Transcript Document 7404763

Regional innovation policy with(out) clusters:
A plea for a differentiated and combined
network approach to stimulating innovation
Oedzge Atzema & Evert-Jan Visser
Utrecht University
[email protected]
Structure
1. Problems of cluster-based policies
2. Innovation strategies of firms:
–
–
Types
Bottlenecks
3. Policy implications
4. Regional innovation policy?
5. Annexes: additional information (hand-out only)
1. Cluster-based policies
At leat four key problems:
1. Risk of strategic failure
2. Risk of collective failure: imitation, overinvestment,
competition on costs in stead of innovation
3. Hard to create clusters:
– Necessary condition: presence and strength of
local self-augmenting processes
– Sufficient conditions: industry and regional
features
Cluster policies (continued)
4. High opportunity costs:
– Overlooking the bottlenecks associated with each
of the following innovation strategies of firms:
1. Constructing global pipelines
2. Boosting local buzz
3. Standing alone (relying on intra-firm learning)
–
Overlooking their potential when they are
combined (comes back later)
2. Innovation strategy types
Stage
Invention
Development
Adaptation
Source
Stand-alone strategy
Internal
Traded
Local
Untraded
External
Local buzz strategy
Traded
Global pipeline strategy
Global
Untraded
Marketing
Bottlenecks
Stand alone strategies:
•
hard to combine efficient use and effective search of
knowledge
•
difficult to keep track of fast developments
•
risk of making wrong choices / need to adapt and update
them (dynamic uncertainty)
•
lack of strategic capacity and trust in the necessity and
utility of innovation
Bottlenecks (continued)
Local buzz strategies:
•
•
insufficient ‘cognitive distance’
social nature of local networks, short-term
mindedness, local memberships of associations, etc.
Global pipeline strategies:
•
miss frequent ‘face2face’ dialogue to assimilate, filter
and adapt global knowledge to (local) markets.
3. Policy: goal setting
A differentiated and combined approach to innovation:
•
•
addressing the specific needs of (actors using) the
different innovation strategies
combining the complementary knowledge effects of
these strategies (Nooteboom’s cycle of discovery):
Exploration
Invention
Chaos
Vernieu
Consolidation
Consoli
wing
datie
Differentiation Generalization
Reciprocation
Exploitation
Inertia
Elaboration: networks
Organizational contexts for:
1. Exploration:
– open, frequent but short-lived interactions
– dense, flexible and decentralized networks
– in or across firms, in (new) clusters or global
2. Exploitation:
– well-defined, infrequent, long-lived interactions
– well-structured, stable and centralized networks
– in or across firms, in (mature) clusters, or GVCs
Transition in structural/spatial features of intra/interfirm networks = key in innovation processes
Goal 1: avoid competence traps
1. Inertia: getting stuck in exploitation.
•
•
•
Requires timely move to 2nd round of exploration
Stand-alone: interact with competitors, change managers,
suppliers and clients
Mature clusters: allow for entry (start-ups, relocation) and for
exit (global pipelines)
2. Chaos: in interactions with cognitively distant actors.
•
•
Requires e.g. accommodation or consolidation in face2face
settings
Global networks: e.g. localize linkages
Goal 2: solve governance problems
•
WHY? Because of relational risks/problems:
1.
3.
4.
lock-in: specific investments in understanding yield switching
costs and dependence. Getting stuck in a relation, a network or
region
unwanted spillover, depending on tacitness, absorptive capacity
and cognitive distance
conservatism: insufficient dynamism of prospective partners
Alliance innovation: a credence product?
•
WHEN, HOW and WHO? Next slide..
2.
Elaboration: brokers
•
•
•
WHEN? Timely. Context and path dependent
transition requirements.
HOW? Continuous updating and upgrading of
market, technological and social knowledge.
WHO?
– when/how = too complex for public actors
– private brokers:
1.
2.
•
Functions: enable small/infrequent transactions, filter
against spill-over, prevent unnecessary breakdown of trust,
act as a boundary spanner, damage control
CV: experienced persons (so
Public roles: recruiting, start-up funding, monitoring
4. Regional innovation policy?
•
•
Towards a decentralized and multi-scale system of
innovation geared towards firm-level strategies
Regionalization?
1. Objectives: embedding firms in these ‘regions’
2. Operation: the policy may involve inter-regional
coordination and may cross national borders
3. Instruments: different starting conditions and
embedded knowledge of brokers
4. Finance: public to private, and therewith central
to decentral
Annex 1:
Some concepts
Chains, networks, and clusters
Cluster
Network
Value chain
Diagonal linkage: bank, knowledge institute, consultant, machinery
Network type of linkage
Source: own elaboration based on Klein Woolthuis & Nooteboom 2005
Buzz
Atmosphere, broadcasting, noise, buzz (Bathelt et al ‘03):
• “Buzz refers to the information and communication
ecology created by face-to-face contacts, co-presence
and co-location of people and firms within the same
industry and place or region”
• Accidental and purposeful, personal and business
• Continuously updated data turning into know-how
• No investment: passive process/advantage
• Different quality of buzz: multiple ties (friends,
agents, mentors, business partners) = different IC
modes (negotiation, chatting, gossip, dialogue)
• Local absorptive capacity: language, institutions
Pipelines
•
A well-connected cluster to the rest of the world is
beneficial for clustered firms in two ways:
1. Directly, for the firms accessing that knowledge
(absolute absorptive capacity matters)
2. Indirectly, enjoying spillovers (relative absorptive
capacity matters; Giuliani 2005)
Annex 2:
Examples of firms in the
Utrecht, Gooi & Eemland
region using global pipeline,
local buzz and stand-alone
innovation strategies
Example: global pipelines
•
MNE, IT hardware and services: increasing speed of
innovation of clients. Involved in 350 global alliances.
World: huge knowledge reservoir. Region unimportant for
innovation.
•
Same sector, medium-sized firm: improves downstream
competitiveness of clients; upstream organizational change
follows. Make explicit, digitalize, decouple, circulate, new
meanings and knowledge. Internal and network sources of
innovation: partners in Sweden, USA (IBM, Microsoft:
leader firms), UK, Australia, Southeast Asia. Face2face
contact required, region unimportant for innovation.
Example: local buzz
•
Decentralized bank. Motivates other firms to engage in
MVO. E.g. problem (of misbehaving youngsters with
foreign background) solved jointly (labour market options
and experience). Leader firm: positive externalities (safety,
ethnic reputation) partly internalized (financial status of
clients, future clients). Depends on willingness to invest of
others. Creates awareness, common vision.
•
Advertising company: multi-media, multi-scale, for SMEs.
Local processes, sense of belonginess and participation:
attract advertising. Key alliance with local FC and broadcasting firm. Proximity, regional identity and creativity to
link local actors beyond soccer = advertising turnover.
Example: standing alone
•
Software maker. Demand oriented innovation. Spin-off
firm innovating on the basis of internal resources.
Networks, clusters, region: unimportant for innovation.
“What we do and how we innovate is not related to our
location. We can do it everywhere, as long as we have good
people. We have a good reputation, so good people want to
work for us”. Does not mean that the firm can go anywhere
at any time. Location of offices close to residence of
skilled workers.
Source: Atzema & Visser 2005b
Annex 3: stages in the cycle of discovery
•
Invention = creation of something new: a novelty
•
Consolidation: filtering the novelty: eliminating redundant
elements, improving parts. Leads to a dominant design
•
Generalization: applying the newly consolidated design in
a variety of contexts
•
Differentiation: making minor adjustments in those
contexts (where different requirements may exist)
•
Reciprocation: mirroring (one’s approach/process/product)
with another; making hybrids
•
Accommodation (not on slide 8): restructuring of
cognition, organization, skill