Resumen de Inter-firm product development in Spain
Luis Sanz Menéndez, Clara Eugenia García García
This paper attempts to explore the extent in which inter-firm co-operation has emerged for the development of new products in Spain. The basic building block of recent theorizing on technological change is that innovation is a firm-based process. In spite of the central role business organizations play, innovation does not take place in isolation; firms themselves form extensive and intense networks of different types, through their interaction with different economic and institutional actors. We aim to examine the set of factors that shape inter-firm co-operation, including a set of internal technological and managerial capabilities as well as external and institutional factors fostering or inhibiting co-operation. Basically, we are interested in the phenomena that is the result of the firm's behavior in specific contexts related to product development. We shall refer to the empirical evidence provided by firms that have been engaged in product development through co-operation. In this first draft we shall focus on the preliminary findings emerging from a specific questionnaire set up for international comparative purposes. The basic research questions addressed through an empirical analysis are: to what extent co-operation for the development of new products is a dominant pattern?; (within a population of Spanish firms that may be characterized as "innovative" or "technology-based" -see Technical Annex), and to what extent innovation may be considered as a collective process of knowledge production and learning coordination?. There are several theoretical reasons provided by current literature and supported by empirical data concerning the general idea that product innovation is increasingly driven by co-operation between firms, and between firms and other major actors such as public agencies, government institutions and universities. Firms diversify their technological sources mainly due to scale, scope and cost of technological development, and also as a way of dealing with the uncertainty emerging from the rapid technical change. From the set of data used in this document we may conclude that co-operation for product development is a basic and dominant trend, though firms have also reported an increasing tendency for collaboration concerning other areas of activity -i.e. more than 60 % of the firms report a significant increase of cooperation with national and foreign partners in the last three years. However, despite this dominant vision of product development as the outcome from inter-firm co-operation, co-operation and the willingness to co-operate are seen as elements related to the firm's internal set of technological competencies and complementarities between firms relating to their technological core and/or knowledge base. This is fundamentally attributed to the following assumptions. First, it is currently assumed that cooperative firms will have at least a specific, and partially, common knowledge base represented by the generic technological knowledge which is shared by all these firms and organizations. Secondly, it is often assumed that efficient cooperation will increase as a function of the firm's technological specialization. Third, there are different forms of inter-firm co-operation and such differences will be a function of the firm's coordination capabilities as well as their learning processes. Hence, we shall expect an active co-operation between firms to increase as their level of either technological similarities or complementarities increases. In spite of theses general assumptions concerning inter-firm cooperation and new product development, some remarks were brought to our attention at this stage and will require further elaboration. First, it should be pointed out that firms have a deep understanding of what is meant by product development. Product development is seen basically as an active learning coordination process involving knowledge production in a broader sense. Meanwhile, product innovation understood as new marketed products represents a less active pattern of learning; product innovation may be simply the result of defining commercial areas of common interests, and does not imply an active learning coordination process. In this respect, and using such distinction, our preliminary results show some relevant characteristics and basic differences between two types of cooperation: (a) active interchange of knowledge and collective learning, and (b) sharing of experiences and knowledge that reduces costs or increases the benefits of internal learning activities (e.g. licensing, and cross-licensing agreements). The survey's main questions addressed the "development of new products in the last three years" as opposed to the "introduction of new or improved products into the market" as innovation surveys derived from the Oslo Manual have been suggesting. From such distinction it is important to notice that such definition is more strict and less inclusive than the one contained by the Oslo Manual. The basic point of reference for such assertion is that while 78 % of the surveyed firms, reported that they did developed a new product in the last three years, 91% of the firms reports that they have introduced into the market a new product or improved in the last three years. Significantly, there is a 15% of the total sample that reported "not having developed a new product" but "having introduced into the market a new or improved product". There is a subtle but significant difference between these two statements which infers some potential explanations. First, there is may be a time lag between new product development and market introduction which has to be taken into account; secondly, that the new products marketed are not necessarily developed by the firm engaged in distribution and commercialization; and finally that some of the firms may have reported just technical improvement in their products. In the next sections we are concerned only with firms that have been actively involved in the knowledge creation and learning coordination. The analysis and raw data provided draw on a Spanish survey implemented though CATI (See Technical Annex) from which we shall derive a preliminary set of relevant characteristics. The following analysis is mainly descriptive, it uses indicators and information in progress to address the general issue of inter-firm cooperation for product development in the Spanish economy. It address issues related to the forms of the innovative networks, the relevance on the different collaborators for product development and other issues associated to performance and management tools of the collaborative arrangement. Yet, although some of the data will require further elaboration, this first draft document will try to cover some of the most relevant findings.
