Skip to main content
Log in

Collaborative Strategies in the Event of Technological Discontinuities: The Case of Nokia in the Mobile Telecommunication Industry

  • Published:
Small Business Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The paper examines the extent to which collaboration between large and small companies has been able to deal with the effects of discontinuous technological change. In applying an evolutionary perspective, the paper examines the process by which technological competencies and resources of large firms evolve and its effects on the characteristics of their collaboration with smaller companies. In focusing on the issue of complementary between local and international sourcing of capabilities and resources in the mobile telecommunication industry, it combines an empirical analysis of the structure of Finnish Science Parks with an examination of internationalisation strategies of large Finnish companies. The papershows that Nokia has increasingly become engaged in sourcing capabilities internationally, this might, however, pose some long-term problems for the local embeddedness of the company in Finland.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Afuah, A. and J. Utterback, 1997, ‘Responding to Structural Industry Changes: A Technological Evolution Perspective’, Industrial and Corporate Change 6(1), 183-202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonelli, C., 1997, The Economics of Path-Dependence in Industrial Organization, vol. 15, pp. 643-675.

    Google Scholar 

  • Autio, E., 1997, ‘New, Technology-based Firms in Innovation Networks Symplectic and Generative Impacts’, Research Policy 26(3), 263-281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Autio, E. and H. Yli-Renko, 1998, ‘New, Technology-based Firms in Small Open Economies-An Analysis Based on the Finnish Experience’, Research Policy 26(9), 973-987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bekkers, R. and J. Smits, 1999, Mobile Telecommunications: Regulation, Standards and Applications, London: Artech House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantwell, J. and O. Janne, 1999, ‘Technological Globalisation and Innovative Centres: The Role of Corporate Technological Leadership and Locational Hierarchy’, Research Policy 28(2-3), 119-144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantwell, J. and G. D. Santangelo, 1999, ‘The Frontier of International Technology Networks: Sourcing Abroad the Most Highly Tacit Capabilities’, Information Economics and Policy 11(1), 101-123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, C., 1998, Innovation and the General Manager, Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Communications International, 25 November 1996-25 November 1999, EMAP Media 1999.

  • Communications Week International, 25 November 1996-25 November 1999, EMAP Media 1999.

  • David, P. A., 1985, ‘Clio and the Economics of QWERTY’, American Economic Review 75(2), 332-337.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, P. A., 1987, Some New Standards for the Economics of Standardization in the Information Age.Economic Policy and Technological Performance, P. Dasgupta and P. Stoneman, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 206-240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dosi, G., 1982, ‘Technological Paradigms and Technological Trajectories’, Research Policy, 147-162.

  • Dosi, G., 1988, ‘Sources, Procedures, and Microeconomic Effects of Innovation’, Journal of Economic Literature 26, 1120-1171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Economides, N., 1996, ‘The Economics of Networks’, International Journal of Industrial Organization 14(6), 673-699.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnfacts, 1999a, Finnish Companies Internationalising Rapidly, Helsinki: The Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (TT), p. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnfacts, 1999b, Industrial Ministers Kick Off Finland's EU Presidency in “Northern Silicon Valley”, Helsinki: The Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (TT), p. 13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, C. and L. Soete, 1997, The Economics of Industrial Innovation, London: Pinter Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griliches, Z., 1998, R&D and Productivity.The Econometric Evidence, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kavassalis, P., R. Solomon and P. Benghozi, 1996, ‘The Internet: a Paradigmatic Rupture in Cumulative Telecom Evolution’, Industrial and Corporate Change 5(4), 1097-1126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keil, T., E. Autio and P. Robertson, 1997, ‘Embeddedness, Power, Control and Innovation in the Telecommunications Sector’, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management 9, 299-316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T., 1970, The Structure of Scientific Revolution, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKelvey, M. and F. Texier, 2000, ‘Surviving Technological Discontinuities through Evolutionary Systems of Innovation: Ericsson and Mobile Telecommunications. Technology and Knowledge’, in P.-P. Saviotti and B. Nooteboom (eds.), From the Firm to Innovation Systems, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. R. and S. G. Winter, 1982, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Cambridge, MA: The Belknapp Press of Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nordic Council of Ministries, 1998, The Information and Communication Technology Sector in the Nordic Countries-a First Analytical Description, Copenhagen: NCoM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A., 1912, The Theory of Economic Development, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A., 1942, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Total Telecom., 25 November 1996-25 November 1999, EMAP Media 1999.

  • Zander, I., 1999, ‘How Do You Mean 'Global'? An Empirical Investigation of Innovation Networks in the Multinational Corporation’, Research Policy 28(3), 195-213.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sadowski, B.M., Dittrich, K. & Duysters, G.M. Collaborative Strategies in the Event of Technological Discontinuities: The Case of Nokia in the Mobile Telecommunication Industry. Small Business Economics 21, 173–186 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025097812273

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025097812273

Keywords

Navigation