Contact Details
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Biography
Dr Helen Xia is a Lecturer in Innovation at Loughborough University. Her current research lies in three main areas: open innovation and small firms, comparisons of SME innovation strategies and government policies and emerging science and technology based industries.
Unpacking open innovation .Research Paper No 19
Published: 19 May 2014
We explore the relationship between two key aspects of open innovation in small firms – absorptive capacity and external relationships – and their effects on growth in the US and European biopharmaceutical sectors. Results from an international sample of 349 biopharmaceutical firms surveyed in the US, UK, France and Germany suggest that realized absorptive capacity plays an important role in determining firms’ growth. In terms of the interaction between firms’ absorptive capacity and external relationships, we find that engagement with exploratory relationships depends strongly on the continuity of R&D, while participation in exploitative relationships is more conditional on firms’ realized absorptive capacity.
Innovation, Innovation Strategy and Survival. Research Paper No 17
Published: 24 February 2014
Innovation has a recognised effect on survival. Undertaking more risky innovation may increase the risk of business failure, while incremental innovation may reduce the risk. This paper investigates how firms’ innovation strategy choices affect the relationship between innovation and firm survival. The research suggests the notion of “survival additionality”, i.e. firms receiving public support derive more persistent benefits from innovation than firms which did not receive public support.
