Silke Lennerts’s research while affiliated with Duale Hochschule Baden-Württenberg Mosbach and other places

Scholars have argued that the exploitation‐exploration interaction provides a source of competi‐tive advantage beyond that provided by each individually. However, we know little about the mutual effects of exploitation and exploration on either incremental or radical innovation per‐formance. To address this gap, we examine data from 171 manufacturing firms. We find incre‐mental innovation performance is highest when exploitation interacts with an intermediary level of exploration. Radical innovation performance, however, is solely driven by exploration. A coupling with exploitation is not effective. We contribute to the extant literature, first, by disen‐tangling the interaction effects of exploitation and exploration on radical and incremental inno‐vation performance, respectively. Second, we extend extant literature that agrees that main‐taining an appropriate balance of exploitation and exploration is critical for innovation perfor‐mance and that has conceptualized this balance as symmetrical presence and magnitude of ex‐ploitation and exploration. In particular, we provide evidence in support of an asymmetric rela‐tionship.

Business Innovation bestimmt den Herzschlag der Wirtschaft – und berührt zahlreiche Disziplinen der Betriebswirtschaft. „Innovation Management“ und „Business Models“ gehören heute zu den etablierten betriebswirtschaftlichen Forschungsobjekten. Das zeigt: Innovation, Veränderung, Fortschritt, Wandel, Geschäftsideen und Erlösmodelle haben eine besonders hohe Bedeutung für die Praxis und damit auch die Forschung. Dennoch ist der Begriff „Business Innovation“ noch wenig etabliert. Es stellt sich daher die Frage nach dessen inhaltlichen Schwerpunkten und Abgrenzungsmerkmalen. Gerade die vielfältigen Aspekte und Berührungspunkte der Business Innovation, ihr interdisziplinärer Anspruch machen eine Profilschärfung des Begriffs und Forschungsfelds notwendig. Ein konzeptionell fundiertes Verständnis der Business Innovation muss auf der Identifikation und Erklärung ihrer wesentlichen Dimensionen und Elemente, deren Verbindungen und Schnittstellen zu den bestehenden betriebswirtschaftlichen Arbeitsfeldern aufbauen.

Purpose: Retailers often challenge manufacturers through aggressive store brand policies and severe listing constraints. This study investigates manufacturer innovativeness as a managerial lever to shift the power balance between manufacturers and retailers. Methodology/approach: Using data from 277 senior managers of Swiss and German consumer goods manufacturers and analyzing these data with structural equation modelling, the authors test hypotheses about the impact of manufacturer innovativeness on manufacturer?retailer relationship characteristics (i.e., retailer dependency, store brand aggressiveness, and listing constraints). Findings: The study demonstrates that manufacturer innovativeness enhances retailer dependency, which in turn positively affects overall manufacturer performance. This relationship can be explained further: By increasing retailer dependency, manufacturers suppress retailers? store brand aggressiveness and attenuate retailers? listing constraints. Store brand aggressiveness affects overall manufacturer performance through listing constraints. Research implications: Identifying levers such as innovativeness that assist manufacturers in fostering their power over retailers provides a new mode for understanding how manufacturers can influence the balance of power between manufacturers and retailers. The study provides support for the approach/inhibition theory of power on the inter-organizational level. Organizations with increased power are assumed to have approach-related tendencies and act in goal-consistent manner, whereas organizations with reduced power are assumed to develop the tendency to pursue inhibition-related actions, e.g., attending to threats. Furthermore, this study identifies channel relationship characteristics such as retailer dependency as a mediating path between manufacturer innovativeness and performance. Practical implications: Managers need to strengthen the firm?s innovative capacity to enhance the performance of their companies. By developing the capability to provide radical innovations, manufacturers are able to enhance their performance not only directly but also indirectly by strengthening the manufacturer?s position with regard to retailers. This study underscores the relevance of innovativeness for strengthening the manufacturer?s position in its relationship with retailers that avoids problems with aggressive store brands and constrained listing conditions. Originality/value/contribution: This study proposes manufacturer innovativeness as a managerial lever to shift the power balance between manufacturers and retailers.

Primarily because of the hypothetical character of interview situations, respondents are often unable to state their true willingness to pay (WTP). This inability results in the so-called hypothetical bias. To address this bias, incentive-compatible methods have been proposed, but such methods are applicable only to real products. We propose a new method for measuring WTP based on disposable cash and specific purpose vouchers that are earmarked for particular goods that, contrary to incentive-compatible methods, can be used for hypothetical products and services that are less affected by the hypothetical bias. Empirical studies show that the new procedure provides WTP results that are equal to the results of alternative incentive-compatible elicitation procedures, such as the Vickrey auction and the Becker–DeGroot–Marschak (BDM) procedure.