Critical capabilities for effective management of complementarity between product and process innovation: Cases from the food and drink industry

The management of the complementarity between product and process innovation has been discussed for five decades. The most recent advancement in the conceptual development uncovered different extents of complementarities occurring between product and process innovation at the project level. Prior literature suggested that facilitating a better interplay between these two types of innovation holds the potential for the development of a long-lasting competitive advantage. Despite its theoretical and managerial importance, management of new product and process development (NPPD) projects with different extents of complementarity between product and process innovation remains poorly understood. To address this gap, we adopt perspectives from contingency theory and dynamic capabilities. Building upon Hullova, Trott and Simms’s (2016) classification of complementarities we investigate the management of different complementarity types in four NPPD projects in the UK food and drink industry. We introduce empirically derived framework for effective management of NPPD projects with different extents of complementarity between product and process innovation. The framework identifies three critical capabilities and associated activities; 1) identifying the complexity and novelty of the project and assessment of internal and external resources and knowledge stocks, 2) deploying the most suitable integration mechanism(s) for the identified complementarity type and 3) leveraging of the knowledge learned and experience acquired during the project. Jointly, these three intertwined capabilities act as a complementarity management tool for product and process development managers, enabling them to manage their NPPD projects portfolios more effectively.     

产业哲学视野下的产业创新——“产业论与产业创新研讨会”综述

研讨会围绕产业哲学基本理论与学科范式、产业与社会发展、科技创新与产业创新、国家创新型城市建设和现代产业发展、高新区和高新技术产业发展等问题,展开了热烈讨论。会议推进了产业哲学研究的进展,开拓了产业论与产业创新学科发展的新阶段。     

核心动态能力与竞争优势——以浙江省软件产业为例

通过将动态能力慨念转换成更容易操作定义的核心动态能力,确立起核心动态能力与竞争优势关系的理论分析框架,并以浙江省软件产业为研究对象,运用问卷调查和统计分析的方法对理论模型和研究假设进行实证检验,以期探索在超竞争环境中核心动态能力对企业持续竞争优势的作用方式。     

The future of value creation and innovations: Aspects of a theory of value creation and innovation in a global knowledge economy

What enhances innovation and value creation in the global knowledge economy? We offer several answers here, chief among them this: Leaders need to move away from focusing on developing innovations and value within the mental models, systems, and organizational solutions of the old industrial economy, with its firm- and product-centric view of value. Instead, they need to focus on providing tailor-made products and services to the newly connected and interconnected customer. They can do this with individualized immediate feedback, a new organizational logic, and new cooperating structures.     

Analysis of sources of innovation, technological innovation capabilities, and performance: An empirical study of Hong Kong manufacturing industries

The concept of the regional innovation system (RIS) has been developed into an important framework for evaluating innovation performance. The study reported in this paper explores the relationship between the RIS and the firm's innovation system (FIS) according to the basic premise that firms that better utilize sources of information (SI) available within their regional innovation system (RIS) perform better due effect this has in enhancing the firm's technological innovation capabilities (TICs). The different innovation capabilities of a firm are regarded as the key components of the firm's innovation system. The sources of information available within an RIS include external sources (EXT) and external expert organizations, the latter of which are referred to as knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). This study also explores the dual role of KIBS as both sources of and bridges for innovation in the RIS. Data were obtained through a mailed survey using a self-administered questionnaire. The utilization concept and the dual role of KIBS were verified. The results show that externally available information affects all innovation capabilities of the firm, while external expert organizations affect only the firm's R&D and resources allocation capabilities. This study contributes to the RIS literature by providing empirical evidence on how firms can interact with the RIS by utilizing SI to enhance their TICs and achieve global competitiveness.     

A new industry creation and originality: Insight from the funding sources of university patents

Scientific breakthroughs coming from universities can contribute to the emergence of new industries, such as in the case of biotechnology. Obviously, not all research conducted in universities leads to a radical change from existing technological trajectories. Patents and patent dynamics have long been recognized as critical in understanding the emergence of new technologies and industries. Specifically, patent citations provide insight into the originality of a discovery that has received patent protection. Yet while a large body of literature addresses the impact of patent originality on various firm performance measures, we address the question of what conditions drive patent originality in the process of knowledge creation within the university. Using data on patented cancer research, we examine how research context – as reflected by the funding source for each scientist – is associated with patent originality. We find that when university scientists are partly funded by their own university, they have a higher propensity to generate more original patents. By contrast, university scientists funded either by industry or other non-university organizations have a lower propensity to generate more original patents. The significance of our findings in the cancer research setting call for further research on this question in other research fields.     

Examining the influence of modularity and knowledge management (KM) on dynamic capabilities: Insights from a call center

Modularity in organizations can facilitate the creation and development of dynamic capabilities. Paradoxically, however, modular management can also stifle the strategic potential of such capabilities by conflicting with the horizontal integration of units. We address these issues through an examination of how modular management of information technology (IT), project teams and front-line personnel in concert with knowledge management (KM) interventions influence the creation and development of dynamic capabilities at a large Asia-based call center. Our findings suggest that a full capitalization of the efficiencies created by modularity may be closely linked to the strategic sense making abilities of senior managers to assess the long-term business value of the dominant designs available in the market. Drawing on our analysis we build a modular management-KM-dynamic capabilities model, which highlights the evolution of three different levels of dynamic capabilities and also suggests an inherent complementarity between modular and integrated approaches.     

Royalties, evolving patent rights, and the value of innovation

The value of an innovation to the innovator can change over time, especially in response to changes in the legal protection (such as patent rights) afforded the innovator. A proven-valid-and-infringed patent is a more valuable economic commodity than is an untested patent. The increase in value can be estimated using the success rate of patent lawsuits. Using a database of the outcomes of U.S. patent litigation, we find that plaintiffs win patent litigation some 45% of the time at the trial court level. This has implications both for patent damages awards and for the incentives to innovate.     

Investments in modernization, innovation and gains in productivity: Evidence from firms in the global paper industry

This paper examines the impact of investments in modernization and innovation on productivity in a sample of firms in the global pulp and paper industry. This industry has traditionally accounted for significant amounts of employment and capital investment in North America and Europe. In contrast to much of the existing literature which focuses on the impact of R&D and patents on firms’ performance and productivity, we examine data on actual investment transactions in four main areas: (i) mechanical, (ii) chemicals, (iii) monitoring devices and (iv) information technology. We find that firms that implemented a greater number of investment transactions in modernization achieved higher productivity, and these estimated quantitative effects are greater than the impact of standard innovation variables such as patents and R&D. Investment transactions in the information technology and digital monitoring devices imparted a particularly noticeable boost to productivity. These results are obtained after controlling for other firm-specific variables such as capital intensity or mergers and acquisitions. Thus, firms’ decisions to undertake investments in modernization and incremental innovations appear to be critical for achieving gains in productivity, compounding to form meaningful differences in performance, productivity and competitive position across firms in the longer run. For some of the traditional industries like pulp and paper, R&D and patents seem to be particularly poor indicators of innovation and, more generally, how firms go about achieving gains in productivity.     

Close, but not the same: Locally headquartered organizations and agglomeration economies in a declining industry

Departing from research on expanding, high-technology industries, we study the impact of agglomeration in a declining, low-technology industry. The setting is U.S. footwear manufacturing between 1975 and 1991, when import competition rendered local support critical for survival. We examine how agglomeration-related survival benefits depended upon the presence of locally headquartered manufacturing plants and whether such benefits came at the expense of other local industries. Consistent with ecological arguments, plant failure rates were higher in agglomerations but this effect was attenuated and, in some cases, reversed in agglomerations with more locally headquartered plants. Moreover, only locally headquartered plants experienced such benefits; remotely headquartered plants failed at higher rates in agglomerations. Although more footwear manufacturing jobs were retained in agglomerations with many locally headquartered plants, such locales also exhibited lower manufacturing job growth in other industries. These findings lend greater generalizability to agglomeration theories and also imply trade-offs at the community level.     

Innovation activities, use of appropriation instruments and absorptive capacity: Evidence from Spanish firms

This article empirically investigates the relationship between innovation activities of firms, their use of appropriation instruments and their absorptive capacity. We study a wide range of manufacturing and service industries, not just high-tech, and a wide range of innovation activities, not just R&D. We use multilevel logit models for complex samples to disentangle industry from firm-specific effects. We find that within an industry, firms that invest in appropriation instruments to reduce outgoing spillovers tend to conduct more R&D and downstream activities than firms that do not. Acquisition of technology is not related to the use of appropriation instruments. The effects of incoming spillovers (measured through absorptive capacity) on innovation activities of firms are industry specific and stronger for firms that invest in appropriation instruments. For this type of firm, both the capability to scan the external environment for technology and the capability to integrate new technology are related to the innovation activities. For firms that do not invest in appropriation instruments, only scanning capabilities are related.     

东莞大朗毛织产业集群的知识基础、创新网络与交互式学习研究

探讨了产业集群中企业开展技术创新所依赖的知识基础的分布性和知识基础的两种类型,并在此基础上提出了产业集群创新网络的两种表现形式和特征,进而研究了基于全面型创新网络的交互式学习的组成,最后以东莞大朗的毛织产业集群为例,分析其知识基础的组成和创新网络中的企业基于不同知识基础的交互式学习。     

The power of integrality: Linkages between product architecture, innovation, and industry structure

A substantial literature stream suggests that many products are becoming more modular over time, and that this development is often associated with a change in industry structure towards higher degrees of specialization. These developments can have strong implications for an industry's competition as the history of the PC industry illustrates. To add to our understanding of the linkages between product architecture, innovation, and industry structure we develop detailed product architecture measurements based on a previously proposed method [Fixson, S.K., 2005. Product architecture assessment: a tool to link product, process, and supply chain design decisions. Journal of Operations Management 23 (3/4), 345-369] and study an unusual case in which a firm - through decreasing its product modularity - turned its formerly competitive industry into a near-monopoly. Using this case study we explore how existing theories on modularity explain the observed phenomenon, and show that most consider technological change in rather long-term dimensions, and tend to focus on efficiency-related arguments to explain the resulting forces on competition. We add three critical aspects to the theory that connects technological change and industry dynamics. First, we suggest integrating as a new design operator to explain product architecture genesis. Second, we argue that a finer-grained analysis of the product architecture shows the existence of multiple linkages between product architecture and industry structure, and that these different linkages help explain the observed intra-industry heterogeneity across firms. Third, we propose that the firm boundary choice can also be a pre-condition of the origin of architectural innovation, not only an outcome of efficiency considerations.     

原始性创新触发机制研究——基于实践团体及其嵌入网络的视角

在设计驱动创新元模型、领导用户触发创新模型以及客户需求轨迹断点模型的基础上,提出了基于实践团体及其嵌入网络的原始性触发机制模型,并详细分析了触发机制模型的运作机理和原始性创新的阈值。重点分析实践团体及其嵌入网络的知识分布结构———框架、元件知识结构,强调原始性创新触发机制的本质是各类实践团体及其嵌入的不同层次的实践网络之间动态的知识流动、交换、合并和创新的过程。研究对企业分析自身实践团体及借助其嵌入网络的优势、在创新网络中选择正确的位势和创新方向、实现原始性创新有一定的借鉴意义。     

The impact of public basic research on industrial innovation: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry

While most economists believe that public scientific research fuels industry innovation and economic growth, systematic evidence supporting this relationship is surprisingly limited. In a recent study, Acemoglu and Linn (2004) identified market size as a significant driver of drug innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, but they did not find any evidence supporting science-driven innovation from publicly funded research. This paper uses new data on biomedical research investments by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine the contribution of public research to pharmaceutical innovation. The empirical analysis finds that both market size and NIH funded basic research have economically and statistically significant effects on the entry of new drugs with the contribution of public basic research coming in the earliest stage of pharmaceutical drug discovery. The analysis also finds a positive return to public investment in basic biomedical research.     

Environmental jolts, institutional change, and the creation of entrepreneurial opportunity in the US electric power industry

The relationship between institutional change and entrepreneurship is poorly understood. We build the theory in this area by tracing institutional change in the US electric power industry over a 40-year period. Our analysis shows that environmental jolts mobilize actors to reformulate institutions, resulting in increased entrepreneurial opportunity. When the institutional environment is stable, we find that incumbent organizational forms and embedded logics present formidable obstacles to entrepreneurial activity. Environmental jolts, however, catalyze search processes and motivate the evaluation of current institutional logics. Specifically, in the case of the electric power industry, environments of abundance and regulation resulted in homogeneity of organizational structures and strategies, and few entrepreneurial opportunities. Environments marked by scarcity and crisis, however, witnessed heavy scrutiny of existing institutional arrangements that eroded their taken-for-grantedness and symbolic value, resulting in opportunities for entrepreneurial action.     

Architectural innovation and the emergence of a dominant design: The effects of strategic sourcing on performance

This study investigates four different sourcing strategies employed by firms in order to successfully deal with a new architectural innovation hitting the market. The four sourcing approaches reflect the varying degrees of internalization of component design and manufacturing: make, in-house design, long-term supplier, and new supplier, where make implies the highest and new supplier the lowest degree of internalization of the firm’s component sourcing in a spectrum. Comparing and contrasting the innovation performance of the four sourcing approaches in the pre- and post-dominant design eras, we suggest theoretical implications for the critical path of strategic sourcing decisions over time for a new architectural innovation. By doing so, we suggest an integrated framework of stage-contingent sourcing strategies and provide the associated empirical results that demonstrate normative strategic guidance for managers.     

产学研结合的创新模式探析

针对目前产学研合作模式的界定、选择中存在的问题,分析了产学研合作创新模式的结构。以产学研合作过程的5个阶段为线索,对产学研合作的模式进行了界定与分析,提出了产学研合作的5种模式与12种类型,对不同阶段产学研合作模式选择提供了新的研究思路。     

Creating venture capital industries that co-evolve with high tech: Insights from an extended industry life cycle perspective of the Israeli experience

This paper presents an industry life cycle model of venture capital (VC) and associated startup-intensive high-tech clusters based on the Israeli experience of the last 35 years. Throughout, VC is considered as a new industry, which, when successful, traverses five phases: background conditions, pre-emergence, emergence, restructuring and consolidation. Each phase comprises a number of events and processes, including policy ones. A central process is VC emergence—a cumulative, self-reinforcing process involving a number of interrelated sub-processes. A central sub-process in the Israeli case was VC-startup co-evolution, which was the critical link between the VC emergence and the transformation of the high-tech cluster into a startup-intensive configuration. Our analysis suggests that, provided appropriate background conditions prevail, VC could be central vector in the transformation of existing high-tech clusters.     

From knowledge to added value: A comparative, panel-data analysis of the innovation value chain in Irish and Swiss manufacturing firms

The innovation value chain (IVC) divides the innovation process into three separate links or activities: knowledge gathering, knowledge transformation and knowledge exploitation. Here, we report a comparative panel data analysis of the IVC in Ireland and Switzerland. Both economies are small, very open and depend significantly on innovation to maintain competitive advantage. In recent years, however, R&D and innovation growth in Ireland has been markedly stronger than that in Switzerland. We investigate these differences through the ‘lens’ of the IVC. Significant similarities exist between some aspects of firms’ innovation behaviour in each country: strong complementarities emerge between external knowledge sources and between firms’ internal and external knowledge. And, in both countries, in-house R&D and links to customers prove important drivers of innovation. Innovation drives productivity growth in different ways in the two countries, however, through product change in Switzerland and through process change in Ireland. Other differences in the determinants of innovation performance linked to ownership and firms’ institutional context emphasise the systemic nature of innovation and the legacy of past patterns of industrial development.