Understanding the innovativeness of information technology products and service providers in an IT cluster in Nigeria

  • William Nwagwu Africa Regional Centre for Information Science, University of Ibadan
  • Stanley Ibeku Stanley Ibeku Africa Regional Centre for Information Science, University of Ibadan, Nigeria http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9942-3641
Keywords: Innovativeness, Information Technology, IT Cluster, Nigeria

Abstract

Every society has social and other systems that encourage and promote, or otherwise, individuals to engage in creative processes and/or support new ideas and experimentation that may result in new products, services or technological processes. This study examined how the most popular innovation variables provide explanation for the capacity of information technology (IT) products and service providers in the Otigba Computer Hardware Cluster in Lagos, Nigeria to devise and harness new strategies of solving IT problems. The study also investigated the respondents’ capacity to acquire, assimilate, transform and use knowledge, and the relationship between these capacities and their innovativeness. Data were collected from 273 respondents with the aid of a questionnaire and an indepth interview schedule. The study confirms the importance of stronger networking for transfer of knowledge by showing that the respondents’ interaction with knowledge sources has strong relationship with their capacity to innovate, acquire, understand and use knowledge. However, innovativeness among the operators in the cluster is not necessarily a function of the traditional innovation variables of absorptive, acquisition, transformation, exploitation and other capacities. The capacity to transform knowledge into applications has a significant effect on the capacity of the operators to introduce new ideas, processes and techniques. Findings from the interviews reveal that the information technology products and service providers are able to devise new ways of solving old and new IT problems, especially as they relate to computer hardware. Research on innovativeness among operators in this cluster must seek explanation from local circumstances in addition to the popular recognised variables

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

van Aalst, H.F. 2003. Networking in society, organisations and education. In Networks of innovation: towards new models for managing schools and systems. OECD, Ed. Paris: OECD. 33-40.

Abiola, B. 2006. Knowledge, technology and growth: the case study of Otigba Computer Village Cluster in Nigeria. Knowledge for Development Program, World Bank Institute, World Bank (Unpublished).

Arjona A.L. 2013. Inter-firm knowledge transfer and experiential learning: a business sustainability approach on SMEs absorptive capacity. PhD thesis. Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Bamiro, O.A. 2003. Otigba Cluster: Nigeria’s Silicon Valley? A study carried out for UNU-INTECH. Maastricht: UNU-INTECH.

Baptista, R. and Swann, P. 1998. Do firms in clusters innovate more? Research Policy, 27: 525-540.

Clausen, T.H. 2013. External knowledge sourcing from innovation cooperation and the role of absorptive capacity: empirical evidence from Norway and Sweden. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 25(1): 57-70.

Cohen, W. and Levinthal, D. 1990. Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35: 128-152. [Online]. http://www.sagepub.journals/asq/vol35.html (26 August 2014).

Gradwell, T. 2003. Outsourcing-outsourcing knowledge creation: Don't give the game away – Dr Tony Gradwell, trade sector consultant at HM Customs & Excise, looks at how and why firms might outsource knowledge creation. Speciality Chemicals, 23(8): 24-26.

Hansen, M.T. 1999. The search-transfer problem: the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(1): 82-111.

Ibeku, S. and Nwagwu, W. 2015. Influence of absorptive capacity on innovativeness of Information Technology products and service providers in Lagos, Nigeria. Paper presented at the 2nd International Africalics Conference. 17-19 November 2015. University of Rwanda, Kigali.

Indarti N. 2010. The effect of knowledge stickiness and interaction on absorptive capacity: evidence from furniture and software small-and medium-sized enterprises in Indonesia. PhD thesis. University of Groningen.

Jansen, J., van den Bosch, F. and Volberda, H. 2005. Managing potential and realized absorptive capacity: how do organizational antecedents matter? The Academy of Management Journal, 48(6): 999-1015.

Kim, L. 1997. The dynamics of Samsung’s technological learning in semiconductors. California Management Review, 39(3): 86-101.

Kim, L. 1998. Crisis construction and organizational learning: capability building in catching-up at Hyundai Motor. Organization Science, 9(4): 506-521.

Klerkx, L. and Leeuwis, C. 2009. The emergence and embedding of innovation brokers at different innovation system levels: insights from the Dutch agricultural sector. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 76(6): 849‐860.

Krackhardt, D. 1992. The strength of strong ties. In Networks and organizations: structure, form and action. N. Nohria and R. G. Eccles, Eds. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Lee, C-Y. and Sung, T. 2005. Schumpeter’s legacy: a new perspective on the relationship between firm size and R&D. Research Policy, 34(6): 914-931.

Maranville, S. 1992. Entrepreneurship in the business curriculum. Journal of Education for Business, 68(1): 27-31.

Nwagwu, W.E. and Idowu, A. 2015. Demographic and Maslow’s Motivation Predictors of Job Satisfaction of Information Technology artisans in Nigeria. Proceedings of iConference 2015. 24-27 March 2015. California: University of California. [Online]. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73647.

Nooteboom, B., Van Haverbeke, W., Duysters, G., Gilsing, V. and Van den Oord, A. 2007. Optimal cognitive distance and absorptive capacity. Research Policy, 36(7): 1016-1034.

Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, B. 2007. Learning in hi-tech and knowledge in local systems: the Otigba Computer Hardware Cluster in Nigeria. Working Paper 2006-2007. Institute for New Technologies. Maastricht: United Nations University.

Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, B. 2014. Industrialization pathways to human development: industrial clusters, institutions and multidimensional poverty in Nigeria. In Harnessing Africa’s growth for faster poverty reduction: proceedings of the First Annual Bank Conference on Africa. 23-24 June 2014. The Paris School of Economics and World Bank. 1-36.

Porter, M. 1998. Clusters and competition: new agendas for companies, governments, and institutions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Pouris, A. 2016. Research and innovation funding instruments to raise South Africa’s competitiveness in science and technology: lessons from other developing countries. Paper presented at the National Research and Innovation Dialogue. 7 -8 April 2016. Emperors Palace, South Africa.

Reagans, R. and McEvily, B. 2003. Network structure and knowledge transfer: the effects of cohesion and range. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(2): 240-267.

Rhee, J., Park, T. and Lee, D.H. 2010. Drivers of innovativeness and performance for innovative SMEs in South Korea: mediation of learning orientation. Technovation, 30: 65-75.

Sexton J.C. 2012. The creation of new knowledge through the transfer of existing knowledge: examining the conundrum of creation and control in innovation. PhD thesis. Florida State University.

Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). 2005. Small and medium enterprises performance in Nigeria. [Report]. African Entrepreneurship Seminar in collaboration with the Scientific Committee on Entrepreneurship of the University of Essex]. 5 June.

Tepic, M., Trienekens, J.H, Hoste, R. and Omta, S.W. 2012. The influence of networking and absorptive capacity on the innovativeness of farmers in the Dutch pork sector. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, 15(3): 1-34.

Tushman, M.P. and Anderson, P. 2004. Managing strategic innovation and change: a collection of readings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

van den Bosch, F., Volberda, H. and de Boer, M. 1999. Coevolution of firm absorptive capacity and knowledge environment: organizational forms and combinative capabilities. Organization Science, 10: 551-568.

West, J. 2001. The mystery of innovation: aligning the triangle of technology, institutions and organization. Australian Journal of Management, 26 (Special Issue, August): 21-44.

Zahra S.A. and George, G. 2002. Absorptive capacity: a review, reconceptualization, and extension. Academy of Management Review, 27:185-203.

Published
2016-08-31
Section
Research Articles