Organisational Learning Capability and Innovation: Study on Companies Located in Regional Cluster

Abstract

The paper aims at addressing the influence of organisational learning capability on innovation performance of firms embedded in a regional cluster. Using a structural equation modelling, and based on a survey data of firms in the textile industry, we tested the relationships between learning capability, innovation and regional cluster’s embeddedness. The results of the model estimates show that while learning capability has a positive effect on the innovation performance of firms (efficiency and effectiveness), organisations embedded in territorial agglomerations reveal a greater degree of cooperation and creation of local capabilities, once they make part of a local productive and innovative system. The results also shed light on how the complex relationships between economies of agglomeration and the learning process affect innovation of firms. More, particularly, we suggest that the degree of cooperation among firms and the development of organisational capability may affect their innovation performance. While we do not compare the performance of firms inside and outside regional cluster, we attempted to set up how different degrees of cooperation can shape the development of innovation capabilities and innovation performance.

Organizational learning capability and its impact on organizational innovation

“…A study conducted on manufacturing and service sector firms in Ethiopia confirmed that organizations that have access to information, own skilled workforce, offer training and conduct R&D are more likely to innovate than their counterparts (Daksa et al, 2018). Similar studies conducted on manufacturing firms in Jordan (Karasneh, 2019), telecom firms in Pakistan (Hussain et al, 2018), ICT industry in Malaysia (Salim and Sulaiman, 2011) and textile industry in Brazil (Gomes and Wojahn, 2016;Tambosi et al, 2020) have discovered the positive effect of OLC on innovations conducted in organizational settings. However, apart from reporting the effect of OLC on OI, none of the above studies have examined the studied organizations with respect to their level of learning and innovation.…”

The greening effects of regional innovation symbiosis – Evidence from Chinese listed firms

“…Unlike the separated external factors analysis, the regional innovation symbiosis system focuses on comprehensive external factors and how they interact with the participants in the system through network cooperation. Because of the complexities in system structures, network cooperation can impact firms in various ways, such as learning effects (Tambosi et al, 2020), agglomeration effects (Ma & Yue, 2010), synergy effects (Ding et al, 2022; Wang et al, 2018) and spillover effects (He et al, 2018; Ye et al, 2022). These regional effects can benefit firm innovation, for instance, symbiosis systems that promote innovation through industry clustering provide the necessary knowledge for firms within to invest in innovation (Saracci et al, 2015).…”

Government R&D Investment, Knowledge Accumulation, and Regional Innovation Capability: Evidence of a Threshold Effect Model from China

“…Technological innovation is a high-input, high-risk innovation activity [5] because, for enterprises, large-scale costs are needed at the beginning of innovation activities, which are supported by local governments. is is especially true for a large country with significant regional heterogeneity, such as China, where innovation activities vary greatly from region to region.…”