The heterogeneity of services and the differential effects on business and territorial innovation

The innovative results of firms depend upon their specific characteristics and their ability to weave together their competences with the innovative resources in their environment. Different approaches have underlined the importance of location and the context of business innovation. In particular, the existence of knowledge intensive services (KIS) enables firms to create and commercialise new processes, products and services. However, KIS can present substantial differences in their capacity to contribute to innovation. This article examines the relationship between KIS and business innovation and establishes a KIS typology in order to pinpoint its effects on business innovation. The resu…

Evolution of innovation policy in Emilia-Romagna and Valencia: Similar reality, similar results?

Ingenio Working Paper Series.

Different ways of measuring performance in the service industries: application in Spanish small and medium-sized hotels

There is no suitable unit of analysis for explaining the profitability and competitiveness of the company, as typically pointed out in the debate between the disciplines of economics and management. After a study of the possible variables, we opted for those of minimum cost output and productivity, using these two measurements to analyse their application to Spanish hotels. The subsequent objective was to attempt to identify general strategies that could be applied to any SME within service industries. In situations where time and resources are not readily available to create action plans for each of the different types of SME, there is a need for incentives that can be applied to the creat…

Government policies and services: an approach to the international context

This special issue analyses the relationship between services and industrial policy. Such a relationship covers a wide variety of aspects, going from measures designed to ensure the competential framework within which business activities are carried out, up to actions aimed at enabling structural change in service industries, with the incorporation of innovation as the essential factor for competitiveness. Two trends can currently be discerned. On the one hand, there is a growing tendency towards the decentralisation and specificity of public policy related to service industries. On the other, indirect actions aimed at strengthening the institutional context (technological infrastructures, …

Clustering and innovation: firm-level strategising and policy

Firm survival: The role of incubators and business characteristics

This paper analyzes the impact of business incubators on firm survival. Using a configurational comparative method, namely fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the article also examines whether degree of business innovation, size, sector, and export activity affects firm survival. Results show that, when combined with other variables (i.e. sector, technology), business size is a sufficient condition for firm survival. Likewise, incubators alone cannot affect survival. A combination between incubators and other factors is necessary to ensure firm survival. Sin financiación 2.129 JCR (2015) Q2, 40/120 Business UEV

Universidad Social Capital and the Competitiveness of Entrepreneurs: A Review of the Literature and Proposals

The essential question asked in this study is "How can social capital become a competitive tool for entrepreneurs". The answer lies in showing how their own networks can provide the value and competitiveness that entrepreneurs need for their business projects.

Regional development and innovation: the role of services

This special issue examines the role of services within the relationship between regional development and innovation. The analysis described here clearly shows the importance of the institutional elements that go to make up each regional environment. These institutional elements are not only formal and informal but also include intermediary organisations and services, in particular, knowledge-intensive ones. Fostering services based on connection and transfer (technological centres etc.), constitutes a strategic line of action in regional innovation policy. These services have a dual purpose. They both enable interaction between agents located in the same area and promote connections betwee…

Special Issue on: Small business and entrepreneurship: their role in economic and social development

Since the 1980s, small business owners and entrepreneurs have been receiving greater recognition as drivers of economic growth. Recently, several studies (Forsman 2011; McKeever, Anderson, and Jack...

Universidad social capital and the competitiveness of entrepreneurs: a review of the literature and proposals

The essential question asked in this study is "How can social capital become a competitive tool for entrepreneurs". The answer lies in showing how their own networks can provide the value and competitiveness that entrepreneurs need for their business projects.