Economic Determinants of Organizational Innovation

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. A study was made of how the economic orientation of an organization can influence its innovativeness. The effects of two factors, organizational slack and economic orientation, were studied in an empirical setting. Measures of these two variables were made in a group of hospitals and correlated with the frequency and promptness with which new drugs were tried in the hospitals. Trial of new drugs tended to vary directly with organizational slack and inversely with economic orientation. This is a special case, however, since the primary goal of hospitals is not economic, and the costs of trying of new drugs are minimal. It is suggested that the factors studied may be more important in more typical situations.Martin M. Rosner is associate professor in the College of Commerce at De Paul University.

Firm size and technology centrality in industry–university interactions

“…Since large firms are usually endowed with more resources, particularly financial (Rosner, 1968) they have the ability to diversify into non-core areas. In pursuing opportunities in non-core areas large firms use knowledge transfer and research support relationships to build new competencies and create enabling technologies in ancillary areas that are not central to the firm's core business (Quadrant I).…”

“…For example, large firms often pursue risky initiatives outside their current technological domain simply because they have the financial strength to do so (NSB, 1993(NSB, , 2000(NSB, , 1993Rosner, 1968). Large firms work with universities on industry-wide, pre-competitive issues related to a broad range of leading-edge technologies, many of which are unrelated to the firm's core business (Rea et al, 1997).…”

Assessing the Relationship Between Industry Characteristics and Organizational Culture: How Different Can You Be?

“…In particular, firms in industries characterized by intensive technologies should have cultures characterized by high levels of innovation, since projects require nonroutine problem solving (Pennings & Harianto, 1992), and by a strong team orientation, since such ill-structured tasks are more likely to require that members collaborate to solve problems (e.g., Kanter, 1988). Opportunities for growth may, similarly, influence innovation (Gordon, 1985;Rosner, 1968) and a firm's desire to be unique or rare (Barney, 1986). For example, high growth rates increased innovation and flexibility among hightechnology firms in Silicon Valley (Saxenian, 1990).…”

Industry–University Interactions in a Peripheral European Region: An Empirical Study of Valencian Firms

“…Universities provide their students and faculties with practical problems related to technological areas, and create employment opportunities for their graduates (NSB, 2000). Universities also interact with industry to access additional funds, particularly for research (Rosner, 1968;NSB, 2000). The role of government has developed from one of passive-assistance to a more active one involving stimulating the creation of linkages and facilitating the transfer of university innovations through incubator facilities and entrepreneurship centres (Klofsten et al, 1999).…”