Organizational Innovation Practices Research Articles

Awakening the giant within: turning SME’s survival strategy into improved performance

Purpose This study aims to examine the positive impact of strategies on the viability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in times of crisis. Specifically, it investigates the influence of resource utilization as an initial survival strategy on innovation practices and SMEs’ performance. It further assesses the potential impact of government aid and partnerships on the relationship between resource utilization and innovation. Design/methodology/approach This study used a mixed-method approach that integrates phenomenology and quantitative research. This phenomenological study conducted in-depth interviews with 23 SME owners. Based on qualitative findings, a quantitative research design was developed, and this study surveyed 352 SMEs. Structural equation modeling was used for hypothesis testing. Findings Resource utilization as an initial survival strategy has a positive effect on increasing organizational innovation practices and ultimately affects business performance. Furthermore, government support and external partnerships significantly enhance the relationship between resource utilization and innovation. Practical implications The COVID-19 pandemic brought a crisis for businesses but has provided many positive transformations. SME entrepreneurs should sustain their survival strategies and seize external support to enhance their potential. Due to the pandemic, various efforts have created innovations, honed business resiliency and increased competitiveness. Originality/value SMEs struggled with the crisis and responded by utilizing many retrenchment strategies. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence of an emergency response that has resulted in fruitful impacts. The findings can be generalized to represent the behavior of SMEs, especially in emerging countries.

Quality and Organizational Innovation: Competitiveness Tools in the Table Grape System

The research seeks to analyze quality management strategies as organizational innovation practices incorporated by table grape-producing organizations and their relationship with competitiveness. The data was obtained by elaborating a semi-structured interview script, which was applied to the managers or responsible people of the Sonoran table grape-producing organizations. The results allow us to recognize the main innovations organizations incorporate, specifically those related to organizational innovation. It was concluded that quality and organizational innovation are considered essential practices to generate competitive advantages in organizations since they generate knowledge, learning, and skills that drive decision-making aimed at business success.

Factors That Boost the Technological Capability of Malaysian Food Manufacturing Industry

The increasing urbanization of the world has created new issues and challenges for the modern food industry to meet customers’ changing demands. To address these issues, these firms need to invest in technological capability development. This study examines factors that affect the technological capability of food manufacturing firms. A large-scale survey of a sample of 270 food manufacturing firms in Malaysia was conducted. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the observed variables. The result shows that organizational innovation fully mediates the relationship between organizational learning and technological capability. Overall, the findings suggest that food manufacturing firms in Malaysia that want to enhance their technological capability should focus on developing and implementing organizational innovation practices, in addition to other strategies and practices that aim to promote organizational learning and innovation. This research contributes to the development of related theories and has practical implications for the stakeholders in the food manufacturing industry.

Assessing Firm Readiness to Adopt Cluster-Based Innovative Projects: A Segmentation Analysis

As innovation has garnered substantial attention on corporate success and sustainability, organizations must evaluate internal contexts to determine potential innovative practices and benefits. Firms need to investigate the determining factors of innovation preparedness as organizational innovation practices are catalyzed through internal elements. This study evaluates small and medium firms’ readiness to adopt and execute collaborative innovative projects within a future cluster and its impacts on organizational advantages, intentions, and attributes. Thereby, three dimensions were considered in examining organizational preparedness, namely, climate, culture, and motivation. A total of 70 firms operating in the labeled agri-food sector in Morocco were interviewed and homogenously classified using integrated hierarchical and non-hierarchical algorithms, following a segmentation approach. Three segments were identified, stressing the degree of organizational readiness to undertake innovative projects within future service clusters. The segments varied according to the firm’s sub-sector, experience, and resources. Considering the association of readiness with benefits and practical aims, the results broaden firm preparedness understanding to adopt innovative projects. The results also illustrate the relevance of adapting both innovative and beneficial project arrangements for firms with minor to moderate experience while addressing current issues across different segments.

Organizational Innovation Implications for Manufacturing SMEs: Findings from an Empirical Study

Building on the theories of organizational innovation and reconciling structural and procedural perspectives of organizational and managerial processes, this study assesses the impact of organizational innovation practices on organizational performance. An empirical study of more than 600 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from various industries was conducted to investigate the role of cross-functional teams, quality management systems, workplace organization and outsourcing, and external relationship management within sustainable innovation management strategies. Based on the empirical results, suggestions for further research and recommendations for SME leaders and practitioners are made. This study proposes insights that contribute to theoretical and practical discussions on promoting the systematic management of innovations in SMEs.

The role of external information sources in organizational innovation in Nigeria

Traditionally, the focus of strategic management studies has been on technological innovation. However, recent studies have shown rising importance of non-technological innovation to firms’ productivity, especially in developing country contexts. One limitation in empirical firm innovation analyses this study attempts to resolve, is the role of information sources in driving non-technological (organizational) innovation in a developing country context. Developing countries rely on knowledge from external sources to make up for their deficiencies in R&D capability to drive their innovation efforts. Using pooled, cross-sectional data from two rounds of Nigeria’s Innovation Surveys, this study assesses the role of external information sources in organizational innovation practices in Nigeria. A comparative analysis of the manufacturing and service sectors was also undertaken. Using a multivariate probit analysis, our results provide strong evidence of heterogeneity in firms’ information sources used in implementing organizational innovation practices in Nigeria. Most information sources which drive organizational innovation practices in manufacturing firms do not have an impact on service firms. The study recommends sector-specific polices to drive organizational innovation in developing countries.

Organizational Innovation Instrument to Industry: Focusing in the U Theory

This study highlights the organizational innovation practices of a glass processing plant, in order to promote radical change in the assumptions of Theory U. The question to be answered is how Theory U can be used to develop the innovative system of an organization. The overall objective of this research is to study an organization’s effort to innovate from the standpoint of its employees; and to achieve a specific interpretation of a production system by (1) improving, and (2) describing how Theory U can be used for organizational innovation, before (3) proposing a model of innovation for the organization under study. The qualitative and quantitative research is developed by the Case Study Method. It involves raising the awareness of employees working in the organization to highlight management’s planning efforts, in order to improve their organizational and pro-innovation behavior. The main result is a technical treatment of the management of the production system, in order to induce organizational innovation. It prioritizes the construction of an innovative model, with Theory U as a working tool. In addition, it is found that organizational innovation requires participatory planning. Operational success requires the employees to be wholeheartedly committed to improvement and constantly offering suggestions in order to contribute to organizational change; this maintains a vision that sustains competitiveness; The results allow us to offer an innovation model that prioritizes employees’ perceptions and break away from outdated behavior based on top-down industrial structure, in which the directors monopolize the decisions that restrict teams of workers to routine tasks.

Public-sector green procurement in the United Arab Emirates: Innovation capability and commitment to change

This paper examines various internal factors that influence green-procurement implementation in the public sector of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by investigating the relationships between the innovation capability of organizations and green-procurement implementation with the mediating impact of employees’ commitment to change.A structural model is proposed using scales from literature. Primary research data was collected using a cross-sectional survey involving 50 respondents from public-sector organizations in Abu Dhabi. Results revealed that the innovation capability of the organization has a positive influence on green-procurement implementation. In addition, employees’ commitment to change influences green-procurement implementation.This paper contributes to the literature by studying green-procurement implementation in the UAE's public sector, in which new constructs to existing concepts are introduced and tested. This paper also complements contemporary knowledge on green procurement, organizational innovation, and environmental practices. The paper emphasizes that top management and government officials must reevaluate their own personal values and commitment to certain issues as they formulate green-procurement policies, regulations, and training programs designed for procurement officials within the UAE's government organizations.This paper is expected to have multiple theoretical and practical implications to the study of green procurement in the UAE public sector and beyond and could set the stage to conduct more studies this field in the UAE in order to support the changes to come.

Relationship between the organizational memory and innovativity: the case of software development companies in the southern region of Brazil

This paper focuses on the relationship between the Organizational Memory (OM) and Organizational Innovation (OI) practices of Software Developers. This industry is meaningful for the economy and has significant transversality of performance; at the same time, it is highly dynamic and inventive. These traits corroborate our research choice around OM practices, since they help understand the makings of innovative environments. Based on extant research and validated reference models, we analyze practices and actions used by companies for the creation of a favorable environment that is conducive to OI. A group of software development companies operating in the southern region of Brazil was selected from the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES), Association of Technology Companies of Santa Catarina (ACATE), Association of Brazilian Information Technology Companies of Paraná (ASSESPRO-PR) and Union of Information Technology Companies (SEPRORGS) organization database, using a non-probabilistic sample, due to the explicit desire and availability to participate in the study. Under the conceptual model, statistical analysis led us to the conclusion that there is a significant relationship between the OM functions and their influence in the innovative corporate environments. As firms become more mature and reach market consolidation, the model indicates that the OM retention function becomes increasingly more important, leading to an environment that is more efficient regarding innovativity.

The determinants and complementarity of organizational innovation practices among Nigerian manufacturing and service firms

This paper gives an overview of organizational innovation practices within the context of a developing country, Nigeria. Using innovation survey data from 2008 and 2011, the paper provides an analysis of the complementarity or otherwise of organizational innovation practices used by manufacturing and service firms in the country. The consistent co-occurrence of different organizational innovation practices suggests that they are complements rather than substitutes. Results of our multivariate probit analysis show a clear pattern in the manufacturing sector, with complementarity between all the organizational innovation practices. There are however marked differences between the manufacturing and service sectors, suggesting that innovation policies should be sector-specific.

Empresas multinacionales, derramas de conocimiento y spin-off en México. ¿El país de origen hace la diferencia?

This article analyzes brain drain in multinational businesses (mnb’s) in Mexico and the formation of spin-offs that result from foreign investment. We also offer a new analysis of findings from the “Multinational Firms in Mexico: A study of organizational structure, innovation, and employment practices” survey. We suggest that the level of centralization and the business model of each mnb is related to its country of origin, and that these factors may explain the emergence of spin-offs and the level of involvement these spin-offs have with global value chains.

The Impact Of Leadership Behavior On The Business Growth Through The Organizational Innovation And Managerial Practices

The main objective of this empirical study is to determine the affect of leadership behavior with the organizational innovative techniques and managerial practices on the businesses’ growth in Pakistan particularly in textile sector. Firstly, the study discusses the relationship between leadership behavior and organizational innovation, between organizational behavior and managerial practices. Furthermore, this relationship is also measured between organizational innovation and business growth and between managerial practices and business growth. Secondly, the study investigates that these relationship are strongly reinforced in the firm with the support of theoretical evidences made but not determined theoretically in the prior literature. Managerial practices take place in textile community for interaction in which organizational cognition is developed and expanded dynamically between the cognitive and behavioral changes. Organizations with greater organizational acquisition and practices create a learning network that will become easier to learn that what they use to learn and to initiate, enabling the firm to preserve its effective and competitive aversion as a textile technological center. Nomothetic research method is applied to test the hypothesis, developed for this study. The research examined a sample of one hundred ten textile firms with sample unit of senior managers, executives, administrative and other-level managers. A research model is formulated for the study and hypotheses are tested with the use of structural equation model. This study purposes that the leaders of firms initiate a transformational role, which facilitate organizational innovation and managerial performances and consequently enhance the business growth especially in textile firms.

Areflection on and Suggestion of Service Design Processes

Background: Along with increasing discussions of Service Design (SD), designers’ perspective, approach, activities, and methods for service innovation have been explored as a design-led contribution to service innovation. SD processes have also been developed, strongly informed by general design processes. However, there is a lack of investigations taking a critical view on these SD processes in light of their relation to organizational innovation practices. Methods: A literature study on SD and service innovation processes was conducted to confront SD activities from the design perspective with organizational innovation activities from the business perspective. This enabled the SD processes and activities to be contextualized within the organizational innovation process, suggesting potential limitations of SD processes. Moreover, the opinions of 7 SD experts in UK SD agencies were integrated with the theoretical insight. Results: As a way to guide the development of future SD process frameworks, three agendas, an action plan, and an analytical framework have been suggested. Through the construction of these conceptual tools, this study argues for a shift of an approach to innovating SD processes from the activity-centered description of a design perspective, approach, and activities toward the outcomeoriented demonstration of them in the context of organizations. Conclusions: This study forms a basis for the development of SD processes that better reflect the organizational process and practices. Although SD has been growing as an arena for design research and practice, its activities and approaches can have a significant and transformational value only when they are linked to organizational innovation practice.

The differentiated impacts of organizational innovation practices on technological innovation persistence

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to test the major determinants of technological (product and process) innovation persistence and provides evidence of the significant role of organizational innovation.Design/methodology/approach– Data came from two waves of the Luxembourg Community Innovation Survey (CIS): CIS2006 for 2004-2006 and CIS2008 for 2006-2008. The longitudinal data set resulted in a final sample of 287 firms. A multinomial probit model estimates the likelihood that each firm belongs to one of three longitudinal innovation profiles: no, sporadic, or persistent innovators.Findings– The determinants have differentiated impacts on process and technological innovation persistence. Organizational innovation influences technological innovation persistence. In the analysis of detailed organizational practices, strong evidence emerged that knowledge management exerts a crucial effect on product innovation persistence; workplace organization instead is associated with process innovation persistence.Research limitations/implications– The relationships of innovation persistence, organizational innovation, and firms’ economic performance demand further exploration. The different persistence patterns of complex (process and product) and simple (process or product) innovators also are worth investigating.Practical implications– Organizational innovation matters for technological innovation persistence. However, the effects of non-technological innovation differ depending on whether the firm wants to innovate in processes or products. Managers must acknowledge these various effects and select appropriate strategies.Originality/value– Few works account for the impact of organizational innovation strategies on technological innovation. This study is the first, based on recent CIS data, to address the role of organizational innovation practices for technological innovation persistence, which appears necessary for the sustainable dynamics of firms, industries, and regions.

Promoting Sustainability of Microfinance via Innovation Risks, Best Practices and Management Accounting Practices

Abstract Revolution in the business environment has crucial growing changes on most globalized markets. Numerous organizations are necessitating towards producing more proactive entrepreneurs with a dynamic teams, who can run and steer their business to victory. Revolutionizing on business strategy and entrepreneurial skills, also implementing innovation and practices to enhance its performance are necessary for these organizations to be more cost-efficient and increase their efficiency. The study aims to clarify issues of whether measurement has a positive effect on different aspects of innovation and best practices. The study contributes to the current understanding in three ways; firstly by presenting the important aspects of organizational innovation and best practices. Secondly, it shows the importance of measurement in promoting different aspects of innovation and best practices. And thirdly, it examines the link between innovation, best practices and sustainability in microfinance. The study has been executed by conducting a qualitative study toward the microfinance industry. A representative of management and employees in each company was selected through an invitation to participate in getting information for data collection purpose in the study. The study contains a comprehensive description of the impacts of measurement on different aspects of innovation and best practices towards sustainability in both microfinance industries and SMEs. Findings from this study show that performance measurement has positive effects on issues related to innovation and best practices. The measurement for several aspects of innovation and best practices has good potential in microfinance industries. Additionally, measurement on innovation and best practices are positively related with each other to enhance organization performance. The study suggests that both academics and practitioners should focus on the development of new methods and practices to describe and scrutinize further understanding for measuring issues which is related to innovation and best practices, in order to better develop the aspect of innovation and best practices towards sustainability. This effort would not only contribute to firm's success, but also toward the development of the nation in the developing countries.

Complementarities in organizational innovation practices: evidence from French industrial firms*

Organizational innovation favours technological innovation. Yet the question of which organizational practices should be combined – that is, their compatibility – remains unanswered. This empirical investigation of patterns of complementarity considers three organizational practices: business practices, workplace organization, and external relations. Firm-level data drawn from the 2008 French Community Innovation Survey and supermodularity tests confirm the crucial role of organizational innovation in increasing firms’ innovation. The pattern of complementarity among organizational practices differs according to the type of innovation (i.e. product or process), as well as the type of measure used to assess technological innovation performance. These results highlight the complexity of managing organizational practices to encourage firm innovation.

Harvesting organizational knowledge and innovation practices

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of organizational knowledge and innovation practices on the outcomes of operations strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a survey‐based method to test a theoretically grounded set of hypotheses using regression techniques.FindingsThe results indicate that cost, quality, delivery and flexibility outcomes are influenced by specific organizational knowledge and innovation practices. Also, the findings show that innovation performance mediate the relationship between knowledge practices and operations strategy.Practical implicationsAcquiring knowledge is not enough. Managers need to facilitate dynamics of knowledge sharing and utilization to cultivate a better level of technical and administrative innovation performance, which in turn will result in favourable operations strategy outcomes.Originality/valueThe paper is one of the first studies that highlight knowledge and innovation practices in relation to operations strategy in one study applied to a developing country context.

Technological Innovation Persistence: Literature Survey and Exploration of the Role of Organizational Innovation

In this paper, we will review the literature on technological innovation persistence and provide a general theoretical framework to analyze the main determinants of this innovative behavior. Moreover, no previous empirical study has taken into account organizational innovation practices as possible determinants of innovation persistence. We will therefore include them, as previous studies have shown the interaction effects between the two types of innovation, and produce empirical results on technical innovation persistence. A multinomial probit model was used to estimate the likelihood of belonging to each of the three longitudinal innovation profiles. Results confirm the differentiated impact of determinants on process and technological innovation persistence, and the effect of R&D intensity, R&D cooperation and competition intensity. As hypothesized, we also found that organizational innovation is a determinant factor for innovation persistence and, more generally speaking, for technological innovation, in particular organizational practices such as knowledge management and external partnerships.