Franco Malerba

Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi | Bocconi · management and technology

We examine the issue of entrepreneurial gender bias by focusing on the underlying mechanisms that impact the likelihood of receiving external venture-capital financing. We claim that gender bias negatively affects socially attributed dimensions (such as the stigma ascribed to entrepreneurs who have previously suffered a failure), while it has no ef...

For several decades, China tried to catch up in the automotive industry, yet until recently with little success. Now, the paradigm shift from internal combustion to electric driving has opened a window of opportunity to catch up with global competitors. The Chinese government provided a strong policy push to become a lead market, allowing firms to...

We study how the value of depth and breadth of experience shifts across generational technology cycles and industry evolution. Experience breadth builds organizational flexibility that is valuable during technology transitions and when the industry is younger, while experience depth builds domain‐specific resources that are important during periods...

In high-technology industries, employee spinouts have increasingly been identified as attractive targets for acquisitions. Yet employee spinouts may originate from different knowledge contexts. This study adopts a resource base perspective to examine the impact of both the knowledge heritage and the product strategy of spinouts originating from dif...

We examine the progress of the evolutionary research on innovation, the firm, and the dynamics of industries in the last four decades. The paper acknowledges that the themes related to knowledge and technological regimes, the evolutionary processes leading to innovation, and the long-term dynamics of technologies have generated, and still remain, r...

Over the past decades, exit has been analyzed at the theoretical and empirical levels. From this rich series of contributions, two basic patterns of exit can be identified: the revolving door and the gale of creative destruction. In the first, the liability of newness plays a major role in the exit process, while in the second the displacement of n...

This is an Introduction to the ICC Special Section on "Economic Catch-up by Latecomers" in which the main themes are discussed and the papers of the Special Section are presented. Some general considerations close the Introduction.

As interfaces between human beings and the digital world, mobile phones have evolved from relatively simple devices (e.g., feature phones) to complex products (e.g., smartphones). Many firms in emerging countries such as China have successfully entered the mobile phone sector. A research question that emerges from the evidence on China is whether t...

This paper proposes an evolutionary view of economic catch-up, considered as a long-run process of closing the gap in capabilities by promoting learning and innovation in interaction with innovation systems (national, sectoral or regional). According to this perspective, catch-up is viewed as a dynamic evolutionary process which is not deterministi...

This article examines the role played by demand in catching up and in leadership changes in green industries, motivated by the belief that demand-led catch-up is a prevalent pathway in such industries. The article first examines stylized cases of sectoral green catch-up by China in which the local market and domestic demand played an important role...

The 4IR can open windows of opportunity for emerging economies but also raises red flags in terms of the main challenges that these changes pose to firms, industrial systems and policy approaches. Benefiting from it will not be automatic, as these economies suffer from several gaps that hamper their possibility to operate in a digital industrial la...

This article proposes a novel conceptualization of knowledge-intensive innovative entrepreneurship, which can capture the main characteristics of a vital phenomenon in the modern economy. Our conceptualization is based upon the integration of Schumpeterian entrepreneurship, evolutionary economics, and innovation systems approach. It consists of a t...

This paper empirically investigates how the inter-sectoral knowledge flows affect the international competitiveness of industries, once controlling for both cost and other technological factors. Using patent data on 14 manufacturing industries in 16 OECD countries over the period 1995–2009, we apply a network-based approach to capture the effect of...

This article examines vertical spinouts, defined as new and independent ventures founded by the ex-employees of established firms in either an upstream or a downstream industry. These spinouts represent a type of organizational structure through which knowledge is shared and transferred between vertically related industries. We propose that a key d...

This ICC Special Issue commemorates the life and work of Professor Nathan Rosenberg. Nathan Rosenberg was one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of study known as the "economics of innovation," and this Issue contains a series of papers by leading scholars in the field that address some of the key themes of Rosenberg's work, as well as...

Four major stylized facts about spinoffs have been identified by the literature: (i) spinoffs perform better than de novo entrants, (ii) there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the age of a firm and spinoff formation, (iii) better parents generate more spinoffs, and (iv) better parents originate better spinoffs. These stylized facts hold...

Twenty years ago, we introduced the history friendly modeling approach to formally study industrial dynamics. In this paper, we look retrospectively at the results that the history friendly literature has achieved so far and what are the challenges ahead of us. We present the main principles, methods, and building blocks of the approach, and then w...

The interplay between innovation, knowledge and entrepreneurship constitutes a major driver of the economic, social and cultural development in modern societies and has major implications for public policy. To understand these broad trends, a novel literature on knowledge-intensive innovative entrepreneurship has recently emerged. In this book we p...

This paper develops a history-friendly model of the process of catch-up by Chinese firms in the mobile communications industry. It aims to explain how the sectoral environment in terms of segmented markets and generational technological change facilitated the catch-up of domestic firms with respect to foreign multinationals. Segmented markets provi...

Regarding your Free exchange column purporting to review how economists understand growth (April 14th), we also share serious misgivings about the adequacy of the analysis of economic growth that one sees in the standard textbooks and in much of the current literature. Granting the legitimacy of that target, however, we found that you fell short wh...

Cambridge Core - Entrepreneurship and Innovation - Modern Evolutionary Economics - by Richard R. Nelson

First we offer a definition of innovation diffusion. We then identify the main stylized fact about innovation diffusion. Finally, we review several alternative explanations of the main stylized fact.

Change in industrial leadership is often explained in terms of technological and costs advantages. However firms in emerging economies not only have to produce high quality, cost-competitive goods, but also win the resistance of consumers in the world market, who are often adverse to purchasing products from countries that yet have to build a reput...

Since the early 1990s industrial organization economists and scholars of business organization have come to recognize more clearly than before the often very great differences among competing firms in the capabilities they have to do various things, and the central role these capability differences play in determining the winners and losers in indu...

This paper examines the effects of different public policies (strengthening capability building, favouring firms' learning, protectionism and support of entry of new domestic firms) on the catch-up of a latecomer with respect to an incumbent country in changing and uncertain technological environments. The effects of these policies are analysed wit...

This study examines the evolution of the telecommunications equipment and semiconductor industries in China from 1978 to 2012 using the sectoral systems framework. The article advances research on sectoral systems by examining the diverging evolution of two vertically related industries from a common starting point. In one case, system factors work...

Do the additionality effects of R&D tax credits vary across sectors? The paper presents a micro- econometric analysis of this question for three countries: Norway, Italy and France. We use a panel of firm-level data from three waves of the Innovation Surveys carried out in these countries for 2004, 2006 and 2008. The study estimates input and outpu...

Research summary This study develops a framework that links a typology of spinouts with distinct product/market strategies and the characteristics of localization economies to study location choice. Specifically, we examine focal spinouts and user‐industry spinouts entry into generic and market‐specific product categories and localization economies...

Successive changes in industrial leadership between both firms and countries (described here as catch-up cycles) have been common in several sectors. This article develops a history-friendly model to explore the role played by technological conditions in the emergence of such leadership changes. The model is inspired by two cases where the emergenc...

This study proposes a framework that aims to explain why successive changes in industry leadership (called also the catch-up cycle) occur over time in a sector. In catch-up cycles, latecomer firms and countries emerge as international leaders, whereas incumbents lose their previous positions. New leaders are then dethroned by newcomers. To identify...

The disruptive impacts of technological innovation on established industrial structures has been one of the distinguishing features of modern capitalism. In this book, four leading figures in the field of Schumpeterian and evolutionary economic theory draw on decades of research to offer a new, 'history-friendly' perspective on the process of creat...

First we offer a definition of innovation diffusion. We then identify the main stylized fact about innovation diffusion. Finally, we review several alternative explanations of the main stylized fact.

Recent scholarship on entrepreneurship suggests that the pre-entry know-how of start-ups, embodied in their founders, affects not only entry, but also performance. Although prior work focuses on new entrants from the focal industry (i.e., employee spinouts) and academic organizations (i.e., university spinoffs), this study identifies and examines a...

We investigate the effect of pre-entry experience on firms’ performance in terms of survival. In particular we focus on entrants from a related upstream industry – semiconductors – into a downstream industry – telecommunications. We examine a sample of 336 de-novo start-ups in the US telecommunication industry and we estimate a discrete time hazard...

This introductory essay of the Special Issue honoring Steven Klepper provides a synthesis of his work, and places the articles of the Special Issue within the context of his scholarship. Steven Klepper’s pioneering work linked life cycle patterns in industry evolution to underlying micro-level firm innovation dynamics and employee entrepreneurship,...

Knowledge intensive entrepreneurship lies at the core of the structural shift necessary for the growth and development of a knowledge based economy, yet research reveals that the EU has fewer young leading innovators, and Europe's new firms do not adequately contribute to industrial growth. This is especially true in the high R&D intensive, high-te...

We examine the structure and dynamics of network of scientific international collaborations within North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt) using both publishing and patent data. Results show that the region has undergone a sustained process of internationalization, which has translated in both an expansion of the network of scientific co...

This article provides an overview of the main traits of the historical development of the pharmaceutical industry, using the lenses of the evolutionary approach to economic and industrial change. After a brief overview of the main evolutionary concepts which guide the subsequent discussion, our presentation identifies four main eras: from the forma...

Recent studies on within-industry diversification - a firm’s presence in more than one market niche within an industry - have started to unpack diversification and performance relationship inside an industry in order to show how within industry diversification differs from across-industry diversification. However, these studies are analyzing divers...

This paper studies the relative importance of prior knowledge and resources available to a startup at the time of its founding across technologies. Our analysis is based on a survey submitted to the founders of new innovative ventures patenting in the biotech, electronics and medical devices technologies. Our findings show that pre-entry knowledge...

The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it presents the results of a "history-friendly" simulation model of evolution of the pharmaceutical industry. Second, it aims at contributing to a more general methodological discussion about agent-based models by proposing an econometric analysis of the results of the simulations. The case of the p...

This paper presents an agent-based model of industry evolution in which technological and demand conditions contribute to determine both the emergence and performance of spinoff firms. We assume that two main factors characterize the emergence of spinoffs: first, spinoffs have at least some degree of product differentiation with respect to their pa...

This opening address at the Festschrift in Honor of Stanley Metcalfe examines his major contributions concerning evolutionary theory, innovation and Schumpeterian dynamics, competition and innovation systems. Metcalfe's broad intellectual framework is first presented: the use of complementary approaches (theory, appreciative analysis, empirical wor...

This paper examines the evolution of the pharmaceutical industry. After a brief discussion of the main stylised facts about the industry, we present a history-friendly model that aims at capturing the underlining mechanisms and the logic that guides the evolution of this industry. Simulation results show the mechanisms and dynamic processes linking...

This paper presents a simulation model of industry evolution in which demand regimes and technological regimes shape the relationship between consumers switching costs and first-mover advantage. Our results show that the extent to which switching costs can be an effective mechanism in generating first-mover advantage depends on demand regimes: swit...

The core objective of this study was to develop and implement a methodological framework for assessing the effectiveness of ICT-RTD networks formed in Framework Programme Six (FP6) and Framework Programme Seven (FP7) in supporting the competitiveness of the European Research Area (ERA). More specifically, the study analysed the networks of organiza...

How relevant is innovation by demand compared to innovation by other actors in a sector? In quantitative terms, this is a yet unanswered question. The current study fills this major gap in the literature on industry studies. By taking a sectoral system perspective, this study is able to highlight the magnitude of innovation by intermediate user fir...

This paper examines how the nature of the technological regime governing innovative activities and the structure of demand interact in determining market structure, with specific reference to the pharmaceutical industry. The key question concerns the observation that-despite high degrees of R&D and marketing- intensity-concentration has been consis...

This paper examines how the nature of the technological regime governing innovative activities and the structure of demand interact in determining market structure, with specific reference to the pharmaceutical industry. The key question concerns the observation that—despite high degrees of R&D and marketing-intensity—concentration has been consist...

The main goal of this article is to assess the impact of product innovation on the economic performance of firms operating in Medium and High-Tech (M&HT) industries. Using information from a large and unique dataset on Italian firms we estimate, by means of Propensity Score (PS) matching methods, a positive and significant ‘innovation premium’ both...

As the knowledge boundaries between producer and user firms shift, so do the loci of innovative activity. This study focuses on semiconductors as a case of a high technology industry in which application-specific knowledge became increasingly important in research and design and semiconductor devices were increasingly customised to meet the needs o...

Until recently, economists studying economic development have tended to consider it a universal process, or focussed their attention on common aspects. This book originates from the growing recognition of significant sectoral differences in economic development and examines the catching-up process in five different economic sectors: pharmaceuticals...

This article claims that catching up is a learning process that requires a long time and often differs significantly across economic sectors in the factors leading to success or failure. We support these claims by examining the major factors affecting catching up by several countries in six industries: India and Brazil for pharmaceuticals; Korea, C...

Economic development is centered around the learning processes of firms, the mastering of knowledge, and the accumulation of capabilities. This article builds upon these core elements by looking at how the knowledge boundaries of firms, the division of innovative and productive labor, and the governance of knowledge have evolved over time in the ad...

This paper provides a quantitative assessment of the scientific and technological productivity of FP6 projects by exploiting a new database on articles and patents resulting from EU funded projects. Starting from the FP6, the design of the European technology policy has undergone significant changes with the introduction of new funding instruments...

The article examines three key aspects of the relationship between innovation and industry evolution: the analysis of the links among actors within a sectoral system view and the related research challenges; the modeling of industry evolution that takes into account the specificities of industries; and the public policy implications of an evolution...

The performance of new companies coming from the demand side of the semiconductor industry is examined and compared with the performance of entrants coming from the semiconductor industry itself and with other types of entrants. By using a dataset of more than 1000 start-ups founded between 1997 and 2007 around the world, the article shows that sta...

In this paper we examine the effects that user-producer interactions have on innovation and the dynamics of market structure of two vertically related industries under alternative contractual regimes. The existence of advantages stemming from users-producers relationships introduces a dynamic "matching" problem between firms characterized by hetero...

This paper examines how the nature of the technological regime governing innovative activities and the structure of demand interact in determining market structure, with specific reference to the pharmaceutical industry. The key question concerns the observation that - despite high degrees of R&Dand marketing-intensity - concentration has been cons...

Introduction the central question posed in this chapter is whether there has been a long-term change in the knowledge boundaries of firms. To answer this question, we chose to analyze the whole set of activities in which firms and industries are engaged: innovation, production, and commercialization. Taking a supply and demand perspective, we focus...

We use social network analysis to evaluate 'behavioural' additionality aspects of public pro-grammes supporting research and development (R&D). The paper appraises empirically the partnership and knowledge networks created around the R&D activities of the Information Society Priority of the Sixth Research Framework Programme of the European Communi...

This paper aims to discuss factors affecting catch-up in six different sectoral systems -autos, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, software, semiconductor, agro-food- in several different countries: China, India, Brazil, Korea, Taiwan and others. The research presented here is part of a larger program of studies concerned with the examination of...