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This paper aims to provide an understanding of dynamic capabilities (DC) and critical factors (CF) responsible for the development of sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI), presenting an overview of the literature through descriptive analysis and identifying dynamic capabilities and critical factors for SOIs. For that, we develop a systematic literature review. Therefore, we propose a conceptual framework that shows that SOI's development depends on DC (absorptive, environmental, competence, the ability for innovation, resource integration, organizational, networking, and technological) and fourteen CFs. We also identify paths for further studies regarding four main streams. The framework is a state of the art representation, and its structure would be useful to promote SOIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes towards growing interest in the role of actors and agency in regional innovation policy processes. While entrepreneurial agency has begun to be explored, the paper broadens this focus to include actor roles in the maintenance of regional innovation policies over time. Drawing on the concept of institutional work, and evidence from Wales, it finds maintenance to be a process of strategic care, involving interplay between structural factors promoting durability, and normative and deterrence practices at the regional level. These practices, it suggests, can contribute towards stability and persistence, but with mixed effects over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence shows that training can increase product innovation. Yet in most studies survey design omits the differentiation between 'new' and 'improved' technical innovation. Thus, our objective is to quantify the impact of training on product and process innovation, especially in terms of new versus improved innovations. We use a national, establishment level, mandatory survey, explicity designed as longitudinal. We use a 2SLS approach to correct for endogeneity of training in the innovation production function. We find that training has no effect on new products, while it augments improved products. Training has a positive and significant effect on new and improved process innovations. A question that comes to mind is: 'Can we specifically train for new product innovation?' While there are highly cited papers in strategic management, we conclude after scanning the economics literature that a widely accepted theory of new product innovation does not exist. Perhaps, it is possible to train for new product innovation, while remaining cognizant of our inability to predict the recombinant knowledge required for newness. As Polanyi (1958. Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. University of Chicago Press) surmised: ' ... invention must be acknowledged to be unpredictable, a quality which is assessed by the intensity of the surprise it might reasonably have aroused'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses how far co-creation methodologies can be applied to policy-making innovation in the platform economy. The driving question is how co-creation collaboration-based policy-making can increase diversity and strengthen the participation of actors. The analysis is based on a three-year case study on the platform economy in Barcelona, describing how co-creation dynamics contributed to the participatory definition of local public policies and agenda. The methodology is based on participatory design techniques, involving participant observation and content analysis. Results indicate that co-creation can increase participation diversity aligning academic, economic, and social viewpoints in policy innovation from a quadruple helix perspective. In addition, collaboration schemes assist in engaging a wide diversity of participants in the policy ideation process which, in this case, resulted in 87 new policy measures, with contributions from more than 300 people of different backgrounds and perspectives. The case study demonstrates the value of a cycle of collaboration going beyond mere symbolic engagement or citizen support to public policy-making. It further shows the importance of combining co-creation with methods of action research, strategic planning and knowledge management, as well as with face-to-face interactions and online channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how and to what extent the Smart Specialisation approach to innovation policy is currently being translated into strategic decisions and policy interventions in Europe. It defines three complementary conditions that operationalize the intervention logic of Smart Specialisation and tests them empirically. The results reveal that Smart Specialisation is being partially implemented. There are in fact significant indications that regions and countries have put in place mechanisms that may circumvent the logic of selective intervention. Implications for policy evaluation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This paper revisits common, yet often untested assumptions on factors hampering the implementation - or even clear articulation - of regional innovation strategies. Based on a dedicated framework drawing on political science literature, it reflects on whether there are merit and promise in future higher-level attempts to promote a more strategic take on regional innovation policy. It investigates which relevant factors in local politics, policy and administrative facilitate or prevent the definition of clear priorities for action. Drawing on a Europe wide survey of stakeholders managing strategic processes, it finds that while a number of obstacles need to be overcome, these are regionally specific rather than attributable to restrictive national cultures. Furthermore, it demonstrates how stakeholder involvement bears different challenges at different levels. [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]

If the transformative potential of the Agenda 2030 is to be realised, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have to be fully embraced at the local level. Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) have recently emerged as a powerful tool to localise the SDGs, representing an innovation by and for the cities to advance progress on their local priorities in a participatory, inclusive and transparent manner. Through the capability lens, this paper briefly analyses recent experiences of a range of VLRs, by focusing on four issues. First, VLRs strengthen the innovation of data and measurement frameworks at the local level; second, through participation and inclusion of communities and minorities, VLRs foster transparency and accountability, hence contributing towards (re)building the social contract; third, VLR processes have been widely anchored to the design of new long-term strategic plans for sustainable human development; and, fourth, VLRs contribute to overcome institutional fragmentation and foster multilevel policy coherence towards the SDGs. Our policy insights and recommendations intend contributing to laying the foundation for the next generation of local reviews in line with the core elements of the Capability Approach and the sustainable human development paradigm. [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]

This paper deals with the evolution of the ICT cluster in southern Sweden. It forges a link between the literatures on cluster development and regional innovation systems (RISs), and explores both conceptually and empirically how cluster evolution is shaped by regional context conditions, including changes in the policy support structure and the knowledge base configuration of the RIS. We use qualitative research methods and descriptive statistics to analyse the development and transformation of the ICT cluster. Cluster emergence was enabled by strong analytical and synthetic knowledge bases in the region. The global crisis and changing geography of the ICT industry triggered a transformation of the cluster towards a new growth path with stronger symbolic components. Cluster transformation was facilitated by policy actions that promoted a diversification of knowledge bases in the region. The strategy was to combine existing competences in ICT with new competences in media and design, and to develop new activities around the theme of New Media, which integrates analytical, synthetic and symbolic knowledge. We show that the endowment of the RIS of a variety of knowledge bases and their combination has essentially supported long-term cluster development and transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This paper explores what can be lost, both theoretically and pedagogically, if we reduce “planning” to “plan-making.” Under conditions of political conflict and plurality, complexity and connectedness, a subject-centered theory of reflective practice should give way to a situated and relational, inter-subjective and learning-oriented deliberative practice. By exploring diverse planners’ practices in Italy, based on 31 grounded, practice-focused oral histories, this paper represents an innovation, in terms of method and theory, in assessments of contemporary Italian urban and regional planning. The innovation is in identifying significant issues such as relationship-building, joining expertise with political power, integrating top-down and bottom-up approaches, refining participatory intelligence systems, and assuring public accountability in the conduct of planning for further analysis, and it identifies topics, strategies and skills that planning educators can and should address as well. Throughout, we explore not formal legal issues but informal social and political characteristics of critically pragmatic and interactive, deliberative practices that will be resonant with experiences of readers and practitioners in many contexts. [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 last 10 years, the European Union has devoted specific attention and resources to the establishment of macro-regional strategies, with the objective of joining together transnational areas to favour the effective and organized management of common challenges. In most macro-regions, however, the identification of strategies to increase competitiveness is a rather difficult task, given the extreme internal diversity in economic activities. Focusing on the youngest macro-regional strategy - EUSALP - this paper highlights the specific combinations of territorial growth assets that allow to overcome the inefficient use of local abundant strategic resources, in line with a 'balanced development' approach. The results, obtained on the basis of a database gathered at NUTS3 level, are useful to provide policy suggestions to support the competitiveness of EUSALP through synergies and complementarities, according to a cooperation networks perspective. [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]

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]

The innovation process has a considerable rate of failure, from 40% to 80%, depending on the experts consulted. This paper developed a quality management approach, to help Executive Management Teams to handle the innovation process in a better way, based on the problem-solving procedure and the application of quality tools and techniques. It includes three major phases: ‘External Environment Investigation’, ‘Strategic Decision Making’, ‘Innovation Project Execution’, and a series of steps are arranged to span across the approach in each phase. A case study is conducted to demonstrate how the quality management approach proposed in this research can be used as a guideline to drive the product and service innovation process. The ideas and benefits of the proposed approach are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Strong demand for GIS and burgeoning cohorts have encouraged the delivery of GIS teaching via online distance education models. This contribution reviews a brief foray (2012–2014) into this field by the Open University, deploying open source GIS software to enable students to perform practical science investigations online. The “Remote observation” topic spanned four science disciplines in 6 weeks – an ambitious remit within an innovative overarching module. Documenting the challenges and strategies involved, this paper uses forum usage and student feedback data to derive insights into the student experience and the pitfalls and pleasures of teaching GIS at a distance. [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]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the meanings and the contents of innovation and its role in museums and heritage sites’ management to create higher levels of competitiveness. Through a complex framework, we investigate the key role of innovation in determining the competitive advantage. We propose a theoretical model to study smart and open innovation in cultural services, with specific reference to museums and heritage sites, building up an ‘innovation indicator’, in order to measure the nature and the intensity of innovation as well as to identify how it can be leveraged to sustain a business-oriented approach and to get competitive advantage. This latter is conceived in strategic terms, using a resource-based theory approach: competitive advantage is therefore considered with respect to both economic and social performance, market and competitive positioning. We apply our index on a group of innovative selected cases of museums and heritage sites using nonlinear principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering. Empirical results show that smart innovation seems to be a necessary path to achieve competitive parity but it is not sufficient for competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

OVERVIEW: Radical innovation is an engine of growth, but identifying likely opportunities can be challenging. Building on previous work, this paper explores the use and importance of nine strategies for selecting early-stage opportunities in a sample of 94 firms. Four strategies -- building alternative visions, prototyping, using probe-and-learn methods, and mobilizing sponsorship and championship -- are used by more than half of the firms surveyed. Usage of all of the strategies is higher in innovating firms than in non-innovating firms, regardless of company size. This confirms the utility of these approaches for innovation managers seeking to enable radical innovation in their companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overview: Eric von Hippel, a leading researcher in the field of user innovation, gave the Annual Knowledge and Innovation Foundational Scholar interview during the Strategic Management Society's 42nd Annual Conference held in London, Sept 17–20, 2022. This article is an edited transcript of that interview in which von Hippel provides insights into his research journey and perspectives on the importance of user innovation. He defines user innovation as the process by which individuals or firms create new products, services, or behaviors for their own use rather than for sale, and contrasts it with producer innovation. This type of innovation can occur in various contexts and can range from small modifications to existing products to the development of entirely new offerings. von Hippel also discusses the strategy-related implications of this distinction and highlights the growing area of research and practice in user innovation. Finally, he reflects on his own experiences with user innovation and provides thoughts on the intriguing issues future research in this field should address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contrasts two niche-based approaches to sustainable development, both recommended for greening technology systems. One is new, the other is old. In fact, a gap of thirty years separates Strategic Niche Management (SNM) from the Alternative Technology movement (AT), yet both share a niche-based perspective on change. Their core approach is to generate knowledge and disseminate lessons about sustainable technological practices through innovative, bottom-up activities. The ambition for both is to seed a sustainable transformation of incumbent technological regimes. SNM proves to be more managerial in its approach; while AT conceptualises niches as a much more grassroots activity. This reflects their different histories. Comparisons between the two uncover some fundamental issues regarding alternative technology niches and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovations have always shaped the development of media innovations. Emerging technologies enable the further development of media business models as they provide companies with potential competitive advantages. Hence, we anticipate that the adoption of emerging technologies in the media industry is both likely and implemented with foresight. This study examines the external strategic technology adoption behavior of media conglomerates by creating planning horizon profiles and technology investment profiles. Based on a detailed review of the literature on strategic planning, first, we discuss the situational factors that influence the planning horizon of media companies. Second, we evaluate in which emerging technologies and with which planning horizon media conglomerates strategically invest and third, we analyze the composition of the situational factors that characterize the specific technology investment profiles. By using the technology investment profiles, it is possible to take a closer look at the situational factors of investors and acquirers. Looking at all investment activities from 2000 to 2019, technology-related investment activities of the 100 largest media conglomerates are comparatively frequent. Media conglomerates have a high degree of technological diversity: The investments are diverse and relate to 36 out of 39 analyzed emerging technologies. As for the planning horizon, media conglomerates – both technology-driven media conglomerates and legacy media – invest particularly far into the future. Acquisitions are only made when success is in sight. The focus on mid- and long-term planning horizons and the proportion of acquisition and investment suggest that these are part of the diversification strategy of media conglomerates. Due to the composition of its profile, Biotechnology stands out in comparison to all other technologies: it can be assumed that these are new-generation media conglomerates investing in Biotechnology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roadmapping is an established and proven approach used globally for supporting technology and strategic planning, thus facilitating innovation. Sustaining the implementation of organizational roadmapping can prove challenging due to its inherently flexible and adaptable nature. We address this issue, reporting an in-depth case study of roadmapping implementation within Subsea 7, a leading marine engineering, construction, and services company. We provide insights regarding its history, future opportunities relating to digitalization, challenges in the age of COVID-19, and lessons learned. [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]

Environmental innovation is an important variable in the study of strategic management. However, studies on the effect of environmental innovation have drawn different conclusions. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis to reanalyze the relationship between environmental innovation and firms' performance, based on 33 empirical studies, and we evaluated the moderating effects of the economic development level of a country, cultural background, industry diversity, and data types. The results showed that environmental innovation can positively promote both firms' financial performance and environmental performance. In developed countries and Eastern culture, environmental innovation has a stronger effect on firms' financial performance, and the effect of environmental innovation on environmental performance is stronger within the context of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though research has suggested that supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability are distinct capabilities, little is known about their performance effects and about the contextual conditions under which they are effective. Based on a sample of 143 German firms, we empirically investigate the effects of supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability on cost performance and operational performance using hierarchical regression analysis. We ground our investigation in the dynamic capabilities view and contingency theory. We find that supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability positively affect both cost performance and operational performance. We further find evidence for a mediating role of supply chain agility in the links between supply chain adaptability and performance. Product complexity positively moderates the links between supply chain adaptability and cost performance, and supply chain adaptability and operational performance. The results contribute to the literature by offering a more nuanced understanding of the performance implications of supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability, thereby addressing the crucial question of why their benefits may or may not materialise under varying levels of product complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated, connected, electrified, and shared mobility will be cornerstones of the transportation future. Research to quantify the potential benefits and drawbacks of practice, and to identify barriers to adoption, is the first step in any strategic plan for their adoption. However, uncertainties, complexity, interdependence, and the multidisciplinary nature of emerging transportation technologies make it difficult to organize and identify focused research. The contribution of this work is a cognitive framework to help planners and policymakers organize broad topics, reveal challenges, discover ideas for solutions, quantify potential impacts, and identify implications to guide preparation strategies. The authors provide example cognitive frameworks for connected, automated, and electrified vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyse the different approaches to researching the strategic management of technological innovation through a Systematic Literature Review. The analysis thus focuses on the 59 articles returned from the ISI Web of Knowledge Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), after our search of publications in the 'Management' domain. This literature divides into two major thematic areas (strategic management and technological innovation) while revealing how performance studies predominate, especially those applied to the development of innovation and its sources. Two areas of lesser interest in the field of technological innovation are diffusion/adoption and commercialisation while these always interlink with strategy formulation. By dividing the analysis into three periods (1987–1996, 1997–2006 and 2007–2016), we may conclude that, in the first period (1987–1996), the study of the three main topics in technological innovation (development, types and sources of innovation) links to strategy formulation while in the following periods essentially move on to performance. Despite the growing interest in recent years on topics such as the internal analysis of innovation types, few studies detail with industry analysis, strategy implementation or the environment and we therefore also set out possible future lines of research. [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]

To determine the viability of cloud computing as a source of competitive advantage, we integrate the theory of diffusion of innovations and the theory of dynamic capabilities to synthesize the strengths of these theories into a framework. The theoretical framework with 13 propositions would enhance conceptual understanding of strategic initialization of cloud computing and its outcomes and should serve as a foundation for further theoretical and empirical investigations. [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]

For their technological sustainability innovations to become successful, entrepreneurs can strategically shape the technological field in which they are involved. The technological innovation systems (TISs) literature has generated valuable insights into the processes which need to be stimulated for the successful development and implementation of innovative sustainability technologies. To explore the applicability of the TIS framework from the perspective of entrepreneurs, we conducted a case study in the Dutch smart grids sector. We found that the TIS framework generally matches the perspectives of entrepreneurs. For its use by entrepreneurs, we suggest a slight adaptation of this framework. The process ‘Market formation’ needs to be divided into processes that are driven by the government and processes that are driven by entrepreneurs. There should be a greater emphasis on collaborative marketing, on changing user behaviour and preferences and on the development of fair and feasible business models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Innovation strategies for smart specialization have become the new framework for organizing innovation support in European regions and states. This article examines how policy-makers conceive monitoring in the context of the current European territorial and innovation policy. In this setting, monitoring activities have to move beyond an audit-oriented logic in order to integrate a range of strategic functions such as producing the information needed to manage evidence-based policy decisions effectively and keep stakeholders informed and engaged in the policy cycle. To analyse this transition, we first conceptualize the logic of intervention of smart specialization. In a second step, we present the findings from a survey of policy-makers on their perceptions of this intervention logic and monitoring. We find that strategy monitoring is an exercise that must go beyond a narrow audit focus. Regional policy-makers involve stakeholders to interpret monitoring results for strategy revision and they adopt a priority-specific intervention logic, albeit with problems of implementing this logic in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes to get rid of the vain opposition between markets as de-socializing forces and markets as civilizing processes by exploring the close relationship between innovation and competition. This suggests abandoning the traditional view of markets as interfaces for the novel conception of market asagencements. Indeed, a thorough examination of the notion of market competition leads to distinguish two ways of describing markets, depending on the role played by product innovations. In interface-markets, innovation strategies aim to reduce competitive pressure, while in market-agencements they are the expression of competition itself. In the former, the definition of market goods is secondary, whereas in the latter it is at the heart of the confrontation between economic agents. The competitive dynamics of market-agencements, which makes the establishment of new bilateral transactions and of product innovation the dominant rule, results in the constant expansion of the market sphere. The marketization process is thus at the core of markets' functioning. Thinking about marketization amounts to thinking about the architecture of markets and the organization of competition, that is, the mechanisms whereby goods are designed, the formatting of bilateral transactions, and the singularization that they imply. Political and moral reflection is at the heart of markets and not pushed out to their fringes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how R&D intensity and open innovation affect the technological capabilities of firms in newlydeveloped countries, such as South Korea. East Asian latecomers are transitioning from a catch-up phase toward becoming leaders, and they are engaging in open innovation activities to drive this transition. This research quantitatively analyzes three kinds of open innovation activities--outside-in, inside-out, and coupled--to investigate their influence upon technological capabilities, while also considering the effect of R&D intensity. Data from 75 South Korean medium-sized firms were analyzed, and two major findings are reported. First, technological capabilities are enhanced by some open innovation activities and by R&D intensity. Second, R&D intensity negatively moderates the impact of open innovation activities on technological capabilities. Therefore, it may be concluded that firms with relatively low R&D intensity will gain the most benefit from increasing their open innovation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China proactively promotes indigenous technology innovation towards developing an innovation-based economy. This contradicts the developmental state literature that puts emphasis on technology imitation. Drawn from the strategic entrepreneurship perspective, this article explores the role of the government in China's technology innovation process. Carrying out a case study in the high-speed rail (HSR) industry, it suggests that it is best to understand the Chinese government as an entrepreneur in moving China's HSR industry towards technology innovation-driven development, through three dimensions of state-led strategic entrepreneurship: alertness to opportunities, resource exploration and consolidation, and strategic learning. This article highlights the importance of strategic entrepreneurship to the government in an emerging economy context and contributes to the literature by building a conceptual framework of ‘entrepreneurial state’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]