Innovation in High-Technology Companies

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 2.3 (B), University of Manchester (Manchester School of Management), 32 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In the last twenty years, many researchers and even governments have undertaken studies concerning small, innovative firms operating in new technology sectors. Different researchers have concluded different things from different studies, and different opinions prevail in many areas.§Even a brief look into the area of New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) shows that extensive literature exists on a wide range of topics, both on a more general scale, but also on rather specialised sub-areas of NTBFs. While it is certainly desirable to explore any one of these specialised areas in more depth, the focus of this paper is to give a brief but comprehensive overview of the area of NTBFs about research in the last 20 to 25 years. The underlying notion of the paper is to question if large firms are better at innovation than small firms. An answer to this question in the light of the findings of this paper will be attempted in the conclusion in chapter seven. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to define and highlight briefly the main characteristics of NTBFs, and to point out the level of cooperation between small and large firms in the technology sector. It will then evaluate these in the light of the Mobile Phone sector. The influence of governments on small innovative companies will also be considered.§This paper will start out with a definition of NTBFs in chapter two. Chapter three will highlight the five main characteristics of a NTBF that will ultimately determine the success or failure of the company. Chapter four will then look at the interplay between small and large companies, and will consider how much these two parties cooperate or compete. In chapter five, the findings of the previous chapters will be examined in the light of the mobile phone industry, with reference made to the mobile phone market in China, and also to a small innovative UK company. In chapter six, four countries and their approaches to foster innovation among small companies will be highlighted. Finally, chapter seven will sum up the findings of this paper and offer a conclusion on the underlying question if large firms are better at innovation than small ones.