Industry Clockspeed Research Articles

Alternative Approaches to Innovation Project Portfolio Governance

The governance of projects is often treated operationally, as project portfolio management. Project portfolio governance is more strategic and continuous than project portfolio management, but its various approaches are weakly understood. This study explores project portfolio governance in innovative companies. The resulting framework characterizes governance approaches in terms of the authority given to portfolio actors and the rhythm of using governance practices. Differences among the delegated, regulated, and consultative governance approaches appear to stem from the industry clock speed, innovation portfolio type, and organizational context. This study differentiates project portfolio governance approaches as part of organizational project management governance.

The Tortoise and the Hare: Industry Clockspeed and Resilience of Production and Knowledge Networks in Montréal’s Aerospace Industry

AbstractA central challenge in current cluster policy discussions is how to build innovative clusters that are resilient to external shocks. We examine the Montréal aerospace industry to explore cluster resilience. The case is interesting since it recently experienced two industrial shocks: Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 and Bombardier’s sell-off of its flagship CSeries in 2020. Surprisingly, in the wake of the two radical disruptions, the cluster fared quite well in terms of employment and export performance. Using the method of abductive reasoning to find a-matter-of-course explanation of the surprising case, we observe that a low speed of aircraft development and production – a low industry clockspeed – stabilizes local production and knowledge networks through five mechanisms: long-term contracting, R&D cost sharing, production planning, social networking, and technology solidifying. Inspired from the case, we theoretically explore how fast (e. g., fashion and cellphones or the hare) and low (e. g., shipbuilding and aerospace or the tortoise) industry clockspeeds lead to different configurations of firm relations and are thus associated with different types of economic resilience.

Catching up with the market leader: Does it pay to rapidly imitate its innovations?

In this study we attempt to shed more light on the relationship between speed of new technology imitation and the sales performance of the imitator compared to the innovator, with a particular focus on the performance outcomes resulting from the rapid imitation of technologies introduced by the market leader. Using data on handset technologies mounted on more than 600 devices introduced to the UK market by 14 mobile phone vendors operating from 1997 to 2008, we study hundreds of imitative actions to test hypotheses on the extent to which an imitator can catch up (i.e., reduce the market share gap) with the market leader by rapidly imitating its innovations. First, we show that gaining advantage by rapidly imitating a technology pioneer is contingent on whether the pioneer is the market leader or a non-leader rival. Second, we find that the risks of rapid imitation of the market leader's technologies are mitigated when industry clockspeed is high, i.e., during a period of fast innovation and imitation cycles in an industry, resulting in rapid variations in product design. Third, we observe that the degree of competitive responsiveness of the technology pioneer when its innovations are imitated represents an important mechanism that can explain why speed of imitation may affect how an imitator can improve its market share gains relative to the pioneer. This paper advances competitive dynamics and imitation as predictive theories of how rapid imitators might catch up with market leaders in technology-intensive industries.

Long-term focus and attitude toward entrepreneurial behaviors: the moderating effect of industry-clockspeed

Purpose This study aims to identify and examine the antecedents of attitude toward entrepreneurial behaviors (ATEB) of firms. Additionally, this study also identifies and examines the antecedents of innovativeness and proactiveness. Furthermore, this study explains how factors within and outside the organization affect ATEB, innovativeness and proactiveness. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the attention-based view (ABV) and examines the effects of long-term focus and industry clockspeed on attitude toward firms’ entrepreneurial behaviors (EB). This study measures ATEB by analyzing the top management team’s words in the earnings conference calls. It applies the two-stage least squares regression with fixed effects and instrumental variables to conduct the empirical analysis. Findings The results indicate that the direct effects of long-term focus and industry clockspeed on ATEB are not significant. However, the moderating effect of industry clockspeed on the relationship between long-term focus and EB is significant and positive. The results indicate that firms that are operating in fast clockspeed industries exhibiting long-term focus exhibit EB. Furthermore, the results also indicate that long-term focus and industry clockspeed collectively affect innovativeness and proactiveness. Practical implications This research helps firms to develop entrepreneurial behavior operating under various task environment conditions. Originality/value This study applies the ABV of the firm and contributes to the area of firm-level EB, while prior studies have not implemented this perspective in investigating firm-level EB. Past studies have not applied the ABV of the firm to study EB, innovativeness and proactiveness either independently or collectively.

The moderating effect of industry clockspeed on Lean Manufacturing implementation in Zimbabwe

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the moderating impact of industry clockspeed (IC) on the relationship between Lean Manufacturing (LM) practices and operational performance. A model for evaluating the impact of LM is developed and the moderating effect of IC is taken into consideration as a fundamental variable that affects the causal relationship between LM practices and operational performance.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation model was proposed and investigated across two groups based on IC level (Group 1: low IC and Group 2: high IC). A structured survey questionnaire was used to collect empirical data from 600 companies listed by the Confederation of Zimbabwean Industries. A total of 214 usable questionnaires were obtained giving a response rate of 35.6 percent. The data were analyzed using Smart PLS 3 and SPSS version 25.FindingsThe results revealed that LM practices directly and positively affected operational performance and IC had a positive moderation effect on the relationship between LM practices and operational performance. The results indicated that the structural equation model remained invariant across the groups. This showed that IC had a moderating effect on the relationship between LM practices and operational performance for both low IC and high IC industries.Originality/valueThe study analyzed the moderating effect of IC in Zimbabwean industries. The study will provide further evidence to managers on the impact of LM practices on operational performance in developing countries.

Industry Clockspeed and Firm Response to Environmental Regulations in the Indian Automobile Industry

Industry Clockspeed and Firm Response to Environmental Regulations in the Indian Automobile Industry

Clockspeed, competition, and cooperation: incumbent motives and the market for ideas

Entrepreneurs seeking to pioneer new technologies face a critical choice of how to commercialize their innovation into a market served by incumbent firms. Broadly, they may compete directly or seek a cooperative incumbent partner. Incumbents may not be motivated to cooperate, however, even in conditions theoretically advantageous for a cooperative strategy. Thus, technology entrepreneurs applying prior theory might disclose their innovation in pursuit of a cooperative strategy only to find no incumbents in the target industry interested in cooperating. This factor of incumbent motivation has not been sufficiently developed in the market-for-ideas literature. To address this shortcoming, we emphasize a strategic choice perspective to develop a theoretical framework articulating how incumbent motives for cooperating are affected by the nature of their competitive environment. We argue that the nature of industry clockspeed, the form and pace at which competitive advantages are eroded, affects incumbent motives for cooperating in different ways. For researchers, this suggests an important contextual extension of theory on the market for ideas. For technology entrepreneurs, our analysis suggests clockspeed, as an observable phenomenon, can inform not only their selection of a commercialization strategy but also the form and nature of their innovation.

Improving the predictability of business failure of supply chain finance clients by using external big dataset

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to help the financial institutions improve the predictability of business failure of supply chain finance (SCF) clients with the use of external big data set.Design/methodology/approach– A prediction model for the business failure of SCF clients was built upon different theoretical perspectives. Logistic regression method was deployed to test the model.Findings– The authors develop a model that illustrates several key determinants to predict the probability of business failure of SCF clients based on several theoretical perspectives. The results show that taxable sales revenue, frequency of making value added tax (VAT) payment, number of counterparty for VAT invoice issuance, frequency of VAT invoice issuance and firm age are negatively correlated with business failure of SCF clients while the VAT paid and industry clockspeed are positively correlated with their business failure.Practical implications– This paper shows how financial institutions can effectively leverage the external information sources through “unconventional” predictor variables in order to reduce the credit risks associated with business failure of SCF clients.Originality/value– This paper is one of the first to focus on the potential use of financial big data set from external sources to improve of predictability of financial institutions on the business failure of SCF clients. In addition, this paper is a pivotal study on the financial client risk assessment based on taxpaying behaviors, tax amount, firm and industry characteristics.

Pacing and Industry Clockspeed: Performance Effects of Relative Innovation Speed and Variability

Empirical research on the performance effects of firm innovation speed has remained inconclusive. We argue that prior research has perceived higher innovation speeds overly beneficial as it missed out to consider industry clockspeed as the critical threshold speed firms need to surpass when they want to successfully compete with their rivals. Our longitudinal analysis of 243 S&P 500 firms and their respective industries between 2003 and 2012 supports this argument and establishes industry clockspeed as a critical threshold for firm innovation speed. Our finding of an inverted U-shaped performance relationship suggests that innovation speeds below or above industry clockspeed are characterized by inferior performance levels. Also counter to conventional beliefs, firms’ ability to dynamically de- or accelerate their innovation speed is not associated with linear positive performance effects, but characterized by declining marginal returns beyond the industry benchmark.

Managing consumer returns in high clockspeed industries

In this study, we address control policies to manage the collection of products that have been returned by consumers to retailers after they have been sold. Specifically, we model a consumer returns process where the operational decision of interest is the frequency in which returns are picked up from a collection point and then processed at a centralized location. Returns decay in value over time according to their industry clockspeed. Hence there is an intrinsic tradeoff in the decision – a longer interval between collections not only reduces transportation cost, but also reduces the value of asset recovery.We analyze a stylized model with a single collection point and a centralized returns processing center. Given an asset decay rate and a fixed transportation cost we determine the optimal collection interval. We later expand the analysis to the case of a capacitated returns processing center. We also explore the value of information (number of returns held at the collection point) sharing between a collection point and the central processing facility. We find that the voi is quite sensitive to parametric settings ranging upwards to over 20% with a median value of 5.0%. We find that the voi increases with respect to the asset value decay rate and the rate of returns, while it decreases with respect to the shipping cost.

Beating competitors to international markets: The value of geographically balanced networks for innovation

Being able to launch new products internationally is critical for technology-based ventures to recoup the high costs of R&D and to exploit their innovations fully. Despite the widely recognized importance of networks within the innovation development process, there appear to be contrasting viewpoints as to whether local or foreign network partners contribute more in the race to internationalize. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of comparative advantage, we propose and empirically confirm that ventures pursuing a balance of local and foreign network connections for the development of an innovation are able to bring the product more rapidly into the international marketplace. Furthermore, both innovation complexity and industry clockspeed heighten the importance of geographic network balance to the speed of product internationalization.

Internal lean practices and operational performance

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the effect of internal lean practices on multiple operational performance dimensions, and assess the contingency perspective of these relationships with respect to industry clockspeed.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on empirical data gathered from 228 manufacturing companies in the Republic of Ireland. The relationships between the constructs are analyzed through regression analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that the relationships between internal lean practices and quality, delivery, flexibility and cost were found to be positive and significant. Further, industry clockspeed was found to moderate the relationship between internal lean practices and quality, delivery and flexibility, but not cost.Practical implicationsWhile internal lean practices can improve operational performance, managers should be aware that internal lean practices are not universally applicable, and the rate of change within an industry should be considered at the time of implementing lean principles.Originality/valueMuch of the lean literature tends to be biased towards its effectiveness. However, empirical evidence shows that not all lean implementation have led to positive results, which has been attributed to the general complexity in the relationship between internal lean practices and performance. We propose to investigate further this relationship by disaggregating operational performance into four of its dimensions, namely quality, delivery, flexibility and cost, and by investigating the possible contingency effect of industry clockspeed.

"The Clock Is Ticking! CEO Temporal Depth, Industry Clockspeed, and Competitive Action Speed"

We develop and test an integrated framework of time that illustrates how the CEOs’ subjective time orientation and the external objective clock time together predict firms’ competitive behaviors. S...

Assessing the effect of industry clockspeed on the supply chain management practice‐performance relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the effect of industry clockspeed on the relationship between supply chain management (SCM) practices, from both upstream and downstream sides of the supply chain, and SCM performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a questionnaire sent to manufacturing companies in the Republic of Ireland. The relationships between the constructs are analysed through regression analysis.FindingsThe results suggest that the relationship between SCM practices and SCM performance is not monotonic across varying levels of industry clockspeed. Although mixed support was found for the hypothesized relationships, this research contributes considerably to the theoretical development of the contingency view in the SCM literature.Practical implicationsManagers should be aware that the rate of change in their industries can affect the way SCM practices across the supply chain impact on SCM performance.Originality/valueThe literature review has shown that empirical studies which address the relationship between SCM practices and SCM performance provide mixed results. One possible explanation lies in the contingency theory. This paper contributes to the theoretical development of the contingency view in the SCM literature by showing that industry clockspeed affects the way SCM practices impact on SCM performance.

Measuring industry clockspeed in the systemic industry context

Industry clockspeed has been used in earlier literature to assess the rate of change of industries but this measure remains limited in its application in longitudinal analyses as well as in systemic industry contexts. Nevertheless, there is a growing need for such a measure as business ecosystems replace standalone products and organisations are required to manage their innovation process in increasingly systemic contexts. In this paper, we firstly derive a temporal measure of technological industry clockspeed, which evaluates the time between successively higher levels of performance in the industry's product technology, over time. We secondly derive a systemic technological industry clockspeed for systemic industry contexts, which measures the time required for a particular sub-industry to utilise the level of technological performance that is provisioned by another, interdependent sub-industry. In turn, we illustrate the use of these measures in an empirical study of the systemic personal computer industry. The results of our empirical illustration show that the proposed clockspeeds together provide informative measures of the pace of change for sub-industries and systemic industry. We subsequently discuss the organisational considerations and theoretical implications of the proposed measures.

Industry clockspeed's impact on business innovation success factors

PurposeThe literature prescribing important determinants of innovation success is grouped into four main areas encompassing strategic leadership, competitive intelligence, management of technology, and specific characteristics of the company's innovation process. Further, industry clockspeed has been considered to be a possible moderator for these determinants of innovation success. While these major areas of study may indeed be important to enhance company innovation and competitiveness, the existing literature on each area is not being shared by researchers in the other areas. That has led until now to the study of models relatively narrow in scope and primarily focused on the particular research area. This study aims to test these constructs as a set of determinants of innovation success and the possible moderating effect of industry clockspeed.Design/methodology/approachA field test using a mailed questionnaire to collect a relatively large sample has been used to test the proposed model. To eliminate possible multicollinearity among the independent variables, a multivariate regression analysis was used.FindingsThe results provide clear evidence about the importance of industry clockspeed as a moderator of the relationships between strategic leadership, competitive intelligence, management of technology, and specific characteristics of the company's innovation process with company success in business innovation. Also, the company's change process as defined here is equally important to low and high clockspeed industries for successfully implementing business innovations.Research limitation/implicationsDespite the relatively broad scope of the proposed model, other factors may also be important and should be included in future studies.Practical implicationsThe items used for measuring the main constructs provide further and more specific insights into how managers should go about developing these areas within their organizations.Originality/valueWhile the study is grounded in the literature of what until now have been four separate areas of knowledge, it proposed an integrated model for these areas important to business innovation, and empirically tested the model.

Environmental Factors, Managerial Processes, and Information Technology Investment Strategies

Although significant research attention has been directed at understanding the value of information technology (IT) investments for firms, very little attention has been paid to understand the IT investment behavior of firms. This article seeks to fill this void. We introduce the concept of IT investment strategy, defined by dimensions of intensity and proactiveness, to characterize the IT investment behavior of firms. Synthesizing the environmental deterministic and strategic choice perspectives of a firm's strategic decision making, we examine the effects of environmental factors, managerial processes, and the interplay between them on IT investment strategy. Specifically, we examine the impact of environmental factors such as industry clockspeed and information intensity on IT investment strategy. We also incorporate the strategic choice perspective to argue that managerial processes such as frequent chief executive officer—chief information officer communications and collective information systems planning play a critical role in shaping the firm's IT investment strategy. The empirical results show that the environmental variables are related to IT investment strategy. Besides, managerial processes serve as a means to understand the environment and thus moderate the relationships between the environmental variables and the various facets of IT investment strategy. The conceptualization of IT investment strategy and the focus on both environmental determinism and strategic choice should enrich our understanding of firms’ IT investing behavior.

Strategic dalliances as an enabler for discontinuous innovation in slow clockspeed industries: evidence from the oil and gas industry

The concept of ‘strategic dalliances’– defined as non‐committal relationships that companies can ‘dip in and out of,’ or dally with, while simultaneously maintaining longer‐term strategic partnerships with other firms and suppliers – has emerged as a promising strategy by which organizations can create discontinuous innovations. But does this approach work equally well for every sector? Moreover, how can these links be effectively used to foster the process of discontinuous innovation? Toward assessing the role that industry clockspeed plays in the success or failure of strategic dalliances, we provide case study evidence from Twister BV, an upstream oil and gas technology provider, and show that strategic dalliances can be an enabler for the discontinuous innovation process in slow clockspeed industries. Implications for research and practice are discussed, and conclusions from our findings are drawn.

Risk management through learning: Management practices for radical innovation success

The study investigates a subset of management practices that may contribute to success of radical innovation efforts by large established firms. We focus on that subset of practices concerned with learning oriented approaches to risk management. Three such practices are examined: a) a real options approach to funding and evaluating projects, b) propensity to experiment in the marketplace, and c) commercialization of early applications quickly, which we call a harvesting strategy. Building on the learning, resource based view and dynamic capabilities literatures we argue that these three practices will facilitate radical innovation success. Industry clockspeed is incorporated as a moderator of the relationships between these practices and various manifestations of radical innovation success. Data collected from 85 high level individuals involved in radical innovation efforts in large firms indicate that real options approaches and experimental learning have strong positive effects on all measures of RI success, while harvesting strategies impact the development of new competencies, but not the other RI success measures. Harvesting strategies are more impactful when industry clockspeed is low.

Realizing business value of agile IT applications: antecedents in the supply chain networks

This research develops a framework for organizational value creation from agile IT applications. Based on the four themes in the business value research--business process perspective, complementarities, application level of analysis, and extent of use--three antecedents (organizational fit, process assimilation, and network adoption) are identified as pre-requisites for realizing the value of agile supply chain applications. Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems are used as examples, and two case studies for their implementation in the electronics and consumer goods industry are reported to support the propositions. The theories of diffusion of innovation, complementarities, network externalities, and technology structuration are applied to develop the propositions for fit, assimilation, and network effects. Information sharing and industry clockspeed are identified as the moderating factors in the proposed model. The framework has both managerial and research relevance. The research guides managers regarding ways to more fully realize the value of agile applications and forms a basis for future research on the business value of IT applications.