Darío Milesi

Knowledge circulation in vertically integrated production networks: Cases of the Argentine automotive and iron and steel industries

Summary The goal of this article is two-fold: on the one hand, we develop a methodology that is able to quantify the knowledge circulation inside a Vertically Integrated Production Network (PNW). On the other hand, we will apply such methodology to a set 150 Argentine firms supplying either the automotive or the iron and steel industries. Both industries are different in commercial results as well as in their participation in international markets. We investigate whether or not differences in networking are significant to the understanding of different performances. We find that the PNW organised by the steel firms allows for a better knowledge circulation. We also find that the Linkage Style within the PNW is significant for explaining techno-productive capabilities. Such relevance of the knowledge circuit and the way the PNW incentives it constitute an essential point that contributes with the comprehension of the different performances between both PNW.

Secreto Industrial y Cooperación Público-privada en I+D en el Sector Biofarmacéutico Argentino

The article presents a study on the use of secrecy in Argentine biopharmaceutical firms that innovate through public-private cooperation. When innovation is achieved by cooperating with public and external sources of knowledge, the company is exposed to higher risks that critical knowledge leaks out to potential competitors, undermining the effectiveness of secrecy. To investigate this issue, study cases have been conducted on firms whose innovation projects are carried out by cooperating with public R&D institutions. The results suggest that the specific features of cooperation determine different possibilities for firms to face those risks, adapt its strategy of appropriation and protect the generated knowledge.

Science-industry R&D cooperation effects on firm’s appropriation strategy: The case of Argentine biopharma

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show how science-industry R&D cooperation (SIRC) generates effects on the strategy developed by firms to appropriate the benefits of innovations. Given the plurality of cooperation patterns between firms and public R&D institutions and the variety of appropriation mechanisms used by firms to protect generated knowledge or to strengthen their market position, this paper investigates to what extent different forms of cooperation are associated with different effects on appropriation strategy. Design/methodology/approach As evidence of this, the authors carry out a multiple case study, covering nine biopharmaceutical Argentine firms whose innovation projects are developed in cooperation with public R&D institutions. Using critical dimensions identified by public-private R&D cooperation literature, the paper analyzes the characteristics of cooperation in the cases studied, looking for different patterns. Given the existence of various appropriation mechanisms identified by appropriability literature, the paper analyzes how firms use (or not) those mechanisms within the specific context of jointly generated innovation. Findings The paper shows that SIRC generates opposing effects on the various appropriation mechanisms used by firms, both challenging and strengthening them. Likewise, the identification of three cooperation patterns in Argentine biopharmaceutical sector, namely, contract R&D, internalization and coordination, allows appreciating how each pattern affects differently the appropriation mechanisms used by firms, being the coordination one, the most functional to the appropriation strategy of firms analyzed. Research limitations/implications The arguments presented here are necessarily limited to the biopharmaceutical Argentine sector, which is strategic to the country, for accumulated capabilities in scientific and business aspects. The analysis could be enriched by extending it to other industries with similar innovation characteristics and to other countries, where patents have a similar weight (emerging countries) or a different one (developed countries). Practical implications Innovation and public-private collaboration policies may benefit from the analysis presented here, which helps to assess advantages and challenges of different SIRC logics on firms’ appropriation issues and to considerate which aspects allow cooperation and appropriation combining in a more virtuous form. Originality/value There is no paper that explicitly examines the effects generated by different SIRC patterns on the appropriation strategy of firms, conceived as a combination of different mechanisms which may include patents but is not limited to them.

Secreto Industrial y Cooperación Público-privada en I+D en el Sector Biofarmacéutico Argentino PDF [es] (Español)

The article presents a study on the use of secrecy in Argentine biopharmaceutical firms that innovate through public-private cooperation. When innovation is achieved by cooperating with public and external sources of knowledge, the company is exposed to higher risks that critical knowledge leaks out to potential competitors, undermining the effectiveness of secrecy. To investigate this issue, study cases have been conducted on firms whose innovation projects are carried out by cooperating with public R&D institutions. The results suggest that the specific features of cooperation determine different possibilities for firms to face those risks, adapt its strategy of appropriation and protect the generated knowledge.

Estrategias de apropiación en contextos de colaboración público-privada en la biotecnología argentina

La actividad innovadora es critica para una empresa, asi como la posibilidad de beneficiarse de sus resultados. Para alcanzar dicho objetivo las firmas elaboran una estrategia de apropiacion, basada en el uso de varios mecanismos de apropiacion existentes. Este trabajo estudia nueve firmas del sector biofarmaceutico argentino, que se caracteriza por una intensa actividad innovadora que es intrinsecamente cooperativa, ya que las firmas recurren sistematicamente a fuentes externas y publicas de conocimiento. La colaboracion publico-privada genera necesariamente efectos sobre las estrategias de apropiacion de las empresas, que deben considerar riesgos y ventajas implicitos en un proceso de innovacion de tales caracteristicas. Los rasgos que asume la colaboracion entre las partes son criticos para identificar las especificidades de la relacion entre colaboracion y apropiacion, en un sector intensivo en ciencia y tecnologia que es estrategico para Argentina por las capacidades acumuladas a nivel cientifico y empresarial.

Cooperation and appropriation strategies in the high technology sector: the case of an argentinian biopharmaceutical company

El articulo presenta el estudio de caso de Delta Biotech S.A., una pyme Argentina perteneciente a un sector de alta tecnologia como lo es el biofarmaceutico. El analisis apunta a evidenciar como la estrategia de apropiacion de los resultados de las innovaciones tecnologicas de la firma se basa en la articulacion de distintos mecanismos y, al ser la actividad de innovacion realizada con el aporte de fuentes externas y publicas de conocimiento, dicha estrategia debe tener en cuenta los riesgos que derivan de este rasgo constitutivo de la innovacion. La cooperacion publico-privada para la innovacion genera efectos variados sobre cada uno de los mecanismos de apropiacion y, por tanto, las caracteristicas especificas que asume la misma son relevantes para evaluar cuales son sus efectos sobre la estrategia de apropiacion de la empresa.

Cooperação e estratégia de apropriação em alta tecnologia: o caso de uma empresa biofarmacêutica argentina

El articulo presenta el estudio de caso de Delta Biotech S.A., una pyme Argentina perteneciente a un sector de alta tecnologia como lo es el biofarmaceutico. El analisis apunta a evidenciar como la estrategia de apropiacion de los resultados de las innovaciones tecnologicas de la firma se basa en la articulacion de distintos mecanismos y, al ser la actividad de innovacion realizada con el aporte de fuentes externas y publicas de conocimiento, dicha estrategia debe tener en cuenta los riesgos que derivan de este rasgo constitutivo de la innovacion. La cooperacion publico-privada para la innovacion genera efectos variados sobre cada uno de los mecanismos de apropiacion y, por tanto, las caracteristicas especificas que asume la misma son relevantes para evaluar cuales son sus efectos sobre la estrategia de apropiacion de la empresa.

Cooperación y estrategia de apropiación en alta tecnología: el caso de una empresa biofarmacéutica Argentina

El articulo presenta el estudio de caso de Delta Biotech S.A., una pyme Argentina perteneciente a un sector de alta tecnologia como lo es el biofarmaceutico. El analisis apunta a evidenciar como la estrategia de apropiacion de los resultados de las innovaciones tecnologicas de la firma se basa en la articulacion de distintos mecanismos y, al ser la actividad de innovacion realizada con el aporte de fuentes externas y publicas de conocimiento, dicha estrategia debe tener en cuenta los riesgos que derivan de este rasgo constitutivo de la innovacion. La cooperacion publico-privada para la innovacion genera efectos variados sobre cada uno de los mecanismos de apropiacion y, por tanto, las caracteristicas especificas que asume la misma son relevantes para evaluar cuales son sus efectos sobre la estrategia de apropiacion de la empresa.