Niall MacKenzie

Clio in the business school: Historical approaches in strategy, international business and entrepreneurship

Abstract On the back of recent and significant new debates on the use of history within business and management studies, we consider the perception of historians as being anti-theory and of having methodological shortcomings; and business and management scholars displaying insufficient attention to historical context and privileging of certain social science methods over others. These are explored through an examination of three subjects: strategy, international business and entrepreneurship. We propose a framework for advancing the use of history within business and management studies more generally through greater understanding of historical perspectives and methodologies.

PUBLIC SECTOR SUPPORT AND TECHNOLOGY-BASED SMES IN PERIPHERAL AREAS — THE CASE OF NORTH WALES

Public sector support is important for SMEs due to the finance and stability it offers, the measures are often designed specifically to answer the problems SMEs face and they can help fill gaps in the existing capacities of the firms through the network of expertise the measures allow them to access. There has been an ongoing debate over what effect support services have on the development of assisted firms, and the initial high expectations about the effectiveness of these services now seem overoptimistic, giving rise to more critical examinations of the effectiveness of these services and the institutions involved. With 93 technology-based SMEs in North Wales during a period of relative decentralization of provision of public business services and support in Wales, this study investigates: (1) how technology-based SMEs in North Wales perceive the quality of the services provided by local or national public support organizations; (2) if gaps exist in support then how differently these gaps are perceived by high and low performing firms; and (3) what services they perceive helpful to their business performance, and how differently these services are perceived by high and low performing firms.

From “Techniums” to “Emptiums”: the failure of a flagship innovation policy in Wales

ABSTRACT This paper examines the use of European Union Structural Funds to support the development of innovation policy within Wales during the period 2000–06. Drawing on data from the Welsh government and interviews with key stakeholders, it focuses specifically on the Technium programme, a high-profile technology-based innovation intervention that took a predominantly supply-side approach to supporting innovation, resulting in its eventual failure. Consistent within this is an analysis of the efficacy of supply-side policies using European Union funds to support research and development activities to aid economic growth in peripheral, weaker regions.

Measuring open innovation in SMEs

Research on open innovation in firms has grown significantly over the last decade. While scholars have started to address the knowledge gaps around open innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), there is still much to be done to develop more systematic evidence on the open innovation practices of SMEs. Given this, and in order to develop a greater understanding of open innovation practices at the SME level, this chapter develops a methodology for capturing, measuring, and benchmarking open innovation practices of SMEs. The theoretical framework proposes and develops six composite indicators to measure the different elements of open innovation within SMEs. These six pillars of open innovation practices are knowledge and technology sourcing activities; innovation expenditure; sources of knowledge; human capital; innovation networks; and intellectual property protection. They allow the examination of this phenomenon across spatial, temporal, and firm-level dimensions. The theoretical framework proposed herein has the potential to provide useful insights on the open innovation activity of SMEs across different size, sectoral, and spatial measures. This has value for policymakers, practitioners, and academic scholars seeking to better understand the differences in open innovation activity at these levels. This can be achieved by utilizing data from Community Innovation Surveys as the main data source for measuring innovation in Europe. The harmonized nature of these surveys provides a unique opportunity for benchmarking and comparative analysis on open innovation activities of different sectors and regions utilizing the proposed framework of open innovation practices. A further impact of the methodology that we propose in this chapter is its potential integration with the annual European Innovation Scoreboard and Regional Innovation Scoreboards. Currently, such an approach is lacking from both these EU-level scoreboards.

Family and business during the industrial revolution

Hannah Barker’s Family and business during the industrial revolution is a piece of scholarly research that is as impressive in its depth of analysis as it is in its scope of enquiry. This may seem ...