Cooking under Fire: Managing Multilevel Tensions between Creativity and Innovation in Haute Cuisine

This inductive study of Michelin-starred restaurants in Britain and Germany examines how organizations attend to tensions between idea creation and implementation that characterize innovation processes. Based on the analysis of in-depth interviews with 40 chefs-de-cuisine, we identify tensions at two distinct levels of analysis. The first tension, situated at the individual level, occurs between the artistic identity of the chefs-de-cuisine and their work identity; the second one, at the organizational level, arises because creativity and implementation are equally important for the organizational success, thus making it impossible to disentangle chefs’ contribution from that of the kitchen brigade. Case evidence shows that effective tactics for managing these tensions simultaneously emphasize distinctions and create synergies between the contradictory elements of each tension. Moreover, our cross-national sample allows us to show how differences at the national institutional level affect the management of tensions and thus shed light on the mechanisms through which institutional environments affect innovation. These insights contribute to existing research in creativity and innovation.     

Agglomeration and innovation of knowledge intensive business services

ABSTRACT

For some time now, the research focusing on Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) has been very active. Observing that knowledge as a production factor is only becoming more and more pronounced, this focus is well-grounded. It is therefore important to examine how these knowledge-hubs gain and propagate their knowledge. We hypothesize that KIBS (as many other sectors) benefit from intra-industry knowledge spillovers facilitated by geographical concentration. Our focus is the innovative capacity of KIBS, which we measure through trademarks registered by KIBS firms. While there may be several mechanisms facilitating knowledge spillovers, we can identify local intra-sectoral labor mobility as one. Accessibility measures are used to assess the geographical attenuation of the spillover effects. Results show that the distance decay of spillovers is fast. Only local concentrations of KIBS seem to be of importance. Over longer distances, we instead observe negative consequences for trademarking, indicating possible spatial competition effects.     

制造企业的产品创新与知识管理

分析了制造企业所面临的变革与挑战，探讨了“知识”在产品创新过程中作为一种独特而又无限的资源必须进行有效的管理和充分利用的观点，认为知识已经成为产品创新和帮助客户创造价值的源泉，传统制造企业能否向知识型制造企业过渡，在很大程度上取决于在其业务过程中是否能有效地获取和应用知识。在构建了知识型制造企业总体构架的基础上，根据知识管理的目标、构架特征和系统结构，研究了知识型企业的知识共享空间基础的建立。通过案例分析了建立知识管理系统的主要过程及其应用。     

知识发现——创新的源泉与保障

文章在简述了创新的基本概念及其重大意义与作用后，从知识在创新中的地位作用和获取应用的角度，把知识分为显性知识与隐性知识两大类，进而，把隐性知识划分为主观隐性知识、客观隐性知识和主客观交叉的隐性知识等三种，并分别进行了论述。从实现创新的过程及其对知识的需求，论证了知识发现是创新的源泉与保障，针对三种不同的隐性知识积压自的特质，阐述了知识挖掘、知识显化和知识提炼等三种相应的知识发现的概念，特征及其研究的现状与趋势。     

标准文献知识的管理与服务亟待创新

我国标准文献知识的管理与服务要真正实现规模化、产业化和现代化,必须对标准文献管理机制、标准文献知识系统、标准文献资源整合与共享机制和标准文献利益分配机制进行彻底改革和创新。     

面向产品创新知识集成的模型及机制

构建了知识过程与产品创新过程相融合的知识集成模型,具体从知识活动、知识内容和知识主体的角度分析了知识集成的MSSI、SCEI和ITOI模型,分析了该模型的特点;讨论了产品创新知识集成机制.     

虚拟企业中的知识扩散与技术创新

采用知识链方法对虚拟企业的技术和知识扩散与创新的方式和途径进行了初步探索，将虚拟企业中知识扩散方式分为传播扩散型、培养指导型和互动创造型三类模式；同时，认为信任机制是实现虚拟企业中成员企业知识特别是隐形知识的交流与共享的前提，是实现技术和知识创新的基础。     

International collaboration and innovation in professional and technological knowledge-intensive services

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the impact of international collaboration on innovation in technological and professional knowledge-intensive business services. We propose that the benefits of international collaboration differ depending on the activity sector and the location of the foreign partner. Specifically, we argue that the nature of knowledge and innovation processes in professional and technological knowledge-intensive business services may explain different effects of international collaboration on innovation performance. Our empirical analysis is based on a large sample of knowledge-intensive business services for the period 2004–2007. We specify two bivariate probit models to test our hypotheses. The results confirm the hypotheses and show that proximity to international partners is more important for professional knowledge-intensive services, while diversity in international collaboration is more important for technological knowledge-intensive services.     

Knowledge Bases in Worlds of Production: The Case of the Food Industry

This paper aims to contribute to research on the knowledge dimension of industrial innovation and competitive advantage by combining two conceptual constructs that are applied in growing but separate bodies of research. One, the so-called “SAS model”, regards knowledge bases of firms and distinguishes between Synthetic, Analytical and Symbolic knowledge. The second, the “Worlds of Production” construct, classifies firms according to differences in technologies and markets and outlines four possible action frameworks within which companies operate and innovate. Combining these conceptualizations seems to enrich analyses within both perspectives and provide a useful framework for studies on knowledge dynamics in different economic contexts. Empirical evidence regarding knowledge dynamics of two “alternative food” producers is presented, indicating that symbolic knowledge which in current literature is mainly delimited and described within cultural industries, may also be relevant for other industries such as the alternative food sub-sector.     

Industrial Knowledge Bases as Drivers of Open Innovation?

The article presents an analysis of a large-scale survey with the aim of understanding differences in the open, interactive and distributed nature of external innovation relations amongst firms belonging to different industrial knowledge bases. The thesis is that the source of critical innovation relevant knowledge differs between industrial knowledge bases, making the character and the need of openness contingent on these specificities. Accordingly, we anticipate that we will observe systematic variations in how industries access and combine innovation-related external knowledge. In our analyses we attempt to address a gap in the literature by examining how industrial knowledge bases affect the recombination of knowledge by analysing the different extents, forms (formal and informal) and geography of inbound open innovation. The article illustrates that features and structures of inbound open innovation align, to a large extent, with the industries' knowledge bases and that there is a interplay between an industry's knowledge base, the internal organisation of innovation processes and the channels and geography of inbound open innovation.     

Knowledge context,learning and innovation: an integrating framework

Abstract

In this conceptual paper, we develop a framework which identifies those elements of firms’ knowledge context which are important for innovation, and the mechanisms through which that knowledge impacts on firms’ innovation performance. We make four main contributions to the existing literature. First, our characterisation of knowledge context provides the basis for a more specific identification of which elements of firms’ knowledge environment are important for innovation, discriminating between spatial, sectoral and network influences. Second, we reflect the role of innovation ambition in shaping firms’ knowledge search strategies. Third, we differentiate between firms’ interactive and non-interactive knowledge search activities and recognise that these may be complemented by unanticipated and serendipitous knowledge spillovers. Finally, we employ the notion of encoding capacity to reflect firms’ internal ability to assimilate and apply external knowledge, and clarify its distinctiveness from the more general concept of absorptive capacity. Our framework provides an integrating mechanism for existing empirical studies, and suggests a number of new research directions related to the determinants of innovation performance and the heterogeneity of innovation outcomes.     

External Knowledge and Innovation Performance in Clusters: Empirical Evidence from the Uruguay Software Cluster

The importance of geographic proximity for innovation has been widely stressed in the cluster literature. Yet, new insights from the inter-organisational network and cluster literatures underline the role of non-local linkages in enabling firms in networks to enhance learning and to innovate. This paper contributes to this literature by examining the importance of local and non-local knowledge networks for the innovation performance of firms in clusters. Our analysis is based on primary data from a survey of 95 software firms clustered in Montevideo, Uruguay. The results highlight that the most innovative firms in clusters heavily rely on non-local knowledge networks. Moreover, the number of indirect local ties to other firms is a better predictor of innovative performance than the number of direct local ties. Finally, our findings confirm the presence of knowledge gatekeepers in clusters and emphasise their role in enhancing innovation in clusters by absorbing knowledge from extra-cluster sources and diffusing it to other local firms.     

Collaborative ties and ambidextrous innovation: insights from internal and external knowledge acquisition

ABSTRACT

Building collaborative ties has become an increasingly important strategy for influencing firms’ ambidextrous innovation in transition economies, we examine the relationship between collaborative ties and ambidextrous innovation—with a focus on the mediating effect of knowledge acquisition using firm-level data in China. The empirical results reveal several important findings. First, collaborative ties among partners have a positive effect on firms’ ambidextrous innovation. Second, collaborative ties among partners are more beneficial to the firm’s external knowledge acquisition than internal knowledge acquisition. Lastly, the mediating effect of internal knowledge acquisition on the relationship between collaborative ties and ambidextrous innovation of firms is higher than that of external knowledge acquisition. These findings contribute to the literature on ambidexterity theory. Moreover, these findings also extend our understanding of the importance of the integration of internal and external knowledge acquisition in collaborative relationships, and enrich knowledge management literature within the collaborative ties framework.     

机构特征挖掘与创新概念设计方法

传统机构设计方法过度仰赖设计者本身专业素养与创意构思,缺乏有系统地利用现有信息,基础回避设计层级中往往无法有效掌握技术的创意概念,导致陷入低阶设计修改的窠臼之中。若能运用专利分析挖掘出机构设计概念,从大量know-how的分析中获得功能设计的know-why,则能于专利中获取相关机构之设计精神。设计方法则导入系统化机构概念设计,提高设计层次,以挖掘出的大量信息为设计基础,汇整出机构设计规范,并将设计规范导入概念设计方法,获得可行机构设计。如此能充分运用现有机构获得创新机构设计,能更有效率且更能掌握机构设计内涵,对于设计者能有效地获得可行设计、避免设计产生雷同而浪费资源,并可缩短研发时程。     

新产品开发中的设计知识管理

基于对知识管理的基本理论的研究,从企业主要的创新活动--新产品开发活动出发,深入具体的业务层面对具体的涉及到的知识进行分析归纳,并对新产品开发中设计知识管理的流程和新产品的开发各个阶段的相互作用进行了具体的分析.     

Corporate entrepreneurship,operations core competency and innovation in emerging economies

This study used a blended view of corporate entrepreneurship and operations core capability as enablers of innovation. Survey data collected from automotive OEM suppliers in five emerging countries in South-east Asia are used to examine the relationships among corporate entrepreneurship, operations core competency and innovation. We measured corporate entrepreneurship by its corporate culture and leadership, whereas operations core competency was operationalised by a firm’s knowledge management, technology management and process management. Finally, innovation is measured by process innovation and product innovation. Our analyses show that in the context of Asia, corporate entrepreneurship affects a firm’s operations core competency, which in turn affects innovation. Our findings provide valuable insights about the enablers of a firm’s operations core competency and innovation.     

Innovation Performance and International Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from the Renewable Energy Sector in OECD Countries

This paper aims at evaluating the sources of differences among countries' innovative performances in the renewable energy (RE) sector. Namely, we focus on the national innovative capacity, the knowledge developed abroad and the related knowledge spillovers. We claim that a country is more likely to develop RE innovation: (i) the larger the knowledge stocks of other countries in the same sector; (ii) especially when those other countries share established linkages with the focal country. Relying on a knowledge production function, we model country-level innovative performances in the RE sector for 18 OECD countries in the period 1990–2006. Our findings confirm that, once controlling for climate-energy policies, international knowledge spillovers contribute significantly to RE innovation, and their effect is comparable with domestic R&D and human capital. In addition, international spillovers are more likely if countries share stronger linkages.     

知识型团队内部知识转移与团队绩效的关系

在回顾相关文献的基础上,结合团队知识转移的特点,运用知识转移的工具和技术,构建了知识型团队内部知识转移与团队绩效的整合关系模型,并提出了一系列研究假设。根据模型设计量表,通过对知识型团队的问卷调研获取研究数据,再利用统计软件SPSS AMOS对研究假设进行验证,最后得出相应结论。     

External and Internal Knowledge in the Knowledge Generation Function

This paper explores the role of internal and external knowledge in the generation of new technological knowledge. It implements the notion of recombinant knowledge generation function with the appreciation of: (i) the complementary—as opposed to supplementary—role of external knowledge and (ii) the role of the size and composition of the internal stock of knowledge. The empirical section is based upon a panel of companies listed on the main European financial markets for the period 1995–2006. The econometric analysis is based on simultaneous equations. The results confirm that R&D efforts and external knowledge are indispensable inputs into the generation of new technological knowledge.     

The Evolution of Knowledge Organization and the Emergence of a Platform for Innovation in the Car Industry

The paper aims at explaining the changes in how economic actors and their organizations acquire and coordinate innovative and productive capabilities. Using the illustrative evidence from organizational change in the automobile industry in Piedmont over the last 50 years, the paper describes how transformations in the structure of interactions between firms are steered by changes in the pattern of specialization and differentiation in the capabilities and technological skills of economic actors. The system is characterized by the emergence of a platform for the coordination of productive and technological activities, which can be seen as a major change in the organization of innovation in the system.