Tyler Chamberlin

Business success factors and innovation in Canadian service sectors: an initial investigation of inter-sectoral differences

This paper explores the relationship between innovation and a select number of business success factors in 3701 firms across 34 Canadian service sectors. The paper begins with an investigation of the differences in rates of innovation by Canadian service sectors. The paper then progresses to investigate similarities/differences between service industries with respect to the identified business success factors. Distinct clusters of industries are observed to exist as they relate to their market and knowledge development orientations. Analysis at the individual sector level yields further insights into the orientation of individual industries as it pertains to innovation.

Modes of innovation in the Canadian wine industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sectoral variety and common patterns of innovation in the wine industry. It intends to explore the nature, extent and sources of variety of innovation in the Canadian wineries.Design/methodology/approach – The data employed come from a firm‐level survey addressed to 146 wine establishments in Canada. Results were analysed using factor analysis and non‐parametric statistical analysis.Findings – The results reveal wineries tend to introduce many innovation activities which are internalised or externalised, draw on a variety of different sources of information, with a clear distinction between market sources, government sources (laboratories, research centres) and educational establishments, and introduced different types of innovation, including product and process but also organisational innovation.Practical implications – The results suggest individual wineries innovate differently, but within a limited number of fairly consistent modes.Originality...

Sourcing Knowledge and Innovation in a Low-Technology Industry

This paper investigates the relationship between knowledge sourcing and innovation in a select low- to medium-technology industry, the forest sector. It is based on data from the Statistics Canada Survey of Innovation 2005. Econometric models are developed and tested, specifically logistic regression analyses, in order to probe the relationship between select forms of embodied and disembodied knowledge and levels of innovation intensity. Differences between single establishment Canadian firms, multi-establishment Canadian firms, Canada–USA multi-establishment firms and establishments belonging to multinational firms are studied in terms of the relationship between innovation and sources of knowledge. Findings indicate that establishment innovative performance is related to knowledge sourcing strategies and furthermore that organization ownership/structure impacts significantly upon this relationship.

Investing in R&D: small- and medium-sized enterprise financing preferences

This work adds to our understanding of financing decisions among owners of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with particular reference to SMEs that conduct research and development (R&D). The work examines, conceptually and empirically, the forms of financing that are preferred by primary owners of SMEs that invest in R&D relative to preferences of owners of SMEs that do not conduct R&D. The work develops a conceptual rationale as to why SMEs engaged in R&D might hold particular preferences with respect to preferred sources of financial capital. Empirical analysis draws on large-scale survey data of actual applications for financing (as opposed to financing received) as reported by business owners and controls for systemic factors that include firm size and sector. Findings include that financing preferences do not follow a ‘one-size-fits-all’ prescription. Rather, preferences vary according to growth goals, the nature of ownership, age of firm, firm size and sector; however, it was also clear that firms that invest in R&D are much more likely to seek equity financing than otherwise comparable firms that do not invest in R&D.

Firm Demographics in Silicon Valley North

The Ottawa-Gatineau Commercialization Task Force (CTF)was created to address issues of firm size among technology firms in SiliconValley North (SVN).To aid the CTF, teams from the business schools atCarleton University and the University of Ottawa collected research (1) toobserve the distribution of firms of various sizes in the region, and (2) tocompare SVN to other comparable technology clusters in the world.Focusingon five technological clusters (telecommunications, photonics,microelectronics, software and life sciences), the researchers utilized datacollected by the Ottawa Center for Research and Innovation (OCRI). The five clusters are described, as are the limitations of the OCRIdata.A history of SVN provides a thorough description of the evolution ofthis Canadian technology cluster, with its success attributed to its researchbase and the presence of a large private sector firm.The prevalence ofthe five technological clusters is also examined.SVNs firms are comparedin terms of size and distribution to high-tech firms in Silicon Valley,California, and Oxfordshire, England. The conclusions of the research were twofold:(1) when compared toSilicon Valley and Oxfordshire, Silicon Valley Northhas proportionatelyfewer small high-tech firms and more medium and large firms, and (2) incomparison to large California firms, Canadian high-tech firms have a tendencyto be small. (AKP)