Does Social Software Support Service Innovation?

Recent Internet technologies and web‐based applications, such as social software, are being increasingly applied in firms. Social software can be employed for knowledge management and for external communication enabling access to internal and external knowledge. Knowledge, in turn, constitutes one of the main inputs to service innovation. Hence, social software has the potential to support service innovation. Using data from German IT and knowledge‐intensive service firms, this is the first paper that empirically analyses whether the use of social software applications triggers innovation. It refers to a knowledge production function in which social software use constitutes the knowledge sourcing activity. The results reveal a positive relationship between social software and service innovation. Since this result is robust when controlling for former innovative activities and the previous propensity to adopt new technologies and to change processes, the analysis suggests that the causality runs from social software to innovation.     

The impact of espoused national cultural values on innovative behaviour: an empirical study in the Chinese IT-enabled global service industry

In this article, we explore the different roles that knowledge sharing and exploitative learning play in employees’ innovative behaviour, and investigate the different moderating effects of employees’ espoused national cultural values on the relationship between exploitative learning and innovative behaviour in the Chinese IT-enabled global service firms with different ownerships. We propose a theoretical model to characterize these antecedents of innovative behaviour. A structured research survey was conducted and data were collected from a sample of 484 full-time employees in 3 IT-enabled global service firms in the PRC. Results indicate that knowledge sharing is positively associated with innovative behaviour in multinational corporations and private IT-enabled global service; espoused power distance has a significant positive moderating effect on exploitative learning–innovative behaviour relationship in state-owned and private firms; espoused collectivism has a significant moderating effect only in state-owned firms in China. Last, we explore the implications of our findings for theory and practice of innovation.     

Performance effects of aligning service innovation and the strategic use of information technology

In the current dramatically changing business environment, innovation capability is the key to attaining competitive advantages for firms. Drawing on the concept of alignment, the present research proposes a service innovation alignment model within which service innovation and strategic use of information technology (IT) coexist in evaluating performance. Data for hypotheses testing are collected from top-ranked service companies in Taiwan. A total of 165 surveys were collected. Performance implications of alignment are examined using fit as covariation approach. The findings demonstrate that the alignment between service innovation and the strategic use of IT has significant impacts on service innovation performance as well as business performance.     

General Purpose Technologies and local knowledge accumulation — A study on MNC subunits and local innovation centers

This research looks into the innovative activities of subunits of large non-U.S firms in the U.S from 1969 to 1995, suggesting that the innovations in the subunits of multinational corporations are closely linked to their specializations in General Purpose Technologies (GPTs). GPTs enable recombining knowledge from different domains on an international scale, and that the specialization of innovations in GPT fields within a subunit is positively associated with the innovative capacity at large, along with the degree of technological diversification of that specific subunit. As firms expand geographically to tap into local innovation centers to develop new growth alternatives, specialization of GPTs in these firms actually facilitates further geographical dispersion of innovative activities across locations. Lastly, additional specializations of innovations in GPT fields within the host innovation centers does help in attracting innovation activities of firms from a wider range of industries.     

Knowledge,innovation and firm performance in high- and low-technology regimes

Industries with greater aggregate levels of research and development (R&D) intensity are home to higher rates of firm-level innovation, according to survey data from 845 Canadian manufacturing firms. And, though innovation is more common when industry dynamism is high, innovative firms are likely to enjoy revenue growth, irrespective of the industry in which they operate. The research also shows that firm knowledge, industry dynamism and innovation interact in the way they influence firm performance. A highly skilled workforce is most beneficial to firm performance in dynamic environments, while firms in stable manufacturing industries benefit more from investments in training.     

Does innovativeness of knowledge-intensive business services differ from other industries?

This article seeks to determine whether the innovative capabilities of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) do actually differ from other industries through comparing the innovation capacities and financial performance of KIBS with firms operating in other sectors (non-KIBS). Based upon a 1000-firm sample, the results of our estimated econometric model demonstrate that non-KIBS firms are in possession of significantly greater innovation capacities than KIBS firms. These differences were observed across factors such as organisational process innovation, the launch of already existing products in new markets, branding and new product designs. Nevertheless, as regards the actual importance attributed to product/service innovation, KIBS firms place a greater comparative importance on innovation in comparison with their non-KIBS peers. In addition, the empirical evidences display a significantly different range of effects of innovation capacities on financial performance and concludes that non-KIBS firms turn in better comparative performances than specialist KIBS firms.     

Firms size and R&D spillovers: Evidence from Italy

The recent emergence in the industrial organization literature of a wave of studies identifying small firms as more innovative than their larger counterparts poses something of a paradox? Where do small firms get their knowledge generating inputs? The purpose of this paper is to link innovative inputs to innovative outputs. This enables the identification of the extent to which spillovers exist from major sources generating new economic knowledge, such as the research and development (R&;D) laboratories of private and public firms, as well as universities, to the innovative activity of large and small enterprises. Based on twenty Italian regions over a period of nine years, the emprical evidence suggests that, while firm R&;D expenditures contribute to the generation of innovative output for all firms, as well as for large and small firms, the spillovers from university research are apparently more important for small-firm innovation than for large-firm innovation.     

How social capital and knowledge affect innovation

This research analyzes the effects of interorganizational links on radical innovation using a comprehensive framework that integrates three research streams: social capital, the knowledge-based view and innovation. Incorporating data from 143 companies of innovative manufacturing and service industries, our results show that while knowledge complexity per se exerts a clear influence on radical innovation, the effect of knowledge tacitness appears only in combination with social capital. Similarly, the mere existence of strong cooperation agreements (relational social capital) does not guarantee more radical innovations, only when combining high levels of social capital with tacit knowledge does this antecedent produce more radical innovation.     

Process innovation strategy in SMEs,organizational innovation and performance: a misleading debate?

This article contributes to the study of process innovation as a growth strategy for SMEs, enriching and complementing the well-researched debate about product innovation. Thus, under-researched process innovation strategies are analyzed, and their antecedents and innovative performance implications explored. The results show that process innovation strategy is mainly shaped by the acquisition of embodied knowledge, which acts as a key mechanism for countering firms’ weak internal capabilities. As process innovation is mainly production oriented, performance consequences are measured using the production process indicators of cost reduction, flexibility and capacity improvement, avoiding traditional misguided measures based on sales, which are more product oriented. Drawing on information for 2,412 firms taken from Spanish CIS data, our results suggest that R&D efforts are not positively related to production process performance, but that the latter is improved by the synchronous co-adoption of organizational and technological innovation. SMEs conducting a process innovation strategy rely heavily on the acquisition of external sources of knowledge in order to complement their weak internal innovative capabilities, and their pattern of innovation shows clear-cut differences from traditional R&D-based product innovation strategies. The article uses a resource-based view framework to generate hypotheses.     

Innovation, R&D cooperation and labor recruitment: evidence from Finland

This article investigates the role played by one type of firm interaction, namely R&D cooperation, and also the acquisition of labor, in the promotion of industrial innovations. We employ a unique innovation dataset from Finland which combines firm specific information about the innovation performance of the firms along with their individual characteristics, as well as firm specific information regarding the origins of their recent labor acquisitions. Analyzing this data allows us to identify the different roles which the knowledge spillovers and labor markets play in the innovation process. Our results suggest that small firms are generally more innovative than large firms; R&D cooperation is an essential feature of innovation, but the variety of cooperation is of little importance; and labor acquisition appears to be only of limited importance for innovation.

Knowledge complementarity and innovation

This paper uses an innovation production function to relate the presence of geographically-mediated complementary knowledge resources to the innovative activity of small and large firms. The empirical results suggest that small firm innovation appears to benefit from the presence of external institutions and resources. Although large firm innovative activity benefits from the presence of knowledge resources, location appears to be especially beneficial to small firm innovative activity.     

Are public research spin-offs more innovative?

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse whether research spin-offs, that is, spin-offs from either public research institutes or universities, have greater innovation capabilities than comparable knowledge-intensive firms created in other ways. Using a sample of about 2,800 firms from highly innovative sectors, propensity score matching is used to create a sample group of control firms that is comparable to the group of spin-offs. The article provides evidence that the 121 research spin-offs investigated have more patent applications and more radical product innovations, on average, compared to similar firms. The results also show that research spin-offs’ superior innovation performance can be explained by their high level of research cooperation and by location factors. An urban region location and proximity to the parent institution are found to be conducive to innovation productivity. The article also finds evidence that research spin-offs are more successful in attracting support from public innovation support programmes in comparison to their peers.     

Examining human resource practice outcomes and service innovation

This study sought to examine the relationship between human resource practice outcomes and service innovation. It also examines the moderating role of knowledge sharing in the relationship between workplace friendship and service innovation, as well as the mediating role of knowledge sharing in the relationship between job satisfaction and service innovation. The study employed survey research design. The respondents were selected from across the service industry in Ghana using convenience sampling technique. Items measuring the constructs were adapted from extant literature. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to ascertain the validity of the measurement model. Hierarchical regression was used to analyse the data. The results show that knowledge sharing, job satisfaction, workplace friendship, and employee commitment predict service innovation. However, the interaction of workplace friendship and knowledge sharing has no effect on service innovation. Similarly, the moderation of employee commitment and job satisfaction did not make any contribution to service innovation. The findings imply that service firms must create a friendly working environment, ensuring that employees are satisfied in order to promote service innovation. It also implies that service firms must promote social activities that encourage knowledge sharing, but these social activities must relate to employees’ job.     

The impact of diversity of innovation channels on innovation performance in service firms

This study empirically analyzes the impact of the diversity of three channel types (the information search, technology acquisition, and collaboration channels) on four types of innovation (service, process, organization, and marketing) performance using data from a sample of service firms of the Korean innovation survey. The results of this study indicate that innovative service firms tend to rely heavily on the diversity of information search channels for all four types of innovation performance, while their reliance on the diversity of the technology acquisition channel and collaboration channel is considerably low. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of channel management strategies for better service performance.     

How innovative are spin-offs at later stages of development? Comparing innovativeness of established research spin-offs and otherwise created firms

The literature argues that research spin-offs (RSOs)—enterprises originating from a university or research institute—appear to have higher innovative potential and capabilities than other start-ups, at least in the early stages of their development. Yet, little is known about the innovative performance of these companies at later development phases. Thus, the main goal of this study is to investigate whether there are any differences in research and development (R&D) and innovation behavior between established and/or mature RSOs and otherwise created firms and, if so, to what extent they are driven by networking and cooperation activities as suggested by some scholars. To this end, we employ probit regression analysis and a matching approach using survey data on more than 6,000 East German firms, among which are 179 RSOs. Our first findings suggest that established RSOs engage in R&D and innovation activities more frequently than companies whose genesis was of another type. Nevertheless, the results obtained when accounting for collaboration measures show that the precedence of RSOs in further development stages over otherwise created firms in terms of innovation outputs is related to their higher intensity of cooperation activity and close, face-to-face interactions with universities, and not to type of firm creation. Moreover, our findings reveal that cooperating in various fields may be of different importance for specific inputs and outputs of the innovation activity. Finally, based on our results, we draw some implications for both practicing managers and public policymakers.     

Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs’ involvement in internationalization and innovation: Three Canadian cases

In international entrepreneurship literature, entrepreneurs moving across borders have received less attention than other entrepreneurs. Also, only scant attention has been paid to immigrant entrepreneurs’ contributions to their organizations. This paper aims to contribute to the emerging international immigrant entrepreneurship literature by studying Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs’ roles in their firms’ international and innovative activities in Canada, China, and other countries. It is based on three cases of Chinese entrepreneurs who established businesses in Canada. We conclude that these immigrants’ experience of doing business in China and Canada, their network relationships and knowledge of these markets quickened their firms’ internationalization considerably. Moreover, these firms became active in product or service innovation as the case immigrants also involved other immigrants and locals. Consequently, immigrant entrepreneurs should actively use their connections both in their new country of residence and also in their previous home country, but to become even more successful, they should also reach beyond their ethnic ties.     

Innovation management in service firms: a research agenda

This article suggests an agenda for further research on innovation management in service firms. It investigates differences and similarities between issues identified by previous academic research and issues brought up by practitioners within the area of innovation management in service firms. The results show that there are some major differences; for instance, researchers stress a need for formalized processes for development work, while practitioners focus on facilitating innovation in everyday operations. The main conclusion is that in order to bridge the gap between research and practice we would encourage further research on innovation in service firms to (1) conduct micro studies of innovation work, (2) view innovation in the context of everyday operations and (3) focus on co-workers’ innovative potential.     

The impact of service innovation on firm-level financial performance

This article empirically investigates if firms focusing on service innovation perform better financially than firms not focusing on service innovation. Analysis of the financial performance of 3575 Norwegian firms in the manufacturing industries supports the proposition that firms focusing on service innovation have significantly higher growth of operating results than firms not focusing on service innovation. However, this proposition is not supported in a corresponding analysis of 1132 Norwegian firms in the service industries. We elaborate on these results by investigating a variety of performance measures and by comparing the effects of service innovation between manufacturing and service industries. The article contributes to the service innovation measurement literature and to a better general understanding of the determinants of service innovation performance effects.     

Innovation and Knowledge Transfer in Clustered Interorganizational Networks in Brazil

This article analyzes whether firm innovation is influenced by the transfer of knowledge among cluster firms. To test the hypotheses, we directly estimated the measurement and the structural model parameters where cooperation, workforce mobility, and institutions were defined as manifest indicators of the latent exogenous variable knowledge transfer, modeled as a second-order construct. Firm innovation was defined as a single item endogenous latent variable. We found knowledge transfer to be related to the way firms are managed vis-à-vis (a) the role of institutions as discussion arenas; (b) the adaptability of the workforce; and (c) the indirect cooperation among firms.