Beyond product innovation: deciphering process-oriented innovators,complementarities and performance effects

Relatively little attention has been paid to the understanding of process innovation, compared to the well-researched product innovation. This paper contributes to improve our understanding of process innovation and its specific process capabilities and performance by exploring, across many industries, 4,608 process-oriented innovators. Process innovation is defined as adoption of technologically new or significantly improved production methods, including changes in equipment, organisation or methods of product delivery. Process-oriented innovators or process seekers are those firms which usually only introduce process innovation, and no product innovation. These have received less attention by scholars. Results show that process innovation without also organisational innovation complements constrains innovative performance. Complex process-based innovation complementarities result from the simultaneous development and integration of new machinery and organisational innovations.     

企业技术创新过程模型研究——基于供应商和用户共同参与的模式

创新是一个民族的素质体现,也是企业发展不变的主题.随着科学技术日益复杂化,技术创新在企业中的重要作用也日益凸显.时于企业来说,技术创新是帮助其在激烈竞争中保持优势的基础,只有进行技术创新,提升自身竞争力,才能让新技术及新产品赶上市场需求潮流,让企业在竞争中立于不败之地.企业创新过程能够为企业的创新指明一条道路,但是现如今企业不能仅仅依靠企业自身采进行创新,而应该借助各方面的力量,让用户和供应商一起参与到技术创新过程中来.有研究表明,供应商和用户参与到新产品开发过程中,能为企业提高新产品开发效率提供有效帮助.但是用户和供应商参与到创新中,技术创新过程又会是怎样一种情况?本文将从这个角度出发,在分别修正已有的供应商和用户单独参与汽车企业技术创新过程模型的基础上,模拟归纳出二者共同参与的技术创新过程模型,为企业新形势下的创新提供帮助.     

Disentangling the effects of process and product innovation on cost and demand

ABSTRACT

We explore in this note different structural models of the impact of process and product innovation on firms' demand and production cost functions. We find that the introduction of process and product innovations affects them differently as could be expected. Both product and process innovation shift forward the demand for the products of the firm. Process innovation reduces production marginal cost, but not always. A possibility, that we cannot prove or reject with the current specification of our models and available data, is that process innovation associated with product innovation raise marginal cost. Interestingly, we also find that advertising significantly augments demand but does not affect production marginal cost. To obtain broader conclusions, richer data will be needed allowing an enlargement of the model, in which process and product innovations could be specified distinctively and well identified.     

新产品推广与服务创新框架——以我国影像行业数码化为例

本文以我国影像行业数码化为例,构建了新产品推广与服务创新的框架,分析了新产品开发体系与服务创新开发体系的特点和演化规律,指出了建立服务创新体系的要点。本文发现,新产品开发中的服务创新必须建立体系,行业开发中的服务创新必须建立框架。新产品开发体系与服务创新开发体系具有融合性、增益性的特点,服务创新体系的建立和完善是不断深化的过程,一般规律为:技术服务—市场服务—管理服务—行业综合服务,且服务创新体系的建设必须抓住两个"三结合":制造商、经销商、先导用户三结合;技术开发、服务创新与行业开发三结合。行业服务创新体系是建立边缘行业的推动力,各行各业的服务创新体系都应搭建综合服务平台,以保证服务创新的不断深化,实现赶超世界先进国家服务创新体系的高效益。     

Competition vs. collaboration in the generation and adoption of a sequence of new technologies: a game theory approach

The study provides a game theoretic exploration of firms’ decisions on whether to compete or collaborate in the generation and adoption of a sequence of new technologies. Different from models proposed by previous studies, which concentrates on process innovation and a two-strategy set (innovation or do nothing), the present game theory model emphasises product innovation and a three-strategy set (innovation, collaboration, or do nothing). The study makes three contributions. The proposed game theory model extends current understanding of the impacts of collaboration possibilities and collaboration cost in a dynamic game theory. Further, the model clarifies the impact of transaction costs on the outcome. Finally, the study finds that the relationship between collaboration costs is not univariate, but depends on the market type and various market characteristics, such as technology gap, technology level, the product substitution index, transaction costs, and the discount rate of price sensitiveness.     

The nonlinear effects of firm size on innovation: an empirical investigation

ABSTRACT

In conventional studies, large firms tend to emphasize more on process innovation than product innovation. This paper explores factors that could indicate a distinct pattern of firms’ innovation-size relationship: threshold size that implies a positive effect of firm size on the probability of product innovation success; cannibalization effect that creates incentives for large firms to favor product innovations; and financial constraints that have differential effects given different firm sizes. A hypothesis about a non-monotonic relationship between the proportion of product innovation and firm size is tested with nonlinear and dynamic econometric models. For the large firms, empirical evidence shows product innovations result in an overall larger share of new products in total sales, relative to existing products in which process innovations are rooted.     

创新管理及未来展望

指出研究者们从不同视角理解创新的内在规律以及过程,提出技术经济学科应继续将创新作为学科研究重点,并引入多学科的研究视角。梳理了创新管理的发展趋势,即从产品创新和工艺创新走向商业模式创新、从封闭创新走向开放创新乃至协同创新、从渐进式创新走向突破型创新、从基于技术的创新走向基于科学的创新、从国家创新体系走向创新生态系统建设。     

基于设计的创新——理论初探

本文在前人研究的基础上提出企业基于设计的创新的概念,即通过寻找新的技术或者现有技术新应用以及运用新的产品语言创新产品意义,给客户全新的体验过程。在基于设计的创新中,有才能的设计师发挥了最主要的作用,他们是企业获取技术信息和产品语言信息的重要渠道。我们认为,在基于设计的创新过程中,设计师的沟通能力、信息搜索能力和吸收能力是影响创新成败的重要因素,另外,基于设计的创新需要得到领导的支持。     

Beyond papermaking: technology and market shifts for wood-based biomass industries – management implications for large-scale industries

Growing environmental concerns, emerging economies, and the strong uncertainties about future prices of fossil fuels as well as about CO₂ emissions contribute to a potential renaissance for biorefining industries. According to theories on technology shifts and innovations (e.g. [Utterback, J. M. 1994. Mastering the dynamics of innovation. How companies can seize opportunities under technological change. Harvard Business School Press]), heavy process industries like pulp and paper tend to be rigid towards disruptive innovations and instead focus on incremental innovations and economies of scale. However, a major empirical contribution from this case study demonstrates that some incumbents may escape the lock-in and form a new biomass development block. The study also contributes to academic as well as technology and innovation management perspectives in process-based and natural resource-based industries, where process innovations are tightly coupled with product innovations in inter-industry (vertical) linkages, the so-called development block.     

Does technological innovation undertaken alone have a real pivotal role? Product and marketing innovation in manufacturing firms

This paper investigates the role of non-technological innovation on firms' innovation propensity and performance. We note that emphasis on technological innovation alone is misleading, as a firm's decision to undertake technological innovation brings about a more complex and general process which may involve new attitudes regarding organization and market orientation. We analyse the relationship between product and marketing innovation in manufacturing, focusing specifically on the food industry. We propose a bivariate probit model in which product and marketing innovation are estimated taking into account their reciprocal interactions. This enables us to provide more efficient and realistic estimates of a firm's probability of introducing either a new or improved product or a new marketing technique. In addition, the proposed model provides the determinants of such probabilities.     

用户参与企业产品创新的系统管理机制

用户参与是技术创新理论中一个非常重要的研究领域,在新产品开发过程中,用户作为价值创造者的作用已经受到学者和企业家的重视.用户参与产品创新,可以拓展企业创新源、为企业赢得持续竞争优势和提高新产品开发效率.如何有效地获取用户资源,将这一资源充分整合在新产品的开发过程中,且能够成功将产品推向市场,这是用户参与产品创新的关键.本文研究了如何系统管理用户参与新产品开发的过程,认为企业需要进行相应的组织安排和制度设计;需要构建用户参与产品创新的支持系统;需要控制用户参与新产品开发的过程.     

中国特色自主创新道路的思考：创新资 源的配置、创新模式和创新定位的选择

本文从创新资源、创新模式、创新主体、创新方向等方面进行分析，提出了可以有效理解、引导、评估中国特色自主创新道路的一般性分析框架。研究结果表明，选择创新资源配置的重点，必须遵从“两力原则”，即“有能力、有潜力”；创新模式的确定主要根据技术梯度和技术地位特征进行分解；大学-产业-政府三螺旋相互作用成为创新系统运行的核心。本文还从比较优势、定位原则等方面对技术推动还是需求拉动、产品创新还是工艺创新、大企业创新还是小企业创新、颠覆性创新还是渐进性创新、传统产业创新还是新兴产业创新、劳动节约型技术进步还是资本节约型技术进步等六个问题进行了回答。     

Generic innovation dynamics across the industrial technology life cycle: Platform equation modeling of invention and innovation activity

We describe here a generic approach to innovation dynamics based on an integrated framework for inventions and innovations applied via a platform equation and model across the industrial technology life cycle. We test the model for metals and other materials, and demonstrate that this model correctly describes the production activity for several materials and energy conversion technologies.Innovation activity patterns are shown for several oxides, metals, oil and wind energy and its derivatives. The metals Cu, Al, W, Mo and Pb are particularly studied for the amount produced over time. The total activity for the metals encompasses both the invention and innovation stage for a particular metal. Four major stages and two sub stages are identified for the discovery (invention) and subsequent growth regimes (i.e. the innovation stage). The pattern equation appears to clearly capture all these stages for the metals studied — work is ongoing for similar analyses of energy and other materials. Although the metals studied existed over differing periods (e.g. copper greater than 200 years whereas aluminum, just over 100 years), one single pattern equation appears to capture all the major trends. The use of the model is also shown for productivity analysis, especially for the condition of radical innovation (very rapid growth). For sustained radical innovation, namely, when the output of the produced material per unit time, keeps on increasing with time, there are various factors which may influence growth. For the conditions where thermal activation and plant size are the dominant variables, their impact on the growth may be examined in the context of the pattern equation. A preliminary analysis of oxide production activity also appears to follow this same innovation model.The results suggest a fertile field of future research extending the initial platform equation model to include R&D, Patents, and Performance, as well as Sales, as innovation activity. Further, the model shows promise in combination with the ARI methodology model for analysis and assessment of existing and future industrial technology life cycles involving material, process, product, software and service innovations.     

“两化融合”对企业创新的影响研究--基于企业价值链的视角

已有文献在研究“两化融合”(信息化与工业化融合)对企业创新的影响时，忽略了两个重要问题：一是，企业活动通过价值链衔接而成，信息技术或产品会渗透到不同的价值链环节；二是，企业创新活动具有多样性，在不同价值链环节的创新形式具有差异性。基于此，文章利用2012年世界银行对中国企业所做的营商环境调查，从企业价值链视角，考察了“两化融合”对企业创新的影响。研究发现：产品设计、市场营销环节与信息化的融合提高了企业产品创新投入的倾向，生产制造环节与信息化的融合提高了企业流程创新投入的倾向。进一步的研究表明，企业“两化融合”整体水平的提升能够增加企业的新产品产值，有助于企业实现经济效益。文章的研究不仅丰富了关于“两化融合”与企业创新的认识，而且对中国制造业企业创新能力的提升和经济结构的转型也具有重要的启示。     

Technology diffusion theory revisited: a regulation,environment, strategy,technology model for technology activation analysis of mobile ICT

Theory on the diffusion of mobile information and communication technology (ICT) is mainly focused on technology diffusion, while prerequisites to such diffusion are largely disregarded or taken for granted. Moreover, few constructs for the assessment of technology diffusion take into account the inherent link between technology and strategy analysis. This study proposes that analysing what comes prior to diffusion and use of technology – here defined as ‘technology activation’ – is equally important, so as to identify external, not user-related determinants that enable or hinder a value proposition based on the new technology. To fill the existing gap and extend technology diffusion theory upstream, the limitations of the technology–organisation–environment model and of other technology diffusion models are reviewed, together with external strategy analysis models, and an original model is proposed to address four macro-determinants that affect technology activation: Regulation, environment, strategy, technology (REST). The REST model is then applied to the Italian mobile location-based services market, to qualitatively validate its comprehensiveness. Conclusions are drawn on the opportunities to extend the mobile technology diffusion analysis process upstream, and to integrate technology analysis with existing research on strategy analysis, thus providing new momentum to mainstream research on innovation diffusion.     

公众参与如何影响企业绿色技术创新——基于中介效应和空间效应的分析

绿色技术创新是破解资源环境约束的根本之计，公众参与作为一种“软约束”对绿色技术创新的作用日益凸显。本文基于公众弥补“政府失灵”和“市场失灵”的独特优势，系统探讨了公众参与对绿色技术创新的影响以及传导机制，并立足于创新对象的不同，利用固定效应模型、中介效应模型及空间计量模型对其进行了实证检验。结果表明：（1）公众参与能够显著地提升绿色工艺创新，而对绿色产品创新的作用并不明显；（2）公众参与依赖于政府环境规制迫使企业污染成本内部化，进而间接影响绿色工艺创新；（3）区域异质性方面，经济较发达地区公众参与对绿色工艺创新的作用更为明显；政府环境规制在公众参与度较高的地区对绿色工艺创新或产品创新的正向促进效果更为明显；（4）空间效应方面，本地公众参与不仅会提升本地绿色工艺创新，同时这种正向效应也会辐射到经济差距较小的周边地区。本文的研究有利于厘清公众参与对绿色技术创新的影响效应，明确其作用路径，为“三方共治”治理体系的有效实施提供参考。     

供应链环境下产品创新过程分析及评价研究

供应链环境下产品创新流程设计及对供应商的评价成为产品创新的关键。本文分析了知识经济条件下的产品创新的新模式,提出供应链环境下产品创新的基本流程,并进一步研究了基于成本-时间模型的产品创新供应链节点企业的评价模型。     

Demand and innovation in productivity growth

The labour productivity impact of demand and innovation is investigated in this paper combining insights from the Kaldorian and Schumpeterian traditions. After a review of studies in such traditions, a general model is proposed for explaining productivity growth in European manufacturing and service industries in the late 1990s, followed by two distinct specifications for the industries oriented toward product innovation, and for those where process innovation dominates. The empirical analysis is based on the match of the SIEPI‐CIS2 database developed at the University of Urbino and Eurostat Input–Output Tables at the industry level, for 22 manufacturing sectors and 10 services sectors. Six European countries are considered: Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The results show that productivity growth in European industries can be explained by a combination of technology factors and demand dynamics, confirming the complementarity of technology and demand effects. On the demand side, household consumption emerges as the most pervasive component of demand, able to stimulate greater efficiency in all manufacturing and service industries. Investment also has a role, focused however on the capital goods producing industries. On the technology side, the mechanisms of productivity growth are fundamentally different in the industries oriented towards product innovation and in those dominated by process innovation. This evidence supports the view that innovation in firms and industries can be associated to two contrasting strategies, searching either for technological competitiveness, through knowledge generation, product innovation and expansion of new markets, or aiming at greater cost competitiveness, through job reductions, labour saving investment, flexibility and restructuring.     

突破性技术创新的非线性与非连续性演化——以智能驾驶汽车为例

通过对突破性技术创新进行理论溯源,提炼了突破性技术创新的技术轨迹和价值实现路径。采取案例研究方法,以谷歌与丰田为案例对象,以智能驾驶汽车作为突破性技术创新的例子,从技术维度与市场维度剖析了智能驾驶技术的发展历程。研究发现:突破性技术创新起步于新技术和新市场,能为客户创造新的市场需求、科学问题解决方案;突破性技术创新具有非线性、非连续性的发展特征,突破性技术创新并不是某一特定节点的技术或产品,而是时间维度上技术或产品功能不断完善及演进的结果;企业在进行突破性技术创新时,会根据自身的资源基础、产业链中的竞争地位以及市场反馈建立与在位企业迥异的发展模式。     

网络金融创新产品扩散的曲线簇模型研究

随着网络技术在金融领域应用的加深,网络金融创新在金融创新中所占的比重日趋提高。文章旨在研究网络金融产品扩散的基本规律,将生物种群理论中的逻辑斯谛模型引入了网络金融创新产品扩散的基本模型研究中,并在此基础上提出了曲线簇模型,用不同市场不同金融创新产品的数据对此模型进行了计量检验,该模型的研究可以为金融机构的战略决策和管理当局的政策制订提供理论参考。