The Effects of Innovation Strategy and Policy on Product Innovation Performance and Technology Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two essays on the effects of innovation strategy and policy on technology commercialization performance. Innovation is regarded as one of the important determinants for national economic growth. Stimulating innovation performance requires not only the implementation of an innovation policy at national level but also an innovation strategy at the firm level. The first essay assessed the effect of the simultaneous implementation of different intellectual property protection methods (IPPMs) on a firms product innovation performance. Seven widely used intellectual property protection methods in the manufacturing industries are grouped into two categories – formal and informal. Complementary effect is then tested within and between the two groups. An additional analysis on the moderating role of the industrial complexity in terms of technology on the complementary effect of intellectual property protection methods on product innovation performance is also conducted. The data of 1297 manufacturing firms analyzed in the first essay is from Korean Innovation Survey (KIS) 2010. Throughout the cross-sectional tobit-regression, within group complementary effects are revealed in both formal and informal groups of IPPMs. On the other hand, the result of testing between groups effects of IPPMs differs by the level of industrial technological complexity. Implementing IPPMs from two different groups are in a relation of complementarity when industrial technology is complex and of substitution when industrial technology is discrete (or simple). The second essay investigates the relationship among market failure, national culture, government intervention, and technology entrepreneurship. Market failure in entrepreneurship market has been regarded as a justification for government intervention in the shape of policy. It has been also emphasized that the accordance with not only economic aspects, but also national context is important in framing the technology entrepreneurship policy. To find out the effectiveness of the government intervention, direct effect of market failure, national culture, and government intervention on technology entrepreneurial activity is analyzed by using panel data of 49 countries from 2007 to 2013. Indirect effect of government intervention is then tested to reveal the moderating role of the policy on the effect of market failure and national culture on technology entrepreneurship. By conducting random effect model analysis on panel data of 199 observations, three main findings are obtained. First, information asymmetry affects technology entrepreneurship and its effect varies by the novelty of the technology involved. Second, individualism has a negative effect on technology entrepreneurial activity level. Last, government intervention has both direct and indirect effect on technology entrepreneurship, but the effect varies according to the characteristic of government intervention.