IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/entreg/v21y2009i3p265-283.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of co-location in higher education institutions on small firms’ perspectives of knowledge transfer

Author

Listed:
  • Nigel Lockett
  • Frank Cave
  • Ron Kerr
  • Sarah Robinson

Abstract

Knowledge transfer (KT) has been identified as an essential element of innovation that drives competitive advantage in increasingly knowledge-driven economies and in which small firms have an important part to play. A number of recent UK Government reports have sought to increase awareness of the importance of KT within higher education institutions (HEIs). In light of this, there is an urgent need for relevant empirical research that examines how KT policy is translated into practice, particularly in the area of small firms. This paper responds to this need by reporting on in-depth longitudinal case studies of small firms co-located in a high profile HEI ‘centre of excellence’ for research and development (R&D) and commercialization of information and communications technologies (ICT) in the Northwest of England. The paper seeks to explore what is it that the SMEs are getting out of this co-location and more specifically the research asks, how do the views of entrepreneurs change over time? Five main themes are identified, namely: (1) increased strategic focus; (2) awareness of core competences; (3) enhanced R&D activities; (4) importance of both technical and business support; (5) the need for a knowledge database to facilitate KT. The study concludes by highlighting the need for more structured yet flexible approaches to KT activities in order to meet the needs of entrepreneurs for different kinds of support at different times in the development of their businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Nigel Lockett & Frank Cave & Ron Kerr & Sarah Robinson, 2009. "The influence of co-location in higher education institutions on small firms’ perspectives of knowledge transfer," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 265-283, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:21:y:2009:i:3:p:265-283
    DOI: 10.1080/08985620802279973
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985620802279973
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08985620802279973?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Storey, D. J. & Tether, B. S., 1998. "Public policy measures to support new technology-based firms in the European Union," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(9), pages 1037-1057, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anna Lejpras, 2015. "Knowledge, location, and internationalization: empirical evidence for manufacturing SMEs," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(8), pages 734-754, November.
    2. Asyraf Mohd Bakri & Nur Hamezah Abdul Malik & Norhayati Hussin, 2017. "The Competency of Information System Management in an Organization for Better Decision-Making," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(12), pages 486-496, December.
    3. Madhav Govind & Merle Küttim, 2016. "International Knowledge Transfer from University to Industry: A Systematic Literature Review," Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, vol. 8(2).
    4. Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio, 2017. "Using knowledge management systems: A taxonomy of SME strategies," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1551-1562.
    5. Xiyao Xiang & Wei-Chiao Huang, 2019. "Does Distance Affect the Role of Nonlocal Subsidiaries on Cluster Firms’ Innovation? An Empirical Investigation on Chinese Biotechnology Cluster Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Massimo Colombo & Annalisa Croce & Samuele Murtinu, 2014. "Ownership structure, horizontal agency costs and the performance of high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 265-282, February.
    2. Teixeira, Aurora A.C. & Tavares-Lehmann, Ana Teresa, 2014. "Human capital intensity in technology-based firms located in Portugal: Does foreign ownership matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 737-748.
    3. Beck, Mathias & Junge, Martin & Kaiser, Ulrich, 2017. "Public Funding and Corporate Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 11196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Alberto Albahari & Magnus Klofsten & Juan Carlos Rubio-Romero, 2019. "Science and Technology Parks: a study of value creation for park tenants," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 1256-1272, August.
    5. Laura Lecluyse & Mirjam Knockaert & André Spithoven, 2019. "The contribution of science parks: a literature review and future research agenda," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 559-595, April.
    6. Colombo, Massimo G. & D’Adda, Diego & Pirelli, Lorenzo H., 2016. "The participation of new technology-based firms in EU-funded R&D partnerships: The role of venture capital," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 361-375.
    7. Colombelli, Alessandra & Grilli, Luca & Minola, Tommaso & Mrkajic, Boris, 2020. "To what extent do young innovative companies take advantage of policy support to enact innovation appropriation mechanisms?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    8. M. Knockaert & T. Vanacker, 2011. "The Association between Venture Capitalists’ Selection and Value Adding Behavior: Evidence from Early Stage High Tech Venture Capitalists," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 11/741, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    9. Hyytinen, Ari & Takalo, Tuomas, 2008. "Investor protection and business creation," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 113-122, June.
    10. Guillermo Andrés ZAPATA HUAMANÍ & Sara FERNÁNDEZ LÓPEZ & Isabel NEIRA GÓMEZ & Lucía REY ARES, 2017. "THE ROLE OF THE ENTREPRENEUR IN NEW TECHNOLOGY-BASED FIRMS (NTBFs): AN ANALYSIS ACCORDING TO CONTEXT DEVELOPMENT," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 17(2), pages 25-42.
    11. Dirk Czarnitzki & Julie Delanote, 2015. "R&D policies for young SMEs: input and output effects," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 465-485, October.
    12. Brown, Ross & Lee, Neil, 2014. "Funding issues confronting high growth SMEs in the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 57264, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Albahari, Alberto & Pérez-Canto, Salvador & Landoni, Paolo, 2010. "Science and Technology Parks impacts on tenant organisations: a review of literature," MPRA Paper 41914, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Whelan, Adele & McGuinness, Seamus & Barrett, Alan, 2021. "Review of International Approaches to Evaluating Rural and Community Development Investment and Supports," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS124.
    15. Burger, Anže & Hogan, Teresa & Kotnik, Patricia & Rao, Sandeep & Sakinç, Mustafa Erdem, 2023. "Does acquisition lead to the growth of high-tech scale-ups? Evidence from Europe," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Siepel, Josh & Cowling, Marc & Coad, Alex, 2017. "Non-founder human capital and the long-run growth and survival of high-tech ventures," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 34-43.
    17. Antonella Rita Ferrara & Philip McCann & Guido Pellegrini & Dirk Stelder & Flavia Terribile, 2017. "Assessing the impacts of Cohesion Policy on EU regions: A non-parametric analysis on interventions promoting research and innovation and transport accessibility," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(4), pages 817-841, November.
    18. Baumann, Julian & Kritikos, Alexander S., 2016. "The link between R&D, innovation and productivity: Are micro firms different?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1263-1274.
    19. Waqar Wadho & Azam Chaudhry, 2019. "Identifying and Understanding High Growth Firms in the Pakistani Textile and Apparel Sectors," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 73-92, July-Dec.
    20. Guan, JianCheng & Yam, Richard C.M., 2015. "Effects of government financial incentives on firms’ innovation performance in China: Evidences from Beijing in the 1990s," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 273-282.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:21:y:2009:i:3:p:265-283. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TEPN20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.