Dynamic Evaluation of Product Innovation Knowledge Concerning the Interactive Relationship between Innovative Subjects: A Multi-Objective Optimization Approach

Abstract

Product innovation knowledge, in prior studies, has been subjectively evaluated by a single stakeholder, resulting in a notable bias toward the chosen solution. Specifically, the selected product innovation solution may fail to incorporate the interests and demands of innovation subjects, potentially leading to conflicting innovation solutions and inefficiencies. Recently, many external parties, such as consumers and supply chain partners, have been involved in innovative work to create a substantial amount of the product interactive innovation knowledge (PIIK). The value of PIIK is hard to evaluate since this knowledge has evolved as a dynamic relationship among external parties. Thus, a novel method that integrates dynamic knowledge evolution and multiple stakeholders should be developed to dynamically evaluate the value of PIIK. Specially, the objectives in this paper are the knowledge evaluation scores of different innovative aspects and the ability of a model to identify the optimal solutions that receive the highest score from the innovative subjects. Then, the dynamic characteristic is captured by the participation of new parties, the departure of original parties, and the new knowledge created by the existing parties. To verify the effectiveness of feasibility of this model, case studies based on the innovation of a cell phone were implemented. The results show the following: (i). When the interactive relationship is not considered, parties prefer to choose the solution that fits well with their benefits, but the solution may conflict with other solutions chosen by their partners; (ii). Although the best solution is not separately selected by all parties when the interactive relationship is considered, the solution combined with the satisfactory result presents a better performance on product innovation; (iii). Dynamic characteristic should be considered in evaluation process, especially when the core parties are changed.