Types of innovation, sources of information and performance in entrepreneurial SMEs

European Journal of Innovation Management - 2010
MiikaVaris1, HannuLittunen1
1Department of Health and Social Management, University of Eastern Finland (Kuopio Campus), Kuopio, Finland

Tóm tắt

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the information sourcing practices of small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) associated with the development of different types of innovation (product/process/market/organizational). The relationship between different types of innovation and firms' performance is also to be examined.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a quantitative study of a sample of SMEs located in the Northern Savo region in Finland. The entrepreneurs completed a questionnaire pertaining to, for example, whether their firms had introduced novel innovations and what were the sources of information behind these innovations.FindingsThe introduction of novel product and market innovations appears to be associated with the use of more or less freely accessible information sources. The findings also indicate that the introduction of novel product, process and market innovations is positively associated with firms' growth. None of the types of innovation studied was found to have a positive relationship with firms' profitability.Research limitations/implicationsAs the analysis was based on self‐reported data provided by the entrepreneurs of SMEs, the authors had to rely on their judgment regarding the novelty of the innovations they had introduced. Moreover, as the study was conducted in a single region with its idiosyncratic features, the generalizability of the findings to other regional contexts remains somewhat ambiguous.Practical implicationsThe study suggests a need to re‐evaluate the innovation‐related services available to firms in the regional innovation system. The findings also imply the need for entrepreneurs and their firms to upgrade their competences in order to enhance their innovation and networking capabilities.Originality/valueRelatively modest amounts of research have addressed the information sourcing practices of SMEs in relation to different types of innovation, both in terms of the object of change and the extent of change. The paper addresses this.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Alm, H. and McKelvey, M. (2000), “When and why does cooperation positively or negatively affect innovation? An exploration into turbulent waters”, Discussion Paper 39, Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC), Manchester, November.

Alvarez, S.A. and Busenitz, L.W. (2001), “The entrepreneurship of resource‐based theory”, Journal of Management, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 755‐75.

Amara, N. and Landry, R. (2005), “Sources of information as determinants of novelty of innovation in manufacturing firms: evidence from the 1999 Statistics Canada innovation survey”, Technovation, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 245‐59.

Antonelli, C. and Quéré, M. (2002), “The governance of interactive learning within innovation systems”, Urban Studies, Vol. 39 Nos 5‐6, pp. 1051‐63.

Asheim, B.T. and Isaksen, A. (2002), “Regional innovation systems: the integration of local ‘sticky’ and global ‘ubiquitous’ knowledge”, Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 77‐86.

Bigliardi, B. and Dormio, A.I. (2009), “An empirical investigation of innovation determinants in food machinery enterprises”, European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 223‐42.

Boschma, R.A. (2005), “Proximity and innovation: a critical assessment”, Regional Studies, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 61‐74.

Bougrain, F. and Haudeville, B. (2002), “Innovation, collaboration and SMEs internal research capabilities”, Research Policy, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 735‐47.

Caloghirou, Y., Kastelli, I. and Tsakanikas, A. (2004), “Internal capabilities and external knowledge sources: complements or substitutes for innovative performance?”, Technovation, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 29‐39.

Cassiman, B. and Veugelers, R. (2006), “In search of complementarity in innovation strategy: internal R&D and external knowledge acquisition”, Management Science, Vol. 52 No. 1, pp. 68‐82.

Cohen, W.M. and Levinthal, D.A. (1990), “Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 128‐52.

Cooke, P. (1992), “Regional innovation systems: competitive regulation in the new Europe”, Geoforum, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 365‐82.

Cooke, P. and Leydesdorff, L. (2006), “Regional development in the knowledge‐based economy: the construction of advantage”, Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 5‐15.

Cooke, P., Gomez Uranga, M. and Etxebarria, G. (1997), “Regional innovation systems: institutional and organisational dimensions”, Research Policy, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 475‐91.

Cooke, P., Heidenreich, M. and Braczyk, H‐J. (2004), Regional Innovation Systems: The role of Governance in a Globalized World, 2nd ed., Routledge, New York, NY.

Crépon, B., Duguet, E. and Mairesse, J. (1998), “Research, innovation and productivity: an econometric analysis at the firm level”, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 115‐58.

Davidsson, P. and Wiklund, J. (2000), “Conceptual and empirical challenges in the study of firm growth”, in Sexton, D.L. and Landström, H. (Eds), The Blackwell Handbook of Entrepreneurship, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 26‐44.

Dobbs, M. and Hamilton, R.T. (2007), “Small business growth: recent evidence and new directions”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 296‐322.

Dosi, G. (1982), “Technological paradigms and technological trajectories”, Research Policy, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 147‐62.

Dosi, G. (1988), “Sources, procedures and microeconomic effects of innovation”, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 1120‐71.

Drucker, P.F. (1985), “The discipline of innovation”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 63 No. 3, pp. 67‐72.

Dyer, W.G. Jr and Handler, W. (1994), “Entrepreneurship and family business: exploring the connections”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 71‐84.

Edquist, C. (1997), “Systems of innovation approaches – their emergence and characteristics”, in Edquist, C. (Ed.), Systems of Innovation: Technologies, Institutions and Organizations, Pinter, London, pp. 1‐35.

Edquist, C. (2005), “Systems of innovation: perspectives and challenges”, in Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D.C. and Nelson, R.R. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 181‐208.

Fiet, J.O. and Patel, P.C. (2008), “Entrepreneurial discovery as constrained, systematic search”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 215‐29.

Fiet, J.O., Norton, W.I. Jr and Clouse, V.G.H. (2007), “Systematic search as a source of technical innovation: an empirical test”, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 329‐46.

Freel, M.S. (1999), “The financing of small firm product innovation within the UK”, Technovation, Vol. 19 No. 12, pp. 707‐19.

Freel, M. (2000), “External linkages and product innovation in small manufacturing firms”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 245‐66.

Freel, M.S. (2005), “Patterns of innovation and skills in small firms”, Technovation, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 123‐34.

Freel, M. and de Jong, J.P.J. (2009), “Market novelty, competence‐seeking and innovation networking”, Technovation, Vol. 29 No. 12, pp. 873‐84.

Freel, M.S. and Robson, P.J.A. (2004), “Small firm innovation, growth and performance”, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 22 No. 6, pp. 561‐75.

Freeman, C. (1987), Technology and Economic Performance: Lessons from Japan, Pinter, London.

Gemünden, H.G. and Heydebreck, P. (1995), “The influence of business strategies on technological network activities”, Research Policy, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 831‐49.

Gemünden, H.G., Ritter, T. and Heydebreck, P. (1996), “Network configuration and innovation success: an empirical analysis in German high‐tech industries”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 449‐62.

Gray, C. (2006), “Absorptive capacity, knowledge management and innovation in entrepreneurial small firms”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 12 No. 6, pp. 345‐60.

Håkansson, H. (Ed.) (1987), Industrial Technological Development: A Network Approach, Routledge, London.

Håkansson, H. (1989), Corporate Technological Behaviour: Cooperation and Networks, Routledge, London.

Håkansson, H. and Snehota, I. (1989), “No business is an island: the network concept of business strategy”, Scandinavian Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 187‐200.

Hamel, G., Doz, Y. and Prahalad, C.K. (1989), “Collaborate with your competitors and win”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 67 No. 1, pp. 133‐9.

Howells, J.R.L. (1999), “Regional systems of innovation?”, in Archibugi, D., Howells, J. and Michie, J. (Eds), Innovation Policy in a Global Economy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 67‐93.

Jensen, M.B., Johnson, B., Lorenz, E. and Lundvall, B‐Å. (2007), “Forms of knowledge and modes of innovation”, Research Policy, Vol. 6 No. 5, pp. 680‐93.

Johannessen, J‐A., Olaisen, J. and Olsen, B. (1999), “Managing and organizing innovation in the knowledge economy”, European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 116‐28.

Johannessen, J‐A., Olsen, B. and Lumpkin, G.T. (2001), “Innovation as newness: what is new, how new, and new to whom?”, European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 20‐31.

Johannisson, B. (1998), “Personal networks in emerging knowledge‐based firms: spatial and functional patterns”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 297‐312.

Julien, P‐A., Raymond, L., Jacob, R. and Ramangalahy, C. (1999), “Types of technological scanning in manufacturing SMEs: an empirical analysis of patterns and determinants”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 281‐300.

Kirzner, I.M. (1997), “Entrepreneurial discovery and the competitive market process: an Austrian approach”, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 60‐85.

Lechner, C. and Dowling, M. (2003), “Firm networks: external relationships as sources for the growth and competitiveness of entrepreneurial firms”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 1‐26.

Littunen, H. (2000), “Networks and local environmental characteristics in the survival of new firms”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 59‐71.

Littunen, H. and Virtanen, M. (2009), “Differentiating factors of venture growth: from statics to dynamics”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 535‐54.

Lundvall, B‐Å. (1988), “Innovation as an interactive process: from user‐producer interaction to the national system of innovation”, in Dosi, G., Freeman, C., Nelson, R., Silverberg, G. and Soete, L. (Eds), Technical Change and Economic Theory, Pinter, London, pp. 349‐69.

Lundvall, B‐Å. (Ed.) (1992), National Systems of Innovation: Towards a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning, Pinter, London.

Macpherson, A. and Holt, R. (2007), “Knowledge, learning and small firm growth: a systematic review of the evidence”, Research Policy, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 172‐92.

Malmberg, A. and Maskell, P. (2006), “Localized learning revisited”, Growth and Change, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 1‐18.

Massa, S. and Testa, S. (2008), “Innovation and SMEs: misaligned perspectives and goals among entrepreneurs, academics, and policy makers”, Technovation, Vol. 28 No. 7, pp. 393‐407.

Morone, P. and Testa, G. (2008), “Firms growth, size and innovation: an investigation into the Italian manufacturing sector”, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 311‐29.

Nås, S.O. and Leppälahti, A. (1997), “Innovation, firm profitability and growth”, Report R‐01/1997, Studies in Technology, Innovation and Economic Policy (STEP), Oslo, May.

Nelson, R.R. (Ed.) (1993), National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Nelson, R.R. and Winter, S.G. (1982), An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Nieto, M. and Quevedo, P. (2005), “Absorptive capacity, technological opportunity, knowledge spillovers, and innovative effort”, Technovation, Vol. 25 No. 10, pp. 1141‐57.

Nohria, N. and Eccles, R.G. (1992), “Face‐to face: making network organizations work”, in Nohria, N. and Eccles, R.G. (Eds), Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form, and Action, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, pp. 288‐308.

Nonaka, I. (1991), “The knowledge‐creating company”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 69 No. 6, pp. 96‐104.

North, D. and Smallbone, D. (2000), “Innovative activity in SMEs and rural economic development: some evidence from England”, European Planning Studies, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 87‐106.

OECD (1996), The Knowledge‐Based Economy: Science, Technology and Industry Outlook, OECD, Paris.

OECD (2005), The Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data: Oslo Manual, 3rd ed., OECD, Paris.

Pavitt, K. (2005), “Innovation processes”, in Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D.C. and Nelson, R.R. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 86‐114.

Penrose, E. (1959), The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, John Wiley, New York, NY.

Powell, W.W. and Grodal, S. (2005), “Networks of innovators”, in Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D.C. and Nelson, R.R. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 56‐85.

Santamaría, L., Nieto, M.J. and Barge‐Gil, A. (2009), “Beyond formal R&D: taking advantage of other sources of innovation in low‐ and medium‐technology industries”, Research Policy, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 507‐17.

Schumpeter, J.A. (1934), The Theory of Economic Development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Shepherd, D. and Wiklund, D. (2009), “Are we comparing apples with apples or apples with oranges?Appropriateness of knowledge accumulation across growth studies”, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 105‐23.

Sternberg, R. and Arndt, O. (2001), “The firm or the region: what determines the innovation behavior of European firms?”, Economic Geography, Vol. 77 No. 4, pp. 364‐82.

Storey, D. (1994), Understanding the Small Business Sector, Routledge, London.

Symeonidis, G. (1996), “Innovation, firm size and market structure: Schumpeterian Hypotheses and some new themes”, Working Paper 161, OECD Economics Department, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Tether, B.S. (1998), “Small and large firms: sources of unequal innovations?”, Research Policy, Vol. 27 No. 7, pp. 725‐45.

Tidd, J., Bessant, J. and Pavitt, K. (2002), “Learning through alliances”, in Henry, J. and Mayle, D. (Eds), Managing Innovation and Change, 2nd ed., Sage, London, pp. 167‐88.

Trippl, M., Tödtling, F. and Lengauer, L. (2009), “Knowledge sourcing beyond buzz and pipelines: evidence from the Vienna software sector”, Economic Geography, Vol. 85 No. 4, pp. 443‐62.

Tödtling, F. and Kaufmann, A. (1999), “Innovation systems in regions of Europe – a comparative perspective”, European Planning Studies, Vol. 7 No. 6, pp. 699‐717.

Tödtling, F. and Kaufmann, A. (2001), “The role of the region for innovation activities of SMEs”, European Urban and Regional Studies, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 203‐15.

Tödtling;, F., Lehner, P. and Kaufmann, A. (2009), “Do different types of innovation rely on specific kinds of knowledge interactions?”, Technovation, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 59‐71.

Utterback, J.M. (1994), Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation, Harvard University Business School Press, Boston, MA.

Vega‐Jurado, J., Gutiérrez‐Gracia, A., Fernández‐de‐Lucio, I. and Manjarrés‐Henríquez, L. (2008), “The effect of external and internal factors on firms' product innovation”, Research Policy, Vol. 37 No. 4, pp. 616‐32.

Veugelers, R. (1997), “Internal R&D expenditures and external technology sourcing”, Research Policy, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 303‐15.

Von Hippel, E. (1988), Sources of Innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Watson, J. (2007), “Modeling the relationship between networking and firm performance”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 22 No. 6, pp. 852‐74.

Wernerfelt, B. (1984), “A resource‐based view of the firm”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 171‐80.

Williamson, O. (1985), The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting, The Free Press, New York, NY.

Wolff, J.A. and Pett, T.L. (2006), “Small‐firm performance: modeling the role of product and process improvements”, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 268‐84.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

European Journal of Innovation Management

Thông tin tác giả