Sofia Estelles-Miguel

Radical innovation in Marshallian industrial districts

ABSTRACT Radical innovation is under-researched in the geography of innovation. In this paper, the focus is on understanding how radical innovations occur in Marshallian industrial districts (MIDs), a phenomenon mostly overlooked. Using an exploratory and in-depth longitudinal case study methodology in two European MIDs, this paper analyzes radical innovation in MIDs and finds that the introduction of technology-distant knowledge and new firms from different (to the focal) industries are both necessary mechanisms, but not sufficient. Access to leading incumbents’ networks, based on social norms, becomes a crucial social factor necessary for radical innovation to occur in MIDs.

Agglomerations and firm performance: who benefits and how much?

ABSTRACT Agglomerations and firm performance: who benefits and how much? Regional Studies. Agglomeration can generate gains. If it does, how does it work and how are those gains distributed across agglomerated firms? The paper examines the effect of localization externalities on innovation. Localization externalities are measured as industry specialization or a firm’s co-location in a relatively high own-industry employment region. By analyzing a large dataset of 6697 firms integrated with another regional agglomeration-related dataset, results show that (1) co-location in an agglomeration has a positive influence on a firm’s innovative performance; and (2) firms benefit heterogeneously from agglomerations, with benefits being distributed asymmetrically. Agglomeration gains exist but not all firms benefit equally.

Advances in crowdsourcing

Foreword.- Chapter 1 From Crowdsourcing to Use of Masscapital.- Chapter 2 Recruiting Individuals to a Crowdsourcing Community.- Chapter 3 Crowdsourcing Fundamentals.- Chapter 4 Crowdsourcing and the Evolution of a Business Ecosystem.- Chapter 5 From Leakage to Crowdsourcing.- Chapter 6 Crowdsourcing: A New Way to Citzen Empowerment.- Chapter 7 Crowdsourcing in Higher Education.- Chapter 8 Crowdsourcing with University Students.- Chapter 9 Humanizing Internal Crowdsourcing Best Practices.- Chapter 10 Using Crowdsourcing to Overcome Barriers to Women Entrepreneurship.- Chapter 11 Gamification for Crowdsourcing Marketing Practices.- Chapter 12 Crowdsourcing: An Application for Promotional Marketing.- Chapter 13 Advances in Crowdsourcing: Surveys, Social Media and Geospatial Analysis.

Beyond product innovation: deciphering process-oriented innovators, complementarities and performance effects

ABSTRACT Relatively little attention has been paid to the understanding of process innovation, compared to the well-researched product innovation. This paper contributes to improve our understanding of process innovation and its specific process capabilities and performance by exploring, across many industries, 4,608 process-oriented innovators. Process innovation is defined as adoption of technologically new or significantly improved production methods, including changes in equipment, organisation or methods of product delivery. Process-oriented innovators or process seekers are those firms which usually only introduce process innovation, and no product innovation. These have received less attention by scholars. Results show that process innovation without also organisational innovation complements constrains innovative performance. Complex process-based innovation complementarities result from the simultaneous development and integration of new machinery and organisational innovations.

Student Opinion on the Application of Active Methodologies

The newly established European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has prompted a reformulation of teaching methodologies, placing greater focus on student-centred learning. Integration of theory and practice together with development of academic skills have become important educational objectives.

Another Way to Teach Operation Management

In the context of the Business Management degrees Operation Management subject provides a wide variety of tools related with skill like decision making, solving problems and information management. Usually this subject is taught by master classes for the theoretical part of the subject and problem solving for the practical one. The present paper presents a new methodology used for teaching theoretical part in this subject. For the authors the students should learn Operation Management doing Operation Management. In this way the teachers have develop a Project-Based Learning for this subject. This paper present also the motivation for this teaching innovation, the problems encountered in its implementation and the results obtained.

Innovation and Knowledge in the Social Economy: ICT Accessibility

Interest in social economy is growing rapidly for many reasons. There are many examples of this type of enterprise in Spain, and several are leaders at a European level. This paper examines the case of Technosite SA (a part of the Grupo Ilunion). Technosite specialises in e-business developments, business intelligence, usability, e-learning, integral management of web portals, and especially in web accessibility (aiming to ensure that a website can be used by everybody, regardless of whether they have a disability). Technosite SA also handles R&D projects: including the technical management of international projects and the creation of technological demonstrators. The company has achieved the above while remaining aware of its responsibilities as a member of the social economy. This chapter analyses innovation in social economy in Spain and presents the experience of Technosite SA.

Entrepreneurship at the Universitat Politècnica de València

There is growing interest in entrepreneurship within universities. Universities aim to develop entrepreneurial skills in their students and establish the necessary paths to support entrepreneurial activities. This chapter focuses on entrepreneurial universities as key agents for the socioeconomic development of cities, regions, and nations. The chapter examines the transformation of universities to meet new business development needs and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) as an entrepreneurial university.

Municipal Sport Management: Practical Application in the City of Valencia

The necessity and usefulness for citizens of the sport services offered by town/city councils to encourage practising sport is a basic pillar in today’s society, which is becoming increasingly sedentary and overfed, because healthy life habits help fight diseases caused by inactivity and being overweight. Nowadays not even half the Europe population practises sport on a regular basis, which is why public administrations must encourage this healthy habit. In parallel, town/city councils’ budgets have been cut due to the recent economic crisis, and they have had to revise and optimise their management models, which they had applied to all domains, especially in this one. This chapter analyses the various sport management types applied by town/city councils and presents the practical case of the city of Valencia.

Social Entrepreneurship in the Automotive Industry: A Win-Win Experience

Interest in social entrepreneurship is growing rapidly for many reasons and there are countless examples of enterprises in various fields. The best known example is that of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus who created a new service based on microloans that has dramatically improved the lives of many people. There are many other lesser-known examples. This chapter examines the case of social entrepreneurship in the automotive industry. MLV is a Spanish company that works as a logistics operator for Ford Spain and some 95% of its employees have disabilities. We explain how this is a win-win paradigm for the employees, company, and the automotive industry.