High tech

Abstract: Companies have historically invested in large research and development departments to drive innovation and provide sustainable growth. This model, however, is eroding due to a number of factors. What is emerging is a more open model, where companies recognize that not all good ideas will come from inside the organization and not all good ideas created within the organization can be successfully marketed internally. To date, Open Innovation concepts have been regarded as relevant primarily to ‘high-technology’ industries, with examples that include Lucent, 3Com, IBM, Intel and Millenium Pharmaceuticals. In this article, we identify organizations in industries outside ‘high technology’ that are early adopters of the concept. Our findings demonstrate that many Open Innovation concepts are already in use in a wide range of industries. We document practices that appear to assist organizations adopting these concepts, and discover that Open Innovation is not ipso facto a recipe for outsourcing R&D. We conclude that Open Innovation has utility as a paradigm for industrial innovation beyond high tech to more traditional and mature industries.

Abstract: In this paper, using panel data, I estimate plant level production functions that include variables that allow for two types of scale externalities which plants experie nce in their local industrial environments. First are externalities from other plants in the same industry locally, usually called localization economies or, in a dynamic context, Marshall, Arrow, Romer [MAR] economies. Second are externalities from the scale or diversity of local economic activity outside the own industry involving some type of cross- fertilization, usually called urbanization economies or, in a dynamic context, Jacobs economies. Estimating production functions for plants in high tech industries and in capital goods, or machinery industries, I find that local own industry scale externalities, as measured specifically by the count of other own industry plants locally, have strong productivity effects in high tech but not machinery industries. I find evidence that single plant firms both benefit more from and generate greater external benefits than corporate plants. On timing, I find evidence that high tech single plant firms benefit from the scale of past own industry activity, as well as current activity. I find no evidence of urbanization economies from the diversity of local economic activity outside the own industry and limited evidence of urbanization economies from the overall scale of local economic activity.

Abstract: Explores how jobs are created and destroyed in the United States. Data is derived from 12 million business establishments studied since 1969. Results show that the business population as a whole is extremely turbulent, meaning millions of companies form every year, and a significant portion experience growth -- especially small firms. An era of innovation is on the rise, stemming from a small number of high tech and high-innovation firms that are leading the service industries of the United States. The economies of Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are studied as well, and are found to exhibit strikingly different characteristics from the US, based on differing cultural values; consequently, change will evolve slowly. The spatial implications of the innovation revolution are discussed, and predictions are made for future areas of economic growth. Conclusions show that the US worker must be willing to seek opportunities, acquire knowledge that is valuable across industries, and adapt to multiple jobs and the career shifts that necessarily accompany turbulent, innovation-based markets. (CJC)