Personal Word of Mouth,Virtual Word of Mouth,and Innovation Use

The authors examine the impact of word‐of‐mouth communication on innovation use. Hypotheses are developed linking both personal and virtual word of mouth (vWOM) directly to innovation use. The authors also examine the mediating role of two additional variables that link word of mouth and innovation use. Existing research suggests that personal word of mouth (pWOM) indirectly influences intensity of innovation use through its impact on consumer perceptions of the size of local adopter population. In addition, both personal and virtual word‐of‐mouth influence should be positively associated with consumer perceptions of the availability of complementary products, which prior studies have linked to variety of innovation use. The authors test these hypotheses using data collected from 247 Japanese adopters of new‐generation portable gaming devices. Findings indicate that both personal and virtual word of mouth are directly related with variety of innovation use, which is in turn related with intensity of use. In addition, pWOM is positively related with both intensity of use and variety of use through its impact on consumer perceptions of (1) the perceived size of the local adopter population and (2) the availability of complementary products. In contrast, through these same two paths, vWOM is negatively related with both intensity of use and variety of use.     

引进型管理创新知识源分析——以广州本田环境绩效管理模式为例

根据我国企业实践,绝大多数管理创新属于引进型创新,即在组织外部已存在的管理实践或思想的基础上引进加工而成的创新。因此,有效获取管理创新知识,即知识源问题,成为我国企业引进和实施管理创新的关键。在总结管理创新相关研究的基础上,提出管理创新的三类主要知识源：内部知识源、市场知识源和专业知识源。研究发现：大部分企业以非当地企业为参照群体;咨询机构是我国企业管理创新的重要来源;政府政策导向作用明显;内部员工没有发挥应有的作用。在此基础上,对广州本田的环境绩效管理模式创新做案例分析,具体分析管理创新中知识源的作用。     

Virtual Word of Mouth and Willingness to Pay for Consumer Electronic Innovations

The authors examine the impact of virtual word‐of‐mouth (vWOM) communication on willingness to pay (WTP) for an innovation. A series of hypotheses are developed that link vWOM to the credibility of innovation information, perceived utilitarian value, and the perceived hedonic value of an innovation, which are in turn hypothesized to influence WTP. The authors test these hypotheses using data collected in Japan from 658 potential adopters of e‐readers and from 565 potential adopters of smartphones. Findings indicate that, in both samples, vWOM is positively correlated with the perceived credibility of innovation information, which in turn is positively correlated with both perceived utilitarian value and perceived hedonic value. WTP is also positively correlated with an innovation's perceived utilitarian and perceived hedonic value. In addition, the path between vWOM and perceived hedonic value is positive and significant in both samples. However, the path between vWOM and perceived utilitarian value is positive and significant in the smartphone sample, but not in the e‐reader sample. The empirical findings provide support for theoretical arguments that link WTP for complex consumer electronic products to consumer perceptions of utilitarian and hedonic value. The results also have important implications for the creation of vWOM strategies designed to reduce the price sensitivity of potential adopters.     

环境规制对区域技术创新的影响研究

本文基于2000～2014年省际面板数据,实证考察了三大区域环境规制对技术创新的直接与间接影响。研究表明：东部的环境规制强度高抑制了技术创新,中部与西部地区环境规制强度越高越有助于提高技术创新,而且各地区核心技术创新指标不同,东部地区最突出的技术创新是实用新型与发明型,中部地区是外观设计型与发明型,西部是实用型与外观设计型;环境规制的间接作用在东、中两地区表现为正向作用,在西部表现为负向作用。其他因素的影响在各地区表现不同。最后综合研究结论,针对如何提高地区技术创新水平提出了相关政策建议。     

Leveraging External Sources of Innovation: A Review of Research on Open Innovation

This paper reviews research on open innovation that considers how and why firms commercialize external sources of innovations. It examines both the “outside‐in” and “coupled” modes of open innovation. From an analysis of prior research on how firms leverage external sources of innovation, it suggests a four‐phase model in which a linear process—(1) obtaining, (2) integrating, and (3) commercializing external innovations—is combined with (4) interaction between the firm and its collaborators. This model is used to classify papers taken from the top 25 innovation journals, complemented by highly cited work beyond those journals. A review of 291 open innovation‐related publications from these sources shows that the majority of these articles indeed address elements of this inbound open innovation process model. Specifically, it finds that researchers have front‐loaded their examination of the leveraging process, with an emphasis on obtaining innovations from external sources. However, there is a relative dearth of research related to integrating and commercializing these innovations. Research on obtaining innovations includes searching, enabling, filtering, and acquiring—each category with its own specific set of mechanisms and conditions. Integrating innovations has been mostly studied from an absorptive capacity perspective, with less attention given to the impact of competencies and culture (including “not invented here”). Commercializing innovations puts the most emphasis on how external innovations create value rather than how firms capture value from those innovations. Finally, the interaction phase considers both feedback for the linear process and reciprocal innovation processes such as cocreation, network collaboration, and community innovation. This review and synthesis suggests several gaps in prior research. One is a tendency to ignore the importance of business models, despite their central role in distinguishing open innovation from earlier research on interorganizational collaboration in innovation. Another gap is a tendency in open innovation to use “innovation” in a way inconsistent with earlier definitions in innovation management. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research that include examining the end‐to‐end innovation commercialization process, and studying the moderators and limits of leveraging external sources of innovation.     

The Impact of Local Demand on Innovation in a Global Industry

Localization of knowledge flows has been extensively examined in the literature on innovation. However, almost all previous research has focused on technological knowledge. This study examines why knowledge of demand can also be tacit and localized. We provide a detailed empirical study of the global pharmaceutical industry and find not only that demand is as important as technological knowledge in determining the pattern of innovation in this industry but also that innovation is a locally determined phenomenon. These findings contribute to research regarding determinants of innovations and provide an explanation for geographic patterns of innovation that is distinct from technological knowledge spillovers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

政府人力资本对区域创新驱动发展影响研究

本文首先对政府人力资本对创新的影响机理进行了分析,继而利用我国各省市2001～2013年的面板数据,就政府人力资本对我国创新发展的影响进行了实证分析,研究结果表明：政府人力资本价值对区域创新起着正向促进作用,政府人力资本规模对区域创新的影响呈倒U型的变化关系,且政府人力资本对创新的影响作用存在明显的区域和类别差异。进一步加入交互项验证政府人力资本发挥作用的路径和条件,结果表明,政府行为优化和政府效率的提升,会促进政府人力资本对区域创新作用的发挥;社会人力资本水平是制约政府人力资本对区域创新影响的重要条件。最后,文章提出了优化政府人力资本规模,提升政府人力资本价值,完善政府人力资本管理机制,促进创新驱动发展的政策建议。     

The Impact of Front‐End Innovation Activities on Product Performance

This paper describes and tests a model of the impact of front‐end innovation activities on product performance. Data were collected from 272 companies to test the hypothesis that front‐end performance impacts new product performance in the marketplace while controlling for new product development (NPD) processes and strategy. The data support the hypothesis that front‐end performance favorably and independently impacts overall product success, time to market, market penetration, and financial performance. Front‐end performance is predicted by a set of activities, including: the actual amount of front‐end work done in various areas, specifically marketing, R&D, and concept development; the existence of a front‐end process; the existence of a champion; and agreement on the order of developmental steps in the front end. Front‐end activities are related to front‐end performance, and front‐end performance is related to NPD performance. This relationship highlights the distinction between front‐end activities and standard product development practices and the importance of building competency in the front end. This is the first study that quantifies both the nature and amount of work done in the front end and relates that work to commercial performance. This research empirically demonstrates the distinction between the front‐end and formal stages and gates types of systems. This suggests that the concept of the front end needs it own set of theoretical constructs to adequately describe and predict this categorically different set of activities. While this study demonstrates the difference between front‐end and stage‐gate systems, it does not establish the limits of those activities. From a managerial point of view recognizing that formal development and front‐end activities are different mandates that these activities must be managed differently. In particular, the skills, structures, processes, governance, leadership, performance metrics, and resources must be assessed separately and differently. These findings suggest that firms should actively manage the flow of ideas from the front end into the more formal development programs.     

The Impact of Family Ownership,Management, and Governance on Innovation

Previous research suggests that the distinctive nature of family firms, including both specific advantages and disadvantages related to their particular agency situation, influences innovation activities. Most studies, however, view family firms as homogeneous entities and thus neglect the heterogeneity of family firms when comparing them with nonfamily firms. One important factor of this firm heterogeneity is family influence in terms of ownership, management, and governance. A data set of large German publicly traded firms between 2000 and 2009 is used to test how these three dimensions of family influence predict innovation input and output. The results show that family participation in management and governance has a negative impact on innovation input and a positive influence on innovation output. This suggests that family members are risk averse and reluctant to invest in innovation, but at the same time do so more effectively.     

网络嵌入性与技术创新间关系实证研究

文献表明,有关网络嵌入性作用的研究得出了不同的、甚至截然相反的结论,本文对这一现象进行揭示,建立了网络嵌入性———跨组织学习———两类技术创新之间的关系模型。运用实证研究方法,发现了网络嵌入性、跨组织学习以及技术创新等变量之间的内在联系。研究结果表明嵌入性通过跨组织学习对技术创新结果的确有显著影响;现有研究结论的不尽统一,是因为没有对技术创新等变量进行分类而形成,本文用分类研究的方法,将涉及的变量细分为关系嵌入性、结构嵌入性、渐进性技术创新与突破性技术创新等,实证研究后发现,不同的网络嵌入性特征具有不同作用途径并会产生不同的结果。     

Managing Innovation Champions: The Impact of Project Characteristics on the Direct Manager Role*

A key challenge for organizations seeking to improve the management of innovation lies in determining when to lend direct managerial support, and how much support, to those championing such projects. This research provides insights into the connection between project characteristics and the type and frequency of direct manager involvement. As such, it addresses the following research question: how does the level of project innovativeness, strategic relatedness, and resource requirements impact the level of empowerment of innovation champions and the sponsor or supervisor role played by managers? The research method involves a survey of 89 project champions from four divisions of large, multinational Korean companies. The results show that when innovativeness was high but projects were strategically related, there was greater project champion empowerment but also a more frequent managerial sponsor role. This suggests it may be best to allow innovators, who are close to the project's markets, technologies, and industry conditions, to have greater freedom over objectives and decisions. Yet they may also need the advice and support of their managers to function optimally under the highly uncertain conditions that characterize innovative projects. This combination of empowerment and a sponsor role, though appropriate for highly innovative projects, may also require high strategic relatedness, however. On the other hand, when projects are less strategically related and when resource requirements are high, the analysis suggests managers are more likely to exert control. Managers may therefore need to become more closely involved in decision making for costly ventures representing new strategic directions for their organizations. Overall, this research suggests that both empowerment and manager roles are relevant to the management of innovation. These results offer academic value in recognizing the nature of the direct manager role under different innovation project conditions. It further reveals a need for academics to recognize both the supervisor and sponsor roles in the management of innovation. For managers, the findings suggest that for organizations to effectively develop and commercialize innovations managers need to recognize when certain projects call for different levels and types of involvement.     

环境规制、组织合法性与企业绿色创新

本文基于“波特假说”,以规制合法性、规范合法性和认知合法性为中介变量,探讨环境规制对企业绿色创新作用的内在机理,构建“环境规制-组织合法性-绿色创新绩效”的传导机制。通过利用中国A股上市公司2010~2020年的数据进行实证分析,结果发现:(1)环境规制与规制合法性之间呈U型曲线关系;(2)规制合法性和规范合法性在环境规制与绿色创新绩效的关系中发挥了(部分)中介作用,认知合法性的中介作用不显著;(3)环境规制对企业绿色创新绩效具有显著的促进作用,支持了“波特假说”。得到的管理启示是,当环境规制持续执行并逐渐完善时,政府应帮助企业建立环境组织合法性,使其争取在“双碳”目标这一时间窗口上获得机会和资源,将环境规制上升到组织伦理是“双碳”目标的有效实现路径。     

Managing External Information in Manufacturing Firms: The Impact on Innovation Performance*

Drawing upon a sample of 206 medium‐sized manufacturing firms, this article investigates the extent to which management of external information is associated with innovation performance. The overall purpose of the article is to examine whether or not those organizations that are better at managing external information are also those that are the better innovators. The research strategy used was a survey, and data were collected by means of mail questionnaires (with a 62.4% response rate). A multiple regression analysis was used for hypothesis testing. The results show that scanning the technological sector of the environment was positively associated with innovation performance, while scanning customers, suppliers, and competitors proved to be negatively correlated with innovation performance. Cross‐functional integration in the form of collaboration also proved significantly correlated with innovation performance, while interaction showed no such relationship. Further, decision‐making based on information from the industry environment correlated significantly with innovation performance. Research and managerial implications of these findings are presented and are discussed.     

FDI企业对我国私营企业科技创新能力的影响研究

本文利用DEA-Malmquist指数分析方法对FDI企业与我国私营企业2003～2012年全要素生产率进行了测算,结果显示：FDI企业的全要素生产率及增长率都高于我国私营企业。说明FDI企业的科技创新能力要强于我国私营企业。其主要原因是FDI企业通过多种方式和渠道对我国私营企业的科技创新能力产生了重要影响。本文通过实证分析表明, FDI企业主要通过科技创新能力、市场集中度及分工地位对我国私营企业的科技创新能力产生作用。     

The Impact of Rate-of-Return Regulation on Technological Innovation,Mark W. Frank.

Review of Industrial Organization -     

Commitment to Innovation: The Impact of Top Management Team Characteristics

Many organizational and environmental factors influence a firm's commitment to innovation. Among the organizational factors, the perceptual lens of the top management team and the team's dynamics are posited to have a significant direct impact on the firm's commitment to innovation. This study revisits the classic arguments of Hayes and Abernathy and empirically examines several of their propositions.
The results clearly indicate a positive relationship between the technical orientation of the TMT/CEO and above-average R&D intensity. This effect remains even after controlling for the impact of performance in prior periods and firm diversification. Overall, these results suggest that establishing a high level of commitment to innovation will be promoted or impeded in many organizations because of the predispositions of the CEO and top management team.     

The Performance Impact of Content and Process in Product Innovation Charters

The significance of product innovation charters (PICs) cannot be overemphasized, as they provide understanding and a tool for setting organizational goals, charting strategic direction, and allocating resources for new product portfolios. In a unique way, a PIC represents a sort of mission statement mutation for new products. With the backdrop of strategy formulation and product innovation literatures, this article investigates the impact of both content specificity within PICs and satisfaction with the PIC formulation process on new product performance in North American corporations. A survey was undertaken among executives knowledgeable about their organization's new product development process. The respondents included chief executive officers, vice presidents, directors, and managers. The findings demonstrate that significant differences exist both in PIC content specificity and process satisfaction between highly innovative and low innovative firms. The study also shows that PIC specificity in terms of the factors mission content and strategic directives positively influences new product performance. Further, the study demonstrates that satisfaction with the process of formulating PICs plays a positive and powerful mediating role in the PIC specificity–performance relationship. The results suggest that product innovation charters, like their mission statement cousins, may be of more value than most managers realize. The study shows that achieving a state of organizational satisfaction with a PIC's formulation process is critical for obtaining better new product performance. Directions for future research also are suggested.     

Only the Brave: Product Innovation,Service Business Model Innovation,and Their Impact on Performance

Recent empirical findings concerning the performance effects of service business model innovation (servitization) and its interplay with product innovation are mixed. Using the lenses of the demand‐based view on value creation and complementarity, the performance impact of two key service business models is examined: the product‐oriented model and the customer‐oriented model, implemented jointly with product innovation. Results indicate that the interplay between service business model innovation and product innovation results in long‐term performance benefits coupled with a degree of short‐term performance sacrifice. Service business model innovation in isolation from product innovation results in short‐term profit gains but long‐term knowledge loss and, thus, market performance decline. Our study suggests that firms need to look beyond the evidence on short‐term effects in order to achieve superior performance in the long run.