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The paper discusses foresight as a dynamic strategic practice and theorises the connections of foresight and strategic management. The paper argues that organisations have a rising need to foster relevant future-oriented knowledge in a continuous process that builds on the systemic understanding of the operational environment. For this purpose, the paper outlines a conceptual framework for continuous organisational foresight practice. The framework is based on two conceptual bedrocks. The first is the idea of continuity, referring to the long-term accumulation of organisational practices. The second bedrock is the notion of discontinuity as an organisational transformation factor. Furthermore, the framework builds on the notion of four knowledge spaces in an organisation, and it is constructed through six layers depicted in detail. The paper demonstrates this framework through a case study of a Finnish research and technology organisation, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a nation is making strategies in a technology domain, it makes sense to know where the nation is currently in the domain and to know where other nations are as well. This paper presents a method to position nations’ efforts in a technology domain. The method builds a network of International Patent Classifications (IPCs) based on their co-occurrence in patent applications and applies an index called the Revealed Patent Application Advantage (RPAA), which reflects where nations’ efforts have been spent in a technology domain denoted as the IPC network. We applied the proposed method to position the efforts that have been spent in the electric vehicle (EV) technology domain by mainland China, Germany, Japan, and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recombination innovation is a process of creatively combining different knowledge domains in an invention. Recombination innovation in R&D collaboration - joint recombination process, which is integration of the organisation’s internal knowledge with the partner’s new knowledge, serves as the stepping stone of the knowledge search in the technological space. This paper tries to illuminate how different dimensions of proximity of the collaborating partners affect the probability of the collaborative innovation to be recombination innovation. Our result shows that technological proximity has a negative effect on joint recombination innovation. Geographical proximity has an inverted U-shaped effect on joint recombination innovation. The positive effect of organisational proximity on joint recombination innovation is not supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many inter-firm networks take a skewed power-law- or scale-free distribution in which one or a few central actors are connected to numerous peripheral actors. Research argues that central actors can act as early adopters and catalysts for the adoption of technological innovations, but studies are inconclusive regarding central actors’ de facto role in this matter. Peripheral actors in scale-free networks tend to cluster, which implies that they are structurally embedded and mutually dependent. A major thesis in this paper is that clustered peripheral actors in scale-free networks may restrict central actors’ propensity to adopt innovations, and as a result impede their diffusion. The paper discusses which implications this may have for stakeholders in the private and public sector domain and practitioners of strategic management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning can be an arduous and complex task; and, once a plan has been devised, it is often quite a challenge to effectively communicate the principal missions and key priorities to the array of different stakeholders. The communication challenge can be addressed through the application of a clearly and concisely designed visualisation of the strategic plan – to that end, this paper proposes the use of a roadmapping framework to structure a visual canvas. The canvas provides a template in the form of a single composite visual output that essentially allows a ‘plan-on-a-page’ to be generated. Such a visual representation provides a high-level depiction of the future context, end-state capabilities and the system-wide transitions needed to realise the strategic vision. To demonstrate this approach, an illustrative case study based on the Australian Government's Defence White Paper and the Royal Australian Navy's fleet plan will be presented. The visual plan plots the in-service upgrades for addressing the capability shortfalls and gaps in the Navy's fleet as it transitions from its current configuration to its future end-state vision. It also provides a visualisation of project timings in terms of the decision gates (approval, service release) and specific phases (proposal, contract, delivery) together with how these projects are rated against the key performance indicators relating to the technology acquisition process and associated management activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Systems of innovation can play an important role in linking technological innovation to manufacturing and industrial competitiveness. This paper aims to understand the systems and actors from a perspective of cooperative strategies, taking the case of a key emerging industry – nanotechnology. Longitudinal trends in R&D output worldwide and in select large countries were analysed based on bibliometrics. S-curves were adapted to detect the transitions for select countries. Tech mining was used to identify patterns of cooperation among countries. Academic research emerged to be the strength of Asia and India, but major challenges remain on several other elements of the system of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we assess how important ‘industry’ is to innovation. Our empirical estimates show that ‘industry factors’ matter little to how firms’ search for new innovations and that firms within the same industry have widely different perceptions of the obstacles constraining technological change. These results offer empirical support to recent evolutionary theory where firms have heterogeneous capabilities and pursue different approaches to innovation. Structural variables at the industry level have a stronger influence on firm innovation. This result supports ‘sectoral innovation system’ approaches where firms are more ‘constrained’ by technological regimes underlying industry evolution. Hence, the driving forces behind technological evolution are found at both the firm and industry level, but to different degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the sectoral systems of innovation (SSI) framework for analysing shifts in technological trajectory and economic growth has evoked a great deal of interest. Many researchers working on the National Systems of Innovation (NSI) concept have welcomed the approach and shown interest in the interplay between national and sectoral frameworks and related policy prescriptions. This paper attempts to analyse emerging and missing linkages between SSI and NSI in the biopharmaceutical sector in India. It does so in the light of major expansion in the Indian pharmaceutical industry and the new efforts to incorporate strategies targeting biotechnology innovation. The paper studies the policy regime facilitating this new era and discusses the future growth prospects of the Indian biopharmaceutical industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of how Indian pharmaceutical firms have transformed themselves from reverse-engineering firms focused on the domestic market to research-driven firms with global presence. It analyses the crucial and changing role of national, then international, innovation and regulatory policies and their impact on growth, performance and technology evolution of Indian pharmaceutical firms. The paper argues that although public policy increased market turbulence, it also provided new opportunities for firms to expand and build new technology, knowledge and market capabilities. From the 1950s Indian firms have pursued a variety of research, marketing and internationalization strategies to tackle changes prompted by policy, markets and knowledge complexities. The paper traces firm strategies that vary both in time and by firm, and argues that the successful firms have evolved substantively towards knowledge-based strategies. The paper then attempts to identify future directions for strategy, knowledge and markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative case study investigates the contrasting approaches to telecommunications standard-setting adopted by two developing countries, China and India, using the 3G standard as a case study. Despite facing comparable opportunities in the form of fast-growing markets, and comparable challenges in terms of meeting consumer demand and fostering industrial development, the two countries adopted sharply different standards strategies, with China investing heavily in its home-grown Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access standard, and India allowing operators to choose any international standard. In this paper, we trace the antecedents of this divergence to the different policy approaches that the two countries adopted to their respective electronics industries in the early to mid-1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modularity literature, an architectural decomposition and ‘mirroring’ between task boundaries, knowledge boundaries, and firm boundaries has been suggested as a way to enhance managerial efficiency and as a source of potential strategic advantage. Despite its intuitive appeal, empirical support for ‘mirroring’ is significant but mixed. In this paper, we utilise an industrial economics and knowledge-based perspective to hypothesise how the combined effects of product architecture type, product complexity and the rate of product component change may influence task, knowledge and firm boundaries and hence be associated with either phases of mirroring or non-mirroring (‘misting’). We suggest that whether mirroring or misting is an efficient strategic choice is influenced by the characteristics of both the product architecture and the rate of technological change at the product component level, and changes across time as products evolve. Our framework helps to reconcile existing mixed evidence and provides the foundation for further empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovations in agricultural tractors have revolutionised farming, increased labour productivity and reduced operator's hazards. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relation between agricultural tractors’ technological innovations and farm size, as well as users’ attitude on environmental impact of agricultural tractors according to their age and years of activity in the farm. Results, concerning Italy, highlight that high technological innovations of tractors are associated to larger farms, which are managed professionally by more efficient and sophisticated agricultural machineries. Empirical evidence also shows that the older the tractor adopters are and the longer they have been working in agriculture, the higher is their commitment to environment protection and safe working conditions. These results could be important for critical strategic management implications to spur technological innovation in agricultural tractors that better satisfy farmer's needs and to support the fruitful adoption of innovations for an efficient and safe modern agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks into the strategic actions of companies who attempt to overcome the technological issue of backwards compatibility through the development of conversion devices. Using an exploratory case study of conversion devices for film analogue photography, the paper demonstrates how market characteristics and the technological characteristics of older products change the hierarchy of benefits sought by users. The paper exposes the significance of accurate strategic actions, such as the simultaneous development of multiple types of gateway devices, to target groups of users effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patent information can be used for strategic planning purposes. Conventional patent analysis has commonly focused on factual information and, in particular, on information extraction, visualisation and interpretation. Less scholarly attention has been devoted to the strategic role of an integrated system of patent intelligence in supporting decision-making in R&D investments. Our paper addresses this gap and explores how patent analysis may benefit those firms that intend capturing the beneficial effects of Open Innovation. We also critically discuss the intrinsic limits of both patent information and patent analysis, which should be taken into account by systems of patent intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relatively little attention has been paid to the understanding of process innovation, compared to the well-researched product innovation. This paper contributes to improve our understanding of process innovation and its specific process capabilities and performance by exploring, across many industries, 4,608 process-oriented innovators. Process innovation is defined as adoption of technologically new or significantly improved production methods, including changes in equipment, organisation or methods of product delivery. Process-oriented innovators or process seekers are those firms which usually only introduce process innovation, and no product innovation. These have received less attention by scholars. Results show that process innovation without also organisational innovation complements constrains innovative performance. Complex process-based innovation complementarities result from the simultaneous development and integration of new machinery and organisational innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the resource-based view and the dynamic capability approach, the present paper analyses the effect of learning competences and innovation strategy on new product success (NPS). The study uses a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms. Results highlight that the new product innovation strategy is positively related to NPS and both exploration and exploitation competences. The study also finds that technological dynamism plays a moderator role in these relationships that weakens the effect of innovation strategy on both NPS and exploitation. Finally, it was also concluded that both exploitation and exploration competences not only have a positive and curvilinear effect on NPS, but also compete for scarce resources. This suggests that a balance between exploitation and exploration is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Decision makers considering policy or strategy related to the development of emerging technologies expect high quality data on the support for different technological options in order to track trends and allocate resources. A natural starting point would be R&D funding statistics. This paper explores the limitations of such aggregated data in relation to the substance and quantification of funding for emerging technologies. Using biotechnology as an illustrative case, we test the utility of a novel taxonomy to demonstrate the endemic weaknesses in the availability and quality of data from public and private sources. Using the same taxonomy, we consider the extent to which tech-mining presents an alternative, or potentially complementary, way to determine support for emerging technologies using proxy measures such as patents and scientific publications. We find that using proxy measures provides additional visibility of technological emergence and suggest these are a useful complement to financial data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts a standard-related lens on technology trajectory to analyse the mobile telecommunication technology choices beyond the third generation (3G) in one of the largest emerging countries. The attempt is made to model and map the technological evolution based on different standard platforms and through competing technologies under the globalised background. The interplay between different stakeholders behind different technological standards in China is examined. Whether and to what extent technological developments have respectively shaped the paths is also explored. We identify the key technological, commercial and institutional dynamics driving such technology evolution, and argue that large emerging countries can pursue their own policy agenda while dealing with the diverse interests of various stakeholders home and abroad. We also indicate that there remain some high uncertainties in terms of future technology trajectories under the emerging contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conceptual framework is presented to address the interaction of innovative capability, marketing capability and technological capability. The proposed framework attempts to examine the role of marketing and technological capabilities in developing innovative capability. While innovation has been linked to market orientation through organisational innovativeness, little is known about learning processes between exploration and exploitation for enhancing innovative capability. This paper suggests four theoretical propositions to: (a) distinguish the difference between tactical and strategic marketing capabilities for enhancing innovative capability; (b) examine technological capability as mediator of marketing capability and innovation capability; (c) explore the processes of exploration and exploitation in enhancing innovative capability; and (d) integrate environmental uncertainty as moderator of innovative capability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Strategic niche management (SNM), a tool to understand and manage radical socio-technical innovations and facilitate their diffusion, has always departed from a technical artefact. Many radical innovations, however, do not revolve around such an artefact. Social entrepreneurship is a new business model that combines a social goal with a business mentality and is heralded as an important new way to create social value such as sustainability. This study examines if and how SNM can be applied to such a social innovation. It identifies theoretical and practical limitations and proposes solutions. The main conclusion is that SNM can be used to analyse radical social innovation, although it requires rethinking the initial entry point for research and management. Exemplifying quotes are proposed as an alternative. Second, this paper suggests using values to describe niche-regime interaction as a better way to anticipate future niche-regime interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While 'new technology' and 'strategy' are pervasive and foundational to this journal's inquiry, each term is filled with ambiguity. This paper seeks to extend our understanding by developing a model relating technology to strategy. The model is a two-by-two frame based on the distinction between 'planned' vs 'emergent' strategy and 'latent' vs 'sensible' technology. The frame generates four distinct domains that we label 'development', 'capitalisation', 'creation' and 'cultivation'. The paper then considers the 'creation' quadrant through a case history of the stent industry. This case indicates that (a) new technologies lack the 'revolutionary' characteristic with which they are normally associated; (b) that the courthouse rather than the marketplace is an important if not primary domain where new technology firms compete; and (c) that new technology firms are much more aggressive when interacting with other new technology firms than they are with firms from the existing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategy has become an increasingly important theme within the management of innovation. This is reflected in the increasing amount of attention given to topics such as technology strategy within the innovation literature. However research into technology strategy has tended to focus on technology acquisition rather than technology exploitation. This paper focuses on one often neglected way in which companies can exploit the technological resources at their disposal, namely through the use of a derivative strategy where new technology is combined with old products or parts of old products in order to develop new products. The paper explores this type of strategy by means of a case study from the commercial jet engine sector of the aerospace industry. The case study provides an opportunity not only to explore the nature of derivative strategies in detail it also highlights the benefits, both direct and indirect, to be gained from this type of strategy as a means of exploiting an organisation's technological resources. The paper shows how a derivative strategy can contribute to the broader strategic goals of companies in technology based industries through strategies designed to ensure the most effective utilisation of the technology base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing a unique, domain-similar database including all horticulturalists in a major flower-producing country, this paper shows that a firm’s central position in a network significantly improves its financial performance. The effect of strategic positioning in a network is in large part mediated through its enhanced innovativeness. Strategically positioning in a network of firms contributesmoreto firm performance,bothdirectly as well as indirectly, than other strategic options a firm has available, such as seeking scale, seeking to diversify, pursuing cost advantages, or locating in a cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper contributes to the organisational study of the creativity applied to business innovation through the analysis of three propositions: (1) there are substantial differences between Creative Entrepreneurial Initiatives (CEIs) and non-CEIs, with regard to human capital factors, structural capital factors, intellectual property, and creative value chain; (2) there are institutional, financial, and educational barriers that limit the creation of CEIs in South Europe (Portugal, France, and Spain); and (3) the adaptation of organisational measures of stimulus to the specificity of CEIs through a flow diagram can reduce the limiting effect of the barriers detected by CEIs. From this approach, researchers and policy-makers can obtain a better understanding of the specificities of the CIEs from a sectoral, strategic, and organisational focus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Firms differ widely in their technological capabilities. Innovation policies are likely to be more or less successful depending upon the level of such abilities of those firms to which a policy is aimed. Without data on the proficiencies, strengths and weaknesses of firms within the target group(s), the construction and application of innovation or industrial policies are likely to miss salient factors in the ability of firms to benefit from the support that is intended. An in-depth knowledge of firms’ capabilities can allow policy-makers to target support according to the specific needs of firms. This paper describes the Technology capability audit tool (or CAT) that was designed to assist policy-makers in differentiating between firms and in understanding their level of ‘innovation readiness’. Examples of the use of the CAT are presented from South Korea, Thailand, Ireland, Brazil and the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology opportunities analysis (TOA) can support policy-makers or managers in making strategic technical decisions so as to enhance their technological innovation capability and international competitiveness. This paper presents a multi-level framework to support and systematically identify technological opportunities. Patent data as a key component of technology innovation are used to enable TOA within the framework in the present research. At the research and development (R&D) level, we anticipate the directions of technology development based on technology morphology. Countries’ development emphases can also be investigated in order to help identify their R&D strengths and weaknesses and to seek promising development pathways. At the level of competition, we devise the assignee-technology analysis to obtain insight into competitive participants’ technical emphases and intents. It is also used to explore possible collaboration opportunities among them. At the market level, we apply patent family analysis to understand countries’ target markets and to assess prospects for the commercialisation of their technology. We pursue TOA to explore China's opportunities and challenges in dye-sensitised solar cells. The empirical case analysis supports the effectiveness of the TOA model. We believe it can be adapted well to fit other emerging technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Managing innovation and particularly searching for new ideas in a steady state environment is really different than in discontinuous conditions where traditional practices and routines may prove ineffective. This paper reviews and empirically explores the field of search strategies and practices for discontinuous innovation and, for the first time, tests the validity of a ‘discontinuous innovation (DI) search capacity’ construct. Based on a comprehensive literature review on the innovation search stage and on the evidence of more than 80 case studies reported by the Discontinuous Innovation Laboratory, a questionnaire was developed and submitted to a 500 high-tech firm sample. Four DI search dimensions were identified, each consisting of a bundle of interrelated yet distinct practices. We empirically tested the DI search capacity and measured it as a second-order construct by using the structural equation modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores how strategic decision-makers select and use foresight practices and techniques for handling environmental uncertainty. Our research is based on a multiple-case study of corporate organisations that recently faced major changes in their external environment and increasing turbulence. We expand our understanding of environmental uncertainty by defining the concept of ‘boundary uncertainty’, which regards the identity of the components of the business (micro) environment. We distinguish between ‘continuous’ and ‘discontinuous’ drivers of change and find that they entail different requirements for the design and implementation of strategic foresight actions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The low-cost carrier (LCC) business model represents a strategic innovation that has had a significant impact on the dynamics of the commercial aviation industry in North America, Europe and increasingly Asia. This paper considers the adoption of the LCC model in China and discusses the effect of the particularities of the Chinese political, economic and regulatory context on the rate and character of adoption. We conclude by considering what the experience of the three companies that have adopted the LCC model can tell us about the prospects for the wider adoption of this model in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents recent insights from the ongoing FORLEARN project, which aims to develop Foresight theory and practise by supporting the sharing of experience ('mutual learning') in Europe. Six functions of Foresight for policy-making are elaborated on: (1) Informing policy: generating insights regarding the dynamics of change, future challenges and options, along with new ideas, and transmitting them to policymakers as an input to policy conceptualisation and design. (2) Facilitating policy implementation: enhancing the capacity for change within a given policy field by building a common awareness of the current situation and future challenges, as well as new networks and visions among stakeholders. (3) Embedding participation in policy-making: facilitating the participation of civil society in the policy-making process, thereby improving its transparency and legitimacy. (4) Supporting policy definition: jointly translating outcomes from the collective process into specific options for policy definition and implementation. (5) Reconfiguring the policy system: in a way that makes it more apt to address long-term challenges. (6) Symbolic function: indicating to the public that policy is based on rational information. The relationship between these functions and the tensions that can arise when a Foresight exercise attempts to address more than one function are discussed. Possible approaches for Foresight practice to better achieve the targeted impact on policy-making are outlined and emerging guidelines for improving Foresight practice are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology is crucial for organizations in the knowledge society, but little empirical research has been conducted on technology absorptive capacity and technology proactivity. Based on existing theoretical studies, this article formulates a global model to analyse how technology absorptive capacity and technology proactivity influence organizational learning and organizational innovation, and how these dynamics capabilities affect organizational performance. The model also shows how organizational learning affects organizational innovation. The hypotheses are tested using data from 246 Spanish technological firms. The paper discusses the findings and provides several implications for future research. The findings are important for management practice, especially for firms where technology is the main strategic element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A role for green niches has risen to prominence in the environment and innovation literature. The role of idealistic enthusiasts in the creation of sustainability initiatives in niches is widely recognized. The importance of tensions in incumbent socio-technical regimes is acknowledged to provide niches with development opportunities. However, the literature currently gives insufficient consideration to the processes by which niches and regimes interact and are interdependent. This paper addresses this by considering socio-technical translations between niches and regimes. It does so by analysing niche-regime interactions in the areas of food and housing and the development of eco-housing and organic food in the UK. Three kinds of translations are identified that affect the sustainabilities practiced in niches and regimes, and which do not all flow from green niche to incumbent regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades we have witnessed a tremendous growth in the number of strategic technology alliances and a growing importance of interfirm collaboration in the high-tech sectors. The literature on these topics has grown accordingly. In this respect, our paper serves two aims. One is to provide an overview of the consensus on key issues in this vast body of literature. Second is to identify some major gaps in this literature that may inform future research. In serving these aims, we first discuss the dominant structuralist perspective that stresses the role of embeddedness, but which also reflects a deterministic stance as if firms are subject to an exogenous structure. In contrast, we also explore a more voluntaristic view of how firms may possibly shape their network in view of achieving their strategic aims. This view also seems better able to capture change and network dynamics, an issue that has been largely ignored by the structuralist view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functioning well in a global, technology-driven, multi-disciplinary environment necessitates a more robust educational paradigm, especially in science and engineering. For a scientific education to be complete, it can no longer be restricted solely to technical areas. Similarly, law and business students will encounter a slew of technologies throughout the course of their careers. They will be required to comprehend the intricacies and corresponding implications of these technologies in order to impart their perspectives effectively and have an impact. In an effort to address this widely recognized need, a number of multi-disciplinary education and innovation programs have recently surfaced. Although several of these have been documented in the literature, the experiences of participants and the manner in which these will influence their future career plans as well as personal goals are not usually taken into account. Our focus in this paper is to shed light on this ‘end effect’ of being exposed to a multi-disciplinary education by stressing the importance of understanding social, economic, and legal aspects of science and engineering within the context of a scientific graduate-level education. Specifically, the authors take a closer look at the TI:GER ® 1(Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results) program. Based on their experiences, the authors present their learning and insight on multi-disciplinary education in a mixed technical and professional degree setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates a fellowship scheme aiming to overcome attitudinal and operational barriers towards university technology transfer. We propose barriers exist because of the focus of many academics exclusively within a peer review research network. We explore the case of the Medici Fellowship programme that was implemented in biomedical departments across five universities located in the midlands of England. Our evidence suggests that such fellowship programmes, through the retraining of academics, may have a positive impact on the commercialisation of research. In particular, the fellows, through the enhancement of their social and human capital, are able to act as agents of attitudinal change in their host departments and are seen to build bridges into external business networks that can provide early stage funding, market and legal information and help identify potential customers for nascent academic entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alliances are becoming an increasingly common strategy for product development despite the intrinsic tension between alliance logic and innovation logic. This paper investigates the development of alliance structures during the exploration phase of the innovation process. Based on a study of five service development alliances in the telecom industry, three patterns are identified by which the alliance structure and the innovation are brought into alignment. Such alignment seems to be a necessary condition for the transition into commercialization. The patterns identified are: (1) Learning about the innovation may trigger changes in the alliance structure; (2) Learning about the innovation may suggest changes in the alliance structure that are impossible to implement, however, thus triggering changes in the innovation; (3) Planning the future alliance structure may suggest changes in the innovation. Based on these patterns, some conclusions and implications are identified, for both theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation policy is increasingly concerned with mobilising a broad range of resources to support the development of firm-level technological capability. It is aimed at dealing with 'market failure', which arises when firms are confronted with technological challenges in which they lack the necessary experience or resources. Both internal agency and independent evaluation of such innovation policies are routinely undertaken but most are conducted during the lifetime of the programmes or soon after they have ended. There are few examples of such evaluations being able to take a long-term perspective. This paper explores the impacts of a UK government technology programme on the process and product application of microelectronic technologies (MAP) that ran between 1978 and 1986. Via interviews with a sample of firms who participated in scheme, the research explored their subsequent use of microelectronics, government support schemes and expert consultants. The study argues for more regular long-term reviews of technology promoting schemes as an aid to learning and capability enhancement in policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research technology organisations or RTOs have attracted academic interest in the last decade due to their role as technology transfer agents and R&D collaborative leaders for firms and especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Although their role within the diversity of specialised structures in generating R&D for industry in National Innovation Systems is recognised, there are scarce publications in relation to their strategies, performance or characteristic, as leaders of R&D collaboration with SMEs. The aim of this work is to identify the role, barriers and facilitators for RTOs performance as well as to develop a contingency relationship between industry environment, strategy, organisational structure and other factors for successful technology transfer from technology organisations to SMEs. This research is based on a field study conducted on 14 technology organisations based in the Valencia region, working with various industry sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An integrated framework for the analysis of sustainable innovation policy was developed, based on a combination of the transition management (TM) framework, the strategic niche management approach, and policy recommendations, resulting from technological innovation system (TIS) studies. In the framework, the multi-level view from TM has been integrated with the functions approach from the TIS literature. The integrated policy framework shows that specific policy goals and measures can be found at the specific points of intervention related to (the interfaces between) landscape, regime, TIS and niches. The integrated framework suggests that stimulation of a TIS only makes sense when this action is well aligned with landscape and regime developments. The framework should be used in empirical studies for further testing and refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum information technology is rapidly commercialising today. It requires urgent attention to the strategic management of this technology by business leaders and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal distinctiveness perspective argues that firms face competing pressures to be both 'like' and 'different from' their peers. On the one hand, institutional scholars assert that firms need to be similar to peers in order to gain legitimacy. On the other hand, strategy scholars insist that firms need to strive to be different to gain competitive advantage. In order to enrich the optimal distinctiveness perspective, the present study builds a conceptual model that addresses the relationships among organisational regulatory legitimacy, entrepreneurial orientation, and SME innovation under the context of China's transition economy. Our empirical results show that organisational regulatory legitimacy has an inverted-U relationship with SME innovation. Further, entrepreneurial orientation strengthens this inverse-U shaped relationship. That is, entrepreneurial orientation magnifies both the positive and the negative effect of organisational regulatory legitimacy on SME innovation. This study echoes to the call to conduct broader optimal distinctiveness research by integrating institutional theory and strategic management. Furthermore, our findings provide new evidence for the strategic balance perspective of optimal distinctiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effect of technological diversity, knowledge flow and capacity on industrial innovation performance. We suggest that there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between technological diversity and industrial innovation performance. Moreover, knowledge flow and knowledge capacity are hypothesised as negatively moderating the effect of technological diversity on industrial innovation performance. We use negative binomial regression to test the hypotheses in a panel data of 360 industry-year cases and the findings support our prediction. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the concept of innovation niches through three categories: strategic niche management (SNM), specialised markets and niches formed as a technology declines. In the literature, innovation niches generate interest from both innovation and marketing perspectives. This review focuses predominately on the former from which the niche types have been adopted and analysed. Mostly, contributions since 1980 have been included, representing the period of academic interest in innovative small firms, while both temporal and locational filters were applied to the study. It is noted that SNM has been proposed as a means to protect potentially useful innovations from full market competition, while specialist niches supply technologies to few customers in more stable environments. Incumbent technologies at the stage of decline may also retreat to niches where they can still remain competitive. Finally, it is suggested that further research on innovation niches would extend our understanding of technology dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we examine the relationship between strategic networks and new product performance from the perspective of ambidextrous innovation (i.e. combining exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation) using a sample of 323 manufacturing firms in the transitional economy of China. Our empirical analyses present several interesting findings: (a) strategic networks are positively related to firms’ new product performance; (b) ambidextrous innovation has a positive effect on firms’ new product performance - that is, the combination of exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation positively affects the firm's new product performance, while the lack of balance between exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation negatively affects the firm's new product performance; and (c) ambidextrous innovation mediates the relationship between strategic networks and new product performance. Our findings provide scholars and managers with a better understanding of the key role played by the simultaneous adoption of exploratory and exploitative innovation in the relationship between strategic networks and new product performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms now increasingly recognise the important role of R&D strategy in building technological advantage. However, few attempts have linked standardisation with specific R&D strategies in explaining innovation performance. To bridge this gap, this study empirically examines the relationships between R&D strategies, standardisation, and firms’ innovation performance. Based on a sample of 371 firms in China, we use structural equation modelling (SEM) and find that novelty-oriented R&D strategy generates greater accumulation of standardisation knowledge and standards diversity, while R&D openness only positively relates to this standardisation knowledge accumulation. Moreover, standardisation knowledge accumulation is positively related to both administrative and technical innovation performance, while a greater variety of standards only leads to higher administrative innovativeness. More importantly, our results reveal that accumulation of standardisation knowledge mediates the relationships between R&D novelty and administrative and technical innovation performances. Both the theoretical and practical implications that arise from these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies on innovation are aimed at covering technological innovation, neglecting other modes of innovation based on non-technological drivers. The latter, referred to as management innovation, consists of the implementation of new management practices, processes or organisational tasks. This work advances knowledge on the topic by exploring the joint effect of simultaneously introducing technological and management innovations on performance. Based on an analysis of 12,563 Spanish firms drawn from CIS data, our findings suggest that firms frequently pursue the simultaneous or joint introduction of both technological and management innovations and that integration impacts positively on a firm’s performance, evidencing an inverted U-shape that suggest positive but diminishing returns. A theoretical framework using the capability-based view embraces the emerging conversation on management innovation issues and its relationship with the well-researched technological one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sheds light on the relationship between business diversification and innovation. A diversification strategy is both a driver of sunk costs and strategic slack. Strategic slack is a valuable reserve of knowledge, usable to foster innovation. Using linear models, we explore the interplay between research and development (R&D) and organisational slack in large and diversified companies listed on the Euronext 100 Index. We consider the diversification pattern over time, and its interactions with the following three categories: sunk costs, slack resources, and R&D. The results show an antithetic effect of diversification and slack on R&D expenditures. In contrast to unabsorbed and potential slack, diversification and sunk costs hinder innovation. However, diversification is a huge source of strategic slack and, thus, has a positive effect on innovation, indirectly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selection and establishment of research partners is increasingly important in innovation and strategic research. Using a panel dataset of patents by 2846 researchers from a large US biotechnology company between 1976 and 2013, we examined the relationships between spanning structural holes and partner dynamics, which are captured by the entry of new partners and the persistence of existing partners. Then, we tested the possible moderating effect of dynamic exploratory ability. Based on the results of negative binomial regression models with fixed effects in the longitudinal design, we found that spanning structural holes was negatively associated with the entry of new partners and positively associated with the persistence of existing partners. Furthermore, exploratory ability positively moderated these relationships. Aside from having managerial implications for innovators, the findings of our interdisciplinary study are relevant for research on partner dynamics, strategy research, and exploration processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business model innovation is one of the firm’s most important strategic decisions. Top management team (TMT), as the critical decision-makers, has essential influence upon such decisions. However, the role of TMT diversity in shaping the performance of business model innovation is less explored in the literature. Based on a sample dataset of 906 observations of small and medium enterprises from China Startups Stock Market during the period of 2009–2011, we find that TMT diversity exhibits a significant threshold effect on the relationship between business model innovation (in terms of novelty-centred and efficiency-centred business model) and firm performance. More specifically, when TMT functional diversity arrives at a certain level, the positive relationship between novelty-centred business model and firm performance becomes more pronounced. On the other hand, the positive relationship between efficiency-centred business model innovation and firm performance will be more significant when TMT tenure diversity increases to a certain level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]