Currents and Sub-currents in the River of Innovations - Explaining Innovativeness using New-Product Announcements

Wilfred Dolfsma () and G. van der Panne

ERIM Report Series Research in Management from Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam

Abstract: In their seminal paper, Acs and Audretsch (1988) analyze innovation patterns across industries and identify several determinants of innovativeness, both positive and negative. Their work is seminal if only because of the unique data they use to measure innovativeness: new-product announcements. They show that industry concentration, degree of unionization would hamper innovation; industries characterized by increased shares of skilled labor and large firms provide favorable conditions for innovation. By analyzing a new and more consciously compiled database, we re-examine their original claims. Our results largely support the findings of Acs & Audretsch, but diverge from them in one important way. We suggest that the large firms do not contribute more to a industry’s innovativeness than small firms – a vindication of the Schumpeter Mark I perspective. In addition, we analyze micro-level data of individual firms. Firms within different sub-groups respond differently to their competitive environment. We show that less dedicated innovators prove more susceptible to environmental factors than more committed innovators. In addition, an unfavorable competitive environment decreases the likelihood that less successful innovators will announce new products.

Keywords: Innovation; Innovation Sub-Currents; New-Product Announcements; Schumpeter Mark I (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M M11 M13 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-09-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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