Fast and expensive: the diffusion of a disappointing innovation

Firms seek to imitate innovations that yield competitive advantage, but imitation can presage disappointment when the innovation value is below expectations. Empirical research has only rarely examined the diffusion of such disappointing innovations, and it is not known whether negative information from past adopters will halt the diffusion process. Likewise, the effect of heterogeneity in the innovation value on its spread has not been systematically investigated. Here, a unique dataset on a disappointing innovation is used to examine how adoption decisions are imitated, but actual use and subsequent abandonment can yield information that reduces the likelihood that others will adopt. The findings show imitation of the adoptions of other firms, but avoidance of the innovation once these firms start using the innovation or abandon it. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

组织模块化设计:基本原理与理论架构

模块化技术的出现,推动着组织进行相应的模块化,同时也为组织设计带来了新的理念。本文基于已有研究,绘制了由结构构建、制度设计和价值创新构成的组织模块化设计价值创新原理图,从系统角度对组织模块化设计原理的SSV范式进行了详细分析,认为价值创新是模块化组织特有的结构和制度安排整合系统效应的结果。在此基础上,从契约结构、组织结构、组织流程、组织职权四个角度阐述了组织模块化设计的理论架构,这有助于组织模块化设计的进一步研究和实践。     

The nature of SME co-operation and innovation: A multi-scalar and multi-dimensional analysis

Recent work on SMEs and networks has emphasised the importance of external co-operative ties in enhancing firms’ innovative performance. These external ties provide resource constrained SMEs with access to a wider set of technological opportunities through information sharing and resource pooling. Previous studies of the SME innovation–cooperation relationship have used categorical measures to capture tie existence which, while providing some useful insights, largely fail to capture the strength of co-operative relationships and/or the variety of relational directions in which co-operation occurs. This study aims to address this measurement deficiency and explore the SME innovation–cooperation relationship by designing and utilising measures that capture both the multi-scalar (strength) and multi-dimensional (variety) nature of co-operation and innovation. We then apply these measures to a survey of UK manufacturing SMEs. Data is obtained for 371 SMEs, and we then assess the innovation–co-operation relationship within a multivariate regression framework. We find that the strength of cooperative ties across a range of productive activities within the value chain are important facilitators for SME innovative capability; this is true for both product and process innovation. However, we find that SME co-operation with rivals (co-opetition) has no significant impact upon innovation. Our results have significant implications for both supply chain managers and policy-makers interested in enhancing innovation among SMEs. In particular, we argue that SME innovative activity benefits from good, close dyadic relations within the supply chain, while more generally policy should be geared towards nurturing and sustaining SME innovation networks.     

Open R&D and open innovation: exploring the phenomenon

There is currently a broad awareness of open innovation and its relevance to corporate R&D. The implications and trends that underpin open innovation are actively discussed in terms of strategic, organizational, behavioral, knowledge, legal and business perspectives, and its economic implications. This special issue aims to advance the R&D, innovation, and technology management perspective by building on past and present studies in the field and providing future directions. Recent research, including the papers in this special issue, demonstrates an increasing range of situations where the concept is regarded as applicable. Most research to date has followed the outside-in process of open innovation, while the inside-out process remains less explored. A third coupled process of open innovation is also attracting significant research attention. These different processes show why it is necessary to have a full understanding of how and where open innovation can add value in knowledge-intensive processes. There may be a need for a creative interpretation and adaptation of the value propositions, or business models, in each situation. In other words, there are important implications for new and emerging methods of R&D management.     

Value Creation and Value Capture Alignment in Business Model Innovation: A Process View on Outcome-Based Business Models

Industrial manufacturers are innovating their business models by shifting from selling products to selling outcome-based services, where the provider (manufacturer) guarantees to deliver the performance outcomes of the products and services. This form of business model innovation requires a profound yet little understood shift in how value is created, delivered, and captured. To address this research gap, our study examines two successful and four unsuccessful cases of this shift. We find that effectiveness in business model innovation hinges on the three process phases that unfold in collaboration with the customers: value proposition definition, value provision design, and value-in-use delivery. We also find that that success is determined by the alignment of specific value creation and value capture activities in each phase: identifying value creation opportunities—agreeing on value distribution in value proposition definition, designing the value offering—deciding on the profit formula in the value provision design, and finally refining value creation processes—regulating incentive structures in the value-in-use delivery. Our process model contributes to the literature and practice on business model innovation by providing a thorough understanding of how alignment of value creation and value capture processes is ensured, whilst paying special attention to their interdependence and the interactions between provider and customer.     

基于模块化网络组织的价值流动与创新

模块化网络组织是在价值模块化的基础上形成的一种新型价值创造的组织形式,其内部价值流动过程包括价值的创造、转移、实现和分配四个阶段。引导价值的合理有序流动,既是模块化网络组织治理的重要方面,也是形成网络协同效应、增强模块化网络组织竞争优势的重要途径。模块化网络组织能够通过知识创新实现价值创新,其价值创新机制具有边际收益递增性、顾客参与性和非均衡性等特性。网络组织内部成员企业以自身核心能力要素参与模块化分工和模块化网络组织的价值创新,能够形成网络组织整体竞争优势,共同创造和分享网络租金。     

Innovation Performance in New Product Development Teams in China's Technology Ventures: The Role of Behavioral Integration Dimensions and Collective Efficacy

In emerging markets, technology ventures increasingly rely on new product development (NPD) teams to generate creative ideas and to mold these innovative ideas into streams of new products or services. However, little is known about how behavioral integration (a behavioral team process) and collective efficacy (a motivational team process) jointly facilitate or inhibit team innovation performance in emerging markets—especially in China, the world's largest emerging‐market setting with collectivist and high power distance cultures. Drawing on social cognitive theory and behavioral integration research, this article elucidates the relationships between behavioral integration dimensions (i.e., collaborative behavior, information exchange, and joint decision‐making) and innovation performance and also examines how collective efficacy moderates these relationships in China's NPD teams. Results from a sample of 96 NPD teams in China's technology ventures reveal that information exchange is positively associated with innovation performance. Collaborative behavior positively but marginally influences innovation performance, whereas joint decision‐making does not relate to innovation performance. Moreover, collective efficacy demonstrates an important moderating role. Specifically, both collaborative behavior and joint decision‐making are more positively associated with innovation performance when collective efficacy is higher. In contrast, information exchange is less positively associated with innovation performance when collective efficacy is higher. This study makes important theoretical contributions to the literature on team innovation and behavioral integration in emerging markets by offering a better understanding of how behavioral and motivational team processes jointly shape innovation performance in China's NPD teams. This study also extends social cognitive theory by identifying collective efficacy as a boundary condition for the overall effectiveness of behavioral integration dimensions. In particular, this study highlights the condition under which behavioral integration dimensions facilitate or inhibit NPD team innovation performance in China.     

从美国次贷危机分析我国金融产品创新中的信息需求

在金融产品创新过程中，信息保障起着很重要的作用，它渗透到产品创新的各个环节，在一定程度上决定着产品创新的成败。从美国次贷危机分析我国金融产品创新中存在的问题及其信息需求的特点及类型，从而提出金融产品创新中信息获取的途径，为金融企业提高产品创新的成功率提供方向。     

Perspective: The Applicability of Percolation Theory to Innovation

The spread of innovation is usually characterized as a diffusion process. This article suggests that there may be some value in viewing this important phenomenon in terms of the mathematical construct known as percolation theory. J. Mort writes that phenomena and concepts such as induction periods, critical percolation thresholds, discrete propagation media, site coordination, clusters, and connective constants all have remarkable analogs in the generally observed features of product innovation. This phenomenological perspective, in which the customer emerges naturally as the controlling factor in the spread of innovations, may account for specific marketing approaches that have facilitated successful innovations such as the Xerox 914 copier. The approach may prove especially relevant in describing the spread of certain information, communication-based innovations, such as the explosive growth in facsimile (FAX), and other network-based products, as the utility and value of such products to the customer is inherently linked to the extant degree of connectivity.     

Where to search for process innovations? The mediating role of absorptive capacity and its impact on process innovation

While the potential of open innovation to develop product-related improvements through the use of external knowledge sources is undeniable, our understanding of how firms become process innovators remains limited. Distinguishing between product and process innovation is important, as insights gleaned from investigating product innovation may not relate directly to the study of process innovation. This study provides new insight into open innovation and absorptive capacity by proposing the mediating role of absorptive capacity – potential and realized – on the relationship between knowledge search from external sources and process-related innovation activities. We test our model using a sample of 171 auto component suppliers in Iran, and find evidence that the learning effects of external scanning increase when a firm learns how to better manage external searches in terms of external absorptive capacity routines. Our results indicate that, while knowledge search from value chain partners is related to process innovation, knowledge search from universities and other research organizations is not, and that potential absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between external knowledge search and process innovation. These findings shed further light on the relationship between a firm’s openness and its process innovation.     

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.     

Innovation through institutionalization: A service ecosystems perspective

This article explores the role of institutions in innovation from a service-ecosystems perspective, which helps to unify diverging views on innovation and extend the research regarding innovation systems. Drawing on institutional theories, this approach broadens the scope of innovation beyond firm-centered production activities and collaboration networks, and emphasizes the social practices and processes that drive value creation and, more specifically, innovation — the combinatorial evolution of new, useful knowledge. Based on this ecosystems view, we argue for institutionalization – the maintenance, disruption and change of institutions – as a central process of innovation for both technology and markets. In this view, technology is conceptualized as potentially useful knowledge, or a value proposition, which is both an outcome and a medium of value co-creation and innovation. Market innovation, then, is driven by the combinatorial evolution of value propositions and the emergence and institutionalization of new solutions.     

创新行为与企业经营绩效：微观实证

创新是企业保持长久竞争力的不竭动力,创新行为对企业经营绩效会产生重要影响。运用面板随机效应模型和分位数回归方法,以2007年、2008年及2009年共3年的微观企业数据为样本 ,就创新行为与创业板公司的经营绩效进行了实证分析,研究表明：创新投入对经营绩效有正向促进作用,但缺乏弹性,并且其对经营业绩不好与经营业绩很好的公司影响都较小,最大受益者是经营业绩一般的公司。专利与企业经营绩效正相关,但专利对公司经营绩效条件分布的影响幅度并不稳定,表现出较大的波动性,非参数BootStrap方法表明以上回归结果具有稳健性。     

Value Creation and Value Capture in Open Innovation

Open innovation has attracted a significant amount of attention from scholars and practitioners. Prior research on open innovation has mainly focused on collaborative inventing. However, understanding the processes and outcomes of joint inventing is not sufficient for understanding sustained open‐innovation activities and the competitive advantages of the actors involved in open innovation. Instead, an understanding of value creation and value capture is paramount for advancing our understanding of sustained open‐innovation activities. Open innovation requires collaboration among distributed but interdependent actors who rely on each other’s capabilities for value creation and capture. Value in open innovation is driven not only by actors’ value creation but also by their ability to capture value. While value creation and value capture are discussed in the open‐innovation literature, the advancement of this stream of research is hindered by conceptual ambiguity, especially in relation to the concept of value capture. This article adopts a value perspective on open innovation, offers consistent conceptualizations of value creation and value capture, and outlines potential avenues for further research at the interface of open innovation, value creation, and value capture.     

大数据成为现实生产要素的企业实现机制:产品创新视角

数字经济的崛起,使数据成为新的生产要素,但现有研究对数据成为现实生产要素的企业实现过程缺乏理论剖析与实证研究。鉴于产品创新是企业活动中各种生产要素最具集成特征的一环,本文从产品创新视角,构建“大数据资源—企业能力—产品创新绩效”链式中介模型开展实证研究,探讨大数据从可能的生产要素成为企业现实生产要素的实现机制。基于特征映射逻辑,将大数据分析、组织学习、惯例更新、行业竞争压力、行业信息技术使用强度分别视为劳动、知识、管理、资本、技术的替代变量,将企业的产品创新实现机制映射为数据与其他五个生产要素相结合成为现实生产要素的实现路径模型,提出数据是将现有生产要素进一步联系起来的桥梁型生产要素的观点,形成对数据作为生产要素的新认知。本文结论为数据作为新生产要素的思想提供了企业产品创新视角的理论解释,也为企业大数据创新实践提供了管理启示。     

Adoption of Technologically Based Innovations: The Neglected Role of Bounded Rationality

The purpose of this research is to examine the possibility of distinguishing between adopters and nonadopters when conceptualizing the drivers of the decision to adopt technologically based innovations. A second research objective is to examine factorial validity through the assessment of the explanatory power of the investigated conceptualization. In the pursuit of these objectives, the theory of bounded rationality represents the underlying theoretical framework, and Internet banking (IB) represents the nomological framework, in which two alternative conceptualizations, one for IB adopters and a second for nonadopters, are considered. “Intention to adopt” and “adoption” are the criterion variables, respectively. To meet the objectives of the study, two different populations are examined: adopters of IB and nonadopters. The former was used to examine the hypothesized framework for predictive validity against actual adoption; the latter was used to examine the predictive validity regarding intention to adopt. To collect data from IB adopters, the four leading banks, which account for approximately 73% of adopters, agreed to place a link to a Web‐based questionnaire at the log‐in page of their IB system inviting customers to participate in the study. Through this process, 858 useable questionnaires were produced. To reach the nonadopters population, a convenience sample of executive M.B.A. students from two leading Greek universities was employed. Respondents from this sample were screened to ensure that they had never used IB. This process yielded 418 useable questionnaires from the nonadopters population. A major finding from this investigation is that the decision to adopt improves the understanding of adopters regarding the benefits delivered by an innovation. Consequently, they hold a precise, less ambiguous perception of how specific innovation attributes translate into benefits. Hence, when recalling the decision process through which they adopted an innovation, adopters relate specific innovation attributes, including specific benefits received. This situation is displayed in the ability of a direct, first‐order model to capture the relationships between specific innovation attributes and the adoption decision. In contrast, nonadopters, having no direct experience with the innovation, lack this familiarity. They require a significantly greater amount of information in order to associate innovation attributes with potential benefits. The intangibility of technologically based service innovation further increases a nonadopter's need for information. However, this increased need for information renders nonadopters subject to cognitive strain, which causes them to aggregate innovation attributes into more abstract constructs. That aggregation was displayed in the ability of a second‐order model to capture the relationships between specific innovation attributes and the nonadopters' intention to adopt the innovation in the future. In both occasions though, the instrumental drivers of adoption represent the most powerful explicators of the adoption decision. From a practitioner's perspective, this study shows that managers can structure the content of their communication to facilitate the rise of societal drivers, but they should avoid relying on such elements to quicken the pace of the adoption rate. Rather, at the core of communication campaigns, practitioners should place brief and clear claims demonstrating the instrumental arguments in favor of the adoption decision.     

基于价值网络重构的企业商业模式创新

建构价值网络逐步成为企业商业模式创新的重要方式,但狭义的价值网络观对企业盈利机理的解释并未突破价值链将投入转换为产品的传统逻辑。本文从更广义的价值生态系统角度剖析网络价值交换逻辑和企业价值的实现机理,从网络重构出发分析了五种不同的商业模式创新路径。本文认为,受竞争压力与技术变迁的推动,网络组织的价值创造逻辑呈现颠覆性变化:顾客价值创造与企业价值实现的分离。这种分离导致许多企业即使实现了顾客价值最大化也未必产生收入,尤其面对互联网的免费经济趋势,企业只有重构价值网络、拓展新的收入源才能实现盈利并保证商业模式的稳定性。     

Individual differences, environmental scanning, innovation framing, and champion behavior: key predictors of project performance

Although increasing evidence points to the importance of champions for keeping product innovation ideas alive and thriving, little is known about how champions identify potential product innovation ideas, how they present these ideas to gain much needed support from key stakeholders, and their impact on innovation project performance over time. Jane M. Howell and Christine M. Shea address this knowledge gap by using measures of individual differences, environmental scanning, innovation framing and champion behavior to predict the performance of 47 product innovation projects. Champion behavior was defined as expressing confidence in the innovation, involving and motivating others to support the innovation, and persisting under adversity. Interviews with 47 champions were conducted to collect information about the innovation projects and the champions' tendency to frame the innovation as an opportunity or threat. Survey data were obtained from three sources: 47 champions provided information on their personal characteristics (locus of control and breadth of interest) and activities (environmental scanning), 47 division managers subjectively assessed project performance at two points in time, and 237 innovation team members rated the frequency of champion behavior. The results revealed that an internal locus of control orientation was positively related to framing the innovation as an opportunity, and breadth of interest was positively related to environmental scanning. Environmental scanning of documents and framing the innovation as a threat was negatively related to champion behavior, while environmental scanning through people was positively related to champion behavior. Champion behavior positively predicted project performance over a one‐year interval. Overall, the findings suggest that in scanning the environment for new ideas, the most effective source of information is the champion's personal network of people inside and outside the organization. Also, the simple labeling of an idea as a threat appears to diminish a champion's perceived influence and erode credibility in promoting an innovation. From the perspective of division managers, champions make a positive contribution to project performance over time, reinforcing the crucial role that champions play in new product development process.     

Client dependence and vendor innovation: The moderating role of organizational culture

With the dramatic increase in technological interconnectedness between firms and the overall speed of technological change, organizations depend on each other to survive and stay competitive. While it is generally believed that dyads and networks can offer advantages over internal development in the innovation process, the authors suggest that it is not necessarily the case. Using a sample of 120 vendor firms that work in information technology industries in the Indian subcontinent, they find that client dependence in the inter-organizational relationship decreases vendor innovation. To resolve this dark side of business relationships, they further examine how the organizational culture can impact the dependence-innovation relationship. In line with organization literature, the authors distinguish two sub-dimensions of outcome-oriented culture: performance orientation, which reflects a firm's internal focus on employee performance, and competitiveness, which reflects a firm's focus on external competitors and markets. It is found that a vendor's competitiveness facilitates innovation, and that it weakens the negative effect of client dependence on vendor innovation. However, performance orientation strengthens the negative effect of client dependence on vendor innovation. Accordingly, in order to prevent themselves from falling into the dependence trap in the innovation process, firms need to build an externally oriented competitive culture and avoid overemphasizing their internal performance.     

模块化产业集群及其组织效率分析

"模块化"为产业集群组织模式创新提供了新的空间.模块化产业集群在价值链形成基础、组织权力结构、协调方式、信息流动、企业竞争方式、知识创新模式和创新能力等方面与传统产业集群存在根本的不同.产业集群模块化的路径是技术模块化、产品模块化、市场模块化及组织模块化的互动.模块化产业集群具有较高的组织效率,主要表现为:以功能模块为单元的创新效率,以设计规则为约束的协调效率,以扁平化的组织结构为特征的信息传递效率,以主动创新为导向的低趋同化效率,以交易费用降低为基础的交易效率,以分工为基础的协作效率.产业集群组织的模块化也会受到来自科技发展水平、产业集群的网络性风险以及模块化系统的运行成本等因素的制约.