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The Role of R&D Partnerships and Firm Size in Product Innovation: A Study of New Zealand Firms
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Author: Jarrod Haar, Auckland U. of Technology
Author: Urs S. Daellenbach, Victoria U. of Wellington
Author: Sally Davenport, Victoria U. of Wellington
Author: Katharina Ruckstuhl, U. of Otago, New Zealand
Author: Conor O Kane, NUI, Galway
Author: Diane Rongo Ruwhiu, U. of Otago
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The role of research and development (R&D) has been assessed as being poorly integrated in New Zealand (NZ) firms, leading to an expectation that it contributes little to performance of most firms in NZ. However, under the Resource Based View this rarity provides an opportunity for firms to outperform their competitors. We test a path model with absorptive capacity as a foundational precursor, then intellectual capital factors as our first set of mediators, with R&D partnerships and entrepreneurial orientation as a second set of mediators, to product innovation as our outcome. Finally, given the extra resources of larger firms, we also test firm size as a moderator. Using Structural Equation Modeling on a sample of 178 NZ private sector firms, we find absorptive capacity is positively associated with all constructs, although partially mediating. The mediators also influence other constructs distinctly and combined we gain a better understanding of paths to product innovation. However, it is via the multiple significant moderating effects from firm size that we gain a clearer understanding of the effectiveness of factors, especially R&D partnerships. We highlight the importance of factors – including R&D partnerships - on product innovation, and discuss the implications for NZ firms.
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Paper is No Longer Available Online: Please contact the author(s).
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Foreign MNEs, network diversity and local firms' technological upgrading
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Author: Yoo Jung Ha, U. of York
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This study investigates under what conditions foreign MNEs operating in downstream sectors influence technological upgrading in local firms. Based on Korean Innovation Survey data in combination with firm-level patenting data, we find that the direct effect of vertical knowledge spillovers from foreign MNEs is positive on local firms’ upgrading. However, there is a negative effect if a local firm has already secured diverse network ties, and has low resource gaps. The effect becomes positive, however, when a local firm faces rapid technological change and widening resource gaps in the existing network. Our contribution is to specify that local firms’ current network diversity and the pace of technological change are two key moderators of the effect of foreign MNEs on local technological upgrading.
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Paper is No Longer Available Online: Please contact the author(s).
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Trading-Off Innovation Speed for Knowledge During Drug Development
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Author: Lisette Pregelj, U. of Queensland
Author: Damian Charles Hine, U. of Queensland
Author: Manuel Becerra, U. of Queensland
Author: Martie-Louise Verreynne, U. of Queensland
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We investigate the impact of partnering on innovation speed, and trade-offs to knowledge accumulation. Using data on 20,819 clinical trials for new drug development commenced in the decade 2000-09, we show that while experience accumulated with partners has a greater effect on innovation speed than experience accumulated without partners, using more partners has a negative impact on the time it takes to complete trials. Further, firms that work alone experience shorter trials compared with firms that frequently partner. Yet, firms that work alone are less likely to expand later on into new therapeutic areas, which may limit their long-term capability to innovate. Contrary to extant claims in favor of open innovation, we conclude that firms need to manage the trade-offs between innovation speed, knowledge breadth, and information spillovers when making their decision to use partners in their clinical trials.
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Paper is No Longer Available Online: Please contact the author(s).
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The Ikea-Effect in Collective Problem Solving
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Author: Oana Vuculescu, Aarhus U.
Author: Carsten Bergenholtz, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus U.
Author: Michela Beretta, Aarhus U.
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Individuals can rely on social learning to improve problem solving performance. Individuals' opportunity to engage in social learning is constrained by their communication networks which are shown to shape the efficiency of the problem solving process. To this date, experimental and simulation-based research disagrees on what kind of network structure is to be preferred, both providing support for efficient network structures that allow immediate diffusion of good solutions as well as for inefficient networks that prevent premature diffusion of solutions that turn out to be poor (Lazer and Friedman 2007; Mason and Watts 2012; Barkoczi and Galesic 2016). These existing studies, however, implicitly assume that agents indiscriminately copy when observing others’ superior solutions, an assumption that is not empirically grounded (Acerbi et al. 2016; Derex et al. 2016). We propose a simple derivation of existing simulation frameworks by introducing a known human bias, an 'Ikea-effect' (Norton et al. 2012), such that agents prioritize individual learning over social learning when solving problems. Our simulations show that the biased Ikea agents tend to outperform their rational competitors in both efficient and inefficient networks and that this more realistic search mechanism thus explains discrepancies in previous results. Overall, our study illustrates how one can optimize collective problem solving not only by manipulating the structural level, but also by embodying an empirically grounded learning bias at the individual level.
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Paper is No Longer Available Online: Please contact the author(s).
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