Networking and innovation: a systematic review of the evidence

In the paper

“A study of the UK/US defence industry, for example, has highlighted that dependency in relationships occur because of the breadth of links between partners, such dependency and breadth often leads to the emergence of more complex networks (Grandori and Soda, 1995;Coles, Harris and Dickson, 2003).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Grandori and Soda, 1995 source
• Partly supported

  The Case Study (page unavailable) describes a collaboration between UK and US defence firms, and the Discussion: The Role of Network Building Processes (page unavailable) identifies technical dependency and describes their network as complex. Neither passage says that the breadth of links causes dependency or that dependency and breadth lead to the emergence of more complex networks. (LLM, conf=0.84)

  cites Coles, Harris and Dickson, 2003 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured

In the paper

“The value of diverse partners for innovation is demonstrated in Kaufmann and Tödtling's (2001) empirical research and were supported by Perez and Sanchez's (2002) work on technology networks in the Spanish automobile industry and Romijn and Albu's (2002) work on small high technology firms in the UK.”

What the sources say

• Supported

  Section 5 reports empirical findings from the REGIS survey: partnerships with suppliers, consultants, and universities were positively associated with introducing products new to the market. Section 6 explicitly argues that maintaining diversity across science and industry is important for innovation. The claims about Perez and Sanchez and Romijn and Albu are attributed to those separate works, not to this source. (LLM, conf=0.90)

  cites Kaufmann and Tödtling's (2001) source
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Perez and Sanchez's (2002)
• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Romijn and Albu's (2002) source

In the paper

“Networks can endure and evolve over many years and as a consequence they go through periods of conflict between partners, which can and do lead to the failure of the network (Coles, Harris and Dickson, 2003).”

What the sources say

• Partly supported

  The Conclusion describes the network’s long, turbulent history, and the Discussion reports persistent conflict and a breakdown in formal relations. But the Discussion says informal ties continued and the formal relationship was repaired; it does not establish that conflict caused the network itself to fail. The copy provides no page numbers for these passages. (LLM, conf=0.87)

  cites Coles, Harris and Dickson, 2003 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured

In the paper

“Industries where networking has had an identifiable impact on innovation included: service industriesfoot_1 , primary industriesfoot_2 , manufacturing industriesfoot_3 and high-tech industriesfoot_4 .”

In the paper

“Secondly, the evidence is mainly focused on the UK, USA and Germany; with some bias toward the period 1995-2003.”

In the paper

“Where networks fail it is due to interfirm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure.”

In the paper

“obtaining access to new markets and technologies (Grandori and Soda, 1995);”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Grandori and Soda, 1995 source

In the paper

“Where networks fail it is due to interfirm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure.”

In the paper

“Finally, the research to date lacks some depth in terms of the very limited number of studies that have been carried out.”

In the paper

“The top five journals in terms of their coverage of this topic in the review were Research Policy; Journal of Business Venturing; Regional Studies; Technovation; and, International Journal of Technology Management.”

In the paper

“The results show that networking and innovation have been studied in a number of fields within social science.”

In the paper

“This analysis showed that 36 papers had empirical data based on the UK, 35 on the USA, 42 on other European Countries (Germany with 14 studies was the highest other European country included in the review), 11 were on Japan and 3 were on other countries (Australia; Brazil and Israel).”

In the paper

“In the first stage of the review 628 papers were found by searching ABI Proquest, Science Direct and Web of Science citation indexes using the search strings developed.”

In the paper

“For example from 1999-2003 93 papers were published on the subject while from 1981-1986 4 papers were published.”

In the paper

“Where networks fail it is due to interfirm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure.”

In the paper

“Where networks fail it is due to interfirm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure.”

In the paper

“Where networks fail it is due to interfirm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure.”

In the paper

“After steps i to vii 174 citations remained in the A list.”

In the paper

“The value of collaboration for innovation is widely documented as a key feature of the biotechnology industry.”

In the paper

“In further disagreement Burt (1992) finds that rather than maximizing the number of ties, firms should strive to position themselves strategically in gaps between different nodes, so as to become intermediaries.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Burt (1992) source

In the paper

“They influence this in a number of ways: firstly, by enhancing access to knowledge -promoting awareness and early adoption of innovations -and secondly, by promoting social interaction, generating trust and reciprocity that is conducive to knowledge transfer.”

In the paper

“Nooteboom's study (2000), for example, characterises the UK innovation system as one that promotes the diffusion of more radical innovations which demand entrepreneurial activity cutting across sectors, rather than promoting the diffusion of innovation within sectors.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Nooteboom's study (2000)

In the paper

“For example, network relations provide emotional support for entrepreneurial risk-taking, and this in turn is thought to enhance persistence to remain in business (Hoang and Antoncic 2003).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Hoang and Antoncic 2003 source

In the paper

“In the Italian furniture industry the international competitiveness of the industry is largely down to continuous improvements and product differentiation which has been supported by the presence of industrial districts consisting of a network of small loosely organised (family) firms which are geographically clustered.”

In the paper

“The first focuses on the resource requirements of firms where they are induced to form network relationships with other firms as a way of obtaining access to technical and/or commercial resources they lack (Ahuja, 2000).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Ahuja, 2000

In the paper

“He explains how the recombination of national strengths / competencies via networks and projects can play an important role in the identification of new opportunities.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Frenken's (2000) source

In the paper

“Contrary to this perspective, Brass and Burkhardt (1992) propose that the best position is one where all firms are tied only to the focal actor.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Brass and Burkhardt (1992)

In the paper

“The evidence on network configuration shows that the nature of a network is dependent on its industrial context and on what a firm is seeking to use its network for.”

In the paper

“Empirical evidence shows that these institutions can shape the cultural conditions and infrastructure for networking, as well as, acting as brokers and intermediaries in network formation.”

In the paper

“For example, Shan, Walker and Kogut (1994) suggest that the number of collaborative relationships that a firm is involved in is positively related to innovation output, while conversely, closed networks have been found to foster innovation more than open ones (Coleman, 1988).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Shan, Walker and Kogut (1994) source

In the paper

“Likewise the development of clusters in the US computer industry was based on networking and proximity which led to an increase in innovation and assisted rejuvenation of the industry during the 1980s.”

In the paper

“In terms of the types of firm engaged in networking activity the research suggests that it was not only found to be valuable for established businesses but is also beneficial for entrepreneurs.”

In the paper

“the constituents of successful network structures is debated widely in the literature (Ahuja, 2000).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Ahuja, 2000

In the paper

“The degree of innovation success in the study also illustrated a much greater chance of the innovation being technically successful and more economically relevant where firms used networks.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Gemünden, Ritter and Heydebreck's (1996) source

In the paper

“From this perspective, the availability of opportunities to form relationships tends not to be viewed as a constraint.”

In the paper

“The second argues that opportunities to form links tend to reflect prior patterns of inter-firm relationships.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Granovetter, 1985 source

In the paper

“Networks enable small business owners to link into R&D that is contracted out by larger firms, to engage in joint R&D ventures and to set-up marketing and manufacturing relationships (Rothwell and Dodgson, 1991).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Rothwell and Dodgson, 1991 source

In the paper

“ii) Firms will use networks in different ways and will reconfigure them if necessary (Kash and Rycroft, 2002).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Kash and Rycroft, 2002 source

In the paper

“The evidence reviewed shows that network configurations are dynamic and principally guided by the choices of partners and their network management capabilities and are beyond the direct influence of policy intervention.”

In the paper

“Ahuja's (2000) empirical findings suggest that the benefits of increasing trust, developing and improving collaboration and reducing opportunism shapes network structures creating cohesive interconnected partners.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Ahuja's (2000)

In the paper

“A firm's ability to develop network relationships with other firms is consequently based on its existing relationships and network capability (Granovetter, 1985).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Granovetter, 1985 source

In the paper

“The literature provides two major reasons to explain why business-to-business networks form.”

In the paper

“The evidence suggests that network infrastructures can have an indirect positive or negative impact on network configurations and can consequently encourage or hinder the development of certain forms of network relationships.”

In the paper

“Networks are not only critical for accessing knowledge to create in-house innovations or for the diffusion of technological innovation but they are equally important for learning about innovative work practices that other organisations have developed or adopted (Erickson and Jacoby, 2003).”

In the paper

“For example, Shan, Walker and Kogut (1994) suggest that the number of collaborative relationships that a firm is involved in is positively related to innovation output, while conversely, closed networks have been found to foster innovation more than open ones (Coleman, 1988).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Coleman, 1988

In the paper

“Network forms are, however, complex and research has not yet clearly demonstrated which configurations most impact on innovation in particular contexts.”

In the paper

“Dialogue between key business customers and suppliers not only allows firms to learn of existing needs but also leads to the discovery of new needs in advance of the competition (Bruce and Rodgus, 1991).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Bruce and Rodgus, 1991 source

In the paper

“A systematic study of practices leading to commercial success in innovation also illustrated the important role of understanding users' needs and engaging them in the innovation process (Freeman, 1982).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Freeman, 1982

In the paper

“This point is supported by Gemünden, Heydebreck and Herden's (1992) survey of 4564 firms in the Lake Constance region (on the border between Austria, Germany and Switzerland).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Gemünden, Heydebreck and Herden's (1992) source

In the paper

“Interestingly it was also noted that companies that networked effectively with suppliers also invested more in research and development because they required an infrastructure in which to frame collaborative behaviour (Perez and Sanchez, 2002).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Perez and Sanchez, 2002

In the paper

“Innovation is no less valuable but is more incremental and productivity gains are more modest.”

In the paper

“These studies show that innovation is influenced by many actors both inside and outside the firm and that the most important partners are from the business sector, customers first (33.5% of firms) and suppliers second (21.9% of firms).”

In the paper

“Help reduce concept-to-customer cycle time, costs and reduce quality problems (Ragatz et al. 1997).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Ragatz et al. 1997 source

In the paper

“In contrast, however, research in Germany highlights significant national differences with respect to involvement with research institutes and universities and illustrates the importance of scientific partners in some industry sectors (Ritter and Gemünden, 2003).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Ritter and Gemünden, 2003 source

In the paper

“Formal and informal communication between people with different information, skills and values increases the chance of unforeseen novel combinations of knowledge, which can lead to radical discoveries.”

In the paper

“Moreover too much emphasis on technical excellence or marketing can lead to innovations that are too highly priced or over engineered (Walsh, Roy and Bruce, 1988).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Walsh, Roy and Bruce, 1988 source

In the paper

“For example, incremental innovators rely more frequently on their customers as innovation partners whereas firms that have products new to a market are more likely to collaborate with suppliers and consultants.”

In the paper

“Some of the research reviewed points out that both experience and ability to absorb knowledge embodied in new technologies and ideas (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990) are critical skills a firm requires when exploiting relationships.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Cohen and Levinthal, 1990 source

In the paper

“The evidence found in the review shows that a firm's competence of managing networks can differ substantially and networks can be shaped and deliberately designed to meet the firm's innovation needs.”

In the paper

“Despite this evidence of the value of business customers in the innovation process, more detailed empirical study has shown that customer involvement tends to be useful at the beginning in terms of idea generation but is less so during the developmental process where the manufacturer tends to lead (Biemans, 1989;Bruce and Rodgus, 1991;Gemünden et al's 1992, Conway, 1995).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Biemans, 1989
• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Bruce and Rodgus, 1991 source
• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Gemünden et al's 1992 source

In the paper

“Third parties have a dual role in promoting innovation.They ideally act as neutral knowledge brokers (though see Robertson et al, 1996) but also act as important conduits for the development of informal relationships which are the basis for the development of network relationships particularly between small firms.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Robertson et al, 1996 source

In the paper

“Where clusters exist but networking does not happen innovation occurs less often and is less successful (Staber, 2001).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Staber, 2001 source

In the paper

“Companies that stated they received essential information from customers were more successful with technological innovation and had greater commercial success.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Conway, 1995 source

In the paper

“Coinvestment between venture capital firms in entrepreneurial businesses has been shown to be both beneficial for venture capitalists and provides better quality and larger funds for entrepreneurial businesses (Bygrave, 1987;1988).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Bygrave, 1987 source
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [1988]

In the paper

“Other studies show, similar to formal investment, that syndicated investments have a greater chance of success and often lead to higher investment levels in entrepreneurial firms (Harrison and Mason, 1992;1996).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Harrison and Mason, 1992 source
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [1996]

In the paper

“Under and over-formalisation of the network were both recognised as being detrimental to innovation (Nooteboom, 2000).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Nooteboom, 2000 source

In the paper

“Networks appear to encounter problems for a variety of reasons, for example: due to inter-firm conflict; as a consequence of displacement; lack of scale; external disruption; and, lack of infrastructure.”

In the paper

“Knowledge of how to collaborate accumulates over time through experience, reflection, and interpretation (Lorenzoni and Lipparini, 1999).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Lorenzoni and Lipparini, 1999 source

In the paper

“The evidence on weak ties shows that networks can exist but not work effectively because of weak relationships between partners or because firms are unable to extract value from their networks (Gales and Boynton, 1992).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Gales and Boynton, 1992 source

In the paper

“Harris, Coles and Dickson (2000) find that inter-firm networking can facilitate the innovation process but it will not necessarily lead to innovation success.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Harris, Coles and Dickson (2000) source

In the paper

“A key feature of informal networking is the transfer of tacit knowledge promoting learning, which provides significant benefits for innovation.”

In the paper

“The evidence suggests that there is considerable ambiguity and contestation within the literature regarding appropriate network configurations for successful innovation.”

In the paper

“The evidence was confirmed by a study of 85 semi-conductor firms in Silicon Valley that showed how the existence of dense social networks led to industrial collaboration and reciprocal innovation, which in turn led to the establishment of formal institutions for collaboration (Saxenian, 1990).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Saxenian, 1990 source

In the paper

“The evidence on finance networks shows that they are important for ensuring coinvestment, which enables risk to be spread and usually leads to better quality decisionmaking and larger funding levels for individual firms.”

In the paper

“If the investment infrastructure (venture finance networks) is weak it may lead to the failure of new technologies or practices, an inability to enter markets, and the premature failure of entrepreneurial firms (Harrison and Mason, 1996;Bygrave, 1987;1988).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Harrison and Mason, 1996 source
• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Bygrave, 1987 source
• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites [1988]

In the paper

“Instead they find that innovation is more dependent on internal organisational networks.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Love and Roper, 2001 source

In the paper

“The existing citation abstracts were reviewed according to the quality criteria (Appendix 3) and separated into an A, B and C lists.”

In the paper

“Porter and Ketels ' (2003) study of British competitiveness emphasised the importance of business networking for innovativeness.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Porter and Ketels' (2003)

In the paper

“It is clear that some caution should therefore be applied when seeking to generate conclusions from this study to primary or service industries as they only represent 5.7% and 2.9% of the sample respectively.”

In the paper

“As products become increasingly modular and knowledge is distributed across organisations (Baldwin and Clark, 2000) firms recognise an increasing requirement to collaborate with other firms both formally and informally.”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Baldwin and Clark, 2000 source

In the paper

“Articles were reviewed according to their relevant subject theme as identified in the narrative coding in step viii.”

In the paper

“The data illustrates that it is a relatively new area of investigation and published work is therefore quite limited.”

In the paper

“The number of studies focusing on the UK is quite high illustrating that UK academics have made an above average contribution to the subject.”

In the paper

“The Porter report had established that inter-organisational networking was critical for the development of innovative ability in firms.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Porter report

In the paper

“Porter and Ketels' (2003) study concluded that the UK underperforms key competitors in this area but provided little in the way of evidence to justify the claim.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Porter and Ketels' (2003)

In the paper

“The citations identified were reviewed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria (Appendix 1 and 2).”

In the paper

“The A list articles were selected and their abstracts were imported from Proquest to Nvivo.The abstracts were coded according to their content and a report structure was identified based on the coding of abstracts.”

In the paper

“He highlights two forms of approach to innovation and networks and argues that customer focused approaches are the most effective as opposed to product focused ones.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Von Hippel, 1978

In the paper

“Customers should play an active role in the innovation process and are capable of identifying novel ideas for development (Von Hippel, 1978).”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Von Hippel, 1978

In the paper

“Such relationships can be managed if firms are committed to collaboration are skilled in managing network relationships and are prepared to invest in research and development.”

In the paper

“Examining the evidence on finance networks shows that they are important within the networking infrastructure and that cooperative investment appears to be beneficial for both investing firms and entrepreneurial businesses.”

In the paper

“While networks can and do promote innovation within an existing technological framework, they are subject to disorganisation and disintegration during periods of technological change.”

In the paper

“The extent to which customers actively contribute to the innovation process is less clear as the evidence points to this being driven by the innovating firm balancing market awareness with technical feasibility.”

In the paper

“Network management is also considered crucial for successful innovation and firms need to improve their proficiency (Ferrary, 2003).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Ferrary, 2003 source

In the paper

“The importance of appropriate venture finance and loan finance for innovation has been widely documented (Harding, 2000).”

What the sources say

• ?Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Harding, 2000 source

In the paper

“Such networking relationships appear to be ideal for promoting incremental innovation and customers can usefully help innovators identify market opportunities.”

In the paper

“Policies to promote community involvement by economically active actors (e.g.successful entrepreneurs; venture capitalists) in deprived areas can have a positive effect on business start-up rates in these locations.”

In the paper

“The study of network infrastructures in Brazil concluded that even after improvements in the network infrastructure had led to better competitive performance a large competitiveness gap remained.”

What the sources say

• ?Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  cites Stamer (1995)

In the paper

“Current research supports the view that networking significantly boosts innovation output and the competitiveness of firms in a diverse range of industries.”

In the paper

“This indicates that networking may be an important facilitator in the innovation process but other things are more fundamental (e.g.skill base of labour markets and regulation) and drive innovation and competitiveness more generally.”

In the paper

“For example, R&D tax incentives for collaborative projects may promote the emergence of longer-term network relationships.”