New, technology–based firms as agents of technological rejuvenation

In this paper the catalysing impact of new, technology–based firms in industrial technolog–ical renewal is analysed. New, technology–based firms are studied from the resource–based perspective, as concentrations of technological competencies that operate in industrial networks. The empirical database contains information on nearly 400 Finnish new, technology–based firms. The empirical evidence suggests that new, technology–based firms tend to operate in envir–onments where the notions of the resource–based perspective are of high relevance, striving to generate economic profit through the innovative combination of their knowledge resources with those provided by their operating environment. The technology links and value–creation mechanisms depicted by the sample firms are in line with the Pavitt taxonomy, and help to understand why the bulk of the population of new, technology–based firms are not growth oriented. This paper argues that new, technology–based firms can catalyse economic growth without grow...