5. Future Work
We conclude by briefly outlining the longer term work programme planned with the BOS collection. There are four strands to currently planned BOS-related research: the production of detailed economy-wide innovation statistics; microeconometric research using the panel to examine the two-way causal relationship between practices and performance (linking the data to IBULDD), particularly how firms' practices change in response to market signals; a detailed case study (50 firms) follow-up of BOS respondents to gain a deeper understanding of NZ business practices; and participation in the NESTI cross-country innovation project to draw internationally comparable research results from the dataset. More broadly, a review of the NZ national innovation system is being conducted to generate a whole-economy perspective on innovation, and the role of the firm within that system.
In its attempt to scan across the many and varied competencies of a firm we are aware that BOS cannot go very "deep" into particular issues. Also, as in the nature of a postal survey, priors have to be asserted as to what is important to be measured. Therefore, while we seek to measure what is important, we will inevitably miss what we don't know or don't currently value as important. Both the case study work and the national innovation system review outlined above gives us a chance to test the world view reflected in the survey.27 The flexibility of the BOS design allows us some scope to compensate for our limited ability to form a comprehensive picture of how firms behave. Future module content allows us to delve more deeply into particular areas of firm practices (BOS 2006 will look in detail at employee practices, while BOS 2007 will examine exporter behaviour).
Just how innovative are NZ firms? Based on the new evidence presented here, it appears that they are more innovative than we previously thought. What impact do these innovations have on firm performance? The answer is, we don't know, but we are investing the resources to find out. This paper has attempted to give a taste of the questions that may now be answerable by the new data. Driving this knowledge-building agenda is a desire from government agencies to improve our understanding of firm practices and performance and, in so doing, to foster better policy design and implementation.
Back to Top