Drivers of Outsourced Innovation: An Exploratory Study*

The outsourcing of innovation has been on the rise for years, but research in this area lags behind industry practice. Interviews with managers and a theory base grounded in transaction cost analysis are used to guide the development of an exploratory model that details potential drivers of the outsourcing of innovation activities. Using industry‐level data, the proposed model is partially tested using two distinct regression analyses that reveal significant effects both contemporaneously and persisting over time. Several of the proposed drivers of outsourced innovation are shown to be significant, including exploratory research performed and profit margin. The finding that exploratory research performed is significantly related to the outsourcing of innovation activities represents a significant contribution to the innovation and organizational learning literatures. As well, finding a relationship between margins and organizational sourcing fills a gap in the business to business marketing literature. Managerial implications are drawn for both managers of the innovation process in traditional firms and those in firms wishing to garner outsourced innovation contracts. The drivers found to be significant in this study should allow for better resource planning from innovation managers in traditional firms as well as better targeting of perspective clients from firms seeking contract innovation business.     

The Interplay of Customer and Product Innovation Dynamics: An Exploratory Study

The challenges of successfully developing radical or really new products have received considerable attention from a variety of marketing, strategic, and organizational perspectives. Previous research has stressed the importance of a market‐driven customer orientation, the resolution of market and technological uncertainty, and organizational processes such as cross‐functional teams and organizational learning. However, several fundamental issues have not been addressed. From a customer's perspective, a more innovative product tends to have uncertain benefits and requires customers to learn new behaviors. Customer preferences can, therefore, change as product experience and learning increase. From a firm's perspective, it is unclear how to be customer‐oriented under such dynamic preferences, and product strategies using evolving technologies will tend to interact with how customers learn about an innovation. This research focuses on identifying unresolved issues about these customer and product innovation dynamics. A conceptual framework and series of propositions are presented that relate both changing technology and customer learning to a firm's strategic decisions in developing and launching really new products. The framework is based on in‐depth interviews with high‐tech product managers across several sectors, focusing on the business‐to‐business context. The propositions resulting from the framework highlight the need to consider relevant customer dynamics as integral to a firm's product innovation process. Successful innovation strategies and future research challenges are discussed, and applications to better understanding customer needs and theories of disruptive innovation are examined. Several key insights for innovation success hinge on a broad, downstream orientation to customer needs and product innovation dynamics. To be effective innovators, firms must know their customers' customers and competitors as well as or better than their immediate customers do. Market research must extend downstream for a comprehensive understanding of customer needs dynamics. In the context of disruptive innovation, new dimensions of customer needs may become more valuable based on perceived downstream customer trends. Firms may also innovate on secondary needs because mainstream customers do not always give firms the design freedom to radically innovate on primary features. Understanding customer commitments and how they develop under evolving needs can help firms focus resources on innovative efforts more likely to be accepted by customers.     

Purchase Intentions and the Dimensions of Innovation: An Exploratory Model

The ultimate success of new product R&D depends as much on customer acceptance as on technological breakthroughs. In this article, Susan Holak and Donald Lehmann focus on customer acceptance by exploring the manner in which the general attributes of Rogers (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, divisibility and communicability) plus perceived risk combine to form the intention to buy an innovation. Results demonstrate a causal structure among these attributes and lead to various implications for R&D guidelines and product design.     

Using Buyer-Supplier Networks to Increase Innovation Speed: An Exploratory Study of Thai Textile Exporters

As global competitive pressures require exporters to produce higher value-added products and target their marketing efforts more closely, it is important to understand whether the way exporters interact with their important customers and suppliers is changing. This article explores the choices of large Thai textile exporters to form partnerships with their major customers and suppliers in order to achieve faster innovation. The results from this exploratory study suggest that some Thai exporters may be forming buyer-supplier networks to execute strategies of rapid innovation as they attempt to move away from a low cost focus and provide more value-added to their international customers.     

Organizing for Radical Innovation: An Exploratory Study of the Structural Aspects of RI Management Systems in Large Established Firms

To escape the intense competition of today's global economy, large established organizations seek growth options beyond conventional new product development that leads to incremental changes in current product lines. Radical innovation (RI) is one such pathway, which results in organically driven growth through the creation of whole new lines of business that bring new to the world performance features to the market and may result in the creation of entirely new markets. Yet success is elusive, as many have experienced and scholars have documented. This article reports results of a three-year, longitudinal study of 12 large established firms that have declared a strategic intent to evolve their RI capabilities. In contrast to other academic research that has analyzed specific projects to understand management practices appropriate for RI, the present research reported explores the evolution of management systems for enabling radical innovation to occur repeatedly in large firms and reports on one aspect of this management system: organizational structures for enabling and nurturing RI. To consider organizational structure as a venue for capability development is new in the management of innovation and dynamic capabilities literatures. Conventional wisdom holds that RIs should be incubated outside the company and assimilated once they have gained traction in the marketplace. Numerous experiments with organizational structures were observed that instead work to manage the interfaces between the RI management system and the mother organization. These structures are described here, and insights are drawn out regarding radical innovation competency requirements, transition challenges, senior leadership mandates, and business-unit ambidexterity. The centerpiece of this research is the explication of the Discovery–Incubation–Acceleration framework, which details three sets of necessary, though not sufficient competencies, for building an RI capability.     

An Exploratory Study of Company Turnaround in Australia and Singapore Following the Asia Crisis

There has been little research into company turnaround practices in Asia. This paper investigates the role of retrenchment, replacement of chairman or chief executive and ownership change in the turnaround process, using a sample of 60 listed companies in Australia and Singapore. Conclusions are drawn that overall, transparency of the regulatory environment and other governance issues are a stronger influence on turnaround practices than are cultural issues. This may make Singapore, which has transparency and governance risk indicators at similar low levels to Australia, a unique business environment in Asia.     

Evaluating Customer Support During New Product Development—An Exploratory Study

Anyone who has struggled with a balky computer understands the importance of product support. Useful support for a high-tech product may take various forms, including installation, documentation, field service, user training, and product upgrades. All these forms of support share a common goal: achieving customer satisfaction with the product. To increase the likelihood of customer satisfaction with a high-tech product, a firm must carefully consider the product's support requirements during the design stage of the new-product development (NPD) effort. As Keith Goffin points out, however, relatively little research has been published about the manner in which product design influences product support. He suggests that firms may benefit from considering product support requirements during the design stage, in much the same way as design for manufacturability (DFM) techniques enable firms to increase ease of manufacture. In a survey of high-tech firms, he explores the ways in which companies evaluate product support requirements during the design stage. The study also examines whether firms use quantitative goals to focus the design team's attention on a product's support needs. To provide deeper understanding of the interrelationship between support requirements and product design, he also presents a case study involving Hewlett-Packard's development of a complex medical device. With responses from 66 companies, the survey offers the first empirical data on how companies plan for product support. Whereas DFM techniques involve consideration of manufacturability during the early stages of design, more than two-thirds of the companies in the study begin planning for support during the second half of the product development process. Only slightly more than one-half of the respondents report the use of a formal product support plan, although use of this type of document is more prevalent among the computer firms in the study. The companies in this study do not consider all aspects of support during product planning. The respondents also do not set quantitative goals for all aspects of support during the design stage. They typically set quantitative goals for service-related aspects of support—for example, product reliability targets such as annual failure rate—rather than for such support areas as user training. The survey responses identify a range of measures which could be used for performing a more comprehensive evaluation of support requirements during the design stage.     

New Product Development in Rapidly Changing Markets: An Exploratory Study

Rapid technological change can be both a blessing and a curse. For example, investors and firms of all sizes hope to reap the rewards that may arise from the apparent convergence of the computer, telecommunications, and entertainment industries. With the high level of uncertainty inherent to such rapidly changing markets, however, those potentially dazzling returns are counterbalanced by a daunting level of risk. John Mullins and Daniel Sutherland suggest that firms operating in such markets require NPD practices that can mitigate risk, manage uncertainty, and, of course, increase the likelihood of new product success. To gain insight into the NPD practices that can meet those challenges, they conducted in-depth interviews with managers who were directly involved in NPD projects at US WEST, Inc., a large, multinational firm in the telecommunications industry. The study focused on identifying practices that help the firm bring new products into rapidly changing markets quickly, efficiently, and effectively. A key objective of their study was to go beyond the basics—for example, the use of cross-functional teams—to identify specific practices that allow the firm to address the various levels of uncertainty that characterize its markets. They identify three levels of uncertainty that confront firms operating in rapidly changing markets. First, potential customers cannot easily articulate needs that a new technology may fulfill. Consequently, NPD managers are uncertain about the market opportunities that a new technology offers. Second, NPD managers are uncertain about how to turn the new technologies into products that meet customer needs. This uncertainty arises, not only from customers' inability to articulate their needs, but also from managers' difficulties in translating technological advancements into product features and benefits. Finally, senior management faces uncertainty about how much capital to invest in pursuit of rapidly changing markets as well as when to invest. The study identifies six practices that help the firm address the uncertainty and risk inherent in its rapidly changing markets. For example, market research in this firm's NPD process focuses more on probing than it does on measuring. Involvement of prospective customers in idea generation and the use of prototypes early in the NPD process help the firm uncover customer needs and market opportunities. Large-scale, quantitative market research focuses primarily on determining market size and price points.     

区域创新系统绩效评价比较研究

对区域创新系统进行绩效评价的方法很多,有仿生学的视角、系统动力学视角、投入产出视角、共生演化动力视角、链式关联网络的DEA模型视角、耗散与灰色关联熵的RIS演化视角等。考虑到区域创新是个复杂的过程,创新资源投入、运作、关联、产出、转化等都贯穿于全过程,即区域创新投入与产出是多变量的、不同量纲的,测量其绝对效率非常困难,只能采取相对效率评价的方法,主要采用数据包络分析（DEA ）。同时,对区域创新系统绩效进行评价主要针对的是全国各个地区资源配置效率以及区域创新绩效,本文的分析也基于此,对全国划分东、中、西3个大范围,以各个省份为区域边界,研究其相对的创新系统运作绩效。     

基于模糊方法的企业业务流程创新管理绩效综合评价

企业业务流程创新管理能使企业绩效得到巨大改善。建立了企业业务流程创新管理的绩效评价指标体系，运用模糊综合评价法对其进行了科学评价。     

Innovation in Process Plant: A Case Study of Ethylene

Successful companies in any industry recognize the importance of involving customers and suppliers in the design and development of products and services. When complex product and process technologies are involved, these relationships create a network of companies and industries, each of which is a potential source for technological innovation. At the same time, however, such interrelationships further complicate the already challenging task of analyzing the evolving nature and sources of innovation. Using ethylene manufacture as a case study, Peter Hutcheson, Alan Pearson, and Derrick Ball present a three-stage model of innovation. The model provides a framework for understanding the evolution of technological innovation in ethylene manufacturing, as well as the changing roles of the equipment suppliers, the process plant suppliers, and the operating companies througout this evolution. The applicability of this approach to other sectors of the chemical processing industry is also evaluated. In much the same way that a product's life cycle can be traced through distinct phases of creation, growth, maturity, and decline, technological innovation progresses through three main phases: uncoordinated, segmental, and systemic. The progression through these three phases is marked by changes in the relative levels of product and process innovation activity. In this three-stage model, innovative activity progresses from an extreme of high product and low process innovation during the uncoordinated phase, through the segmental period of low product and high process innovation, to the low product and medium process innovation levels of the systemic phase. In other words, as the industry matures, the focus of innovative activity gradually shifts from the product to the process. As illustrated by the example of ethylene manufacturing, companies operating in an industry that has reached the systemic stage will find little or no scope for innovation in the end product or the core manufacturing technologies. In such a mature market, the product is a commodity item, and the fundamentals of the manufacturing process are well known. At this stage, the quest for productivity improvements focuses on cost reductions from task structuring and specialization, task integration, and automation. As such, equipment manufacturers play an increasingly important role in refining existing technologies and improving equipment reliability and capabilities. Such efforts are facilitated by close cooperation with the operating companies, which can contribute process expertise that the equipment manufacturers might otherwise lack.     

Achieving Customer Satisfaction through Integrated Products and Services: An Exploratory Study

Complex products such as manufacturing equipment have always needed maintenance and repair services. Increasingly, leading manufacturers are integrating products and services to generate increased revenues and achieve customer satisfaction. Designing integrated products and services requires a different approach to new product development and a clear understanding of how customers perceive the value they obtain from actual usage of products and services—so‐called value‐in‐use. However, there is a lack of research on integrated products and services and how they impact customer satisfaction. An exploratory study was undertaken to understand customers' views on integrated products and services and the value‐in‐use derived from such offerings. As value‐in‐use and its impacts are complicated concepts, a technique from psychology—Repertory Grid Technique—was used to gather data in 33 interviews. The interviews allowed a deep understanding of customer views on integrated products and services to be obtained, and a systematic analysis identified the key attributes of value‐in‐use. In order to probe further, the data were then analyzed using Honey's procedure, which identified the impact of the attributes of value‐in‐use on customer satisfaction. Two key attributes—relational dynamic and access—were found to have the most influence on customer satisfaction. This paper contributes to the innovation field by identifying customer needs for integrated products and services and how these impact customer satisfaction. These are key points and need to be fully considered by managers during new product and service development. Similarly, the paper identifies a number of important areas for further research.     

多指标综合评价方法研究

本文用主成分分析法与层次分析法相结合,进行多指标问题的综合评价。     

基于创新协同理论的企业技术创新能力评价指标体系研究

企业是技术创新的主体,在科技高速发展的今天,企业该如何提高自身的技术创新能力,使其能够持续、快速、健康地发展,便成为一个不可忽视的问题。本文在对企业技术创新能力研究综述的基础上,从协同的角度进一步完善了企业技术创新能力评价理论基础,给出了企业创新协同系统的概念和企业技术创新能力要素。遵循科学性、系统性、可操作性和代表性的原则,从研发能力、财务能力、协同能力和产出能力四个方面,选取了15个有代表性的评价指标,构建出了基于创新协同理论的企业技术创新能力评价指标体系。     

Technical Development and the Innovation Process

Independent and small-business inventors face enormous difficulties as they attempt to commercialize new technologies. Harold Livesay, Marcia Rorke and David Lux share a number of their useful insights based on their experience. They find that many inventors wish to focus only on certain aspects of their emerging programs. In fact, these inventors resist the need to develop a balanced program involving not only technical development but also marketing and the creation of sustaining business structures. This article provides a systematic elaboration of these difficulties, suggests a more balanced approach and thus describes a process of education and communication that may increase overall effectiveness.     

The Impact of Cross-Functional Joint Involvement Across Product Development Stages: An Exploratory Study

Cross-functional integration offers numerous, well-documented benefits for new-product development (NPD), but it also can carry significant costs. Joint involvement of R&D, manufacturing, and marketing personnel can increase the quality, the manufacturability, and the marketability of the final product. However, building consensus among these groups, with their differing perspectives and goals, may require time-consuming meetings as well as tremendous finesse from the managers who guide the NPD effort. Those managers require an approach to cross-functional integration that strikes a balance between efficiency and effectiveness. X. Michael Song, R. Jeffrey Thieme, and Jinhong Xie propose that the right mix of cross-functional involvement may differ depending on the stage in the NPD process. They also suggest that blindly promoting the involvement of all functional areas in all stages of the NPD process may actually decrease NPD performance. They test these propositions in a study that examines the relationships between new product performance and cross-functional joint involvement between R&D, manufacturing, and marketing in five major stages of the NPD process: market opportunity analysis, planning, development, pretesting, and launch. Their objective in this study is to identify patterns of effective cross-functional involvement in different NPD stages. The study uses data collected from 236 managers working in the R&D, manufacturing, and marketing departments of 16 Fortune 500 firms. Their findings suggest that new-product success may be more likely when a firm employs function-specific and stage-specific patterns of cross-functional integration than it is when the firm attempts to integrate all functions during all NPD stages. For example, during the market opportunity analysis stage, the findings suggest that joint involvement between R&D and marketing may be productive, but joint involvement between R&D and manufacturing and among all three functions may be counterproductive. The results also indicate that joint involvement among all three functions either does not have a significant effect on new product success or may be counterproductive in all stages of the NPD process. For the firms in this study, the three functions seem to take turns playing the central role in cross-functional activities. During the product planning, development, and testing phases, the role of the focal function, or communication hub, shifts from manufacturing to R&D and then to marketing. (c) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.     

集群风险自组织理论建构的探索式案例研究

集群风险已经成为一种普遍的经济现象,受到理论界的广泛关注,集群风险自组织则是其核心内涵的反映。根据协同学理论的分析框架及探索式多案例的研究设计,本文通过对三个企业集群样本的逐一研究剖析发现:集群风险自组织是一个内在结构演化的过程,由焦点企业、网络能力、网络结构三者相互作用而阶段性表征;在层次性、非线性和协同性三者协同演化下,风险阶段性地打破了集群平衡态,从而形成集群风险自组织间断非平衡性的特征。论文建构了集群风险自组织理论机制,对集群风险治理的实践具有一定启示意义。     

Quality Circle Survival: An Exploratory Analysis

This paper examines the extent and causes of the abandonment of individual workgroup meetings (or circles) within ongoing quality circle programs. Data are drawn from a cross-sectional survey of quality circles in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. The data suggest that circles that are started during a program's first year tend to decay over time, but their survival increases with high levels of participatory management, job insecurity, low worker skill levels, and unions. Analysis of the union effect suggests that circle survival increases where unions are actively involved in and benefit from quality circle programs.     

Links between Internal and External Cooperation in Product Development: An Exploratory Study*

While there is an overwhelming amount of publications on cooperation in product development projects, they mainly focus on cooperation between business functions within an organization (internal cooperation) or on cooperation between organizations (external cooperation). Yet the relationship between internal and external cooperation has received only scarce attention. This article studies how internal and external cooperation relate. Following an extensive literature study and 12 exploratory interviews with managers in eight organizations, a case‐research design was set up. More specifically, six product development projects were studied in depth, combining data from interviews, questionnaires, and information from secondary sources. Based on these cases, the authors present four different links between internal and external cooperation: (1) Internal cooperation may serve as a mechanism to coordinate external cooperation; (2) Internal cooperative norms are similar to external cooperative norms; (3) External cooperation may stimulate internal cooperation; and (4) Internal cooperation may be an essential part of organizational learning from external partners. The results of this exploratory study prove the interaction between internal and external cooperation to be a subject worthy of investigation and demonstrate that in order to appreciate fully the quality of a firm's external cooperation efforts, they should be studied in combination with the firm's internal interfaces. The authors also show the managerial implications of these links, as well as some directions for further research.