IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/ijitmx/v09y2012i05ns0219877012500344.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Do High, Medium, And Low Tech Firms Innovate? A System Of Innovation (Si) Approach

Author

Listed:
  • ZIAD ROTABA

    (Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, 2900, boul. Édouard-Montpetit, Montreal, Quebec, H3T 1J4, Canada)

  • CATHERINE BEAUDRY

    (Center for Interuniversity Research on Science and Technology, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Downtown Office, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada)

Abstract

In the past decade, the innovation literature has mainly targeted high-tech (HT) sectors due to their higher return on investment and important role in building new societies and economies. While the HT sector is still of a leading importance, whether medium and low tech (LMT) sectors should be equivalently considered when analyzing long term economic growth, in both leading and catching up economies, is a fundamental question. This paper is our second milestone comparing HT and LMT sectors from an innovation perspective, using a National System of Innovation (NSI) approach. The general aim of this paper is to find the main principles that govern the difference between the two industrial segments (HT and LMT) while controlling for supranational boundaries. In order to measure the effect of NSI, countries are divided into two groups: leading and catching up economies. Our results suggest that, with respect to HT, leading economies can be considered as innovators, while catching up economies are the imitators. Furthermore, HT in leading economies relies on product modularity to outsource various components probably to firms in catching up economies. Catching ups are putting greater emphasis on universities to produce knowledge. In addition, firms in catching up economies benefit from high accessibility to funds in order to grow various industrial sectors, especially LMT. The role of institutions and governments with respect to regulatory policies, intellectual property protections are of high importance for firms in catching up economies, especially in LMT. As a result of those important steps, the various agents in catching up economies have achieved sustainable growth, notably in LMT. In contrast, the same growth is observed for HT for firms in leading economies. Our results suggest that catching up countries are strategizing for this sectoral evolution, renewal, and transformation process for both sectors, but with a stronger emphasis on LMT.

Suggested Citation

  • Ziad Rotaba & Catherine Beaudry, 2012. "How Do High, Medium, And Low Tech Firms Innovate? A System Of Innovation (Si) Approach," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(05), pages 1-23.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijitmx:v:09:y:2012:i:05:n:s0219877012500344
    DOI: 10.1142/S0219877012500344
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219877012500344
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S0219877012500344?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. Jan Fagerberg & Bart Verspagen & G. N. von Tunzelmann (ed.), 1994. "The Dynamics Of Technology, Trade And Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 163.
    2. van Schaik, A.B.T.M. & van de Klundert, T.C.M.J., 2010. "Productivity Growth and the Labor Market," Discussion Paper 2010-06, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    3. Freeman, Chris & Louca, Francisco, 2002. "As Time Goes By: From the Industrial Revolutions to the Information Revolution," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199251056.
    4. Veblen, Thorstein, 1915. "Imperial Germany and The Industrial Revolution," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1915.
    5. Chris Freeman & Luc Soete, 1997. "The Economics of Industrial Innovation, 3rd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 3, volume 1, number 0262061953, December.
    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. Aurel Burciu & Rozalia Kicsi & Simona Buta & Mihaela State & Iulia Burlac & Denisa Alexandra Chifan & Beatrice Ipsalat, 2023. "The Study of the Relationship among GCI, GII, Disruptive Technology, and Social Innovations in MNCs: How Do We Evaluate Financial Innovations Made by Firms? A Preliminary Inquiry," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-42, August.
    2. Gian Luca Casali & Roxanne Zolin & Sukanlaya Sawang, 2016. "Do Smes Cluster Around Innovation Activities? Discovering Active, Incremental And Opportunistic Innovators," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(07), pages 1-24, October.

    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. Fulvio Castellacci, 2004. "A neo-Schumpeterian Approach to Why Growth Rates Differ," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 55(6), pages 1145-1169.
    2. Fulvio Castellacci, 2006. "A critical realist interpretation of evolutionary growth theorising," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 30(6), pages 861-880, November.
    3. Castellacci, Fulvio & Grodal, Stine & Mendonca, Sandro & Wibe, Mona, 2005. "Advances and challenges in innovation studies," MPRA Paper 27519, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Pérez, Carlota, 2001. "Technological change and opportunities for development as a moving target," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    5. Castellacci, Fulvio, 2006. "Innovation, diffusion and catching up in the fifth long wave," MPRA Paper 27521, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Fulvio Castellacci, 2007. "Evolutionary And New Growth Theories. Are They Converging?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 585-627, July.
    7. Grande, Rafael & Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael & Fernández Macías, Enrique & Antón, José Ignacio, 2020. "Innovation and job quality. A firm-level exploration," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 130-142.
    8. Mark Knell & Simone Vannuccini, 2022. "Tools and concepts for understanding disruptive technological change after Schumpeter," Jena Economics Research Papers 2022-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    9. Marletto, Gerardo, 2011. "Structure, agency and change in the car regime. A review of the literature," European Transport \ Trasporti Europei, ISTIEE, Institute for the Study of Transport within the European Economic Integration, issue 47, pages 71-88.
    10. Bazhal, Iurii, 2014. "Industrial policy under Neo-Schumpeterian concept of structural technological dynamics: Case of Ukraine," MPRA Paper 67434, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 24 Oct 2015.
    11. Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque, 2015. "Visible seeds of socialism and metamorphoses of capitalism: socialism after Rosdolsky," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 39(3), pages 783-805.
    12. Jason Potts, 2017. "Institutions hold consumption on a leash: an evolutionary economic approach to the future of consumption," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 239-250, April.
    13. Ester G. Silva & Aurora A. C. Teixeira, 2011. "Does structure influence growth? A panel data econometric assessment of "relatively less developed" countries, 1979--2003," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 20(2), pages 457-510, April.
    14. Nuno Campos Pereira & Nuno Araújo & Leonardo Costa, 2016. "A counting multidimensional innovation index for SMEs," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 01, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    15. Fagerberg, Jan & Srholec, Martin & Verspagen, Bart, 2010. "Innovation and Economic Development," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 833-872, Elsevier.
    16. Kemeny, Tom & Petralia, Sergio & Storper, Michael, 2022. "Disruptive innovation and spatial inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115953, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Alessandro Nuvolari & Michelangelo Vasta, 2015. "Independent invention in Italy during the Liberal Age, 1861–1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 858-886, August.
    18. Vicky Long & Staffan Laestadius, 2011. "New Patterns in Knowledge Transfer and Catching Up: Chinese R&D in ICT," Chapters, in: Paul L. Robertson & David Jacobson (ed.), Knowledge Transfer and Technology Diffusion, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Jan Fagerberg & Bart Verspagen, 2007. "Innovation, growth and economic development: have the conditions for catch-up changed?," International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1), pages 13-33.
    20. Jan de Kok & O Som & P Neuhäusler, 2014. "The impact of the 2008 financial crisis on European enterprises: the role of innovation systems," Scales Research Reports H201411, EIM Business and Policy Research.

    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:wsi:ijitmx:v:09:y:2012:i:05:n:s0219877012500344. 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: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/ijitm/ijitm.shtml .

    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.