The antecedents and consequences of product and process innovation strategy implementation in Australian manufacturing firms

Manufacturing firms employ different strategies to improve the performance of their products. In this study, we investigate the roles of environmental dynamism and competitive intensity as antecedents of product and process innovation strategy implementation. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of these initiatives on product innovation performance and product quality performance in manufacturing firms. Based on an analysis of a sample of 207 firms in Australia, the results reveal that environmental dynamism positively relates to both product and process innovation strategy implementation while competitive intensity positively relates to only process innovation strategy implementation. Moreover, product innovation strategy implementation positively relates to product innovation performance while process innovation strategy implementation positively affects product quality performance. Both product innovation performance and product quality performance are found to positively affect business performance. The theoretical and practical implications of the study in the context of Australian manufacturing are discussed.     

Approaching the technological innovation frontier: evidence from Chinese SOEs

This paper studies how large State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China are approaching the technological innovation frontier and contributes to the literature on technological catching up and leapfrogging by identifying three models or strategies of approaching the innovation frontier. In addition to the well-recognised technology transfer based strategy, pursuing emerging technologies and reinventing mature technology could also be effective, with reinventing mature technology as the most important strategy. The paper also finds that strong internal R&D capability, rather than manufacturing capability as suggested by the extant literature, is the basis of all three models. This also implies that making big organisational transformations such as changing a technology transfer centred R&D function to a proprietary technology development centred R&D function, changing a manufacturing centred culture to an innovation centred culture, and reshaping the innovation network, is an important precondition to approach the innovation frontier.     

Which firms use trademarks? Firm-level evidence from Germany on the role of distance,product quality and innovation

ABSTRACT

Trademarking firms are more productive, generate higher profits, and have a better survival rate. Trademarking firms are in one word more successful, which might motivate non-trademarking firms to adopt a trademark strategy. But this does not seem to be the case. The proportion of trademarking firms in the German business sector amounts to just 18%. This figure is quite low, given that nearly each firm has reputation to protect. But why does the vast majority of firms not have registered trademarks? Using a representative sample of German firms, the present paper links certain firm characteristics to a firm’s propensity to register trademarks. The empirical results point to circumstances under which trademarks are significantly more often used: this is the case where a large distance between a firm and its customers exists, a firm’s product quality is difficult to assess, a firm’s products are characterised by a limited (but not strong) substitutability, and where a firm is engaged in R&D and introduces innovative products. Trademarks are considerably less frequently used if none of this is the case.     

Investment and the behavioral theory of the firm: evidence from shipbuilding

Investment in production assets is a strategic decision thatresults from organizational search and risk taking. The behavioraltheory of the firm predicts that performance below the aspirationlevel and slack resources initiate organizational search. Risktheory predicts that performance below the aspiration levelincreases risk tolerance. This paper integrates these theoriesto form a theory of problem- and slack-driven strategic changeand applies it to the growth of production assets. The predictionsare tested by analyzing the growth of production assets in theJapanese shipbuilding industry, yielding clear evidence thathigh performance causes low asset growth, but no effect of slack.     

The virtue of innovation: innovation through the lenses of biological evolution

We rehearse the processes of innovation and discovery in general terms, using as our main metaphor the biological concept of an evolutionary fitness landscape. Incremental and disruptive innovations are seen, respectively, as successful searches carried out locally or more widely. They may also be understood as reflecting evolution by mutation (incremental) versus recombination (disruptive). We also bring a platonic view, focusing on virtue and memory. We use ‘virtue’ as a measure of efforts, including the knowledge required to come up with disruptive and incremental innovations, and ‘memory’ as a measure of their lifespan, i.e. how long they are remembered. Fostering innovation, in the evolutionary metaphor, means providing the wherewithal to promote novelty, good objective functions that one is trying to optimize, and means to improve one''s knowledge of, and ability to navigate, the landscape one is searching. Recombination necessarily implies multi- or inter-disciplinarity. These principles are generic to all kinds of creativity, novel ideas formation and the development of new products and technologies.     

Launch of a product and patents: evidence from the US cardiovascular pharmaceutical sector

ABSTRACT

Recent literature on the role of patents in shaping competition between incumbents and new entrants shows mixed evidence, as patents can discourage entry into markets but may also encourage potential entrants by increasing profitability from research and development. The increasing use of patents as strategic weapons motivates this investigation of the impact of innovation on competition. In a case study of US pharmaceutical cardiovascular submarkets over the period 1988–1998, we use a panel probit model to study the impact of a firm’s patents and rivals’ patents in the firm’s decision to launch new products. Our results show that the number of a firm’s lagged patents encourages the firm’s entry with new products, while rivals’ initial stock of patents discourages entry, but more recent patents promote entry by opening new technological opportunities.     

The influence of different knowledge workers on innovation strategy and product development performance in small and medium-sized enterprises

Despite significant interest on the topic of knowledge workers, the understanding of how they influence certain aspects of firm innovativeness remains limited. In particular, while different types of knowledge workers exist, their particular synergistic effects on new and improved product development within smaller firms has received less attention. Drawing on the knowledge-based view (KBV), we posit that innovation strategy plays an instrumental role in linking the effects of knowledge workers, thereby leading to greater product development outcomes from different types of knowledge workers. Moreover, some suggest that beyond a certain point, there is a diminishing return to increasing the proportion of knowledge workers in an organisation; however, the basis of this finding is within larger firms. This study investigates whether high-level (e.g. engineers and scientists) and low-level (e.g. technicians and machine operators) knowledge workers exert varying effects on performance in terms of new and improved product development. Data from 205 small and medium-sized high-tech manufacturing firms provide support that distinguishing among types of knowledge workers is important given that they impact new and improved product development differently. Furthermore, innovation strategy plays a synergistic role, positively mediating the effects of different types of knowledge workers on innovation outcomes.     

The impact of product substitution and retail capacity on the timing and depth of price promotions: theory and evidence

We investigate the impact of store capacity and extent of inter-product substitution in a retailer’s assortment on the optimal timing and depth of price promotions. We develop a stylised model of a monopolistic retailer selling two substitutable products over time, where demand for each product in each period is a function of the prices of both products in that and earlier periods as well as the degree of substitution between the two periods. We present closed-form solutions to limiting cases of the model, and observe the following: When retailers optimise profits, (1) price promotions are relatively deeper in both absolute and relative terms at higher capacity stores than at low capacity stores, (2) price promotions for more expensive products are relatively deeper (shallower) in both absolute and relative terms than price promotions for cheaper products if the degree of substitution is low (high) and (3) the products are sequentially promoted if the degree of substitution is low, and simultaneously promoted if the degree of substitution is high. To confirm that these insights from a simple stylised two-product model are relevant in practice, we survey price promotions within the shampoo and detergent assortments of four mass-market retailers, and observe behaviour corresponding to the results from our stylised model.     

Research and innovation in higher education: empirical evidence from research and patenting in Brazil

Scientometrics - The encyclicals, also known as papal letters, are documents that have a profound influence on the Catholic Church and, as a result, on the West. This research seeks to explore the...     

The innovation and performance effects of well-designed environmental regulation: evidence from Sweden

This paper provides novel empirical insights into the Porter hypothesis (PH) and its dynamic nature. The PH posits that well-designed environmental regulations induce eco-innovations at polluting firms that improve both their environmental and business performance via ‘innovation offsets.’ We conduct an econometric test of this proposition, using Swedish pulp and paper plants as empirical application. Swedish environmental regulation of polluting industries provides an interesting case because it has been praised, due to containing elements of ‘well-designed’ regulations, for being conducive to accomplishing the ‘win-win’ situation of mutual environmental and economic benefits. The empirical results indicate that flexible and dynamic command-and-control regulation and economic incentive instruments have induced innovation offsets through improved energy efficiency. Our study bears important implications: empirical tests of the PH that do not account for its dynamic nature, and that do not measure ‘well-designed’ regulations, might provide misleading conclusions as to its validity.     

An ecology of ideology: theory and evidence from four populations

This paper analyzes the founding rates of two types of Jewishagricultural cooperatives, the moshav and the kibbutz, to showhow political ideology intersects with resource requirementsto produce competition and mutualism between organizations.These two populations, which share ideology and a resource base,competed with each other. They both enjoyed mutualism with thepopulation of credit cooperatives, which represented a kindredideology, but relied on different resources. They both sufferedcompetition from the population of corporations, which representeda rival ideology, capitalism.     

What hampers green product innovation: the effect of experience

ABSTRACT

Based on representative firm-level survey data for Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, this study systematically analyses the relevance and drivers of barriers to green product innovation using the example of green energy technologies. ‘Low willingness to pay’, ‘high development costs’, ‘high commercial uncertainty’, and ‘lack of favourable political framework’ are identified as the most important barriers. Moreover, we find that the firms’ innovation experience is an important driver of the level of green innovation barriers. Green innovation barriers are more accentuated for firms with green innovation activity than for firms with no green innovation activity. However, experience from different fields of green innovation and experience from non-green innovation activities help to limit these barriers.     

Effects of patent policy on innovation outputs and commercialization: evidence from universities in China

As the important source of scientific and technological innovation in China, the improvement of productivity from the patent commercialization in universities and research institutes is of great significance to the promotion of China’s sustainable economic development. Despite the quantity of patent applications from universities has increased dramatically in recent years, the rate of patent commercialization is somewhat lower than we expect. The purpose of our study is to examine whether the incentive patent policy has effectively enhanced the patent outputs and commercialization of universities in China. We determine the specific patent policy based on the information collection and measure the specific effect of the patent policy by using the data of the 64 universities that were directly under the Ministry of Education from 2009 to 2015. As a result, we find that although the policy has increased a university’s patent output, it does not encourage the patent’s commercialization. This is because to a certain extent, the policy has a negative impact on the enthusiasm of the university patent commercialization. Therefore, we argue that patent policies focusing on the quantity in the short term can improve the innovation output but will have a negative impact on university’s sustainable development in the long run.     

The effect of innovation on productivity: evidence from Turkish manufacturing firms

This paper systematically explores the effects of firms’ innovation activities on their productivity changes for Turkish manufacturing firms, differentiating between different typologies of innovation. We employ endogenous switching methodology, controlling for endogeneity and selection bias issues, as well as analysing counterfactual scenarios. The main finding of the study points to firm heterogeneity in terms of propensity both to innovate and to benefit from innovation activities. Our results indicate that all types of innovation activity have positive effects on the productivity of firms when compared with non-innovating firms. We find robust evidence for the differential impact of innovation on firm productivity across different innovation types. Further, this relationship alters across different phases of the economy with respect to the 2008 financial crisis.     

On the theory and practice of innovation

Nearly any proposed change, especially those imposed on society at large, will engender reaction — much of it in opposition. For even essential or self-evident alterations in the status quo, reactions will range all the way from the most supportive to the most irrationally destructive. One must meet various responses with suitable accommodation strategies if an innovation is going to suceed.Because judgements about the merits of an innovation require more than biased personal testimonials, there is a high priority need for independent, continous, and reasonable evaluation measures — which must be founded on explicit and comprehensible criteria.Termination of existing practices, procedures, and institutions needs to be considered in advance of initiating an innovation, while the innovation is being inserted into the seting, and after the innovation — and its inevitable modifications — are incorporated. The careful innovator is well advised to anticipate resistence, and even sabotage, based on personal fears about altering the status quo.Trivia, and little else, is clear-cut or precise in practical social affairs. Trivializing the nature and difficulty of an innovation to gain popular or political acceptance should not lead to suspension of sense concerning the true complexity of the social setting in which innovation occurs.Agreement and consensus seldom attend matters of the wisdom, rationality, or practicality of adopting change. The sophisticated innovator learns to expect disagreement, dissension, and even conflict. Best that one prepare for these eventualities than to ignore or wish them away.Because people are unable to project realistic images of themselves or situations where they have a personal stake far into the future, few proposed changes will elicit widespread or consistent agreement about eventual outcomes. With unclear and uncertain images of the future, individual and institutional levels of insecurity and threat increase and efect the intended innovation.Finally, the same outcome seldom results in even apparently identical innovational settings. One needs to cultivate a refined sense of context. It nearly always takes far more time, attention, resources, and effort to secure an innovation than anyone imagines. Theory and common sense both agree about this.     

面向成熟期产品突破性创新设计模糊前端阶段过程研究

 为解决机械产品突破性创新设计概念产生的问题,将发明问题解决理论（TRIZ）应用于新产品开发的模糊前端阶段．基于耗散结构理论分析了产品突破性创新的时机;在建立产品技术系统主功能物质场模型的基础上,提出了机械产品突破性创新的方法;基于技术进化理论对实现产品主功能的技术子系统进行技术预测,分析突破性创新的技术机会,并应用计算机辅助创新软件工具产生突破性创新设想;综合上述分析建立了面向成熟期产品突破性创新设计模糊前端阶段过程模型．应用该过程模型对快速切断阀进行创新设计,验证了所提方法的有效性．     

Systems of innovation: theory and policy for the demand side

As an emerging current of thought in the economics of innovation, systems of innovation (SI) theorizing offers a non-linear perspective that is highly relevant to the formation of innovation policy. SI approaches are particularly appropriate to understanding the use of “demand side” policy instruments such as public technology procurement. In this article, we briefly summarize some general characteristics of SI approaches and relate them to broader theoretical developments in the economics of innovation. We explore one of the main characteristics of systems-oriented approaches to the study of innovation: the emphasis on interdependency and interactive learning. A number of theoretical antecedents to SI approaches are examined, and their main insights regarding the innovative role played by the demand side are elaborated. On this basis, some elements of a general policy perspective are identified.     

Corporate strategy and the management of innovation and technology

This paper explores the evolution of corporate organizationwith special attention to the organization of R&D. Morespecifically, the paper addresses the comparative long-termorganizational dynamics of management of innovation and technologyin two different types of technology-based industrial companies:the ‘related diversifier’ pursuing ‘synergisticeconomies’ and the ‘vertical integrator’ pursuing‘vertical economies’. These types of companies areillustrated by case studies of two large Danish manufacturingcompanies. The analysis aligns the strategic management literatureon strategy and structure in large companies with the literatureon management of innovation and technology. It is argued thatthe organizational design for managing innovation and technologyis contingent on both the overall strategy–structure profileand dynamics of the companies, and on key characteristics oftheir particular innovation and technology strategies.     

Non-linear dynamics of innovation activities over the business cycles: Empirical evidence from OECD economies

This study examines the non-linear and asymmetries of innovation activities in thirty-six OECD countries for the period 1981Q1-2019Q4. The impulse response function and historical decompositions were estimated to check the cyclical property of innovation activities (R&D expenditures, residential patents, non-residential patents, and international collaboration in technology development) during the boom and recessions. The impulse response function provided three important results. First, the results indicated that the R&D expenditures moves pro-cyclically in response to the gross domestic product (GDP), exports, imports, and gross fixed capital formation in both the boom and recession periods. Second, the findings suggested that patents (residential and non-residential) move pro-cyclically in response to GDP, exports, imports, labor force, R&D expenditures, and gross fixed capital formation shocks in the boom and recession periods. Third, variables including, R&D expenditures, GDP, exports, labor force, imports, and gross fixed capital formation shocks significantly affected patents (residential and non-residential) during the boom and recession periods across the sampled OECD states. Fourth, the results also suggested that the international collaboration in technology development moves pro-cyclically in response to GDP, R&D expenditures, exports, imports, labor force, and gross fixed capital formation shocks in the boom and recession periods.     

Drivers and consequences of green product and process innovation: A systematic review,conceptual framework,and future outlook

Drawing clear conclusions from the literature on green innovation is challenging, due to its sheer breadth and the inconsistent insights it offers. This study systematically addresses this issue by conducting a systematic literature review of articles on innovation in green products and processes, with the aim of enhancing conceptual clarity and consistency, thus, advancing theory and research. This study reviewed 195 articles relating to both green product and process innovation published during 1991–2016. The articles were analyzed in terms of key attributes of green product and process innovation using content analysis. Based on the analysis, this study identifies the key drivers and consequences, mediators and moderators and develops a conceptual framework of green product and process innovation. It also discusses the limitations and main theories of green innovation literature, and articulates potential paths for future research.