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Measuring process innovation outputs and understanding their implications for firms and workers: Evidence from Pakistan

Most of the firms in developing countries achieve competitive advantage by adopting new processes, however, empirical literature has largely focused on new products, relegating process innovation to a second-order innovative activity.

This study proposes and constructs five quantitative metrics of process innovation output and delves into the factors influencing firms' decision to engage in process innovation and their success in achieving innovation outputs.

Main inducers: Breadth and depth of innovative capabilities; knowledge network embeddedness; extent and nature of competition.

Returns: Engaging in process innovation leads to immediate economic returns, boosting labor productivity and facilitating business expansion.

Adopting new processes leads to automation, but the study does not find evidence that new processes led to lower employment. 

Access the full article by Dr. Waqar Wadho and Dr. Azam Chaudhry, Lahore School of Economics here.

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 8/01/2024 10:03:00 AM,

Measuring process innovation outputs and understanding their implications for firms and workers: Evidence from Pakistan

By Waqar Wadho, Lahore School of Economics & GLO, Azam ChaudhryLahore School of Economics

Abstract

New processes significantly affect firms and workers; however, due to a lack of quantitative indicators, our understanding of the measures, determinants, and impacts of new processes remains limited. Drawing on unique data from Pakistan, we analyzed five different measures of process innovation output: cost reductions, defect rate reductions, reductions in production cycle time, increases in production capacity, and improvement in product quality. We find that the breadth and depth of innovative capabilities, level of competition, and availability of market sources of knowledge are important inducers of process innovation and that smaller firms are more likely to introduce new processes and are better able to transform them into higher output. All five process innovation outputs are associated with higher labor productivity and higher sales. We do not find that adopting new processes led to labor displacement; however, there is suggestive evidence that new processes led to the increased employment of skilled workers.

JEL Classification: O31, O32, O33, J23, J24

Read here

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 6/23/2024 12:56:00 PM,

We don't hate change, but sometimes change hates us

Sabri Ben-Achour

You would think from our rapidly obsolete laptops and ever updating phones that all new technology spreads at a breakneck pace.

You would be wrong.

“People who’ve studied technology adoption have often been struck by how slow it is,” says Eric Verhoogen, an Associate Professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. “The technologies that make the news are the ones that move fast, but many cases -- including basic industrial technology -- have taken a long time to diffuse.”
Read more »

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 6/10/2014 09:40:00 AM,

Pakistan’s football factories score goal for innovation

Pakistan’s football-making industry is benefitting from a new technology which allows balls to be made more efficiently, thanks to research funded by the International Growth Centre (IGC), based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Researchers found a new way to cut the footballs' pentagon panels from sheets of an artificial leather, rexine – the most costly input into football production.
Read more »

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 6/03/2014 08:30:00 AM,

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