Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Quadruple Helix and firms’ performance: an empirical verification in Europe

  • Published:
The Journal of Technology Transfer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The emerging relationships connecting organizations are the condition on which innovation is founded nowadays, so it is pivotal to achieve a vaster comprehension of the phenomenon through the exploitation of new dynamics and the exploration of new trajectories. In line with the Quadruple Helix (QE) approach, it seems reasonable to expect that the different environments in which firms operate would highlight the expectations of the various market governance systems, which firms must comply with in order to gain social legitimacy and improve their capacity for survival. To determine whether the Quadruple Helix model has an effect on the firms’ profitability, the authors employed the classification analysis method (Classification And Regression Trees). The sample is composed by 4215 manufacturing firms located in science parks. In our empirical model, the variable “citizen” classifies businesses with high Return On Investment in the best way. This shows that in science parks “the fourth helix” (citizen) has an important role in classifying the firms with the highest performance. Moreover, the majority of firms that attribute high importance to the collaboration with private financial institutions in order to finance innovations have a high ROI. In addition, firms with high economic performance in the model of the quadruple helix generate product innovation.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Afuah, A. (2002). Innovation management: Strategies, implementation, and profits (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altmann, A., & Ebersberger, B. (Eds.). (2012). Universities in change: Managing higher education institutions in the age of globalization. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, T., Formica, P., & Curley, M. G. (2009). Knowledge-driven entrepreneurship: the key to social and economic transformation. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andone, I. & Sireteanu, N.A. (2009). A combination of two classification techniques for businesses bankruptcy prediction. Working Paper.

  • Arnkil, R., Järvensivu, A., Koski, P., & Piirainen, T. (2010). Exploring the quadruple helix. Report of quadruple helix research for the CLIQ project. Tampere: Work Research Centre, University of Tampere.

  • Betz, F. (2010). Managing science: Methodology and organization of research. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brida, J. G., Gómez, D. M., & Risso, W. A. (2009). Symbolic hierarchical analysis in currency markets: An application to contagion in currency crises. Expert Systems with Applications, 36(4), 7721–7728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brida, J.G., Pulina, M., Riaño, E.M.M. & Zapata-Aguirre, S. (2010). A classification and regression tree (CART) to analyse cruisers’ expenditure pattern and perception in a port of call. Working Paper.

  • Cai Y (2013) Enhancing context sensitivity of the Triple Helix model: An institutional logics perspective. The Triple Helix XI International Conference, London.

  • Campanella, F. (2014). Assess the rating of SMEs by using classification and regression trees (CART) with qualitative variables. Review of Economics and Finance, 4, 16–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campanella, F., Del Giudice, M., & Della Peruta, M. R. (2013a). The role of information in the credit relationship. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campanella, F., Della Peruta, M. R., & Del Giudice, M. (2013b). The role of sociocultural background on the characteristics and the financing of youth entrepreneurship. An exploratory study of university graduates in Italy. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 4(3), 244–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carayannis, E. G., Barth, T. D., & Campbell, D. F. (2012). The Quintuple Helix innovation model: global warming as a challenge and driver for innovation. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 1(1), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carayannis, E. G., & Campbell, D. F. (2009). ‘Mode 3′and’Quadruple Helix’: toward a 21st century fractal innovation ecosystem. International Journal of Technology Management, 46(3), 201–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carayannis, E. G., & Campbell, D. F. (2011). Open innovation diplomacy and a 21st century fractal research, education and innovation (FREIE) ecosystem: building on the quadruple and quintuple helix innovation concepts and the “mode 3” knowledge production system. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 2(3), 327–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carayannis, E. G., Dubina, I. N., & Campbell, D. F. J. (2011). Creative economy and a crisis of the economy? Coevolution of knowledge, innovation, and creativity, and the knowledge economy and knowledge society. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 3(1), 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carayannis, E. G., Meissner, D., & Edelkina, A. (2015a). Targeted innovation policy and practice intelligence (TIP2E): concepts and implications for theory, policy and practice. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 1-25.

  • Carayannis, E. G., Popescu, D., Sipp, C., & Stewart, M. (2006). Technological learning for entrepreneurial development (TL4ED) in the knowledge economy (KE): Case studies and lessons learned. Technovation, 26(4), 419–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carayannis, E. G., & Rakhmatullin, R. (2014). The quadruple/quintuple Innovation Helixes and Smart Specialisation Strategies for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Europe and Beyond. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 5(2), 212–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carayannis, E. G., Sindakis, S., & Walter, C. (2015b). Business model innovation as lever of organizational sustainability. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 40(1), 85–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho, M. H. (2014). Technological catch-up and the role of universities: South Korea’s innovation-based growth explained through the Corporate Helix model. Triple Helix, 1(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colapinto, C., & Porlezza, C. (2012). Innovation in creative industries: from the quadruple helix model to the systems theory. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 3(4), 343–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, M. (2010). SCRAN’s development of a Trans-National Comparator for the Standardisation of eE-Government Services. In C. Reddick (Ed.), Comparative E-government: An Examination of E-Government Across Countries. Berlin: Springer Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, M. (2011). The embedded intelligence of smart cities. International Journal of Intelligent Buildings, 3(2), 189–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, M., & Leydesdorff, L. (2011). The triple helix of smart cities: a neo-evolutionary perspective. Journal of Urban Technology, 18(2), 53–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, M., & Leydesdorff, L. (2014). The Triple Helix Model of Smart Cities: a neo-evolutionary perspective. In Mark Deakin (Ed.), Smart cities: Governing, modelling and analysing the transition (pp. 134–149). London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Del Giudice, M., Carayannis, E. G., & Della Peruta, M. R. (2012). Culture and Cooperative Strategies: Knowledge Management Perspectives. In Cross-Cultural Knowledge Management (pp. 49-62). Springer New York.

  • Del Giudice, M., Della Peruta, M. R., & Carayannis, E. (2013a). Unpacking open innovation. highlights from a co-evolutionary inquiry. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Del Giudice, M., Della Peruta, M. R., & Maggioni, V. (2013b). Collective knowledge and organizational routines within academic communities of practice: An empirical research on science-entrepreneurs. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 4(3), 260–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del Giudice, M., & Maggioni, V. (2014). Managerial practices and operative directions of knowledge management within inter-firm networks: a global view. Journal of Knowledge Management, 18(5), 841–846.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del Giudice, M., & Straub, D. (2011). IT and entrepreneurism: an on-again, off-again love affair or a marriage? MIS Quarterly, 35(4), 3–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Della Peruta, M. R., Campanella, F., & Del Giudice, M. (2014). Knowledge sharing and exchange of information within bank and firm networks: the role of the intangibles on the access to credit. Journal of Knowledge Management, 18(5), 1036–1051.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dubina, I. N., Carayannis, E. G., & Campbell, D. F. (2012). Creativity economy and a crisis of the economy? Coevolution of knowledge, innovation, and creativity, and of the knowledge economy and knowledge society. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 3(1), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H. (1998). The norms of entrepreneurial science: cognitive effects of the new university–industry linkages. Research Policy, 27(8), 823–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H. (2003). Research groups as ‘quasi-firms’: the invention of the entrepreneurial university. Research Policy, 32(1), 109–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H. (2008). The triple helix: university-industry-government innovation in action. Routledge.

  • Etzkowitz, H., & Leydesdorff, L. (1995). The Triple Helix–University-industry-government relations: A laboratory for knowledge based economic development. Easst Review, 14(1), 14–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H., & Leydesdorff, L. (2000). The Dynamics of Innovation: from National Systems and “Mode 2” to a Triple Helix of University-Industry-Government Relations. Research Policy, 29(2), 109–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H., Webster, A., Gebhardt, C., & Terra, B. (2000). The Future of the University and the University of the Future: the Evolution of Ivory Tower to Entrepreneurial Paradigm. Research Policy, 29(2), 313–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzkowitz, H., Webster, A., & Healey, P. (Eds.). (1998). Capitalizing knowledge: New intersections of industry and academia. Suny Press.

  • Gouvea, R., Kassicieh, S., & Montoya, M. J. R. (2013). Using the quadruple helix to design strategies for the green economy. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(2), 221–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hafkesbrink, J., & Schroll, M. (2011). Innovation 3.0: embedding into community knowledge-collaborative organizational learning beyond open innovation. Journal of Innovation Economics & Management, 1, 55–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagedoorn, J. (1993). Interorganizational modes of cooperation. Strategic Management Journal, 14, 371–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagedoorn, J. (2002). Inter-firm R&D partnerships: An overview of major trends and patterns since 1960. Research Policy, 31(4), 477–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J., & Wagner, M. (2012). Integrating sustainability into firms’ processes: Performance effects and the moderating role of business models and innovation. Business Strategy and the Environment, 21(3), 183–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, E. G., Grosse-Dunker, F., & Reichwald, R. (2009). Sustainability innovation cube—A framework to evaluate sustainability-oriented innovations. International Journal of Innovation Management, 13(04), 683–713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howells, J. (2006). Intermediation and the role of intermediaries in innovation. Research Policy, 35(5), 715–728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann, A., & Toedtling, F. (2001). Science-industry interaction in the process of innovation: the importance of boundary-crossing. Between systems. Research Policy, 30(5), 791–804.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, C. W., & Mauborgne, R. (2004). Value innovation: The strategic logic of high growth. Harvard Business Review, 82(7–8), 172–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemon, S. C., Roy, J., Clark, M. A., Friedmann, P. D., & Rakowski, W. (2003). Classification and regression tree analysis in public health: Methodological review and comparison with logistic regression. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 26(3), 172–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L. (2012). The triple helix, quadruple helix,…, and an n-tuple of helices: Explanatory models for analyzing the knowledge-based economy? Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 3(1), 25–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L and Ahrweiler, P. (2013) In search of a network theory of innovations: relations, positions, and perspectives. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2285487, or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2285487.

  • Leydesdorff, L., & Etzkowitz, H. (1996). Emergence of a Triple Helix of university—industry—government relations. Science and public policy, 23(5), 279–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L., & Etzkowitz, H. (1998). The triple helix as a model for innovation studies. Science and public policy, 25(3), 195–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L., & Park, H. W. (2014). Can synergy in Triple Helix relations be quantified? A review of the development of the Triple Helix indicator. Triple Helix, 1(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leydesdorff, L., Park, H. W., & Lengyel, B. (2014). A routine for measuring synergy in university–industry–government relations: Mutual information as a Triple-Helix and Quadruple-Helix indicator. Scientometrics, 99(1), 27–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindberg, M., Danilda, I., & Torstensson, B. M. (2012). Women Resource Centres—a creative knowledge environment of quadruple helix. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 3(1), 36–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindberg, M., Lindgren, M., & Packendorff, J. (2014). Quadruple Helix as a way to bridge the gender gap in entrepreneurship: the case of an innovation system project in the Baltic Sea region. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 5(1), 94–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombardi, P., Del Bo, C., Calagliu, A., Deakin, M., & Nijkamp, P. (2011). An Advanced Triple-Helix Network Model for Smart Cities Performance in Ercoskun (O ed.). Green and Ecological Technologies for Urban Planning: ICI Publisher, Hershey.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacGregor, S. P., & Carleton, T. (2011). Sustaining Innovation: Collaboration Models for a Complex World. Springer Science & Business Media.

  • MacGregor, S. P., Marques-Gou, P., & Simon-Villar, A. (2010). Gauging readiness for the quadruple helix: a study of 16 European organizations. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 1(3), 173–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maggioni, V., & Del Giudice, M. (2011). a cura di. Egea: Affari di famiglia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maldonado, V., Lobera, J., & Escrigas, C. (2009). The role of higher education in a new quadruple helix context. Triple Helix, 7, 17–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mieg, H. A. (2012). Sustainability and innovation in urban development: concept and case. Sustainable Development, 20(4), 251–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mieg, H. A., & Töpfer, K. (Eds.). (2013). Institutional and social innovation for sustainable urban development. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicotra, M., Romano, M., & Del Giudice, M. (2014). The evolution dynamic of a cluster knowledge network: the role of firms’ absorptive capacity. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 5(2), 240–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nidumolu, R., Prahalad, C. K., & Rangaswami, M. R. (2009). Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation. Harvard Business Review, 87(9), 56–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olshen, R., Breiman, L., Friedman, J.H. & Stone, C.J. (1984). Classification and Regression Trees. Wadsworth International Group.

  • Palacios-Marqués, D., Merigó, J. M., & Soto-Acosta, P. (2015a). Online social networks as an enabler of innovation in organizations. Management Decision, 53(9), 1906–1920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palacios-Marqués, D., Soto-Acosta, P., & Merigó, J. M. (2015b). Analyzing the effects of technological, organizational and competition factors on Web knowledge exchange in SMEs. Telematics and Informatics, 32(1), 23–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, H. W. (2014). Transition from the Triple Helix to N-Tuple Helices? An interview with Elias G. Carayannis and David FJ Campbell. Scientometrics, 99(1), 203–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, T. (2011). Virtualization of universities: Digital media and the organization of higher education institutions. Springer Science & Business Media.

  • Pisano, G. (2006). Profiting from innovation and the intellectual property revolution. Research Policy, 35(8), 1122–1130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Razi, M. A., & Athappilly, K. (2005). A comparative predictive analysis of neural networks (NNs), nonlinear regression and classification and regression tree (CART) models. Expert Systems with Applications, 29(1), 65–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rieu, A. M. (2014). Innovation today: the Triple Helix and research diversity. Triple Helix, 1(1), 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sassen, S. (2003) The participation of states and citizens in global governance. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 10(1), Article 2.

  • Soto-Acosta, P., Casado-Lumbreras, C., & Cabezas-Isla, F. (2010). Shaping human capital in software development teams: the case of mentoring enabled by semantics. IET Software, 4(6), 445–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soto-Acosta, P., Popa, S., & Palacios-Marqués, D. (2015). E-business, organizational innovation and firm performance in manufacturing SMEs: An empirical study in Spain. Technological and Economic Development of Economy,. doi:10.3846/20294913.2015.1074126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Y., Holgaard, J. E., & Remmen, A. (2012). What can triple helix frameworks offer to the analysis of eco-innovation dynamics? Theoretical and methodological considerations. Science and Public Policy, 39(3), 373–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yawson, Robert M., The Ecological System of Innovation: A New Architectural Framework for a Functional Evidence-Based Platform for Science and Innovation Policy (June 10, 2009). The Future of Innovation Proceedings of the XXIV ISPIM 2009 Conference, Vienna, Austria, June 21-24, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1417676 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1417676.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second University of Naples, Corso Gran Priorato di Malta, 1, 81043, Capua, CE, Italy

    Francesco Campanella & Maria Rosaria Della Peruta

  2. University of Turin, Corso Unione Sovietica, 218 Bis, 10134, Turin, Italy

    Stefano Bresciani

  3. University of Naples “Parthenope”, Via Amm. F. Acton, 38, 80133, Naples, Italy

    Luca Dezi

Authors
  1. Francesco Campanella
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maria Rosaria Della Peruta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Stefano Bresciani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Luca Dezi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Rosaria Della Peruta.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Campanella, F., Della Peruta, M.R., Bresciani, S. et al. Quadruple Helix and firms’ performance: an empirical verification in Europe. J Technol Transf 42, 267–284 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-016-9500-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-016-9500-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation