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Management innovation is related to new organizational structures and administrative systems that generate the possibility of creating value for the company. Using as theoretical framework the dynamic capabilities theory, this article examines the relationship between management innovation, technological innovation, and performance, testing the moderating effect of management innovation. Methodologically, the work uses data from the Survey of Development and Technological Innovation 2015–2016 of the Colombian manufacturing industrial sector. For the analysis, six ordinary least squares and robust regression models are estimated. The results suggest that in Colombia, companies do not achieve better results by introducing technological and management innovations simultaneously, since management innovation negatively moderates the relationship between technological innovation and performance. However, management and technological innovations positively influence firm's performance when they are introduced into companies separately. Theoretically, the work advances the literature on the dynamics capabilities perspective, using it to analyze management innovation, technological innovation, and performance in emerging economies. Empirically, useful information is provided for the design of strategies for practitioners seeking to improve the performance of companies with the introduction of management innovations, technological innovations, and new administrative practices. There is a need to develop a far greater understanding of how the invention and implementation of new administrative practices, organizational structures, or management techniques affect in tandem technological innovation capabilities and firm's performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research interest in agile innovation management (AIM) has increased due to its growing popularity. However, little is known about adaptability by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study examines the factors affecting intention to adopt AIM in SMEs. A conceptual framework is developed by combining internal and external environmental factors that influence adoption intention. Responses were received from 276 SMEs and analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM). The results confirmed that external environmental factors of mimetic isomorphism and normative isomorphism have a positive association with the intention to adopt AIM. Moreover, the internal environmental factors of top management championship, adhocracy culture, clan culture, and organizational readiness were confirmed to be positively associated with AIM adoption. This study provides one of the first empirical evidence of AIM for SMEs. In doing so, the study contributes both theoretically and practically toward understanding strategies that would enhance adoption by SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous literature addressed organizations’ adaptiveness to ever-changing business environments and investigated the concept of agility. However, extant agility research primarily covers the corporate and project levels and is typically located in the information systems and operations management fields. Relatively little quantitative research in innovation management literature exists, and those studies approached the concept solely from an outcome perspective (i.e., increased adaptiveness) instead of elucidating how organizations should organize themselves to be agile (i.e., a capability perspective). This article addresses these shortcomings and adopts a capability perspective since no empirical studies have examined agile R&D units’ organization (ARDO). Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory, we develop a measure of ARDO, conceptualizing it as a second-order construct, consisting of six dimensions: a culture of agile values, customer integration, autonomy, an iterative work method, cross-functional capabilities, and flat hierarchies. We validated the measurement by conducting three studies to ensure content, structural, and nomological validity. We applied structural equation modeling on a sample of 175 R&D managers and cross validated our findings on different hierarchical levels via a sample of 454 R&D employees. The results confirm the second-order nature of the ARDO measure and provide evidence of its positive relationship with front-end success. We advance scarce quantitative research on agility's neglected capability perspective and contribute to the innovation management field by facilitating further empirical research on agile R&D units’ antecedents and outcomes in the context of physical product development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational innovation capability is a critical competitive strategy to generate and execute ingenious ideas necessary to offer new services, processes, and products to stay relevant and competitive. This becomes important in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who depend significantly on stakeholders for an uninterrupted supply of relevant resources to produce and provide offerings to the markets amidst fierce market competition to stay competitive. We draw upon resource dependence and dynamic capabilities theory to investigate how stakeholder pressure acts upon SMEs to utilize their absorptive capacity of developing innovation capability to improve their overall performance. We collected data from 291 SMEs from the manufacturing sector to test the hypotheses of the study. Results suggest that absorptive capacity mediates the influence of stakeholder pressure on innovation capability. Furthermore, innovation capability too mediates the relationship between absorptive capacity and firm performance. This article contributes to theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this article is to study the impact of knowledge management practices (KMPs) on innovation performance of an Iranian leading private bank known as Bank Pasargad. To assess the impact of independent factor (KMP) on the dependent factor (innovation performance), a questionnaire containing 52 questions is designed and distributed among 237 experts and managers of the Iranian Bank Pasargad headquarters. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to analyze the research data. The proposed conceptual model of the research is studied using the structural equation modeling technique. Results obtained from testing the main hypothesis shows that KMPs positively and significantly affect innovation performance. Also, scrutiny of the subhypotheses revealed that KMP subconstructs, namely, top management measures, strategic knowledge management, knowledge-driven employment, knowledge-driven training, knowledge-driven performance evaluation based on IT, and knowledge sharing using IT, positively and significantly affect innovation performance in the surveyed bank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to explain the forces that change supplier involvement aimed at developing complex new product generations over a period of time longer of about 15 years. Using innovation and supply chain management literature on buyer–supplier relationships and alliances, we describe the theoretical background of supplier involvement and changes therein. Results from exploratory cases show that a different pattern of factors drives firms to decrease the level of supplier involvement across consecutive generations of complex new products compared to an increase in the level of supplier involvement. Taking a research orchestration perspective on consecutive new complex product development projects and depending on the starting conditions, firms may not only aim at getting complementary technological resource access enabled by pioneering relationship capabilities in order to shift from Whitebox to Blackbox supplier involvement. They may also aim at technology enrichment bundling processes that require divesting complementary resource access in order to shift from Blackbox to Whitebox supplier involvement. By accounting for changes through time across generations of new products, this article contributes to the literature on supplier involvement in new product development that investigates the drivers of changes in supplier involvement in new product development and their interplay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations develop different methodologies for product, customization, and improvement. In time, the best-known methods and practices are established and standardized for new product development. However, to enhance performance and outcomes, customization is typically needed and requires additional time and effort, requiring a high learning curve. An approach of operational planning to ascertain projected outcomes for a variety of scenarios is agent-based modeling and simulation. This study focuses on product design, an essential aspect of new products. An agent-based model (ABM) has been developed using a paradigm of the design management organizational function represented by four autonomous agents, their actions, and interactions. The objective is to assess the aggregate emergent behavior of the design management organization. Research questionnaires are used to obtain data consisting of agent characteristics from firms covering services and manufacturing, across multiple industry sectors. An initial network of design-related agents was developed based on the collected data. Simulation of the model provided data consisting on a time series of units sold by the simulated organization. NetLogo-based simulations indicated responsiveness in organizational behavior when customer satisfaction drops, in terms of fitness to specifications. This behavior resulted in reversing negative trends in units sold. The time scale of the simulation, metric levels, and behavior was validated using sales data from a company in the electronics manufacturing industry. This model provides guidance on how to configure new product development teams, modifying designer hiring processes, scheduling product development committees, and plan customer feedback collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The locus of innovation has shifted from mechanical advances to digital solutions. By emphasizing the importance of user needs, Design Thinking is apt to develop human-centered innovation, including digital solutions. Using two representative examples from 21 Design Thinking projects spanning the gamut of mechatronic to fully digital solutions, we report on critical incidents as opportunities and challenges of applying Design Thinking in a digital context. In the case of mechatronic solutions, we identified opportunities related to improved collaboration and higher quality prototyping as well as in innovative business models, which in turn created challenges in managing stakeholders. In the fully digital context, we observed opportunities in improved needfinding and the ability to offer individualized products. Conversely, we uncover difficulties in imagining digital features, estimating their feasibility, and correctly setting the fidelity of prototypes. Based on these observations, we discuss the intangibility of digital artifacts as enabler and inhibitor of Design Thinking in a digital context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have suggested that design thinking (DT) should form an integral part of the new product development (NPD) process. However, the contribution of DT to NPD over the past years is yet to be synthesized. In this article, we develop a conceptual framework categorizing how DT contributes to NPD, and present a map to visualize how research in the area of DT in NPD has evolved over the past 20 years. A systematic analysis of 89 journal papers published between 2000 and 2020 helped to generate a conceptual framework, which provides a typology for discussing the growing state of the art of DT in NPD. The study enhances the academic debate by providing a holistic perspective on how DT contributes to the NPD ecosystem and offers directions for future research for the next 20 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The static relation between business and engineering design hinders the pace of innovation. While program managers often evaluate innovation in terms of financial value generated over a number of business scenarios, engineering design teams base their activities on improving product functionality and meeting technical requirements. This results in an insufficient common understanding during gate meetings about the business implications of alternative technological tradeoffs, thus negatively impacting the pace of innovation. This article presents the results from the introduction of a methodology–based on value and functional modeling–into the practice of design teams working with next-generation electric propulsion systems for satellite applications. The introduction of the methodology was evaluated via interviews, workshops, and observations with nine industrial partners. The results indicate business stakeholders and technology-focused design teams’ bidirectional interest in the methodology. In particular, the results highlight the benefits of the methodology in creating cross-boundary representations that can be used by stakeholders to share knowledge and find common ground in gate meetings. The dynamic interaction with such representations enables a faster decision-making pace during the management of innovation initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains the main mechanisms influencing the knowledge collaboration dynamics occurring across an online business community. Prior research study had conceived firms as autonomous entities competing against each other to reach the competitive advantage. Nonetheless, online business social networks (BSNs) can be seen as networks of organizations that interact within digital structures, providing an optimal locus to foster external knowledge flows, enabling participants to share knowledge across organizational boundaries, and eventually leading to open innovation outcomes. We analyze how virtual networks of business relationships influence the form of knowledge collaboration firms can be engaged in. We analyze the entire three-year collaborative history of a BSN. After a promising launch of the BSN, it declined and failed. By analyzing front- and backstage combined with organizational and technological features of the online business community, we identify and discuss five categories of mechanisms affecting the knowledge collaboration over time and reducing the firms’ uncertainty in exchanging information: first, orchestrators’ skills and competencies in running the online platform; second, internal firm capabilities allocating proper organizational resources; third, usability of the digital platform; four, interconnections between frontstage and backstage combined with technological and organizational features; and fifth, perceived virtual copresence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms apply strategic foresight in technology and innovation management to detect discontinuous changes early, to assess their expected consequences, and to develop a future course of action enabling superior company performance. For this purpose, an ever-increasing amount of data has to be collected, analyzed, and interpreted. Still, a major part of these activities is performed manually, which requires high investments in various resources. To support these processes more efficiently, this article presents an artificial-intelligence-based data mining model that helps firms spot emerging topics and trends at a higher level of automation than before. Its modular structure consists of components for query generation, data collection, data preprocessing, topic modeling, topic analysis, and visualization, combined in such a way that only a minimum amount of manual effort is required during its initial set up. The approach also incorporates self-adaptive capabilities, allowing the model to automatically update itself once new data has become available. The model parameterization is based on latest research in this area, and its threshold parameter is learnt during supervised training using a training data set. We have applied our model to an independent test data set to verify its effectiveness as an early warning system. By means of a retrospective analysis, we show in three case studies that our model is able to identify emerging technologies prior to their first publication in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. Based on our findings, we derive both theoretical and practical implications for the technology and innovation management of firms, and we suggest future research opportunities to further advance this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interacting components of open innovation are complex to assess empirically and theoretically. Open innovation represents a high-potential scheme to share knowledge, and collaborate; however, it needs to be carefully contextualized to succeed. The challenges that open innovation platform design encounters are as follows: attraction motivation of all actors involved; intellectual property management; costs and benefits to keep the stakeholders´ interest; information structure; governance; quality assurance; trust and reliability; and finally associated risks. Built on these challenges, our contribution offers an open innovation platform design framework, with three components: 1) ecosystems context providing foundation, purpose, and alignment amongst all actors involved; 2) innovation management integrating three stages: creation of reference framework to set the basis and governance policies; definition of support framework to technology, processes, and quality assurance; and planning and leading delivery framework, to ensure the continuity of the platform; and 3) cocreation support consolidating the resource integration and cocreation processes. Additionally, we discuss the findings from the analysis of an exploratory multiple-case study regarding the level of approach of the processes and strategies defined in the framework and the designs of open innovation platforms located at Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, and United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social product development (SPD) is an open innovation model in which social technologies and social mechanisms are employed to mobilize individuals in ideation, development, and commercialization of new products. This model holds the promise of engaging a broad and varied community of individuals in innovation activities. However, SPD platforms have struggled to scale early successes and build momentum to become sustainable. To critically assess the viability and paths forward for SPD, we examine social innovation processes, technologies, and platform governance that underlie this open innovation model. We identify six process functions—social engagement, ideation, experiential communication, social validation, codevelopment, and cocommercialization—to model SPD. We examine how these functions are enabled or supported by social technologies and cogoverned by an innovation community, innovation sponsor, and partners in manufacturing and retailing. We assessed the proposed SPD model with case studies of two SPD platforms. This article contributes to the innovation process modeling literature a comprehensive, integrated model of SPD processes, technology, and governance. This holistic model provides a new framework for systematic investigations of SPD for further theorization and empirical study. The proposed model is sufficiently general yet grounded in the phenomenon to guide design, deployment, and governance of socially enabled open innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With firms’ increasing adoption of social product development strategies, such as mass collaboration and crowdsourcing, online users are actively participating in the development of new products and services via social media platforms. Online innovation communities (OICs), one representative of such social media platforms, have been used by large firms to collect ideas from their users and facilitate the product development process. While it is extensively studied that product ideas with high popularity on OICs are of great importance to the product development, research on what social behaviors of online users lead to the high popularity is largely unclear. This article conducts an empirical study by collecting a large-scale, quantitative dataset from an OIC between 2014 and 2018. With the analysis of users’ online idea posting and commenting behaviors, our results reveal that the idea contribution experience, together with comment diversity, positively influence the overall popularity of an individual's ideas, while the motivation of providing comments is negatively related. Moreover, user's innovation capability poses a positive effect on both overall and average popularity of ideas. These findings can help firms better incentivise their users on OICs to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of social product development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology roadmapping is a widely accepted method for offering industry foresight as it supports strategic innovation management and identifies the potential application of emerging technologies. While roadmapping applications have been implemented across different technologies and industries, prior studies have not addressed the potential application of emerging technologies in the retail industry. Furthermore, few studies have examined service-oriented technologies by a roadmapping method. Methodologically, there are limited roadmapping studies that implement both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Hence, this article aims to offer a foresight for future technologies in the retailing industry using an integrated roadmapping method. To achieve this, we used a sequential method that consisted of both text mining and an expert review process. Our results show clear directions for the future of emerging technologies as the industry moves toward unmanned retail operations. We generate eight clusters of technologies and integrate them into a roadmapping model, illustrating their links to the market and business requirements. Our study has a number of implications and identifies potential bottlenecks between the integration of front- and back-end solutions for the future of unmanned retailing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Originally developed for strategic planning and foresight of technological development, roadmapping techniques are increasingly being used to support strategy development for other functional activities of innovation systems (e.g., the development of skills, infrastructure, and standards). While the conventional technology roadmaps focus on innovation pathways for technology development, considering other functions as contextual factors explored in less detail, the functional roadmaps dedicated to certain innovation functions (e.g., standardization) give these functions centrality and greater granularity within the roadmapping architecture. Because different functional roadmaps are developed by different communities of stakeholders with different interests, often using different languages, it is challenging to share information and manage knowledge between them. This can result in disconnected and misaligned strategies for complementary innovation efforts which, in turn, increase the potential risks of inefficient use of resources and missed opportunities to capture greater value from technology R&D. In order to address these challenges, this article introduces the concept of integrated innovation roadmapping, which is designed to support the systematic integration and alignment of multiple functional roadmaps. It does so by exploring recent efforts by multiorganizational networks to develop complementary roadmaps for diverse innovation functions beyond just technology R&D. By identifying challenges associated with their integration and practical steps to address them, the article provides guidance on how integrated innovation roadmapping processes can be structured and organized to ensure effective knowledge management and alignment among multiple functional roadmaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An external technology scouting is a commonly used open search method used by the firms to facilitate innovation. Drawing on a knowledge-based perspective and evolutionary theory on open innovation, this article proposes that the firms generate more innovations and capture better external technology if they possess well-developed absorptive capacity, that provides access to the innovative developments in an uncertain technological environment. We introduce our external technology scouting model of innovation outputs to explain how technology scouting and absorptive capacity predict firms’ inbound open innovation generation in a turbulent environment. Using a sample of 236 high-technology firms, we examine main, two-way, and three-way interaction effects for measures of inbound open innovation generation. The results indicate both main and moderating effects for both measures of performance, which are critical for innovation generations. A significant three-way interaction shows the joint effect of the technology turbulence, absorptive capacity, and external technology scouting on inbound open innovation generation. Our findings have notable managerial and research implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do alliances lead to knowledge growth and learning for parent firms? Prior research focuses on knowledge inflows from a partner when a firm enters into an alliance. In this paper, we examine factors that enable firms to make better use of their own knowledge and capabilities as a consequence of alliances. To demonstrate the latter dimension of knowledge growth, we depart from prior research that has focused on cross citations of patents between partners, and instead a study self-citation activity. We examine the effect of four factors on self-citations, each of which reflects distinct learning mechanisms and cooperative dynamics, namely knowledge inflows from the alliance partner, knowledge outflows to the alliance partner, partner characteristics, and alliance governance. Results suggest that knowledge inflows from the partner were positively associated with changes in self-citations in alliance domains, whereas knowledge outflows to the partner had a positive impact on changes in self-citations for the smaller firm in the alliance. In contrast, firm specific knowledge possessed by the partner and equity governance had a negative impact on changes in self-citations in alliance domains. This paper develops a fuller understanding of the learning effects of alliances by highlighting that apart from better utilization of the partner's capabilities, alliances also lead to enhanced utilization of the firm's own knowledge and capabilities in further innovative activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While thinking in constraints is a key element of frugal innovation, it remains underexplored in the context of developing frugal innovations. Based on insights from the literature and two cases from the medical device industry, this article introduces the concept of constraint-based thinking to drive the frugal product development process based on constraints. This approach is operationalized through a systematic and iterative process to investigate the visible and underlying symptoms of different types of constraints, which are then mapped to specific product features and requirements. It consists of a problem space and a solution space, which are based on the idea that constraints are opportunities to develop innovative solutions. The main components of the constraint-based thinking approach are as follows: first, the identification of constraints or existing limitations, hindrances behind the current status quo that need to be changed; second, a root-cause analysis to understand the underlying causes for each of the identified constraints; third, a mapping of each of those causes to specific product characteristics or requirements; and, fourth, development of a minimal viable product or a prototype. This approach can be used both by companies to develop frugal innovations and by researchers to further develop the link between constraints and new products and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Portland International Conference for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET) has become a world-leading organization in the field of management of engineering and technology management (MET) since its inception in 1989. PICMET provides a strong platform for academics, industry professionals, and government representatives to exchange new knowledge in the field. To celebrate its 30-year journey, this article examines 20 conferences organized by PICMET covering 6601 accepted papers in order to show the trends in MET research and implementation through topics, authors, journals, and countries. In addition to the analysis of the PICMET data, the article delves into the past ten years (2009–2018) to carry out an in-depth bibliometric analysis of the citations of more than 3000 PICMET papers available at Scopus. The detailed analysis sheds light on how PICMET has developed a rich network of researchers and practitioners through its conferences over time. PICMET contributes to the interdisciplinary nature of the MET field and is also affected by the changes of the field. The article ends with key observations and a few suggestions for further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine the mechanisms through which corporations can achieve ambidexterity based on entrepreneurial ecosystems. The emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems provides an alternative approach for large corporations to capture and cocreate value across institutional boundaries. This article explores this perspective by connecting the interorganizational ambidexterity literature with the emerging concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems through a case study. Specifically, we examine a space dedicated to collaboration with external actors initiated by a large industrial corporation in collaboration with 22 other selected organizations and start-ups stemming from the Parisian entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our results reveal the necessary configuration (spatio-material and sociocultural attributes) for supporting explorative activities and the balanced management (democratic governance combined with leadership) of a nested entrepreneurial ecosystem for ensuring ambidexterity in large corporations. Our findings shed new light on the ambidexterity and entrepreneurial ecosystem research streams and provide guidance for managers and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through recent leaps in application, artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most promising digital technologies, attracting significant attention from scholars and practitioners alike. Prior innovation research has mainly focused on the opportunities for and challenges to infusing digital technologies into the innovation process. However, understanding the general effects of digital technologies is insufficient as their specific fields of application differ. AI is distinct from other digital technologies, given its potential to evolve into both a general-purpose technology and a method of inventing, and several firms are beginning to integrate AI into their innovation processes. We capture this phenomenon by introducing a concept we term self-innovating artificial intelligence (SAI), defined as the organizational utilization of AI with the aim of incrementally advancing existing or developing new products, based on insights from continuously combining and analyzing multiple data sources. As SAI is about to fundamentally change how innovations are created, this article describes the underlying AI technology; conceptualizes and outlines how firms may incorporate SAI into their innovation processes with the aim of developing increasingly complex products; and offers potential avenues for further research in this intriguing domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the incubator is retraced from the foundational research in the 1950s and 1960s of Research-on-Research—that explored the R&D process in a number of contexts to derive and test theories of organizational behavior. In this paper, we review the next phase of this evolution, starting with seminal incubation research in the early 1970s and, we reflect on the prolific growth of incubation research and practice, as well as new challenges that lie ahead for the next phase of incubation. The incubation field has expanded to include a wide range of models and a plethora of spin-off terminology that have been used interchangeably, with the emergence of the most recent model—the accelerator. Our historical critical review of the evolution of the incubation field is used to ask: in this current era of technological change, what can we learn from the past? We reflect on this question in an attempt to help direct researchers in their endeavors to contribute to the next generation of incubation research. This paper presents lessons learned from prior research and provides a range of indicative areas for further empirical studies at four levels of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology has received significant attention following the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008. In particular, the financial services industry has sought to capitalize on the underlying technology, known as distributed ledger technology, to generate new products, services, and innovative business models. In this article, through an in-depth investigation of the technology innovation evaluation process, we utilize a grounded theory approach to study 12 financial service organizations. This article is unique in that it explores the technology evaluation process concurrently as decision makers reacted to the potential uses, as opposed to a retrospective view after a technology innovation had been adopted. Evidence suggests that, organizations applied a specific process to determine the value of blockchain that consisted of understand, organize, and test, which collectively helped create the proof-of-value model. Surprisingly, we find that financial service organizations tend to view blockchain innovation as a lower priority due to the lack of a clear path to value. Additionally, financial service organizations consistently leverage industry consortiums to link to external knowledge and help with the decision-making process. Our findings have direct implications to both innovation researchers as well as practitioners seeking to evaluate blockchain technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To remain competitive, it is critical for firms to integrate external sources of knowledge. However, finding the right degree of openness is challenging, especially in complex open innovation ecosystems. The interdependencies and dynamics related to the choice of openness are not well-understood. This paper investigates the role of openness as a competitive mechanism. Specifically, we research how openness affects firms’ interactions with user communities and how it changes the preference structure of customers. We build a longitudinal case study in the open source gaming handheld industry and trace the evolution and the dynamics of firms, user communities, and their interactions. We find that a suboptimal level of openness can pose a threat to a firm's very existence. Further, we identify repeated patterns characterizing the dynamics in the ecosystem. Based on these patterns, we propose a framework of the dynamics of openness. Our paper contributes to the literature on open innovation. We illuminate the relevance and the dynamics of openness as a dimension for competition. This paper also contributes to the literature on user innovation by showing a shift from manufacturer-based to user-based innovation over the course of the product lifecycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms need to innovate and develop dynamic capabilities to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Due to this pressure, firms in high-tech industries invest a high percentage of their revenues in innovation. Despite the vast number of innovation success stories, only one in five innovation projects reaches the market. It is important to understand the drivers of project termination as many firms make sizable investments in innovation and these drivers may have a significant impact on their innovation performance. Therefore, the earlier recognition of unfeasible projects would avoid continued investment and release resources that could be invested in more profitable projects. This paper investigates firm-level factors influencing the termination of innovation projects based on a sample of 4385 firms in the Czech Republic and Germany. We find that firm size, research and development activities, organizational agility, and the level of internationalization are positively associated with innovation project termination. Surprisingly, marketing innovation is also positively associated with project termination. Our results contribute to an improved understanding of why some firms are better at identifying unsuccessful projects (earlier) than others. Identifying generalizable factors provides complementary insights into project-level factors of project termination that can have a remarkable impact on the profitability and survival of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the impact of organizational legitimacy (OL) on the firm innovation? The extant literature shows ambiguous answers. This study argues that such an ambiguity stems from two neglected facts. First, OL is audience dependent. Second, OL varies across firm life cycle stages. This study clarifies political legitimacy (PL) and market legitimacy (ML) as two key types of OL, and distinguishes them in resources they provide access to and firm behaviors they result in. Then, it examines the impact of PL and ML on the product innovation in new ventures and established firms, respectively. Drawing on the data of 211 firms, this study finds that the relationship of PL to product innovation is inverted U-shaped in new ventures, while negative in established firms, and the linkage between ML and product innovation is positive in new ventures but inverted U-shaped in established firms. This study not only draws a more comprehensive picture about the impact of OL on the product innovation, but also lays down a threshold over which to elaborate the implications of OL. In addition, it guides new ventures and established firms in taking advantage of OL to foster the product innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One fundamental challenge of technology and innovation management is for firms to decide which future technologies to develop in-house versus buying them outside. This challenge is particularly pertinent when industries emerge, typically a time of high levels of technological uncertainty. It has been long understood that technological uncertainty functions as important stimulus for firms to manage their boundaries. However, two to some extent competing strategy perspectives—governance and competence—predict that firms faced with uncertainty would either increase or decrease their scope of activities, respectively. To reconcile these conflicting positions, we propose a model in which knowledge modularity moderates the effect of technological uncertainty on firms’ research and development (R&D) scope decisions. We develop new measures for R&D scope, knowledge modularity, and technological uncertainty, drawing on population ecology, network theory, and technology management. We test our model empirically using data on patenting activity and firm boundary location in the emerging automotive air bag industry. Our results generally support our model and show that in case of knowledge-generating activities such as R&D, scope decisions under technological uncertainty are more driven by concerns about the risk of obsolescence than the risk of opportunistic behavior. We discuss implications for managerial practice and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we set out the drivers and patterns of adoption of new product development (NPD) tools in small high-technology firms. Despite previous findings that using NPD tools can improve NPD performance outcomes, surveys of large firms show reluctance to make full use of such tools. Our study is the first to look at NPD tool adoption in small high-technology firms. We draw on survey data from 99 firms in New Zealand, covering 76 NPD tools, including both functional and support tools, and tools from nontechnical aspects of NPD, such as the market perspective. The firms in our sample adopted fewer tools overall than studies report for larger firms, and fewer complex tools, but adopted just as many simple tools such as brainstorming, competitor analysis, project management, and alpha prototype. The firms typically did not have formalized NPD processes, but those that did also adopted more NPD tools. We found no significant differences in tool adoption by the level of project novelty to the firm or between industrial and consumer products. We conclude by discussing the case for small firms to formalize their NPD processes and to adopt a greater number and range of NPD tools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although organizational learning has been recognized as an important driver of radical innovation, the literature ignores the moderating roles of managerial ties in changing the effects of learning on radical innovation. By providing access to external resources, managerial ties increase resource availability in emerging economies. Firms in these economies can utilize different ties to acquire the complementary resources for organizational learning to improve radical innovation. This study advances research on organizational learning and managerial ties by examining how different managerial ties affect the relationships between organizational learning and radical innovation in emerging economies. By integrating organizational learning theory and social capital theory, we find that political ties strengthen the relationship between exploitative learning and radical innovation, while business ties strengthen the effects of both exploratory learning and exploitative learning on radical innovation. Both types of ties strengthen the relationship between the interaction of the two types of learning and radical innovation. Our results reveal the different moderating roles of political ties and business ties in changing the organizational learning–innovation link, an indirect mechanism through which managerial ties affect the long-term development of firms in emerging economies. Firms in these economies should build the appropriate ties according to their portfolios of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Platforms have been considered as a paradigm for managing new product development and innovation. Since their introduction, studies on platforms have introduced multiple conceptualizations, leading to a fragmentation of research and different perspectives. By systematically reviewing the platform literature and combining bibliometric and content analyses, this paper examines the platform concept and its evolution, proposes a thematic classification, and highlights emerging trends in the literature. Based on this hybrid methodological approach (bibliometric and content analyses), the results show that platform research has primarily focused on issues that are mainly related to firms’ internal aspects, such as innovation, modularity, commonality, and mass customization. Moreover, scholars have recently started to focus on new research themes, including managerial questions related to capability building, strategy, and ecosystem building based on platforms. As its main contributions, this paper improves the understanding of and clarifies the evolutionary trajectory of the platform concept, and identifies trends and emerging themes to be addressed in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using an exploration–exploitation framework, this study examines how firms’ innovation strategies rely on different knowledge sources (own-generated, bought-in, and codeveloped) that affect innovation performance. It utilizes data from the 2008 Community Innovation Survey covering 9054 sample firms from 14 European countries. Results derived from multiple-method empirical analysis indicate that investments into acquiring different knowledge sources will generate different values, depending on key contextual factors. In particular, we find that for firms following explorative innovation strategy (focused on developing new products, processes, and technologies), investments in own-generated and bought-in knowledge will improve innovation performance, whereas for those following exploitative innovation strategy (focused on refining existing products, processes and technologies), only investments in bought-in knowledge will create a positive impact on innovation performance. Additionally, firms that simultaneously pursue both exploration and exploitation (ambidextrous innovation strategy) will have maximal innovation performance by investing into all three types of knowledge sources. This study hence contributes new insights regarding the strategic choice of knowledge source. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Being “green” is socially, desirable, yet whether it pays to be “green” is unclear. This question has become more important to manufacturing industries as environmental concerns are escalating, particularly in emerging economies. We examine the effects of green process innovation on the financial performance of manufacturing industries with a focus on the moderating effects of government subsidies versus industries' own absorptive capability. Using sulfur dioxide emissions as an environmental index, we establish a dynamic model using ten years panel data from 28 industries in China where environmental concerns have been severe and government subsidies have been commonly believed to be instrumental. The results show that clean technologies and end-of-pipe technologies are positively related to financial performance at the industry level, thus it pays to be “green.” Furthermore, strong absorptive capacity tends to enhance this relationship, but surprisingly green subsidies turn out to weaken this relationship. We also find the effects are different between clean technologies and end-of-pile technologies, which leads to finer grained insights into these two types of technologies and their adoption. We conclude that manufacturing industries can benefit more from green process innovation by leveraging their internal absorptive capability, as opposed to replying on external government subsidies as commonly believed. Our findings provide finer grained insights on the benefits of green process innovation, and shed light on the study of green process innovation in other emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous strategic actions (ASA) can be a powerful source of strategic renewal. However, not much is known about what triggers middle- and lower-level members of an organization to engage in such bottom-up entrepreneurial activities. This paper aims at narrowing this gap. It empirically studies the role of autonomy and top-management support, as well as declining firm performance and their interplay in triggering middle managers’ ASA. Results suggest that the allocation of decision-making rights and the support of top management are important antecedents to ASA, while top-management support is also a moderator of the relationship between performance decline and ASA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We explain why companies seeking superior product innovation should invest in basic research. Our arguments highlight the role of absorptive capacity and examine how industry appropriability influences these relations. Based on a rich dataset of 8 416 firms, we argue that basic research in firms increases their knowledge stock and flows, therefore improving their capacity to identify, assimilate, and exploit external knowledge, which allows them to enhance their product innovation performance. We also verify that strong appropriability regimes not only reduce the effect of basic research on absorptive capacity, but also affect the relation between absorptive capacity and product innovation in two ways. In businesses with a high absorptive capacity, strong appropriability regimes exert a negative influence by reducing product innovation; however, businesses with a low absorptive capacity see their level of product innovation increase. This evidence not only throws into question the attitude of many managers toward basic research; it also calls for open reflection on both the net effect of appropriability on innovative performance and the stages of the innovation process to which public resources should be allocated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We use a principal-agent model to examine how venture capitalists can determine the ownership division when fund-seeking entrepreneurs possess private information on their disutility of effort. This situation is especially applicable to early-stage first-time entrepreneurs seeking funding, since no history exists on their potential performance. The venture capitalist must thus consider this private information by forming a belief on the entrepreneur's effort level toward the proposed investment opportunity. Formal modeling enables us to describe how the deal process unfolds and to build a simulation. We then identify a unique investor's belief and resulting ownership sharing that maximizes the return to the entrepreneur, one that maximizes the return to the venture capitalist, as well as one that maximizes the deal welfare. We also conjecture an ordering relationship between these critical beliefs and between their resulting ownership allocations. Furthermore, we identify conditions under which the venture capitalist should choose to revise the investment offer if rejected by the entrepreneur. This paper thus moves us closer to a comprehensive theory of venture investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

New information is the fuel that allows organizations to innovate. Yet the generation of new information may yield little benefit if existing practices prevent the firm from integrating new insights effectively. This study provides evidence that existing knowledge has both an enhancement effect that improves the firm's ability to benefit from new information, and an inhibition effect that lowers its motivation to learn. Firms that utilize a moderate level of existing knowledge benefit from new information more than firms that rely too little or too much upon existing knowledge. We call this optimal circumstance the “learning zone.” Furthermore, we find that the moderating effects of existing knowledge are stronger for new products of lower novelty that provide a similar learning context. In addition, as novelty increases, the prominence of the enhancement effect increases, whereas the inhibition effect becomes less prevalent. Highly novel products that are able to utilize existing knowledge are therefore most likely to benefit from new information. Existing technical knowledge is also found to inhibit the use of new information to a greater degree than market knowledge. The findings suggest that organizations should evaluate their reliance on existing knowledge and create a learning zone that provides the best condition for innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Past strategy and innovation research has basically ignored potential effects of portfolio management governance issues on portfolio innovativeness, and thereby on innovation management results such as firm performance. Building on the dynamic capabilities view, we hypothesize that portfolio management governance enhances firm performance by enabling higher levels of portfolio innovativeness through market and technological aspects. Our findings support the relevance of considering portfolio management governance to explain higher innovation outcomes. In particular, we can show that formality and explicitness, information support, as well as partial review frequency have a strong impact on the innovativeness of the firm's product portfolio. Consequently, higher technological and market innovativeness drives firm performance. We derive implications for both managers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The climate change debate and economic recovery strategies in various industries demand highly innovative projects featuring stretched performance goals for developing clean technology. These projects face multiple sources of uncertainty in high risk situations, and require specialized know-how and longer periods for revenue growth than their counterparts in other industries. We use data from 207 clean technology projects funded by the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy to conduct a comparative study of how operations design can hedge risk and enhance project valuation in technology development and deployment stages. We find that deployment feasibility is significantly and positively related to project valuation. On the other hand, stretched technical performance goals, development feasibility and market growth targets are associated with lower valuation. We also find some significant differences for these results across institution types: mature firms, start-ups, universities, and research centers. We examine the risk profile of these projects by technology and institution type, and discuss the managerial and policy implications for these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research presents an empirical analysis of the emerging actors and collaborative networks in nanotechnology. Patenting activities and technology diffusion in high-tech sectors are being increasingly driven by collaborative, international, and technology-based new entrants. To support the technology transfer process within or across country, this study examines how patent collaborations occur and how the actors interact with each other. The research develops a taxonomy that could make a significant impact on accurate nanotechnology patent data quests and increases the reliability of the analyses. The findings show that significant linkages of the U.S., Korean, and Japanese actors appear as being highly centralized around key players within their own national innovation systems. The results suggest that strengthening the linkages between scientific and corporate actors may eliminate many barriers and accelerate the diffusion of technology into the commercialized stage. This process will be faster if academic researchers focus on the requirements of industry, and the new inventions are linked with the needs of large organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Open innovation is a paradigm that believes that firms should use both internal and external ideas. These ideas can advance technology and lead to competitive advantage, thereby improving a firm's performance. However, the process of turning innovative ideas into performance does depend on firms’ innovation capabilities. In this study, we first divide “openness” into external openness, a search for external channels of information used to innovate, and internal openness, a kind of open culture within a firm. In order to balance value capture with openness, the power of openness in terms of value creation is largely supported by innovation capabilities, including the inherent characteristics of knowledge resources, absorptive capacity, and an entrepreneurial orientation. Our main goals are to state explicitly how a firm's openness strategies influence its innovation capabilities, and explore how to advance innovation capabilities through openness in order to improve performance. Therefore, we use an international and cross-industry survey which was executed by the Managing Innovation in the New Economy (MINE) program. Based on data from 393 firms, our results show that the innovation capabilities of these firms derive from the accumulation of external openness and internal openness. In addition, the findings of this study confirm the role of innovation capabilities in mediating the effect of openness strategies on firms’ performance. On the whole, this investigation demonstrates the value of external openness and internal openness to promoting favorable managerial decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]