Exploration or Exploitation of Knowledge from Universities: Does it Make a Difference?

KOF Working Papers No. 322

34 Pages Posted: 20 Nov 2012

See all articles by Spyros Arvanitis

Spyros Arvanitis

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF)

Martin Woerter

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF)

Date Written: November 19, 2012

Abstract

In a first step, we developed based on existing theoretical and empirical literature a series of hypotheses with respect to the relative importance of possible determinants of exploration and exploitation of knowledge in collaboration with universities and tested them on Swiss firm data. In a second step, we investigated the impact on innovation performance of knowledge exploration versus knowledge exploitation. We obtained a clear pattern of the differences between ‘exploration’-oriented and ‘exploitation’-oriented firms. We found that exploration-oriented firms have a greater knowledge absorptive capacity, are technologically more diverse, and they are less exposed to intensive price competition compared to exploitation-oriented firms. We further found a positive effect on innovation performance for exploration-oriented firms but not for those that were exploration-oriented.

Keywords: knowledge exploration, knowledge exploitation, innovation

JEL Classification: O31

Suggested Citation

Arvanitis, Spyros and Woerter, Martin, Exploration or Exploitation of Knowledge from Universities: Does it Make a Difference? (November 19, 2012). KOF Working Papers No. 322, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2177870 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2177870

Spyros Arvanitis (Contact Author)

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF) ( email )

CH-8092 Zurich
Switzerland
+41 44 632 51 68 (Phone)
+41 44 632 13 52 (Fax)

Martin Woerter

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF) ( email )

CH-8092 Zurich
Switzerland

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