The Role of Codified Sources of Knowledge in Innovation : Empirical Evidence from Dutch Manufacturing

The relationship between the extent that Dutch manufacturing firms access sources of information and codified knowledge is explored, as well as their innovative behavior. The analysis involves three steps: (1) an evaluation of how frequently sources of codified knowledge are used in manufacturing firms, (2) the relationship between the use of codified knowledge and different innovative strategies, and (3) the link between access to sources of codified knowledge and firm's innovative behavior.Data are based on the Community Innovation Survey of Dutch manufacturing firms. Managers from over 2,001 firms in 11 industries rated the importance of externally generated information and knowledge.Proxy measures were developed for four parts of the "knowledge-product space": patents and copyrights, scientific papers, trade secrets, and shared expertise. Findings indicate that there are significant inter-industry differences in extent of firm reliance on codified sources of information for innovation. Use of codified sources of knowledge is concentrated in high-technology sectors and among firms with existing absorptive capacity. Other sources of information for innovation are shown to be strong predictors of a firm's use of codified sources.It is suggested that attempts to improve distribution power of innovation systems by supporting knowledge codification (such as computer-information networks) will have limited impact on overall innovation rates. (TNM)