FORMS OF ECONOMIC PROXIMITY AND THEIR IMPACT ON INNOVATION PERFORMANCE: A STUDY OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY COMMERCIAL ORGANISATIONS IN INDUSTRY

Abstract

This article analyses the influence of different types of economic proximity (geographical, organisational, technological and social) of business units of multidisciplinary organisations on the effectiveness of their innovative activities. The conducted research is based on a survey of a sample of 83 holdings belonging to 27 MCOs (a total of 189 respondents). The analysis confirmed that most of the companies surveyed associate increased efficiency of innovation activities with organisational and technological proximity, while geographical and social proximity are significantly underestimated by respondents. It was also possible to identify separate profiles of different types of economic proximity of the business units in the sample. Thus, the net profit from the sale of new products is more influenced by technological and social proximity, the introduction of new products to the market is influenced by technological and geographical proximity, and the growth in the number of patents registered is influenced by organisational, technological and social proximity.Based on econometric estimates, our results suggest that while all types of proximity have a positive effect on the introduction of new products to the market, only organisational and technological proximity have a direct effect on net profits from the sale of new products.

Keywords

• geographical proximity
• social proximity
• technological proximity
• cognitive proximity
• organisational proximity
• multidisciplinary organisations
• industry
• efficiency of innovation activity