Product Innovation In Industry Research Articles

Effects of Product Innovation on the Performance of Women-led Micro and Small Enterprises in the Food Processing Industry, Tanzania.

Product innovation is an important factor for the performance of enterprises. Based on the Schumpeter’s New Combination theory, this paper analyzes the impact of product innovation on the performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in the food processing industry, specifically those led by women. The study utilized a cross-sectional design, and employed stratified random sampling, whereby a total of 297 women entrepreneurs from Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Morogoro, and Dodoma regions participated by completing a structured questionnaire. Additionally, seven (7) women owners of business from each of the involved regions were selected through purposive sampling for Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and one SIDO officer for structured interview. The collected data were analyzed using the Smart PLS Version 3 Software, employing Structural equation modeling (SEM) for measurement purposes. The PLS Algorithm was employed to establish the reliability and validity of the data through a measurement model. Subsequently, the Bootstrap method was utilized in the structural model to assess the relationship between product innovation and the performance of women-led MSEs.The results showed a significant positive effect between product innovation and the performance of food processing women-led MSEs (t=4.261, p=0.000). Furthermore, the study revealed a significant mediating effect of innovative performance between product innovation and women-led food processing MSEs (t=1.981, p=0.006). In conclusion, the study highlights that product innovation enhances the performance of women-led food processing MSEs. This contributes to the theoretical understanding of product innovation and women-led MSEs in the food processing industry, while also providing empirical evidence to support promotion of product innovation by the government agencies responsible for managing women's businesses, with a view to improving their performance.

Sustainability orientation, industrial big data and product innovation: Evidence from the European manufacturing sector

Sustainability is one of the greatest challenges for industry today. The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of sustainability orientation on product innovation in the European manufacturing sector, with a particular focus on the direct and mediating effect of industrial big data use, something that has been largely neglected so far. The data used for the purpose of the present study were collected from the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS) 2018 edition, consisting of 1,123 surveys administered in Austria, Spain, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia. Binary logistic regressions and Hayes mediation models are used to test the hypotheses. Results suggest that sustainability orientation practices and industrial big data use positively influence product innovation, and that industrial big data use mediates the relation between sustainability orientation and product innovation. The findings have implications for both theory and practice.

Statistical Assessment of the Product Innovation Impact on Employment and Wages in Ukrainian Industry

Innovation activity of industrial enterprises is one of the most important prerequisites for the socio-economic development of the country. Innovations contribute to the growth of labor productivity, value added and profit, and, consequently, to an increase in the level of wages. Studies of patterns of the product innovation impact (measured as an indicator of the share of innovative products in industrial sales) on employment and wages in the industrial sector of the economy has, therefore, significant theoretical and practical importance. The purpose of the article is a statistical assessment of the relationships between product innovation and employment, as well as between product innovation and wages in Ukrainian industry. Analytical confirmation of a significant decrease in the level of product innovation and employment in Ukrainian industry over the past decades is provided. Using correlation-regression analysis methods, it was empirically proven that there is a high positive correlation between the innovativeness of products and the share of industry in the employment structure of the Ukrainian economy. A regression model was built, allowing to determine how the employment in Ukrainian industry will change with changing the product innovativeness by 1 pp. Almon’s method was used to build a distribution-lag model (with a lag of three years) reflecting a high positive dependence of the index of average monthly salary of a full-time employee in the Ukrainian industry on the growth of the product innovation index. On the basis of proven regularities, a deterministic econometric model for optimization of the technological structure of realized industrial products and innovative products in the context of manufacturing industry was developed and tested at the level of Ukraine; the model was used in estimations by linear programming technique. The optimization criterion is a product innovation increase. The results of modeling lay a theoretical basis for strategic macroeconomic planning and socio-economic forecasting, as they allow for choosing a target optimization function at which wages in the manufacturing industry of Ukraine will reach the desired value.
 Innovative activity of industrial enterprises is one of the most important prerequisites for the socio-economic development of the country. Innovations contribute to the growth of labor productivity, added value and profit, and as a result, to an increase in the level of wages. Accordingly, the study of patterns of impact of product innovation (expressed as an indicator of the share of innovative products in the volume of industrial products sold) on employment and wages in the industrial sector of the economy has significant scientific and applied importance. The purpose of the article is a statistical assessment of the relationships between product innovation and employment, as well as between product innovation and wages in Ukrainian industry. Analytical confirmation of a significant decrease in the level of product innovation and employment in Ukrainian industry over the past decades. With the help of correlation-regression analysis methods, it has been empirically proven that there is a high direct relationship between the innovativeness of products and the share of industry in the structure of employment in the Ukrainian economy. A regression model has been built, with the help of which it is possible to determine how employment in Ukrainian industry will change when the innovativeness of products changes by 1 p.p. Using Almon’s method, a distribution-lag model (with a lag of three years) was built, which reflects the high direct dependence of the index of the average monthly salary of a full-time employee of the Ukrainian industry on the growth of the index of product innovation. On the basis of proven regularities, a deterministic economic-mathematical model for optimization of the technological structure of realized industrial products and innovative products in the context of production of the processing industry was developed and tested at the level of Ukraine, which was solved by the method of linear programming. The optimization criterion is the increase in product innovation. The results of modeling form a scientific basis for strategic macroeconomic planning and forecasting of socio-economic development, as they allow choosing such a target optimization function at which wages in the processing industry of Ukraine will reach the desired value.

Research on Morphological Innovation Design of Industrial Products Based on Combinatorial Genetic Algorithm

Abstract This paper applies the combinatorial genetic algorithm to the design of industrial product forms to achieve the effect of industrial product form design innovation. The standard genetic algorithm is applied to industrial product design, and the optimal order of genetic optimization is constructed through continuous population genetics, combined with the minimum value of the objective function to construct the constraints of the innovative design of industrial products. Using the method of combinatorial optimization to integrate different elements in industrial product design, a coding method based on rows and columns is proposed for the set coverage problem of design elements. Analyzing the user’s preference for industrial product form design allows us to explore the demand direction of industrial product innovation design and formulate a suitable innovation design scheme. The results show that the consensus satisfaction of hair dryer form design in genetic optimization 2nd and 9th are higher than 0.8. When users are stimulated by like and dislike sample pictures, there is no significant difference in the average response time, p=0.337>0.05, and the difference in the average response time of the users is more significant p=0.020<0.05 when they are confronted with the preferred design shape.

Financing constraints, intellectual property rights protection and incremental innovation: Evidence from transition economy firms

Despite a growing literature, the relationship between financing constraints (FC), intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and firm innovation remains unclear within the transitional country context. Drawing on endogenous growth theory and extending the Gorodnichenko and Schnitzer (2013) framework, we hypothesize that in addition to firm-specific factors, country-level variables manifested within FC hamper incremental innovation, albeit in varying degrees due to industry heterogeneity. Secondly, as opposed to previous studies that solely focus on FC affecting firm innovation, we propose that due to resource constraints, firms in transition economies tend to follow an imitational innovation strategy, and therefore, from this perspective, IPR protection can be crucial for firm-level innovation within those economies. Using data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) consisting of information for about 21,960 firms from 27 Eastern European and Central Asian transition countries and employing a two-step probit model with endogenous regressors, we find that adverse effects of FC and IPR on firms' innovation activities are driven from within as well as between industries. Focusing on the differential impacts of FC and IPR protection across industries, we direct potential causal pathways from easing FC and optimal IPR protection to encourage firms' innovation. Based on the findings, while very strict IPR protection is detrimental to firms' product and process innovation in industries with limited resource and skill capabilities, it is nevertheless helpful for research and development (R&D) activities in industries characterised by strong R&D and IP capacities. Our results offer useful insights for policymakers to support incremental innovation as well as boost invention. IPR protection policies require to be customised to the industries and firms, since invariably tight or lax IPR enforcement can be discouraging to both incremental and radical innovation, causing all industries suffering from the same treatment.

VALUE CHAIN AND PRODUCT INNOVATION IN PALM OIL INDUSTRY IN ANAMBRA STATE

This research center on evaluation of effect of value chain on Product innovation in palm oil industry in Anambra was based on objectives which were to examine the effect of customer focus on Product innovation in palm oil industry in Anambra, evaluate the effect of R&D management on Product innovation in palm oil industry in Anambra, assess the effect of process management on Product innovation in palm oil industry in Anambra and determine the effect of supply management on Product innovation in palm oil industry in Anambra. A cross-sectional survey research design was employed. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), using SMART-PLS was selected to investigate the effect of value chain on Product innovation in palm oil industry in Anambra. Data was collected through questionnaire from a sample of 265 Palm oil growers in Abuja. The finding shows that there is a positive significant effect of customer focus, R&D management, process management and supply management on Product innovation in palm oil industry in Anambra. It is recommended that, Palm Oil Growers should engage actively in customer focus, Palm Oil Growers should engage actively in R&D management, Palm Oil Growers should engage actively in process management and Palm Oil Growers should engage actively in borrowing from supply management. This will help them to easily improve their product innovation which will in turn lead to performance of their firms.

UTILIZACIÓN DE MATERIAL COMPUESTO DE ESCAYOLA PARA LA ELABORACIÓN DE PRODUCTOS PREFABRICADOS SOSTENIBLES: ESTUDIO DE SU PROCESO DE FABRICACIÓN, PROPIEDADES Y CADENA DE SUMINISTRO

The building sector is currently involved in a process of change as a result of concerns about the sustainability of the construction industry. For this reason, the application of circular economy criteria that are committed to the development of new, more sustainable construction materials has become one of the major challenges included in the European Green Pact. In this research, the physical and mechanical characterisation of a new plaster composite material with the incorporation of recycled rubber granular particles and glass wool waste fibres has been carried out. It has been possible to replace up to 30% of the original plaster material with recycled raw material, improving the thermal behaviour of the prefabricated plaster plates. In addition, good mechanical performance has been obtained and the weight of the precast elements has been reduced. Finally, using the FlexSim simulation software, different scenarios have been examined which have permitted to know the increases in productivity in the manufacturing process derived from the use of these lightened sustainable materials, as well as to verify the reduction in fuel consumption (litres/plate) and CO2 emissions during transport. For all these reasons, the application of circular economy criteria applied to waste management is fundamental to progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Key Words: circular economy, building/construction industry product innovation, sustainable prefabricated construction, efficiency, simulation.

EFFECT OF R&D ON PRODUCT AND PROCESS INNOVATION IN THE TURKISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

R&D activities are an indispensable driving force to increase the likelihood of occurrence of innovation and the growth rate of technology. Studies on the impact of R&D activities on sectors in Türkiye using micro data are still insufficient. To fill this gap, this study aims to analyze the effects of R&D on product and process innovation in the Turkish manufacturing industry by making sub-breakdowns of R&D variables. The research also presents policy recommendations to support R&D plans in Türkiye. To accomplish these objectives, panel data estimation methods are used. A panel data set was generated by merging four different microdata sets provided by TURKSTAT, which is classified by NACE Rev.2 and covers the years between 2009 and 2016. Probit model is used to estimate the effects of R&D expenditure, R&D intensity (as an indicator of R&D investment), R&D personnel ratio (as an indicator of know-how), and other determinants of innovation. Moreover, total R&D expenditure is separated into four breakdowns such as internal, external, external-domestic, and external-foreign. Key findings of the research show that the effects of R&D expenditure on product and process innovations vary by its sub-breakdowns. Total and internal R&D expenditure have positive effect on both product and process innovations while external and external-domestic R&D expenditure have positive effect only on product innovation, and external-foreign R&D expenditure only on process innovation. Only external, external-domestic, and external-foreign R&D intensity have positive effect on both product and process innovation.

COVID-19 and China’s Foreign Direct Investment Inflow- Stress Tests Based on Extreme Gradient Boosting Model and Policy Implications

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is essential to world economic growth, global industrial chain optimization, technology diffusion, and product innovation. This study identifies several macro-level factors affecting FDI inflow to China after discussing possible mechanisms through which COVID-19 influences FDI. Then, it tests three different stressful scenarios simulating the COVID-19 influence on China’s FDI inflow with a regression model estimated by extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) in Python. Results show that the rampant COVID-19 pandemic and increasing global investment risks would have a substantial and negative impact not only on global FDI size, investment rules, and investment structure, but also on FDI inflow to China. Without effective measures being taken, from January 2020 to March 2022, losses in China’s annual FDI inflow could reach 5.71 percent to 11.28 percent, but the country’s actual annual FDI inflow is much higher. The extraordinary measures adopted by the Chinese government include preventing pandemic measures that are prompt and effective as well as targeted macroeconomic regulation policies. They make a rapid recovery or even improvement in China’s economic fundamentals, which in turn enhance China’s attractiveness to FDI and the FDI size, more than offsetting the negative effect of COVID-19 on FDI inflow to China. Finally, this paper proposes several countermeasures in macro-economic regulation and industrial policy adjustment to prevent and mitigate the negative influence of COVID-19 on FDI.

Process and Product Innovation in the Spanish Construction Industry: The Mediating Role of Organizational Innovation

Process and Product Innovation in the Spanish Construction Industry: The Mediating Role of Organizational Innovation

Towards a sense of urgency for innovation realization: a case study on complacency asymmetries in interorganizational relations

This paper seeks to explore the concept of complacency as a barrier to the sense of urgency within product innovation, by investigating the concept on behalf of interfirm project partners. More specifically, the study aims to understand complacency within the context of an industrial research project in Norway subject to material substitution of an energy transmission tower. As such, the study seeks to give a contextual understanding of complacency for innovation realization (e.g., innovation speed) from a single case study. The study identified different complacency mechanism asymmetries on behalf of the actors, as well as the varying reasons (drivers) to why urgency gaps may occur among actors. The urgency gaps were found to impact a sense of urgency and thus innovation speed negatively. The asymmetries are presented from the drivers: role understanding, competence, project intent, risk and trust. Moreover, the urgency gaps’ implications for interorganizational project collaboration, and how they contribute to theory on industrial product innovation, are explained. The findings contribute with new insights on important mechanisms for how a sense of urgency may be enhanced in research projects subject to interorganizational innovation. Theoretical contributions thus relate to enhanced understanding of complacency asymmetry in product innovation collaboration, and how trust is an important dimension for urgency creation.

Generating Customer Insights in Mid-sized B2B Companies: Integrative Review and Future Research Directions

Mid-sized businesses (MSB) and mid-sized B2B businesses (MSB2B) in particular are often ignored in the research on innovation management. Yet, MSBs are very important for the growth of economies worldwide and it is of utmost importance for their future performance to develop new products. For the successful development of new differentiated products in MSBs, the early identification and consideration of customers’ hidden needs is crucial. Techniques that can be used to generate customer insights are often referred to by the term voice of the customer (VOC). However, extant research has treated this term very inconsistently. This is why, it is difficult for MSBs to decide which techniques are most useful to them. For MSBs, that have limited resources, this is a particular issue and best practices of how MSBs identify their customers’ needs for different types and different phases of innovation projects are lacking.This review aims at clarifying the aforementioned issues for MSB2Bs. Based on an analysis of the limited research on using hidden needs techniques in MSB2Bs, actionable recommendations are derived as to which hidden needs techniques are most useful for MSB2Bs and which best practices should be considered when developing new products in MSB2Bs. Opportunities for academia and practitioners are identified and managerial implications for industrial product innovation in MSB2Bs are discussed.

Industry tournament incentives and corporate innovation strategies

AbstractIn this article we examine how the tournament‐like progression in the CEO labor market influences corporate innovation strategies. By exploiting a text‐based proxy for product innovation based on product descriptions from 10‐Ks, we find a positive and significant relation between industry tournament incentives (ITIs) and product innovation. We then explore the trade‐off effects of ITIs on product innovation created through long‐term patenting technologies and short‐term product development. We discover that ITIs strengthen short‐term innovation but decrease patent‐based innovation. Further analyses show that the effect of ITIs on product innovation is stronger when the product market is more competitive and when CEO characteristics indicate a higher probability of winning the tournament prize.

Towards a shared vision in innovation projects: Understanding actor involvement as a preventative approach against defensive routines for innovation capability

This paper is based on the understanding that industrial product innovation projects often emphasize speed and economic accounts of the process without sufficiently considering the human mechanisms that drives the innovation process forward.The human factor is especially important in relation to projects involving change and organizational collaboration, as actors may perceive the collaboration situation differently based on their varying preconditions and worldviews.Acquiring a shared vision is thus understood to enhance product innovation capability. However, a lack of actor involvement is in this case seen as detrimental to the innovation process, as it may facilitate actors to perform various defensive routines, directing focus away from the innovation and towards what is perceived as meaningful.The paper presents different defensive routines on behalf of one project case context and highlights the importance of involvement for shaping understanding and shared visions within different innovation value chain phases.

Sustainable product innovation in agri-food industry: Do ownership structure and capital structure matter?

Sustainable product innovation is a key issue facing agri-food companies to maintain and increase their competitiveness. Based on a sample of 320 international agri-food companies for the period 2002–2017, this paper analyzes the role that ownership structure and capital structure play with regard to sustainable product innovation as well as whether these financing decisions differ depending on the firm's ownership structure. The results indicate that family-owned firms show an aversion to this type of eco-innovation projects, regardless of their source of financing. On the contrary, ownership by cross-holdings favors investment in sustainable product innovation projects, showing a greater preference for the use of debt financing versus auto-financing to fund them.

How entrepreneurial business model design influences disruptive and adoptive product innovation

The blockchain technology has the great potential to drive product innovation in various industries. This makes such an emerging technology play as an important enabler that drives the generation of new venture. Our study examines the effects of business model designs of blockchain-based entrepreneurial firms on the scope of product newness: disruptive innovation and adoptive innovation. To test such a relationship, we conduct a survey to collect data from 159 blockchain-based ventures. The findings indicate that the novel business model strongly entices disruptive innovation, but it does not influence blockchain-based adoptive product innovation. The results also indicate that the efficient business model strongly encourages blockchain-based product adoptive innovation, but it strongly discourages blockchain-based disruptive product innovation. Further, our analysis shows that the firm’s disruptive technological capability strengthens the positive relationship between the novel business model and disruptive product innovation, but it weakens the positive relationship among the design efficiency and adoptive innovation. Additionally, we found that the disruptive technological capability strongly entices blockchain-based entrepreneurial firms to favor disruptive product innovation over adoptive product innovation.

Optimization and Application of the Wine Neophobia Scale

Wine consumers’ willingness (wine neophilia) or reluctance (wine neophobia) to try new wines represent, respectively, an opportunity or barrier for product innovation and market development in the wine industry. Here, we first sought to validate and optimize the Wine Neophobia Scale (WNS) in a large sample of 1269 Canadian wine consumers. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that a seven-item scale was optimal. This modified WNS (mWNS) was then used to investigate demographic and behavioral correlates of wine neophobia. Using lower and upper quartile values, 316 neophiles and 326 neophobes were identified. Wine neophiles and neophobes did not differ with respect to gender or age; however, neophobes had lower household income, education, and wine involvement, and reported consuming fewer wine styles than neophiles. Interestingly, while neophiles drank wine considerably more frequently than neophobes—a finding that is mediated by wine involvement—total annual wine intake did not differ between the groups. Importantly, the price typically paid per bottle of wine also varied with wine neophobia. We recommend adoption of the modified mWNS as a useful tool for more fully understanding the drivers of wine behavior and providing guidance to wine marketers.

Knowledge base, technology gap and technology development speed in technological catch-up: innovation choice for China's knowledge-intensive enterprises (KIEs)

PurposeWith the fierce competition in a knowledge economy, knowledge-intensive enterprises (KIEs) make technological progress in their catching-up processes through implementing product innovation and process innovation. In this study, the aim is to understand the determinants of enterprise innovation type in China's catch-up environment. Further, this paper intends to deal with two related questions. First, what effect does the internal knowledge base have on KIEs' technology innovation activities? Second, considering the technology gap and technology development speed, what are the different impacts of the knowledge base on the type of technology innovation activities?Design/methodology/approachThis paper collected data from 212 KIEs in China through a two-stage questionnaire survey, combined with statistical data for research. The hypothesis was tested by regression analysis. Specifically, descriptive statistics and regression analysis are introduced to test the hypothetical relationship between the knowledge base and technology innovation. Meanwhile, multiple regression is used to test whether there is any difference in the influence of technology gap and technology development speed on enterprise knowledge base and technology innovation. Finally, the corresponding robustness tests are done.FindingsThis study finds that in a sample of Yangtze River Delta KIEs, firms' knowledge base influences innovation types. Specifically, the knowledge base width (KBW) and knowledge base depth (KBD) positively influence process innovation, and KBD positively affects product innovation. Regarding the effects of catch-up context factors on KIEs’ innovation choice, a wide technology gap tends to positively influence product innovation in industries with high levels of KBW. Moreover, when technology development speed is high, its potential positive influence on process innovation will be more significant for industries with deeper knowledge bases.Originality/valueThis paper fills the research gap that existing studies ignore the relationship between types of technology innovation and knowledge base dimensions, especially for KIEs. First, this paper deepens the understanding of the impact mechanism of KIEs' existing knowledge base on innovation activities; the unique use of resources by enterprises is the basis of enterprises' competitive advantage and will become enterprises' competitive advantage. Second, this study indicates that against different backdrops of technology gap and technology development speed, enterprises with different knowledge bases will adopt different types of technology innovation activities. Third, this paper shows that a wider technology gap provides broader innovation space, so the technology gap plays a pulling role in KBW and product innovation, thus pushing forward enterprises' technological catch-up.

Product innovation in entrepreneurial firms: How business model design influences disruptive and adoptive innovation

Blockchain technology has the potential to drive product innovation in various industries. This emerging technology is an important enabler of the next generation of new ventures. Our study examines the effects of the business model designs of blockchain-based entrepreneurial firms on the scope of product innovation, including disruptive innovation and adoptive innovation. To test this relationship, we conduct a survey to collect data from 159 blockchain-based ventures. The findings indicate that the novel business model strongly entices disruptive innovation but does not influence adoptive product innovation. The results also indicate that the efficient business model strongly encourages adoptive product innovation, but strongly discourages disruptive product innovation. Further, our analysis shows that the firm's disruptive technological capability strengthens the positive relationship between the novel business model and disruptive product innovation but weakens the positive relationship of design efficiency with adoptive innovation. Additionally, we found that the disruptive technological capability strongly entices blockchain-based entrepreneurial firms to favor disruptive product innovation over adoptive product innovation.

Identifying the Causal Relations by Actor Association and Mediation Contribution to Realize Product Innovation in Local Industries by Covariance Structure Analysis

Identifying the Causal Relations by Actor Association and Mediation Contribution to Realize Product Innovation in Local Industries by Covariance Structure Analysis