Jan Faber

Innovation capabilities of European nations: Cross-national analyses of patents and sales of product innovations

Abstract The relationships among R&D and other innovation activities, patents granted and sales of product innovations influenced by various specified characteristics of a NIS are investigated at the national level and tested on data for 14 EU nations in 1992 and 1996. The statistical results show patents to depend on sales of product innovations. Furthermore, both national innovation outcome indicators depend on largely the same macro- and micro-economic conditions while they differ in additional explanatory conditions, namely governmentally regulated institutional conditions for patents and firm specific characteristics for sales of product innovations.

Perceived uncertainties regarding socio-technological transformations: towards a framework

Socio-technological transformations are difficult to achieve. Perceived uncertainties that hinder the innovation decisions of involved actors play a key role in this process. Determining how perceived uncertainties differ between types of actors and between transformation phases (pre-development, take-off, acceleration, stabilisation) can provide essential insights for managing such transformations. This article aims at presenting a framework for analysing the role of uncertainties in socio-technological transformations. In this framework, we classify uncertainties according to their source (technology, resources, competitors, suppliers, consumers, politics), nature (knowledge, variability) and level (low to high) and relate this uncertainty typology to the different transformation phases and involved actors. Finally, we discuss implications for policy.

Orphan drugs: Unmet societal need for non-profitable privately supplied new products

Abstract Due to the severity of rare diseases, the societal need for biopharmaceutical treatments for these diseases is high, despite low numbers of patients. Therefore, we investigated the barriers currently hindering the willingness to develop orphan drugs in the Netherlands. To this end, a robust, small sample, exploratory analysis of Dutch multi-actor development of orphan drugs was performed. Various factors that were expected to stimulate the adoption of orphan drug development were found to be important barriers. Concerted actions of producers, users, and especially regulators are necessary to overcome these barriers, but the prerequisite of a shared problem definition is lacking.

Interdisciplinary social science: a methodological analysis

Since the 1930s, interdisciplinarity has been advocated in the social sciences for the purpose of achieving more comprehensive explanations of observable social phenomena. However, the realization of this promising perspective has been rather poor. This article argues that two main causes of the failure to create interdisciplinary social science can be distinguished, i.e., methodological and theoretical problems. Methodological problems stem either from taking a reductionist approach towards interdisciplinarity, or by mistaking measurement issues for theoretical topics. Theoretical problems result from the poor state and rate of theory formation within psychology. The implications of these problems are that the validity and reliability of explanations of macro social phenomena, which are provided by disciplines such as sociology and macro economics, are seriously at stake.

Chaos Theory and Social Science: A Methodological Analysis

This article investigates the relevance of chaos theory for social science. The application of chaos models in the analysis of social phenomena is accompanied by some important scientific problems. First, whether observations of social phenomena are generated by nonlinear dynamics cannot be ascertained beyond considerable doubt, especially when these observations contain measurement errors; i.e., there is a problem of external validity. Secondly, and more important, as a theory of irregular cyclical social behaviour is lacking, inductive-statistical theoryformation about such behaviour, which is based on fitting a mathematical model of chaos to observations of social phenomena, is impossible unless additional information is used concerning the context and circumstances wherein the social phenomena occur; i.e., the internal validity of any theoretical explanation that is derived from only a fitted mathematical model (of chaos) cannot be assessed. So, research into the suggestion derived from mathematical chaos theory that irregular cycles may be present in the development of social phenomena over time requires theory-formation about irregular cyclical social behaviour on the basis of established theoretical insights and empirical evidence instead of fitting sophisticated mathematical models of chaos to observations of social phenomena.

Co-innovation by KIBS in Environmental Services : a knowledge-based perspective.

This paper investigates the ability of knowledge intensive business firms (KIBS) to engage in co-innovation with client firms. Co-innovation is related to the competitive advantage of KIBS as knowledge creators and sources of innovation. We apply a knowledge-based perspective where knowledge-related resources and learning capabilities explain why certain KIBS firms are able to co-innovate. We couple our theoretical expectations with qualitative evidence on three best practices in the Dutch market for environmental services.

On Bounded Rationality and the Framing of Decisions in International Relations: Towards a Dynamic Network Model of World Politics

This article reflects the feedback of empirical research on theorizing about international relations. The empirical results obtained by both Faber (1987a) and Houweling & Siccama (1988) can be explained by the theory of risky prospects developed by Tversky & Kahneman (1981). As this theory is easily integrated into Simons concept of bounded rationality in human decision-taking, a theoretical framework for the explanation of international relations based on the resulting theoretical notions concerning human decision-taking is developed. Accordingly, decision-taking by governments concerning international relations is conceived to be steered by their bounded rationality with respect to their behavioural options and interaction opportunities and the goal of minimizing losses in their relative power positions with respect to foreign as well as domestic contenders. Because military power capabilities are not equally distributed across the member-states of the international system, the relative power positions of nations result in group-formation among them due to either actual domination or fear of domination. The dynamics of group-interactions is argued to give rise to global stability in international relations. When the power position of a nation deteriorates and the dynamics of group-interactions is absent the probability of an outbreak of war rises sharply.

Healthy urban living: Residential environment and health of older adults in Shanghai

ABSTRACT A healthy residential environment, especially for older adults, has emerged as an important issue on political and planning agenda in China. This paper aims to investigate the direct and indirect impact of residential environment on the health of older adults in Shanghai, taking into account health‐related behaviours, subjective well‐being and socio‐demographic factors in one comprehensive conceptual model. Our results show that the residential environment is associated with older adults’ health directly, and also indirectly through a series of significant behavioural (physical and social activities) and perceptual (subjective well‐being) factors. After combining the direct and indirect association, the results show that good housing and neighbourhood quality and a safe social environment contribute to better subjective, physical and mental health conditions of older adults. In addition, access to cultural facilities is positively related to older adults’ mental and physical health and subjective well‐being, while a higher proportion of older adults in a neighbourhood appears to promote physical and social activities but not health. HighlightsBoth physical environment and social environment affect old adults’ health.Residential environment affects elderlys health directly as well as indirectly.Physical activities and social activities are important intermediate factors.

Venture capitalist-induced relational fit and new venture performance: a Dutch biotech comparative case analysis

Abstract Venture capitalists contribute financially as well as non-financially to new venture development. Their non-financial support consists of both direct strategic advice and indirect advice via networking. But the effectiveness of this advice is more dependent on its acceptance than on its nature. The acceptance of the advice of a venture capitalist by the entrepreneurs has been demonstrated to depend on the latter’s perception of fairness in their relationship with the venture capitalist. In this study, we demonstrate that more dimensions of relational fit than only the perception of fairness of entrepreneurs in their relationship with a venture capitalist play an important role in their relational fit, i.e. goal congruence and complementarity of competences and cognitions. Additionally, this study shows that venture capitalists can improve their relational fit to entrepreneurs and thereby the new venture development by taking some fit improving measures like bonding, avoiding forced decisions and a too large overlap of knowledge, adherence to shared norms of conduct and heterogeneity of the knowledge exchanged.

Do Network Structures Follow Innovation Strategy? Chandler Revisited with Learning as an Intermediary Variable

In the literature on learning and innovation, a substantial amount of theorizing on the combination of exploration and exploitation has been conducted (March, 1991; Nooteboom, 2001; Volberda & Lewin, 2002). Two observations can be derived from this literature. On the one hand, the conceptual and theoretical development outpaced the empirical research so far (e.g., the volume of Dierkes et al. (2001) on organizational learning). There is an old, but profound theoretical literature on innovation and structure (Hage, 1980, 1998; Alter & Hage, 1993; Damanpour & Gopalakrishnan, 1998). Until recently these literatures on learning and structuring have been rather detached. Only some researchers (Boisot, 1998; Nooteboom, 2001; Volberda, 1998; Volberda & Lewin, 2002) aimed at synthesis, nevertheless the empirical part remains underdeveloped. On the other hand, learning is considered too often as an exogenous variable. In the organizational learning literature, there is a tendency to consider learning as a process without a context, which implies that important related aspects remain underanalyzed. In this chapter, we want to combine learning with the Chandlerian (Chandler, 1962) notion of structure follows strategy, in which structure is not conceptualized as internal organizational structure but as external network structure.