Patent-based investment funds as innovation intermediaries for SMEs: In-depth analysis of reciprocal interactions,motives and fallacies

SMEs and academic spin-offs play an important role in generating innovations but face resource and competency constraints that have implications for commercializing their technologies. In two in-depth case studies we analyze how patent-based investment funds (PBIFs), operating as innovation intermediaries, help overcome these constraints. In contrast to other patent intermediaries, PBIFs acquire patents and patentable inventions at an early stage of technology development when access to capital is particularly critical. They invest in the technological and legal advancement of their portfolio, which is mostly conducted in close interaction with the technology-providing SMEs and their original inventors. These PBIFs not only provide high added-value in the course of technology commercialization but also operate international networks to facilitate the commercialization of SMEs' technologies at an international scale. Although PBIFs are a promising new agent in the heterogeneous field of innovation intermediaries, their commercialization results and the actual rate of returns are not yet well established.     

Knowledge management, sustainable competitiveness and innovation strategies for Chinese SMEs

Considering the rapid changes in the competitive era, Chinese small to medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） continuously to look for ways on how to survive, grow and be competitive. Knowledge management （KM） is important for SEMs to lead their efforts to foster a sustainable competitive advantage. This paper is based on an investigation of the knowledge management practices for knowledge-intensive SMEs. The research discovered that SMEs do not manage knowledge the same way as larger organizations. There are some peculiarities in knowledge management practices at SMEs. SMEs will face several unique challenges in KM implementation. They are knowledge identification and acquisition, knowledge dissemination and organizational learning, knowledge creation and innovation, and organizational culture. It is crucial that Chinese SMEs, especially in knowledge intensive enterprises should efficiently adopt some informal or formal KM strategies, in order to implement an appropriate KM and maximize their competitiveness and survival chances.     

Being pro-environmentally oriented SMEs: Understanding the entrepreneur's explicit and implicit power motives

The increased number of environmental problems caused by business activities put higher pressures on entrepreneurs to implement pro-environmental policies within their businesses. However, studies show that SMEs are less engaged with sustainable and pro-environmental policies. Hence, it is important to understand the barriers and drivers of implementing a pro-environmental strategy in SMEs from an entrepreneur's perspective. In a study with Indonesian SME owners, we find that environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) is driven by an entrepreneur's explicit and implicit power motives. Using polynomial regression with surface analysis, we also reveal that a high level of SME's ESO is affected by power motive discrepancy. We discuss implementations for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and educational programs in entrepreneurship.     

A review of the literature on environmental innovation management in SMEs: implications for public policies

The aim of this article is to collect and make up the most important contributions in the economic literature in relation to the special characteristics of the management of the environmental innovation in the SMEs. Specifically, we want to show their strengths and weaknesses in order to make up the main conclusions of these analyses with the literature in relation to the way Public Administrations face this situation. The scarce development in the SMEs in respect to their environmental strategy may be a consequence of the links among some of the following factors: limited financial resources, the type of organizational structure, a little influence of the strategic adaptation competence against the changes in the SMEs, the managers’ scarce environmental training and short term orientation, the staff’s scarce environmental awareness and training, the status of the environmental issues in the company, the SMEs’ lower ability to obtain highly radical innovations, the scarce influence of manufacturing process flexibility in the most advanced states of the environmental strategy in the SMEs and their lack of relation ability with external stakeholders—very important in the success of the most advanced environmental approaches. Besides, the lack of regulation neutrality must be added as a key difference among companies of different sizes. So specific actions seem be necessary, such as technological advice and awareness, and training programs in order to cooperate with external stakeholders.     

HR in collaborative innovation with customers: role,alignment and challenges

Companies are engaging in collaborative innovation with their customers (CIC), but there has been no comprehensive discussion of the role of human resources (HR) in such initiatives or the challenges involved. We begin with a brief overview of CIC and the challenges for HR and then draw on different streams of research to develop a conceptual framework for the alignment of HR with CIC strategies. Theoretical foundations for the components of the framework are integrated with the discussions of its various components. We begin with a review of staffing and development practices focused on collaboration and relationship skills, as well as creativity, and collaborative- and commitment-oriented HR systems. We then discuss how HR deployment, performance management, control practices and contextual factors potentially affect the relationship between antecedent HR practices and the collaborative and innovative behaviors needed for CIC. Several challenges in aligning HR practices with CIC are explored, such as the limited supply of research talent inclined toward CIC, skills for collecting tacit knowledge, performance assessment and risk-related career implications. Other broader challenges are discussed, such as deployment, preserving internal innovation capabilities and controlling confidential information. Suggestions for overcoming challenges for HR in CIC are discussed and ideas for future research are provided.     

Listed SMEs and innovation: the role of founding board members

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Drawing from the resource-based view of the firm, Penrosean theory, and the resource dependence theory, it is argued in this study that the...     

Effects of socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM) on innovation and reputation in entrepreneurial SMEs

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - This work focuses on the importance of responsible human resource management, and its link to innovation and reputation, which are deemed to...     

Corporate sustainability and innovation in SMEs: Evidence of themes and activities in practice

Recently, innovation processes towards sustainable development have received increasing attention in academic literature. This research introduces the combination of insights from innovation theory, sustainable development practice and small business characteristics to unlock new knowledge on factors that influence the translation of sustainable innovation within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) into practice. The sustainability themes and activities as described for large companies (i.e. in the sustainability reporting and management literature) were used as starting point in this study. It presents empiric results of the PRIMA Project conducted within the rubber and plastics industry (RPI) on sustainable innovation activities. It will show that many sustainable innovations are directed at the improvement of technological processes (eco‐efficiency) and to lower costs of production. These innovations can be seen as incremental. Companies with sustainability integrated in their orientation and innovation processes show value creation: the development of products new to the market (radical innovations) and cooperation with stakeholders. The PRIMA project shows that more insight in SME innovative characteristics and (e)valuation of sustainable innovation efforts provides opportunities to improve the sustainability performance of SMEs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The Open Innovation Journey: How firms dynamically implement the emerging innovation management paradigm

Open Innovation is currently one of the most debated topics in management literature. Nevertheless, there are still many unanswered questions in Open Innovation research. Especially two issues require further investigation: (i) understanding the relevance of Open Innovation beyond high-tech industries and (ii) studying how firms implement Open Innovation in practice. The paper addresses these topics by studying, through an in-depth case study, the journey that the Italian leading cement manufacturer, has undergone to move from a Closed to an Open Innovation paradigm.The paper shows that the Open Innovation paradigm is implemented along a three-phase process that comprises the stages of unfreezing, moving and institutionalising. Moreover, it emerges that the changes through which Open Innovation has been implemented involve four major dimensions, i.e. networks, organisational structures, evaluation processes and knowledge management systems. They should be therefore conceived as the managerial and organisational levers an innovating firm can act upon to streamline its journey toward Open Innovation. Theoretical and managerial implications of using these levers for implementing Open Innovation are discussed at length.     

Traditional SMEs and innovation: the role of the industrial policy in Italy

The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, it analyses the Italian aid programmes for innovation and technology and, in particular, the role of the regions in view of the recent legislative framework. The second aim is to match the needs of Italian SMEs for technological innovation with the state and regional aid programmes. Two empirical research programmes carried out at Ceris-CNR (Institute of Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Italian National Research Council) confirmed that the Italian SMEs' approach to innovation tends to meet the demand of the existing market through incremental processes. The most common way of introducing new technology is by purchasing new machines and equipment to reduce costs and improve quality. All industrialized countries tend to favour the linking of SMEs with external sources of knowledge. The paper shows that in Italy such a policy clashes with the capacity of SMEs for absorbing innovation. Most of them lack the technical structures (technical office, design department, R&D laboratory, prototype department, etc.) and the graduate staff capable of interacting with the research bodies.     

Supply chain management maturity and performance in SMEs

Supply chain maturity models attempt to disseminate best practices in supply chain management (SCM). One basic idea behind these models is that increased maturity will lead to improved supply chain performance, which in turn will lead to improved financial performance. There is, however, little empirical evidence about the relationship between supply chain (SC) maturity and financial performance, specifically in SMEs. The results of this study indicate that there is a strong relationship between SCM maturity and SC performance in SMEs, as well as some relationships between SCM maturity and financial performance. One conclusion is that if firms use maturity indicators in the Supply Chain Operations Reference areas to improve their processes, they will most likely achieve positive effects on supply chain performance and probably also on financial performance.     

Gender and management on Spanish SMEs: an empirical analysis

Few studies have investigated the presence of women on the boards of directors of companies. Those that have been done have focused on large firms. In this study we analyzed the gender diversity of a sample of Spanish small and medium enterprises. These firms are of great importance in terms of their number, the employment they provide, and their sales. Furthermore, there is an open debate in Spain about gender equality after the passing of several laws against gender discrimination. We found that women's presence on boards generates a negative impact on firm performance and this result may be due to less risky strategies implemented by women directors. This finding is interesting because it sheds light on how women can affect the functioning of a board. We also found that family firms and firms with a financial institution as the main shareholder tend to have more women on the board. Finally, we show that firms with less debt, more assets, and larger boards have more women as directors.     

Innovation management practices: review and guidance for future research in SMEs

Management Review Quarterly - This article aims to identify the innovation management practices used by companies worldwide and referenced in the scientific literature. This study employed a...     

班级管理中的教育创新与科学管理

班级作为学校的基本单位,如何通过教育创新和科学管理实现班级群体的个性化塑造和社会需要之间的有效衔接,从而实现教育目标和教育功能,是摆在教育工作者面前的重要历史使命.文章通过对班级管理发展趋势以及班级管理功能的分析,提出应在班级管理中引入教育创新和科学管理的理念.     

中小企业技术创新与管理创新整合:机制创新

文章探讨了中小企业技术创新与管理创新整合存在的问题,认为现代中小企业要突破发展“停滞”,不能仅靠单一的技术创新或管理创新,必须依靠两者的有效整合,通过技术创新增强竞争优势,以管理创新协调企业内部的矛盾,发挥整合优势。     

Geographical and cognitive proximity effects on innovation performance in SMEs: a way through knowledge acquisition

This study explores the relative influence of geographical and cognitive proximity to explain innovation performance. This paper deepens the controversy between the significance of both types of proximity, contributing to a better understand their interconnections. The study further analyzes to what extent knowledge acquisition provides a congruent explanation of the effectiveness of innovation in proximity contexts. The paper has tested a structural model based on a sample of 224 Spanish footwear firms. Footwear industry is a mature and traditional industry with a significant presence of the territorial agglomeration of firms all over Spain. Findings suggest both a direct and indirect effect of cognitive proximity on innovation performance. However, an excess of geographical proximity produces spatial lock-in, thus limiting the access to new knowledge and lowering innovations. By contrast, proximity in terms of goals and culture leads firms belonging to a territorial cluster to achieve knowledge acquisition resulting in relevant innovation. Findings suggest that although transferable valuable knowledge exists in clustered contexts firms should adopt a proactive behavior to have access common knowledge and in order to generate effective innovations.     

Future directions for scholarship on data governance,digital innovation,and grand challenges

This introduction to the special issue on Data Governance, Digital Innovation, and Grand Challenges highlights the importance of data governance when seeking to address grand challenges through the innovative use of digital technologies. The benefits, risks, and consequences of data, ubiquitous in today's data-rich world, can be harnessed for innovation and societal good. However, there are no guarantees that (only) desirable outcomes will develop. The creation and exploitation of vast data stockpiles raise substantial concerns about privacy, data security, equity, and the potential for harm from data misuse. Meaningful approaches to data governance within and across organizations are critically important to facilitate digital innovation and to balance social, economic and technical benefits and risks for individuals, organizations, and societies. In this introductory paper, we reflect on foundations established to date in information systems (IS) research and highlight possible future directions for scholarship on data governance across multiple levels to enhance digital innovations for transformation and societal good.     

Human resource management practices in Nigeria: challenges and insights

This paper generated current knowledge on aspects of human resource management practices in Nigeria from a sample of 185 human resource management professionals employed in over ninety-six corporations located in three major cities in Nigeria. Furthermore, the convergence/divergence/cross-vergence perspective was utilized to provide theoretical insights on the human resource management practices. The findings support a cross-vergence perspective as evidenced by the blend of human resource management practices reflecting both generalized or standardized practices and localized practices. Implications and direction for further studies are discussed.     

Challenges to open innovation in traditional SMEs: an analysis of pre-competitive projects in university-industry-government collaboration

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Governments are increasingly focusing their efforts on stimulating innovation within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a result,...