University capability as a micro-foundation for the Triple Helix model: The case of China

Abstract By articulating the notion of university capability by distinguishing resources and capabilities, this paper aims to advance our understanding of the Triple Helix model from a micro-foundational perspective. From an external evaluative viewpoint, we suggest that university capability consists of (1) resource bases, (2) motivation/objectives, (3) resource allocation and coordination mechanisms, and (4) regional outcomes. Based on qualitative data collected from two leading Chinese cities in innovation and regional development, our study empirically elucidates two different approaches to deal with university capability. Our conceptualization of university capability may be a useful analytical tool to better understand the role of ‘university’ and its relationship with the other actors in the Triple Helix model.

[1]  Xiande Zhao,et al.  The impact of informal social interaction on innovation capability in the context of buyer-supplier dyads , 2017 .

[2]  D. Gibson,et al.  The evolution of Lund University's entrepreneurial ecosystem from 1980 to 2012 , 2015 .

[3]  Melissa E. Graebner,et al.  Grand Challenges and Inductive Methods: Rigor without Rigor Mortis , 2016 .

[4]  Elias G. Carayannis,et al.  Leveraging knowledge, learning, and innovation in forming strategic government–university–industry (GUI) R&D partnerships in the US, Germany, and France , 2000 .

[5]  H. Etzkowitz.  Research groups as ???quasi-firms???: the invention of the entrepreneurial university , 2003 .

[6]  T. Daim,et al.  Measuring the efficiency of university technology transfer , 2007 .

[7]  Mike Wright,et al.  Resources, capabilities, risk capital and the creation of university spin-out companies , 2005 .

[8]  D. Teece.  The Foundations of Enterprise Performance: Dynamic and Ordinary Capabilities in an (Economic) Theory of Firms , 2014 .

[9]  Vincent Mangematin,et al.  PIs as boundary spanners, science and market shapers , 2014 .

[10]  Xielin Liu,et al.  Do emerging countries prefer local knowledge or distant knowledge? Spillover effect of university collaborations on local firms , 2017 .

[11]  Emanuel Gomes,et al.  Externalizing, Internalizing and Fostering Commitment: The Case of Born-Global Firms in Emerging Economies , 2014 .

[12]  Rhiannon Pugh.  Universities and economic development in lagging regions: ‘triple helix’ policy in Wales , 2017 .

[13]  Sam J. Fugazzotto.  Mission Statements, Physical Space, and Strategy in Higher Education , 2009 .

[14]  Yipeng Liu,et al.  A Tale of Two Cities in Regional Entrepreneurial Policymaking: A Comparative Study of Suzhou and Wuxi from a Path-Dependence Perspective , 2013 .

[15]  Henry Etzkowitz,et al.  The Triple Helix as a model for innovation studies , 1998 .

[16]  M. Wright,et al.  Returnee Entrepreneurs, Science Park Location Choice and Performance: An Analysis of High–Technology SMEs in China , 2007 .

[17]  H. Etzkowitz,et al.  The Innovating Region: Toward a Theory of Knowledge-Based Regional Development , 2005 .

[18]  M. Wright,et al.  Contextualization and the advancement of entrepreneurship research , 2014 .

[19]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[20]  Yuqi Lu,et al.  Globalizing Regional Development in Sunan, China: Does Suzhou Industrial Park Fit a Neo-Marshallian District Model? , 2009 .

[21]  H. Etzkowitz,et al.  The Future of the University and the University of the Future: Evolution of Ivory Tower to Entrepreneurial Paradigm , 2000 .

[22]  A. Saxenian.  The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy , 1994 .

[23]  Yipeng Liu,et al.  Entrepreneurship and Talent Management from a Global Perspective , 2016 .

[24]  P. Schoemaker,et al.  Strategic assets and organizational rent , 1993 .

[25]  S. Bagchi‐Sen,et al.  The research university, entrepreneurship and regional development: Research propositions and current evidence , 2012 .

[26]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges , 2007 .

[27]  Sarfraz A. Mian.  Science and Technology Based Regional Entrepreneurship: Global Experience in Policy and Program Development , 2011 .

[28]  Yipeng Liu.  Born global firms’ growth and collaborative entry mode: the role of transnational entrepreneurs , 2017 .

[29]  Ciara Fitzgerald,et al.  University technology transfer offices: The search for identity to build legitimacy , 2015 .

[30]  P. Stokes,et al.  Managing talent across advanced and emerging economies: HR issues and challenges in a Sino-German strategic collaboration , 2016 .

[31]  J. Barney,et al.  What Are Microfoundations? , 2013 .

[32]  Henry Etzkowitz,et al.  Triple Helix Clusters: Boundary Permeability at University—Industry—Government Interfaces as a Regional Innovation Strategy , 2012 .

[33]  Dan Mcaran,et al.  The Global Entrepreneur , 2009 .

[34]  M. Balconi,et al.  University–industry interactions in applied research: The case of microelectronics , 2006 .

[35]  Mats A. Lundqvist,et al.  Entrepreneurial transformations in the Swedish University system: The case of Chalmers University of Technology , 2003 .

[36]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[37]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[38]  S. Arora,et al.  Using web mining to explore Triple Helix influences on growth in small and mid-size firms , 2016, Technovation.

[39]  T. Devinney.  Is Microfoundational Thinking Critical to Management Thought and Practice , 2013 .

[40]  C. Yeoh,et al.  ‘Created’ enclaves for enterprise: an empirical study of Singapore's industrial parks in Indonesia, Vietnam and China , 2005 .

[41]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[42]  R. Grant,et al.  Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 2022 .

[43]  Klaus Krippendorff,et al.  Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology , 1980 .

[44]  H. Bathelt,et al.  Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation , 2004 .

[45]  Odd Jarl Borch,et al.  University capabilities in facilitating entrepreneurship: A longitudinal study of spin-off ventures at mid-range universities , 2010 .

[46]  Helen Lawton Smith,et al.  Triple helix and regional development: a perspective from Oxfordshire in the UK , 2010, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[47]  Matthew Hartley,et al.  Mission Statements: A Thematic Analysis of Rhetoric Across Institutional Type , 2006 .

[48]  Yipeng Liu,et al.  Local Government as Institutional Entrepreneur: Public–Private Collaborative Partnerships in Fostering Regional Entrepreneurship , 2018 .

[49]  Eero Vaara,et al.  A Recursive Perspective on Discursive Legitimation and Organizational Action in Mergers and Acquisitions , 2010, Organ. Sci..

[50]  Robert E. Ployhart,et al.  The Microfoundations Movement in Strategy and Organization Theory , 2015 .

[51]  Constance E. Helfat,et al.  The dynamic resource-based view: capability lifecycles , 2003 .

[52]  J. Cornelissen.  Preserving Theoretical Divergence in Management Research: Why the Explanatory Potential of Qualitative Research Should Be Harnessed Rather than Suppressed , 2017 .

[53]  F. van Vught,et al.  The European Higher Education Classification: Objectives and Concepts , 2009 .

[54]  Henry Etzkowitz,et al.  The Triple Helix: University-Industry-Government Innovation in Action , 2008 .

[55]  J. Youtie,et al.  Building an innovation hub: A case study of the transformation of university roles in regional technological and economic development , 2008 .

[56]  Yipeng Liu.  High‐tech ventures' innovation and influences of institutional voids: A comparative study of two high‐tech parks in China , 2011 .

[57]  H. Diz,et al.  How Can University-Industry-Government Interactions Change the Innovation Scenario in Portugal? - the Case of the University of Coimbra , 2006 .

[58]  Yipeng Liu,et al.  How culture influences the way entrepreneurs deal with uncertainty in inter-organizational relationships: The case of returnee versus local entrepreneurs in China , 2016 .

[59]  Riikka M. Sarala,et al.  Human Side of Collaborative Partnerships , 2017 .