AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

SUNDAY
The Impact of Emerging Market Firms' International Engagement on Product and Process Innovation
Deepak Somaya, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sandra Corredor , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bongsun Kim, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Emerging market firms are taking on an increasingly important role in the global economy, both through their
internationalization and contributions to global innovation. However, our understanding about how emerging
market firms' internationalization and innovative performance are related is quite limited. In this paper, we
employ a unique survey of firms from ten emerging markets to study the relationship between the "international
engagement" of these firms – measured through their exports, imports, competition with foreign firms, foreign
joint ventures, and hiring of CEOs with international experience – and their product and process innovation
performance. Our findings are broadly consistent with the idea that experiential and vicarious learning enables
emerging market firms to access different types of knowledge through different types of international
engagement, leading in turn to different types of innovative outcomes. (For more information, please contact:
Deepak Somaya, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA: dsomaya@illinois.edu)
Emerging Innovation in Emerging Economies: Can Institutional Reforms Help Russia Break Through Its
Historical Barriers
Daniel J. McCarthy, Northeastern University
Sheila M. Puffer, Northeastern University
Loren R. Graham, Harvard University
Daniel M. Satinsky, Russia Innovation Collaborative
The Russian government has embarked upon a national innovation policy and has committed billions of dollars
to that effort with the goal of developing a knowledge-based economy to enhance participation in the global
arena. Despite many promising initiatives and an abundant supply of scientific talent, it is an open question
whether Russia can develop the formal and informal institutions to support sustainable innovation. Historically,
Russia has generally not succeeded with innovation beyond the idea and sometimes product development
stages, with failures attributable to a lack of institutions necessary to commercialize the often breakthrough
technologies and products. This article examines historical examples of Russia's attempts at innovation, followed
by a report of current innovation initiatives. Both the historical and current initiatives are then analyzed using
institutional theory. The inadequacy of formal and informal institutional support has created historical barriers in
Russia, some of which are being addressed to develop an innovation ecosystem encompassing a more
supportive institutional infrastructure. The participation of international partners increases the chances of
successful results. The article concludes with implications for shaping national innovation policies in Russia, and
for the roles of US firms and universities, as well as other international organizations involved in Russia's
innovation activities. (For more information, please contact: Sheila M. Puffer, Northeastern University, USA:
s.puffer@neu.edu)
Frugal Innovation: What is new
Kazuhiro Asakawa, Keio University
Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, Northeastern University
Frugal innovation, innovation that addresses constraints in the environment in which the firm operates, has the
potential of improving the poor's lives, creating additional firm, and generating a new international business
research agenda. We propose that, despite recent rhetoric, the concept of frugal innovation is not new, but
what is new is the process by which frugal innovations are created in developing countries. In contrast to lavish
innovation in which new technology drives innovation and a new market is created, in frugal innovation the
constraint is the problem that is solved by applying existing technologies in different ways. Additionally, we
provide depth to the concept of frugal innovation by introducing three types of frugal innovation (input,
throughput and output) and explaining differences in their creation processes. We discuss these ideas by
comparing frugal innovation in Japan after the Second World War with developing countries nowadays. (For
AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings
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