Regional Institutions and Their Impact on the Connectedness of Firm’s Innovation Networks
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Abstract
This article is an in-depth comparative case study of six leading manufacturing frms in the Great Zurich region of Switzerland and the Sichuan province of China. It employs innovation system approach, institutional thickness framework and social network analysis to investigate the regional institutions of the two regions and their impact on the connectedness of the case frms’ internal and external innovation networks. Findings show the impact of regional institutions on the connectedness of the case frms’ innovation networks is mainly manifested in the connections among the case frms’ outside collaborators rather than the direct relations of and within the case frms. The paper opens the black box of frm’s innovation networks and compares different dynamics of frms’ internal and external networks. It argues that frms can build up dense direct network relations for innovation by leveraging their endogenous capabilities even in a thin regional institutional environment. As for promoting collaboration among outsiders for the focal frm’s innovation, regional institutions play a bigger role than the frm’s endogenous capabilities. The paper provides regional policy implications particularly for developing and emerging countries with transitional institutional environment.
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