Francisco Mas-Verdú

Regional development and innovation: the role of services

This special issue examines the role of services within the relationship between regional development and innovation. The analysis described here clearly shows the importance of the institutional elements that go to make up each regional environment. These institutional elements are not only formal and informal but also include intermediary organisations and services, in particular, knowledge-intensive ones. Fostering services based on connection and transfer (technological centres etc.), constitutes a strategic line of action in regional innovation policy. These services have a dual purpose. They both enable interaction between agents located in the same area and promote connections between firms in networks outside the region.

Innovation policy, services and internationalisation: the role of technology centres

Globalisation compels firms to undertake internationalisation strategies in different ways. Recent research explains that part of a firms international potential depends upon its networks. Technology centres play a key role in these networks: they belong to the territorial innovation system and supply knowledge-intensive services. The empirical evidence contained here shows a positive association between the use of services provided by technology centres and exportation, especially in the case of firms operating in R&D-intensive sectors.

Intended Ties with Local Institutions as Factors in Innovation: An Application to Spanish Manufacturing Firms

In this paper we seek to check for a number of interactions between firms and the external environment. We aim to contribute to the discussion on the role of the regional environment in a firms innovation performance. We test the statistical significance of a number of particular interactions between institutions and firm innovation. In particular, we have hypothesized the association between trade and professional institutions, technological centres, and cooperation arrangements and innovation. In contrast with existing studies, we have provided empirical evidence of the impact of external factors on individual firms.

Regional innovation policies: the persistence of the linear model in Spain

This paper offers a comparative analysis of the innovation policy generations developed and implemented by different Spanish regions. The authors find three main approaches. Most regions follow linear-type policies that are not specifically adapted to the system of innovation in which they are applied. A small number of regions are implementing more-advanced policies characterised by (1) fostering mutual-learning across the actors in the innovation system and (2) the development of an institutional framework with many intermediate organisations and infrastructures providing knowledge-intensive services.

Industrial clusters in Mexico and Spain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the structure of knowledge networks and the geographical patterns of knowledge networking in mature industrial clusters. To such end, it is assumed that proximity is not really what matters in innovation, but rather the embeddedness of firms into localised networks, enhancing collective learning and knowledge diffusion.Design/methodology/approach – The research is contextualized in the footwear industry and applies the microeconomics of innovation (grounded in the resource based view and social capital approach) and industrial clusters/districts as theoretical frameworks. Methodologically, the paper adopts an exploratory perspective and employs a qualitative approach to conduct a cross‐case analysis of the Leon‐Guanajuato cluster (Mexico) and the Vinalopo cluster (Spain).Findings – Firstly, this paper endorses recent research trends suggesting that knowledge is unevenly and selectively distributed among clustered firms. Secondly, it evidences how internal ...

Different ways of measuring performance in the service industries: application in Spanish small and medium-sized hotels

There is no suitable unit of analysis for explaining the profitability and competitiveness of the company, as typically pointed out in the debate between the disciplines of economics and management. After a study of the possible variables, we opted for those of minimum cost output and productivity, using these two measurements to analyse their application to Spanish hotels. The subsequent objective was to attempt to identify general strategies that could be applied to any SME within service industries. In situations where time and resources are not readily available to create action plans for each of the different types of SME, there is a need for incentives that can be applied to the creation of new business opportunities. The outcomes could be key for public administration and political policy makers in their effort to support businesses.

Location and adoption of ICT innovations in the agri-food industry

This article identifies the web technologies adoption pattern of agri-food industries considering a set of characteristics which include location, economic performance and previous history of adopting innovations. Our main results highlight that, together with certain firm characteristics, rural locations act as an accelerator for the adoption of web technology, compared to the slower adoption rate in urban areas.

Government policies and services: an approach to the international context

This special issue analyses the relationship between services and industrial policy. Such a relationship covers a wide variety of aspects, going from measures designed to ensure the competential framework within which business activities are carried out, up to actions aimed at enabling structural change in service industries, with the incorporation of innovation as the essential factor for competitiveness. Two trends can currently be discerned. On the one hand, there is a growing tendency towards the decentralisation and specificity of public policy related to service industries. On the other, indirect actions aimed at strengthening the institutional context (technological infrastructures, consultancy services, etc.) in which productive activity occurs are presently receiving a good deal of attention from policy makers.

What types of firms acquire knowledge intensive services and from which suppliers

Knowledge intensive services and, in particular, R&D services contribute significantly to innovation in firms. The objective of this paper is to find out which characteristics of firms explain the acquisition of R&D services and to analyse whether there are differences depending on the typology of the supplier (universities, technology centres and consulting firms). Three main conclusions emerge from the econometric estimations carried out with information from a survey of innovative firms in the region of Valencia in Spain. First, the results show that firm size and age matter in the decision to buy R&D services. Second, our results are consistent with the relevance that the literature gives to human capital in absorbing external knowledge. Third, innovation policy has a significant influence on the decision to acquire R&D services, particularly from universities and technology centres.

Comparing trade areas of technology centres using ‘Geographical Information Systems’

Advances in geographical information systems have contributed to location and marketing design strategies on the part of retailers. The techniques used in this field are based on delimiting trade areas and spatial analysis. The same approach is applied in this study to technology centres, which are considered as suppliers of knowledge-intensive services to their associated firms. The research objective focuses on analysing the spatial distribution of firms associated with two technology centres from different sectors. The results indicate that firms associated with a technology centre present spatial patterns that are similar to those observed in retailing, while significant differences were also found between the two technology centres used for the study.