Enterprise system lifecycle-wide innovation - research in progress

Enterprise Systems purport to bring innovation to organizations. Yet, no past studies, neither from innovation nor from ES disciplines have merged their knowledge to understand how ES could facilitate lifecycle-wide innovation. Therefore, this study forms conceptual bridge between the two disciplines. In this research, we seek to understand how ES could facilitate innovation across its lifecycle phases. We associate classifications of innovation such as radical vs. incremental, administrative vs. technical innovation with the three phases of ES lifecycle. We introduce Continuous Restrained Innovation (CRI) as a new type of innovation specific to ES, considering restraints of technology, business processes and organization. Our empirical data collection at the implementation phase, using data from both the client and implementation partner, shows preliminary evidence of CRI. In addition, we state that both parties consider the implementation of ES as a radical innovation yet, are less interest in seeking further innovations through the system.

The role of knowledge integration in innovation and capability development

Purpose This paper investigates the interrelationships between knowledge integration (KI), product innovation and capability development to enhance our understanding of how firms can develop capability at the firm level, which in turn enhances their performance. One of the critical underlying mechanisms for capability building identified in the literature is the role of knowledge integration, which operates within product innovation projects and contributes to dynamic capability development. Therefore, the main research question is “how does the integration of knowledge across product innovation projects lead to the development of capability?” Design/methodology/approach We adopted a case-based approach and investigated the case of a successful firm that was able to sustain its performance through a series of product innovation projects. In particular this research focused on the role of KI and firm-level capability development over the course of four projects, during which the firm successfully managed the transformation of its product base and renewal of its competitive advantage. For this purpose an in-depth case study of capability development was undertaken at the Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), the key player in the Iranian auto industry transformation. Originality/value This research revealed that along with changes at each level of product architecture “design knowledge” and “design capability” have been developed at the same level of product architecture, leading to capability development at that level. It can be argued that along the step by step maturation of radical innovation across the four case projects, architectural knowledge and capability have been developed at the case company, resulting in the gradual emergence of a modular product and capability architecture across different levels of product architecture. Such findings basically add to extensive emphasis in the literature on the interrelationship of the concept of modularity with knowledge management and capability development. Practical implications Findings of this study indicate that firms manage their knowledge in accordance with the level of specialization in knowledge and capability. Furthermore, firms design appropriate knowledge integration mechanisms within and among functions in order dynamically align knowledge processes at different levels of the product architecture. Accordingly, the outcomes of this study may guide practitioners in managing their knowledge processes, through dynamically employing knowledge integration modes step-by-step and from the part level to the architectural level of product architecture across a sequence of product innovation projects to encourage learning and radical innovation.

Changes in innovation styles - comprehensive study of the changes in innovation styles to identify the causes and effects of different influencing factors and capabilities to create a general innovation pattern.

An investigation in innovation management and entrepreneurial management is conducted in this thesis. The aim of the research is to explore changes of innovation styles in the transformation process from a start-up company to a more mature phase of business, to predict in a second step future sustainability and the probability of success. As businesses grow in revenue, corporate size and functional complexity, various triggers, supporters and drivers affect innovation and company's success. In a comprehensive study more than 200 innovative and technology driven companies have been examined and compared to identify patterns in different performance levels. All of them have been founded under the same formal requirements of the Munich Business Plan Competition -a research approach which allowed a unique snapshot that only long-term studies would be able to provide. The general objective was to identify the correlation between different factors, as well as different dimensions, to incremental and radical innovations realised. The 12 hypothesis were formed to prove have been derived from a comprehensive literature review. The relevant academic and practitioner literature on entrepreneurial, innovation, and knowledge management as well as social network theory revealed that the concept of innovation has evolved significantly over the last decade. A review of over 15 innovation models/frameworks contributed to understand what innovation in context means and what the dimensions are. It appears that the complex theories of innovation can be described by the increasing extent of social ingredients in the explanation of innovativeness. Originally based on tangible forms of capital, and on the necessity of pull and technology push, innovation management is today integrated in a larger system. Therefore, two research instruments have been developed to explore the changes in innovations styles. The Innovation Management Audits (IMA Start-up and IMA Mature) provided statements related to product/service development, innovativeness in various typologies, resources for innovations, innovation capabilities in conjunction to knowledge and management, social networks as well as the measurement of outcomes to generate high-quality data for further exploration. In obtaining results the mature companies have been clustered in the performance level low, average and high, while the start-up companies have been kept as one cluster. Firstly, the analysis exposed that knowledge, the process of acquiring knowledge, interorganisational networks and resources for innovations are the most important driving factors for innovation and success. Secondly, the actual change of the innovation style provides new insights about the importance of focusing on sustaining success and innovation ii 16 key areas. Thirdly, a detailed overview of triggers, supporters and drivers for innovation and success for each dimension support decision makers in putting their company in the right direction. Fourthly, a critical review of contemporary strategic management in conjunction to the findings provides recommendation of how to apply well-known management tools. Last but not least, the Munich cluster is analysed providing an estimation of the success probability of the different performance cluster and start-up companies. For the analysis of the probability of success of the newly developed as well as statistically and qualitative validated ICP Model (Innovativeness, Capabilities & Potential) has been developed and applied. While the model was primarily developed to evaluate the probability of success of companies; it has equal application in the situation to measure innovativeness to identify the impact of various strategic initiatives within small or large enterprises. The main findings of the model are that competitor, and customer orientation and acquiring knowledge important for incremental and radical innovation. Formal and interorganisation networks are important to foster innovation but informal networks appear to be detrimental to innovation. The testing of the ICP model h the long term is recommended as one subject of further research. Another is to investigate some of the more intangible aspects of innovation management such as attitude and motivation of mangers. IV

Output Additionality of Public Support for Innovation: Evidence for Irish Manufacturing Plants

Public support for private R&D and innovation is part of most national and regional innovation support regimes. In this article, we estimate the effect of public innovation support on innovation outputs in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Three dimensions of output additionality are considered: extensive additionality, in which public support encourages a larger proportion of the population of firms to innovate; improved product additionality, in which there is an increase in the average importance of incremental innovation; new product additionality, in which there is an increase in the average importance of more radical innovation. Using an instrumental variable approach, our results are generally positive, with public support for innovation having positive, and generally significant, extensive, improved and new product additionality effects. These results hold both for all plants and indigenously owned plants, a specific target of policy in both jurisdictions. The suggestion is that grant aid to firms can be effective in both encouraging firms to initiate new innovation and improve the quality and sophistication of their innovation activity. Our results also emphasize the importance for innovation of in-house R&D, supply-chain linkages, skill levels and capital investment, all of which may be the focus of complementary policy initiatives.

Biomimicry and innovation in sustainable design : understanding its innovation supporting characteristics compared to ecodesign

Depuis la dernière décennie, le biomimétisme est une discipline en plein essor dans le monde du design durable. De plus en plus, cette stratégie prend place dans plusieurs facettes du design, que ce soit dans le design industriel, dans l’architecture ou encore dans le design urbain. Le livre de Janine Benyus intitulé Biomimétisme: Quand la Nature Inspire des Innovations Durables (1997) est largement reconnu comme étant le catalyseur de la stratégie et comme l’indique le titre du livre, le biomimétisme est très souvent associé à l’innovation. Le but principal de cette recherche est de mieux comprendre le lien entre le biomimétisme et l’innovation. Cette recherche sur le biomimétisme comprend un objectif mineur et deux objectifs majeurs. Le premier objectif cherche à comprendre le véritable lien entre le biomimétisme et l’écodesign. Le second objectif vise non seulement à valider la théorie selon laquelle le biomimétisme est une stratégie menant à des solutions de design innovantes, mais également à établir quels types d’innovations ont été générés par cette stratégie. Finalement, le troisième objectif est d’identifier les aspects du biomimétisme qui mènent à des solutions de design innovantes. Pour accomplir ces objectifs, cette recherche utilisera une approche qualitative supportée par des études de cas et une revue de littérature. Afin de contextualiser les deux derniers objectifs, cette étude établit que le biomimétisme et l’écodesign sont des stratégies complémentaires plutôt qu’en compétition. Les conclusions de cette recherche démontrent que la théorie proposant que le biomimétisme soit une stratégie d’innovation est valide et que la discipline est surtout apte à générer l’innovation radicale. Finalement, la recherche indique que l’analogie de distance et la transdisciplinarité sont les deux aspects du biomimétisme aidant à produire des solutions de design innovantes. Le biomimétisme est mieux connu dans le contexte du design durable et cette recherche permet de mieux comprendre le biomimétisme dans le contexte de l’innovation. Considérant que le biomimétisme est une discipline qui suscite beaucoup d’intérêt des milieux académiques et privés, cette recherche participe à l’expansion de la connaissance sur le sujet et propose de nouvelles pistes de recherche sur le biomimétisme et l’innovation.

Teamwork for product innovation in Taiwanese family firms:an indigenous psychology perspective: An indigenous psychology

As the existing team literature mostly excludes context and culture, little is known about how these elements affect real-life team working (Engestrom, 2008; Salas & Wildman, 2009), and how teams work in non-Western settings, such as in Chinese firms (Phan, Zhou, & Abrahamson, 2010).This research addresses this issue by investigating how new product design (NPD) teams use team working to carry out product innovation in the context of Chinese family businesses (CFBs) via an indigenous psychology perspective. Unlike mainstream teamwork literature which mostly employs an etic design, an indigenous psychology perspective adopts an emic approach which places emphasis on understanding real-life phenomena in context through a cultural-insider perspective (Kim, 2000). Compatible with this theoretical position, a multiple qualitative case study approach was used as the research methodology. Three qualitative case studies were carried out in three longstanding family-run manufacturing firms in Taiwan, where family firms have been the pillars of high economic growth in the past five decades (W.-w. Chu, 2009). Two salient findings were established across the three case studies. First, the team processes identified across the three family firms are very similar with the exception of owners’ involvement and on-the-job training. All three family firms’ NPD teams are managed in a highly hierarchical manner, with considerable emphasis placed on hierarchical ranking, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, practicability, and interpersonal harmony. Second, new products developed by CFBNPD teams are mostly incremental innovation or copycat innovation, while radical or original products are rare. In many ways, CFBNPD teams may not be the ideal incubators for innovation. This is because several aspects of their unique context can cast constraints on how they work and innovate, and thus limit the ratio of radical innovation. A multi-level review into the facilitators and inhibitors of creativity or innovation in CFBNPD teams is provided. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings and the limitations of the study are also addressed.

Identifying the configurational paths to innovation in SMEs:a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study investigates the conditions leading to a higher level of innovation. More specifically, the study explores the impact of inter-organisational knowledge transfer networks and organisations' internal capabilities on different types of innovation in Small to Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) in the high-tech sector. A survey instrument was used to collect data from a sample of UK SMEs. The findings show that although individual factors are important, there is no need for a company to perform well in all the areas. The fsQCA, which enables the examination of the impacts of different combinations of factors, reveals that there are a number of paths to achieve better incremental and radical innovation performance. Companies need to choose the one that is closest to their abilities and fits best with their resources.

A sikeres növekedés és innováció feltételei (The condition of successful growth and innovation)

Kutatásukban a szerzők a sikeres innovációs-növekedési stratégiák beazonosítására törekedtek két dimenzió mentén: növekedési erőfeszítés és innovációs erőfeszítés. A sikert mint a radikális innováció piaci bevezetéseként definiálták. A szakirodalom áttekintése és kvalitatív kutatási eredményeink alapján azt találták, hogy a siker feltételei a következők: (1) „felkészültség”, azaz biztos szakmai tudás (know-what); a (2) „gyakorlás”, azaz a folyamatok tökéletes ismerete (know-how); a (3) „tehetséggondozás”, azaz a megfelelő kapcsolati tőke a hiányzó képességek, erőforrások és információk megszerzéséhez (know-who); és végül a (4) „tehetség”, azaz kreativitás, magas asszociációs készség, és innovatív ötletek. A vezető feladata annak felismerése, hogy mikor szükséges lassítania a szervezetre nehezedő növekedési nyomáson. A nyugalmi időszakban továbbra is fontos az innovációs képességek fejlesztése. Következetesen fel kell ismernie, hogy mikor lesz nagyobb a szétaprózott erőforrások és a megosztott figyelem költsége, mint a potenciális hozadéka. _______ In present research the successful innovation-growth strategies are identified along two dimensions: growth effort and innovation effort. The success is defined as the introduction to the market of a radical innovation. After reviewing the literature and conducting a qualitative research, authors found that the threshold condition of success are the followings: (1) “preparation”, that is expertise (know-what); (2) “practice”, that is deep understanding of processes (know-how); (3) “talent support”, that is access to missing resources; and finally (4) “talent”, that is creativity, innovative idea, and high association capability. This is the role of the manager to decide when the organizational growth should be slowed down. While the development of innovation capability is still important in times of slow growth periods, the manager must recognize that the cost of divided attention and fragmented resources is higher, than the potential return of the innovation.

E-Procurement and Innovation in the Portuguese Municipalities: When Change Is Mandatory

Changing the traditional pattern of public procurement for an electronic paradigm is a radical innovation involving major organizational changes, the breaking up of traditional processes and practices, obsolescence of knowledge and skills. Going beyond the European Commission's recommendations, in 2009 Portugal pioneered in making e-procurement mandatory in the pre-award phase, in a European context of multiple technical standards and lack of interoperability of electronic platforms across the EU countries. Six years later, when the creation of a European e-procurement single market is a EU mission and a major legislative amendment is underway in Portugal, this study looks at the relationship between e-procurement and innovation in the Portuguese municipalities aiming to understand the extent into which the adoption of e-procurement embraced a real organizational change or, on the other hand, if it just represented a mere adaptation of the usual procurement practices. The study draws on data from an electronic survey to all municipalities in mainland Portugal and the analysis is mainly descriptive and exploratory. The paradigm shift in public procurement involves major organizational changes but, overall, the results suggest that most municipalities do not have a clear understanding of the innovative scope (depth and diversity) implied by e-procurement. E-procurement shows advantages over the paper-based model but an unbalanced perception of the innovation dimensions has influenced the implementation of e-procurement and the degree of organizational change.

Effectuation & newness : an intertwined relationship?

Principal topic: Effectuation theory suggests that entrepreneurs develop their new ventures in an iterative way by selecting possibilities through flexibility and interactions with the market; a focus on affordability of loss rather than maximal return on the capital invested, and the development of pre-commitments and alliances from stakeholders (Sarasvathy, 2001, 2008; Sarasvathy et al., 2005, 2006). In contrast, causation may be described as a rationalistic reasoning method to create a company. After a comprehensive market analysis to discover opportunities, the entrepreneur will select the alternative with the higher expected return and implement it through the use of a business plan. However, little is known about the consequences of following either of these two processes. One aspect that remains unclear is the relationship between newness and effectuation. On one hand it can be argued that the combination of a means-centered, interactive (through pre-commitments and alliances with stakeholders from the early phases of the venture creation) and open-minded process (through flexibility of exploiting contingencies) should encourage and facilitate the development of innovative solutions. On the other hand, having a close relationship with their “future first customers” and focussing too much on the resources and knowledge already within the firm may be a constraint that is not conducive to innovation, or at least not to a radical innovation. While it has been suggested that effectuation strategy is more likely to be used by innovative entrepreneurs (Sarasvathy, 2001), this hypothesis has not been demonstrated yet (Sarasvathy, 2001). Method: In our attempt to capture newness in its different aspects we have considered the following four domains where newness may happen: new product/service; new method for promotion and sales; new production methods/sourcing; market creation. We identified how effectuation may be differently associated with these four domains of newness. To test our four sets of hypotheses a dataset of 1329 firms (702 nascent and 627 young firms) randomly selected in Australia was examined through ANOVA Tukey HSD Test. Results and Implications: Results indicate the existence of a curvilinear relationship between effectuation and newness where low and high levels of newness are associated with low level of effectuation while medium level of newness is associated with high level of effectuation. Implications for academia, practitioners and policy makers are also discussed.

Innovación, capacidad productiva, formación en el puesto de trabajo y productividad

[ES] Este estudio analiza la relación entre productividad laboral, innovación radical, innovación incremental, tecnología incorporada en maquinaria y equipos, utilización de la capacidad productiva y formación. Los datos utilizados son de empresas españolas, manufactureras y de servicios, procedentes de la Business Environment and enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS). La técnica empleada para estimar los coeficientes del modelo es la regresión mínimo cuadrática ordinaria, ya que la variable dependiente (productividad laboral) es continua. Los resultados indican que la innovación radical y la formación influyen positiva y significativamente sobre la productividad laboral. La influencia de la tecnología incorporada también es significativa, pero de signo negativo. Finalmente, señalar que las empresas que más exportan y las de mayor tamaño alcanzan mayores niveles de productividad. Los hallazgos encontrados en este estudio tienen implicaciones para los responsables de la política económica. Los decisores políticos españoles deben promover y subsidiar la adquisición de maquinaria y equipos más eficientes para las empresas que alcanzan menores niveles de productividad, así como subsidiar la formación de trabajadores cualificados en el manejo de estos nuevos equipos. Además, también deben promover y subsidiar el desarrollo de actividades de elevado contenido en I+D para las empresas que consiguen elevados niveles de productividad, a fin de que incrementen su desempeño en innovación radical. La promoción y subsidiación de programas de formación relacionados con la I+D también resulta esencial en este tipo de empresas, máxime en un escenario caracterizado por un cambio tecnológico intenso y que se produce con gran rapidez.

Miként befolyásolják a stratégiai gondolkodásmódok a vállalat innovativitását? (How can strategic mindsets influence innovative capability of the firm?)

A stratégiai gondolkodásmód a szervezetben működő egyének olyan kognitív sémáinak összessége, melyek alapjaiban befolyásolják a szervezet üzleti lehetőségeivel kapcsolatos feltevéseiket, valamint ezáltal a vállalati stratégiát és innovációt. Jelen tanulmány egy koncepcióalkotó munka, mely négy alapvető stratégiai gondolkodásmódot azonosít, amelyek mindegyike sajátos módon kapcsolódik az innovációhoz. Későbbi empirikus vizsgálathoz kapcsolódóan három feltevést azonosít, melyek a következőek: 1. Minél dinamikusabb a vállalat stratégiai gondolkodásmódja, annál radikálisabb innovációs kezdeményezéseket támogat. 2. Időben a vállalatok (a stabilitásra való törekvésük miatt) a statikusabb stratégiai gondolkodásmód felé mozdulnak el. 3. Minél konzisztensebb a vállalat stratégiai gondolkodásmódja, annál nagyobb mértékben kerül megvalósításra a tervezett stratégia. _____ Strategic mindset is the sum of those cognitive patterns of a group of individuals in an organization which fundamentally influence their assumptions about business opportunities. Four types of strategic mindsets can be distinguished which fundamentally influence the strategy and innovation capability of the firm. This paper is a conceptual framework which describes three assumptions such as 1. the more dynamic strategic mindset results the more radical innovation strategy; 2. in time strategic mindsets become more static; and 3. the more consistent strategic mindsets inside the firm, the greater possibility of the intended strategy is implemented. By this way it is a first step of a future research examining why start-up companies can lose their innovation capability and why large firms can keep it?

Designing radical business model innovation : a case study

“The process of innovation is often seen as being very linear, with research results, new technologies or user insights being channelled, often prematurely, into specific products and process” (Kyffin and Gardien 2009). It is precisely this perception of innovation-as-linear-process which this paper seeks to challenge. While there are many current theories and much contemporary literature available which discuss the management and catalysts of innovation, what is missing are examples of how innovation occurs from the application of these theories and literature (Wrigley & Bucolo 2010). This paper addresses both this gap and perceptions of the viability of linear innovation by presenting a case study for the commercialisation of a core technology (a cleantech, semi-portable mass-energy generator posited as a direct competitor to conventional energy provision systems), within an 18-month timeframe by the use of the Design-Led Innovation approach: “a process of creating a sustainable competitive advantage by radically changing the customer value proposition” (Bucolo & Matthews 2011).

Knowledge networks change during radical and incremental innovation episodes: a case study on software developmen

The role intra-organizational knowledge exchanges play in innovation processes has been widely acknowledged in the organizational literature. This paper contributes to the understanding of which specific configurations knowledge networks assume during different phases of radical and incremental innovation processes. The case study we selected is a FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) community consisting of 233 developers committed to the development of a web browser application since November 2002. By harvesting the mailing list, official blog and code repository of a FLOSS community, we investigate the patterns of knowledge exchange and individual contributions of its developers. We measure structural cohesion and compare global and local network properties at different points in time. Preliminary results show that phases of radical and incremental innovation are associated with specific configurations of the knowledge network as a whole as well as with different network positions of the core developers of the software.