Knowledge that Transforms

This study focuses on the duration of the patent examination process to develop a theoretical framework that explains how the effect of an important characteristic, technological diversity of patent applications, influences the duration of patent examination. Drawing on an information-processing perspective, we propose a U-shaped relationship between the level of technology diversity of a patent application and the pendency time for patent office decisions, including both grants and refusals. We run Cox proportional hazard models on a sample of all pharmaceutical patent applications filed between 1985 and 2017 at China's State Intellectual Property Office. Our results support the hypothesized U-shaped relationship between technology diversity and decision pendency. We also theorize and find partial support for the moderating effects of patent agency and inventor team size. The implications of these findings are discussed.

This paper develops and applies a new evaluative approach to local entrepreneuriale cosystems, as configural narratives. We examine how configurations of local entrepreneurial ecosystem attributes, as evaluated by local experts, support or hinder the emergence of new and innovative firms. Drawing on sociology of place, we present a novel configurational comparative analysis of local experts' evaluation of their ecosystems in Chile. Our proposed approach to entrepreneurial ecosystems helps us uncover two counterintuitive findings and so elaborateon interferences that have not yet been addressed through conventional concepts, methods and data. First, we reveal three distinct ecosystem types explaining different local levels of new firm activity: Active self-propelled, Indulged and Passive self-absorbed. The internal composition of these types change when only innovative and high growth firms are taken into consideration. Second, we show why, when seen as configural narratives, ecosystem attributes that have been assumed necessary play only a peripheral role. Our study demonstrates a split picture against seemingly similar outcomes and homogenous local contexts, contributing to the advancement of entrepreneurial ecosystem theory, observation and assessment.

Existing work has shown how, in platform ecosystems, firms can capture above-average rents by controlling hard-to-replace segments. However, initial conditions can have a lasting effect on a platform owner's ability to capture value as the ecosystem in which it operates evolves. We develop a theoretical framework that first considers the role of bargaining power and industry life cycle stage, showing how these shape initial governance arrangements and the platform owner's subsequent ability to capture value based on the rigidity of these arrangements. We then develop propositions, focusing on contingencies that moderate this degree of governance rigidity in platform ecosystems. Our framework helps understand the combined effects of initial conditions and governance rigidity as key drivers of a platform owner's ability to capture rents. Once we consider these dynamics, controlling a hard-to-replace segment may neither be sufficient nor necessary to obtain a large share of the value created by an ecosystem.

Since 2000 and the launch of Science Foundation Ireland, Irish policymakers have been involved in a large-scale national science policy programme. Starting from a position with little pre-existing research infrastructure beyond its traditional higher education system, Ireland allocated significant public resources to rapidly develop an extensive research centres programme. These centres are designed to harness knowledge embedded in the national science base to impact firm-level Research and Development (R&D). Each research centre focuses on basic and applied research (as opposed to development), targeted at prioritised sectors of the economy. Using a novel panel dataset (2007–2017), our analysis provides the first evaluation of these research centres. Results indicate that research centre collaborations increase firm-level R&D, and, over time, re-orientate collaborating firms' R&D towards more applied research. We also consider how impacts vary depending on the firms’ characteristics (size and sector), and research centre characteristics. Our findings demonstrate that Ireland's policy programme improved firms' R&D profile, and suggest key policy lessons for other economies who might consider adopting a similar strategy.

While entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) are often regarded as spatially bounded resource allocation systems that allocate and mobilise resources for new venture creation, less is known on the underlying process of resource allocation that sustains the development and prosperity of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Following an inductive approach, we conducted a qualitative study on Shenzhen's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our findings show that the process of resource allocation in an entrepreneurial ecosystem unfolds in four interconnected themes - resource endowments, resource use, resource dynamics and enabling conditions of resource dynamics. Based on these dimensions, we offer an integrated process model revealing how an entrepreneurial ecosystem mobilises and allocates resources over time. Complementing the “resource-provision” account in extant literature that illuminates the optimal “recipes” of ecosystem resources as sources of competitiveness, we offer a “resource-dynamic” account, which addresses how effective resource allocation, mobilisation and circulation within and outside of the ecosystems may be alternative sources of sustained growth for entrepreneurial ecosystems. We also contribute to the regional entrepreneurship literature by shedding light on the feedback impacts of new venture creation activities on regional resources. Our findings offer implications for governments and entrepreneurs in guiding policy initiatives towards, and measuring the long-term health of, regional entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Which countries are likely to have the productive capabilities to thrive in the green economy? How might countries reorient their existing industrial structures to be more competitive in an environmentally friendly world? To investigate these questions, this paper develops a novel methodology for measuring productive capabilities to the green economy. By constructing a new comprehensive dataset of traded green products and drawing on economic complexity methods, we rank countries in terms of their ability to export complex green products competitively. We show that higher ranked countries are more likely to have higher environmental patenting rates, lower CO2 emissions, and more stringent environmental policies even after controlling for per capita GDP. We then examine countries' potential to transition into green products in the future and find strong path dependence in the accumulation of green capabilities. Our results shed new light on green industrialisation and have a number of implications for green industrial policy.

Efforts of emerging economies to upgrade into global market capabilities are often conceptualized as either discrete choices or ongoing experiments. Mediating between these perspectives, this study uses the concepts of value regime and economic imaginary to examine micro-dynamics in upgrading. Based on the case of global business services in Kenya and South Africa, this study shows that upgrading efforts center around mainstream or niche value regimes which align local resources with specific demands and which are guided by economic imaginaries. These are shared theories of value creation and upgrading success which are linked to global discourses and which legitimize certain local investments while hindering others. Findings show how both Kenya and South Africa initially followed mainstream imaginaries according to which meeting global standards attracts clients and helps achieve scalable success. Misalignments with material realities later promoted niche imaginaries which focus on the value of local specificity and exclusiveness and which promoted the rise of impact sourcing and specialty services. Findings indicate how the interplay of material and discursive processes affects upgrading dynamics.