2. BacKgRounD
2.4 Building Bridges: university- firm partnership projects
The gap between academic research and business practice has not gone unnoticed by universities or firms. In the face of the rapid transformations undergone by society over the past few decades, the role of the university has gradually been redefined worldwide. It is becoming increasingly urgent in social and economic sectors for institutions of higher education to play a more active role in the development of communities in general and of firms in particular (Hagen, 2002).
Collaboration projects have been signed around the world between universities and firms in some cases to incorporate the findings of academic research into business projects that represent eco- nomic benefits. Poyago-Theotoky, Beath & Siegel (2002) identify three basic cooperation schemes between universities and firms. A frequent form of collaboration is when the firm hires the services of an academic or a university to conduct research on the company’s behalf. In reality, this is a form of consulting rather then basic research. A second form of cooperation is presented when the uni- versity develops a plan for applying the outcome of its research commercially and seeks the help of a firm related to the discipline in question. In this type of relationship, the academic institution conserves the intellectual property rights. A third, very common, type of university-firm collabora- tion is a midpoint between the two aforementioned
schemes. In this type of projects, the university and the firm develop a set of ideas and concepts that are at the basic or embryonic phase in order to generate practical commercial applications.
Pessacq, Iglesias & Willis (2004) present a cooperative-associative system between firms and the university based on the concept of shared-risk development. In this model, the firm contributes the idea, economic structure and management of potential customers and suppliers, while the university contributes the knowledge and capac- ity to accompany the development, starting with a technical-financial feasibility analysis. The university’s capacities and resources are fully applicable to improving the firm’s production processes. The members of the academic council can contribute their knowledge and their capac- ity for analysis in product or service innovation, the selection or design of production technology and in establishing guidelines for the effective exportation of products.
This type of collaboration projects usually focuses more on areas of engineering, as well as on the application of manufacturing patents or processes. Universities set up technology transfer
departments or offices whose main objective is to foment and coordinate collaboration projects with industry by facilitating technology dissemination, registering patents and marketing technology (Horng & Hsueh, 2005; Pfeffer, 2007). Finding points for cooperation in the area of administration and business is a bit more complicated. The inno- vations adopted by company administrators con- centrate on administrative models and techniques that quickly help to make management processes more efficient and generate an advantage over competitors. Said innovation adoption normally comes far more from consulting companies than from academic research.
3. the case: KnoWleDge DisseMination thRough the tRaDitional channels in a Mexican uniVeRsitY
In order to have a better understanding of the phenomenon in which academic research in administrative science influences the adoption process of an innovation in the business world, the Figure 1. Charts the aforementioned characteristics that determine the process of innovation dissemina- tion from the university to the firm
following sections present exploratory research aimed at observing the degree to which teaching, continuing education and consulting disseminate the knowledge developed through university- based research. Given the fact that the phenomenon under research is located in a relatively emerging phase of development (Hernández, Fernández &
Baptista, 2003, p. 115), an exploratory methodol- ogy has been selected.
First of all, semi-structured interviews were conducted with faculty members from a private Mexican university using the critical incident technique: we asked the interviewees about the sources of knowledge they use to carry out their teaching, continuing education and consulting activities. We also asked them about their most recent research in such a way that we would be able to identify in which situations they had applied their findings. The profile of the faculty members selected have several characteristics in common:
1) Teaching-oriented faculty members whose main activity is teaching ; 2) Faculty members with a solid career in teaching combined with one or two of the following activities: consult- ing, continuing education and research; 3)Years of experience; and 4) age. This profile helped us to build a heterogeneous sample, as we were looking for subjects with different perspectives of the theoretical background presented.
Next, we complemented our data collection by interviewing middle- and upper-level man- agers from four companies with international presence operating in Mexico. It is important to mention that the companies were not randomly selected, but because of their innovative profile.
This is a relevant remark because the companies selected are locally and nationally recognized by their products and services, which are developed based on continuing innovations in technologies and management.
Our study’s sample consisted of 20 university professors who work at the business school of a private Mexican university. Twelve of the profes- sors teach at undergraduate level and the other eight
have been assigned to the postgraduate area.. It is important to underscore that their main activity is teaching and that they also participate in continu- ing education and consulting activities.
The data were collected from 2006 to 2007. Di- verse sources of information were used in order to obtain construct validity: semi-structured, in-depth interviews with upper and middle level managers and review of the companies’ websites, internal documents that were provided by the companies, pamphlets and other secondary data.
It is now necessary to verify whether the chan- nels traditionally used by universities – particularly business schools – to disseminate knowledge to society are incorporating the findings of academic research in the field of business administration.
Historically, universities have influenced society through the preparation and training of individuals who at a given moment will enter corporations.
Formalized educational systems are, in fact, theo- ries of socialization institutionalized as rules at the collective level (Calori, Lubatkin & Veiga, 1997).
Here education is seen as an allocating institution –operating under societal rules which allow the schools to directly confer success and failure in society quite apart from any socializing effects.
The educational institutions, in particular their respective school systems, represent the vehicle by which the historical conjunctures from their past influence the administrative routines adopted by modern institutions (Calori, et al., 1997).
Therefore, it is important to analyze whether undergraduate and graduate education incorpo- rates the findings of the business administration research conducted by the university itself. If the university incorporates the innovations obtained from research into its academic programs, this would be a direct way of ensuring its impact on the business world. In order to understand the context of the education system in Mexico, the following section presents its most salient characteristics.
3.1 Mexico –education systems