Exchange and knowledge flows between large firms and research institutions.

SUMMARY

One aspect central to the study of the processes of network construction between academia and the production sector is the knowledge that is exchanged and that makes up the base upon which improvements in products and/or processes are generated, new technologies are created, innovative activity is promoted, and/or new knowledge is produced.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the nature of the knowledge that is exchanged in the process of collaboration between academia and large Mexican firms. The analysis is constructed with a group of interactions that have as their objective the mobilization of scientific and/or technological knowledge for solving specific problems in the production sector as well as for training and formation of adequate human resources for firm needs.

From the cases analysed, we arrive at diverse considerations with regard to the importance that the exchange and flows of knowledge has in the construction of networks between large firms and academia.

KEYWORDS

academia-firm interaction; knowledge generation; knowledge transfer; networks

INTRODUCTION

There is evidence from several countries, that the generation, transfer and interchange of knowledge is a phenomenon taking place between firms and academic institutions. This phenomenon is difficult to document as it implies processes that cannot easily be observed and are basically intangible interactions. These interactions imply interactive learning processes, knowledge network creation, trust development and knowledge flows among different actors.

One relevant aspect, in the study of processes leading to the construction of networks between academia and the production sector, is the knowledge that is transferred, transmitted or exchanged which has repercussions for production activities, as well as for generation of scientific and technological knowledge in itself.

This is particularly important in the case of large national firms that have built their technological capabilities over long periods and have gone through interesting learning processes in their interactions with academic institutions. The purpose of this research project was to analyse how large Mexican firms have built their technological capabilities and the role that knowledge flows with academic institutions played in this process. These firms deserve specific attention from the innovation perspective as only some of them (such as Vitro) have had their technological capability creation and learning processes analysed and documented. Firms chosen for this investigation are characterised by:

(a) having a long-term development, starting from the import substitution period;

(b) surviving the different economic crisis of the 1980s and retained national capital; and

(c) having significant performance in the international markets. Given these elements the set of firms considered in this paper is representative of the most important industrial groups in the country.

This paper has two objectives. Firstly, we illustrate the importance of acquiring external knowledge that proceeds from universities and public research centres to large Mexican firms. Secondly, we demonstrate the nature of the resource that is put into play in these interactions and document the achievements of these knowledge exchanges for firms as well as for academia, which go beyond the idea of innovation. (1)

This paper is structured in five sections. In the first, we briefly put forward the theoretical framework and methodology that underpins the study; then, we present some characteristics of the cases analysed; the third section contains documentation of the type of knowledge exchanged through collaboration in the cases analysed; the fourth section involves the channels, personnel mobility, and directionality of knowledge flows. Fifth, there is discussion of the results that knowledge exchange generates, from the perspective of academia as well as from that of firms.

1. THEORETICAL-CONCEPTUAL BASES AND METHODOLOGY

The theme of knowledge exchange and flow between academia and firms (although already recognized as an important aspect in the literature on innovation) has scarcely been approached from the analytical perspective. This may be due to the fact that the impact this exchange has on innovative processes has not been shown to be direct and immediate. I may also be due to inherent difficulties in grasping these processes, which are sustained in an exchange of intangibles. In general, this has been a theme receiving little analysis in the literature concerning innovation studies, as already noted by Faulkner and Senker (1994). Some innovation economists (Dutrenit, 2000) maintain that during the past years, the explanatory emphasis and economic technological success have been moving from investigation and development toward a broader ensemble of activities related to generation, modification, and transference of knowledge.

Knowledge is not easy to define or measure. Certain authors (Lundvall, 2000; Nelson, 2000) include knowledge within the concept of know-how, which implies a broad concept embracing a collection of skills and practices associated with human nature and that are therefore disperse and divided. According to Nelson the nature of learning is complex and much technical knowledge is included in materials, apparatus and other artefacts. An interesting aspect for this paper is observed in the interactive character of production and transfer of knowledge (Gibbons et al., 1994; Lundvall, 2000:125). It was not until the 1990s that new contributions were generated on the idea of exchange of knowledge, principally with the publications of Imai (1991) Kline (1990) Macdonald, (1992) Sorensen & Levold (1992) and Vithlani (1996) and the contributions of Faulkner & Senker (1994) and Senker & Faulkner (1992 and 1995).

Transmission of knowledge, which is based on utilising that which is formal or that which is tacit knowledge, can be understood in terms of flows which circulate through networks and which impact on production processes and innovation and technological development. In the literature on economics of innovation, this phenomenon has been studied under the concept of externalities, which are captured from diverse sources aiming at introducing innovations at a more accelerated rate. More recently, externalities have been included under the concept of localized spillovers of knowledge that attempt to capture the wide variety of knowledge transmission mechanisms that may or may not spread ideas or experiences (Breschi and Lissoni, 2001). The concept of spillovers as described by these authors is very narrow; thus, we consider that the concept of knowledge flows entails a broader perspective for capturing the gamma of knowledge and its transmission that influence these processes.

The idea of flows carries with it implicitly the notion that diffusion of knowledge by means of formal and informal networks is as essential for economic development as is the creation of knowledge itself (Quandt, 2000). But the problem, as pointed out by other authors (Senker and Faulkner, 1996; Quandt, 2000) is how to note these flows in a systematic manner and how to map their distribution in the innovation processes of firms. In this paper we wish, in particular, to detect whether the knowledge that firms acquire from academic institutions is important for their production processes and for generation of their technological capacities.

METHODOLOGY

Analysis is built considering a set of collaboration projects between large Mexican firms and academic institutions, which are analysed by means of case studies taken at one moment in time of their development. The unit of analysis is the collaboration project. These projects were selected from the perspective of firms and academicians, as they have implied relevant collaborations supported in scientific and technological knowledge and, in most cases, in long-term learning processes. In this sense they are qualitatively representative of what happens when these two sectors build collaborative knowledge networks. However, data documented in this paper is not useful to justify a quantitative increase in interactions between these firms and academic institutions. However, they reflect a trend that is important to analyse within the study of technological capability formation in these organisations.

The collaborative projects studied here have implied formal and informal interactions between academia and the production sector, having as their objective the mobilization of scientific and/or technological knowledge for solving specific problems. Analysis takes into account qualitative-type information obtained through direct interviews as well as the application of a questionnaire designed expressly for documenting the manner in which knowledge networks are constructed and how knowledge is flowing among different networks. The cases analysed are selected from different fields of knowledge and technology in which collaborations between large firms and academia existed. Of 19 case studies considered in this research project, we selected 11 collaborative projects that referred to firms located in the states of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila and one located in Mexico City. Questionnaires were applied to personnel participating in these cooperative projects, both to representatives of academia as well as to firm's employees and engineers. Information was systematised for the purposes of this paper.