Contenu du sommaire : Industrial Structures, Business Strategies and Innovation

This article investigates the evolution of space industries from 2000 to 2013. Building on descriptive statistics regarding the volumes of spacecraft launched by major space Nations (United-States, Russia, Europe, China, Japan and India), it provides evidence that the asymmetry between government (e.g., space agencies and military organizations) and non-government customers (e.g., universities, research laboratories and private companies) decreased before getting stable. However, it also demonstrates that the shift toward a (more) balanced market structure between public and private, commercial and non-commercial, government and non-government customers of space assets is not homogeneous among space Nations. JEL Codes: O3, O33, O38

In this paper we investigate whether technologies recently introduced on the market can be a threat for existing firms. We use the theory of disruptive innovation and we propose the concept of potential disruptive innovation to assess this threat. Our empirical framework is the satellite industry. We show that the new types of satellites arriving in the industry are potential disruptive innovations. These new technologies represent a low potential threat for existing producers because new types of satellites are an imperfect substitute for existing satellites. In this study, we show that several types of potential disruptive innovations may exist at the same time. By detailing the characteristics of three types of potential disruptive innovations, we attempt to reduce the confusion about what disruptive innovation actually is. This paper also provides some insights for managers to help them assess the threat of new technologies that are potential disruptive innovations. JEL Codes: L1, L6, O33, M

This article aims to better understand the influence of public policies (and particularly public procurement) in strategic choices by defense companies after the end of the Cold War. Three countries were studied: Germany, France and the United Kingdom. In the early 1990s, governments as well as defense companies had to face various radical changes, such as drastic shifts in the geopolitical environment, major technological disruption (specifically in the field of information and communication) and globalization. Governments were expected to exert their responsibility for national defense in a context of strong incitation to reduce military spending (the so-called “Peace Dividends”). Despite an initial willingness to cooperate and promote a common European Defense approach, public policies varied widely among countries. The article identifies several similarities in the way defense companies responded to these national policies. The studied cases suggest a strong influence of public policy in how these companies re-designed their strategy. We conclude by depicting the complex, multi-dimensional environment of public defense policies and how they affect corporate strategies in an ever-evolving context. A comparison among key influencing factors suggests that the role of the state is not uniform across national borders. JEL Codes: L1, L5, F5, O3

In this paper, we seek to understand how technological duality influences the growth of companies. Since the end of the Cold War, defense budgets are strongly discussed. In this context, the dual policy (convergence between civil and military areas) is presented as an optimization strategy of the defense budgets. Nevertheless, the 1990s are also characterized by a wave of defense restructuring in the United States around large private companies. Therefore, we choose to study the results of duality for these groups as they are more at stake. In order to do so, we use structural analysis tools as a way of understanding duality as the relocation of defense activities in the innovation system center. As a result, we show that the duality of defense activities is specific because it has an opposite effect on centrality of civil activities on firms' growth. JEL Codes: B52, C55, L64, O33, O51

In service sectors such as tourism production and consumption are tied to places. In these places different actors base their production on a set of shared resources. Such localized systems can be characterized by different service practices, disagreements among actors, lack of trust, and competition which may inhibit networked and open innovation. Tourist destinations are examples of such localized systems. In this paper we present two extreme cases of tourist destinations in which collaborative innovation processes were established in spite of fierce disagreements between actors. We argue that in tourist destinations actors belong to conflicting innovation spheres but can be brought together in innovation processes when a diplomat enable compromises and when innovation spheres change from personalized to more generalized forms of activity during interaction. The findings are relevant not only for tourism but also for other sectors characterized by localized systems. JEL Codes: L83, L14, L19, O30, Z00

Our paper aims at exploring the link between market maturity and patent renewal decisions in the wind power sector. We use micro-level data on patent legal status and patent metrics from the Patstat database, as well as data on installed capacities. We estimate a micro-level model of renewal decisions that control for both patent metrics and market maturity. Our results show that renewal decisions are sensitive to market maturity. More specifically, market maturity positively affects the initial rent but increases the depreciation of the rent. JEL Codes: O3, O3, Q55

This paper examines the determinant factors of a firm's adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the context of a developing country. The study is based on the theoretical framework related to the epidemic and rank models of innovation adoption. In this work, we use a survey of 145 Tunisian firms that was conducted over the period 2010-2011. Our results show that epidemic and rank effects do not always act together on the diffusion process of ICT. In particular, we find that absorptive capacity is more decisive for the adoption of the technologies which are not influenced by information spillovers (Intranet, LAN and EDI). Firm's size, strategic fit and multi-unit firm also play an important role in the ICT adoption. However, there is no relationship between the intensity of organizational change and ICT diffusion in the Tunisian firms. JEL Codes: L21, O31, O33

There are two major types of financial innovations: one which is profit-seeking and supply-driven; another which is mostly demand-driven, outward-looking and socially oriented. We illustrate this twofold perspective analyzing the behavior of the banking industry during the period of the subprime mortgage crisis. More precisely, we examine how the financial statements of different types of banks are linked to innovation theories. From this analysis it emerges that, unlike mainstream banking, only the so-called ethical banks can be said to be putting into effect a demand-driven type of financial innovation in their banking practice. It is also argued that this involves a distinct business model. The last part of the paper explores briefly to what extent this demand-driven innovation approach to banking makes sense in the context of the post-financial crisis. JEL Codes: G21, L19, L2, G32

The purpose of this article is to present the characteristics of the Structure-Conduct-Performance model of the industrial organization, as well as the criticisms it has provoked since its initial formulation in the 1950/1960s, up to today. Thus the evolution of the S-C-P paradigm has shown that it has always been criticized, by the followers of the Chicago School in the 1970s, then by the founders of the theory of contestable markets in the 1980s, and finally those of the “new” industrial economy at the beginning of the 1990s, by changing some of its basic characteristics. The fact remains that the S-C-P paradigm is never called into question. JEL Codes: L1, L22, L23