Wroclaw Electronic Works: Wrocławskie Zakłady Elektroniczne „Elwro” 1959–2000

Based on the research potential of the Wrocław higher education center and its achievements in mathematics and automation, Wrocławskie Zakłady Elektroniczne “Elwro” was launched in the capital of Lower Silesia, in the late 1950s. Starting with the production of relatively simple electrotechnical devices, the company transformed in just a few years into a manufacturer of digital machines of its own design, “Odra”. They have found wide application in science, administration, communication and industry − both in Poland and abroad, mainly in the Comecon member states. The 1970s were the period of the peak development of WZE “Elwro”, in which apart from devices of its own design, computers belonging to the so-called Uniform System of Digital Electronic Machines of Comecon countries, were also being produced. The effects of the economic crisis of the 1980s abruptly reduced the orders for computers produced in “Elwro”, and their development and production was slowed down by problems with obtaining materials that were scarce in the country and foreign currency for foreign purchases. The technological distance between the “Elwro” offer and the equipment manufactured in the leading countries of the West was growing. After the start of the system transformation in the country, the management of “Elwro” attempted to carry out radical organizational transformations and grant the company the status of a joint-stock company. However, they were held back for too long by both the lack of government support and the concerns of the works council. Meanwhile, deteriorating economic results forced the management of “Elwro” to reduce employment and sell more and more assets. Ultimately, in 1993, the plants were transformed into a sole-shareholder company of the State Treasury, and then sold to the German concern “Siemens”. For the new owner, the only thing that mattered was the access to the Polish telecommunications market obtained in this way. He did not use the still existing human resources and production potential of “Elwro” and, shortly after the purchase, practically liquidated the company. In 2000, its remains were sold to the American telecommunications company “Teletec Holding”, which changed the name of the company to “Teletec Polska” S.A.

Technological Distance and Breakthrough Inventions in Multi-Cluster Teams: How Intra- and Inter-Location Ties Bridge the Gap

Multi-cluster R&D teams have the potential to generate breakthrough inventions because they can tap into the distinct knowledge of the different geographic hot spots in which team members are located. Having access to a variety of knowledge offers these teams great recombinatorial potential. To succeed, however, the geographically dispersed members must share and integrate the different local knowledge pools available to them. We argue that the density of intra-team co-patenting ties shapes intra-team knowledge sharing and integration and hence the extent teams benefit from the knowledge they can access. Whereas greater density of intra-cluster team ties (within a given location) hinders sharing and integration of locally tapped knowledge across locations, greater density of inter-cluster ties (across cluster locations) facilitates it. Our empirical analysis of 834 multi-cluster nanotechnology R&D teams shows that the technological distance (the difference in knowledge) between clusters in which inventors are located has an inverted-U relationship with the likelihood of the team generating a breakthrough. Further, we find that the density of multi-cluster team intra- vs. inter-cluster ties influences the effect of technological distance on the likelihood of breakthrough invention.

Interfirm knowledge transfer in joint patenting: a technological distance analysis

In today’s highly competitive business environment, firms can ill afford the consequences of overlooking opportunities for innovation. An organization seeking to increase its existing knowledge base, in most cases, aims to identify and pursue useful knowledge available outside its borders. However, for companies interested in engaging in collaborative arrangements for innovations, systematic approaches for knowledge transfer may become a major challenge. In our research we focus on the diffusion of innovative knowledge that occurs during a joint knowledge development process. We present an empirical study spanning the period 2004 to 2018 which aims to explore the impact inter-organizational collaboration in the form of joint patenting has on the distance between partners’ technological bases. In addition, this paper looks into the change in technological distance when joint patenting occurs between different-country and same-country partners. The empirical results of the study suggest that engagement in joint patenting positively influences the technological proximity between partners and indicates a transmission and utilization of knowledge outside of firms’ existing knowledge base. Our findings contribute to knowledge related to innovation under inter?organizational collaboration and provides a basis for further theory development and testing.

Green technological distance and environmental strategies: the moderating role of green structural capital

PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of green technological distance (GTD) – environmental technological knowledge distance between the firm and the industry – on the adoption of proactive and reactive environmental strategies and whether this relationship is moderated by different manifestations of green structural capital, i.e. environmental incentives, senior environmental responsibilities and external environmental communication.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical analysis is conducted on a sample of 202 manufacturing companies from Spain. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the moderating effect of green structural capital.FindingsResults show that the role of green structural capital as guiding factor of the environmental response of the firm and organizational support to cope with the GTD between the firm and the industry is diverse and depends on the manifestation of green structural capital under analysis. The establishment of environmental incentives for managers and the presence of environmental information in the firm's external communications – as two expressions of green structural capital – show a different behavior when facing the environmental technological challenge, supporting environmental reactive and proactive strategies respectively. In addition, GTD increases the adoption of reactive environmental strategies, while it has no direct effect on the implementation of proactive environmental practices.Originality/valueUsing the novel construct of GTD and the analysis of a so far unstudied interaction, the study contributes to the literature on intellectual capital and environmental strategy considering the technical change associated to the environmental challenge. In so doing, it improves the understanding of the role of green structural capital as a guiding factor of the environmental response of the firm and organizational support to cope with the GTD between the firm and the industry.

Innovate to Lead or Innovate to Prevail

This paper extends the Schumpeterian model of creative destruction by allowing followers’ cost of innovation to increase in their technological distance from the leader. This assumption is motivated by the observation the more technologically ad- vanced the leader is, the harder it is for a follower to leapfrog without incurring extra cost for using leader’s patented knowledge. Under this R&D cost structure, leaders innovate to increase their technological advantage so that followers will eventually stop innovating, allowing leadership to prevail. A new steady state then emerges featuring both leaders and followers innovating in few industries with low aggregate growth.