Gender diversity and innovation in manufacturing and service firms

Traditionally, researchers have considered the innovation process as being gender neutral. However, recently some studies have begun to take gender diversity into account as a determinant of firms’ innovation. This paper aims to analyse how the effect of gender diversity on innovation output at firm level is sensitive to team size. Using the Spanish PITEC (Panel de Innovación Tecnológica) from 2007 to 2012 for innovative manufacturing and service firms, we estimate a multivariate probit model to analyse how gender diversity both in R&D teams and in the total workforce affect product, process, marketing and organizational innovations. Our results show that gender-diverse teams increase the probability of innovating, and this capacity is positively related team size. Gender diversity, in both the R&D department and the total workforce, has a larger positive impact on the probability of carrying out product and organizational innovations in larger teams than it does in smaller teams. This effect is less clear-cut in the case of marketing and process innovation, where the impact is only significant for micro and small firms. Finally, size effects are of greater importance when we distinguish between the manufacturing and service sectors. JEL Code: O30, O31, J16

Where Does All the Knowledge Go in Small Knowledge-intensive Professional Service Firms?

Small knowledge-intensive professional service firms are becoming increasingly important agents of innovation in construction. There is thus an urgent need to better understand the nature and process of innovation in such firms. First, this paper presents a review of the relevant literature. It is concluded that this literature is often not appropriate for SKIPSFs, as it neglects the critical role of knowledge and knowledge workers in innovation within SKIPSFs. Second, a knowledge-based innovation model is presented as a holistic, system-oriented framework to better investigate how the SKIPSFs create, manage and exploit innovation. This model is to be tested with case study research.

The changing nature of UK construction professional service firms

Professional services firms (PSFs) have been the subject of much attention in the literature in recent years, ranging across a number of distinct but related disciplines including economics, sociology, organization and management studies. Analysis has tended to concentrate on law and accounting firms in particular, and although there is a growing academic interest in construction/built environment professional services firms (CPSFs), these have received much less scrutiny. However, many of the changes taking place among PSFs – in particular, growth in firm size, moves towards external ownership and greater service/geographical diversification – are also taking place among the larger CPSFs. The CPSF sector is not especially well documented and there is little understanding of the motives for, and implications of, these changes in the firms, their clients and wider society. CPSFs are reviewed in the context of the more general PSF literature and a set of questions is posed for future research on CPSFs. These questions include the need to understand the implications of firm type on performance, the form of ownership that might confer the greatest financial benefits for different stakeholder groups, and the wider societal consequences of continuing growth in size and diversification of CPSFs.

The dilemma of scope and scale for construction professional service firms

Construction professional service (CPS) firms sell expertise and provide innovative solutions for projects founded on their knowledge, experience, and technical competences. Large CPS firms seeking to grow will often seek new opportunities in their domestic market and overseas by organic or inorganic growth through mergers, alliances, and acquisitions. Growth can also come from increasing market penetration through vertical, horizontal, and lateral diversification. Such growth, hopefully, leads to economies of scope and scale in the long term, but it can also lead to diseconomies, when the added cost of integration and the increased complexity of diversification no longer create tangible and intangible benefits. The aim of this research is to investigate the key influences impacting on the growth in scope and scale for large CPS firms. Qualitative data from the interviews were underpinned by secondary data from CPS firms’ annual reports and analysts’ findings. The findings showed five key influences on the scope and scale of a CPS firm: the importance of growth as a driver; the influence of the ownership of the firm on the decision for growth in scope and scale; the optimization of resources and capabilities; the need to serve changing clients’ needs; and the importance of localization. The research provides valuable insights into the growth strategies of international CPS firms. A major finding of the research is the influence of ownership on CPS firms’ growth strategies which has not been highlighted in previous research.