Phil Y. Yang

The effects of innovative capabilities and R&D clustering on firm performance: the evidence of Taiwan's semiconductor industry

Abstract This research investigates the impact of various aspects of innovative capability on firm performance. A resource-based view of strategic management is adopted to highlight the importance of resources and capabilities. The study here also addresses the recent interest in the effect of R&D clustering on innovation and thus on firm competitiveness. The present study explores the influence of innovative capabilities and clustering effects along the value chain of the Taiwanese integrated circuit (IC) industry. The empirical results indicate that innovative capabilities are mostly positively related to performance as measured by returns on assets (ROA). Specifically, higher R&D intensity and higher R&D manpower are found to be predictors of improved firm performance. Additionally, firms at various stages of the value delivering process are seen to have differentiated innovative capability characteristics. A noteworthy result is that low and moderate levels of R&D clustering demonstrate positively moderating power to the relationship between innovative capability and performance. However, the hypothesis that further R&D clustering would eventually reduce the impact of innovative capability on firm performance was not confirmed.

The Impacts of Academic Patenting and Licensing on Knowledge Production and Diffusion: A Test of the Anti-Commons Effect in Taiwan

This paper empirically examines the emerging anti-commons effect of academic patenting and licensing on knowledge production and diffusion in Taiwan. Through a dataset of 229 Taiwanese academic patent inventors, the results reveal that the anti-commons effect is not significant as expected. However, this effect has becomes more vivid in application-oriented research and disclosure delay while academic patent inventors have involved more in licensing activities. Programs to encourage academic licensing should be aware of the side effects on academic knowledge production and diffusion.

Academic research commercialization and knowledge production and diffusion: the moderating effects of entrepreneurial commitment

This paper empirically examines the relationship between research commercialization, entrepreneurial commitment, and knowledge production and diffusion in academia. Through a dataset of 229 academic patent inventors, this paper reveals that the effects of research commercialization on publication quantity, application-oriented research, and disclosure delay are moderated by the entrepreneurial commitment of faculty members. This paper concludes that encouraging entrepreneurial commitment of faculty members may possibly drive academics away from their traditional approaches in producing and diffusing knowledge.

Industrializing Academic Knowledge in Taiwan

OVERVIEW: How to effectively utilize and leverage academic knowledge has become a concern for university leaders and faculty, firms and policymakers alike. A questionnaire survey of 122 Taiwanese universities confirms that the “cognitive-governance” orientation of universities has gradually shifted from the “scientific-government” to a more “scientific-economic” one since the Science and Technology Basic Law was enacted in 1999. For Taiwanese universities, intellectual property infrastructure build-up, patenting and licensing activities have been steadily enhanced. The survey also reveals that the transfer of knowledge from universities to industry is largely dependent on short-term, personal and contract-based mechanisms, rather than on longterm, formal organizational, and joint capability development mechanisms. These conclusions have managerial and policy implications for capitalizing academic knowledge, not only in Taiwan but in other economies as well.

FACTORS NURTURING ACADEMIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN TAIWAN

Although academic research institutions have become a major player in protecting, transferring, and commercializing their knowledge base, little research has examined in enterprising research results from the angle of academic entrepreneurs. This paper examined the factors fostering academic entrepreneurship from institutional, organizational, and individual aspects, especially in Taiwan. Based on the Patent Database of the National Science Council, Taiwan, 474 academic entrepreneurs who owned patents were identified. Via a postal survey, 229 questionnaires were collected with an overall. response rate of 48%. Through factor analysis, five key success factors fostering academic entrepreneurship were identified. The key success factors to foster academic entrepreneurship in Taiwan include entrepreneurial network, organizational infrastructures, entrepreneurial legitimacy, entrepreneurial pro-activeness, and entrepreneurial rewards. Thus, the paper concluded that nurturing academic entrepreneurship in Taiwan is evidently shaped by not only micro factors such as entrepreneurial networks and characteristics but also macro factors such as entrepreneurial infrastructures and rewards from universities and increasing legitimacy of academic entrepreneurship.

Universities as patent- and licensing income-generating institutions: a survey in Taiwan

This study examines the preliminary results of patenting and licensing activities in Taiwanese Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from 1997 to 2001. We propose a framework to analyse the influence of a universitys internal Intellectual Property Right (IPR) management and external research partnerships on creating income through patenting and licensing. Through a postal questionnaire survey, all 122 HEIs in Taiwan were surveyed. The empirical results demonstrate that internalised IPR management capability and external research partnerships have substantially increased the amount of academic patents and licensing income. The paper reveals that the relation between external research partnership and patterns of academic licensing is moderated by industry research funding, towards more domestic and partner-oriented licensing. This has crucial policy implications for enhancing effective national triple-helix interactions.

Measurement Model of Risk Compensation: Evidences from Asian Emerging Markets

This study investigates the measurement of investment weight adjustment on jump risk of five Asian emerging markets. Considering the risk of rare event, we develop a stochastic jump-diffusion model for dynamic asset allocation in an international diversified portfolio. This paper contributes to finding the optimal weight on jump risks that differs from prior research by calculating the jump size and event arrival frequencies. A covariance of international assets investment is obtained by simulating the price process and constructing multiple-dimension jump diffusion on weight adjustment. We also show how to diversify the jump risks by using international assets portfolios in Asian emerging markets.

The Changing Governance of Academic Innovation in Taiwan: A Preliminary Post-STBL Review

In the rise of mode 2 knowledge production, the new governance allowing universities to facilitate knowledge flow into new ideas and sources of industrial innovation becomes imperative. This paper preliminarily examines how Taiwanese higher education institutions (HEIs) responded to the new ”scientific-economic” governance that emerged in the post Science Technology Basic Law era. Four major dimensions of academic innovation are investigated, namely: institutional innovation, organizational innovation, commercial innovation and new university-industry partnerships. Through a postal questionnaire survey of all HEIs in Taiwan, this study reveals that the new governance of academic innovation has gradually stimulated the universitys propensity to intellectual property protection and exploitation, and industrial research partnerships in the preliminary post-STBL period. Vulnerable groups of HEIs in academic innovation activities are identified. However, cognitive failure of academic faculty and cooperation barriers among research partners still prevail. In order to fully materialize academic knowledge, a social innovation is needed.