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Public and private support organizations
of the ceramic cluster
play an important role
in the relationship between companies,
facilitating the exchange of commercial and technological knowledge,
according to the conclusions of the project
"El capital social como fuente externa
de conocimiento e innovación
en los clústeres y distritos industriales",
developed by the research group
"Strategic alliances, networks and territory" at the UJI.
According to this research,
organisations favour the improvement
in the quality of exchanges,
both in the technological knowledge network and in the commercial network,
and they stand out as intermediators
reducing the distance between actors.
The study not only reveals
the importance of social capital
in the economy of the company:
it also shows the benefits
of being part of a cluster
at a commercial, technological and innovation level.
-The main purpose, the more general,
would be to confirm, in a specific case,
as it is the case of the ceramic industry,
the existence and, above all,
the importance of social relations,
of interorganizational relations
when it comes to generating knowledge that,
as we know, that generation of knowledge
is on the basis of innovation,
among others.
And today it is clear that innovation
has become an indicator
[Xavier Molina. Professor of Business Management at the UJI]
(I would say that the most important)
to assess what is the creation of value
by the companies.
-The results of the study,
in which have participated 170 companies
and 60 public and private organizations
linked to the ceramics industry,
reveal that public organizations
act as intermediaries in both networks,
while private support organizations
focus almost exclusively
on the network of business information
and they have more problems to participate
in the technical knowledge network.
-In terms of what might be more remarkable,
we believe that the positioning of institutions
might be more relevant.
And there we find, surely,
what we could have expected:
that some institutions,
as it is the case of the University,
or the institute of technology,
vary from a network to another.
We see how they lose importance
in the business information network
but they are positioned above,
in a more relevant way,
in technical knowledge networks,
on the contrary of what can happen
in other institutions such as ASCER
or the Cevisama trade fair
that have a higher weight,
especially in these business information networks.
-The data analysis
has shown how glazes, fried ceramics,
additives and machinery companies,
more closely linked to innovation
and added value,
have obtained higher values
in almost all indicators
for both networks of knowledge,
while the final product companies
have obtained values above the average
in aspects such as the grade or the proximity
but not as intermediary actors.
-The study comes to tell us
that both companies and institutions
have to start rating
and developing what might be called
a strategy of relations,
in other words, we are talking about a strategy
that maybe the companies are applying
in a spontaneous, unplanned way.
And what the study comes to say
is that if we assume that these relationships,
both formal and informal,
with the other actors in networks
are enabling
access to sources of information,
that should not be left to the spontaneity,
but it should be part
of business strategy.
-The different investigations
carried out within the framework of the project
also suggest that this characterization
of these networks for the exchange of business information
and technological knowledge of clusters
can improve the design of policies of economic development.
Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit
Universitat Jaume I
Communication and publications service