Regional government R&D investment and innovation performance: the moderating effect of geographical and organizational proximities

Purpose This study aims to measure the moderating effect of geographical and organizational proximity by focusing on readily available Chinese regional economic data over a five-year period. Design/methodology/approach The authors used multilevel regression analysis to analyze the relationship. Findings Results show that increasing government investment in research and development (R&D) can improve innovation performance during this period, organizational proximity and geographic proximity have a positive moderate effect on the relationship between R&D investment and Innovation performance. Originality/value This study enriches the existing theories on government innovation input and output from the perspective of regional differences and provides meaningful guidance for current Chinese regional innovation policies.

So far and yet so near: The emerging characteristics, forms and configurations of organizational proximity in the context of digitalization

BACKGROUND: The current pandemic crisis evidences the importance of questioning and reconsidering the evolution of organizational proximity and the crucial role of digitalization in the emergence of new characteristics, forms and configurations of organizational proximity. OBJECTIVE: This article presents a conceptual study aimed at analyzing the evolution of organizational proximity in the context of digitalization. METHODS: Adopting a systemic-cognitive approach inspired by existing studies on management cognition and the biology of cognition, this article first presents an analytical review of existing research in organizational studies and proposes a taxonomy of proximity based on the forms and characteristics identified in the organizational context. Second, it introduces the notion of a proximity unit, based on which a conceptual framework for analyzing organizational proximity is conceived. RESULTS: Based on the proposed framework, this article analyzes the new characteristics and forms of organizational proximity and identifies possible configurations of organizational proximity by pointing out the emergence of substituted proximity propelled by digitalization and formulating six propositions. CONCLUSIONS: The article ends by arguing that it is important for organizations to conceive a composite proximity strategy by taking into account the effect of substituted proximity, driven by digitalization, in the configuration of organizational proximity.

The dual influences of proximity on knowledge sharing

Purpose The authors focus on how intra-organizational proximity influences the frequency of knowledge transfer in dyads, and the authors seek to balance the over-socialized and under-socialized perspectives of knowledge sharing by focusing on how proximity both indirectly (mediated by social relationships) and directly influences the frequency of knowledge sharing. Empirically, the authors analyze how proximity in a five-story building directly and indirectly influences the frequency of knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach As the authors were interested in exploring the frequency of knowledge sharing among individuals in knowledge sharing dyads, they used a survey to approach individuals directly and obtain information on the frequency of their knowledge sharing. The authors have complete data on 796 dyads on which they tested their hypotheses. Further, the physical distance in a dyad was measured as the walking distance (measured in meters) between individuals. Findings The authors first find that proximity positively affects the frequency of knowledge sharing indirectly through its promotion of social relationships. Second, it is noticeable that the direct relationship between proximity and knowledge sharing is stronger than the indirect via the promotion of social relationships. In sum, the authors’ results contribute to the knowledge sharing literature by emphasizing and clarifying how proximity both directly and indirectly influences knowledge sharing. Research limitations/implications This study has some limitations. First, this study only measured the frequency of knowledge sharing among individuals. Neither individual nor organizational outcomes of knowledge sharing were considered. Second, the authors did not distinguish between different channels for knowledge sharing, such as face-to-face or face-to-interface. Practical implications One practical implication is that knowledge sharing spanning, for instance, 50 m compared to knowledge sharing spanning 30 m may not necessarily require more resources, as the negative effect of 30 and 50 m distances is almost similar, as the negative effect of distance starts to fade out at 30 m. Another practical implication for the direct effect of proximity on knowledge sharing is that to foster knowledge sharing organizational practices need to create opportunities for employees to span both horizontal and vertical distances. Originality/value The authors’ results contribute to the knowledge sharing literature by empirically emphasizing and clarifying how intra-organizational proximity both directly and indirectly influences knowledge sharing.

The Impact of Proximity on Resistance to Foreign Ventures: The Cases of India and Japan

Over the years, a body of literature has developed that consistently shows how the liability of foreignness affects MNCs' performance. Institutional distance − regulatory, normative and cognitive − between the incomer and insiders has been identified as the likely source of the highest cost in doing business abroad. In this article, we draw on the existing literature but take the opposite perspective, looking instead at how various dimensions of proximity between local players increase MNC distance and foster local resistance. The study investigates two contexts and cases, India and Japan, at the time of foreign retailer entry and analyses the interplay between local proximity and local resistance. The analysis presents four dimensions of proximity, namely spatial proximity, relational proximity, identity proximity and inter-organizational proximity, which present the stiffest challenges to foreign retail ventures entering markets as newcomers.

The Role of Proximity in Inter-Organizational Network Evolution

This chapter presents and discusses some methodological issues in the application of stochastic actor-oriented modeling for longitudinal network analysis. By following a forward-selection procedure, three models will be defined and run on four observations of the collaboration network subsidized by the European Union Framework Programmes in the Aerospace sector, covering a 20-years time span (1994-2013). Specifically, the influence exerted by five dimensions of inter-organizational proximity (geographical, organizational, social, institutional and technological) on the longitudinal evolution of the network is analyzed. Results show that organizational proximity is the most important driver for the longitudinal evolution of the network. Further, this form of proximity is constant in time, analogously to the geographical one which, on its side, only moderately affects network's evolution. Network proximity plays a weak but positive influence, while the institutional and technological dimensions do not affect the evolution of the network. Anyway, when proximity is evaluated on single institutional and technological types, different roles are detected. Organizations' patenting activity, introduced as a control variable, does not play a significant role on network's evolution.