Regional institutions and their impact on the connectedness of firm’s innovation networks

Summary, in English

This article is an in-depth comparative case study of six leadingmanufacturing firms in the Great Zurich region of Switzerland and the Sichuanprovince of China. It employs innovation system approach, institutionalthickness framework and social network analysis to investigate the regionalinstitutions of the two regions and their impact on the connectedness of the casefirms’ internal and external innovation networks. Findings show the impactof regional institutions on the connectedness of the case firms’ innovationnetworks is mainly manifested in the connections among the case firms’ outsidecollaborators rather than the direct relations of and within the case firms.The paper opens the black box of firm’s innovation networks and comparesdifferent dynamics of firms’ internal and external networks. It argues that firmscan build up dense direct network relations for innovation by leveraging theirendogenous capabilities even in a thin regional institutional environment. Asfor promoting collaboration among outsiders for the focal firm’s innovation,regional institutions play a bigger role than the firm’s endogenous capabilities.The paper provides regional policy implications particularly for developingand emerging countries with transitional institutional environment.

• Författare: Ju Liu
• Avdelning/ar: CIRCLE
• Publiceringsår: 2016
• Språk: Engelska
• Sidor: 102-129
• Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie: Institutions and Economies
• Volym: 8
• Issue: 1
• Dokumenttyp: Artikel i tidskrift
• Förlag: University of Malaya
• Ämne: Economic Geography
• Nyckelord: Innovation networks; Institutional thickness; Inter-organisational; Intra-firm; Regional institutions; Social network analysis
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt: ISSN: 2232-1640