Purpose This paper aims to analyze the relationship between inter-firm collaboration network and the type of innovation strategies that can be followed by firms: buy or make innovation. In particular, the authors seek to analyze which are the network topologies that facilitate firms following a buy innovation strategy compared to those network properties that encourage internal R&D activities. Design/methodology/approach The authors use data from a fieldwork with face-to-face interviews applied to managing directors of firms in the rubber and plastic cluster of Uruguay. Subsequently, they combine social network analysis with regression techniques to determine how inter-firm networks can influence different types of innovation activities. Findings The authors find that degree centrality facilitates a buy innovation strategy, while betweenness centrality is positively associated with making innovation. Thus, having many direct links with other firms and organizations is relevant to buy innovation. However, indirect links that allow the firm to occupy a strategic position in the network are crucial to develop in-house innovation strategies. Research limitations/implications The results offer an advance in the explanation of the incidence of the cluster network structure on the firms innovation strategies; however, they should be contrasted with similar analysis in others clusters and complemented with in depth case studies on the mechanisms behind these phenomena. Practical implications These findings have practical implications for business innovation strategy. One factor that should be taken into account is the way in which firms interact with other actors in the cluster. On the one hand, firms can decide to establish and maintain many direct collaboration links, which may contribute to buy innovation. On the other hand, they can follow a more strategic and selective collaboration strategy to make innovation, a strategy that carefully studies not only its direct collaborations, but also what the potential indirect connections would be. Social implications These findings have policy implications regarding industry support organizations. The findings show that such organizations contribute significantly to the overall connectivity and cohesion of networks. This fact allows some firms to register high levels of betweenness centrality, and therefore, organizations can be an interesting instrument to support firms aiming to follow a make innovation strategy. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature that analyzes how inter-firm collaboration networks can influence innovation. In line with previous research, results verify that centrality is positively associated with innovation. However, the main contribution of this research is to provide evidence on different ways in which inter-firm networks are related to different innovation strategies (make or buy). In addition, the authors contribute to the understanding of collaboration dynamics and innovation activities in inter-firm interactions within a typical case of a low-tech cluster created under the so-called state-led industrialization model in Latin America.

This paper presents a reformulation of the classical Solow-Swan growth model where a dynamic of the endogenous population is incorporated. In our model, the population growth rate continually depends on per capita consumption. We find that -as in the classic Solow-Swan model -there is a steady state for the capital-labour ratio, which is always lower than that deduced from the original model with zero population growth rate, but it is not necessarily unique. Under certain conditions, there is an odd amount, and only the smallest and the largest are locally stable. Finally, a study of comparative static of stationary states is performed by varying the total factor productivity, and the results are compared with those of the original model. It is found that the effects of exogenous variables on endogenous variables differ from the original model.

This paper provides evidence that external constraints determine growth slowdowns in middle-income countries.Econometric models corroborate a positive and significant relation between export margin and the growth of GDPpc for those countries that have remained between middle-income thresholds for at least 30 years, but not for others. While advanced economies have sustained their growth through permanent increases in productivity and the quality of products, many middle-income countries, most of them from Latin America, remain dependent on external prices for growth. Our results shed new light on old development challenges for developing countries.

En este artículo se sistematizan y analizan por primera vez los datos de patentes registradas en Uruguay en el período 1970-2018. Se describe el procesamiento de los registros originales y se lleva a cabo un estudio descriptivo de los datos, donde se analiza la evolución temporal de las patentes, la distribución territorial, la especialización tecnológica, así como los principales actores participantes. Posteriormente, se estudia la relación entre los datos de patentes y el desarrollo territorial en Uruguay. Los resultados corroboran la prevalencia del patentamiento de actores no residentes, a la vez que muestran el importante rol que juegan los centros públicos de investigación dentro de los actores residentes. Asimismo, se observa una consistente correlación positiva entre el nivel de desarrollo regional y el registro de patentes.