Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
capabilities, has been addressed in some recent developments within the
literature on dynamic capabilities. In particular, von Tunzelmann and
Wang (2007) observe that firms act simultaneously as producers of inter-
mediate goods that are inputs for other industrial firms, thus playing the
role of suppliers, and also as consumers of different kinds of inputs them-
selves. They suggest that the dichotomy of 'demand-supply' should there-
fore be replaced by the triad 'supplier-producer-consumer', so as to take
into account the multiple roles concurrently played by producing firms.
Consumers and suppliers are in turn producers which are related to other
consumers and suppliers, thereby creating a complex network of transac-
tions and knowledge flows. Within this framework, dynamic capabilities
involve the producers managing timely changes on the suppliers' side
(reflecting technological change) and also on the consumers' side (reflect-
ing market change), in a context of dynamic competition characterized by
'ever changing products, market structures, technologies, resources, forms
of industrial organization and so forth' (von Tunzelmann and Wang 2007,
p. 202). Drawing on Malerba (1992), von Tunzelmann and Wang (2007)
illustrate firms' internal and external sources of knowledge, highlighting
the fact that it is the successful interaction between the capabilities of
consumers, producers and suppliers, which is at the origin of the dynamic
interactive capabilities that allows a network to compete in the long run.
As we will see, such concepts are crucial in explaining the behaviour and
strategies of MNEs in generating and diffusing new technologies across
borders and locations of technological excellence. 7
Over recent years, the appreciation of the nature and characteristics of
the innovation process has therefore put learning processes at the centre
of attention. Understanding technological innovation as a collective and
interactive learning process helps to explain many of the issues related
to innovation and to the most internationally competitive MNEs. One
such issue is the importance of R&D, which is usually the major source of
new knowledge for most MNEs. The significance of R&D varies across
industries, just as the relationship between public or potentially generic
knowledge and tacit capability differs across industries. R&D contributes
to technological innovation by providing a supply of potentially public
knowledge, which is then used in combination with the continuous devel-
opment of tacit capabilities through the evolution of collaborative skills
and organizational routines. Therefore, it is misleading to think of R&D
as the general driver of innovation, even though it plays a crucial role in
science-based sectors, since innovation also reflects what is achieved in
the broader learning process. Appreciating that innovation is a collec-
tive learning process also helps to resolve the longstanding debate as to
whether the essential source of technological progress is research-push or
Search WWH ::




Custom Search