Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Economics of Knowledge Creation
- 2 The Innovation Survey
- 3 Patterns of Innovation: Intensity and Types
- 4 Sources of Innovations
- 5 Research and Development and Innovation
- 6 Effects of Innovation
- 7 Innovation and Research and Development in Small and Large Firms
- 8 Innovation Regimes and Type of Innovation
- 9 The Use of Intellectual Property Rights
- 10 Multinationals and the Canadian Innovation Process
- 11 Financing and the Cost of Innovation
- 12 The Diffusion of Innovation
- 13 Strategic Capabilities in Innovative Businesses
- 14 Determinants of Innovation
- 15 Summary
- Appendix The Innovation and Advanced Technology Survey
- References
- Index
13 - Strategic Capabilities in Innovative Businesses
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Economics of Knowledge Creation
- 2 The Innovation Survey
- 3 Patterns of Innovation: Intensity and Types
- 4 Sources of Innovations
- 5 Research and Development and Innovation
- 6 Effects of Innovation
- 7 Innovation and Research and Development in Small and Large Firms
- 8 Innovation Regimes and Type of Innovation
- 9 The Use of Intellectual Property Rights
- 10 Multinationals and the Canadian Innovation Process
- 11 Financing and the Cost of Innovation
- 12 The Diffusion of Innovation
- 13 Strategic Capabilities in Innovative Businesses
- 14 Determinants of Innovation
- 15 Summary
- Appendix The Innovation and Advanced Technology Survey
- References
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
Innovation is traditionally equated with research and development. While it is true that in this study, we have shown a close relationship between R&D and innovation, we have also emphasized that there are alternate routes, including a focus on engineering, the adoption of advanced technology, and networks with customers and suppliers. Nevertheless, even here, our attention on these routes has implicitly focused on the scientific capabilities of firms.
Although the degree of inventiveness is commonly regarded as being determined by the underlying capabilities of a firm with regards to technical and scientific progress, the successful introduction of inventions requires a firm not only to develop core skills in the scientific area, but also to acquire a set of complementary skills in order to facilitate the process of commercialization.
Few firms can successfully innovate if they only discover new products and processes. They must develop successful marketing divisions; they must acquire the capacity to finance the risky activity of innovation; and they must attract and develop the knowledge base of their workforce.
Studies of the innovation system attempt to understand the forces that generate or that are associated with innovation. This is often done by delineating differences between innovators and non-innovators. Previous work has attempted to do so in one of two ways. On the one hand, Acs and Audretsch (1988) have asked what industry characteristics are associated with the existence of large-firm innovators and what industry characteristics are associated with small-firm innovators.
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- Innovation and Knowledge Creation in an Open EconomyCanadian Industry and International Implications, pp. 378 - 396Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003