A. Kleinknecht - Böcker

A rich overview of current research on determinants of innovative behaviour. It is a unique work as it illuminates these from different perspectives such as, economics, management and psychology. Using several methods of analysis, it shows what specific determinants are predominant in explaining firm performance on innovation.

With the economic problems facing Western economics during the last decade, theories about an alleged forty-five to sixty years' pulsation in economic life (the Kondratieff-Schumpeter cycle) have experienced a remarkable renaissance. Based on a new econometric test method, the author argues that long waves can be identified not only in price series but also in the aggregate output of a number of key industrialized countries. The author's own research corroborates Schumpeter's hypothesis that, far from being caused by a flash of genius, radical innovations occur in clusters, interacting with economic fluctuations and social change.

The emergence of firm level data such as the European Community Innovation Survey (CIS), has led to a surge of studies on innovation and firm behaviour. This book documents progress in four inter-related fields: investigation of the use of new indicators of innovation output; investigation of determinants of innovative behaviour; the role of spillovers, the public knowledge infrastructure and research and development collaboration; and the impact of innovation on firm performance. Written by an international group of contributors, the studies are based on agriculture and the manufacturing and service industries in Europe and Canada.

With the economic problems facing Western economics during the last decade, theories about an alleged forty-five to sixty years' pulsation in economic life (the Kondratieff-Schumpeter cycle) have experienced a remarkable renaissance. Based on a new econometric test method, the author argues that long waves can be identified not only in price series but also in the aggregate output of a number of key industrialized countries. The author's own research corroborates Schumpeter's hypothesis that, far from being caused by a flash of genius, radical innovations occur in clusters, interacting with economic fluctuations and social change.