Innovation Management Literature Research Articles

Allocating resources to disruptive innovation projects: challenging mental models and overcoming management resistance

This research, based on four in-depth case studies, probes an overlooked unit of analysis in innovation management literature, namely, management action and cognition, and offers a new qualitative contribution into resource allocation approaches that support radical innovation. The interpretivist approach revealed that a management team's resource and path dependencies and prevailing mental models underpin resource allocation routines, which prevent managers from pursuing radical innovations. Of particular interest were the innovations that disrupt and re-shape the existing terms of economic engagement in established industries. It was found that managers with restrictive mental models will adopt up to five disruptive innovation rejection strategies: rewarding incrementalism; ignoring the positive aspects of disruptive innovations; focusing on historical perceptions of success; creating perceptions of success with high effort; and holding beliefs in the face of disconfirming information. Initial longitudinal data suggests that rejection strategies can be overcome with holistic portfolio approaches.

Technological Diversification, Coherence, and Performance of Firms

Technological diversification at the firm level (i.e., the expansion of a firm's technology base into a wide range of technology fields) is found to be a prevailing phenomenon in all three major industrialized regions,—the United States, Europe, and Japan—prompting the term multitechnology corporation. Whereas previous studies have provided insights into the composition of technology portfolios of multitechnology firms, little is known about the relationship between technological diversification and firms' technological performance. Against a backdrop of the technology and innovation management literature, the present article investigates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance, taking into account the moderating role of technological coherence in firms' technology portfolios. Hereby, technological coherence is defined as the degree to which technologies in a technology portfolio are technologically related. To measure the technological coherence of portfolios, a measure of technological relatedness of technology fields is constructed based on patent citation patterns found in 450,000 European Patent Office (EPO) patent grants. Two hypotheses are presented here: (1) Technological diversification has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with technological performance; and (2) technological coherence moderates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance positively. These hypotheses are tested empirically using a panel data set (1995–2003) on patent portfolios pertaining to 184 U.S., European, and Japanese firms. The firms selected are the largest research and development (R&D) actors in five industries: pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; chemicals; engineering and general machinery; information technology (IT) hardware (i.e., computers and communication equipment); and electronics and electrical machinery. Empirical results, obtained by fixed‐effects negative binomial regressions, support both hypotheses in the present article. Technological diversification has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with technological performance. Technological diversification offers opportunities for cross‐fertilization and technology fusion, but high levels of diversification may yield few marginal benefits as firms risk lacking sufficient levels of scale to benefit from wide‐ranging technological diversification, and firms may encounter high levels of coordination and integration costs. Further, the results show that the net benefits of technological diversification are higher in technologically coherent technology portfolios. If firms build up a technologically coherent diversified portfolio, the presence of sufficient levels of scale is ensured and coordination costs are limited. At the same time, technologically coherent diversification puts firms in a better position to benefit form cross‐fertilization between technologies. The present article clearly identifies the important role of technological coherence in technology diversification strategies of firms.

INTRA-ORGANISATIONAL KNOWLEDGE DRIVERS IN THE INPD PROCESS: THE CASE OF WATTYL LIMITED

While several frameworks have attempted to incorporate knowledge management within the principles of innovation, there is still scant evidence of the influence of key drivers that facilitate intra-organisational knowledge transfers to improve international new product development (INPD) processes. We draw on three related literature streams focusing on parts of the organisation, innovation and knowledge management literature and present a conceptualisation of drivers that tend to influence knowledge flows between R&D centres in three international locations. Our results are based on R&D and product managers' experiences and perceptions at Wattyl Limited, a multinational Australian manufacturer of paint and coating products. The findings demonstrate that a value-creating innovation depends on a number of internal knowledge drivers that facilitate the INPD process. They also add to further clarifying some conceptual issues in the extant literature. We also draw attention to specific messages for R&D and product managers involved in INPD processes.

Using biological models to improve innovation systems

PurposeA strong and fast‐cycle innovation system has been developed to counter the ongoing threat of computer viruses within computer systems employing vulnerable operating systems. Generally, however, the innovative applications that develop in response to each generation of computer virus can be seen as a reactive, rather than proactive, critical response. The paper seeks to present a critique of the innovation system that has emerged to combat computer viruses by comparing it with its natural system namesake, the human anti‐viral immune system. It is proposed that the relevance of this analogy extends beyond this case to innovation systems more generally.Design/methodology/approachThis paper discusses the biological theory related to the human body's immune system and how immune systems might be mimicked in the development of security systems and anti‐virus software. The paper then outlines the biomimicry framework that can be used for scoping the development and features of the security systems and software, including the population of the framework segments. The implications of biomimetic approaches in the wider innovation management literature are discussed.FindingsSome commercial security products that are undergoing evolutionary development and current research and development activities are used to augment the biomimetic development framework and explicate its use in practice. The paper has implications for the manner in which the objectives of innovation systems are defined. There is implicit criticism of linear models of innovation, that by their nature ignore the recursive and/or adaptive processes evident in natural systems.Originality/valueThis is the first paper, to the best of the authors' knowledge, that discusses the application of natural systems and biomimetics to broaden the scope of innovation process design, and link its findings back to the wider innovation literature.

Emotional and learning capability and their impact on product innovativeness and firm performance

Learning capability, as a part of organizational capabilities, is an important factor for product innovativeness. The antecedents of the learning capability of the firm should be expanded to leverage the understanding of how firms can develop new products with success. The human resources management and organization behavior literature indicates that emotional capability of a firm has an impact on learning capabilities. Nevertheless, emotional capability in general and its impact on learning capability, product innovativeness, and firm performance in particular is not discussed in the technology and innovation management (TIM) literature. In our investigation of 106 firms, we found that: (1) a firm's level of emotional capability (including the dynamics of display freedom, experiencing, reconciliation, and identification constructs) has a significant affect on the firm's learning capability (composed of the managerial commitment, systems perspective, openness and experimentation, and knowledge transfer and integration); (2) a firm's emotional capability influences its product innovativeness via learning capability; and (3) a firm's product innovativeness, influenced by emotional and learning capability, significantly impacts the firm performance.

Why do some UK SMEs still find the implementation of a new product development process problematical?

PurposeThe long‐term survival of a business often hinges on its ability to successfully introduce new products into the marketplace. These new products and their successful development can be the lifeblood of a company. This paper aims to examine why product development delays occur in SMEs, the nature of these delays, and what can be done in order to avoid them.Design/methodology/approachThis research is exploratory in nature and provides empirical support to several propositions found in the innovation management literature on the development of new products.FindingsVarious reasons for delays in new product development are found, including poor definition of product requirements, technological uncertainties, senior management support, lack of resources, and poor project management. Major concerns raised included management and organisational style, lack of attention to detail, limited support for innovation, lack of strategic thinking, and poor manufacturing capabilities.Originality/valueThe consistent development and introduction of new products that customers value can be an important criterion for business growth and prosperity. Suggestions to help accelerate the NPD process in SMEs are presented, including active and visible senior management commitment, early involvement of functional groups, the introduction of new work methods, early market/technical testing, and effective new product organisations.

A Collective Action Model of Institutional Innovation

We introduce a collective action model of institutional innovation. This model, based on converging perspectives from the technology innovation management and social movements literature, views institutional change as a dialectical process in which partisan actors espousing conflicting views confront each other and engage in political behaviors to create and change institutions. The model represents an important complement to existing models of institutional change. We discuss how these models together account for various stages and cycles of institutional change.

Translating knowledge to build technological competence

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a review of literature that establishes the factors affecting the ability of an organisation to absorb and apply knowledge. The review aims to draw from literature on the resource‐based view of the firm, dynamic capabilities, organisational learning, knowledge management and technological innovation. The paper then seeks to present a model of knowledge translation capability synthesised from the literature review.Design/methodology/approachThe model that is synthesised from the literature review draws on three streams of work. First, the work of Dorothy Leonard on technological capability; second, the I‐space model of knowledge assets developed by Max Boisot; and third, other work based in the organisational learning and innovation management literature. The model is illustrated using a case study of an innovation project.FindingsThe effective development of a knowledge translation capability requires attention to a network of both formal and informal structures/activities across an organisation. Together these activities constitute a dynamic capability that operates iteratively throughout the whole organisation and are an example of triple‐loop learning processes.Practical implicationsThe paper will prove useful to other academics in the area of technological innovation and practising managers who can use the model to evaluate their own organisation's knowledge translation capability.Originality/valueThe advantage of the model presented is that, unlike other discussions of dynamic capability, the link between conceptual level description and real world activities has been made more distinct. By recognising relevant organisational structures and relationships, it becomes possible to takes steps to assess their performance and then manage their improvement.

Life‐Cycle Flexibility: How to Measure and Improve the Innovative Capability in Turbulent Environments*

Managing innovation in rapidly moving environments, such as Interned‐based services, is a major challenge for the consolidated theories on product and service development. The innovation management literature identifies flexibility as the right way for coping with these challenges. By increasing the development process flexibility, it is possible to reduce the development time as well as the time and cost needed for last‐minute concept changes. But this is not enough. The product or service must also be flexible after it has been released: A life‐cycle flexibility (LCF) must be pursued. Focused on the Italian on‐line discount brokers industry, this article is a result of a two‐staged research process that started with a qualitative explorative phase (i.e., case‐study methodology) and ended with a quantitative explorative one (i.e., questionnaire methodology). It identifies three different LCF dimensions—frequency of adaptation, rapidity of adaptation, and quality of adaptation—and it defines a metric for each of them. Subsequently, it identifies five managerial and organizational practices that increase at least one of the three LCF dimensions: (1) to manage the back‐end technological competences; (2) to share the front‐end technological competences with external suppliers; (3) to utilize open and standard technologies; (4) to have a low formalization of the new service development (NSD) procedures; and (5) to have high formalization of the NSD organization.

Innovation in project-based firms: The context dependency of success factors

Innovation management literature typically concerns functionally organized firms. In this paper we investigate innovation management in a different type of firm, the project-based firm. Project-based firms, such as engineering and construction companies, consultancies and system integrators, are service firms that solely execute projects for clients. We focus on new service development projects in these firms. Based on an in-depth study of six projects in four different firms, we develop hypotheses on differences between success factors for development projects in project-based firms and in functionally organized firms. Some of the success factors for functionally organized firms, as described in the literature, appear to be more important in project-based firms, others seem redundant. Our findings suggest that the specific structure and capabilities of project-based firms provide an explanation for these differences.

New insights into consumer-led food product development

This paper builds upon a review of relevant marketing, consumer science and innovation management literature to introduce the concept of consumer-led new product development and describe its main implementation stages. The potential shortcomings of this concept's application in European food industry are described. Contrary to previous optimistic views, it is put forward that without significant changes taking place in the mindset of the organizations involved in Europe's food R&D, the way forward for consumer-led innovation strategies in the agri-business sector will be long and hard.

IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE ON INNOVATION TRAJECTORIES: THE CASE OF ICT INDUSTRY

Current innovation management literature and research statically differentiates between incremental and disruptive innovation, as far as the trajectory development is concerned. Incremental innovation is generally comprehended as an improvement of technology performance or product feature enhancement, whereas disruptive innovation is defined based on technologies previously new to the world, combined with their effects on markets. The authors of this research present how a convergence of several well-known, incrementally developing technologies can result in innovations with highly disruptive character in terms of innovation trajectories. Paradoxically, in disruptive situations, operative actions must be taken before strategic planning can be made, as the industrial and economic environment can be regarded as extremely uncertain. In this context, however, we argue that this special case caused by the convergence of technologies can serve to understand certain areas of emerging industrial disruptions and hence support the strategic planning and technology management of a firm acting in this area. The case of information and communication technology (ICT) industry is used to highlight this convergence phenomenon as a special case of emerging disruptive innovation. Based on this example, the process of innovations transforming from incremental towards disruptive due to convergence will be examined, and entrepreneurial recommendations for sustaining the competitive advantage and supporting value creation will be derived.

Future management research directions in nanotechnology: A case study

Leading experts believe that advances in nanotechnology will lead to dramatic changes in the way materials, devices and systems are understood and created. Generalizations about nanotechnology-based innovations abound in technical circles and in the media, where they are typically described as radical , their anticipated impact on firms as disruptive , and their effect on society as transformative . To-date, no articles have been published in peer-reviewed technology management research journals on the subject. This paper suggests that nanotechnology is a general purpose technology and that, as such, its applications will spread through many economic sectors with varying magnitudes and forms of impact on existing firms and industries. This paper also demonstrates how the innovation management literature can be used to guide further research aimed at anticipating the magnitude and nature of the impact of specific nanotechnology-based innovations.

The influence of project autonomy on project success

In this article, we address the following research questions: (1) What is project autonomy, how can it be measured, and how much autonomy is given in NPD projects? (2) Does project autonomy increase with project innovativeness? (3) Is project autonomy positively related to success of NPD projects? (4) Does the positive relationship between project autonomy and project success increase with innovativeness of NDP projects? Theses hypotheses are tested using a sample of 104 highly innovative NPD projects, gathered in the first wave of the research project INNOVATION COMPASS. The results show that instruments which are advocated in the mainstream innovation and venture management literature are more frequently used with increasing innovativeness. However, they do not increase success of NPD projects, even not for highly innovative ones. Instruments derived from the organizational behavior tradition are not used more often with increasing innovativeness, but they do significantly improve NPD project success, particularly for very innovative ones. We conclude: Firms should not easily follow fashions, which are derived from prominent case studies. Rather, they should also take into account possible negative consequences of the recommendations. Researchers should lay more stress in discussing and empirically analyzing negative effects of popular recommendations.

Indirect networks: an intangible resource for biotechnology innovation

In the context of the emergence of new modular organizational forms, especially in high-tech sectors such as the biotechnology sector, this article proposes that while a firm observes benefits from direct alliances, it also benefits from indirect linkages. First, a theoretical framework revolving around indirect ties is built on the basis of social network and innovation management literature. It ends with the proposition of two research hypotheses linking the indirect network position of a firm to its innovation capacities. To test those hypotheses, data on strategic partnerships and collaborations were collected through 40 interviews with biotech firms from the nutrition sector in the biotech clusters of Quebec (Canada). Using network analysis, centrality measures and hierarchical regressions, results of this study indicate that by occupying a central position in a network of indirect ties, a firm is more likely to access useful knowledge from its direct partners and increase innovation. We suggest, as a conclusion, that indirect network position could be considered as an intangible strategic resource for biotech firms.

Enterprise Resource Planning and the Price of Efficiency: The Trade Off Between Business Efficiency and the Innovative Capability of Firms

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) business software offers the integration of business functions and can reduce data collection and processing duplication efforts. It has become one of the most successful products in the world. For many firms such as Microsoft, Owens-Corning, ICI, UBS and Procter & Gamble, it has changed the way they work (see Gartner, How Procter & Gamble runs its global business on SAP, CS-15-3473, Research Note, 25 February 2002). The market leaders in this highly lucrative business-to-business market are SAP, Oracle, Baan and PeopleSoft. This paper reviews the ERP and innovation management literature in order to shed light on the potential problems that may exist in rigid ERP systems. It seems there is increasing evidence that firms fail to obtain the benefits of these investments within the anticipated timeframes (B. dos Santos and L. Sussman, Improving the return on IT investment: the productivity paradox, International Journal of Information Management, vol. 20, No. 6, 2000, pp. 429-440). Moreover, and possibly of greater concern is the affect on the firm's innovative ability. Especially in some creative working environments where previously autonomous and creative individuals are now being restricted to what's on offer via 'pull-down' menus.

Planned or experience-based processes for eco-design innovation: exploring product development driven by environmental performance targets

Eco-design research suggests that environmental considerations should be integrated with product development with no or only minor changes to existing development processes. These processes are expected to be systematic, predictable and thoroughly planned. This paper explores if this assumption is still valid when requirements on environmental performance call for more innovative product development. An analytic model is derived from innovation management literature and used to analyse the development of a new industrial gas turbine, a project for which challenging emission level targets meant that new combustion technology had to be applied. The main conclusion is that the application of new technology is followed by changes of the development process, meaning that development becomes guided by real-time experiences rather than by formal plans.

Is all communication created equal?: an investigation into the effects of communication mode on perceived information quality

Enhancing communication between functions is crucial to successful product development and management. Previous work in the product innovation management literature has made two implicit assumptions. First, that increasing the frequency of information dissemination from one function to the other always improves the perceived quality of the information received. The second assumption is that all types of interfunctional communication carry equal weight in the decision-making process of the target of that communication. The current study develops a typology of communication modes, which suggests a rationale for why these assumptions may not be true. The empirical findings of the study, based on a survey of 504 nonmarketing managers indicate that the relationship between total communication frequency and perceived information quality (PIQ) is nonlinear. Specifically, the study finds that marketing managers can either communicate too little or too much with nonmarketing managers. If they interact too infrequently, they run the risk of not understanding the way to most effectively communicate market information. If they communicate too much, they may overload the manager with too much information and erode the overall quality of the information sent. In addition, some modes of communication are more effective in improving perceptions of the quality of market information. For instance, regular e-mail sent by marketing managers seems to have no effect on perceived information quality. On the other hand, e-mail sent with supporting documentation can have a strong positive effect on perceived information quality. Impromptu phone calls by marketing have less positive effects than scheduled phone calls. Interestingly, too much of the wrong types of communication actually seem to reduce perceptions of perceived information quality, and consequently the likelihood that market information will be used. The study also suggests that certain kinds of communication are better for manufacturing managers and others more effective in sharing information with R&D managers. For instance, disseminating information through written reports seems to reduce perceived information quality. This is particularly true for R&D managers. On the other hand too many meetings can reduce perceptions of PIQ, particularly on the part of manufacturing managers. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Is All Communication Created Equal?: An Investigation into the Effects of Communication Mode on Perceived Information Quality

Enhancing communication between functions is crucial to successful product development and management. Previous work in the product innovation management literature has made two implicit assumptions. First, that increasing the frequency of information dissemination from one function to the other always improves the perceived quality of the information received. The second assumption is that all types of interfunctional communication carry equal weight in the decision‐making process of the target of that communication. The current study develops a typology of communication modes, which suggests a rationale for why these assumptions may not be true.The empirical findings of the study, based on a survey of 504 nonmarketing managers indicate that the relationship between total communication frequency and perceived information quality (PIQ) is nonlinear. Specifically, the study finds that marketing managers can either communicate too little or too much with nonmarketing managers. If they interact too infrequently, they run the risk of not understanding the way to most effectively communicate market information. If they communicate too much, they may overload the manager with too much information and erode the overall quality of the information sent.In addition, some modes of communication are more effective in improving perceptions of the quality of market information. For instance, regular e‐mail sent by marketing managers seems to have no effect on perceived information quality. On the other hand, e‐mail sent with supporting documentation can have a strong positive effect on perceived information quality. Impromptu phone calls by marketing have less positive effects than scheduled phone calls.Interestingly, too much of the wrong types of communication actually seem to reduce perceptions of perceived information quality, and consequently the likelihood that market information will be used. The study also suggests that certain kinds of communication are better for manufacturing managers and others more effective in sharing information with R&D managers. For instance, disseminating information through written reports seems to reduce perceived information quality. This is particularly true for R&D managers. On the other hand too many meetings can reduce perceptions of PIQ, particularly on the part of manufacturing managers. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Knowledge management as a catalyst for innovation within organizations: a qualitative study

The need for organizations to innovate and furthermore to ceaselessly innovate is stressed throughout the modern management literature on innovation. This need comes from increasing competition and customer demands and new market areas. Closely linked, but not synonymous, with innovation is the body of knowledge referred to collectively as knowledge management. Within this discourse knowledge is considered as a potential key competitive advantage, by helping to increase innovation within the organization. This paper focuses on the role of knowledge management in sustaining and enhancing innovation in organizations. In particular the paper seeks to establish a knowledge management model within which the principles of innovation can be incorporated. First, there is a brief review of the innovation and knowledge management literature and their respective synergies. From this literature a possible knowledge management model which incorporates innovation is suggested. Second, a research study is discussed which seeks to further examine and develop the model using an inductive grounded theory approach. The study involved socially constructed workshops representing 25 organizations, each of which constructed meanings in regard to innovation and the key areas of knowledge management as outlined in the model. Overall it was found that effective systematic knowledge management can incorporate innovation drivers in key areas which will result in both increased business and employee benefits. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.