0.4 Research methodology  (Page 2/7)

The second dynamic in the creation of a sustainable cluster is the product innovation capacity. This is again dependent on the five key components, People, Culture, Economics, Governance and Science. The “Dead Mouse” is again used to illustrate the phases of any product innovation life cycle. It has its “Death Valley”, rapid growth phase followed by plateau and decline. A sustainable cluster is dependent on a constant flow of product innovation, which in turn relies on the five key components. This chapter seeks to identify how participation in a global network, the Texas/United Kingdom Collaborative, has influenced product innovation capacity. The third dynamic is that of knowledge company activity these companies again have phases of development they themselves are confronted with “Death Valley” can themselves grow rapidly plateau and any company is always confronted with the possibly of decline. It is the function of a board of directors to strategically manage these companies thorough these troubled waters. The Chapter seeks to measure the influence of participation in a global network on knowledge company activity. It looks at companies of all sizes from the sole inventor to the multi national and also considers the dynamic between these organizations.

The hypothesis is that a sustainable cluster needs to select its sector carefully it needs to have excellent product innovation capability and a wide range of knowledge company activity. All of these are totally dependents on the five key components. People are critical they have to be appropriately skilled and those skills need to be constantly refreshed they need to be motivated and rewarded, recruited and retained. The culture even though difficult to measure is all important, success has to be recognised and celebrated, failure forgiven and the ability to learn from mistakes embedded. The economic considerations allow value to be grown and reinvested in the agenda to ensure that today’s success fuels tomorrow’s activity. All of this is based on aspects of the science base that is truly world class whilst recognising that no one can be expert in all and that partnership of mutual benefit on the global basis is essential. All of this will not deliver optimally without good governance. The public sector and the private sector must recognise their roles, strengths and weaknesses and work together to allow good people to flourish.

This section is intended to study and measure the influence of the TX/UK Collaborative on the above thereby testing the thesis of how a Region can lever participation in a global network to accelerate the development of a sustainable technology cluster.

Methodology

The methodology used to generate the data to investigate the research question was a combination of qualitative and quantitative research supported and supplemented by semi-structured interviews. A mixed methodology approach was applied as the research question could be most comprehensively informed by drawing together the widest possible range of data from across the samples.