An inquiry on dimensions of external technology search and their influence on technological innovations: evidence from Chinese firms

A central part of technological innovation for industrial firms involves search for new external knowledge. A well‐established stream of literature on firms' external knowledge search has demonstrated that firms investing in broader search may have a great ability to innovate. In this paper, we explore the influences of technology search on firms' technological innovation performance along three distinctive dimensions: technical, geographic, and temporal dimensions, using a unique panel data set containing information on Chinese firms that were active in technology in‐licensing and patenting during the period 2000–2009. Our findings reveal that Chinese firms' technological innovation performances are related to external technology search in quite different ways from the ones suggested in the extant literature using evidence from developed countries. We find that Chinese firms searching ‘locally’ along the technical dimension have better technological innovation performance than those searching ‘distantly’. However, when a Chinese firm in‐license relatively old (mature) technologies or those from geographically nearby areas, it will be less bounded to searching familiar technical knowledge.     

Strategic dalliances as an enabler for discontinuous innovation in slow clockspeed industries: evidence from the oil and gas industry

The concept of ‘strategic dalliances’– defined as non‐committal relationships that companies can ‘dip in and out of,’ or dally with, while simultaneously maintaining longer‐term strategic partnerships with other firms and suppliers – has emerged as a promising strategy by which organizations can create discontinuous innovations. But does this approach work equally well for every sector? Moreover, how can these links be effectively used to foster the process of discontinuous innovation? Toward assessing the role that industry clockspeed plays in the success or failure of strategic dalliances, we provide case study evidence from Twister BV, an upstream oil and gas technology provider, and show that strategic dalliances can be an enabler for the discontinuous innovation process in slow clockspeed industries. Implications for research and practice are discussed, and conclusions from our findings are drawn.     

The effect of the innovative environment on exit of entrepreneurial firms

To foster ‘creative destruction,’ entrants must survive the turbulent conditions they face in their first crucial years in the industry. We investigate how the external knowledge milieu of an entrant, conceptualized as its innovative environment, causes systematic variation in survival patterns. We test our model from 3,431 firms in 33 industries over 80 years. We depict the innovative environment along two knowledge‐related dimensions, namely technology regime and technology intensity. While the aligned state of the innovative environment, where product innovation exists in tandem with abundant innovation opportunities, promotes entrant survival, we find that this beneficial effect is more pronounced for small entrants due to a possible mitigation of scale disadvantages. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of material resources on innovation projects: the role of resource elasticity

More (rather than fewer) material resources are thought to be the key driver in innovation project performance. Recent empirical evidence, however, suggests that the influence of material resource availability on innovation projects is not as simple and straightforwardly positive as it may seem. We build on the concept of an innovation project team's resource elasticity to disentangle the material resource–innovation output conundrum. This concept is analogous to the marketing concept of price elasticity and points to four types of innovation project teams based on their resource elasticity: In resource‐elastic teams, the relationship between material resources and innovation outcomes is positive (hence, they are ‘resource driven’ when able to dispose of adequate material resources or ‘resource victims’ when lacking these material resources). In contrast, and as a significant departure from previous work, resource‐inelastic teams show no or even a negative relationship between material resource adequacy and team performance (thus, the teams are ‘resourceful’ if they can perform with limited material resources or ‘resource burners’ if they show low success with adequate material resources). Because neither adequate nor inadequate material resources seem to be a reliable predictor of success, we synthesize empirical research efforts that point to each team type's key characteristics to derive novel implications for managing innovation projects.     

Early supplier integration: the dual role of purchasing in new product development

Interest in early supplier integration in new product development (NPD) has increased as an open innovation approach has become more common in firms. To support supplier integration, the purchasing function of a firm can assume a new ‘dual’ role: contributing to NPD while also managing overall costs. Previous research has offered few insights into how the purchasing function should best be organised so that it will fulfil this dual role. This paper reports on the results of a consortial benchmarking study in which an industry–academic consortium visited and analysed six best‐practice firms. The findings describe how innovative firms organise their purchasing function, distinguishing between ‘advanced sourcing’ and ‘life‐cycle sourcing’ units. The results include the tools that these firms use, such as regular innovation meetings with suppliers and technology roadmaps linking firm strategy, innovation strategy and sourcing strategies. The paper also recommends that researchers shift from a narrow focus on a single project to a broader consideration of supplier and organisational issues in NPD.     

Innovating the innovation process: an organisational experiment in global pharma pursuing radical innovation

The challenge of managing the fuzzy front end of the innovation process is particularly acute for large, multi‐brand, research and development (R&D)‐intensive firms. Poor performance at generating radical innovations has resulted in many large organisations seeking to innovate how they organise for innovation. This paper presents an inductive, longitudinal study of an organisational experiment that sought to get ‘game‐changing, radical ideas’ into the new product development funnel of a top three pharma. The immediate outcomes of a team‐based internal innovation tournament included 33 new product ideas, 14 of which were radical. The medium term outcome of the experiment was a reorganisation of how the firm now pursues radical innovation activities. We link these outcomes to team leadership, contrasting innovation processes, including decisions about how to incorporate the ‘voice of the consumer’. The inductive, longitudinal study suggests causal interconnections between innovation team leadership, innovation team processes, and innovation outcomes.     

Managing technology development teams – exploring the case of microsytems and nanosystems

New sensor and actuator concepts based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are increasingly being developed from lab status toward commercialization. The associated technology development for the provision of improved functionalities and cost reduction often requires highly interdisciplinary development teams where scientists and engineers from different disciplines closely work together. Managing these teams is a key challenge for MEMS/NEMS organizations. This research examined eight technology developments in MEMS/NEMS in international companies. Based on in‐depth interviews with innovators, we explored the managerial aspects of development teams. We identified and discuss (1) leadership, (2) market, (3) team structure and culture, (4) innovation motivation, (5) innovation driver, (6) experience and know‐how, and (7) product vision and innovation strategy as key influences on teams in the early development phases of MEMS/NEMS. Our study reveals that integrative and manufacturing know‐how and capabilities are the most critical capacities to be developed by the team from the idea to the concept phase. The team's lived experience during long development times from 5 to 10 years or more may allow a fast response to changes from market and technology (e.g. materials and nanotechnology). The results indicate that the process of how know‐how and capabilities are created by the team is more important than the mere existence of specific expertise.     

Losing sight of the forest for the trees? Productive capabilities and gains from trade as drivers of vertical scope

Focusing on proving or disproving transaction cost economics has led to a relative neglect of some key drivers of vertical scope, such as differences in productive capabilities (as opposed to capabilities of governance). We consider how productive capability differences can shape vertical scope through gains from trade. Using highly detailed data from the mortgage banking industry, we find productive capabilities to be a key determinant of the make‐vs.‐buy decision. Our analysis also suggests firms' attempts to leverage a comparative advantage can also lead to the use of mixed governance modes (both ‘make’ and ‘buy’ in a particular part of the value chain). We conclude that the distribution of productive capabilities along the value chain, catalyzed by transaction costs, ultimately drives vertical scope. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Open innovation change agents in large firms: how open innovation is enacted in paradoxical settings

This paper theorizes how change agents in large firms enact open innovation with small firms. The open innovation change agent is highlighted as a key internal actor for the transformational work needed to put open innovation into practice. The paper presents an empirically grounded theoretical model of how these actors work, emphasizing the two activities of ‘anchoring’ and ‘navigating’, with the purpose of bridging the inside and outside of the corporation. In applying a paradox perspective on open innovation enactment, it is explained how these change agents act as both catalysts and guards for collaboration, continuously balancing different paradoxical demands. Theoretical and managerial implications in relation to these findings are discussed.     

Rethinking the ‘mirroring’ hypothesis: implications for technological modularity,tacit coordination,and radical innovation

Studies of the ‘mirroring’ hypothesis have demonstrated the relationships between technological modularity and explicit coordination, yet little is known about the ‘mirroring’ relationship between technological modularity and tacit coordination, and how the ‘mirroring’ relationship may affect radical innovation. This paper contributes to the ‘mirroring’ hypothesis by identifying the interaction mechanisms embedded in and surrounded over the mirroring relationships. Using survey data of 121 high-tech firms in China, our study indicates that technological modularity enhances interfirm tacit coordination between module-makers (‘mirroring’ hypothesis), and will also positively influence radical innovation (‘outcome’ hypothesis). Moreover, tacit coordination negatively moderates the impact of technological modularity on radical innovation (‘interaction’ hypothesis), indicating that the ‘mirroring’ relationship may offset the benefit obtained from modularization. It also suggests that, in a high-technology industry in underdeveloped areas, tacit coordination could lead to exposure of hidden knowledge, thus lowering module-makers' motivation for technology breakthrough.     

Discretionary technology bootlegging tensions in institutional healthcare work

We explore individuals who take some of their technology use ‘underground’, described as ‘bootlegging’, to enhance healthcare work. We find that healthcare professionals’ informal use of mobile applications in healthcare work sometimes ‘sticks out’ and this produces professional identity tensions: (1) conflict with perceptions of professional behaviour, and (2) defilement of expert judgment. Our analysis, moreover, reveals that identity work (i.e. ‘accepting’ and ‘sensemaking’) provides a coping mechanism to deal with these unresolved professional identity tensions. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the constitutive entanglements and two‐way interactions of discretionary technology bootlegging, professional identity and autonomy in institutional healthcare work.     

The contribution of 'new boy' phenomena to increasing innovation and improvement in new technology

. The importance of increasing innovation and improvement in support of national priorities and goals is commonly stated, and such importance is, in the main, agreed upon. Conventional wisdom relies heavily upon competition and direct incentives to be the driving force for innovation and improvement. The data presented herein argues in favor of increasing competition by encouraging new producers, socalled ‘new Boys,’ to enter a specific technological application area. This suggests that a ‘new boy’ policy judiciously applied would increase the rate of change of improvement and of innovation and probably would reduce the costs per unit improvement. We present analyses drawn from a single industry over a period of approximately twenty-five years. The study analyzes 237 projects drawn from ten corporations and points to the effects of the ‘new boy’ phenomena at all sections of the technology curve.     

The determinants of innovation in green supply chains: evidence from an Italian sectoral study

Innovation processes are increasingly spreading through the unbounded universe of European small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It represents a fundamental opportunity especially for those SMEs operating in the so‐called ‘green economy’ sectors, in order to be competitive in a National, European and International market with their sustainable products and services. Drawing upon a database of over 300 enterprises operating within the eight defined green sectors, this paper assesses the determinants and drawbacks of innovation. In particular, by using an econometrical approach, we tested the following propositions: (1) small dimension of enterprises is not an obstacle to their innovation capabilities; (2) the adoption of an internationalisation strategy is an opportunity and a stimulus to innovation for SMEs; (3) cooperation with research centres, financial partners, trade association and public entities can help SMEs to overcome difficulties and help them to develop and offer innovative products and services, so to be competitive at an international level. The econometric analysis shows a positive impact of the variables ‘dimension’ and ‘level of internationalisation’ on innovation capabilities. In addition, cooperation with research centres and access to capital market are positively related with effective innovations.     

How to manage innovation processes in extensive networks: A longitudinal study

In this paper, we examine the managing of the full innovation process, from visioning to commercialization, in extensive networks. By drawing on the IMP, strategic network, and innovation network literatures, we develop a comprehensive picture of the management activities when ‘mobilizing’, ‘orchestrating’, and ‘involving’ actors in working towards the innovation aim in such network settings. Through using two longitudinal case studies – the one pursuing radical and the other incremental innovation - we provide an empirically refined understanding of seven key management activities (motivating, resourcing, goal setting/refining, consolidating, coordinating, controlling, and leveraging), which are needed throughout the innovation process to turn the diversity of an innovation network into an opportunity rather than an obstacle. We demonstrate how actor diversity and the type of innovation (radical or incremental) shape the management activities, and map a dynamic actor composition that evolves alongside the innovation process. The longitudinal data highlights the consequences of the presence or lack of management activities, and the interlinkages between activities throughout the process. Our findings also provide insights for practitioners on how to cope with the increasing tendency to involve diverse stakeholders in innovation by pinpointing the critical management activities that can be employed.     

The cost of integrating external technologies: Supply and demand drivers of value creation in the markets for technology

A classic question faced by technology suppliers and buyers is whether to compete in the product markets or to cooperate through licensing. We address this question by examining an important, demand‐side barrier to licensing—the buyers' cost of integrating a licensed technology. We argue that this cost can be affected by suppliers' knowledge transfer capabilities, buyers' absorptive capacity, and the cospecialization between R&D and downstream activities in the buyers' industries. Following this argument and a stylized bargaining model, we hypothesize that the supplier's knowledge transfer capability stimulates licensing. Moreover, the importance of this capability increases when licensing to industries where potential buyers have weak absorptive capacity or R&D and downstream activities are cospecialized. We find support for our hypotheses using a panel dataset of small ‘serial innovators.’ Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Meet the New Boss … Same as the Old boss?’ Technology,toil and tension in the agrofuel frontier

Agrofuels are increasingly sourced and sold as a socially and environmentally beneficial solution to oil dependence. The promotion of sugar‐derived ethanol as a substitute for petroleum has thus been key to state development and international trade policies by Brazil and the European Union, respectively, and subsequent investment by leading energy and food transnational corporations has transformed socio‐spatial relations in the new sites of production. Brazilian rural worker testimonies, however, point to large‐scale labour exclusion rather than reform and a deepening, rather than disruption, of historic power inequalities in the sector. Labour contestation challenges a converging institutional discourse of responsible technological innovation and social upgrading associated with emerging commodity chains and the ‘green’ economy. Although corporate and statutory response has been market‐orientated certification and ‘more technology’ the idea of the ‘techno‐institutional fix’ provides a power relation‐attentive analysis that invites the further exploration of socially committed alternatives to food and energy production.     

The research profiling method applied to nano‐enhanced,thin‐film solar cells

Nanotechnology‐enhanced thin‐film solar cells constitute promising solar energy solutions and an important emerging application of nanotechnology. This paper profiles the research patterns via ‘tech mining’ to capture key technological attributes, leading actors and networks. We compare the leading countries, and key organizations, in terms of R&D quantity, impact and diversity. We find that India is a leader in this field, which is a little surprising. India and China show strong trends of relative increase in both research activity and impact. One German organization appears as especially productive and the central node in Germany's research network, which contrasts with the diffused network of the United States. International collaboration patterns also vary, with China particularly showing much less international cooperation than others. Some countries appear to share interests, but they do not show much cooperation – e.g., China with Japan. Research profiling, as illustrated here, can help an R&D manager or policy‐maker locate one's intended research activity among existing endeavors, to determine how attractive the opportunities are. Such depictions can also help identify collaboration opportunities and potentially attractive partners.     

Do decentralized innovation systems promote agricultural technology adoption? Experimental evidence from Africa

We use experimental data collected in 8 African countries to investigate whether a decentralized approach can promote the adoption of agricultural innovations. This participatory model is based on the creation of so-called ‘innovation platforms’ where local stakeholders meet and seek to identify problems and prioritize solutions. While we document evidence that the participatory model robustly promotes the adoption of crop management innovations across all research sites, we do not find significant effects for other domains of innovation. We also document considerable heterogeneity in terms of local priorities, and show that not all innovation platforms are equally successful. We present tentative evidence that the performance of these platforms depends on specific dimensions of ex ante social capital.     

Repeating a familiar pattern in a new way: The effect of exploitation and exploration on knowledge leverage behaviors in technology acquisitions

Research Summary: We identify two types of knowledge leverage behaviors undertaken by acquiring firms: integrated and independent knowledge leverage. We address how the prior exploitation or exploration orientation of acquirers influence these two modes of knowledge leverage behaviors. The degree of exploitation of acquirers promotes integrating their existing knowledge with acquired knowledge in innovative actions. In contrast, the degree of exploration of acquirers increases the likelihood that new innovations will use acquired knowledge without integrating it with their prior knowledge. In addition, the firm's prior acquisition rate moderates the relationship between the acquiring firms’ previous exploitation or exploration orientation and their knowledge leverage mode. The findings of this article suggest that pre‐acquisition innovation capabilities are distinct from but influence the post‐acquisition innovation actions. Managerial Summary: Firms often undertake acquisitions to gain access to new knowledge, but they can differ dramatically in how they leverage acquired knowledge. We show that the firm's prior innovation patterns drive this choice. Firms that have previously focused on incremental innovations in their internal innovation efforts tend to integrate acquired knowledge with their own prior knowledge. In contrast, firms that have previously pursued bold innovations tend to leverage acquired knowledge alone in new innovations. Thus, we show that firms use acquisitions as a means to extend their internal innovation patterns—firms that have focused on incremental innovations extend that with acquisitions by linking new innovations to their prior knowledge while firms that have pursued bold initiatives use acquired knowledge to move in new technology directions.     

The Conditions Promoting Compromise in the Workplace

A previous article developed a framework to understand workplace co‐operation. We now elaborate on the key structuring conditions (technology, product markets and institutional regulation) generating different patterns and illustrate from field research how these different workplace regimes develop. Conditions generating positive and sustainable outcomes for both capital and labour are feasible but rare; stronger ‘beneficial constraints’ are needed if they are to be made more frequent. This article provides an alternative to current interpretations of labour–management co‐operation in the industrial relations literature.