مقاله سال ۲۰۱۷

Recently, the increasing observation that innovation and standardization accompany each other in technology development has spurred research on their relationship. A renewed attention is given to the interplay between innovation and standardization, challenging the conventional view (for example, see Maxwell (1998)) that the two are at variance with each other. Even though far from conclusive, literature suggests that their synergetic relationship brings about economic benefits; standards feed information for innovation, accelerate diffusion of innovation, and reduce risks and time to market of innovation (Blind, 2013a; Tassey, 2000). Moving away from the economics to a broader domain of public service, some research begins to explore how standardization may induce innovation as a pathway to gain society-wise learning and to address societal challenges. Standardization is considered as a policy tool to tap into the “social potential” (Drucker, 1984) of innovation, expanding the concept originally conceived by Schumpeter (1934) as an economic advantage.

An important implication arising from such renewed scholarly and emerging policy attention devoted to the relationship between innovation and standardization is associated with developing countries.1 In the ever-integrating global value chain, the scope of innovation and standardization—mainly the process of development and the impact—spans transnational boundaries. Markedly under the multilateral trade regime, developing countries have become active adopters of innovation in forms of standards, and in limited examples, aspiring producers of the innovation-standardization dynamics. In the absence of other strong regulatory systems and benchmarks for trans-border comparison, it has become a common practice for firms and governments in developing countries to adopt international standards and certificates for quality, safety, or sustainability as a signal of competence and innovation (Henson et al., 2011; Vieira and Traill, 2007). Furthermore, the rise of developing countries as key actors in international business, politics and technology has renewed attention to their strategies of innovation and standardization; the case specifically strengthened by the stellar performances of China and other BRICS countries (Lee and Oh, 2006). Last but not least, a number of initiatives have emerged recently at the scene of development practice, designed to support developing countries building capacities in areas of innovation and standardization (OECD, 2012; WHO et al., 2013).

However, due in part to the still nascent nature of the field, the absolute volume of scholarly works highlighting the context of developing countries at the intersection of innovation and standardization is small (for a recent example, see Ernst et al. (2014)). Findings from the current body of research have only limited explanatory power to understand how actors from developing countries affect and are being affected by the interplay, as most of the research draws on the experiences of advanced economies. Setting the focus on developing countries, in this sense, is relevant to a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics between innovation and standardization. Just as significantly, this paper explores important yet under-researched implications of the relationship of the two that are specific to the socioeconomic needs in developing countries. Building on this reflection, this paper aims to provide a review of current literature on the innovation-standardization nexus in the context of developing countries. In particular, we are concerned with how the recent academic attention given to the relationship between innovation and standardization finds its relevance in the developing countries in terms of economic and social implications. In doing so, we identify key topical areas and implications for further study in this increasingly important and multidisciplinary field.