Analysis of university manufacturing extension initiatives: The case of the Center for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE) at the University at Buffalo (New York)

This dissertation examines the extent to which university-based technical services support the innovation and/or business performance efforts of industrial firms in the manufacturing sector. The analysis focuses on a specific institution (University at Buffalo), a specific outreach unit (the Center for Industrial Effectiveness [TCIE]), and a specific region (Western New York). The central proposition behind the dissertation is that TCIE services contribute to the process of incremental innovation among client firms. A related proposition is that these firms would have been unable to innovate in the absence of TCIE inputs. Data for the study come from a questionnaire survey of 19 TCIE client firms, as well as from personal interviews with senior executives of these firms. Supplementary data come from personal interviews with TCIE principals.; A number of important findings are uncovered that ought to be of interest to economic geographers, as well as policy-makers. First, the survey data and follow-up interviews suggest that TCIE services generate a positive return on investment for client firms. The single most common benefit for client firms lies in accelerated ISO certification for specific products. A second finding is that some firms believed that they would have been able to introduce the necessary innovations to secure ISO certification in the absence of TCIE support albeit with less ease and more cost. For other clients TCIE is irreplaceable. A third finding is that the benefits that flow from TCIE support are somewhat geographically confined to business establishments in Western New York. A fourth and critically important finding is that TCIE does not necessarily transmit leading-edge knowledge or technical inputs to client firms. In many cases, these inputs represent developments that are radically new to TCIE's clients (but not to the industry as a whole). Nevertheless, such inputs do appear to improve the efficiency of local firms. A fifth finding is that most sample firms were either innovating products or processes. An important point given that product innovators had higher growth rates than process innovators.