Innovation Capability Of Firms Research Articles

R&D investment and the arrangement of innovation capabilities in Brazilian manufacturing firms

This paper aims at identifying the different arrangements of innovation capabilities for firms with different levels of R&D investment. The four innovation capabilities model (development, operations, management and transaction) by Zawislak et al., (2012) was crossed with the three level – low, medium and high – R&D intensity classification by Legler and Frietsch (2007). A multiple regression was applied on data from a survey of 1,331 Brazilian manufacturing firms, results clearly show different arrangements of innovation capabilities for each level of R&D investment. Operations capability does not generate innovation performance in any level. Development capability becomes increasingly relevant to performance, as R&D investment increases, on the other hand, management and transaction capabilities turn to be less prominent.

Knowledge sharing serves as a mediator between collaborative culture and innovation capability: an empirical research

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the correlation between collaborative culture, knowledge sharing and innovation capabilities in Chinese firms.Design/methodology/approachThis paper used structural equation modeling to examine the level of how collaborative culture and knowledge sharing impact on two types of innovation capabilities (product innovation and process innovation) based on using data collected from 77 Chinese firms.FindingsThe research findings show that knowledge sharing plays a mediating role between collaborative culture and two specific types of innovation, namely, product innovation and process innovation. The paper first confirms the moderating role of ownership form in the relationships between knowledge sharing and innovation capabilities. The results underline the necessity of building a collaborative culture to stimulate employees’ knowledge sharing behavior, which in turn positively promotes innovation capabilities in an organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper has not evaluated the relationship between latent variables under the condition of moderating variables of individual characteristics (such as optimism and self-efficacy) or firm characteristics (such as industry type, firm size and firm age). Further research should examine the moderating effects of these variables to have clearer relationship between the constructs.Practical implicationsThis paper offers leaders a deeper understanding of the effects of ownership forms and potential factors to promote innovation capabilities in their firms.Originality/valueThe paper has contributed to theoretical and practical initiatives on the theory of innovation management which enable firms to identify the necessary factors and mechanism to enhance firm capabilities for innovation.

Dimensions of Social Capital and Innovation Capabilities of Firms: The Performance of Information Technology as a Mediator

This paper empirically inquire the relation of social capital dimensions (relational social capital, structural social capital, and cognitive social capital), organization innovation capabilities, and the performance of information technology (IT) as a mediator in the said relationships. A total of 263 workers of different management cadres from software SMEs (Zhongguancun Software Park, Beijing, China) were randomly selected. However, 143 respondents submitted the complete response. Thus, the response rate was 54%. For the empirical investigation, the present paper uses Partial Least Squares, Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Importance-Performance Matrix Analysis (IPMA) techniques to analyze the survey data. The direct and indirect relationship between dimensions of social capital and organizational innovation capabilities is significant. However, IT generates a partial mediation effect. IPMA highlights the importance of relational and structural social capital to innovation capabilities, however, IT is indicated as the key driver that trigger the effect of social capital on organization innovation capabilities. Future studies guidelines and limitations are explained at the end of this paper.

Dimensions of Social Capital and Innovation Capabilities of Firms The Performance of Information Technology as a Mediator.

Dimensions of Social Capital and Innovation Capabilities of Firms The Performance of Information Technology as a Mediator.

Technological intensity and innovation capability in industrial firms

Purpose Over time, technological intensity has been used as a proxy for innovation capability of firms in an industrial sector. However, not only firms belonging to the stratum of high technological intensity are able to innovate. Therefore, this study aims to explore a potential association between technological intensity and innovation capability in firms from different industrial sectors, using the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s classification and the components of innovation capability proposed by Zawislak et al. (2012, 2013). Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an exploratory research with four case studies focusing on the innovation capability of Brazilian firms. Findings The results show that the four firms, each belonging to one stratum of technological intensity, have innovation capability, and the differences regarding this feature can be explained by the balance and development of all firms’ capabilities (technological, operational, managerial and transactional). Originality/value In the literature, studies that relate technological intensity and innovation capability are scarce. Therefore, the originality of this research is to relate these two concepts. The most important is that firms can be innovative regardless of their stratum of technological intensity, which shows the importance of other capabilities to ensure the innovation’s success.

Managing innovation in the hospitality micro firm: A framework for sensing, seizing and reconfiguring dynamic capabilities

Abstract Hospitality micro firms, those with fewer than ten employees, represent the vast majority of hospitality providers worldwide. Innovation is regularly cited as a core capability in sustaining micro firm success; however, little is known about how dynamic innovation capability is developed and honed in the hospitality micro firm environment. This discussion paper advocates taking a theoretical perspective on hospitality micro firm managerial capability for innovation based on dynamic capabilities. Specifically, the article argues the benefits of a framework based on sensing, seizing and reconfiguring dynamic capabilities as a means of building an innovation culture within the micro firm. The discussion contributes to the academic literature in providing a new theoretical perspective on an emerging research area – hospitality micro firm innovation capabilities. The contextual nature of the framework developed offers both researchers and practitioners a management framework to improve innovation management in the hospitality micro firm setting.

Transformational Leadership Facilitates Innovation Capability: The Mediating Roles of Interpersonal Trust

Innovation capability is widely accepted as an important means to attain sustain competitive advantage for firms before the rapidly changing of business environment and increasingly competitive pressure. The main goal of this study is to explore an effective way to successfully improving innovation capability for firms based on examining the relationship between transformational leadership style, interpersonal trust, and innovation capability of Vietnamese firms. The authors apply Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) to test the impacts of transformational leadership, interpersonal trust on innovation capability by using data collected from 195 participants in Vietnamese firms. The result revealed that transformational leadership and interpersonal trust significantly affect innovation capability. In addition, interpersonal trust mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and innovation capability. The findings highlights the need of practicing transformational leadership to foster employee trust and finally to enhance innovation capability for firms. The findings of this study contribute to filling the theoretical gaps which call for research on antecedent factors of innovation capability.

Resource constraints, innovation capability and corporate financial fraud in entrepreneurial firms

PurposePrevious studies have produced inconsistent findings regarding the effects of resource constraints on corporate illegal behavior. This study aims to explore how entrepreneurial firms can overcome the difficulties generated by resource constraints.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on insights from general strain theory and focusing on listed entrepreneurial firms, this study proposes that failure to obtain enough resources through listing generates strain in the managers of listed entrepreneurial firms, driving them to resort to corporate financial fraud as a solution. Nevertheless, such relationships between resource constraints and the likelihood of corporate financial fraud can be weakened by innovation capability, because innovation capability can generate more confidence in their managers and relieve their strains, thereby dissuading them from engaging in corporate financial fraud.FindingsAccording to our empirical results, both financial and human resource constraints are positively related to the likelihood of corporate financial fraud in listed entrepreneurial firms, but such effects can be mitigated by innovation capability.Practical implicationsThis study provides practical implications for both regulators and managers by indicating that although entrepreneurial firms with resource constraints are more likely to commit financial fraud, innovation capability could be a strategic approach to enhance managers’ confidence and relieve the strain.Originality/valueOur study contributes to the literature by enriching our understanding of the consequences of resource constraints in entrepreneurial firms and highlighting the strategic importance of innovation capability in mitigating such effects.

Factors influencing technology and innovation capability in the Nigerian indigenous oil firms

Factors influencing technology and innovation capability in the Nigerian indigenous oil firms

Factors influencing technology and innovation capability in the Nigerian indigenous oil firms

This study investigated the factors influencing technology and innovation capabilities in Nigerian indigenous oil and gas firms. Primary data were collected through the use of questionnaire to elicit information from 150 indigenous oil firms. The result of the ordered logit regression showed that the extent of the firm's R&D captured by in-house R&D and R&D fund allocation were significant at 10% level of significance. Also, work experience of staff, qualification of staff and size of technical staff which captured human and knowledge capital of firm were significant in influencing the firms' technology capabilities. Acquisition of advanced machinery, firm's size and age and training were also significant in influencing technology capabilities of indigenous oil firms. The study suggests that both government and industry should ensure improvement in extensive training, R&D and education of the work force to enhance local capabilities in oil and gas field development.

EVALUATING INNOVATION CAPABILITIES OF REAL ESTATE FIRMS: A COMBINED FUZZY DELPHI AND DEMATEL APPROACH

Due to strong competition, numerous technology advancements and the monetary policy of the government, the survival of Indian real estate firms now depends on their capacity to measure their existing innovation capabilities, rebuild them and adopt new ones. The aim of this study is to evaluate the technology and human resources innovation capabilities of Indian real estate firms by applying fuzzy Delphi and DEMATEL techniques. After identifying the innovation capabilities through an extensive literature review, a questionnaire is designed based on fuzzy linguistic scales to manage any vagueness of information received. Data has been collected from experts in the field, with capabilities then finalized by using a fuzzy Delphi method. To establish cause-effect relationships among capabilities, a DEMATEL method is applied to the data collected from a second questionnaire. Analysis of the data divides capabilities into two groups i.e. cause and effect. The results show that innovation management, robustness of product and process design capability, strategic planning and knowledge resources fall in the cause group; these are critical findings given the effect on the other capabilities. The study outcomes can help real estate firms to enhance their capabilities with the proposed model providing guidelines and direction in this regard.

Innovation Through Boundary Spanning

Innovation is considered the engine for firm growth. Especially innovations, through recombining seemingly unrelated knowledge streams, can have groundbreaking impact and lead to sustained competitive advantage. To generate such innovation, firms often need to go beyond their existing technological or geographical boundaries to identify and integrate novel knowledge elements. This article refers to firms' knowledge activities of drawing upon distant knowledge (i.e., knowledge from dissimilar technological domains or distant geographical regions) to create novel technological solutions, as innovation through boundary spanning. Aiming to investigate the roles of information technology (IT) in facilitating innovation through boundary spanning, we collected data from the pharmaceutical industry over a six-year period to test the research model. The data analysis results indicate that IT supports boundary-spanning activities in firm innovation and different IT-enabled knowledge capabilities affect boundary-spanning innovation differently.

The Reciprocal Relationship of Innovation Capabilities and Socioemotional Wealth in a Family Firm

This paper deals with entrepreneurship in family firms by researching how technology‐based innovation capabilities influence the socioemotional dimensions of the owning family and vice versa. In combination with dynamic capabilities, the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective offers a framework that enables an investigation of the nature of innovation capabilities in family firms. Studying a single firm, we identify a positive reciprocal relationship between innovation capabilities and SEW. We find that this reciprocal relationship within the family business presents itself in a synergistic fashion, yielding synergies between financial wealth and SEW. The findings contribute to the literature on entrepreneurship and innovation in family businesses.

Knowledge sharing and firm innovation capability in Croatian ICT companies

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically distinguish the influence of the individual factors (enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy), organizational factors (top management support and organizational rewards) and technology factors (information and communication technology use) on knowledge-sharing processes.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through a survey of 196 employees from large ICT companies in Croatia, and structural equation modeling was used to investigate the research model.FindingsResults of the empirical research indicate that enjoyment in helping others as an individual factor, top management support as an organizational factor, and ICT use as a technology factor significantly influence knowledge-sharing processes. The results also suggest that the willingness of employee to donate and collect knowledge enables the firm to improve innovation capability. No influence of the individual factor knowledge self-efficacy on the employee knowledge-sharing behavior was found within this research.Research limitations/implicationsSubjectivity of respondents, Likert scale – perception, and future research can include higher number of population and examine how personal traits (such as age, level of education, and working experience) and organizational characteristics (such as firm size) may moderate the relationships between knowledge enablers and processes.Practical implicationsFrom a practical perspective, the relationships among knowledge-sharing enablers, processes, and firm innovation capability may provide a guide regarding how firms can promote knowledge-sharing cultures to sustain their innovation performance.Originality/valueThis study identifies several factors essential to successful knowledge sharing, and discusses the implications of these factors for developing organizational strategies that encourage and foster knowledge sharing.

Stimulating technological innovation through incentives: Perceptions of Australian and Brazilian firms

Innovation has been the main driver of economic growth as it plays an increasingly central role in firm performance. Incentivising innovation by governments is essential to stimulate investment by companies, covering part of their R&D costs, and minimising their financial risks. There is, however, limited understanding of how innovation incentives are perceived by the companies. This paper examines the perceptions of technology firms, and the views of key actors about public incentive schemes for innovation in Australia and Brazil. The study finds that: (a) Direct incentives are perceived as critical for increasing innovation capabilities of firms; (b) Where tax incentive and infrastructure development schemes are the most preferred incentive programs among the firms; (c) However, despite the former two findings, effectiveness of existing incentive programs has been marginal in fostering innovation significantly in the studied countries. These findings imply that Australian and Brazilian governments should further focus on the design, promotion, and delivery methods of the innovation support mechanisms.

Network Embeddedness and Firm Innovation: An Empirical Research on Strategic Emerging Industries in China

The impact of strategic emerging industries alliance innovation network on firm innovation capability has been paid great attention by firms and academia. Supported by the social network analysis theory and method, we take the listed companies network embedded in the strategic emerging industries as an example, and use negative binomial regression to study the impact of network embeddedness on firm innovation capability. The empirical results show the firms embedded in alliance networks with better betweenness centrality will have greater innovative output in one or two years later; the liner relationship between the whole network density and the innovation ability is not obvious, but has a significant inverted U type effect, in other words, the firms embedded in alliance network with moderately dense connection will have greater innovative output. These conclusions will provide new scientific basis for firms to develop alliance activities and for relevant government departments to make alliance policies.

Elastic and plastic innovation capability in firms

PurposeAlthough the extant innovation literature has extensively explored the attributes of different types of innovation capability, little is known yet about the common phenomenon of the rebound and durableness of innovation capability. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to address these aspects by introducing the concepts of elastic and plastic innovation capability.Design/methodology/approachBased on the behavioral theory of the firm, the authors propose a theoretical model to study the antecedents and outcomes of elastic and plastic innovation capability. An empirical testing involves two data sets that contained 183 companies in three industries. The empirical evidence supports the existence of the concepts of elastic and plastic innovation capability.FindingsThe research findings also demonstrate that a firm’s past performance is positively related to elastic innovation capability. Elastic innovation capability and organizational aspiration are positively related to plastic innovation capability. Both elastic and plastic innovation capability significantly lead to superior performance.Originality/valueThis study makes three main contributions to the existing innovation literature. First, the authors extend existing knowledge on innovation capability by proposing two new types of innovation capability – elastic and plastic innovation capability. Second, the proposed concepts of elastic and plastic innovation capability contribute to the theory of dynamic capability. Finally, this study reveals the micro-mechanism of elastic and plastic innovation capability from the perspective of the behavior theory of the firm and their different effect on firm performance.

Dissecting Guanxi: It‘s Impact on Knowledge Sharing and the Innovation Capability in Chinese Firms

Dissecting Guanxi: It‘s Impact on Knowledge Sharing and the Innovation Capability in Chinese Firms

Regional Innovation Systems in Sweden

Over the past two decades, social scientists and governments have been paying more and more attention to regions as designated sites of innovation and competitiveness in the globalizing economy. Thus, innovation and innovation systems are becoming increasingly interesting to policy‐makers as ways of achieving their economic and social goals. Europe 2020, the European Union’s key strategy for the current decade, aims to foster a smart, sustainable, and inclusive economy. “Innovation has been placed at the heart of the strategy”, as it provides the “best means of successfully tackling major societal challenges” (European Commission 2010, p. 2). The new age of capitalism requires a new kind of region. In effect, regions are increasingly defined by the same criteria and elements which comprise a knowledge-intensive firm: continuous improvement, new ideas, knowledge creation and organizational learning (Florida 2003, p. 236). The increased policy and research interest in regional clusters and innovation systems reflects the growing significance of the regional level, and the importance of specific and regional resources, for stimulating the innovation capability and competitiveness of firms. The social and interactive practice of innovation also points to the importance of the relationship between the firm and its environment. The learning economy perspective affirms that learning and innovation are localized, not placeless processes (Storper 1997). Thus, it emphasizes that innovation is a territorially-embedded process, based not only on resources that are place specific but also on social and institutional contexts (Asheim, lsaksen 2002). This paper describes the role of innovations in Sweden and Swedish regions in development and growth, mainly by analysing the concept of regional innovation systems. Moreover, the actors and associations from the innovation system perspective are pointed out in the article. An analysis of the policy documents and a literature overview was the basis of the empirical material. Data comes from the OECD and EUROSTAT databases.

How to Improve Innovation Capability? : The Role of Intellectual Capital and Organizational Motivation of Manufacturing Firms in Sri Lanka

The intellectual capital creates a crucial factor for the achievement of the innovation of firm. Numerous studies have been documented that intellectual capital positively influences innovation capability, which is conceptualized as the degree to achieve its firm performance. However, there is a lack of studies examining the specific means through which organizational motivation influences innovation capability at firm level. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to exhibit the Intellectual capital effects on firm innovation capability by influence the organizational motivation. This study investigates the multidimensional and contingent gradual effect of intellectual capitals and organizational motivation on innovation capability. Manufacturing sectors have shown commendable progress over the past few decades in Sri Lankan. The structured questionnaires were administrated as a research instrument and random sampling technique was used to collect the data from 462 senior executives and senior managers from manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka. The study revealed that the intellectual capital have significant positive relationship on innovation capability with strong influence of organizational motivation. The intellectual capital mediated by organizational motivation that lies outside and inside of the firm have an indirect effect on innovation capability. The findings of this study will be useful for manufacturing industry to apply intellectual capital management and identify organizational motivation to create innovation in their organizations.