Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T09:20:54.954Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Technology-Based Small Firms and Regional Innovation Potential: The Role of Public Procurement*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Roy Rothwell
Roy Rothwell
Affiliation:
Science Policy Research UnitUniversity of Sussex
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Traditional regional policies largely failed to attract a balanced range of skills to the regions, leaving them deficient in all but ‘blue collar’ craft skills. Thus, regional policies have hardly equipped the regions to survive during a period when technology is becoming an increasingly important element in competitiveness. In most countries, industry in the regions is composed mainly of mature companies producing traditional products and which often experience great difficulty in adapting to the rapidly changing requirements of the latter part of the twentieth century. Small firms, and especially new small firms appear, in contrast, better able to adapt. Regional policies should, therefore, be directed more towards the creation and growth of technology-based new small firms in the regions. Technology-based large firms are, of course, less dependent on the local environment than on their smaller counterparts and are better able to overcome local technical and market deficiencies. In order to stimulate the growth of innovative small firms, it is necessary to create an innovation infrastructure in the development regions, which, generally, have only limited innovation potential. This infrastructure will comprise a set of policy instruments on both the supply side and the demand side, while at the same time attempting to create a fiscal and regulatory climate conducive to innovatory endeavours by local firms. Perhaps the potentially most powerful element in this environment would be the establishment of local innovation oriented procurement procedures. A number of guidelines for the development of a viable system of innovation-oriented procurement are provided in the final section of this paper.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , November 1984 , pp. 307 - 332
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

American Electronics Association (1978) Written Statement before the House Committee on Ways and Means, (E. U. W. Zschau, Chairman, Capital Formation Task Force, AEA), 7 March 1978.Google Scholar
Bollard, A. (1983) Small Beginnings. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.Google Scholar
Clark, J. (1979) A model of embodied technical change and employment. Mimeo. Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex.Google Scholar
Damesick, P. (1981) Regional problems and policy in Britain: a case for reappraisal, Built Environment, 7 (2).Google Scholar
DTI (1982) The location, mobility and finance of new high technology companies in the UK electronics industry. Mimeo. Department of Trade and Industry, Research and Planning Unit for the South East.Google Scholar
Ergas, H. (1983) Corporate strategies in transition. Mimeo. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Ewers, H.-J. and Wettmann, R. W. (1980) Innovation-oriented regional policy, Regional Studies, 14, 161–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, M. M. A. (1983) Biotechnology and local economic growth: the American pattern, Built Environment, 9(1).Google Scholar
Fothergill, S. and Gudgin, G. (1979) The Job Creation Process in Britain. London: Centre for Environmental Studies, Research Series 32.Google Scholar
Freeman, C., Clark, J. and Soete, L. (1983) Unemployment and Technical Innovation, London: Frances Pinter.Google Scholar
Gibb, A. and Quince, T. (1980) Effects on small firms of industrial change in a development area. In Policy Issues in Small Business Research, Farnborough, Hants: Saxon House.Google Scholar
Hall, P. (1984) UK enterprise zones: facts, fantasies and lost opportunities, Financial Times, 22 02 1984, 15.Google Scholar
Herbert, R. and Hoar, R. W. (1982) Government and Innovation: Experimenting with Change. Washington DC: National Bureau of Standards, NBS-GCR-ETIP 82–100.Google Scholar
Howell, J. M. (1982) States as economic laboratories, (Rebuilding America), Society, 19 (5), 07/08.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, P., and Cathcart, G. (1980) Manufacturing firms and regional development. In Policy Issues in Small Business Research, Farnborough, Hants: Saxon House.Google Scholar
Kaplinsky, R. (1982) The Impact of Technical Change on the International Division of Labour. London: Frances Pinter.Google Scholar
Levin, R. C. (1982) The semiconductor industry. In Nelson, R. R. (ed.), Government and Technical Progress, New York, Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Maillat, D. (ed.) (1982) Technology: A Key Factor for Regional Development. Saint-Saphorin: Georgi Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Mason, D. (1979) Factors affecting the successful development and marketing of innovative semiconductor devices. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Polytechnic of Central London.Google Scholar
Mensch, G., Kaasch, K., Kleinknecht, A. and Schnapp, R. (1980) Innovation trends and switching between full and under-employment equilibrium, 1950–1978. Berlin: International Institute of Management. Discussion paper series.Google Scholar
Morse, R. S. (1976) The Role of New Technical Enterprises in the US Economy. Report of the Technical Advisory Board to the Secretary of Commerce, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Mowery, D. and Rosenberg, N. (1979) The influence of market demand on innovation: a critical review of some recent empirical studies, Research Policy, 8, 102–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Science Foundation (1979) NSF Small Business Research Programme. Washington DC.Google Scholar
NBST (1980) Innovation in Small Firms, Preliminary Report. Dublin: National Board for Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Nelson, R. R. (ed.) (1982) Government and Technical Progress. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Nicol, W. R. (1979) Relaxation and reorientation: parallel trends in regional disincentive policies, Urban Studies, 16, 333–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oakey, R. P. (1979) Distribution of significant British innovations. University of Newcastle, CURDS, Department of Geography, Discussion Paper No. 25.Google Scholar
Oakey, R. P. and Rothwell, R. (1984) High technology small firms and regional industrial growth.SSRC/CURDS Workshop on Technological Change, Industrial Restructuring and Regional Development, Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, University of Newcastle, 28–30 March 1984.Google Scholar
OECD (1984) Environment and Economics, Vol. II, 7–38. OECD: Paris.Google Scholar
Piatier, A. (1981) Enquete Sur I'Innovation: Premiers Resultats. Paris: Centre D'Etude des Techniques Economiques Modernes.Google Scholar
Prais, S. (1976) The Evolution of Giant Firms in Britain, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Roessner, D. (1979) The local government market as a stimulus to industrial innovation, Research Policy, 8, 340–62.Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1977) Characteristics of successful innovators and technically progressive firms, R & D Management, 7 (3).Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1979) Technical Change and Competitiveness in Agricultural Engineering: The Performance of the UK Industry. The Science Policy Research Unit, Occasional Paper No. 9, September (University of Sussex).Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1977b) Government Regulations and Industrial Innovation. Report to the Six Countries Programme on Innovation, Policy Studies Group TNO, PO Box 215, Delft, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1981) Technology, structural change and manufacturing employment, Omega, 9 (3).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1982) The role of technology in industrial change: implications for regional policy, Regional Studies, 16 (5).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1982b) Evaluating the Effectiveness of Government Innovation Policies. Report to the Six Countries Programme on Innovation, Policy Studies Group TNO, PO Box 215, Delft, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1983) Firm size and innovation: a case for dynamic complementarity, The Journal of General Management, 8 (3).Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1984) The role of small firms in the emergence of new technologies, Omega, 12 (1) 01.Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. (1984b) Venture finance, small firms and public policy in the UK. Mimeo. Paper prepared for Conference on Venture Capital and Public Policy, University of Pisa, 6 July 1984.Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. and Zegveld, W. (1981) Industrial Innovation and Public Policy. London: Frances Pinter.Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. and Zegveld, W. (1982) Innovation and the Small and Medium Sized Firm. London: Frances Pinter.Google Scholar
Rothwell, R. and Zegveld, W. (1984) Reindustrialisation and Technology, London: Longman.Google Scholar
Rumelt, R. P. (1982) Diversification strategy and profitability, Strategic Management Journal, 3 (4).Google Scholar
Segal, N. S. (1983) Universities and advanced technology new firms in Great Britain. International Workshop on the Future of Industrial Liaison, Technische Universität Berlin, November.Google Scholar
Storey, D. (1980) Job Creation and Small Firms Policy in Britain. London: Centre for Environmental Studies, Research Series II.Google Scholar
Thwaites, A. T. (1982) Inter-regional diffusion of production innovations in Great Britain, Mimeo. CURDS, Department of Geography, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.Google Scholar
Thwaites, A. T. (1983) The employment implications of technological change in a regional context. In Gillespie, A. (ed.), Technological Change and Regional Development, London: Pion.Google Scholar
Thwaites, A. T., Oakey, R. P. and Nash, P. (1981) Industrial Innovation and Regional Development, Final Report to the Department of the Environment. CURDS. University of Newcastle.Google Scholar
Townroe, P. M. (1975) Branch plants and regional development, Town Planning Review, 46(1), 47–61.Google Scholar
Townsend, J., Henwood, F., Thomas, G., Pavitt, K. and Wyatt, S. (1981) Innovations in Britain since 1945. Science Policy Research Unit, Occasional Paper Series No. 16.Google Scholar
Utterback, J. M. (1982) Technology and Industrial Policy in Sweden; A Study of New Technology-Based Firms Cambridge, Mass. Centre for Policy Alternatives, MIT.Google Scholar
van der Meer, J. D. and van Tilburg, J. J. (1983) Spin-offs mil technisch kommercisle infrastructurer. Enschede.Google Scholar