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Industrial Innovation among Small and Medium‐Sized Firms in a Declining Region
Author(s) -
MACPHERSON ALAN D.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2257.1994.tb00967.x
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , industrial organization , sample (material) , business , production (economics) , unit (ring theory) , manufacturing sector , value (mathematics) , marketing , economics , labour economics , management , microeconomics , computer science , chemistry , mathematics education , mathematics , chromatography , machine learning
This paper explores the impact of new technology adoption upon the market performance of small industrial firms. Survey data from a six‐sector sample of Western New York manufacturers are presented. The results suggest a positive relationship between new technology adoption and growth of exports, value‐added, and total sales. A central finding of the study is that flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) confer different types of technical and commercial advantages across sectors. Two broad groups of process innovators are identified: (1) those that adopt new technology primarily to cut unit costs; and (2) those that aspire toward greater production flexibility. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the regional development implications that flow from the empirical results.