Capability building through innovation for unserved lower end mega markets

Although product innovation for unserved lower end mega markets in large developing countries has been recognized as an opportunity for improving the competitiveness of local firms, limited research has been conducted that explicitly explores how innovation capabilities can be built for these markets. This study investigates Tata Motors' Nano as an exploratory case of building innovation capabilities. This paper shows that the building of innovation capability could be achieved through creating a process that overcomes ‘the deficiency problem’ in generating radically cheap priced original products.The study's contribution to the literature is that it addresses issues of building local firms' innovation capabilities through creating original products for the unserved lower end market, in which advanced country firms have limited experience.Nano, as an unprecedented innovation in the automobile industry, reveals a path to building innovation capability that has not previously been observed. We show that detailed processes involved in generating an original product for the lower end market provide insights on the strategy in terms of target price setting, initiating innovation process overcoming ‘the deficiency problem’, and creation of complementary resources.     

基于IMC理论的动态营销能力构建

复杂的动态竞争环境对企业的营销实践提出了更高要求。基于整合营销传播理论的动态营销能力构建,是以创新能力、反应能力及关系能力为核心能力特征的动态资源,是持续获取企业良好营销绩效的重要来源。增强组织对环境变化的敏感性与适应性,可以提升企业的反应能力,剖析利益相关者需求并关注其变动可以实现与之的良好关系,个人与组织的知识管理,有利于提升企业的创新能力。三种能力互相作用,形成动态营销能力不断提升的推动系统。     

An analysis of firm-level innovation strategies in the US biotechnology industry

This study examines factors that may affect innovation strategies and performance of firms in the biotechnology industry. Specifically, differences between factors common to firms with high R&D intensity and those to firms with low R&D intensity are investigated. Biotechnology firms with relatively higher levels of R&D intensity attribute their innovation performance to research-based innovation factors and strategies such as strengthening their own research capabilities, entering into research collaborations with universities, industry leaders and other biotech firms, and licensing their technology. These strategies can be summarized as alignment within the industry. Firms with relatively lower R&D intensity have a hybrid focus—they invest in R&D but may also have products on the market. These firms attribute their innovation performance more so to production-based innovation factors and strategies such as gaining market access and maintaining connections with customers. Their strategy focuses on competitiveness, marketing, and distribution channels, while not ignoring the importance of a strong research base and the need to advance technologically. In a sense, strategies employed to achieve successful innovation reflect the stage of innovation in which a firm is operating for a particular product or process.     

企业国际营销能力对管理创新的作用机制研究——以海信为例

营销能力是企业创造顾客价值获取竞争优势的重要能力,管理创新亦是企业不断改进企业流程以应对动荡国际环境的有力手段。本研究在回顾营销能力、管理创新和企业国际化相关理论的基础上,构建了企业国际营销能力对管理创新的作用机制模型,并以海信集团国际化经营为典型案例,探讨了在企业国际化经营过程中,不同形式的营销能力对企业管理创新的作...     

Green Product Innovation in Manufacturing Firms: A Sustainability‐Oriented Dynamic Capability Perspective

Despite environmental sustainability being identified as one of the key drivers of innovation, extant literature lacks a theoretically sound and empirically testable framework that can provide specific insights into green product innovation from a capability perspective. This study develops a theoretical framework from a sustainability‐oriented dynamic capability (SODC) perspective. We conceive SODCs as consisting of three underlying processes (external resource integration, internal resource integration, and resource building and reconfiguration) that influence the change/renewal of sustainability‐oriented ordinary capabilities (SOOCs) (green innovation capability and eco‐design capability). This study answers two key questions: which SODCs are needed to develop green innovation and eco‐design capabilities? Which of these capabilities lead to better market performance of green products? We test a structural model linking SODCs to market performance in 189 Italian manufacturing firms. First, we find that the nature of the SODC–performance link (direct or indirect) depends on the SODC type. Specifically, resource building and reconfiguration is the only SODC with a direct effect on market performance. Second, all three types of SODC affect the eco‐design capability, which mediates the link between SODCs and market performance. Third, we find that external resource integration is the only SODC affecting the green innovation capability, which mediates the link between external resource integration and market performance. Resource building and reconfiguration is the SODC with the overall (direct and indirect) highest impact on market performance. This study, among the first to consider capabilities for green product innovation under a dynamic capability perspective, provides implications for scholars, managers and policy makers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

External corporate venturing modes as new way to develop dynamic capabilities

Today, firms encounter scarce resources and rapid technology change which render formerly successful business models obsolete. Research shows that some firms perform better than others in continuously discovering, evaluating, and exploiting opportunities in volatile environments and that this is dependent on firm’s dynamic capabilities. Besides obtaining dynamic capabilities through internal R&D activities, firms have open up their innovation process to pursue dynamic capabilities outside their organizational boundaries through external corporate venturing by accessing startup's technological capabilities necessary to innovate. External corporate venturing is a means to develop new distinctive capabilities and businesses by exploring and exploiting business opportunities outside a firm’s existing boundaries. Drawing on the dynamic capability literature, we use a multiple case study approach to examine the contribution of external corporate venturing to firms’ dynamic capabilities. Our results reveal that firms indeed use corporate venturing to identify and exploit startup’s technological knowledge and competencies to increase firm’s dynamic capabilities. But our empirical data also shows that not every firm is fully profiting from all dynamic capability phases as their corporate venturing modes are not linked with each other and cumulative effects are not realized.     

建筑企业低碳动态营销能力构建

本文在西方学术界所提出的动态营销能力概念基础上,针对建筑行业提出了低碳动态营销能力概念,将其划分为低碳产品研发跨部门管理流程、低碳顾客关系跨部门管理流程和低碳供应链跨部门管理流程这三个维度,将环境不确定性作为调节变量首次在建筑行业研究低碳动态营销能力与市场绩效的作用关系,并以武汉市185家建筑企业为样本对其进行了实证检验。研究发现,建筑企业低碳动态营销能力对市场绩效有显著正向影响,环境不确定性在建筑企业低碳动态营销能力与市场绩效之间发挥着正向调节作用。     

Network capability,innovativeness, and performance: a multidimensional extension for entrepreneurship

Abstract

Small- and start-up firms in the high-tech industry usually engage in networking to overcome resource, knowledge, and competence constraints in creative, innovation-based competition. Quite often, however, network relationships fail due to lack of network capability (NC), defined as the ability to manage and gain benefits from external relationships. In the present study, we propose and examine an updated five-dimension NC construct and test its effect on innovativeness and performance. Two independent high-tech samples of small firms and start-ups support measurement properties of the proposed NC construct and suggest that the often-overlooked dimension in NC research of network relationship building is important to include in a complete NC construct. Doing so can help explain organizational innovativeness and effects on the customer, sales, and innovation performance more effectively. As a result, we find support for the proposed NC scale and the importance of network capabilities for small companies and start-ups to remain competitive.     

The Impact of Company Resources and Capabilities on Global New Product Program Performance

Product innovation and the trend to globalization are two important and interrelated dimensions driving business today. In this article, the results of five published research articles on the topic of global new product development (NPD) are summarized to provide an integrated overview of the factors that impact global NPD program performance. The overall conceptual framework is based on three types of literature—NPD, globalization, and organization. The main theoretical approach for establishing relationships between factors is the dynamic capability/resource‐based view. Accordingly, factors linked to outcome are seen as operating on different organizational levels, with more actionable initiatives or ‘capabilities’ largely mediating the softer and longer term background ‘resources’ of the firm. The analyses are based on a broad cross‐industry sample of 467 firms (North America, Europe, B2B, goods/services). Three global NPD‐related background resources (global innovation culture, resource commitment, and senior management involvement), labeled the ‘behavioral environment’ of the firm, are identified and shown to be linked to global NPD program performance via the mediated effect of four specific NPD capabilities (NPD process, strategy, team, and IT/communication). A qualitative synthesis of the findings is provided, along with recommended management initiatives with which firms can enhance their performance in the global NPD effort. Both sets of factors are found to be essential and highly interrelated, but it is the strength of the behavioral environment resources that distinguish the best performing firms, setting the stage for success in global NPD.     

呼和浩特地区中小农产品加工企业营销能力调查研究

内蒙古作为一个农业欠发达的省份,在整体经济水平处于劣势的情况下,依托区域资源优势,发展优势特色农产品,对于提高内蒙古农业的整体竞争力、推动农村地区的经济发展和小城镇建设等至关重要。因此,以呼和浩特地区中小农产品加工企业营销能力现状调查问卷统计为切入点,评价呼和浩特地区中小农产品加工企业营销能力现状,并提出提升中小农产品加工企业营销能力的对策建议,对迅速提升呼和浩特地区中小企业核心竞争力有着至关重要作用。     

组织学习与国际化企业营销动态能力构建——基于华为、海尔、联想的跨案例分析

本文基于组织学习、动态能力理论,从营销动态能力的视角,运用跨案例研究方法,对华为、海尔、联想三家成功的国际化企业进行了分析,得出如下结论:营销动态能力是企业国际化成长的重要能力;企业在不同发展阶段的营销动态能力不同,表现为各种企业能力的组合;组织学习对企业营销动态能力的培养起到了重要作用。     

Innovation Portfolio Management as a Subset of Dynamic Capabilities: Measurement and Impact on Innovative Performance

Innovation portfolio management has been touted as a new dynamic capability following the evolution of team‐ and project‐based organizational forms. In this article, we conceptualize innovative dynamic capabilities as a multidimensional construct that comprises distinct but related aspects in managing innovation. We test our model, which links this capability to innovative performance by using survey data from a sample of 923 firms. We find empirical support for our conceptualization and its impact on firm innovative performance.     

How do established firms improve radical innovation performance? The organizational capabilities view

The paper examines organizational capabilities for improving performance, with respect to radical innovation (RI), in established firms. These organizational capabilities are (1) openness capability, (2) autonomy capability, (3) integration capability and (4) experimentation capability. The paper proposes four research hypotheses, to examine the relationship between four types of organizational capabilities and radical innovation performance. A dataset of 112 corporate RI-specific capabilities and innovation performance data, from the top 500 Taiwanese manufacturing firms, is collected via a postal questionnaire survey. The multiple regression results reveal a positive relationship between organizational capabilities and radical innovation performance. Finally, some managerial recommendations, to develop radical innovation capabilities, are provided.     

Strategic entrepreneurship and competitive advantage of established firms: evidence from the digital TV industry

Although strategic entrepreneurship in established firms is recognized as a vital source of sustainable competitive advantage, this field has no clearly developed research paradigm. This study proposes a conceptual framework to investigate dimensions of strategic entrepreneurship and its function in sustainable competitive advantage of established firms in a modern volatile environment, through the lens of the dynamic capability view. By conducting a systematic literature review of previous research documents and considering conceptual interrelationships between strategic entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities, we propose categories that comprise dimensions of a firm’s strategic entrepreneurship: environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility, entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning. We establish a conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship in which entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities of environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility and entrepreneurial orientation closely interact with organizational learning, thereby facilitating sustainable performance of established firms. Following empirical studies of established firms in the digital TV manufacturing industry, the proposed conceptual framework suggests that each dimension of strategic entrepreneurship plays a critical role in competitive advantage of firms. In addition, case study results indicate that a firm’s position and evolutionary path form antecedent factors influencing entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities and organizational learning of established firms.     

高校市场营销专业人才能力结构与培养途径

市场竞争的加剧,使企业对市场营销人才的需求不断加大,如何培养社会需要的市场营销人才成为各个高校需要思考的问题。以构建科学的能力结构为基础,充分培养营销专业人才的实战创新能力,是一条营销人才培养的重要途径。     

Bridging the gaps or fecklessness? A moderated mediating examination of intermediaries’ effects on corporate innovation

Intermediaries are frequently used as external institutions to bridge knowledge gaps and enlarge innovation search. Although there is a consensus that ties with intermediaries have a significantly positive impact on firms’ innovation performance since external knowledge sources are important to firms’ innovative activities, far less is known about how these intermediaries become effective drivers of corporate innovation. From the capacity-based view, this study proposes that intermediaries facilitate the development of dynamic capability which further causes remarkable innovation. A firm's dynamic capability acts as a mediator in the relationship between intermediaries and innovation performance. It is also observed that organizational structure formalization and strategic conformity negatively moderate the mediation effect. This proposed theoretical framework is proven by empirical results from a moderated mediation analysis using a sample of Chinese manufacturing firms.     

The power of coworkers in service innovation: the moderating role of social interaction

Service innovation is central to firms when explaining business success and competitiveness. However, little is known about how useful feedback and help/support from coworkers affect desirable innovation outcomes. This study draws on a conceptual model and theorizes that firms’ support of useful feedback from coworkers and coworkers’ help and support along with social interaction would achieve service innovation. In a sample of 382 employees from a large multinational firm, as hypothesized, employees with highly useful feedback and help/support from coworkers exhibited the highest level of firm service innovation. Moreover, managers can enhance this positive relationship by relying more on increased social interaction among employees for innovation performance.     

基于创新周期的辽宁工业企业自主创新模式研究

知识经济下,科学技术得到突飞猛进的发展。特别是随着全球化进程的加快,企业间在产品、技术、市场等方面的竞争日趋激烈。为促进辽宁区域经济的发展,辽宁工业企业必须通过自主创新模式的选择来提高企业的核心竞争力,以应对经济全球化的挑战。辽宁各工业企业应充分考虑企业的产业性质、技术、规模、资金成本、市场等方面因素,优化资源要素组合,针对自身现状,制定创新目标,分别选择模仿创新、独立创新或集成创新等创新模式。发挥区域优势,促进辽宁工业企业的长远发展。     

企业外部能力与突变创新

在动态能力理论和产业组织理论的基础上,本文分析了企业构建组织外部能力与突变创新的关系,从政治战略观点的角度提出了两种动态能力,即：影响政府的能力和影响行业的能力。其中,影响政府的能力与突变创新具有倒U型关系;影响行业的能力对突变创新具有促进作用;影响政府的能力与影响行业的能力对于企业突变创新的作用是互补的。     

Uncorking knowledge- purposeful spillovers as a strategic tool for capability enhancement in the cork industry

There is a growing body of research linking knowledge spillovers to strategic entrepreneurship in multiple contexts, yet the existence of purposeful spillovers has been largely ignored. This study analyses the value-accretive potential of knowledge spillover strategies, where a selected body of knowledge is purposefully and strategically disclosed to competitors. The cork industry provides the empirical context, with the many small firms possessing limited innovation capabilities in an industry under threat from rival alternative technologies. The successful fight-back against the onslaught on cork by synthetic and screwcap closures is led by the Portuguese company Corticeira Amorim, the world’s largest stopper manufacturer, whose knowhow then selectively spills-over to the rest of the industry. This multiple-case study involving 14 firms, unfolds in the context of two layers of underlying tensions. By exploring why and how knowledge selectively spillovers across filters from the industry leader to others, and knowledge revealing within small firms, the study contributes to extant literature by extending to the phenomenon of selected and purposeful spillover in the context of capability enhancement.