FIRMS’ INNOVATION OBJECTIVES AND KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION STRATEGIES

Stephen Roper, Bettina Becker, James H. Love and Karen Bonner
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Stephen Roper: Enterprise Research Centre, the Productivity Institute and National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, England
Bettina Becker: ��Enterprise Research Centre, Durham University Business School and University of Tartu, Estonia3Durham University Business School, Mill Hill Lane, Durham DH1 3LB, United Kingdom
James H. Love: ��Enterprise Research Centre, Leeds University Business School and University of Tartu, Estonia
Karen Bonner: �Enterprise Research Centre and Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, United Kingdom

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 2022, vol. 26, issue 04, 1-33

Abstract: External partnerships play an important role in firms’ acquisition of the knowledge inputs to innovation. Such knowledge acquisition may be interactive - involving exploration and mutual learning - or non-interactive - involving exploitative activity and learning by only one party. Here, we consider how firms’ innovation objectives influence their choice of interactive and/or non-interactive knowledge search. We conduct a comparative analysis for Spain and the UK, which have contrasting innovation eco-systems and regulation burdens. Three empirical results emerge. First, we find strong support for complementarity between non-interactive and interactive knowledge search. Second, we find that where firms have innovation objectives relating to product or service improvement, they are more likely to establish non-interactive search strategies. Third, the innovation objective of reducing environmental impact is significantly related to both, interactive and non-interactive knowledge acquisition strategies. This is likely related to the increasing awareness of the need to promote an agenda based on sustainable growth.

Keywords: Innovation; interactive knowledge search; non-interactive knowledge search; imitation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1142/S1363919622500256

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