Anker Lund Vinding

Absorptive capacity and innovative performance: A human capital approach

This study investigates the importance of human capital on the firms’ absorptive capacity, in relation to firms’ innovative performance. The estimation of an ordered probit model including 1544 firms from the manufacturing and service industry in Denmark shows that the share of highly educated employees, application of human resource management practices within the firm and development of a closer relationship with both vertically related actors and knowledge institutions are not only positively correlated with the ability to innovate but also negatively correlated with the degree of innovative imitation. Finally, work experience among managers, heads of departments and employees at the managerial level is negatively associated with the ability to innovate for science-based and ICT-intensive firms, thus indicating the importance of updating the skills of the employees in these high-tech sectors.

Searching Near and Far: Determinants of Innovative Firms' Propensity to Collaborate Across Geographical Distance

The paper explores the relation between absorptive capacity and the propensity to collaborate across geographical distance. The analysis is based on quantitative data from two neighbouring Danish regions on the location of the main partner in product‐innovation activities. The findings indicate that the importance of absorptive capacity in relation to collaboration across geographical distance depends on the location of the innovative firm. Firms located in the relatively sparsely populated region are more likely to collaborate with firms located outside the region; and for these firms, the level of absorptive capacity matters for the distance to the collaboration partners—firms with a low level of absorptive capacity tend to collaborate with domestic partners, while those with a high level of absorptive capacity are much more likely to find their main product‐innovation partner abroad.

Organisation, 'anchoring' of knowledge, and innovative activity in construction

The construction industry is characterised by the widespread use of project organisation. It has been suggested that the relatively low level of innovative activity in the industry can be explained by the temporary nature of firm boundary‐crossing projects. Survey data from the Danish construction industry is used to investigate the importance of learning and ‘anchoring’ of project‐specific knowledge at the firm level for participation in innovative activities. The data cover both the overall Danish construction industry and a specific region, North Jutland, which has a relatively high specialisation of construction workers. Latent class and regression analyses reveal that firms that make extensive use of partnering, together with internal product and process evaluation and knowledge diffusion (labelled ‘knowledge‐anchoring mechanisms’), are more likely to participate in innovative activities than firms which make less use of these mechanisms. This indicates that construction firms are able to compensate for the problems that temporary interorganisational projects may cause in relation to continuous learning at the firm level.

Impact of organisational change on mental health: a systematic review

Although limited evidence is available, organisational change is often cited as the cause of mental health problems. This paper provides an overview of the current literature regarding the impact of organisational change on mental health. A systematic search in PUBMED, PsychInfo and Web of Knowledge combining MeSH search terms for exposure and outcome. The criterion for inclusion was original data on exposure to organisational change with mental health problems as outcome. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were included. We found in 11 out of 17 studies, an association between organisational change and elevated risk of mental health problems was observed, with a less provident association in the longitudinal studies. Based on the current research, this review cannot provide sufficient evidence of an association between organisational change and elevated risk of mental health problems. More studies of long-term effects are required including relevant analyses of confounders.

Location and collaboration: Manufacturing firms' use of knowledge intensive services in product innovation

The paper addresses the relation between geographical location of firms and collaboration with knowledge intensive service providers on product innovation in a small country setting. The analysis shows that even in a small country with limited geographical distances firms located in peripheral areas are less likely to be broad users of collaboration with knowledge intensive service providers in the process of product innovation than firms located in major urban areas. However, it is only amongst firms located in the periphery that collaboration strategy seems to matter in the sense that differences in development in employment can be detected between broad and rare users of collaboration.

The effect of multiple reminders on response patterns in a Danish health survey

BACKGROUND Reminders are routinely applied in surveys to increase response rates and reduce the possibility of bias. This study examines the effect of multiple reminders on the response rate, non-response bias, prevalence estimates and exposure-outcome relations in a national self-administered health survey. METHODS Data derive from the Danish National Health Survey 2010, in which 298,550 individuals (16 years of age or older) were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey using a mixed-mode approach (paper and web questionnaires). At least two reminders were sent to non-respondents, and 177,639 individuals completed the questionnaire (59.5%). Response patterns were compared between four groups of individuals (first mailing respondents, second mailing respondents, third mailing respondents and non-respondents). RESULTS Multiple reminders led to an increase in response rate from 36.7 to 59.5%; however, the inclusion of second and third mailing respondents did not change the overall characteristics of respondents compared with non-respondents. Furthermore, only small changes in prevalence estimates and exposure-outcome relationships were observed when including second and third mailing respondents compared with only first mailing respondents. CONCLUSIONS Multiple reminders were an effective way to increase the response rate in a national Danish health survey. However, when differences do exist between respondents and non-respondents, the results suggest that second and third mailings are unlikely to eliminate these differences. Overall, multiple reminders seemed to have only minor effect on response patterns and study conclusions in the present study.

PRODUCT INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC THEORY – USER-PRODUCER INTERACTION IN THE LEARNING ECONOMY

In this chapter it is shown that, in spite of the fundamental importance for economic growth of product innovation, standard economic theory – neo-classical as well as transaction cost approaches to industrial organization – tends to neglect it. It is also shown that moving the focus to product innovation leads to very different conclusions on how alternative institutional set-ups affect economic performance. Institutional set ups assumed to optimise allocation and minimise transaction costs do not support innovation and growth. That is why producer goods where innovation is a regular phenomenon are transacted neither in pure markets nor in hierarchies. The omnipresence of “organized markets” reflects the need for users as well as producers to engage in on-going information exchange and interactive learning in connection with product innovation.

INTERACTION BETWEEN FIRMS AND KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTIONS

In this chapter it is argued that firms that interact with knowledge institutions increase their potential for exploiting knowledge. This is especially the case if the firms have employees with an academic degree employed. These employees will contribute to absorptive capacity in the traditional sense but also to the formation of social capital. Due to prior basic knowledge and understanding to researchers and scientist, the process of recognizing, assimilating and applying new knowledge from these institutions will become easier and hence increase the likelihood of producing more radical innovations. The estimation of an ordered probit model including 1983 firms from the Danish manufacturing and service industry supports the hypothesis.

The development in body mass index, overweight and obesity in three regions in Denmark

BACKGROUND The prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased markedly the past decades. However, recent studies have indicated that the development differ between different socio-economic groups and different geographic regions. The aim of this study was to assess the development in prevalence of overweight and obesity from 2006/2007 to 2010 by age, gender, socio-economic factors and geographical regions. METHODS Two cross-sectional surveys in three regions in Denmark (The Capital Region of Denmark, The Central Denmark Region and The North Denmark Region) were performed in 2006/2007 and 2010. A random sample of citizens aged more than or equal to 25 years was invited to participate. The overall response rate was 57.5% (n = 177 076). Data from questionnaire and central registers were included. RESULTS In 2006/2007, the prevalence of overweight, including obesity, was 54.3% and 36.8% among men and women, respectively. Of the overweight men 12.8% were obese and 11.8% women were obese. The prevalence was highest in the Northern region and among those who were older, had short education, was outside labour market, had low income and residents in rural areas. In 2010, the prevalence of overweight had increased to 56.3% and 39.6% in men and women, respectively (P < 0.0001). However, overweight increased the most in the Northern Region whereas no significant increase in body mass index was found among men in the Capital Region. Among women prevalence of overweight increased but not in those retired or above 60 years, and with high income. CONCLUSION The prevalence of overweight and obesity was high and increased. The development, however, was heterogenic.

Social marginalization reduces use of ENT physicians in primary care

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the association between social marginalization of the mothers and their childrens use of the healthcare system and ear-nose-throat (ENT) physicians in the year 2009 in a region of Denmark. METHODS A regional register-based cross-sectional study of use of healthcare services among children (n=10,232) of marginalized mothers and children (n=101,582) of non-marginalized mothers in the North Denmark Region. Social marginalization was defined as having received public social benefits for more than 80% of the year. RESULTS Children with a marginalized mother had more chronic medical diagnoses (OR=1.22, 95% confidence interval 1.17-1.28), they had more frequently been in contact with their general practitioner during the year, and they used the healthcare system more often than children of non-marginalized mothers, except in the case of ENT specialists (OR=0.90, 0.85-0.95), and they had more seldom tympanostomy tubes inserted (OR=0.75, 0.66-0.87). The distance between ENT-clinic and place of residence of the patients had only a small effect on the use of ENT-physician, and only significant in the non-marginalized. CONCLUSIONS Children of marginalized mothers used the healthcare system more than other children, except in case of ENT-physicians. They had fewer ENT-consultations and had less frequently inserted tympanostomy tubes when they attended the surgery.