IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/eurpls/v23y2015i7p1245-1264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Makes SMEs more Likely to Collaborate? Analysing the Role of Regional Innovation Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Annalisa Caloffi
  • Federica Rossi
  • Margherita Russo

Abstract

The last 20 years have witnessed the diffusion of regional innovation policies supporting networks of innovators. The underlying aim of these policies is to encourage firms, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to undertake collaborations with organizations possessing complementary knowledge. Focusing on a set of SMEs that have participated, over time, in several innovation networks funded by the same regional government, the paper investigates how their relationships have evolved with respect to the following aspects: (i) reiteration of pre-existing relationships as opposed to experimentation with new relationships; (ii) collaboration with organizations possessing complementary rather than similar knowledge and competencies; (iii) creation of local relationships rather than experimentation with extra-local collaborations; (iv) reliance upon intermediaries to connect with other organizations. Our findings reveal that the involvement in these policy-supported networks changed the firms' relational patterns, leading them to collaborate with a wider variety of agents than those with whom they were linked before the policies. Sectoral heterogeneity had a negative effect on the probability of collaborating, while co-localization increased the likelihood of collaborating. Mutual involvement with intermediaries also had a positive effect. However, in the case of firm-to-university relationships only specialized intermediaries were likely to perform a positive role and, therefore, encourage networking.

Suggested Citation

  • Annalisa Caloffi & Federica Rossi & Margherita Russo, 2015. "What Makes SMEs more Likely to Collaborate? Analysing the Role of Regional Innovation Policy," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 1245-1264, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:23:y:2015:i:7:p:1245-1264
    DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2014.919250
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09654313.2014.919250
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09654313.2014.919250?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. Anja Dettmann & Sidonia Proff & Thomas Brenner, 2015. "Co-operation over distance? The spatial dimension of inter-organizational innovation collaboration," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 729-753, September.
    2. Giacomo Becattini & Marco Bellandi & Gabi Dei Ottati & Fabio Sforzi, 2003. "From Industrial Districts to Local Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2884.
    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. Jugend, Daniel & Jabbour, Charbel Jose Chiappeta & Alves Scaliza, Janaina A. & Rocha, Robson Sø & Junior, José Alcides Gobbo & Latan, Hengky & Salgado, Manoel Henrique, 2018. "Relationships among open innovation, innovative performance, government support and firm size: Comparing Brazilian firms embracing different levels of radicalism in innovation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 74, pages 54-65.
    2. Rossi, Federica & Caloffi, Annalisa & Russo, Margherita, 2016. "Networked by design: Can policy requirements influence organisations' networking behaviour?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 203-214.
    3. Beynon, Malcolm J. & Jones, Paul & Pickernell, David, 2023. "Evaluating EU-Region level innovation readiness: A longitudinal analysis using principal component analysis and a constellation graph index approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    4. Konan Alain N'Ghauran & Corinne Autant-Bernard, 2020. "Effects of cluster policies on regional innovation networks: Evidence from France," Working Papers halshs-02482565, HAL.
    5. Fassio, Claudio & Geuna, Aldo & Rossi, Federica, 2019. "International knowledge flows between industry inventors and universities: The role of multinational companies," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201917, University of Turin.
    6. Konan Alain N'Ghauran & Corinne Autant-Bernard, 2020. "Assessing the collaboration and network additionality of innovation policies: a counterfactual approach to the French cluster policy," Post-Print halshs-03128972, HAL.
    7. Riccardo Righi, 2016. "Community detection of agents interacting through regional innovation policies: structures, processes and functions," Department of Economics 0100, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    8. Annalisa Caloffi & Federica Rossi & Margherita Russo, 2017. "A tale of persistent network additionality, with evidence from a regional policy," Working Papers 38, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised May 2017.
    9. D'Anghela, Mariapia & Murmura, Federica, 2020. "The Impacts of EU Support Programs on SMEs: A Literature Review," Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference (2020), Virtual Conference, in: Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference, Virtual Conference, 10-12 September 2020, pages 353-364, IRENET - Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, Zagreb.
    10. Konan Alain N’Ghauran & Corinne Autant-Bernard, 2020. "Effects of cluster policies on regional innovation networks: Evidence from France," Working Papers 2005, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    11. Annalisa Caloffi & Francesca Gambarotto, 2017. "Cognitive distance in public procurement and public–private partnerships: An analysis of the construction sector," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(5), pages 765-783, August.

    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. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    2. Simon Sanchez Moral, 2009. "Industrial Clusters and New Firm Creation in the Manufacturing Sector of Madrid's Metropolitan Region," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(7), pages 949-965.
    3. Friel Martha & Santagata Walter, 2007. "Make Material Cultural Heritage Work," EBLA Working Papers 200710, University of Turin.
    4. Leydesdorff, Loet & Meyer, Martin, 2006. "Triple Helix indicators of knowledge-based innovation systems: Introduction to the special issue," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1441-1449, December.
    5. Jaya Prakash Pradhan & Mohammad Zohair, 2015. "Subnational Export Performance and Determinants," Review of Market Integration, India Development Foundation, vol. 7(2), pages 133-174, August.
    6. Vladimir Shatrevich & Valentina Strautmane, 2015. "Industrialisation factors in post-industrial society," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 3(2), pages 157-172, December.
    7. Marc Deloof & Maurizio Rocca, 2015. "Local financial development and the trade credit policy of Italian SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 905-924, April.
    8. McCann, Philip & Arita, Tomokazu, 2006. "Clusters and regional development: Some cautionary observations from the semiconductor industry," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 157-180, June.
    9. Paul L. Robertson & David Jacobson & Richard N. Langlois, 2009. "Innovation Processes and Industrial Districts," Chapters, in: Giacomo Becattini & Marco Bellandi & Lisa De Propis (ed.), A Handbook of Industrial Districts, chapter 21, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Marco Bellandi & Annalisa Caloffi, 2016. "Industrial policies in a Marshallian-based multilevel perspective," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 687-703, April.
    11. Raffaele Trequattrini & Rosa Lombardi & Alessandra Lardo & Benedetta Cuozzo, 2018. "The Impact of Entrepreneurial Universities on Regional Growth: a Local Intellectual Capital Perspective," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(1), pages 199-211, March.
    12. Enrique Claver-Cortés & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Pedro Seva-Larrosa & Lorena Ruiz-Fernández & Eduardo Sánchez-García, 2020. "Explanatory Factors of Entrepreneurship in Food and Beverage Clusters in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-22, July.
    13. Pradhan, Jaya Prakash & Zohair, Mohammad, 2014. "Subnational Export Performance and Determinants: Evidence from Two Indian States," MPRA Paper 60029, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Reckendrees, Alfred, 2014. "Dynamics of Overlapping Clusters: Industrial and Institutional Revolution in the Industrial District of Aachen, 1800‐1860," MPRA Paper 55523, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissensintensive Unternehmensdienste, Wissens-Spillovers und regionales Wachstum. Teilprojekt 1: Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung – Welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert das Wach," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58342.
    16. Francesco Capone & Rafael Boix, 2004. "Sources of Competitiveness in Tourist Local Systems," Working Papers wpdea0408, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    17. A. Lasagni & F. Sforzi, 2007. "Locational determinants of the ICT sector across Italy," Economics Department Working Papers 2007-EP03, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    18. Francesca Carnevali, 2004. "‘Crooks, thieves, and receivers’: transaction costs in nineteenth‐century industrial Birmingham," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 57(3), pages 533-550, August.
    19. Ye Xu & Jie Zhu & Changqi Tao, 2021. "The mechanism of technological potential energy driving Industry-University-Research institution collaborative innovation," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1541-1567, December.
    20. Marco Bagliani & Egidio Dansero & Matteo Puttilli, 2010. "Territory and energy sustainability: the challenge of renewable energy sources," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(4), pages 457-472.

    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:eurpls:v:23:y:2015:i:7:p:1245-1264. 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/CEPS20 .

    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.