Radical Process Innovation Research Articles

The role of fields of study for the effects of higher education institutions on regional firm location

The literature on knowledge spillovers provides evidence that higher education institutions (HEIs) positively affect regional firm location (i.e., start-ups or firms located in a region). However, less is known about how HEIs in different fields of study impact regional firm location in different industries. To investigate this question, we exploit the establishment of universities of applied sciences (UASs)—bachelor’s degree-granting three-year HEIs in Switzerland. We find that the effects of UASs are heterogeneous across fields of study and industries. UASs specializing in “chemistry and the life sciences” and “business, management, and services” are the only UASs that positively affect regional firm location across several industries. Positive effects emerge in service industries characterized by radical service, incremental product, or process innovations. Thus, UASs are not a one-size-fits-all solution for increasing regional firm location. Instead, only UASs specializing in particular fields of study positively influence firm location in certain industries.

Translators' Perceptions on Open Source Translation Tools: Trados and OmegaT

In the last century, great technological development has changed the working principles and methods of institutions and professions worldwide and has started a radical innovation process. While it eliminated those who could not keep up with this innovation, it raised those who did to be the best in their fields. One of the professions affected by this change is undoubtedly translation. Translation technology systems are widely used by translators all over the world today and have a large market. Translators' use of translation technologies more effectively and accurately ensures that their translations are carried out more accurately and in a faster time, and it has become the indispensable equipment of a good translator in the historical process. This has given vital meaning to translation technologies such as translation memories and machine translations. The benefits of translation technologies to the translator are many. Although many studies have been conducted on the problems experienced by translators and the limitations and advantages of translation technologies in general, there are very few studies on the problems experienced by translators individually about the use of translation technologies, the problems they experience and their attitudes. The aim of this article is to identify the various problems that translators experience while using computer-assisted translation tools, to reveal the reasons for using the programs they frequently use, and to get the comments of the translators who use alternative options. By employing a document analysis approach to collect data, the article presents a descriptive analysis of opinions. This analysis is between the paid Trados program, which is known to all translators, and the free alternative program OmegaT. The user comments of the Proz forum, which is known worldwide by translators, are used in the analysis. An analysis is presented by listing the positive and negative opinions about both computer-aided translation tools. The article presents some suggestions regarding translation education based on the findings.

Radical innovations as supply chain disruptions? A paradox between change and stability

AbstractSupply chains withstand multiple tensions, and some of which are paradoxical. Radical product and process innovations bring such tensions to the forefront by disrupting supply chains. Using two illustrations, this article considers the paradoxical tension between change and stability in upstream supply chains, which becomes particularly salient after radical innovation. Furthermore, the article discusses why and how paradox theory can help firms understand and manage this pressing tension between stability and change. This article then presents future research opportunities for using paradox theory to investigate other persistent post‐innovation tensions in upstream supply chains. The aim of this article is to encourage new studies that develop responses to such paradoxical tensions, an area ripe for research.

Radical and Incremental Innovations as Critical Leveragers of a Firm's Financial Performance: Best Practices from Tesla and Toyota

Even if the rippling effects of radical and incremental innovations often bolster a firm's overall effective financial performance, managing all kinds of innovation activities is often not a linear process that induces the desired outcome and profitability levels. Thus, given the high rivalrism in the global car market, this paper offers a critical analysis of Tesla and Toyota's radical and incremental innovation management strategies so as to extract the best practices that can be emulated by other innovation ventures to bolster their competitiveness and financial performance. Methodology used in such analysis entailed a systematic review and synthesis of the existing online data, academic journals and textbooks on Tesla and Toyota's radical and incremental innovation management strategies. Combined with the interview of twenty personnel from car dealers in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland about their perceptions of Tesla and Toyota's innovative products, outcomes of such systematic review were triangulated with the core radical and incremental innovation management theories to discern how they offer coherent explanation of Tesla and Toyota's innovation space and management strategies. Though Tesla and Toyota seem to use similar radical and incremental innovation management strategies of search, select, implement and capture, Toyota was still found to have a radical product innovation disadvantage that undermines the development of better EVs to counter Tesla's premium EVs. Similarly, Tesla also has a radical process innovation deficiency that affects the development of cheaper and affordable EVs to further erode Toyota's market dominance. Given such findings, the paper highlights some of the best radical and incremental innovation management practices that can be emulated by different innovation ventures to create, deliver and capture the desired innovation values that can bolster their overall competitiveness and financial performance.

The Impact of Product and Process Innovations on Productivity: A Review of Empirical Studies

This article draws attention to insufficient research interest in the empirical assessments of the impact of product and process innovations (PPI) on economic performance. The analysis of the relevant studies for 2000–2022 found significant international and intersectoral differentiation of the considered linkages between innovation and productivity. It revealed limitations for the meaningful interpretation of the array of results accumulated in the literature. The author emphasizes the importance of an integrated multi-perspective approach to assessing the possible impact of PPI on various aspects of enterprise and industry performance when planning public innovation policy. For example, minor product innovations can make a tangible positive contribution to a company's sales growth, but have no impact on labor productivity at all. The impact of a radical resource-saving process innovation will look doubtful if it is evaluated only on a short time interval. The author concludes that it is expedient to revise established views on industrial technological innovations and develop new approaches to their measurement.

A VALUES-BASED APPROACH TO RADICAL INNOVATION: FACILITATING THE REINTERPRETATION OF CORE VALUES THROUGH DESIGN-DRIVEN PRACTICES

This paper contributes to a growing body of literature on values-based approaches to innovation. In particular, we explore the role that core values should have in radical innovation processes and in guiding the ability of organisations in learning and unlearning, i.e., identifying and developing abilities and competences coherent with the values of the organisation. First, the paper provides a conceptual explanation: it clarifies and highlights the characteristics and implications that core values should have when considered within a radical innovation approach, in particular their ability to be embodied in design objects (meaningful to internal individuals and external customers), and their ability to be open to contingency, deriving their strength from their ability to evolve and be reinterpreted. Secondly, based on this, we put forward a design-driven and interpretation-based facilitation method to support organisations in making sense of their past and future core values and illustrate this method by positioning it when compared with other existing methods. An overview of the outputs of the method and their knowledge value for the organisation together with an illustration conclude the paper.

Achieving radical process innovations by applying technology-mindset transformations via second-order system-dynamics engineering

This study independently confirms and advances Ringberg, et al.’s (2019) perspective that technology and mindset need to be analyzed in combination, as they are fundamentally co-joined albeit with different levels of abstraction. Here, the study describes and applies “second-order systems dynamics engineering” (SOSDE) as both a macro and micro transformation catalyst for shifting from traditional manufacturing to enhance implementing radical process and product innovations. SOSDE refers to inputting new catalysts in functioning systems by simulating system design improvements (e.g., inputting new sustainability processes and objectives in production while maintaining current production efficiency and financial performance objectives). The study here describes SOSDE in poultry products manufacturing but the propositions advanced are applicable across a wide span of industries. This study contributes by integrating prior organizational mental models, production economics, industrial marketing, and systems engineering principles in empirical applications. This study demonstrates the manufacturing design possibilities for simultaneously achieving high financial performance and high ESG (environment, social, and governance) performances by phasing in production innovations and converting production wastes into profitable new products.

Continuous improvement behaviors and impacts on innovation

PurposeThis paper investigates whether adopting continuous improvement (CI) behaviors is related to better radical and incremental product and process innovation performance and identifies whether CI behaviors positively affect respondent perceptions on CI contributions to innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 139 firms in Brazil, and cluster analysis was used to identify groups with different CI adoption levels. The nonparametric Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test was used to verify differences in innovation performance at companies via manager perceptions on CI and innovation.FindingsData show that more CI behavior implementation was associated with better product and process innovation performance. Furthermore, companies with more mature CI behavior levels innovate more, which may reinforce CI investments.Practical implicationsOrganizational managers focused on innovation should dedicate time to evaluating and developing CI behaviors, and maturing CI philosophies to improve performance. This study can contribute to the literature by offering insights for developing public policies, especially for emerging economies, or for companies seeking to become more competitive, since CI can foster and promote a culture of long-term innovation.Originality/valueDespite the fact that a relationship between CI and operational performance has already been established, there is still a lack of research that identifies the impacts of CI behavior on innovation. Focusing on CI behavior is important because it can be fostered by various programs and improvement initiatives, highlighting paths for managerial practices and academia. This study was conducted for an emerging economy.

Focusing On Learning Or Performance? How Goal Orientation Influences BMI In Dynamic Environments

Business model innovation (BMI) is a radical innovation process, requiring managers to focus on specific goals and to implement complex choices over time. In this paper, we explore the consequences of managers’ learning and performance orientation on BMI, explaining their relevance in dynamic environments. We explore these themes in the context of creative industries, delivering a survey to managers across the sectors of design, architecture and gaming. We show the positive influence of learning orientation on BMI, and we explain how the dynamism in the environment stimulates this positive effect. Our study mainly contributes to business model innovation research, exploring the triggers of BMI and showing its specific characteristics as innovative process. In addition, we contribute to goal orientation research, showing the consequences of different goal orientations for radical innovation processes in dynamic environments.

How quality management can enhance performance? A model of relationships mediated by innovation

The aim of this study is to analyse how soft and hard quality management (QM) practices enhance incremental and radical product and process innovation, and operational and financial results, and the paths from QM to financial results via innovation and operational results. The paper examines these relationships applying Partial Least Squares (PLS) and using data from 105 firms. The results show that soft QM is associated with hard practices, with incremental and radical product and process innovation, and with operational and financial results, but hard issues have no positive association with innovation, nor with operational and financial results. The results also show the path from soft QM to: (a) operational results via innovation, and (b) financial results via innovation, via operational results, and via both innovation and operational results. This study adds to the literature the mediating role of both innovation and operational results on the relationships between soft QM and financial results. It contributes to practitioners by showing the importance of both innovation and operational results to strength the association between QM and financial results, and the different paths from QM to financial results.

The front end in radical process innovation projects: Sources of knowledge problems and coping mechanisms

When companies in process industries take radical leaps in product innovation, these new products often fall outside the “process window” of existing production processes and hence require extensive production line modifications and radical process change. Consequently, firms need to deal with high degrees of uncertainty, complexity, equivocality and ambiguity in the front-end. These four knowledge problems constitute important challenges to managers and engineers when a new process definition is created. Prior research into the front end of process innovation is limited, and for radical projects close to non-existent. We analyse six radical process innovation projects situated in the food processing industry in the United Kingdom and provide three key contributions. First, we uncover the underlying sources of knowledge problems, and the specific coping mechanisms used to address them. Second, we offer a framework that delineates the relationships between the sources of knowledge problems, the knowledge problems per se, and the coping mechanisms which enable more effective decision-making regarding the creation of process concepts and definitions. Finally, we extend prior studies of the front end by revealing the challenges faced with respect to ambiguity, thus providing a more granular understanding of fuzziness. Altogether, these findings provide important theoretical and practical implications.

Radical Innovation Process in Sustainable Development and Knowledge Management: Toyota Prius Case Study

This article looks at the inter-linkages and causalities between innovation and knowledge management in terms of sustainable development goals through the case study method. Taking the case of the Toyota Prius, these concepts are further developed in detail. Recognising the fact that no organisational process can happen in a vacuum and that there are a host of extraneous factors that have a significant impact on the process, factors such as culture, vision, incentives are also examined here. Further, this article delves into some of the characteristics that successful organisations display and seeks to extrapolate from the specific to general implications for organisations that aim to be successfully innovative.

Knowledge integration between technical change and strategy making

This paper looks at the different strategies that two of the tire industry’s most prominent players, Pirelli and Michelin, deployed to exploit a radical process innovation: robotized, modular manufacturing. This paper argues that Pirelli, originally the technological follower, could develop a more nuanced, complex and ultimately successful strategy thanks to its superior knowledge integration capabilities. Empirically, we examine the structural characteristics and evolution of inventors’ networks in the two companies to reveal their knowledge integration capabilities. We apply the cohesive blocking method developed by White and Harary (Sociol Methodol 31(1):305–359, 2001) to argue that Pirelli, while relying on comparable skills in terms of technical fields, leveraged a more connected, cohesive and structured skills than Michelin. On this basis, it could develop and deploy a more complex strategy that better fit the characteristics of the new process technology. Pirelli’s knowledge network structure enhanced its knowledge integration capabilities and allowed for a more efficient fit between technology and strategy.

Barriers to radical process innovation: a case of environmental technology in the oil industry

PurposeWhile a radical innovation can be embedded in new products or new processes, most studies to date have concentrated on barriers to radical product innovations, with little insights available about the challenges for implementation of radical process innovations.Design/methodology/approachWe theorize a set of barriers to radical process innovation based on a critical case study of an oil company. Our study employs data from 14 semi-structured interviews, one complete participant-observer in the process and access to all corporate documentation. The organization being studied was eventually unable to bring the new process technology to commercialization despite the technology having both technical feasibility and substantive cost savings potential.FindingsWe identify five groups of challenges that the company faced: (1) challenges in resource mobilization, (2) challenges in piloting strategy, (3) innovation leadership tensions, (4) tensions in managing shareholders' expectations and (5) product-process innovation tension (i.e. a unique situation when a company implementing a radical process innovation and simultaneously pursues the path to commercialize it as a product innovation).Practical implicationsSustainable development is one of the major challenges in our era. Process innovations are crucial for achieving sustainability without changing the final product. By providing a list of challenges that executives face in the process of commercializing a radical process innovation, we can help them to achieve sustainability more effectively.Originality/valueThe paper responds to the call to increase our understanding of radical process innovations by utilizing a unique ethnographic research methodology of active participant-observation complemented by independent third-party face-to-face interviews.

Examining the interplay between big data analytics and contextual factors in driving process innovation capabilities

ABSTRACT The potential of big data analytics in enabling improvements in business processes has urged researchers and practitioners to understand if, and under what combination of conditions, such novel technologies can support the enactment and management of business processes. While there is much discussion around how big data analytics can impact a firm’s incremental and radical process innovation capabilities, we still know very little about what big data analytics resources firms must invest in to drive such outcomes. To explore this topic, we ground this study on a theory-driven conceptualisation of big data analytics based on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm. Based on this conceptualisation, we examine the fit between the big data analytics resources that underpin the notion, and their interplay with organisational contextual factors in driving a firm’s incremental and radical process innovation capabilities. Survey data from 202 chief information officers and IT managers working in Norwegian firms are analysed by means of fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Results show that under different combinations of contextual factors the significance of big data analytics resources varies, with specific configurations leading to high levels of incremental and radical process innovation capabilities.

Моделирование влияния рыночных факторов на динамику радикальных процессных инноваций

Моделирование влияния рыночных факторов на динамику радикальных процессных инноваций

Design parameters for smart manufacturing innovation processes

Smart manufacturing is considered the corner stone of the next industrial revolution. However, in order to fulfill the requirements of the fourth industrial revolution, radical process innovations are required on manufacturing systems. To achieve this efficiently, the innovation process should be designed properly. This paper, therefore, investigates which parameters in the innovation process design that influence the innovation outcome in the context of smart manufacturing and thus what should be accounted for in the design of innovation processes for smart manufacturing. The research is based on empirical evidence from 18 manufacturing companies and suppliers of manufacturing technology.

Radical or not? The role of clusters in the emergence of radical innovations

ABSTRACTRecently, radical innovations have received increasing attention in order to achieve long-term economic success. Regional clusters, being frequently used as an innovation policy instrument, have been shown to have the potential to support innovations in general. However, it remains unclear whether clusters are really a beneficial environment for the generation of radical innovations. This study aims to shed light on the specific role clusters can play in radical innovation processes. In order to do this, we apply a quantitative approach on the firm-level and combine several data sources (e.g. AMADEUS, PATSTAT, German subsidy catalogue). Our results show that clusters indeed provide a suitable environment for radical innovations. Furthermore, we find that radical innovations rather occur in the periphery of the cluster, where actors tend to be more open to the exchange of external knowledge. This happens in general through linkages with other actors, which we also find to be beneficial for the emergence of radical innovations up to a certain degree. Our findings implicate that policy makers should continue to support clusters and further develop funding schemes. Moreover, managers should be open to collaborations with other actors for the cross-fertilization of knowledge to promote radical innovations.

Towards a deeper understanding of the emergence of process innovations: Which role do inter-organisational learning and internal knowledge exploitation play?

Abstract We demonstrate that suppliers as external partners act as promising information sources for incremental process innovations, while internal knowledge is more likely to provoke radical process innovations. However, this relation changes if suppliers are come from a distant geographic or a distance industry sector. Our paper contributes to the ongoing discussion surrounding operation innovations by highlighting that the distance between the industry sector of supplier and manufacturer accounts for the degree to which manufacturers are able to benefit from external information. Our findings add to an improved understanding of how internal knowledge stocks can be effectively combined with external knowledge.

Game Simulation Analysis of Radical Innovation Processes of High-tech Enterprises based on WoO-EGT Model

Game Simulation Analysis of Radical Innovation Processes of High-tech Enterprises based on WoO-EGT Model