HOW DO HIGH, MEDIUM AND LOW TECH FIRMS INNOVATE? A SYSTEM OF INNOVATION (SI) APPROACH

摘要

In the past decade, innovation literature has mainly targeted high-tech (HT) sectors due to their higher returns on investment and important role in building new societies and economies. While the high-tech sector is still of a leading importance, whether medium and low tech (LMT) sectors should be equivalently considered when analyzing long term economic growth, in both leading and catching-up economies, is a fundamental question. This paper is our second milestone comparatively analyzing HT and LMT sectors from an innovation perspective, while using a National System of Innovation (NSI) approach. The general aim of this paper is to find the main principles that govern the difference between the two industrial segments (HT and LMT) while controlling for supranational boundaries. In order to measure the effect of NSI, countries are divided into two groups: leading and catching-up economies. Our results suggest that, with respect to HT, leading economies could be considered the innovator, while catching-up economies are the imitators. Furthermore, HT in leading economies relies on product modularity to outsource various components probably to firms in catching-up economies. Catching-ups are putting greater emphasis on universities to produce knowledge. In addition, firms in catching-up economies benefit from high accessibility to funds in order to grow various industrial sectors, specially the LMT. The role of institutions and governments with respect to regulatory policies, intellectual property protections are of high importance for firms in catching-up economies, especially in LMT. As a result of those important steps, the various agents in catching up economies have achieved sustainable growth, notably in the LMT. In contrast, the same growth is witnessed for the HT with respect to firms in leading economies. Our results suggest that catching-up countries are strategizing for this sectoral evolution, renewal and transformation process for both sectors, but with a stronger emphasis on LMT.