This study investigates the impact of both university spillovers and firms’ absorptive capacities on firms’ financial performance, using a multilevel approach. Considering internal firm characteristics as well as external regional characteristics, our results clearly show that university spillovers do not have a per se stimulating effect. It is the interaction between firms’ absorptive capacities and local university spillovers, which proves to have a positive and significant effect on firms’ economic performance. We further find that there is an optimal level of absorptive capacities, implying that ‘a more the better’ logic does not apply. Our findings give impetus to a call for more comprehensive public policy strategies. Policy makers have to balance the support provided to knowledge producing regional actors such as universities as well as knowledge exploiting actors such as knowledge-based firms to leverage local resources and ultimately create economic value within regional innovation systems by enabling efficient technology transfer processes.

本研究采用多层次方法调查大学溢出效应和公司吸收能力对公司财务业绩的影响。考虑到企业内部特征和外部区域特征，我们的结果清楚地表明，大学溢出效应本身并不具有刺激作用。正是企业的吸收能力和地方大学溢出效应之间的相互作用，证明对企业的经济绩效具有积极而显着的影响。我们进一步发现吸收能力存在最佳水平，这意味着“越多越好”的逻辑不适用。我们的研究结果促使人们呼吁制定更全面的公共政策战略。