Abstract:

Research and development policy has become one of the main priorities of European Union countries through the Lisbon strategy, aiming at stimulating national R&D investments in order to reach the “fatidic” 3% level of GDP. Numerous studies have used R&D expenditures as a measure for firms’ innovative capacity. While emphasizing innovation inputs and support instruments, these works did not take into account other innovation strategies such as marketing or organizational innovations undertaken by the firm. The theoretical literature on innovation nevertheless highlights the feedback character of innovation processes where non-technological activities play a crucial role. Numerous theoretical contributions, particularly those of Penrose (1959), Nelson and Winter (1982), Wernerfelt (1984), Teece (1988), which constitute the base of a new theory about competences and internal resources (resource-based view) highlight the importance of managing different types of resources. Indeed, firms are constrained to organize the innovation process efficiently by combining technological capabilities with competencies in marketing, finance, management and entrepreneurship knowledge. As suggested by Teece (1986, 1988) and Langlois and Robertson (1995), these often specific, tacit and inimitable competencies strongly depend on firms' capability to capture and assimilate external information, as well as to adapt to environmental changes.