The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.

June 29, 2020

A summary of “The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.,” by Kathryn R. Dotzel and Alessandra Faggian. Published in Growth and Change, 2019; 50: 515– 547. https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12289. This brief was published on June 29, 2020.

Key Takeaways

• This study explored the relationship between innovation and knowledge management–the formation of structures that allow businesses to acquire and integrate new knowledge. The specific focus was on external knowledge sourcing–which outside sources firms target for information that supports the development of new and improved products and production processes.
• For both rural and urban businesses, sources of information characterized by strong ties and high degrees of trust (“primary” sources) had larger positive impacts on most considered innovation outcomes (compared to “secondary” sources).
• When primary knowledge sources were distinguished by industry orientation relative to the business, sources with knowledge bases outside of the business’s industry (“extra-industry” primary sources) had stronger positive relationships with the majority of considered innovation outcomes for rural businesses. Urban businesses, however, seemed to derive relatively equal benefits to innovation from relationships with their extra-industry and “intra-industry” primary sources–those with knowledge bases within the same industry.

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Sources of inspiration matter to business innovation outcomes

June 29, 2020

A summary of “Sources of innovation and innovation type: firm-level evidence from the United States,” by Mehmet Afik Demircioglu, David B. Audretsch, and Timothy F. Slaper. Published in Industrial and Corporate Change, 2019, 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtz010. This brief was published on June 29, 2020.

Key Takeaways

• Businesses tap different sources of knowledge and creativity to drive their innovation activities. Different innovation outcomes are associated with different sources of knowledge.
• Customers, workers, and universities are sources of knowledge positively associated with all types of innovation activity.
• Universities had the statistically strongest effect, suggesting that they are critical to innovation.

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Innovation, Broadly Measured, and Its Effects on Business and Community Economic Health

June 4, 2019

A summary of “Firm and Regional Economic Outcomes Associated with a New, Broad Measure of Business Innovation,” by Brian Whitacre, Devon Meadowcroft, and Roberto Gallardo, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, June 2019, 1–23.

Key Takeaways

• Using a broad definition of innovation allows researchers to compare the
• innovation activity of businesses across different industries and locations, including rural and urban.
• Innovation, even when defined broadly, is positively associated with economic benefits at both the business and the regional level.
• Therefore, future policies should promote innovation activities that are included in the broader measure of innovation described here.

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