Porter and Ketels' (2003) study of British competitiveness emphasised the importance of business networking for innovativeness. Until recently insights into the dynamics of this relationship have been fragmented. This paper presents a systematic review of research linking the networking behaviour of firms with their innovative capacity. We find that the principal benefits of networking as identified in the literature include, risk sharing; obtaining access to new markets and technologies; speeding products to market; pooling complementary skills; safeguarding property rights when complete or contingent contracts are not possible; and acting as a key vehicle for obtaining access to external knowledge. The evidence also illustrates that those firms which do not cooperate and which do not formally or informally exchange knowledge limit their knowledge base on a long-term basis and ultimately reduce their ability to enter into exchange relationships. At an institutional level, national systems of innovation play an important role in the diffusion of innovations in terms of the way in which they shape networking activity. The paper provides evidence suggesting that network relationships with suppliers, customers, and intermediaries such as professional and trade associations are important factors affecting innovation performance and productivity. Where networks fail it is due to inter-firm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure. The review identifies several gaps in the literature that need to be filled. For instance, there is a need for further exploration of the relationship between networking and different forms of innovation, such as, process and organisational innovation. Similarly, we need better understanding of network dynamics and network configurations, as well as the role of third parties such as professional and trade associations. Our study highlights the need for inter-disciplinary research in these areas.

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Networking and innovation: a systematic review of the evidence

Interpreting qualitative data

In an ever-more interconnected world (social, technological and environmental), no organisation can retain a competitive position and survive disruptions as an independent entity. This article provides a review of resilience literature in its widest context and later its application at an organisational level context. The origins of the concept are reported and consequently, the various fields of research are analysed. The concept is shown to remain essentially constant regardless of its field of enquiry and has much to inform the fields of organisation theory, strategy and operations management. This article identifies a number of areas for advancing resilience research, in particular: the relationship between human and organisational resilience; understanding interfaces between organisational and infrastructural resilience.

Resilience: the concept, a literature review and future directions

he revised English edition of this book tlie T original Swcdisli cdition. without tlie subtitle. is froni 1997 should be considered :is i111 important contribution to sociology and social science in general to tlie extent tliat it is a clear and wcll-structured introduction to critical i-disrri, one of the most rccent and vigorous theoretical streams in the field of thc social scicnces. if we take into coiisidcration tlic influential work of hlargaret t\\rclier (1995: Realist Socinl Tlicory: Tlic I\\loriJlio!gciicti(’

Explaining Society, Critical Realism in the Social Sciences:

Over the past few years a new buzzword has entered academic, political and public discourse: the notion of resilience, a term invoked to describe how an entity or system responds to shocks and disturbances. Although the concept has been used for some time in ecology and psychology, it is now invoked in diverse contexts, both as a perceived (and typically positive) attribute of an object, entity or system and, more normatively, as a desired feature that should somehow be promoted or fostered. As part of this development, the notion of resilience is rapidly becoming part of the conceptual and analytical lexicon of regional and local economic studies: there is increasing interest in the resilience of regional, local and urban economies. Further, resilience is rapidly emerging as an idea ‘whose time has come’ in policy debates: a new imperative of ‘constructing’ or ‘building’ regional and urban economic resilience is gaining currency. However, this rush to use the idea of regional and local economic resilience in policy circles has arguably run somewhat ahead of our understanding of the concept. There is still considerable ambiguity about what, precisely, is meant by the notion of regional economic resilience, about how it should be conceptualized and measured, what its determinants are, and how it links to patterns of long-run regional growth. The aim of this article is to address these and related questions on the meaning and explanation of regional economic resilience and thereby to outline the directions of a research agenda.

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On the notion of regional economic resilience: conceptualization and explanation

In this paper we propose two conceptual developments in understanding entrepreneur motivations and their effects. First, we argue that entrepreneur motivations develop dynamically in relation to ca...

Entrepreneur motivations and life course

This article analyses small firm responses to a major economic downturn, based on empirical investigation in the UK and New Zealand. Despite differences in the timing and depth of the downturn, the...

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Small business responses to a major economic downturn: Empirical perspectives from New Zealand and the United Kingdom

This study begins from the premise that smaller employers provide less formal training than larger companies and are less likely to participate in government training initiatives. The study has a number of objectives: to understand the issues small employers face in making decisions about training; to examine training provision for owner-managers, new recruits and established employees; to guage the importance of formal and informal training; to identify employers’ motives to provide training; and to assess whether small businesses’ informal training can be assessed more formally than at present. The first stage of the study provides quantitative data on a sufficiently large sample to be able to generalise the findings to the broader population. The second stage provides qualitative data on employers’ definitions of training, their motives for undertaking training and the barriers to providing training. The report also suggests implications for future policy.

The nature of training and motivation to train in small firms

Concern has been expressed, over the years, about the financial management strategies adopted by small firms, but very little is known about these practices. Business performance measures are an important element of these financial management strategies. The paper discusses the findings from research carried out in the UK examining the quantitative and qualitative criteria in the measurement of performance in small firms. Semi‐structured interviews were carried out with 20 owner‐managers from both manufacturing and service sectors. Orthodox theory assumes that the objective of the firm is to maximise profits, and it follows that the performance measures advocated are largely based upon this theory. However, research has shown that small firms pursue a range of goals. It was, therefore, not surprising to find that owner‐managers of small firms used a variety of measures and indicators to assess business performance. Profit measures were found to be less important than conventional views suggest. In particular, cash flow indicators were considered to be critical. Other performance measures adopted by owner‐managers include the quality of inputs and outputs and intangible indicators.

The use of quantitative and qualitative criteria in the measurement of performance in small firms

Intellectual, as opposed to physical and financial, capital is increasingly regarded as a source of competitive advantage for individuals, enterprises and nations. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are often regarded as important innovators in the economy. It is possible to protect some intellectual capital as property through formal legal rights such as patents or copyright or through contractual agreements. Where small businesses possess such intellectual property, they can secure legal proection. Business owners may also attempt to protect such property using informal methods such as keeping information confidential as “trade secrets”. To explore whether SMEs possess intellectual property and, if so, whether they attempt to protect it, results are presented from a study of SMEs in four sectors where such issues are likely to arise – computer services, design, electronics and mechanical engineering. Overall, small business owners placed most emphasis on informal methods to protect intellectual property. These methods were more familiar, cheaper, less time‐consuming and frequently considered as effective as more formal rights. Under most circumstances, SME owners considered formal registrable rights such as patents less important. Even where business owners adopted formal rights, they were generally reluctant to bring a legal action to obtain redress where they believed that infringements had taken place.

John Kitching

Papers

Entrepreneur motivations and life course

Small business responses to a major economic downturn: Empirical perspectives from New Zealand and the United Kingdom

The nature of training and motivation to train in small firms

The use of quantitative and qualitative criteria in the measurement of performance in small firms

Intellectual property management in the small and medium enterprise (SME)