The Role of Interfirm Knowledge Spillovers for Innovation in Mass-Produced Environmental Technologies: Evidence from the Solar Photovoltaic Industry
研究了太阳能光伏产业中企业间知识溢出对技术创新的驱动作用，发现制造设备投资是知识吸收的重要渠道，为环境创新与竞争优势的关系提供了新视角。
Knowledge spillovers play a potentially important role for innovation and competitive dynamics in mass-produced environmental technologies. Currently, however, we lack research that studies knowledge spillovers in such technologies at the firm level. To address this shortcoming, in this article we investigate the drivers of technological innovation in the solar photovoltaic industry. We find clear evidence for the existence of interfirm knowledge spillovers and show that besides investments in R&D, investments in manufacturing equipment have served as a channel of knowledge absorption. Our findings shed new light on the narrative linking environmental innovation and competitive advantage. Moreover, by pointing to the role of process technology as a means of assimilating and exploiting external knowledge, we highlight an important but frequently neglected channel of absorptive capacity.