Cross-organizational knowledge acquisition through flexible hiring and joint R&D: Insights from a survey in China

Human resource management practices and learning for innovation in developing countries: pharmaceutical firms in Mexico

“…New comers reduce levels of socialization within the firm, relative to more experienced staff; consequently, by bringing them in to the organisation, firms can induce increased opportunities to exploration and knowledge accumulation. In line with this idea Du and Ai (2008) argue that flexible hiring facilitates inter-organisational knowledge sharing. It also enables firms to overcome the constraints of internalised knowledge searches during the innovation processes.…”

“…It also enables firms to overcome the constraints of internalised knowledge searches during the innovation processes. A mix of experience and skills, but also clear intention to keep consistency with in-house innovation or production teams, with short-and longterm knowledge requirements constitute relevant criteria to hire new staff (Du and Ai 2008;Santamaría et.al, 2009). …”

“…Finding the right balance between in-house development and the external acquisition of technology allows for optimum resource allocation to alternative learning activities (Nakamura and Odagiri 2005). The problem with this approach is that it only partially explains the perceived heterogeneity in firms' learning behaviours, or the characteristics of innovation processes in distinct industries or sectors (Arora and Gambardella 1990;Liyanage et.al, 1999), thus undervaluing the possibilities and importance of combined strategies (Cassiman and Veugelers 2006;Escribano et.al, 2009), particularly for latecomer firms (Du and Ai 2008;Kim et.al, 1989;Singh 2007). An alternative approach arises in Penrose's seminal book on the growth of the firm (Penrose 1959), where she challenges the notion of "make" or "buy" by considering the decisions related to learning that stem from more complex processes inside the firm.…”

Ownership and visibility: a pattern of industrial technology catching-up in transition economies

“…Specifically, there are three ways of flexible hiring: employing experts retired from other organisations; employing experts moved from other organisations; employing part-time experts working for two or more organisations (Du and Ai, 2008). The history of flexible hiring can date back to 'Saturday engineers' in 1980s.…”

An integrated method for collaborative R&D project selection: Supporting innovative research teams

“…Collaborative R&D projects that are applied by innovative research teams (CIRT projects, for simplicity) are supported in a number of countries such as USA (see the National Science Foundation, NSF, http://nsf.gov), German (see The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG, http://www.dfg.de/en), Japan (see Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, JSPS, http://www.jsps.go.jp/ english) and China due to the complexity and cross-discipline research of innovation (Du & Ai, 2008;Kim & Park, 2009). CIRT projects play an underlying and significant role for many countries in the progresses of science and technologies (Arranz & de Arroyabe, 2006).…”