Innovation management techniques and tools: a review from theory and practice

Knowledge is considered to be an economic driver in today's economy. It has become a commodity, a resource that can be packed and transferred. The objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the scope, trends and major actors (firms, organizations, government, consultants, academia, etc.) in the development and use of methods to manage innovation in a knowledge-driven economy. The paper identifies the main innovation management techniques (IMTs) aiming at the improvement of firm competitiveness by means of knowledge management. It will specifically focus on those IMTs for which knowledge is a relevant part of the innovation process. The research study, based on a survey at the European level, concludes that a knowledge-driven economy affects the innovation process and approach. The traditional idea that innovation is based on research (technology-push theory) and interaction between firms and other actors has been replaced by the current social network theory of innovation, where knowledge plays a crucial role in fostering innovation. Simultaneously, organizations in both public and private sectors have launched initiatives to develop methodologies and tools to support business innovation management. Higher education establishments, business schools and consulting companies are developing innovative and adequate methodologies and tools, while public authorities are designing and setting up education and training schemes aimed at disseminating best practices among all kinds of businesses.     

Managing in conflict: How actors distribute conflict in an industrial network

IMP researchers have examined conflict as a threat to established business relationships and commercial exchanges, drawing on theories and concepts developed in organization studies. We examine cases of conflict in relationships from the oil and gas industry's service sector, focusing on conflicts of interest and resources, and conflict as experienced by actors. Through a comparative case study design, we propose an explanation of how actors manage conflict and manage in conflict given that they tend to value and maintain relationships beyond episodes of exchange. We consider conflicts in relationships from a network perspective, showing that actors experienced these while adapting to changes in their business setting, modifying their roles in that network. By identifying conflict with the organizing forms of relationship and network, we show how actors formulate conflict through pursuing and combining a number of strategies, distributing the conflict across an enlarged network.     

Formation and evolution of buyer-supplier relationships: Conceiving dynamism in actor composition of business networks

This study investigates the tenability of the position that business networks are relatively stable, based on long-lasting inter-firm relationships with limited substitutions of incumbent actors. This is done via a longitudinal analysis on the actor composition evolution with regard to the supplier networks around two car assembly plants. Based on the overall empirical findings, the study concludes that the phenomenon of supplier substitution may be a more widespread reality. Consequently, the article finishes with a series of business implications and recommendations on how to investigate and conceive this matter more thoroughly.     

The Korea Labour 'Problem'

This article documents the rise of organized labour and the emergence of overt industrial conflict in the Republic of Korea since democratization in 1987, and the crisis of world competitiveness of Korean industry to which the gains of organized labour contributed. Based on an analysis of the characteristics of the actors in the Korean industrial relations system, the nature of the conflict and its consequences are assessed. It is argued that, in forcing the pace of economic restructuring towards high-tech/high-wage sectors, organized labour, often characterized by state and business elites as a 'problem', may turn out to be a progressive force.     

Changing the rules of the game: Business responses to new regulation

This study investigates business responses to new regulation by focusing on the rearrangement of interactions in business relationships involving ‘NRG’, a large multinational energy company in the aviation industry. ‘NRG’ is confronted with new environmental rules resulting from the inclusion of the aviation industry in the European Emissions Trading Scheme as of 2012. We demonstrate that business actors do not simply comply with the rules of the game; instead they elaborate responses which impact on the creation of new rules. We argue that research on business responses to new regulation is highly relevant to industrial marketing because the increasing complexity of regulation in many industrial markets provides significant opportunities and threats to businesses. We propose three guiding principles which could be used by managers in understanding, influencing and responding to new regulation.     

Managerial perceptions of service-infused IORs in China & India: A discursive view of value co-creation

This paper explores the managerial challenges facing firms seeking to build relationships with other network actors while doing business in foreign markets. By taking a critical perspective on an area of increasing importance in both manufacturing and service sectors, that of value co-creation, the paper explores how managers in different cultural contexts make sense of the notion of ‘value’ in inter-organizational B2B relationships between New Zealand service and service-infused supplier firms and buyers in China and India. From an analysis of the interview-based accounts on both sides of the buyer–seller dyad marked differences emerge regarding value-creation within managers' discourse around partnerships, collaboration and cooperation. Our findings suggest that the Indian manager's discursive use of ‘partnership’ draws on service-dominant logic in viewing this type of interaction as a means for co-creating value; they and their New Zealand suppliers are jointly involved in co-creating value within a service system, creating value-in-use. In contrast, the predominant perspective seen in the discourse of Chinese managers is the use of cooperation as a means of making transactions more cost-effective, or to fill gaps in their supply chains, resulting in the creation of transaction-based, co-production of value, which suggests a value-in-exchange orientation. In both cases, there is repeated reference to more peripheral actors whose efforts result in what we interpret as network value creation, based on their interactions with actors within the buyer–seller dyad.     

Value-based network mobilization: A case study of modern environmental networkers

This article addresses current environmental issues by taking a network perspective to examine the initiatives to solve them. Previous investigations of network dynamics and mobilization concern the business context, but we broaden the analysis to the societal networks wherein business is embedded. Our aim is to investigate the early emergence of collective action around a common issue. We analyze the network mobilizers, who promote the issue and its solutions, and the mobilization mechanisms that they employ. We have conducted a case study that examines three initiatives to save the Baltic Sea, all involving business, governmental, and civil society actors. This rich case material leads us to formulate a conceptual model of value-based network mobilization. The mobilizing actors, values, and relationship sediments emerge as important factors in creating issue networks. Our key contribution is to show how the environmental issues bring new types of actors to networks and change the rules of the game. We propose that ‘modern environmental networkers’ should become more important in the future, and that business firms need to develop their skills in playing the new games with these new actors.     

Exploring the concept of coopetition: A typology for the strategic moves of the Finnish forest industry

The Finnish forest industry is sustainable, well-established, internationally oriented and successful. For companies in such a basic industry, an industry that features mainly bulk products and relatively small domestic markets, sustainability in business may hinge on long-term strategic choices. It is proposed in this paper that it is not only strong domestic competition, but also—and especially—coopetition traditions (simultaneous cooperation and coopetition) that are the crucial factors contributing to the success of the industry. This article contributes to the literature by providing industry-level tools, namely a coopetition framework and combined coopetition typology. The findings indicate that coopetition traditions have been present throughout the activities of the Finnish forest industry, enabling sustainability of the industry to a significant extent. Managerial and theoretical implications are also discussed.     

Innovation forecast: Un-avoidable and context dependent

In order to mobilize the necessary resources for innovation forecasts are unavoidable. However, a forecast is never a neutral or objective assessment. Given an interdependent business landscape, there are at least two major context-related aspects that affect an innovation forecast. First, the actor that makes the forecast is embedded into a specific context. Secondly, the potential innovation stems from a specific environment, and will during the innovation journey be related to other environments in a producing and a using setting, and thus to other investments in place. In this paper we examine the development of one innovation and the forecasts made by three different economic actors. There is an interesting variation in the forecasts that can be explained as a variation of contexts of the actors. The contexts influence the way that the forecasts are done and especially in terms of what the context of the innovation is assumed to be. The empirical findings suggest that the results of the innovation forecast are highly dependent on the actors' abstraction of the business landscape which in turn is affected by the contexts of the actors.     

Recommendations arising from an analysis of changes to the Australian agricultural research,development and extension system

The business of agricultural research, development and extension (RD&E) has undergone considerable change in Australia since the late 1980s, moving from a domain largely dominated by government departments to a situation of multiple actors, and where rural industries now directly contribute funds towards RD&E efforts. However, the transition has not been without impacts on the overall agricultural RD&E agri-food capacity of the nation, and there are now indications of reduced capacity and slowing productivity gains in certain sectors. If not addressed, there is the risk that the future resilience of industries could be threatened, affecting parts of the Australian economy and compromising Australian contributions to global food supply on export markets and a slowing of agricultural innovation. There are also comparable divestment trends and the loss of capacity and risks to future resilience of agricultural systems in other developed nations. Importantly, research and extension are discussed as interdependent partner disciplines, and that the separation of the two has deleterious effects on capacity and resilience building. The authors investigate, through six case study institutions, organisational innovations that may provide direction towards the future restructuring of agricultural RD&E effort in Australia. These insights have application to both the Australian and the international reader, warning about the consequences of reduced investment in agricultural RD&E, and learning about how research and extension can transition from traditional public sector models to systems that have greater flexibility and, importantly, ownership by the industries themselves.     

Policy discourse and data retention: The technology politics of surveillance in the United Kingdom

This article presents an analysis of UK legislation on the retention of communications data that was introduced in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001. It presents a review of the discourses surrounding this legislation in parliament, in the wider international policy arena, in business and in terms of technology. The review of these discourses demonstrates that, in understanding policies involving a significant technological component such as communications data retention, policy alternatives may be evaluated only with an appreciation of technological characteristics alongside the traditional concerns of legislators, civil society and the business community. While academia has developed many forms of analysis for political, international, and regulatory discourses, the same must be undertaken for technological discourse, i.e. the interactions between the policies in question, the actors, and the technologies. Developing forms of analysis for technological discourses will likely lead to further understanding of both the policy problem and the actors’ interests. The paper also shows how current institutions are slowly developing the necessary skills to incorporate the technological aspects of policy into political debate, and calls for a similar development for the law.     

Capabilities for advanced services: A multi-actor perspective

Servitization involves manufacturers developing service offerings to grow revenue and profit. Advanced services, in particular, can facilitate a more service-focused organization and impact customers' business processes significantly. However, approaches to servitization are often discussed solely from the manufacturer's perspective; overlooking the role of other network actors. Adopting a multi-actor perspective, this study investigates manufacturer, intermediary and customer perspectives to identify complementary and competing capabilities within a manufacturer's downstream network, required for advanced services. Interviews were conducted with 24 senior executives in 19 UK-based manufacturers, intermediaries and customers across multiple sectors. The study identified six key business activities, within which advanced services capabilities were grouped. The unique and critical capabilities for advanced services for each actor were identified as follows: manufacturers; the need to balance product and service innovation, developing customer-focused through-life service methodologies and having distinct, yet synergistic product and service cultures; intermediaries, the coordination and integration of third party products/services; customers, co-creating innovation and having processes supporting service outsourcing. The study is unique in highlighting the distinct roles of different actors in the provision of advanced services and shows that they can only be developed and delivered by the combination of complex interconnected capabilities found within a network.     

The role of proximity in business model design: Making business models work for those at the bottom of the pyramid

This paper explores the role of proximity in designing business models that work for those at the BoP. BoP markets represent an extreme setting where actors struggle to access and organise limited resources and develop appropriate socio-economic-political practices. Drawing on Boschma's (2005) concept of proximity, we analyse three historical cases of business at the BoP to uncover the spatial-temporal dimensions of business model design in practice. Findings suggest that 1) business model design practices iteratively structure connections with markets and open up new spaces for market activity. This means that business models are necessarily understood as plastic and continuously in-the-making; 2) by taking into account the stability and change of proximity dimensions and the dynamics between them as they relate to business activities, managers are better equipped to identity opportunities that create, shape and connect with markets; and 3) the spatial-temporal dynamic of the business model proximities framework reveals that some proximities strengthen others through time, with negative and positive consequences.     

基于合同能源管理的公共建筑节能改造的激励机制分析

建筑业是我国三大能耗大户之一,公共建筑能耗高而且节能潜力巨大,对公共建筑节能改造是推行我国建筑节能的重要步骤,合同能源管理是一种基于市场的节能新机制.文章分析了公共建筑节能改造采用合同能源管理模式的必要性与可行性;在合同能源管理基础上建立了公共建筑节能改造激励模型;对激励机制的基本原则、激励目标、激励对象、激励方案展开了分析,提出了不同节能主体的激励政策,这对我国全面推进公共建筑节能改造工作具有一定的指导意义.     

The constitution of networks

The idea of a constitution of networks may be a useful addition to our ways of understanding what happens within the business landscape. We describe a constitution of networks as a system of values, norms, rules and other conventions that are shared by actors in business networks. Whether by intention or not, the constitution of networks provides a framework within which interaction among actors takes place. We argue that companies invest in the selection and replication of interaction practices that evolve over time as customs or common use. This involves interaction aimed at developing or accessing resources for future use in the relationships between actors. In this way, the constitution of networks circumscribes the actors' appreciations and expectations about how they and others should conduct business.This study is based on empirical research conducted between 2002 and 2005 in business networks of consumer goods in the United Kingdom. Significant actors include multinational consumer goods companies, large grocery retailers, consumers and public authorities.     

国际石油公司可再生能源投资策略与行动研究

国际石油公司普遍认同投资可再生能源业务是顺应未来能源发展趋势的重要选择之一,各公司结合自身情况做出相应的投资策略与行动,其中有相似之处,也各有差异。以BP、壳牌、道达尔、挪威国家石油公司、埃尼石油公司为代表的欧洲石油公司,对可再生能源领域的投资表现积极,并设置了相关职能部门进行统一管理。以埃克森美孚、雪佛龙为代表的美国石油公司对可再生能源投资保守,采取分散式管理。在可再生能源技术及业务的投资方向上,保守型公司优先选择与传统油气业务联系紧密的可再生能源项目,拓展型将油气行业核心优势拓展到可再生能源业务领域,进取型直接进入与油气业务交集较少的可再生能源领域,转型类公司则布局可再生能源垂直领域。在投资模式方面,对与公司主业联系紧密、前景明确的可再生能源业务,进行兼并购或资产投资;对暂时与公司主业关联度较低或不确定性较强的可再生能源业务,进行风险投资;针对前沿可再生能源技术领域,采取研发投入。     

Sense-making in business markets – the interplay between cognition,action and outcomes

Business markets are characterized by interdependences between business actors. How these actors make sense of such interdependencies is a matter of both theoretical and practical importance. Research on cognitive foundations for competition in business markets, based on organization and strategic management, has evolved considerably since the 1980s. Also, researchers on business markets that are based on marketing and adopt a network perspective, have become increasingly interested in cognition and sense-making over the last two decades. The concepts network pictures and network understanding have been in focus for this research, which has resulted in a demand for improved clarity of the interplay between cognition, action and outcome, as well as for a stronger integration between parallel research developments from related disciplines and research approaches. A better understanding of how individual and collective views are developed is also required. This Special Issue, originated in the network perspective of business markets, is aimed to address these issues.     

Business and national priorities for industrial development: Intersectoral consensus in Israel

This study describes a survey of experts chosen from Industry, Labour, and Government in Israel, who ranked and scored three business and four national goals in the context of industrial development. The business goals represented profitability, capital use and growth potential. The national goals involved human resource utilization, added value, foreign exchange conservation, and export of technologically advanced products. The findings support a hypothesis of consensus on goals and goal priorities between different sectors of the Israel economy, despite what might appear to be their divergent special interests. The findings also indicate overall consensus with respect to a balance between business and national goals. The study concludes that this consensus is the result of the need to respond to environmental threats and uncertainties which has created a sense of mutual interdependence among the sectors.     

The emergent role of value representation in managing business relationships

This paper explores value processes, their effects, and their management in business relationships. Over time, scholars progressively moved their interest from the value of the objects exchanged to the value of business relationships. However, how value is related to interactive processes that characterize business relationships still remained unclear. With this scope, the paper brings to the fore recent studies on the role of actors' perceptions of value and the interactive features of the business context. The empirical research involves 77 interviews carried out over two years with actors internal and external to the Mikron Tool's business network, a Swiss leader in manufacturing high-precision tools. The study shows that four key value processes – value creation, value communication, value measurement, and value appropriation – determine specific consequences that must be managed to achieve effective business relationships. Moreover, empirical evidences highlight the relevance of value representation in affecting the four value processes. The study contributes to an improved understanding of value management in interactive and interdependent business contexts. Also, it draws attention to the need for a better integration between the traditional economic view of value and recent insights from the fields of organizational psychology and sociology.     

中国商务中心区区位分布研究

明确传统商务中心区与现代商务中心区的内涵,归纳商务中心区发展的三种模式,提出了理想的商务中心区发展模式是市场和政府有限引导共同作用的二元驱动模式。在世界范围内将商务中心区划分为四个等级,建立了建设和发展商务中心区满意度的评价指标体系。选择了26个有代表性的城市作为样本城市,采用聚类分析法,将样本城市划分为四大类别。提出了在中国现阶段商务中心区可能的区位分布是:上海、北京、广州和重庆,而其他城市的商务中心区可以考虑建设成为传统商务中心区。最后,进行了商务中心区合理布局的对策分析。