Significant Issues for the Future of Product Innovation

Product innovation management, by definition, requires that we become comfortable dealing with change. As this journal enters its eleventh year of publication, the editor-in-chief asked each member of the editorial board to reflect upon changes and opportunities that they see influencing our profession during the coming decade. In our first installment of these essays, George Day, Bela Gold and Thomas Kuczmarski discuss the value of managing ideas, embracing a longer-term view of development opportunities, and creating a senior executive position charged with developing such opportunities. Each of these short essays is designed to introduce new perspectives. It is not essential that you agree with the recommendations, but we hope that you are stimulated as you reflect on the issues they present.     

Significant Issues for the Future of Product Innovation

In this issue, William Souder and Robert Thomas present their thoughts on two issues they feel will shape aspects of our approach to effective new product development in coming years. Souder, stimulated by a recent trip to New Zealand, reflects on the different approaches to the management of new products he found in a variety of smaller, family-controlled businesses he visited. Both the need for documented processes and the emphasis on time-to-market were diminished in these organizations, characterized by family involvement and continuity in operations. In these companies, expectations for growth were set by those running and owning the business. There was time to work on projects and fund progress from cashflows. Does this reflect persistence, or flexibility? Souder simply points out that it seems to provide an effective platform for business growth in certain international arenas, asks us to ponder the consequences for ourselves, and states that we should not be too quick to label these practices as limited in scope or only suitable for low-tech products. Robert Thomas reminds us that new product forecasting no longer is limited to projections of future sales. He writes about evolution in the field, with a particular emphasis on our growing need to forecast based on analogies. As we increasingly have access to information about products in other companies and in other lands, we have an increasing opportunity to discover ways to incorporate this knowledge into our business plans. These essays continue a year-long series of contributions that the editor-in-chief solicited from members of the editorial board. Members were asked to reflect upon changes and opportunities that they see influencing our profession during the coming decade. Both of these short essays are designed to introduce new perspectives. It is not essential that you agree with the recommendations, but we hope that you are stimulated as you reflect on the issues they discuss.     

Developing a Network R&D Strategy

If you visualize your firm as a unit in a vast and complex network of contacts, it may change the way you manage your technological resources. That's the proposition of Håkan Håkansson and Jens Laage-Hellman. They present here a framework for examining the technological and knowledge bonds that develop among members of the network and suggest several alternatives for structuring network relationships. The key issue, they believe, is to choose a cooperation strategy that provides the right balance between efficient use of resources and the control of technology.     

Significant Issues for the Future of Product Innovation

In this issue, Merle Crawford and Milton Rosenau present their thoughts on some of the issues confronting product development professionals. Both reflect on the emergence of new products management as a profession—a field with its own requirements for success. Crawford wonders about the sustainability of our current use of teams for much of our work, the need for improved measurements, and the overall relationship between the management of new initiatives and the ongoing work of the organization. As new products work become more integrated with corporate operations, what new responsibilities will we face, beyond our current challenges? Rosenau looks squarely at the complex issues of rewards and compensation. How can we modify systems that have traditionally evaluated individual performance and adjust them to fit various cooperative work patterns necessary in new product development? He calls for formal study of these important issues. These essays continue a year-long series of contributions that the editor-in-chief solicited from members of the editorial board. Members were asked to reflect on changes and opportunities that they feel will influence our profession during the coming decade. Both of these short essays are designed to introduce new perspectives. It is not essential that you agree with the recommendations, but we hope that you are stimulated as you reflect on the issues that are raised.     

Significant Issues for the Future of Product Innovation

In recognition of JPIM's eleventh year of publication, the editor-in-chief solicited a series of thoughtful contributions from members of the editorial board. Members were asked to reflect upon changes and opportunities that they see influencing our profession during the coming decade. In this issue, Chris Voss examines our growing recognition of the interdependence of a variety of business processes: product innovation, product development, process innovation, technology acquisition, industrial design, total quality management, and quality function deployment. He supports the need to establish tighter linkages among these important elements of a successful new products program, which he labels "total innovation management." Like earlier contributions, this short essay is designed to introduce new perspectives. It is not essential that you agree with the recommendations, but we hope that you are stimulated as you reflect on the included issues.     

Technology Sharing in Manufacturing Business Groups

Technology represents the primordial force for companies and organizations in securing long‐term competitiveness. In the intensive search to access new technology, organizations are more and more looking beyond the borders of the focal firm and becoming involved in various networks with suppliers, consultants, partners, and others. However, the distinction between the focal firm, on the one hand, and networks, on the other, is in this paper argued to be too extensive without intermediating nuances. Less focus is given to an in‐between perspective configured by business groups or concerns here defined as parent corporations with subsidiary companies. It is this perspective of business groups with characteristics between individual firms and open networks that is of interest in this paper. The focus is on manufacturing business groups in which the companies will typically have individual as well as common technologies. The research aim is to develop a framework to be used as an analytical tool for understanding and organizing technology sharing in manufacturing business groups. The research approach was to study technology sharing in a natural setting combining multiple in‐depth sources of evidence in a clinical research setting. A prestudy identified key dimensions in classifying cases leading to four clusters of typified cases. Data were gathered from meetings with 24 managers from various research and development (R&D) units who met regularly every other week during seven months, in‐depth interviews, internal documents and protocols, and workshops. Following the clinical field‐study approach, findings are theoretically validated in relation to literature. The analysis identifies and depicts four different types of technology‐sharing scenarios in manufacturing business groups. Each type has particular characteristics of its own. The four scenarios together provide a synthesized portfolio with different types of dimensions. A first dimension makes a distinction between sharing new technology development versus existing technology. Another distinguishes between technologies aimed at the whole business group and those aimed at specific segments. The two dimensions together comprise four different types of technology‐sharing alternatives. Each one of them can be used at the focal firm, and together, they are applicable from a business group perspective comprising technology‐sharing portfolios of manufacturing business groups.     

Synthetic fibre technology and company strategy

The authors' aim is to examine the socioeconomic setting in which the modern technologies of synthetic fibre manufacture emerged. Their specially developed methodology consists in analysing the emergence at three hierarchical levels of analysis — at the 'macro' level, tracing the dominant line of development, the so-called technological trajectory; at the 'meso' level, characterizing the industry environment (the main focus of the paper); and at the 'micro' level within which each company's development strategy is formulated and implemented.
The paper contains a brief history of the development of the technology of synthetic fibre production. The long-term macro trajectory, pursued by the participant firms in significantly different ways, was towards making a polyamide polymer by solution condensation and spinning it into fibres by existing technology, the aim of each firm being to produce its own high performance fibre selling into a premium market. The paper describes how a number of leading firms chose their particular routes to a marketable product. The motivations varied considerably depending, for example, on legal and patent factors, previous technological choices made by the firm, the need to defend an existing core business, and identification of an empty market niche.
In spite of the general similarity of the outcomes of the technological development the authors hold that the industry is still far from standardization, a situation they explain in terms of a model of standardization put forward by Reddy and colleagues.     

External Technology and In-House R&D's Facilitative Role

A number affirms use external sourcing of technology to create technological change in their organizations. In this article, Falguni Sen and Albert Rubenstein develop a rationale to support the concept of an integrative technology development strategy which emphasizes the role of in-house R&D during the planning and implementation process for externally sourced technology. They divide the external sourcing process into two major components: an acquisition phase and an implementation phase. Next, they define five distinct stages within both phases. Based on a review of the literature, the authors identify some common problems with external sourcing and discuss potential ways that in-house R&D can alleviate them by becoming involved in specific steps in each of the ten stages. The data in the article have been obtained from thirty-one cases of external sourcing of technology from a diverse group of industries in the United States and India. R&D's involvement in the external technology process varies among firms and is generally low in the acquisition phase. In the research, R&D managers describe barriers to their involvement, and the article develops measures of effectiveness of the activities in each stage of the external sourcing process. The authors recommend removing relevant barriers, especially in those stages where the involvement of in-house R&D groups could increase the effectiveness of the process.     

The Co-Diffusion of Complementary Innovations: Supermarket Scanners and UPC Symbols

Co-diffusion is the positive interaction between the demands for complementary innovations that have separate adoption tracks. This interaction is of growing importance to business strategy because a firm can facilitate the diffusion of an innovation by supporting and participating in the development and commercialization of related complementary technologies. This phenomenon is of special importance where connectivity among products is central to end-user value. Louis P. Bucklin and Sanjit Sengupta report results of their empirical investigation of the co-diffusion of laser scanners in supermarkets and Universal Product Code (UPC) symbols printed on the packages of stocked items. Their results show asymmetric two-way co-diffusion effects between these innovations. Co-diffusion effects are found to be stronger than innovation effects. Finally, the analysis reveals differential co-diffusion effects across major market segments.     

Business strategy,technology policy and firm performance

This paper presents a study of the relationships among select business strategy dimensions, technology policy dimensions, and firm performance. The research sought to identify how these variables interrelate at the bivariate and multivariate levels. Data were collected from 103 manufacturing-based firms representing 28 mature industries. Results show that technology policy choices vary widely across firms with different business strategies, and that business strategy affects the strength of the relationship between firm performance and particular technology policies.     

Framing of international research alliances: influence on strategy

The need to access knowledge globally is increasingly driving organisations to form international research alliances. When partners in such alliances reside in different nations, respective government policies may impinge on the strategic development and structure of the alliance. In this paper, we discuss the impact of perceived policy stances on the alliance strategy of research and technology institutes (RTIs) and provide a framework for considering possible alliance strategies. We believe that the choice of alliance strategy will depend upon how the RTI 'frames' its government's policy stance. The influence of 'framing' on the development of research alliance strategy is illustrated with a case study of an alliance between a New Zealand RTI and an American high technology firm in the emerging superconductivity industry. The paper concludes with a discussion of how use of the alliance strategy framework may impact on organisational practice and the development and interpretation of government policy.     

地方产业群战略

本文旨在论述营造地方产业群是提高竞争力应以全球化挑战的重要政策措施。一是从“全球－本地”二重性出发，从国际经验分析发展地方产业群的背景和产业群理论的由来；二是说明产业群的概念、形成因素和发展机制；三是论述产业群战略的重要性、政策目标和具体内容；四是结合区域产业发展的现实问题和认识误区，提出我国实施地方产业群战略以及相应的制度创新的重要性。     

Evolution or revolution? Dynamic capabilities in a knowledge‐dependent firm

In this paper we examine the technological and organizational innovations which have facilitated rapid growth in a small firm. Evidence from the case suggests that the relational elements of inter-firm transactions provide entrepreneurs with the opportunity to expand their organizational capabilities. The importance of business networks is that they have resources which can supplement internal skills and knowledge. The two owner-directors of RWL have been instrumental in building relationships with suppliers and customers which have benefited all parties. In doing so, they have renewed their own firm's dynamic capabilities by creating a structure and associated routines that focus on opportunity recognition and exploitation. These new capabilities are based on a recognition that competitive advantage can be created by acting as a knowledge-integrator. In that sense, RWL is a knowledge-dependent firm because there is no emphasis on the acquisition of intellectual property rights nor even an attempt to retain knowledge in-house. In pursuing this strategy to achieve growth, the directors have resolved a number of concurrent crises that suggests it is necessary to revisit traditional linear models of firm growth ( Greiner, 1972; Churchill and Lewis, 1983 ).     

Firm Size and Product Innovation

The linkage between firm size and product innovation has frequently been discussed by both researchers and other writers. John Ettlie and Albert Rubenstein report the results of a study which, by distinguishing between the incorporation of radical and incremental technology, attempts to resolve some of the controversy surrounding this issue. In particular, the authors hypothesize that up to a certain point, large firms with greater resources are more likely to commercialize radically new products successfully. Findings generally support this theory but refinements to the model are now possible. For example, firms with 1000 employees or less need not be excluded from radical product introduction if they resolve critical funding and research problems. This size-radicalness distribution is shaped like a fish hook or a claw. That is, up to about 1000 employees, there is no significant relationship between number of employees and radicalness of a new product. Between 1200 and 11,000 employees there is a significant, direct relationship. Finally, very large organizations (in excess of about 45,000 employees) are unlikely to introduce radically new products. Larger firms were significantly more likely to adopt ambitious new processing technologies in order to introduce these new products. Also, new product success was significantly predicted by the absence of funding problems in introducing the innovation and the degree to which the new product was a radical departure from existing practice.     

面朝乡村 IT花开

走,去农村!这绝不是一种逃离,而是一种新生。"游走在城市与乡村之间,清明时节采茶,冬春季节挖笋,秋天收获板栗,平时捡捡鸡蛋。鸡犬之声相闻,山间美食相伴,享不尽的田园风光。"网易农业事业部"田园管家"的招聘近日引来无数高科技白领围观。如今,交通的便利令城市与乡村的距离不再是问题,但科技的距离却比我们所想的还有些遥远。农村不是不愿意拥抱科技,而是越到基层去,越要考验科技"接地气"的种种功力。如东与怀柔,一南一北两个县城,因IT同时走进我们的视野。虽然环境有着天壤之别,但与当地村民交流,你会发现他们对IT的描绘极为     

Information and communications technology infrastructure and firm growth: An empirical study of China's cities

Despite the importance of information and communications technology (ICT), previous studies of the business value of information technology have yielded mixed results. This study provides new empirical evidence that demonstrates the impact of cities' ICT on firm performance. A series of panel datasets are assembled to measure the improvement of city's ICT infrastructure and the change of firm performance during the years 2001–2016 in China. The findings demonstrate that city's ICTs positively promoted firm performance, including financial profitability, marketing performance and innovation performance. Instrumental variables are employed to verify the positive impact of city's ICTs infrastructure on firm profitability. Taking advantage of an exogenous variation of telecommunications upgrade as a natural experiment, this study uses the difference-in-difference approach to establish causality between cities' ICT infrastructure and firm profitability. Mechanisms are explored, which shows that better labour quality, lower costs and higher transparency are the three possible channels through which ICTs influence firm profitability.     

Innovation ecosystems and the pace of substitution: Re‐examining technology S‐curves

Why do some new technologies emerge and quickly supplant incumbent technologies while others take years or decades to take off? We explore this question by presenting a framework that considers both the focal competing technologies as well as the ecosystems in which they are embedded. Within our framework, each episode of technology transition is characterized by the ecosystem emergence challenge that confronts the new technology and the ecosystem extension opportunity that is available to the old technology. We identify four qualitatively distinct regimes with clear predictions for the pace of substitution. Evidence from 10 episodes of technology transitions in the semiconductor lithography equipment industry from 1972 to 2009 offers strong support for our framework. We discuss the implication of our approach for firm strategy. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The allocation of R&D resource

Abstract
The allocation of R&D resource in a multi-business organisation is often based more on current operating performance than on the relative potential for technological development of the businesses. The approach suggested in this paper attempts to overcome these problems by linking R&D allocation very closely to business strategy. The two key concepts are technology leverage, i.e. the extent to which technology can change the business environment in an industry to yield competitive advantage, and business leverage i.e. the current competitive strength of an individual business within an industry. Where technology leverage is weak, competitive advantage will be mainly dependent on factors other than R&D and it is suggested that levels of R&D effort at or below 1 % of turnover are appropriate. Where technology leverage is strong, R&D can be effective in maintaining strong business leverage by achieving technology mastery or in transforming a weak business position by creating a technological discontinuity. R&D intensities ranging from 3 to 15 or more % of turnover are thought to be appropriate in these cases. This framework can be used for policy debates on R&D allocation, for example whether the R&D allocation is appropriate for the business strategy or whether R&D could spearhead a more expansionist business strategy. The framework has been successfully used in ICI Chemicals and Polymers Limited during the annual R&D budget process.     

The impact of outsourcing new technologies on integrative capabilities and performance

Outsourcing plays an important role for firms adopting new technologies. Although outsourcing provides access to a new technology, it does not guarantee that a firm can subsequently integrate the technology with existing business processes and leverage it in the marketplace. This distinction, however, has rarely been made in the literature. In the context of business process enhancing technologies, this study builds on the resource‐based and knowledge‐based views to study the impact of outsourcing on firms' subsequent performance in the market and their integrative capabilities, that is, a firm's capacity to use and assimilate a new technology with its business processes and build upon it. The study argues that greater reliance on outsourcing may reduce a firm's learning by doing, internal investment, and tacit knowledge applications, thereby impeding a firm's integrative capabilities and performance in the market. The study uses survey and archival data on banks' outsourcing strategies for Internet adoption to test for the performance consequences of outsourcing, which are found to be negative. However, the findings also show that outsourcing is less detrimental for firms with experience in prior related technology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differential Potency of Factors Affecting Innovation Performance in Manufacturing and Services Firms in Australia

Whether or not industrialized nations are experiencing a fundamental shift from a manufacturing- to a service-based economy may be a matter of debate. However, the service sector is clearly growing at an explosive rate, particularly in comparison with manufacturing. With this in mind, we need to better understand how the successful development of new services differs from that of new products. Such understanding requires identifying the critical success factors for new service development (NSD), as well as contrasting them with the factors underlying successful new product development (NPD). Kwaku Atuahene-Gima describes the results of a study comparing the innovation activities of Australian services firms and manufacturers. The study explores managers' perceptions of the factors necessary for successful NSD and NPD. In addition to comparing the differing perceptions of managers of services firms and manufacturers, the study highlights implications of these differences for managers striving for improved NSD. Services and manufacturing firms focus on similar factors for improving innovation performance. However, the relative importance of those factors depends on the type of firm. The critical factor for services—the importance accorded to innovation activity in the firm's human resource strategy—ranks third in importance for manufacturers. Manufacturers focus primarily on product innovation advantage and quality. In contrast, service innovation advantage and quality ranks third in importance for service firms. Surprisingly, technology synergy is found to have a negative effect on new service performance. If a new service is a close fit with a firm's current technologies, competitors will likely be able to quickly imitate the new service. As a result, NSD efforts based on technology synergy will not provide a competitive advantage. Compared to manufacturers, successful service firms must place greater emphasis on the selection, development, and management of employees who work directly with the customer. Through effective self management, these contact personnel shape the quality of the customer relationship. In addition, their close contact and potentially long-term relationships with customers make such employees an important source of new ideas in the firm's NSD process. Such relationships also cast contact personnel in a make-or-break role in the launching of new services.