SMEs' Preference for Innovation Networks: A Choice Experimental Approach

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the importance of selected characteristics of innovation networks in affecting the decision of food SMEs when joining such networks. The paper develops and tests a series of hypotheses through a choice experiment exercise ran on a sample of 231 firms in six EU countries. The results showed that SMEs prefer networks that are composed of manufacturers and supply chain members, where information is shared confidentially among network partners, and when the network provides support to help the firm build its own networks of partners for innovation. In addition, SMEs' choice of the network is also affected by the interaction between specific network attributes and two firm characteristics, i.e. the firm's collaborative experience and innovation objectives. Based on the results, we conclude that the success of inter‐organizational networks depends on the fit between the network's design and the innovation and networking behaviour of the firms.     

Embedded (Lead) Users as Catalysts to Product Diffusion

Firms can harness social user networks not only for ideation, but also to accelerate and facilitate diffusion of new product introductions. They select individuals whose own product adoptions and opinions influence adoption decisions of others. In this paper we transfer this rationale to firm employees. We focus on ‘embedded users’ who are employees of a firm, but at the same time users of the firm's products. We aim to find out if their access to user networks, use experience and lead userness impact their opinion leadership and domain‐specific innovativeness. We also show how cognitive empathy towards external users is a mechanism to explain these relationships. Drawing on the user innovation and consumer behaviour literature, we derive and test eight hypotheses on a sample of 54 firm employees in gaming hardware firms. We find that lead userness is positively related to domain‐specific innovativeness and opinion leadership, but use experience only to the former. Cognitive empathy mediates all relationships in our study. To facilitate embedded users' tendency to act as opinion leaders and to adopt new products, managers should encourage their employees to use the firm's products to build use experience and thus develop cognitive empathy towards external users.     

Stocks and flows underlying organizations’ knowledge management capability: Synergistic versus contingent complementarities over time

What are the components of a knowledge management (KM) capability and how do they impact firm performance? Based on prior research, we modeled a firm's KM capability in terms of its accumulations of stock – in the areas of human resources, technology infrastructures, and strategic templates – and regulation of flow, via institutionalization and internal and external learning processes. We then considered the extent to which these components complement one another in their impact on two types of firm performance – efficiency, based return on assets, and value creation, assessed as Tobin's q (the ratio of the capital market value of the firm to the replacement value of its assets). We posited differential types of stock-flow complementarities across these two performance outcomes over time – stable, positive effects on firm efficiency, synergistic complementarity, and initially positive, but subsequently negative effects on value creation, contingent complementarity. Data gathered from 218 Korean firms supported this premise. Implications for practice in the evolving fields of organizational capability and complementarities were explored.     

Collaborations with Scientific Partners: The Mediating Role of the Social Context in Fostering Innovation Performance

The success of collaboration between firms and scientific partners is still debated. Although a firm's social context seems to be crucial to explain the success or failure of such collaboration in terms of innovation performance, a deep analysis of the context role is still lacking. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse whether a firm's internal climate as well as the quality of the relationships with scientific partners can mediate the relationship between collaboration and innovation performance. Results, based on survey research developed in Finland, Italy and Sweden, suggest that collaborations with scientific partners achieve good results in terms of innovation performance, through an explanation path which involves a firm's social context.     

考虑知识溢出下产业集群创新网络协同知识创造决策分析

协同知识创造对于企业维持和获取竞争优势具有重要作用,但是知识外溢会对企业的竞争力造成威胁,从而使企业在创新网络协同知识创造决策时陷入两难困境.鉴于此,通过构造由一个核心企业和n个从属企业组成的创新网络在协同知识创造过程中知识投入决策Stackelberg博弈模型,引入知识内溢系数、私有知识、知识外溢损失等变量,探讨知识溢出下,网络成员的知识投入决策和知识产出分配问题.研究结果表明:核心企业与从属企业的知识投入比和知识投入总量与协同知识创造绩效和知识内溢收益之和有关,而与私有知识外溢的损失无关;集群创新网络协同知识创造机制得以运行的条件是核心企业的知识创造收益(即知识创造绩效与知识内溢收益之和)足够大;核心企业的知识投入比与其边际收益和知识内溢系数正相关,与从属企业的边际收益和知识内溢系数负相关;协同知识创造过程中从属企业会根据其边际收益和知识内溢系数按比例分配知识的投入比.     

Antecedents of Network Capability and Their Effects on Innovation Performance: An Empirical Test of Hi‐tech Firms in China

A firm's competitive advantage can come not only from internal resources but also from inter‐firm innovation networks. This paper shows that network capabilities (i.e., network visioning capability, network constructing capability, network operating capability and network centring capability) are special skills that enable values residing in network resources. Based on a sample of 211 Chinese hi‐tech firms and by applying structural equation modelling, network capabilities are found to have a positive relationship with innovation performance. Four antecedents of network capabilities – IT maturity, openness of culture, the management system involved and experience with network activities – are also identified in the research and empirically tested. The results of this study provide a new framework that describes how networked firms can gain a competitive advantage.     

Open to a Select Few? Matching Partners and Knowledge Content for Open Innovation Performance

The purpose of the paper is to illuminate the costs and benefits of crossing firm boundaries in inbound open innovation (OI) by determining the relationships among partner types, knowledge content and performance. The empirical part of the study is based on a survey of OI collaborations answered by R&D managers in 415 Italian, Finnish and Swedish firms. The results show that the depth of collaboration with different partners (academic/consultants, value chain partners, competitors and firms in other industries) is positively related to innovation performance, whereas the number of different partners and size have negative effects. The main result is that the knowledge content of the collaboration moderates the performance outcomes and the negative impact of having too many different kinds of partners. This illustrates how successful firms use selective collaboration strategies characterized by linking explorative and exploitative knowledge content to specific partners, to leverage the benefits and limit the costs of knowledge boundary crossing processes.     

Information Processing and Firm‐Internal Environment Contingencies: Performance Impact on Global New Product Development

Innovation in its essence is an information processing activity. Thus, a major factor impacting the success of new product development (NPD) programs, especially those responding to global markets, is the firm's ability to access, share and apply NPD information, which is often widely dispersed, functionally, geographically and culturally. To this end, an IT‐communication strength is essential, one that is nested in an internal organizational environment that ensures its effective functioning. Using organizational information processing (OIP) theory as a framework, superior global NPD program performance is shown to result from an effective IT/Communication strength and the commitment components of the firm's internal environment, which are hypothesized to moderate this relationship. IT/Communication strength is identified in this study in terms of two components including the IT/Comm Infrastructure and IT/Comm Capability of the firm, whereas the moderating internal environment of the firm incorporates Resource Commitment and Senior Management Involvement. Data from a major empirical study of international NPD programs (382 SBUs) are used to develop and test this model. Based on a hierarchical regression analysis, the results are substantially supportive, with some unexpected findings. These shed light on the complex relationships of the firm's internal environment, OIP competency, and global NPD program performance.     

Variety is the Spice of Innovation: Mediating Factors in the Service Idea Generation Process

To create a breakthrough service innovation, firms need to go beyond current customers' needs and tap into the needs of the future market. As marketing theory favours customer‐centric approaches, customer‐led ideation and co‐creation of innovation seem natural candidates for extracting the ‘sticky’ information nested in some of the most innovative customers' minds. Grounded in the service innovation literature, this paper extracts innovative service ideas from ordinary users (n = 388) in three different service domains and seeks to identify the salient characteristics of the most innovative customers. Past research shows that innovative users are more likely to be service defectors, frequently switching from firm to firm, and motivated by their predisposition to seek variety. Using a structural modelling strategy, variety seeking is tested as a mediating factor between the subjective knowledge level and the presence of high level unmet needs leading to the generation of innovative service ideas. The results show that variety seeking fully mediates the relationship between subjective knowledge and unmet needs. Several interpretations of the role of variety seeking on customers' behaviour are explored within the context of capturing innovative service ideas.     

The Impact of Technological Opportunities and Innovative Capabilities on Firms’ Output Innovation

In this study, we analyse the effect that external sources of knowledge and absorptive capacity exert on a firm's output innovation. In addition, we examine the moderating influence of absorptive capacity on the effect that technological opportunities have on output innovation. Empirical research was carried out on a sample of 91 Spanish firms from the ceramic tile industry. Absorptive capacity is operationalized by ‘systematic or continuous R&D’ and output innovation by ‘percentage of sales from new products’. Technological opportunities are divided into several industry and non‐industry related variables. Our results show the positive effect that both the industry's technological opportunities and a systematic approach to R&D exert on output innovation. Moreover, firms with a systematic approach to R&D usually achieve higher innovation output than firms which do not follow this approach. The innovation results of this second group decrease as a result of embedded technology acquisition.     

Exploring the antecedents and consequences of technology and knowledge integration mechanisms in the context of NPD

In order to provide new products that are more innovative and are suited to customer needs, enterprises have started to look for assistance from external partners. Consequently, as firms launch new product development (NPD), it has become more critical to determine a method by which to integrate technology and knowledge together and to enhance absorptive capability (AC) of firms in the process of information, technology and knowledge sharing. This study thus combines the concepts of corporate social capital (CSC), intellectual capital, and AC, and discusses the influence of internal/external resource integration on technology integration mechanisms (TIM) and knowledge integration mechanisms (KIM), as well as AC’s effect on NPD. Three hundred and ninety-four valid responses were collected and partial least squares structural equation modeling was adopted for data analysis. The results show that interaction ties and the shared language of CSC positively affect TIM, while human capital and organizational capital have positive influences on KIM. In addition, TIM and KIM both have significant and positive influences on AC and AC further influences NPD performance. Therefore, this study suggests that firms have to establish interaction bases for utilizing external knowledge to assist in NPD, and this can be achieved by offering a friendly environment to encourage employees to be more willing to contribute their knowledge.     

The relative values of big data analytics versus traditional marketing analytics to firm innovation: An empirical study

Although big data analytics (BDA) does enhance innovation performance, it remains unclear whether BDA contributes more or less than traditional marketing analytics (TMA) to firm innovation. This study tests hypotheses based on data collected from multiple sources by using four-wave survey and archival data from 201 firms. The results indicate that BDA has a stronger positive effect on new product development (NPD) performance than TMA, over time. However, TMA, when coupled with exploitative innovation strategy, has a stronger positive effect on NPD performance than if coupled with exploratory innovation strategy. Conversely, BDA, when coupled with exploratory innovation strategy, has a stronger positive effect on NPD performance than if coupled with exploitative innovation strategy.     

IT alignment in small firms

This study focused on the alignment of business strategy and IT strategy among 256 small UK manufacturing firms. An instrument was developed and used to measure IT alignment in small firms. Evidence was gained of high IT alignment in some firms. The study also indicated that IT alignment was related to the firm's level of IT maturity and the level of the CEO's software knowledge, but did not seem to be linked to the CEO's involvement or the firm's sources of external IT expertise.     

Enhancing Innovation Capacity in SMEs through Early Network Relationships

Networks can offer SMEs a number of advantages, especially in terms of providing greater opportunities for knowledge activities that support innovation, but there is little in the literature to suggest how firms develop their innovation capacity through network participation. In this paper, we present an in‐depth longitudinal case study of a small entrepreneurial firm within the mobile‐commerce industry. A principal finding from the study is that network relationships formed during the earliest stages of the firm's life cycle played a critical role in developing the SME's capacity for sustained innovation. Further, the study contributes to network theory by calling into question the weak and strong tie dichotomy, as relationships critical to the SME's innovation capacity possessed characteristics of both types of ties. The paper also contributes to managerial practice by emphasizing the importance of establishing strong relationships in the earliest stages of network formation.     

The synergistic effects of IT-enabled resources on organizational capabilities and firm performance

Computing the value of IT investments and clarifying how the portfolio of IT/IS resources affect a firm's performance and sustainable competitive advantage are critical issues today. We attempted to develop an effective measurement technique and use organizational theory to discover the strategic role of IT-enabled resources in the firm's competitive agenda. Based on a resource-based view of the firm, we proposed a way to evaluate the synergistic effect of such resources on the firm's capabilities, as they, influence the firms’ strategic objectives and improve its financial performance. The technological, human, and organizational resources work together to generate sub-additive cost and super-additive value synergies. Operations, R&D, and marketing capabilities allow firms to implement a business strategy that reflects its customer needs. A survey was conducted to check our framework. Our findings should provide valuable decision guides for practitioners when choosing a portfolio of IT/IS resources for implementing business strategies.     

The Front End of Radical Innovation: A Case Study of Idea and Concept Development at Prime Group

A firm's ability to develop radical innovation is heavily contingent on the front‐end phases where ideas and concepts are created, yet few empirical studies provide detailed insights into radical idea and concept development. Using literature on problem finding and problem solving, we explore how radically new ideas and concepts emerge, and outline the process by which they are created. Based on multiple case studies of five completed and two ongoing projects conducted by a highly innovative consultancy firm, Prime Group, the article proposes a six‐step process for radical idea and concept development. The insights provide theoretical implications and advice for how firms can increase novelty and success rates of emergent radical ideas and concepts.     

Creating Ideas for Innovation: Effects of Organizational Distance on Knowledge Creation Processes

Innovation is to a large extent considered a social and communicative process, and input from other individuals potentially improves the generation of novel and valuable ideas also in the early stages of idea creation and development. Both colleagues inside organizations and external parties have frequently been proposed as important sources of information and knowledge within this part of the innovation process. Other contributions addressing social networks and innovation bring into focus the potentially negative effects that certain network structures may have on innovation, pointing to inconsistencies in received theory. In order to address these inconsistencies, an empirical study of ideation in a Swedish multinational firm was performed, taking into account two different knowledge creation processes – combination and in‐depth analysis – and their inter‐relationships with organizational distance between contributing individuals. Data was collected using a survey and was analysed using regression models. It was found that different levels of organizational distance correlate with different knowledge creation processes. In‐depth analysis occurred more often with employees' close colleagues, whereas the combination of existing ideas and information was more frequent in interaction with employees' close colleagues and with external parties. Both these interaction patterns were also found to be positive for the generation of patents, whereas no such relationship could be seen when individuals interacted with colleagues in other departments in the same firm. The findings have implications for theory on cognitive distance, and also suggest that management needs to facilitate different types of collaboration and networking when aiming to facilitate and support ideation, taking into consideration the type of innovation aimed for, as well as its supporting knowledge creation processes.     

A Multi‐Level Model for Organizational Ambidexterity in the Search Phase of the Innovation Process

Innovation is one of the most critical means in supporting and improving the competitive position of the firm, in particular, and a firm's survival and growth depend greatly on its ability to balance the exploitation of existing knowledge with the exploration of new possibilities, by building ambidexterity capability. While different alternatives to realize the simultaneous reconciliation of exploration and exploitation at an operational level have been proposed, how organizations build ambidexterity capability is not fully understood. The aim of this paper is thus to explore how exploration and exploitation balancing can be achieved in practice. We decided to focus on the early phase of the process where firms search for new ideas with which to renew themselves. To this end, we analysed the search phase of a highly innovative technology‐based company by investigating structural design choices combined with the presence of specific roles and searching practices. The results show how the exploration and exploitation balancing act can actually be achieved and maintained through a multi‐level approach that integrates both the operational and the strategic levels. Our findings thus contribute to the organizational ambidexterity literature, by proposing a first interpretative model for dealing with ambidexterity in the search phase of the innovation process.     

Impact of digital leadership capability on innovation performance: The role of platform digitization capability

Following a mixed-methods approach, we theorized that digital leadership influences innovation performance by digitalizing the firm's platform. A multiple case study of ten companies was deployed to derive a theoretical model relating digital leadership and innovation performance. The resulting model was empirically tested on a sample of 117 European firms. We find that digital leadership improves a firm's innovation performance by digitalizing the firm's platform. We contribute to IS research by theoretically developing the concepts of digital leadership capability and platform digitization capability and empirically analyzing the relationship of these two critical IT capabilities and their impact on innovation performance.     

How governance mechanisms in family firms impact open innovation choices: A fuzzy logic approach

The inbound open innovation (OI) process consists of the opening of the innovation funnel to the contribution of external partners, with the aim of tapping into their knowledge. This opportunity is particularly valuable for family firms (FFs), which often have insufficient resources. However, the literature on the OI behaviour of family firms is not conclusive. Indeed, both the behavioural theory (BT) and the resource‐based view (RBV) posit negative and positive outcomes regarding openness choices in FFs. We claim that these contrasting results can be reconciled if, according to the literature, FFs are seen as a heterogeneous breed, whose differences are determined by different levels of participation of non‐family members in the governance mechanisms. Indeed, non‐family members can act in favour of OI. However, previous literature has failed to satisfactorily grasp the nuances of this heterogeneity. We suggest that it is necessary to adequately operationalize the heterogeneity concept by means of fuzzy logic. We conducted a survey on 178 Italian FFs. Results show that the involvement of non‐family members affects the extent to which firms draw on knowledge from external partners. Specifically, the higher the involvement of non‐family members, the more there is collaboration with vertical partners along the supply chain.