in terms of functionality (e.g. mobility, mental stimulation, financial services) and in terms of industry (e.g. consumer electronics, automotive, banking). Different countries undergo population aging at different times and with different magnitude. As some countries have experienced the phenomenon earlier than others, they have had more time to react and create innovations in response to it. This brings about the question of lead markets - country markets with the characteristic that product or process innovation designs adopted early become the globally dominant design and supersede other innovation designs initially adopted or preferred by other countries (Beise 2001, p.10). Do such lead markets exist within the field of age-based innovations? Moreover, is there possibly a single lead market which consistently leads adoption and diffusion across the heterogeneous range of age-based innovations? Finally, is extant lead market theory applicable to the entirety of age-based innovations - a field of business, where innovation is driven not only by profitability-focused stakeholders but also by a multitude of other stakeholders? These questions delineate a research gap at the intersection of lead market research and age-based innovations research. In order to answer them, a multi-methodology approach was adopted. [...] -- |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuhtim:80&r=knm |
| By: | Fabrizio Antonioli (Dipartimento di Economia Istituzioni Territorio, Facoltà di Economia, Università degli Studi di Ferrara.); Simone Borghesi (Università degli Studi di Siena, Facoltà di Scienze Politiche.); Massimiliano Mazzanti (Departiment of Economics, Università di Ferrara (italy).) |
| Abstract: | The adoption and diffusion of environmental innovations (EIs) is crucial to greening the economy and achieving win-win environmental – economic gains. A large and increasing literature has focused on the levers underlying EIs that are external to the firm, such as stakeholder’s pressure and policy pressure. Little attention, however, has been devoted so far to the possible role of local spatial spillovers. The latter can be very relevant since growth depends on strong idiosyncratic regional factors – such asagglomeration economies - that must be integrated with the challenges posed by global markets. To overcome this drawback of the existing literature, we analyse here a rich dataset that covers the innovative activities and economic performances of firms in the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy, a manufacturing district-rich area. We analyse firms’ performances through a two-step procedure. First, we look at the relevance of spatial levers, namely whether the agglomeration of EIs induces EIs in a given firm. Second, we test whether EIs have significantly increased firms’ economic performances. As to the importance of spatial levers, the role of agglomeration turns out to be fairly local in nature:we find that spillovers are significantly inducing innovation within municipal boundaries, which is coherent with the district-based Marshallian economies of north- eastern Italy. Regarding economic performances, firms' productivity is positively related to EI adoption; in particular,firms that adopt EIs and organizational change show a better economic performance.Our findings suggest that EIscanbe a key source of growth for regional systems, particularly when spurred by local spillovers, and an important way outof the ongoing crisis. |
| Keywords: | environmental innovations, firm economic performances, local spillovers, manufacturing, agglomeration |
| JEL: | O38 Q55 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:0414&r=knm |