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Innovation networking between stability and political dynamics
Abstract
This contribution views innovation as a social activity of building networks, using software product development in multicompany alliances and networks as example. Innovation networks are frequently understood as quite stable arrangements characterised by high trust among the participants. The aim of the contribution is to challenge and transcend these notions and develop an understanding of innovation networks as an interplay between stable and dynamic elements, where political processes in innovation are much more than a disruptive and even a counterproductive feature. It reviews the growing number of studies that highlight the political aspect of innovation. The paper reports on a study of innovation processes conducted within the EU—TSER-programme and a study made under the banner of management of technology. Intensive field studies in two constellations of enterprises were carried out. One is a segment-collaboration between a few manufacturing companies and a software house, the other a complex and extensive innovation network. These studies show how negotiations, shifting positions of players, mobilising stable elements of the network, when developing new ones, and interplays between internal and external collaboration are integral and inevitable in the product development process. This leads to an understanding of a networking paradox: in seeking to reduce political uncertainties of one type, actors engage with others and build collaborative relationships which themselves lead to other and new political issues that have to be tackled.
... This has contributed to increased use of innovation platforms (IPs), 1 which are a means to connect and motivate multiple stakeholders around a common goal or purpose (Esparcia et al., 2015;Nederlof et al., 2011;Schut et al., 2014). These IPs bring together multiple actors in interactions seeking to shape new long-term visions (Cullen et al., 2014;Koch, 2004) and potential pathways to change the existing agricultural system (incumbent regime) (Cullen et al., 2014;Fuchs and Glaab, 2011;Koch, 2004;Rossi et al., 2019). ...
... This has contributed to increased use of innovation platforms (IPs), 1 which are a means to connect and motivate multiple stakeholders around a common goal or purpose (Esparcia et al., 2015;Nederlof et al., 2011;Schut et al., 2014). These IPs bring together multiple actors in interactions seeking to shape new long-term visions (Cullen et al., 2014;Koch, 2004) and potential pathways to change the existing agricultural system (incumbent regime) (Cullen et al., 2014;Fuchs and Glaab, 2011;Koch, 2004;Rossi et al., 2019). ...
... Two aspects of this framework make it suitable for addressing our research aim. Firstly, it encapsulates several concepts previously applied to studies of power in IPs (Cullen et al., 2014;Koch, 2004;Swaans et al., 2013;Swan and Scarbrough, 2005). For example, Cullen et al. (2014) used the power cube (Gaventa, 2006) to analyse where and how power is manifest from local to global levels in IPs for natural resource management. ...
Innovation platforms (IPs) that support agricultural innovation to enable transition processes towards more sustainable agriculture provide a space where conflicts of interest among actors in the existing agricultural system (the so called incumbent regime) may play out. Sometimes these conflicts over how actors will benefit from an action are not revealed until actors are brought together. However, a barrier to change occurs when IP actors use their existing power to mobilise resources to influence if and how individual and collective interests are aligned. In the context of agricultural innovation and transitions, this paper uses the power in transitions framework (Avelino and Wittmayer, 2016), along with analytical perspectives on conflicts and role perceptions, to understand how consciously staging or revealing conflicts of interest among IP actors changed role perceptions and power relations among these actors. The paper explores this topic in two IPs addressing agricultural production and sustainability challenges in New Zealand's agricultural sector. Conflicts were staged in IPs when one group of actors mobilised resources that enabled them to move existing power relations from one-sided, to synergistic or a mutual dependency. This enabled conflicts to be acknowledged and solved. In contrast, conflicts were not staged when actors mobilised resources to maintain antagonostic power relations. Our cases demon-trate that staging conflicts to change actors' role perceptions is an important intermediary step to forming new power relations in the agricultural system. Our findings highlight the need for IP theory to conceptualise power relations in IPs as context specific, dynamic and a force shaping outcomes, rather than solely a force exerted by actors in the incumbent regime over IP actors.
... Existing work examines the influence of product champions (Atuahene-Gima and Evangelista, 2000; Kelly and Lee, 2010), politics in innovation networks (McLoughlin et al., 2001;Koch, 2004), or bs_bs_banner project selection (Prasad and Rubenstein, 1992;Weissenberger-Eibl and Teufel, 2011), few however examine the political behaviour of 'technically trained managers' -research and development (R&D) managers, engineering managers and manufacturing managers (TTMs) and marketing managers (MMs) during NPD. ...
... A conventional view is that NPD team politics has negative effects and disrupts innovation (Pfeffer, 1992;Koch, 2004), and our second contribution is to reveal positive outcomes from NPD team politics. Our third contribution is that we are the first to examine how politics affects NPD team communication, and reveal differential effects for TTMs/MMs. ...
... Managers need to protect their interests, reputations and careers, all of which are jeopardised if the project fails (Jones and Stevens, 1999). Also, the uncertain, ambiguous and high-risk nature of NPD make it a highly political process (Frost and Egri, 1991;Maute and Locander, 1994;Atuahene-Gima and Evangelista, 2000;Koch, 2004). ...
Much existing work on new product development (NPD) team integration takes an economically rational perspective, specifying appropriate systems, structures and interactions. Few studies however have explored the effects of politics on working relationships between technically trained managers (TTMs; e.g., research and development managers) and marketing managers (MMs) during NPD. Our results reveal that intra-team politics has positive and negative effects on TTM/MM communication. This is important because communication positively influences collaboration and NPD success. Moreover, the effects of communication variables on these two outcome variables differ depending on whether one is a TTM or MM.
... However, we also suggest that such a role can be tenuous. Network configurations change and adapt according to the requirements and capabilities of the partners within it and shifting industry contexts (Kash and Rycroft, 2002;Koch, 2003). Continuous innovation at all levels of the industry network can alter the drivers of demand and destabilise network positions. ...
... This study seeks to further our knowledge of the dynamics of global networks for innovation. The empirical part of this research builds on and further develops existing studies on the configuration of innovation networks (Gemunden et al., 1996;Kash and Rycroft, 2002;Koch, 2003). ...
This paper develops and empirically investigates the notion of network configuration for innovation. In many industries, firms are increasingly locked into a state of network innovation. Innovation, in such contexts, is often driven by those firms who configure the network to access and control critical innovation knowledge widely dispersed throughout the network. The paper presents the findings of an in-depth study of the evolution of three innovation networks in the global fibre industry. The mechanisms by which firms configure extended networks throughout the innovation processes are unravelled and discussed. A typology of three configuration types derived from the finding is forwarded. The findings suggest that successful innovation network configuration involves recognising where the innovation value resides in the network and developing capabilities and mechanisms to understand and access such value. However, this is problematic for firms embedded in their own base of knowledge and patterns of relationships. Specific managerial implications and suggestions for future research are forwarded.
... (1) The nature of network configuration and its utility for innovation and competitiveness depends on the strategic requirements of individual firms (Birley 1985;Koch 2003;Ostgaard and Birley 1994). ...
... (4) The nature of a firms' alliance network during business formation can have important ramifications for future business performance (Baum et al. 2000;Birley 1987;Carayannis et al. 2000). (5) All types of network configuration constantly change and adapt, depending on the requirements of partners and the context within which the network operates ( Kash and Rycroft 2002;Koch 2003;Larson 1991). ...
Recent work on competitiveness has emphasized the importance of business networking for innovativeness. Until recently, insights into the dynamics of this relationship have been fragmented. This paper presents a systematic review of research linking the networking behaviour of firms with their innovative capacity. We find that the principal benefits of networking as identified in the literature include: risk sharing; obtaining access to new markets and technologies; speeding products to market; pooling complementary skills; safeguarding property rights when complete or contingent contracts are not possible; and acting as a key vehicle for obtaining access to external knowledge. The evidence also illustrates that those firms which do not co-operate and which do not formally or informally exchange knowledge limit their knowledge base long term and ultimately reduce their ability to enter into exchange relationships. At an institutional level, national systems of innovation play an important role in the diffusion of innovations in terms of the way in which they shape networking activity. The paper provides evidence suggesting that network relationships with suppliers, customers and intermediaries such as professional and trade associations are important factors affecting innovation performance and productivity. Where networks fail, it is due to inter-firm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure. The review identifies several gaps in the literature that need to be filled. For instance, there is a need for further exploration of the relationship between networking and different forms of innovation, such as process and organisational innovation. Similarly, we need better understanding of network dynamics and network configurations, as well as the role of third parties such as professional and trade associations. Our study highlights the need for interdisciplinary research in these areas.
... team spirit, cohesion, common understanding, coordination). However, the construct of innovation communities appears to neglect the difficulties, paradoxes, and dilemmas in innovation network orchestration (Gilsing and Duysters, 2008;Håkansson and Ford, 2002), as well as the notion that multi-organizational innovation networks are politicized negotiation arenas (Koch, 2004), which most likely affects the collaboration of champions. Overall, there has been limited critical analysis of the construct of innovation community (except, e.g., Muhdi and Boutellier, 2011). ...
... Adaptation of vision, resource needs, and network composition implies that new champions arrive and existing champions may leave, inducing a period of temporary function ambiguity in which there is uncertainty about roles, position and functionality (cf. Koch, 2004;Barlow et al. 2006;Klerkx and Leeuwis 2008). In such a period of turbulence (for example shown in the case of ASG researcher 1 vs. Kwetters, the T&S consultant vs. the ZLTO consultants, and PPO facilitators and the Oreillon facilitator), champions need to renegotiate their relationships and rebuild trust. ...
... Ref. [31] argues that inclusive and innovative financial systems are key to maintaining macroeconomic stability. Ref. [32] emphasizes the importance of stable regulatory environments for supporting innovation networking. Ref. [33] suggests that while financial innovation improves capital allocation efficiency, it also introduces risks that must be managed. ...
This study analyses the relationship between non-performing loans (NPLs) and innovation systems at a global level. The data were obtained from the World Bank and the Global Innovation Index over the period 2013-2022 for 149 countries. The k-means algorithm was used to verify the presence of clusters in the data. Since k-means is an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm, we compared the Silhouette coefficient with the Elbow method to find an optimization. The results show that the optimal number of clusters is three, as suggested using the Elbow Method. Furthermore, a panel data analysis was conducted. Results show that the level of NPLs is positively associated with cultural and creative services exports as a percentage of total trade and innovation input sub-index and negatively associated with the Hirsch Index, ICT services exports as a percentage of total trade, ICT services imports as a percentage of total trade, and information and communication technologies.
... Saydaliev et al. (2022) examine the relationship among financial inclusion, financial innovation, and macroeconomic stability, arguing that inclusive and innovative financial systems are crucial for maintaining stability. Koch (2004) discusses the balance between innovation networking and political dynamics, highlighting the need for stable regulatory environments to support innovation. Fostel et al. (2017) analyze how financial innovation drives capital flows and increases financial instability, suggesting that while innovation can enhance capital allocation efficiency, it also introduces new risks that need to be managed. ...
The following article analyses the relationship between Non-Performing Loans and innovation systems at a global level. The analysed data were obtained from the World Bank and the Global Innovation Index for the period 2013-2022 for 149 countries. The analysis was conducted using clustering with the k-Means algorithm, optimized with the Silhouette coefficient and the Elbow method. Subsequently, econometric analysis was carried out using panel data with Random Ef-fects and Fixed Effects. The clustering results show that the optimal number of clusters is three. The econometric analysis highlights the positive relationship between Non-Performing Loans, the exports of cultural and creative services, and the Innovation Input Sub-Index. The results also show the negative relationship between Non-Performing Loans, the H-Index, and the exports and imports of ICT services.
... A partir de esta diferenciación surge la categoría de redes (network) que representan el conjunto de relaciones entre los miembros de la red, y el networking las relaciones de red son negociadas y movilizadas (Conway & Steward, 2005, p. 73). Luego, la naturaleza de una red puede explicarse desde su contexto indus-guración de red constantemente cambian y se adaptan, dependiendo de los requisitos de los socios y el contexto dentro de los cuales opera la red (Koch, 2004). como estructura de gobierno, creación de valor en redes, integración vertical, grado de propiedad y subcontratación, tipo de actores en la red y orientación de base a su autonomía estructural y al énfasis en la creación conjunta (Lamming, Johnsen, Zheng & Harland, 2000). ...
Las redes de colaboración son un elemento esencial para la innovación en el elemento esencial para la innovación en el mercado del turismo médico. Si bien ha habido un aumento significativo en la información académica sobre los servicios médicos internacionales, en el caso del turismo médico existe poca literatura que explique la importancia de las redes de colaboración para la innovación de los servicios médicos y no médicos. Este estudio se basa en una revisión de la literatura y un estudio de caso de un centro médico especializado para comprender con precisión, cómo las redes de colaboración son una fuente potencial de innovación en el proceso y la prestación de servicios médicos para la exportación. Los resultados muestran que la gestión de redes de colaboración más allá de la infraestructura médica de alto vuelo o la promoción comercial tradicional de un destino o un proveedor médico, sus factores críticos son las consideraciones éticas, normativas y de calidad. Este análisis proporciona conocimientos novedosos y únicos para los tomadores de decisiones que buscan crear y administrar redes de colaboración en proyectos de turismo médico.
... There are strong debates between and within missions; on the different future agri-food systems they might support, the technological solutions they embed, the social and market constructs they propose, and on which missions are prioritized by policy and economic actors as different visions exist on (future) food system models (Klerkx and Rose, 2020;Mockshell and Kamanda, 2018;Montenegro de Wit et al., 2021;Plumecocq et al., 2018;Gasselin and Hostiou, 2020;Sumberg and Giller, 2022). This is not surprising: food system transformation is deeply political and ideology and power dynamics strongly shape the direction of innovations Koch, 2004;Leeuwis et al., 2021;Clapp, 2021aClapp, , 2021b. 1 However, while scholars have noted the importance of addressing politics in AIS (e.g., Pigford et al., 2018;Herrero et al., 2020), and have also pointed out the political nature of developing and implementing missions , it has not yet fully been explored how politics play a role in the development and dynamics of MAIS. In their earlier perspective in Agricultural Systems, Klerkx and Begemann (2020) call upon future research to "map the networks of actors driving missions and constituting MAIS, and the governance and power dynamics within MAIS", but leave open what such governance and power dynamics entail. ...
Mission-oriented agricultural innovation systems (MAIS) are becoming more prevalent in view of tackling the challenges of agri-food systems transformation. In this perspective, we argue that the politics of MAIS requires more comprehensive and considerable attention in the field, given the contested and deeply normative nature of the direction of innovations in agri-food systems transformation. Literature from development studies, policy sciences, and transition studies is reviewed to inform the perspective. We question the politics of MAIS structured around the dimensions of the 4D framework: directionality, diversity, distribution and democracy. Regarding directionality, MAIS should explicitly consider how power dynamics shape the direction of innovation and future agri-food systems, and to which extent these power dynamics hinder desirable directions. Considering diversity means that MAIS need to stimulate a diversity of transformation pathways; include a diversity of actors, communities and knowledge; and consider roles of both humans and non-humans in transformation. Questions regarding the distribution of resources and effects of innovations across ecosystems and communities imply that MAIS should actively advance just transitions across different scales and geographical contexts. Finally, democratization of MAIS in our view means that the ways in which knowledge and innovations are produced through MAIS should be more democratic and deliberative, though this may be challenging since missions imply strong steering. We stress that these 4D considerations also bring along important implications for the ways policies and research on and in MAIS, and agri-food system transformation more broadly, are considered. Confronting the politics of MAIS is not an easy endeavor, but critical to advance agri-food system transformation 2 in directions that are not only sustainable and transformative, but also socially just and desirable. This requires for agricultural systems researchers to develop awareness on how their work feeds into the politics of MAIS, and conversely is influenced by it.
... The case data were collected by semi-structured interviews (Koch, 2004;Li, 2020;Secinaro et al., 2020). The data collection started with a kickoff meeting. ...
Blockchain is an unprecedented enabler and booster of business process innovation, especially in the healthcare sector. Nonetheless, its transformational potential has yet to be fully harnessed because of the challenges that digitalization has posed to Business Process Management (BPM) and the inherent complexity of the healthcare processes. Accordingly, through the ambidextrous BPM theoretical lenses, this paper investigates what are the main opportunities for Blockchain-driven healthcare process innovation and which BPM capabilities may unleash them. Two exploratory case studies were conducted to probe the Blockchain-driven process redesign: a case of exploitative BPM, focusing on drug logistics, and a case of explorative BPM, focusing on integrated home care. Our findings suggest that Blockchain may enable Healthcare innovation opportunities, such as the redesign of the information flow and the development of new forms of collaboration in the health ecosystem. In addition, the most relevant BPM capabilities to pursue such innovations were identified. These results integrate the BPM research stream and enhance the understanding of Blockchain-driven healthcare process innovation.
... Social networking results in creation of social as well as economic value for the enterprise (Bellostas et al., 2016). Social networks results in more innovative, cost effective, time efficient, and more customer-oriented solutions (Koch, 2004) and hence results in creation of more economic value for enterprise. Haugh and Talwar (2010) argue that enterprise use social networking as a tool to achieve economic sustainability. ...
The purpose of this empirical study is to examine the relationship between social
entrepreneurship and sustainable enterprise development. Four dimensions of social
entrepreneurship i.e. social mission, social innovation, social networking, and financial
returns are regressed with three dimensions of sustainable enterprise development i.e.
social, environmental, and economic. In current literature, most of the work in the field of
social entrepreneurship is qualitative in nature and none of the existing studies explained
the impact of labeling “social enterprise” as a source of enterprise sustainability and this
study used positivist paradigm to test this impact. Data was collected from social
entrepreneurs and employees of social enterprises via online questionnaire (n=434)
developed and distributed through “Google Docs”. Social entrepreneurs from 41 different
countries participated in online survey. The results of the study reveal that social
entrepreneurship results in sustainable enterprise development. The study supports the
fact that one of the important factors in enterprise development is the way the enterprise
is managed and the label of „social enterprise‟ is resulting in sustainable development of
social enterprise itself. The research contributes to literature by empirically testing the
relationship between social entrepreneurship and sustainable enterprise development
which was never tested before. The study used a unique methodology that results in
gathering of data from 41 countries of the world. This results of this study can be used by
social entrepreneurs to create more positive impact for the society.
... Mevcut sistem için yeni fonksiyonlar ve alt modüllerin geliştirilmesi, üründe var olmayan parça için talebi olan özel müşterilerle yakın işbirliğinde bulunarak ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu stratejiye sahip olan işletmeler, girişimci iş kültürü ile karakterize edilmekte ve yenilikler, satış toplantılarında ve şirket çalışanları ve müşterilerin katılımlarının olduğu uygulama projelerinde ortaya çıkmaya başlamaktadır [53]. ...
The concept of concurrent engineering has been widely recognized by the companies to combine the different activities of different departments to enable fast and efficient product development method. An organization must have an appropriate business strategy to create successful new products or improve existing products in order to gain advantage over competitors. The basic strategic decision that needs to be made in product development is whether to adopt a proactive or reactive strategy. A proactive product development strategy explicitly allocates resources to search and identify opportunities and to preempt possible adverse effects. A reactive strategy needs to deal with the pressures from competition. In this study, the results of a field study to ascertain which strategy among reactive or proactive product development are used in ceramic sector firms employing concurrent engineering product development approach. In the framework of the study, 52 firms active in ceramic sector are surveyed with a questionnaire. The data of the survey is analysed with SPSS 15.00 statistical analysis software and the results are evaluated with clustering and MANOVA analyses. From the field survey perspective, the effectiveness of reactive and proactive product development strategies of the firms employing concurrent engineering approach is interpreted. Keywords: Turkish ceramic industry, concurrent engineering, proactive product development strategies, reactive product development strategies. EŞ ZAMANLI MÜHENDİSLİK YAKLAŞIMINI UYGULAYAN FİRMALARDA PROAKTİF VE REAKTİF ÜRÜN GELİŞTİRME STRATEJİLERİNİN KULLANIMI: SERAMİK SEKTÖRÜNDE BİR SAHA ARAŞTIRMASI ÖZET Ürün geliştirme prosesi boyunca farklı bölümler tarafından gerçekleştirilecek olan faaliyetleri bütünleştiren eş zamanlı mühendislik, hızlı ve etkili bir ürün geliştirme yaklaşımı olarak firmalarca yaygın olarak kullanılmaktadır. İşletmelerin kullandıkları ürün geliştirme stratejileri, eş zamanlı mühendislik yaklaşımı uygulamasının sağlayacağı yararları önemli oranda etkileyecektir. Bu stratejilerden biri olan proaktif ürün geliştirme stratejisinde, fırsatlar belirlenmeli ve gerektiğinde olumsuz etkileri ortadan kaldırmak üzere kaynaklar açıkça ortaya konulmalıdır. Bir diğer strateji olan reaktif ürün geliştirme stratejisinde ise, rakiplerden gelecek olan baskıların üstesinden gelinmelidir. Reaktif stratejiler, uzun vadede pazar payı kazanma konusunda başarılı olarak değerlendirilmemektedir. Bu makalede, seramik sektöründe faaliyet gösteren ve eş zamanlı ürün geliştirme yaklaşımını uygulayan firmalarda, reaktif ve proaktif ürün geliştirme stratejilerinden hangisinin daha etkili olarak kullanıldığının tespitine yönelik yapılan bir saha araştırmasının sonuçlarına yer verilmiştir. Araştırma kapsamında, seramik sektöründe faaliyet gösteren 52 firmayı kapsayan bir anket çalışması yapılmıştır. Elde edilen veriler SPSS 15.0 istatistik programı kullanılarak, kümeleme ve tek yönlü MANOVA analizleri ile değerlendirilmiştir. Saha araştırması sonuçlarından hareketle seramik sektöründe yer alan ve eşzamanlı mühendislik yaklaşımını uygulayan firmalarda reaktif ve proaktif ürün geliştirme stratejilerinin kullanımları mukayeseli olarak yorumlanmıştır. Anahtar Sözcükler: Türk Seramik sektörü, eş zamanlı mühendislik, proaktif ürün geliştirme stratejileri, reaktif ürün geliştirme stratejileri.
... Mevcut sistem için yeni fonksiyonlar ve alt modüllerin geliştirilmesi, üründe var olmayan parça için talebi olan özel müşterilerle yakın işbirliğinde bulunarak ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu stratejiye sahip olan işletmeler, girişimci iş kültürü ile karakterize edilmekte ve yenilikler, satış toplantılarında ve şirket çalışanları ve müşterilerin katılımlarının olduğu uygulama projelerinde ortaya çıkmaya başlamaktadır [53]. ...
... La innovación, entendida como "todo cambio basado en conocimiento que genera riqueza" (Fundación Cotec para la Innovación, 2007), es el resultado de un proceso de trabajo en red ( Klerkx, Hall, & Leeuwis, 2009;Radjou, 2004). Por lo tanto, la innovación, producción y comercialización de un producto no pueden ser llevadas a cabo por una única empresa, sino en colaboración con otros agentes, como consecuencia de su interacción ( Edquist & Johnson, 1997;Koch, 2004;Koschatzky, 2002). Según Jasso (2004), al interactuar comparten conocimientos y habilidades, que contribuyen al desarrollo y a la difusión de nuevas tecnologías, creando un ambiente de innovación. ...
La innovación, producción y comercialización de un producto resulta de la interacción entre una diversidad de actores. Así, el modelo de extensión Hub del programa gubernamental MasAgro busca ser un espacio en el que agricultores, extensionistas, proveedores de insumos, instituciones gubernamentales y de enseñanza e investigación, entre otros, interactúen entre sí con el fin de generar bienestar individual y colectivo a través de la innovación. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar las estructuras relacionales dentro de los Hubs. Para tal efecto, se aplicaron entrevistas directas a 457 actores de 10 regiones agroecológicas que conforman los Hubs del sistema maíz en México. Se midieron los indicadores de densidad, cercanía, transitividad y diversidad de relaciones en dos momentos de análisis: línea base y línea final, mediante la metodología de análisis de redes sociales. Una prueba “t” de muestras relacionadas reveló que para los tres primeros indicadores existe diferencia estadística significativa entre momentos analizados (p<0,05), lo que indican que en el Hub se ha gestionado la interacción entre los actores, ubicándolo como un espacio en el que se ha generado estructura local y se ha mantenido el capital relacional, bases del capital social necesario para el desarrollo de procesos de innovación en el sector rural. Estos hallazgos pueden servir a responsables de programas y diseñadores de políticas como una herramienta complementaria de evaluación de estrategias de intervención en el sector.
... Keywords: agricultural sector, extension activities, hub, innovation, technology transfer La innovación, entendida como "todo cambio basado en conocimiento que genera riqueza" (Fundación Cotec para la Innovación, 2007), es el resultado de un proceso de trabajo en red (Klerkx, Hall, & Leeuwis, 2009;Radjou, 2004). Por lo tanto, la innovación, producción y comercialización de un producto no pueden ser llevadas a cabo por una única empresa, sino en colaboración con otros agentes, como consecuencia de su interacción (Edquist & Johnson, 1997;Koch, 2004;Koschatzky, 2002). Según Jasso (2004), al interactuar comparten conocimientos y habilidades, que contribuyen al desarrollo y a la difusión de nuevas tecnologías, creando un ambiente de innovación. ...
Product innovation, production and marketing, results from the interaction among several actors. Thus, the hub extension model of the governmental program MasAgro seeks to be a space in which farmers, extension workers, input suppliers, government, teaching and research institutions, among others, interact with each other to generate individual and collective well-being through innovation. The aim of this work was to analyze the relational structures within the hubs. For this, we carried out direct interviews to 457 actors from 10 agroecological regions that comprise the hubs of the maize system in Mexico. Measurements recorded are density, closeness, transitivity, and relationships diversity indicators; and twice during the analysis: baseline and final line, through the social networks analysis methodology. A “t” test of related samples revealed that for the first three indicators, there is a statistically significant difference between the moments in time the analysis was carried out (p < 0.05). This indicates that in the hub the interaction between the actors have been managed, and has become a space in which local structure has been generated and relational capital has been maintained; and these are the basis of social capital necessary for the development of innovation processes in the rural sector. These findings can be useful for program managers and policy makers as a complementary tool for evaluating intervention strategies in the sector.
... In this vein Swan and Scarbrough (2005) find that an innovative treatment in the health care sector needed to mobilize a 'community of care', i.e. a coalition, to successfully materialize the innovation. Similar Koch (2004) illustrated how product innovation in interorganizational networks can be understood as a social process where mobilization of coalitions and networks are important elements though it may be a "rocky process" to establish them (Koch, 2004, p. 738). ...
... A larger innovation development network implies a greater complexity to manage (Dhanaraj and Parkhe 2006), i.e., the developing subsidiary may not on its own possess the resources to handle all network relationships. A large innovation network is also frequently related to conflict and uncertainties during the development process (Håkansson and Ford 2002;Koch 2004). ...
We investigate “dual headquarters involvement”, i.e., corporate and divisional headquarters’ simultaneous involvement in innovation development projects hosted by subsidiaries of multibusiness firms. Drawing on selective hierarchical involvement theory and the literature on subsidiary network embeddedness, we analyze 83 innovation projects in 22 multibusiness firms and find that the number of partners in the projects, rather than subsidiary intra- and inter-divisional embeddedness acts as a driver of dual headquarters involvement. We do however find that intra- and inter-divisional embeddedness is positively related to dual headquarters involvement when the number of partners in the innovation project is relatively large. These results lend support to the idea that parenting in complex organizations entail complex headquarters structures. Our results suggest that we need to go beyond simple conceptualizations of headquarters and that considering different dimensions of the innovating subsidiary’s network helps in explaining dual headquarters involvement.
... While the device developed and tested in this research has similar features to existing products, the methodology, implementation, and motivation are original. possible to exploit the "crowd wisdom" that arises from heterogeneous mindsets and knowledge diversity [16][17][18][19][20]. Collaboration amongst different people to develop the final product means that the distinctions between manufacturer and customer are disappearing, thereby building new collaborative networks [21,22]. Actually, this cooperation is understood to be an effective mechanism for increasing innovation efficiency and creativity [4,23]. ...
The adoption of open innovation and peer production, powered by 3D printing technology, is transforming traditional manufacturing methods towards a “third industrial revolution”. The purpose of this research is to provide empirical evidence for an integrated approach, based on collaborative product development and peer production, combined with 3D printing, to deliver more sustainable, yet competitive, marketable products. In particular, this experimental study is conducted in the context of mobile forensics, an emerging market where limited expensive products exist and alternative solutions are needed. The technical viability and economic feasibility of the prototype developed in this research validate the proposed integrated approach, which could be a game-changer in the field of mobile forensics, as well as in other sectors. The sustainability improvements with this approach are a reduction of the total cost, thereby making it affordable for lower income users, and a decrease in energy consumption and pollutant emissions. The validated integrated approach offers start-up opportunities to develop and deliver more sustainable, marketable products, towards the paradigm of Open Sustainable Innovation. While the device developed and tested in this research has similar features to existing products, the methodology, implementation, and motivation are original.
... In this vein Swan and Scarbrough (2005) find that an innovative treatment in the health care sector needed to mobilize a 'community of care', i.e. a coalition, to successfully materialize the innovation. Similar Koch (2004) illustrated how product innovation in interorganizational networks can be understood as a social process where mobilization of coalitions and networks are important elements though it may be a "rocky process" to establish them (Koch, 2004, p. 738). ...
Although the processes of innovation have attracted attention of an increasing number of scholars, its political dynamics remains underexplored. Against this backdrop, this paper examines political behavior as critical aspects of the process of scaling up innovations. We revisit the concepts of translation and theorization as developed within institutional theory to understand the innovation trajectory as a dynamic, multi-level process fuelled with conflicts of interest. In particular, we present a new conceptual toolkit which emphasizes the political dimensions of translation and theorization through negotiating, mobilizing coalitions, and legitimacy building. To illustrate and further develop this conceptualization, we build on insights from a longitudinal case study (2008-2014) and provide a rich empirical account of how a Danish telemedicine pilot was transformed into a large-scale telemedicine project through simultaneous translation and theorization efforts in a cross-sectorial, politicized social context. Although we focus on upscaling as a bottom up process (from pilot to large scale), we argue that translation and theorization, and associated political behavior occurs in a broader social context and is essentially bidirectional.
... The benefit is the possibility to use "crowd wisdom", created by social aggregations of individuals (Surowiecki 2005;Felin 2012; Garcia Martinez and Walton 2014). The collaboration of different researchers, to develop a final product, means that the distinction between manufacturer and customer is disappearing, thereby building new collaborative networks (Koch 2004;Vujovic and Ulhøi 2008). Actually, this cooperation is understood to be an effective mechanism to increase innovation efficiency and creativity (Antikainen, Mäkipää, and Ahonen 2010;Grimaldi, Cricelli, and Rogo 2012). ...
... It is obvious that the design of such a system is based on an abstracted, shorthand version, no matter how rich in details, of organizational operations. It therefore represents a decontextualized (i.e., deprived from particular characteristics) accomplishment that can, in the best case, be adjusted a posteriori to fit the circumstances of the particular organization, whose tasks the ERP package is called upon to monitor (Fleck, 1994;Koch, 2004). Now, the vendor/consultant industry built around the commercial exploitation and implementation of ERP packages would claim that a package of this sort cannot be brought to bear on the management of an organization, unless the tasks and processes underlying the host organization are studied in detail. ...
From the range of loosely connected ideas we pursue in our intellectual life, occasionally some may converge into a common cause. Suddenly or progressively, works that appeared unconnected disclose an underlying pattern. Such is this volume, made up of a few previously published pieces that span a range of topics. The affinities these writings share were suggested to me along the way. Each project we carry out often shows old ones in a new light. As part of this volume, the original publications have been revised, some less, others more substantially. In revising them, I have sought to make their affinities clearer and to demonstrate the links connecting the ideas I pursue.
... In the same way, Ramaswamy and Gouillart [19] state that network relationships are one of the main components of the co-creation principle. Network configurations are dynamic; therefore, potential changes over time that reflect the requirements of both the involved actors and the (social) context [20] are normal. Vargo and Lusch [21] agree that networks are complex and dynamic systems of actors. ...
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how service innovations (in a living lab context) contribute to co-create value in a service network. Exploratory research is developed using a qualitative approach and case study on mobility services in Bologna. Our findings reveal that the involved entities are able to recombine their existing resources and design a new value proposition based on the ICT solution. Theoretical and empirical research suggests that collaboration and participation in decision making are critical to service system reconfiguration. The study shows the importance of including insights from Service Science Management and Engineering and Design (SSMED) in the management of network theory. Moreover, the research paves the way for new perspectives on analysis of local governance issues based on value co-creation processes in the ICT service solution context. Using this perspective, service innovations in the overall management of public services view a city as a Smart Local Service System (SLSS), whose competitiveness depends on its ability to access and share common resources to create mutual value.
... They write that "central to this activity [innovation] is the attempt to stabilize an idea or concept -that is to produce a fact -as an accommodation of various interests, and to do this in a way that it can be returned to the world reinforced and made more powerful" (Cornford et al. 2010). Koch (2004) and Gales & Mansour-Cole (1995) describe the situation as a paradox. In seeking to reduce uncertainty, the actors engage in relationships with others that in and of themselves lead to social and political uncertainties. ...
Innovation is defined as a process that is fraught with uncertainty. This article's aim is to diminish lack of knowledge of the factors that create uncertainty in innovation processes. The basic thrust of the present argument is that the potential value integral to innovation may or may not be materialized in the future. Given that the future entails uncertainty, it is reasonable to expect that uncertainty is inherent in every innovation process. Uncertainty results from the fact that, on the one hand, events in the future do not follow the course of past events, and, on the other, knowledge of the future is always incomplete. Using a systematic approach to reviewing the literature, eight factors which create uncertainty in processes of innovation were identified, namely: technological uncertainty, market uncertainty, regulatory/institutional uncertainty, social/political uncertainty, acceptance/legitimacy uncertainty, managerial uncertainty, timing uncertainty, and consequence uncertainty.
... In the same way, Ramaswamy and Gouillart (2010) state that network relationships are one of the main components of the co-creation principle. Network configurations are dynamic, and therefore change over time is normal, reflecting the requirements of the actors involved and the (social) context (Kash and Rycroft, 2000;Koch, 2003). Vargo and Lusch (2011) agree that networks are complex and dynamic systems of actors. ...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is conceptualise a city as a Smart Local Service System (SLSS) whose competitiveness depends on sharing strategies and processes of cohesion for value co-creation and equifinality for stakeholder.
Design/Methodology/approach – Our methodology integrates Service Science Management and Engineering+Design (SSME+D) and Viable Systems Approach. Empirical research adopts a qualitative case study based on in depth interviews and document and action research on using services co-design methods and tools.
Findings – Theoretical and empirical research suggests that collaboration and participation in decision making (co-design), particularly by local residents, is critical for successful plan development and project implementation. In addition, a key element in improving local capacity to develop, implement and manage initiatives is a support network of organizations that have specific knowledge and expertise.
Research limitations/implications – The major limitations depend on a statistical impossibility to extend the findings, having pursued explorative objectives; anyway, given the theoretical scenario of reference, the proposed methodology can be a valid and reliable path for further studies.
Practical implications – The practical consequences of the research affect above all local actors, who must commit to protecting/enhancing the growth and sustainable development of local Area.
Originality/value – The research stimulates new perspectives of analysis on the local governance issue based on the processes of value co-creation in a context of open innovation.
Key words Service Science Management and Engineering (SSME), Viable Systems Approach (VSA),Complex service ystem; living lab, value co-creation; competitiveness
... According to Ostgaard and Birley (1994), looking into different network configurations helps us to understand the benefits associated with each form of relationship. Firms typically develop different network configurations to support a specific strategic focus (Koch, 2004) or an innovation focus (Gemunden et al., 1996), or because they aim towards different performance levels (Baum et al., 2000). However, limited research has investigated the effects of networking configuration or patterns. ...
Innovation is a complex process and this is especially true in the context of small firms. Therefore, networking has been suggested as a feasible strategy to achieve innovation. Although networking as such is multidimensional, the current paper focuses on two key aspects – Networking Capability (NC) and network configuration. Our main purpose is to examine how both these variables influence small firm innovativeness and firm performance. Empirically, we draw on data from 291 technology-based small Swedish firms. The results reveal that network configuration positively influences firm innovativeness, whereas NC has a strong positive impact on firm innovativeness and firm performance.
... Network configurations are dynamic, and therefore change over time is normal, reflecting the requirements of the actors involved and the (social) context (Kash and Rycroft, 2000;Koch, 2003). Vargo and Lusch (2011) agree that networks are complex and dynamic systems of actors. ...
... Network configurations are dynamic, and therefore change over time is normal, reflecting the requirements of the actors involved and the (social) context (Kash and Rycroft, 2000;Koch, 2003). Vargo and Lusch (2011) agree that networks are complex and dynamic systems of actors. ...
This empirical paper presents the results of a detailed case-study investigation of co-creation in radical service innovation. The rationale for the paper is that detailed interventions must be tracked to offer a realistic account of how co-creation occurs. This provides a strong empirical contribution to the emerging body of scholars developing the co-creation paradigm, predominantly characterized by conceptual advances in service-dominant logic. Our focus is on radical service innovation, which is disruptive in the sector. The overall aim of the paper is to unravel the nature of microlevel processes of co-creation in radical service innovation.
The study adopts sequential analysis to examine co-creation. Patterns of sequences of actions and interactions associated with 40 incremental developments, involving multiple actors, are investigated. These co-created innovative developments underpin the emergence of a radical telematics-based motor insurance service. The findings suggest that the co-creation path is not simple or uni-faceted, and the paper unravels the nature of complex patterns of activities and interactions, Our in-depth systematic analysis illuminates a combination approach with two main patterns of sequences: one dominated by ad-hoc and enduring independent innovation activities by network actors and one dominated by lead-firm innovation and interaction activity. The findings advance knowledge of the way co-creation occurs in radical service innovation. The study results suggest that managerial attention be placed to, first, finding ways to induce independent innovative behavior from network partners and, second, to the development of interaction mechanisms to foster sharing and visualization of such innovation advances.
... There have also been some realignments in the constellations of players around ERP provision (generic solution providers, suppliers of complementary products, implementers and other Value Added Resellers) in a complex pattern which combines elements of stability as well as dynamism (Koch 2004(Koch , 2005. ...
Whilst scholarship addressing the social and cultural issues surrounding enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is blossoming, many of the studies, framed within well established modes of research, and constrained within particular loci, timeframes, disciplinary perspectives and concerns, are producing unhelpful readings of the characteristics of these systems and their implications for organizations. In particular research on particular socially and temporally bounded locales – the typical ERP implementation case study – has become the norm and given undue emphasis within Information Systems (IS) scholarship. Often influenced by constructivist frameworks and qualitative methodologies - including Actor Network Theory (ANT) and ethnography - scholars have developed actor centered analysis and rich local pictures of the immediate response by organizations and users to these systems. However we are skeptical that the most useful way to study ERP is solely at the place where the user encounters it. One implication of focusing only on certain locales or moments (like implementation) is that important influences from other levels and timeframes are missed from analysis. Lest we forget, ERP is typically a generic and global technologies designed at some remove from the place and time where it is used. It is also often instantiated at multiple sites and across distributed contexts. After setting out what we think are the limitations of current approaches we propose an alternative research approach - the emerging ‘Biography of Artefacts Framework’ - that attempts to take seriously the multiple locations and different timeframes in which ERP systems operate and evolve. We argue that if IS researchers our to fully understand these and related organizational systems they need more adequate spatial metaphors to understand the influence of technology supply and of the broader historical setting on the unfolding of ERP as well as approaches able to track both the trajectory of these artefacts over time. The framework developed is based on a review of relevant scholarship from Science & Technology Studies, Organization Studies, Cultural Psychology and IS research.
... These segments are not stable. There have also been some realignments in the constellations of players around ERP provision (generic solution providers, suppliers of complementary products, implementers and other Value Added Resellers) in a complex pattern which combines elements of stability as well as dynamism (Koch 2004Koch , 2005). ...
Scholarship addressing the social and organizational issues surrounding enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is blossoming. However, many of these studies produce unhelpful readings of the characteristics of ERP and its implications for organizations. The typical 'ERP implementation case study' has been given undue emphasis within Information Systems (IS) research. Often influenced by constructivist frameworks and qualitative methodologies, including Actor Network Theory and ethnography, these approaches encourages actor-centered analysis and rich local pictures of the immediate response by organizations to these systems. However we are skeptical that the most useful way to study ERP is solely at the place where the user encounters it. One implication is that important influences from other levels and timeframes are missed from analysis. We propose an alternative research approach - the emerging 'Biography of Artifacts Framework' - that takes seriously the multiple locations and different timeframes in which ERP systems operate and evolve.
... The concept of co-opetition (Quintana-Garcia and Benavides-Velasco, 2004) and co-evolution (Watanabe et al., 2004) have surfaced synergizing the paradoxical forces of trust and commitment (to access external resources and capabilities) and opposition (to minimize core competencies leakage to collaborating firms). The social dynamics of building networks deepen and clarify network relationships (Koch, 2004) as networks of learning (Powell et al., 1996) leveraging on ICT to exploit global resources and capabilities in virtual networks as in a global R&D networked structure (Chiesa, 1996) C This empirical work, thus, provides an innovation management direction to integrate the business creation processes in the global TFT LCD industry value chain. ...
This study examines the strategic innovation management of the business creation process across the technology industry value chain in the global thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid-crystal-display (LCD) industry based on an anonymous online survey of employees in the industry value chain and outside experts (universities, consultants, etc.). The study confirms that technology strategy formulation and a strategic center position are key industry concerns. It also affirms the utility of the industry value chain framework to manage technological innovations transcending that of a single company, and that strategic innovation management in global high technology industries incorporates a shared business creation process structure involving as many industry value chain partners as possible.
In this study, we examine the entrepreneurial orientation (EO), political behavior, and discretion of leaders within an organization’s strategic business unit (SBU) customer portfolio teams to determine whether and how an SBU team’s political environment affects its performance. Building upon EO as theory of new value creation, we argue that politically charged SBU teams are less capable of translating EO into improved performance. However, we observe the harmful influence of SBU team politics on the EO-performance relationship is partially alleviated when SBU team leaders have greater discretion over their units’ actions. We examine our theoretical model using robust data collected from 320 SBU team leaders and 1181 reporting SBU project managers within ha large multi-national information technology firm headquartered in India. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Co-creation of innovation, as transcending perspective of marketing, is of growing interest in recent years. Developing new products through collaboration is recognized as beneficial to suppliers as well as customers. Businesses face challenges as to how to build and develop close and long-lasting collaborative relationships for innovation success. Owners/managers need to know about which platform to use appropriate for different engagement aspects in the relationship development. The advancement in virtual technology may offer new platforms in enabling customer engagement apart from traditional platforms. This study explores how suppliers and customers are engaged in videoconferencing in their engagement processes in collaborative innovation. Based on an empirical study of in-depth interviews with seventeen owners/managers in biotech SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprise), from a supplier’s perspective it reveals that the engagement is processual and has two dimensions for the successful collaborative relationships. Videoconferencing is a platform for engagement when distance is a barrier, it’s used in both dimensions of the engagement, and to facilitate cognition and support affect which help form and cement trusting relationships. The authors explain the process of videoconferencing engagement by a ladder of engagement model through social networking theory in building and applying social capital.
The aim of the article was to find cause and effect relationships in the resource configuration contribute to success in servitization. Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is applied with this regard. The results showed that two configurations “The senior management and staff” and "Methods and Tools" appeared to be significant both in terms of validity and relationships. “Position in the industry” is more affected factor than other configurations.
Software innovation, the ability to produce novel and useful software systems, is an important capability for software development organizations and information system developers alike. However, the software development literature has traditionally focused on automation and efficiency while the innovation literature has given relatively little consideration to the software development context. As a result, there is a gap in our understanding of how software product and process innovation can be managed. Specifically, little attention has been directed toward synthesizing prior learning or providing an integrative perspective on the key concepts and focus of software innovation research. We therefore identify 93 journal articles and conference papers within the domain of software innovation and analyse repeating patterns in this literature using content analysis and causal mapping. We identify drivers and outputs for software innovation and develop an integrated theory-oriented concept map. We then discuss the implications of this map for future research.
The losses from suboptimal interoperability in IT supported design, production, and operation of health care facilities are tantamount. In these years new built of hospitals in Scandinavia could be realized in a more efficient and innovative way if using information standards. This paper inquires into whether computerized information standards enable or constrain innovation in public procurement of buildings. In architectural and engineering design of public buildings the project based product development tends be done in constellations of firms in interorganisational contracting, which do not provide stability or room for innovation. A large hospital project was investigated through interviews, documents and observations. The effects of implementing building information standards are both interand intraorganisational. The building client claims to have saved money, through better structured building component data that gave considerable positive effects during tendering. The IT-suppliers develop IT-tools, and the AEC companies can commence develop services preparing for new markets.
Computerized and standardized information enables innovation in processes, products and services. Where early research on the impact of standards tended to focus on barriers, more recent research advocates standardisation as enabler of innovation albeit in a stakeholder-oriented, flexible manner. This paper asks whether computerized information standards enable or constrain innovation in public procurement of buildings. In architectural and engineering design of public buildings handling of information involves interoperability problems that hamper innovation. Moreover the project based product development tends be done in constellations of firms in interorganisational contracting, which do not provide stability or room for innovation. A large hospital project was investigated through interviews, documents and observations. The effects of implementing building information standards are both inter- and intraorganisational. The building client claims to have saved money, through better structured building component data that gave considerable positive effects during tendering. The IT-suppliers develop IT-tools, preparing for new markets.
The primary objective of this study is to investigate the potential influence of founders' ties and human capital on organizational innovation and organizational performance. In addition, this study determines whether or not business network mediates the relationship among contextual variables. Accordingly, this work devises a hypothesized model for exploring the links among contextual variables. Accordingly, in the conceptual model, business network is conceptualized as a second-order construct comprised of three complementary first-order dimensions: supplier interaction, customer interaction, and competitor interaction. To clarify the relationship among these variables, structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to examine the hypothesized model's fit and the hypotheses. Using data from a study of 222 start-ups' founders sampled from China-based Taiwanese small and medium enterprises, the result of SEM clearly demonstrates the mediating role of business network in the relationship between founders' ties and both organizational innovation and firm performance, as well as in the relationship between founders' human capital and both organizational innovation and firm performance. Moreover, this paper illustrates the role of business network in the organizational innovation and organizational performance enhancement through empirical evidence from China-based Taiwanese small and medium enterprises, which makes a contribution to the current literature.
This study investigates the relationship between organizational factors and innovation capacity in software development companies. By means of this investigation this paper aims to determine the organizational factors that have significant impact on the innovation capacity of companies. For this purpose an empirical research including 91 small and medium sized software development companies was conducted. A factor analysis and regression based methodology were used to analyze the collected data. The study reveals that the innovative software companies regard three basic predictors significantly important for innovation capacity. Idea generation and human resource impacted the innovation capacity positively. However, the third predictor, cross-functional integration impacted the innovation capacity negatively.
Purpose
The first purpose of this study is to discuss a brief review of the literature in product innovation, innovation strategies and resources. The second purpose is to present qualitative findings related to product innovation as well as their strategies and resources among ICT (information and communication technology) technopreneurs in the software sector of Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study is a preliminary study to a larger empirical study. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with five ICT technopreneurs in Malaysia.
Findings
The findings generate insights into the kind of market that ICT technopreneurs are in, the problems they are facing, their practices and opinions towards product innovation, and their strategies as well as the resources required.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation of the work could be related to the small sample size.
Practical implications
The findings imply that resource constraints, market factors such as market need, and strategic orientation towards customer and market needs may play a part in product innovation practices among ICT technopreneurs. Practitioners should pay attention to these factors to achieve innovative advantage.
Originality/value
This study adds knowledge regarding product innovation among software firms by shedding light on ICT technopreneurs in terms of product innovation and the factors associated with it. The implications provide an impetus for further research in related areas.
Changes to industrial business network structures have been examined via discrete simulation to investigate how network positions change. In dynamic networks, active actors/forces continuously modify the status of the network, and changes touch all actors in the network. Such changes highlight the role of network effects and how they flow throughout the network. In this research, network position is assessed through closeness centrality and information flow through distance and network density. Simulation is used to examine the changes in network position triggered by alteration of dyadic relationships. Results indicate that network actors need to consider both position and density when determining whether they are 'better off' under different scenarios. This research builds on the network dynamics research topic and provides a flexible approach for investigating quantitatively potential changes in industrial networks.
Recent research on the management of requirements in industrial practice has shifted its focus of attention from the traditional perspective taken in systems engineering and engineering design literature that "requirements comes first", towards a perspective more including a "dialogue between the requirement, its solution, and the customer/contractor". This dialogue, in this paper regarded as requirements negotiation, is a natural way to understand and solve a design problem. This paper gives a background on this shift of focus using existing change-process theories and summarises requirements negotiation activities. Looking at related research areas, such as network theory and research on human judgement and decision-making different areas of attentions for future research are outlined.
The aim of this study is to differentiate small firms based on their network structure and observe differences in terms of absolute levels and relationship between ICT capability, networking capability and entrepreneurial orientation. The study's main contribution is towards the "inter-organizational networking research" and entrepreneurship literature. The analysis is based on 291 ICT related Swedish small firms. The results show that small ICT related small firms can be divided into four different clusters, namely; (1) low collaboration with low networking capability, (2) low collaboration with high networking capability, (3) high collaboration with low networking capability, and (4) high collaboration with high networking capability. Small firms with low collaboration and low networking capability were less entrepreneurial compared to the other three groups of firms. However, since networking capability and ICT capability were linked to entrepreneurial orientation it is possible for these firms to improve their situation by developing these two capabilities.
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of online networking during the innovation process, including its role(s) in communication, cooperation and coordination. The paper neither implicitly assumes that online computer‐based networking is a prerequisite for the innovation process nor denies the possibility that innovation can emerge and successfully survive without it. It merely presupposes that, in cases of innovation where information and communication technologies play a substantial role, non‐proprietarity may offer an interesting alternative to innovations based on proprietary knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper borrows from the theory of communities‐of‐practice, which takes into account social relations, contacts, and the transfer and incorporation of knowledge. Open source innovation is not the exclusive preserve of computer nerds, but also has implications for existing software manufacturers. The paper therefore includes the case of IBM, a company which has successfully integrated this new and more open way of collaboration into its business model.
Findings
The paper concludes that online computer‐based innovation fundamentally challenges current ways of communicating, cooperating and coordinating during the innovation and product development process. Moreover, it challenges the traditional business model in that it forces the actors involved to shift the focus from the innovation itself to the identification of new supporting services higher up the value chain. Last, but not least, it blurs the boundary between development and use, since the developer remains the key user.
Research limitations/implications
The paper addresses the implications for future research in the area.
Practical implications
The paper addresses implications for practitioners directly involved in innovation and product development.
Originality/value
This paper develops a conceptual framework for understanding product development based on non‐proprietary knowledge, which cannot be adequately accounted for by traditional corporate innovation theory alone.
This is the first book that addresses the genesis and career of the modern day enterprise system in a comprehensive and robust manner. It does so through setting out a new approach for the study of packaged solutions and presents novel empirical studies based on in-depth ethnographic and longitudinal research conducted within supplier organisations and other relevant sites. The authors shift the debate within the social study of information systems, from one that is primarily focused on 'implementation studies', to one that follows software as it evolves, matures and crosses organisational boundaries. Through tracing and comparing the 'biography' of a number of software systems the authors develop a new vocabulary for the dynamics that surround standardised software. Original in its approach, this book draws on a number of ethnographic studies in supplier organisations, user settings, user forums, and applies theories from the Sociology of Technology, Technology Studies, Innovation Studies, and beyond. As such it will be of interest across all of these subject areas and to researchers from the wider fields of Information Systems and Business Studies.
Der Text "Markt, Gemeinschaft, Organisation …" beschäftigt sich mit den je spezifischen Eigenlogiken der drei prominenten Koordinationsmechanismen. Die Fokussierung auf ihre je besonderen Leistungsmaxima und inhärenten Risiken deutet auf Korrekturbedarf an verbreiteten Zuschreibungen hin. So ist z.B. der Marktmechanismus keineswegs als Garant maximaler Effizienz, sondern vor allem als wirksamster Innovationsstimulus zu identifizieren. Was den mancherorts hochgeschätzten Vertrauensgenerator Gemeinschaft betrifft, wird nicht selten dessen inhärente Tendenz zur kognitiven Schließung, d. h. zur fatalen Fehlwahrnehmung der Umwelt, ignoriert. Der Aufsatz mündet in dem Plädoyer, die Vorstellung von „reinen“ Koordinationsmechanismen aufzugeben und von der realweltlichen Kombination mehrerer Mechanismen unter dem Etikett eines einzelnen Mechanismus als Namensgeber und Rückfallregel auszugehen.
Innovation is increasingly seen as best conducted in networks and understood through a synthesis of evolutionary economic and sociological perspectives. This article contributes to this understanding by seeking to apply a political process perspective to collaboration between organisations engaged in new product development. It argues that the building of collaborative networks is a power-process and requires political action. Contrary to conventional views, power and politics are treated as an omnipresent feature of the creation of collaborative networks. It is concluded that mastering the political is central element of the eventual success of any product development endeavour. This argument is illustrated by drawing upon the findings of an international study on collaboration in new product development (BiCoN). Here we focus on a UK and a Danish case of software development where two contrasting forms of collaboration between the software supplier, intermediaries and end user/customers are evident.
Modern theoretical concepts on regional economic development try to explain the economic success of a small group of regions. Some of these concepts are developed by economic geographers and sociologists who take the question 'why are some regions economically successful?' as a starting-point, whereas others are developed by economists who focus on the question 'why do internationally successful industries tend to concentrate in a few nations or regions?' These concepts share the attempt to explain the origin and development of innovation, stress the significance of industrial organisation for regional innovation processes and focus on success stories. The problem with most of these concepts, however, is that their central explanatory aspects cannot distinguish between 'good' industrial agglomerations, such as the Third Italy and Silicon Valley, and 'bad' ones, such as the Ruhr Area and Route 128 near Boston. The central aim of the article is to find out what distinguishes 'good' from 'bad' industrial agglomerations and at what point co-ordination of activities among the actors in an industry cluster turns from an advantage into a disadvantage. First, it will review modern theoretical concepts on regional economic development on this issue. Secondly, it will go deeper into work that stresses that the combination of technology and spatial clustering alone does not create mutually beneficial interdependencies, but that they are rather the result of organisational structures. This work distinguishes between regional network-based industrial systems as the basis for 'good' agglomerations and independent firm-based industrial systems as the basis for 'bad' ones.
This article takes as its point of departure the view that technological change is a social process involving negotiations between networks of players. The paper aims to inform the debate on technology management by identifying the dynamics of spaces and occasions where technological change is addressed and politicized. It takes as its focus the development of the information technology (IT) systems for manufacturing, known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in Denmark. These systems, which started out 30 years ago as a visionary concept in the US, are now in daily use in Danish firms. This technology has been moulded by the twin forces of stability and negotiability, with the interplay of supplier and user constellations set out in the context of the relative stability of company social systems. The article discusses three spaces within which the social shaping of IT takes place: the user producer segments, the company internal scene and technological context with the competing pull of mass production of software and company customization. Strategic possibilities are shown to be of a shifting nature with the occasions shaping technology appearing both as ruptures and emergent options which are restricted by the strategies of participating players. Consequently no single player has a natural position to manage technological change and it is suggested that technology strategies should be subject to open debate and exchange of experiences from a multiplicity of positions and perspectives.
Many regions in Western Europe have set up technology transfer agencies in order to support endogenous potential by encouraging the diffusion of new technologies from universities and large firms to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). However, many studies have shown that business partners such as customers and suppliers are the most important partners for the stimulation of the innovativeness of SMEs. Universities and transfer agencies are given a very low rank in these studies. These results have led to doubts about the usefulness of these institutions for regional economic development. In order to increase transparency, streamlining of the agencies involved is necessary so that there are fewer actors and more cooperation between them. To be able to reach technology‐following SMEs, at least one transfer organization in every region should employ senior engineers with extensive business experience to visit firms frequently (proactive) to help them come up with some technological issues (demand‐oriented). These agencies need long‐term financial backing so as to provide free advice to technology‐following SMEs.
In many regions in Europe, the US and East Asia technology transfer infrastructures have been set up to support endogenous potential by encouraging the diffusion of new technologies from higher education institutes (HEIs) and large firms to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). However, many studies have shown that business partners such as customers and suppliers are the most important partners for the stimulation of the innovativeness of SMEs. HEIs and transfer agencies are given a very low rank in these studies. These results have led to doubts about the usefulness of these institutions for regional economic development. However, some transfer infrastructures in Europe, the US and Japan have been partially able to circumvent deficiencies of traditional transfer agencies. The article aims at learning from experiences of these infrastructures that support the linkage of HEIs and public research establishments with SMEs. The main three research questions are. What are the deficiencies of most transfer agencies? Which transfer infrastructures can be described that partially circumvent these deficiencies? Which common characteristics do these transfer infrastructures share with each other? Agencies of these transfer infrastructures work with a proactive, personal and demand‐orientated approach. They employ consultants with engineering experience in SMEs who are able to help firms to define their problems. Furthermore, most of the infrastructures have long‐term financial backing from governments, which is important to build up a trust relation with firms in the region.
Aktuelle Erklärungsansätze wissensbasierter Regionalentwicklung betonen die Bedeutung intraregionaler Netzwerke von Innovationsakteuren.
Dabei werden innovative Unternehmen und Forschungseinrichtungen zu den wichtigsten Innovationsakteuren gezählt. Der Beitrag
basiert auf umfangreichen Erhebungen in drei deutschen Regionen und resümiert zugleich die zentralen Erkenntnisse dieses Schwerpunktheftes.
Er konzentriert sich auf die Rolle, die die räumliche Nähe von Kooperationspartnern für die Entwicklung von innovativen Verflechtungen
zwischen Unternehmen des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes und anderen Partnertypen wie Forschungseinrichtungen oder Zulieferern spielt.
Die Ergebnisse bestätigen im wesentlichen die Hypothese einer starken und zunehmenden Bedeutung intraregionaler Verflechtungen
zwischen den Innovationsakteuren.
In software firms ideas for development of new software applications compete for resources. Yet, it is nearly impossible to foresee if an idea is good or bad, and thus, when deciding which ideas to fund managers cannot rely on objective measures. Consequently, the perception of an idea as good or bad typically becomes a matter of politics, with funding decisions reflecting the interests of the dominating coalitions of resource controllers. Also, the innovative activities themselves are likely to be subject to political processes, evidenced in conflicts about the course of action to be pursued in the innovative work. Thereby, making an impact on the possibilities for rational learning and taking action on rational learning in the innovation process. Analyzing these two kinds of processes in a software firm the paper shows that the distribution of power among the various individuals and groups of individuals in the firm comes to determine how the innovation process evolves
Les collaborations inter-entreprises, et plus particulièrement les réseaux d'interactions entre les différents acteurs intervenant dans les processus d'innovation, se sont considérablement accrues ces dernières années. Dans cet ouvrage, les auteurs analysent les motivations et les mécanismes qui conduisent à ces collaborations technologiques.
Recently the concept of learning has become very fashionable among academics from different economic disciplines, as they write about 'learning companies', 'learning organizations' and the 'learning economy'. Economic geographers and spatial planners joined this fashion by increasingly speaking about the 'learning region'. The aims of this article are twofold; to give a literature review of the learning region concept and to comment on the importance of the concept for regional innovation policy. The article makes clear that the learning region concept has been launched from three angles. First, it has been seen as the spatial outcome of grand societal changes. Secondly, there are discussions going on about the relationship between entrepreneurial learning, innovation and spatial proximity. Thirdly, the learning region has been presented as a new theory-led policy concept for regional economic development in which intraregional and interregional learning among policy-makers, intermediaries and companies is stressed. Despite the deficits and flaws such a young concept is faced with, such as vague definitions, the lack of empirical research, insufficient separation from existing concepts such as industrial districts or innovative milieus, it clearly has a potential to become of central importance for regional innovation policy. The concept might be able to build a stronger bridge between economic geography and policy-making than current theoretical concepts do. It might also give new insights in agglomeration effects and in path dependency and thus on unravelling the distinction between 'good' and 'bad' industrial agglomerations. This helps us to better explain regional economic inequalities, which enables policy-makers to focus their regional innovation policies more specifically on the region's strengths and weaknesses.
Executives know that a company's measurement systems strongly affect employee behaviors. But the traditional financial performance measures that worked for the industrial era are out of sync with the skills organizations are trying to master. Frustrated by these inadequacies, some managers have abandoned financial measures like return on equity and earnings per share. "Make operational improvements, and the numbers will follow,"the argument goes. But managers want a balanced presentation of measures that will allow them to view the company from several perspectives at once. In this classic article from 1992, authors Robert Kaplan and David Norton propose an innovative solution. During a yearlong research project with 12 companies at the leading edge of performance management, the authors developed a "balanced scorecard;" a new performance measurement system that gives top managers a fast but comprehensive view of their business. The balanced scorecard includes financial measures that tell the results of actions already taken. And it complements those financial measures with three sets of operational measures related to customer satisfaction, internal processes, and the organization's ability to learn and improve-the activities that drive future financial performance. The balanced scorecard helps managers look at their businesses from four essential perspectives and answer Some important questions. First, How do customers see us? Second, What must we excel at? Third, Can we continue to improve and create value? And fourth, How do we appear to shareholders? By looking at all of these parameters, managers can determine whether improvements in one area have come at the expense of another. Armed with that knowledge, the authors say, executives can glean a complete picture of where the company stands-and where it's headed.
This article analyses the role of interactive learning and localised knowledge in globalising learning economies. Some authors argue that as a result of globalisation and codification processes the importance of local, contextual knowledge and localised learning is decreasing, and, thus, the competitive advantage of high-cost regions (and nations) are steadily being undermined. Other authors maintain that much strategic knowledge, tacit as well as codified, is disembodied (i.e., knowledge which is the result of positive externalities of the innovation process), and, thus, remains `sticky'. Important parts of the learning process continue to be localised as a result of the enabling role of geographical and social proximity in stimulating interactive learning, which taken together represent strong `untraded interdependencies' constituting important context conditions for regions to remain innovative and competitive. The article argues that learning economies should be used to conceptualise a specific historical period of capitalism in which knowledge and learning has attained an increasing importance in the economy. This period of capitalist development is also referred to as post-Fordism.
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A political-process-oriented approach to decision making is applied to an asymmetric network of firms, based on the notion of resource interdependencies as the prime motivator of inter-firm exchange, and on a multi-dimensional view of power. Empirically, the paper draws upon a case study of the introduction of a computer-based decision aid (DPP) in the Swedish food industry. A theoretical model is developed, demonstrating how motives, structural conditions and moves made by powerful as well as more dependent firms interact in shaping the decision process. A central theme is that structural change as well as the adoption of innovations within inter-firm networks is influenced by political activities during the decision process. The relevance of subtle moves aimed at influencing the perceptions and beliefs of other actors is especially stressed. The paper also suggests that more dependent firms do not necessarily give priority to balancing dependencies since they may actually jeopardize privileges not attainable within a less asymmetric structure.
The vital importance of innovation in today's competitive climate has been widely canvassed. But while the need for more innovation is intensively proclaimed, the response for some time now has been widely regarded as falling well short of what is required. In other words, there is and has long been a perceived "innovation problem" in the UK and of course in many other countries. There is a large literature exploring the barriers to innovation and this has identified a whole array of factors ranging from the macro-level (such as a tendency towards short-termism) to the micro-level (including personality traits and team characteristics). This article reports the results from a new extensive study which addresses the "problem" by attending to the perceptions, assumptions, interpretations and cognitions of managers — i.e. those actors who determine organisational priorities and who make crucial resource allocation decisions. These managerial ways of seeing have vital consequences for organisational innovation. This article reports on the marked variety of managerial interpretations of innovation; it presents new ways of classifying these and it describes the practical implications of these insights.
This article analyses the reduction of labour costs as a factor which helps to raise the competitiveness of industrial enter - prises. It first reviews non-wage labour costs, both for workers with permanent contracts and those with only temporary con- tracts, or with no contracts at all, in order to show the differ- ences that exist in non-wage labour costs according to the type of contract of the workers or their unregistered status, and the impact of these differences on the labour costs for each type of worker and the average labour costs. It then goes on to consider the evolution of labour costs in industry and the different levels they assume according to the deflator used, because of the changes in relative prices which accompanied the early years of the economic and trade openness process which has taken place in the region. It then analyses the evolution of labour costs in in - dustry by type of contract and the changes in the average labour costs in the sector brought about by the dual strategy of reduc- ing non-wage labour costs and changing the contract structure of industrial employment; describes the effect of exchange-rate lag on average labour costs and competitiveness, and calculates how the latter would have evolved if there had not been such a lag. Finally, some proposals are made for raising the competi- tiveness of labour in the countries of the region.
We examined problems with sustained product innovation in 15 firms that averaged 96 years of age, 54,000 employees, and $9.4 billion in annual revenues. Findings reveal that the inability to connect new products with organizational resources, processes, and strategy thwarted innovation in these large, mature organizations and that innovators lacked the power to make these connections. We suggest that these organizations must reconfigure their systems of power to become capable of sustained innovation and offer recommendations for practice.
Aus Heft 5 Seite 39 vom 25.07.1998 2 In nahezu allen Geschäftsumfeldern gibt es heftige Turbulenzen. Auf diese Heraus-forderungen mit innova-tiven Konzepten zu reagieren, gerät Unternehmensführern immer häufiger zum Balanceakt. Der weltweite Wettlauf um Kapital zwingt sie einerseits zur Verfolgung langfristig wertsteigern-der Strategien, anderer-seits müssen die not-wendigen Veränderun-gen beschleunigt vorangetrieben werden. Doch bislang war nicht einmal ein Drittel der 30 größten deutschen Industrieunternehmen imstande, das tägliche Handeln mit dem Shareholder-Value-Ansatz zu vereinbaren. Das Streben nach raschem Wandel dient wiederum vielen Kritikern als Argument, den Bedarf an strategischer Planung grundsätzlich anzu-zweifeln. Ohnehin versanden viele geplante Strategien oft schon in frühen Phasen ihrer Umsetzung. Mit der Balanced Scorecard (BSC) gibt es nun einen ebenso ausgewogenen wie umsetzungs-orientierten Steuerungs-ansatz. Dieser ermöglicht es Top-managern, die schwie-rige Balance zu finden zwischen einer langfristig notwendigen Strategie und den entsprechenden Maß-nahmen. Wie das konkret zu bewerkstelli-gen ist, wird hier beschrieben.
Explores new developments in research on networks of innovators in the 1980s. Synthesis of the empirical literature on networking shows the importance of formal and especially informal networks - through linkages with universities, government laboratories, consultants, research associations, and other firms - in the innovation process. According to the literature, beneath formal networks lie informal social networks. Personal relationships, whether characterized by trust, confidence, or fear, play a key role in how these networks operate, so considering cultural factors can be crucial. Using the MERIT Data Bank, which consists of data on new agreements between firms in the 1980s, and then studying the specific case of Japan as a highly effective model, the changing patterns of collaboration are summarized. These include the upsurge of research collaboration, and the changing nature of older networking relationships. Conclusions show that changes in networking have occurred as a means and result of rapid development of new generic technologies. With its rapid change design, customization and flexibility, systemic nature, and complexity, information technology is predicted to lead to a permanent industrial shift. Longitudinal studies on the evolution of networks are now required to study the trends and strategies of formal and informal networks at the regional, national, and international levels. The developments in networking suggest important implications for social science theory, as collaboration between geographers, economists, and organizational theorists will most effectively structure the multidimensional study of networking. (CJC)
Identifies and assesses three types of industrial districts that exist as alternatives to the "new industrial district" model, to remark on the limits of a locally targeted development strategy. Industrial districts are defined as sizable and spatially delimited areas of trade-oriented economic activity with a distinct specialization. "Sticky places" are industrial districts with the ability to both attract and keep capital and labor, despite globalizing tendencies. Especially in advanced capitalist countries, corporations are faced with the problem of maintaining income-generating activities rather than outsourcing labor to developing countries. This analysis rejects the "new industrial district" (NID) traditionally offered as a solution - that is, the proposed "flexibly specialized" scenario of small, innovative firms in a successful system of industrial governance. Metropolitan growth since 1970 was studied for four countries - the United States, Japan, Korea, and Brazil -and include one case in each country that conformed to the NID, as well as three to five others that did not. Utilizing interviews and examination of documents, three alternative models emerged -- the hub-and-spoke district, the satellite industrial platform, and the state-centered district. These models reject the NID emphasis on small firms, instead demonstrating the power of the state and/or multinational corporations. As opposed to the NID internal emphasis, the proposed models are exogenously driven and allow increased networking across districts. Districts emerge as a result of multiple forces, including industry structures, cororate strategies and public policies. The study of industrial districts needs to move away from the NID model, encompassing a greater variety of firms, and analyzing more closely their links to the larger industry and global economy from which they emerge. (CJC)
This paper aims to discuss the possibilities of adopting a policy based on collective learning in old industrial regions. This is particularly interesting because old industrial regions are believed to have lost their learning capabilities, as indicated by notions of `technological' and `institutional' lock-in. Moreover, the success stories where positive effects of interactive learning have been observed (Silicon Valley, Baden-Württemberg) all share the lack of an industrial past.
First, we specify how a theoretical framework based on interactive learning, which tries to explain the industrial decline of old agglomerations, may look like, and how such an approach differs from other approaches. Then, we set out a policy framework that aims to deal with the process of structural adjustment and which incorporates the ideas of interactive learning based on socio-cultural factors. In this respect, we distinguish between two possible routes of adjustment, which reveal a complex interplay between different types of agglomeration economies, innovations and restructuring processes. Finally, we devote attention to the problems such a policy based on the notion of the learning region may face, such as the problem of how to overcome a negative lock-in situation caused by localized path dependency.
Summary form only given. The topics addressed in this paper is how
networking can be used as a way for small software houses to enhances
their innovative capabilities by using different kinds of collaboration
in order to overcome the problems of lacking knowledge as well as
resources in order to develop their software. In small software houses
operating in markets with complex products such as ERP (enterprise
resource planning) systems, networking is necessary in order to gain the
needed knowledge and resources in the production development process.
Network is not seen as a magic word but leads to different benefits and
short comings for the collaborative companies depending on the specific
context. In this paper we discuss three types of networks: collaboration
between users and producer(s), collaboration between a software house
and third party suppliers, and a collaboration between academics,
professional associations and software houses. The paper presents a case
study of the product development for a Danish owned software house
The evaluation of cooperative academic-industry research projects suggests that direct and indirect economic effects should both be taken into account in order to assess the dynamics of a technoeconomic network of R&D activities and partners. The overall evaluation of EC research and technological development (RTD) consortia within the framework of industrial technologies and material programmes demonstrates measurable direct and indirect effects beyond the technological and scientific success of the programme itself.
This paper will first summarise some key findings of empirical research in the 1960s on the role of external sources of scientific, technical and market information in successful innovation by business firms. This work demonstrated unambiguously the vital importance of external information networks and of collaboration with users during the development of new products and processes. Moreover, the dilemmas of cooperative research in competitive industries were recognised and studied long ago [35,62,76]. What then is new about the present wave of interest in “networks of innovators”? Are there new forms of organisation or new technologies or new policies which justify renewed research efforts since they go beyond those developments already analysed in earlier empirical and theoretical work?Section 2 reviews the evidence of new developments in the 1980s in industrial networks, regional networks and government-sponsored innovative activities. It shows that there has indeed been a major upsurge of formal and semi-formal flexible “networks” in the 1980s, including some new types of network. It also shows that some older forms of research cooperation have been modified and transformed. The papers at Montreal largely concentrated on the role of regional supplier networks, which are a good example of such “new wine in old bottles”. This paper attempts to locate the regional network discussion within a wider context of new developments in networking.Section 3 discusses the causes of these new developments and whether they are likely to remain a characteristic of national and international innovation systems for a long time to come, or prove to be a temporary upsurge to be overtaken later by a wave of take-overs and vertical integration.Finally, section 4 sums up some of the other key issues which require further research and debate, and the implications for social science theory.
This review of the state of research on product development as of the mid-1990s finds that it is quite fragmented, and sets out to create a framework by which to view the literature. Most empirical research can be grouped into three views of the nature of the product development process: rational plan, communication web, or disciplined problem solving. Based on the prior research, a model of success factors is developed, which highlights the value of various stakeholders, or agents, and distinguishes between success in the process and a successful product. The focus on product development as successful when rationally planned identified the value of organizational characteristics such as cross-functional teams and product champions, and the importance of market conditions. Research on the role of communication, within the product development team and externally, focused on the importance of a communication strategy and the need for gatekeepers and boundary spanners on the team. The disciplined problem solving approach emerged first in studies of Japanese product development processes. This approach requires strong leadership and a clear vision. With a clear goal in mind, and input from various functions, there is also autonomy to experiment, going through multiple problem solving iterations. These research streams overlap, and from that commonality a model is developed herein that emphasizes the importance of such factors as cross-functional teams, strong leadership, resource availability and information flow. Three issues for future product development research are (1) the role of senior managers; (2) the organization of work (e.g., improvision vs planning); and (3) the connections and dependencies between the development process, market factors, effective products and financial performance.
Incl. index, bibliographical references pp. 387-413, biographical note on the author