Graciela Corral de Zubielqui

KNOWLEDGE INFLOWS FROM MARKET- AND SCIENCE-BASED ACTORS, ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY, INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE — A STUDY OF SMEs

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly opening up their innovation processes in order to improve innovation outcomes. Exactly how openness influences enterprises’ ability to innovate and benefit from external sources of innovation is not well understood. Despite theoretical models explicating knowledge inflows as the antecedent and innovation as the consequence of absorptive capacity, to date, the relationships between external knowledge inflows from specific external actors, absorptive capacity, innovation and SME performance remain underexplored. We address this gap, focussing on market- and science-based knowledge flows, absorptive capacity, innovation and SME performance. Using structural equation modelling on a sample of 838 Australians SMEs, we find evidence indicating that the mechanisms by which external knowledge inflows from market- and science-based actors affect innovation differ: external knowledge inflows from market-based actors influence innovation directly or “serendipitously”, while external knowledge inflows from science-based actors influence innovation indirectly via absorptive capacity. We also find that their effect on innovation differ, with external knowledge inflows from market-based actors exerting a positive direct effect on innovation vis-a-vis external knowledge inflows from science-based actors where there is no significant direct effect. In contrast, external knowledge inflows from science-based actors influence innovation through absorptive capacity. In addition to this mediation effect, absorptive capacity has a positive direct effect on innovation, and an effect on firm performance through innovation. This research contributes to our understanding of how, and the extent to which, external knowledge inflows from specific external actors influence absorptive capacity, innovation and firm performance in SMEs.

Deciphering innovation across cultures

Schumpeter in 1942 clearly established the necessity of innovation for all forms of global competition. The more we enter in globalized markets Innovation is becoming a critical tool for business value creation. Innovation, understood as something new that can create value, the integration or generation of new ideas to generate products or services is widely view as a key driver for a country’s economic growth. Further, policies for economic development are often drafted around a country’s innovative capacity and usually then transferred across Nations as a form of templates for key economic development initiatives. However, there are many definitions of innovation across country/culture levels and therefore the concept of innovation can raise definitional issues. This research argues that a country’s culture may have an impact in defining innovation and as a consequence in the final outputs and aims to seek more precise ways of understanding innovation. Furthermore, the intention of this research is to explore and understand how innovation is perceived across different cultural groups and demonstrate that a unique or singular perception may not be as effective in deciphering this important term. This research presents findings across three different countries with very distinctive and entrepreneurial cultures, although all of three countries are in the Asia Pacific area. The research makes a contribution at two levels. First, at the scholarly level, it contributes toward theory development by improving our understanding of the roles of cultural factors in the innovation concept. This leads to a better perception of the different definitions underlying innovation and how these impact on firms implementing innovation strategies across countries. Second, at an applied level, the study provides insights for management and policy makers. In the case of management, this study provides information that allows them to make decisions that could help them develop or assess the effectiveness of existing innovation activities and strategies. This study finds that the perception and interpretation of innovation across the responders is influenced by their regional location. Few triggers for these interpretations are highlighted however it is discussed that further study is required to understand in depth the reasons for these differences.

HOW PRODUCT, OPERATIONS, AND MARKETING SOURCES OF IDEAS INFLUENCE INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE IN AUSTRALIAN SMEs

In this paper we have used structural equation modelling to examine the inter-relationships among specific intangible resources — product, operations, and marketing sources of ideas — as they relate to innovation and firm performance. Prior studies founded upon the Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm, have focused on the relationship between innovation and firm performance or resources and firm performance, but have not examined both simultaneously. Our study reveals how the sources of ideas, as valuable strategic firm resources, directly, and/or indirectly via innovation activities, contribute to firm performance. We find that marketing sources of ideas directly influences firm performance and that product and operations sources of ideas do not. Indirectly, however, all three sources of idea resources (marketing, operational, and product) contribute to firm performance via the innovation construct. Thus, ideas, and where they come from, are crucial to understanding innovation and firm performance. Innovation is a key component in the structural model because it partially mediates the marketing idea sources-performance relationship. It also provides the basis for interaction effects among operations and product resources and firm performance. Therefore, including innovation in the conceptual model improves the model specification as it increases insight into the resource-performance relationship.

Beyond ‘know-what’ and ‘know-how’ to ‘know-who’: enhancing human capital with social capital in an Australian start-up accelerator

Abstract This study investigates the enhancement of human capital with social capital in a start-up accelerator and how this integration affects the entrepreneurial learning experience. In particular, it examines the relative importance of the three components ‘know-what’, ‘know-how’ and ‘know-who’. The study involved thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with participants in an Australian start-up accelerator that is delivered using ideas such as Design Thinking, the Business Model Canvas and Lean Start-up methodology. We find that although the programme emphasised ‘know-what’ and ‘know-how’, ‘know-who’ was most significant for participant learning. The results indicate that mentors and experts were especially helpful in shaping learning and in developing entrepreneurial networks. Moreover, our results show that the processes of ‘know-what’, ‘know-how’ and ‘know-who’ are interrelated – by knowing ‘who’, participants learnt ‘what’ and ‘how to’ through social learning. The research contributes to entrepreneurial learning theory and application particularly in the Asia Pacific context, by providing evidence that ‘know-who’ closes the learning loop for ‘know-what’ and ‘know-how’ as ‘know-who’ can actually provide entrepreneurs with the means to enhance their entrepreneurial self-efficacy.