Abstract
Knowledge Spillover-based Strategic Entrepreneurship is composed of 15 chapters and is divided into three parts: (1) knowledge spillovers in multiple contexts, (2) strategic entrepreneurship and knowledge, and (3) strategic and international knowledge. Its 33 contributors include professors, researchers, PhD candidates, master’s students, senior lecturers, chairpersons, policymakers, and directors.
This book examines the knowledge spillover’s role in enabling strategic entrepreneurship. In particular, the central role entrepreneurs play in transforming knowledge spillovers from a given context to innovation in another context is highlighted. David B. Audretsch, who initiated the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KSTE) that constitutes the underlying theoretical background of this book (Audretsch, 1995), offers an insightful foreword. The nascent stream of research intends to merge the literature dedicated to knowledge management with that dedicated to entrepreneurship.
Multiple paths for further research will raise the interest of scholars, and managers will, without any doubt, learn from the various cases discussed in this book. Knowledge spillovers are particularly important for economies, industries, and regions, and thus will also raise the interest of policymakers.
A knowledge spillover is defined as a flow of knowledge from one entity to another. There are various sources of spillovers: individual entrepreneurs, industry, university, suppliers, government, knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), and so on. Knowledge spillovers can be either tacit or explicit; this implies very different processes to identify, capture, and absorb them. The receivers of such external knowledge benefit from it because it increases innovation capabilities of firms and leads to achieving a competitive advantage when certain conditions are met, including the establishment of trust, the willingness to collaborate, the acceptance of cooperation, and a low degree of protectiveness.
Knowledge spillovers exist at different organizational levels (project, firm, and industry) and in different scopes (regional, national, and international). The book highlights various ways by which knowledge spillovers may occur: co-location of firms from the same sector, informal collaboration, staff turnover, foreign direct investment, European Union (EU)-funded projects, and so on.
The similarities and differences between knowledge transfer and knowledge spillovers are also highlighted and clarified. Knowledge transfer implies compensation but knowledge spillovers do not. Knowledge transfers occur through strategic alliances, such as equity joint ventures, minority equities, licensing agreements, collaborative Research and Developments (R&Ds), and so on. In contrast, knowledge spillovers are free from fees but not free from costs. The costs to access knowledge spillovers exist depending on the proximity to the knowledge source and various contextual factors.
Having access to knowledge spillovers is not sufficient for innovation, as stressed in several instances in this book. From a certain amount of knowledge spillovers, only a part is absorbed by organizations and then eventually turned into an innovation. To benefit from knowledge spillovers and from knowledge transfers, the challenge of absorptive capacity – the process of recognizing, assimilating, and commercializing external new knowledge (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990) – has been strongly asserted in this book.
When taking advantage of opportunities outside the organization to identify relevant knowledge spillovers, firms are tempted to overly focus on the activities dedicated to ‘exploitation’. In this book, the specific question of organizational ambidexterity has been adequately addressed: The challenge is to capture current market opportunities while continuing to explore new paths and innovate.
The book will allow entrepreneurs to better understand why knowledge spillovers are particularly important for start-ups suffering the liability of being new and small. With limited financial and technological resources, start-ups endeavor to identify and capture knowledge spillovers at a limited cost, to seize market opportunities, and to survive and develop their capabilities.
As a particular type of start-up, spin-offs require specific attention due to the growing importance of the entrepreneurial university (Etzkowitz, 2003), and the dyadic relationship between the university and a spin-off has been considered in several instances in this book. Academic spin-offs are incubated for the purpose of using the new scientific and technological knowledge created by universities to strengthen their innovative capabilities. Through licensing and joint ventures, knowledge transfer occurs, and this, in turn, enables spin-offs to carry on commercial exploitation. Overall, external sources of knowledge, such as those that are university sourced, constitute real opportunities for firms to gain a competitive advantage.
Beyond considering the organizational success of firms, the book adopts a territorial approach to the phenomenon of knowledge spillovers from the important aspects of regional competitiveness, intra-regional spillovers, ecosystems, and technology cities. From past research, we know that knowledge spillovers occur within short geographical distances and have a significant localized impact on regional economic performance, regional growth, and performance of firms. Successful knowledge-intensive and wealthy regions have been cited as models of knowledge spillovers in the previous literature. However, lower-performing regions have been largely ignored, and several chapters of this book aim to fill this gap by focusing on geographical R&D spillovers in disadvantaged regions. Additionally, while most of the research offered supports the positive impact of localized knowledge spillovers, several contributors of this book reveal counter-intuitive findings.
This is a well-written, clear, easy-to-read, and insightful book. It provides a well-balanced gathering of theoretical, qualitative, and quantitative research in various settings, and a large number of countries in which empirical studies have been conducted, including Australia, China, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States, are cited.
This book is highly suitable for scholars, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and master’s students. I recommend the use of this book in MBA and master’s classes of knowledge management, entrepreneurship, innovation management, and strategic management.