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The paper deals with technological and managerial innovation transfer to small and medium sized enterprises. A comprehensive framework is presented, identifying a networked architecture in which different actors (universities, other R&D centers, consulting companies, the European Union, national government, local public administration) interact. In so doing, the need of a specific promoting role is pointed out. Consequently, introduction of an innovation center (IC) responsible for the whole transfer process is proposed. Within this organizational unit, the role of innovation promoter (IP), that is the interface with the specific SME, is analyzed and discussed. Finally, a general scheme of IC and IP actions and competences is presented.

The existing literature indicates that in developing countries, much remains to be done in terms of improving understanding of international joint venture (IJV) issues such as the motives for firms to pursue IJVs and the factors which affect their performance. In view of this, the present paper seeks to identify the motives of Malaysian firms for engaging in offshore IJVs, and analyze the interplay among four key variables – motive, strategic fit, knowledge transfer and innovation performance – from the perspective of Malaysian IJVs.

Based on a literature review, theoretical linkages among the variables and relevant hypotheses were developed; then subsequently tested using bootstrap analysis. A total of 234 questionnaires were sent to managers of Malaysian IJVs abroad and 74 usable responses were returned, yielding a response rate of 31.62 percent.

The results suggest that Malaysian firms pursue IJVs abroad mainly to expedite profit generation and market penetration, while acquiring knowledge is considered only as a secondary motive. At the same time the results affirm that knowledge transfer mediates the effect of strategic fit on the innovative capacity of the IJVs. This implies that although knowledge transfer is very important to IJV innovation performance, that importance is seriously underestimated by Malaysian businesses.

The study highlights the need to incorporate moderating factors in the future when examining the effect of motive and strategic fit on innovation. Results of the reliability tests also question the generalizability of existing strategic fit and knowledge transfer scales in a Malaysian setting.

The findings provide lessons for foreign businesses by improving understanding of what Malaysian businesses seek most in an IJV, which in turn will help foster better strategic fit between partners. For Malaysian firms and policy makers, the study should serve as a reminder that knowledge transfer is very important in improving innovativeness and deserves greater attention and commitment.

Research on IJV suggests interesting differences between firms from developed and developing nations. The current paper helps to enrich the literature on IJVs, particularly from the perspective of knowledge and learning orientation in developing nations.

The purpose of this paper is to review international technology transfer issues and contribute to the development of effective technology policies in China.

The construct of this paper is based on comprehensive review of recent literatures in technology transfer and innovation. Detailed discussions follow to give implications in policy making.

Technology transfer policy needs to consider influencing factors from various sources and levels. Government should strive to nurture indigenous innovation capacity, and improve the efficiency of international technology transfer.

The environments and conditions for international technology transfer have changed significantly in the last decade. Due to China's rapid development in recent years, many traditional channels of technology transfer are no longer efficient or effective. This paper brings related research issues up to date by reviewing some latest literatures from the perspectives of innovation and technology development. The findings and implications are meaningful for both industry and policy makers.

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance.

The relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance is examined by using data obtained from 252 Turkish export firms, which are among the top 1,000 firms in terms of export volume in Turkey. To examine these relationships, a theoretical framework is empirically tested using structural equation modeling and tested via an empirical study of Turkish export companies.

The results of this study can benefit policymakers in government at the national level and company decision-makers at the firm level. Furthermore, an understanding of the relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance may help firms to make correct technology transfer decisions and focus on the correct type of innovation to increase firm performance in practice. The findings indicate the positive effects of technology transfer on innovation and firm performance. In addition, innovation mediates the relationship between technology transfer and firm performance in Turkish export companies. This study suggests that decision-makers should transfer the right technology because well-realized technology transfers lead to the improvement of corporate innovation capacities and improvement of firm performances for export companies.

There is no study that fully examined the relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance. The proposed literature-based theoretical framework in this study is novel for Turkish export companies.

The pre-eminence of innovation and technological transfer in promoting agricultural productivity and competitiveness in developing countries is widely acknowledged. However, the disparate streams of literature on productivity and competitiveness have explored innovation and technology transfer as independent predictors. Consequently, the mechanisms through which innovation and technology transfers jointly affect productivity and competitiveness of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in emerging economies remain under-explored in literature. The present study sought to examine the relationships among innovation, technology transfer, productivity and competitiveness of small-scale agricultural businesses (SSABs) in selected regions in South Africa and Zimbabwe, neighbouring countries which have been plagued by food insecurity in recent years.

A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to SSABs owners based in Free State and Mashonaland provinces of South Africa and Zimbabwe, respectively. In total, 268 usable questionnaires (67%) were returned for analysis. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and Process macro (based on SPSS) techniques were used to analyse data.

The results supported direct significant paths between innovation and technology transfer; technology transfer and productivity; and productivity and competitiveness. Furthermore, the results suggested that technology transfer and productivity consecutively fully mediate the relationship between innovation and competitiveness.

The use of a survey could not provide sufficient explanations as to why the variable examined related the way they did.

The study provides useful insights into the significance of considering the dimensions and methods of innovation and technology transfer in agricultural business activities and processes to improve productivity and competitiveness of SSABs.

The study provides some insights into how innovation and technology transfer could be employed by small scale agricultural businesses as critical mechanisms for heightening productivity and competitiveness of these firms to guarantee food security and employment creation for emerging economies.

To the researchers' knowledge, this is one of the pioneer studies to examine the impact of both innovation and technology transfer on productivity and competitiveness of SSABs in two countries in Southern Africa. The study also constitutes a significant contribution to examining serial mediation of technology transfer and productivity of innovation and competitiveness.

Business research has highlighted the importance of knowledge transfer and innovation in multinational firms for better performance outcomes. However, the existing body of literature is characterized by differentiated theories, antecedents and outcomes. This study aims to address this gap by adopting a systematic approach to analyze knowledge transfer and innovation literature from the perspective of multinational organizations.

This study follows “preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses” (PRISMA) guidelines for conducting a systematic literature review. The study adopts a systematic approach for analyzing the literature using School of thought (S), Contexts (C), Methodologies (M), Triggers (T), Barriers (B), Facilitators (F) and Outcomes (O) framework (SCM-TBFO framework) devised for holistic literature review. The study analyzes 75 articles from reputed journals from 2000 to 2022.

In general, knowledge transfer and innovation in multinationals is a relatively new area and is evolving rapidly. There are many opportunities to study the various perspectives that are included in the SCM-TBFO framework. The key schools of thought included the evolutionary theory of innovation, institutional theory and internationalization theory. The studies had differing settings or contexts, including China, Europe, the USA and Taiwan. Further, key methodologies that were used included regression, case studies, structural equation modeling (SEM) and theoretical studies. Knowledge transfer and innovation triggers included competitive advantage, competitive pressure, constant requirements for better products and services, foreign direct investment (FDI) and globalization. Knowledge transfer and innovation facilitators were categorized into strategy-related facilitators, organization culture and orientation-related facilitators, and resource-related facilitators. Knowledge transfer and innovation barriers included autonomy, international knowledge dispersion, risk of knowledge leakage, search breadth, ambiguity and institutional voids. Key outcomes of knowledge transfer and innovation in multinationals included financial performance, innovation performance, knowledge flow, transfer effectiveness, patents and new product development.

By synthesizing the literature, the study aims to provide an overview of the current state of research on knowledge transfer and innovation in multinationals. The study develops a holistic model for fostering knowledge transfer and innovation in multinationals. The proposed novel framework can also be applied to perform a holistic assessment of the current literature in various research domains. Further, the study suggests future theory development and research agendas. The study also provides implications for practitioners using the framework to achieve more desirable outcomes.

This paper compares four external technology acquisition channels' (foreign technology transfer, exporting, inter-industry R&D spillover and domestic technology transfer) contributions to Chinese high-tech enterprises' innovation in the moderating role of absorptive capacity (AC).

Using technological catch-up theory and China Statistics Yearbook on High Technology Industry, this research investigates 16 Chinese high-tech industries from 2004 to 2015 via negative binomial regression.

The results show that indigenous knowledge transfer improves foreign-funded enterprises' (FFEs) innovation, while transnational knowledge transfer is the main channel for state-owned enterprises' (SOEs) technology acquisition. AC strengthens the positive relationship between transnational knowledge transfer and innovation in SOEs and improves FFEs' innovation and exported tacit knowledge absorption.

This study contributes to the literature on external technology acquisition (ETA) and innovation by examining the different mechanism of ETA instead of isolated strategy considering the AC and ownership structure of Chinese high-tech enterprises, which enrich the technological catch-up theory.

Despite the abundance of research in open innovation, few contributions explore it at inter-organizational level, and particularly with a focus on healthcare ecosystem, characterized by a dense network of relationships among public and private organizations (hospitals, companies and universities) as well as other actors that can be labeled as “untraditional” player, i.e. doctors, nurses and patients. The purpose of this paper is to cover this gap and explore how knowledge is transferred and flows among all the healthcare ecosystems’ players in order to support open innovation processes.

The paper is conceptual in nature and adopts a narrative literature review approach. In particular, insights gathered from open innovation literature at the inter-organizational network level, with a particular attention to healthcare ecosystems, and from the knowledge transfer processes, are analyzed in order to propose an interpretative framework for the understanding of knowledge transfer in open innovation with a focus on healthcare ecosystem.

The paper proposes an original interpretative framework for knowledge transfer to support open innovation in healthcare ecosystems, composed of four main components: healthcare ecosystem’s players’ categories; knowledge flows among different categories of players along the exploration and exploitation stages of innovation development; players’ motivations for open innovation; and players’ positions in the innovation process. In addition, assuming the intermediary network as the suitable organizational model for healthcare ecosystem, four classification scenarios are identified on the basis of the main players’ influence degree and motivations for open innovation.

The paper offers interpretative lenses for managers and policy makers in understanding the most suitable organizational models able to encourage open innovation in healthcare ecosystems, taking into consideration the players’ motivation and the knowledge transfer processes on the basis of the innovation results.

The paper introduces a novel framework that fills a gap in the innovation management literature, by pointing out the key role of external not R&D players, like patients, involved in knowledge transfer for open innovation processes in healthcare ecosystems.

This study is aimed at making an inspection of the effects of collaborative innovation network characteristics on firm innovation performance, and the intermediary roles of knowledge transfer efficiency is taken into account.

This study used a convenient sampling method to obtain population and samples. Using data obtained by publishing online and paper questionnaires, and using on-site interviews in Anhui Province in the Yangtze River Delta region of China, descriptive analysis, regression analysis and correlation analysis are utilized to study the direct influence of collaborative innovation network characteristics on knowledge transfer efficiency as well as firm innovation performance, and the intermediary roles of knowledge transfer efficiency on firm innovation performance, respectively. In this study, 3,000 questionnaires were distributed to the employees of enterprises engaged in research and development (R&D) activities, of which 2,560 were valid. With the help of SPSS24.0 software, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire was analyzed.

The results are indicative of that network centrality and relationship strength positively affect knowledge transfer efficiency and firm innovation performance. Nevertheless, network scale has no significant correlation with knowledge transfer efficiency and enterprise innovation performance. In addition, knowledge transfer efficiency is an intermediary between collaborative innovation network characteristics and enterprise innovation performance, and positively affects enterprise innovation performance, which demonstrated that managers should take advantage of collaborative innovation network characteristics to elevate knowledge transfer efficiency because well-realized transferals of knowledge can help accelerate the coordination of resources in knowledge, and finally bring about the advancement of firm's innovation abilities and performance.

There are few previous studies that fully examined the relationships among collaborative innovation network characteristics, knowledge transfer efficiency and firm innovation performance. This paper developed previous researches on the relationships between collaborative innovation network characteristics, knowledge transfer efficiency and firm innovation performance. The mediation of knowledge transfer efficiency on the relationship between collaborative innovation network characteristics and firm innovation performance is analyzed. Further, studies on collaborative innovation network characteristics using data obtained from employees engaged in R&D activities are very limited in the literature. On account of that, the findings in this study may make sense to the innovation ability of innovative enterprise and expand the literature in the field of enterprise strategic management and knowledge management.

This analysis shows that collaborative innovation network characteristics have both positive and negative effects on firm innovation performance. Therefore, business managers should pay attention to their position in the collaborative innovation network and maintain the relationship strength with other innovation subjects. Special consideration should be given to the knowledge transfer of innovative enterprises, so as to improve firm innovation performance practically.

The study may provide additional understandings for researchers, government managers, universities and enterprises with regard to strategic management from the visual angle of innovation ecosystems. It is instrumental in the exploration of the mechanisms enabling firm innovation performance.

This study surveys a broad spectrum of US manufacturer and service firms to examine the effect of tacit knowledge transfer on firm innovation capability. The authors present a set of hypotheses concerning the relationships between inter‐firm relationship strength and tacitness of knowledge transfer, extent of tacit knowledge transfer and innovation capability, and innovation capability and innovation performance based on the theory of knowledge. Moderating roles of firm collaborative experience and firm size on the relationship between inter‐firm relationship strength and the extent of tacit knowledge transfer are considered. Empirical results generally support the predictions from the theory and managerial implications are included.