Analysis of sources of innovation, technological innovation capabilities, and performance: An empirical study of Hong Kong manufacturing industries

By Richard C. M. Yam, William Lo, Esther P. Y. Tang, Antonio K. W. Lau. 2011

514 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The concept of the regional innovation system (RIS) has been developed into an important framework for evaluating innovation performance. The study reported in this paper explores the relationship between the RIS and the firm's innovation system (FIS) according to the basic premise that firms that better utilize sources of information (SI) available within their regional innovation system (RIS) perform better due effect this has in enhancing the firm's technological innovation capabilities (TICs). The different innovation capabilities of a firm are regarded as the key components of the firm's innovation system. The sources of information available within an RIS include external sources (EXT) and external expert organizations, the latter of which are referred to as knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). This study also explores the dual role of KIBS as both sources of and bridges for innovation in the RIS. Data were obtained through a mailed survey using a self-administered questionnaire. The utilization concept and the dual role of KIBS were verified. The results show that externally available information affects all innovation capabilities of the firm, while external expert organizations affect only the firm's R&D and resources allocation capabilities. This study contributes to the RIS literature by providing empirical evidence on how firms can interact with the RIS by utilizing SI to enhance their TICs and achieve global competitiveness.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2611bbc964ff0ee67f5b8323c753a8e63c99393a

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Economics and Econometrics

In Strategy and Management

Citations in the corpus

Measuring innovation capability in exporting firms: the INNOVSCALE (2015, background): “Indicators of a superior technological capability, such as extensive R&D projects, increase the firm’s ability to adopt novel technologies and approaches when developing new technological assets (Renko et al., 2009; Yam et al., 2011).”
Innovation capabilities and performance: are they truly linked in SMEs? (2019, background): “…defined as the ability that enterprises have to advertise and sell the existing products and services in organisations adjusting them to the preferences and needs of clients, customers, level of competition, costs, benefits and level of business performance of enterprises (Yam et al., 2011).”
Innovation Capability: From Technology Development to Transaction Capability (2012, background): “The innovation capability as a new field of study is attracting interest from many scholars (e.g. Guan and Ma, 2003; Wang et al., 2008; Yam et al., 2011; Forsman, 2011).”
Enablers for Competitiveness of Indian Manufacturing Sector: An ISM-Fuzzy MICMAC Analysis (2015, background): “The need of the hour is for innovation (Raymond et al., 2014; Lau et al., 2013; Yam et al., 2011; Rahman, 2001), effective technologies (Liu, 2013), manufacturing flexibility (Hung et al.”
A Review of Dynamic Capabilities, Innovation Capabilities, Entrepreneurial Capabilities and Their Consequences (2020, background): “Other studies demonstrate that externally available information and resources influence all innovation activities and the development of a firm (Yam et al., 2011).”
Innovativeness and business performances in tourism SMEs. (2015, background): “…et al. (2004), Camisón and Montfort-Mir (2012), Drejer (2004), Freel (2003), Hjalager (2010), Keizer et al. (2002), Rondé and Hussler (2005), Yam et al. (2011) Environment Rivalry and Dynamics of Competition Level of competitive rivalry and dinamism in market Caloghirou et al. (2004),…”
Management control systems in innovation companies: a literature based framework (2014, background): “One of the main factors in this context is an enterprise’s innovation capability, which is understood in this study as “the ability of the actors to generate, diffuse, and utilize innovations that have economic value” (Yam et al. 2011, p. 392).”
Effectiveness of technology investment: Impact of internal technological capability, networking and investment's strategic importance (2012, background): “…may take place for the purpose of gathering information about technologies and markets, and also for obtaining various other inputs to complement the internal knowledge (Yam et al., 2011; Romijn and Albaladejo, 2002), such as part and components, external staff training, consulting services.”
From innovation to commercialization through networks and agglomerations: analysis of sources of innovation, innovation capabilities and performance of Dutch SMEs (2013, methodology): “Various studies have sought to identify the IC components that are important to firms (Adler and Shenbar 1990; Christensen 1995; Yam et al. 2011).”
Impact of specific investments, governance mechanisms and behaviors on the performance of cooperative innovation projects (2017, background): “Firm size might have an effect on the performance because larger firms generally have more resources to devote to innovative activities, enhancing their innovation capability and performance (e.g., McEvily and Marcus, 2005; Yam et al., 2011).”
Effects of organizational innovation and technological innovation capabilities on firm performance: evidence from firms in China’s Pearl River Delta (2019, methodology): “Firms use TICs to gain overall capabilities in innovation, leading to superior performance (Cohen and Levinthal 1990; Chandy, Prabhu, and Antia 2003; McDermott and O’Connor 2002; Rosnberg and Frischtak 1985; Yam et al. 2011).”
Determinants of innovativeness in SMEs: disentangling core innovation and technology adoption capabilities (2017, background): “However, the use of external consultancy services, whose importance has been pointed out in previous research (Yam et al., 2011), appears to exert no significant effect on core innovation.”