How Workers Fare When Employers Innovate

Complementing existing work on firm organizational structure and productivity, this article examines the impact of organizational change on workers. We find evidence that employers do appear to compensate at least some of their workers for engaging in high-performance workplace practices. We also find a significant association between high-performance workplace practices and increased wage inequality. Finally, we examine the relationship between organizational structure and employment changes and find that some practices, such as self-managed teams, are associated with greater employment reductions, whereas other practices, such as the percentage of workers involved in job rotation, are associated with lower employment reductions.     

开拓农电市场需创新营销策略

农电“两改”以后，我国农电市场的供需矛盾得到了根本缓解，农电市场正逐步由卖方市场转向买方市场。因此县级供电企业需适时调整经营策略，改变“皇帝女儿不愁嫁”的传统经营理念，采取各种促销手段，积极开拓农电市场。河北武邑县电力局为寻求新的供电增长点创新电力营销策略经三年努力目前已实现县域内城乡同网同价农民的生活用电量明显增长县局已进入良性发展阶段。新形势下农电市场营销所面临的困难营业管理面及难度增大。“两改”后，武邑县局辞退部分农村电工，实行了“四到户”管理，使营业客户大量增加，由原来的几百户增到几万户…     

When Is a Disruptive Innovation Disruptive?*

A disruptive innovation (i.e., one that dramatically disrupts the current market) is not necessarily a disruptive innovation (as Clayton Christensen defines this term). To aid in understanding why some innovations are more (or less) disruptive to the long‐term health of incumbents, this article offers terminology and a framework complementary to Christensen's work, focusing on the diffusion pattern of the new product. The framework and model presented herein suggest that when an innovation diffuses from the low end upward toward the high end, a pattern called low‐end encroachment, the incumbent may be tempted to overlook its potential impact. Three possible types of low‐end encroachment are illustrated: the fringe‐market, detached‐market, and immediate scenarios. Conversely, when the pattern is one of high‐end encroachment, the impact on the current market is immediate and striking. A three‐step framework is identified to assess the potential diffusion pattern and impact of an innovation, thereby helping a firm determine the threat or opportunity that an innovation represents.     

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.     

Innovation Pioneer: How to Be

Till the end of 2007, as usual, an annual summary meeting of China textile industry was held in Beijing, according to its economic performance during the whole year. Of them, 23 enterprises, as the textile industrial innovation pioneers, won the ‘Product Development & Contribution Award’ set by the China National Textile & Apparel Council (CNTAC). Fortunately, I had a chance to have a face-to-face talk with some enterprises representatives, sharing with their stories and achievement together.     

Voices from the Field: How Exceptional Electronic Industrial Innovators Innovate

This exploratory research uses in‐depth qualitative interviews to investigate how 11 exceptional innovators in the electronics industry initiated, created, and commercialized radical innovations in their firms. From the data, two initial frameworks emerged for how radical innovations were created by these individuals. Four themes emerged associated with what these innovators bring to the organization as an underpinning for being able to radically innovate. Additional themes emerged as to the process by which they innovate. Across the literatures of innovation, psychology, and management, creativity is discussed in terms of person, product, or process. This research samples on highly creative innovations (products) and finds that it appears that both person and process need to be considered in attaining radical innovation. One may not be able to consider separately the person who achieves radical innovation from the process he or she uses to achieve it. These exceptional innovators have specific personality characteristics that support radically creative behavior, supplemented by a perspective or worldview that focuses on having a business orientation yet also a somewhat idealistic attitude. They have prepared for innovation by studying deeply, within not just one primary technology topic but also a secondary or peripheral technology topic. In addition, they have prepared broadly, across technology, business, and markets. They are both extrinsically and intrinsically motivated to innovate. People communicating what problems are urgently important to them to be solved produce external motivation for the innovator, who is then intrinsically motivated to solve these people's problems by creating new products. In terms of how they innovate, these exceptional innovators are organizationally savvy and both understand and participate in the politics necessary to gain acceptance of and resources for their project. They use an innovation process that emphasizes the up‐front aspects of finding interesting problems, planning first before executing, and understanding customer needs in great detail. This allows them to generate insights into how to solve those problems profitably for the firm. Once they have obtained and validated their insights for solving the problem, they participate in the actual implementation of the concept to a commercialized product. However, this development aspect of innovating is not much spoken of, as if it is taken for granted. Finally, they actively disseminate knowledge and acceptance of the innovation postinvention.     

Efficiency in the Mortgage Market: The Borrower's Perspective

This paper uses mortgage history data from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation to analyze the prepayment behavior of homeowners and to test whether borrowers exercise their prepayment options in a manner consistent with contingent claims models. A variety of hazard models are estimated from individual data on more than 6000 mortgages issued during the 1976–1980 period. In these models, it is clear that the extent to which the prepayment option is "in the money" has a strong effect on behavior. However, it is less clear that the option is exercised quite as ruthlessly as the theory predicts.     

节能调度：如何解铃最关键

改进发电调度方式的工作从酝酿至今．一年多来一直是各界关注的焦点。此间，国务院领导曾多次给予批示，电力体制改革工作小组第九次会议将其列入“十一五”深化电力体制改革的主要任务之一，国家发展改革委组织了全国调研，起草了相应办法。对节能调度提出明确方向。根据国务院要求，各地方政府、国有大型企业签订了关停小火电机组目标责任书，在电力行业节能降耗、污染减排方面采取了强有力的措施。本栏的报道，从发电节能调度的现实意义、方式选择、区域案例等方面．研讨、介绍了改进发电调度方式在具体执行过程中．所面临的问题及其政策建议，希望能给读者提供更多的启发和思考。     

The Innovation Manual: Integrated Strategies and Practical Tools for Bringing Value Innovation to the Market by David Midgley

Books reviewed in this issue:

• ? The Innovation Manual: Integrated Strategies and Practical Tools for Bringing Value Innovation to the Market
• ? Sensory Marketing
• ? Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products that Customers Love

     

How Elephants Learn the New Dance When Headquarters Changes the Music: Three Case Studies on Innovation Strategy Change

Does a product innovation strategy change at company headquarters resonate the same way at different strategic business units (SBUs)? What factors play a role in differing implementation of new innovation strategies? A collective case study was conducted at three SBUs of an international conglomerate to investigate why the SBUs implement the same corporate innovation charter in vastly different manners, both in strategic processes and in organizing for new product development (NPD). This study's contribution to the literature is twofold. First, it develops initial insights into how three SBUs implement diverse SBU‐level innovation strategies in response to the same product innovation charter. Second, it extends the findings of previous studies on NPD strategy by presenting how three SBUs reshape their structure and resource allocation, changing various dimensions of their innovation strategy while also fitting the competitive structure in their individual, non‐high‐tech, traditional manufacturing industries as they respond to the corporate mandate. In this study, several factors were observed to influence a firm when formulating a new product innovation strategy. First, past performance and strategic typology constrain the innovation paths available. Poor past performance limits available resources whereas the strategic typology managers use limits their ability to recognize other opportunities. Next, capacity constraints provide a catalyst in moving toward process improvements. Third, management involvement in the day‐to‐day implementation of change is necessary to ensure that the new processes are implemented. Finally, corporate performance metrics are quite influential in how SBUs adapt to change. This study identifies that even with the immense power corporate has over these SBUs, some still dance to their own tune, ignorant of their deviation from the corporate mandate because the metric is not sufficient to detect these deviations. This study suggests the use of multiple types of metrics to minimize the likelihood of nearsighted responses to innovation charter changes.     

Does Market Orientation Facilitate Balanced Innovation Programs? An Organizational Learning Perspective

There appears to be widespread agreement that optimal new product development programs require a balance between customer-led and lead-the-customer innovation practices. The former is associated with adaptive learning inspired incremental innovation, whereas the latter is associated with generative-learning-inspired radical innovation. There is debate, however, as to whether a strong market orientation can facilitate this balance. Some believe that a strong market orientation causes firms to overemphasize customer-led incremental innovations. Others believe that a strong market orientation can facilitate this balance but assert that traditional measures of market orientation only capture the types of behaviors associated with customer-led incremental innovations. This latter concern has led some to abandon the single-construct operationalization of market orientation and to introduce two constructs—responsive and proactive market orientation—into the literature. The purpose of this research is to address these developments. The study makes use of a national sample of marketing executives and employs a cross-sectional survey design. Measures used are market orientation, radical and incremental innovation priority, generative and adaptive learning priority, and new product success. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equations models are employed to develop measures and to test hypotheses. The study's results reaffirm the position that a strong market orientation helps facilitate a balance between incremental and radical innovation by shifting firms' innovation priority more toward radical innovation activities. It also suggests that the abandonment of traditional conceptualizations and measures of market orientation are premature.     

When Technologies Compete: The Role of Externalities in Nonlinear Market Response

When competing technologies are introduced at about the same time, they may either share the market for an extended period or one may eventually dominate the other. Using actual data from the VCR market, William Redmond explores product and market conditions that favor the emergence of a dominant technology. Recent developments in the theory of nonlinear economic processes yield straightforward models of the dominant or all-or-nothing response pattern. In this study, the role of externalities, or infrastructure, emerges as a critical determinant in producing the nonlinear market response pattern. One intriguing aspect of nonlinear market processes is a propensity for small, outside influences to exercise a powerful and long-term influence on market response, that is, "luck" may play a role in these models.     

走向成熟的中国润滑油市场

在市场经济的作用下,中国润滑油市场已从20世纪90年代初的“鱼龙混杂”逐步向规范化发展,形成了目前国有润滑油企业、跨国企业和民营企业三分天下的市场格局。市场特征体现为润滑油需求快速增长高档产品发展较快,但产品级别跨度大,低档产品仍有大量市场;消费行为有待于引导;国内大企业加强品牌建设,进军高端市场。展望市场前景,国民经济的进一步发展将促进汽车和机械工业等润滑油相关行业的发展,人们的用油水平将相对提高,环保和节能要求的加强会促进润滑油的升级换代,消费理念的成熟和消费模式的悄然改变使企业间的竞争发展成为价值链的竞争,产品同质化趋势导致润滑油企业比拼内功。中国的润滑油市场正在走向成熟,在机遇和挑战面前,谁顺应了市场发展,谁将获得成功。     

From Experience Dreams to Market: Crafting a Culture of Innovation

Do certain common principles guide uncommonly innovative companies down the risk-riddled road to value creation? Or do successful innovators break boldly through the barriers to new product development along pathways of their own unique making? Karen Anne Zien and Sheldon Buckler discern a strikingly consistent model of how companies craft and sustain cultures in which innovation is nurtured, rewarded, even demanded. An article by the authors in the September 1996 issue of JPIM recounts seminal tales from the cultures of innovation consciously nourished by 12 leading-edge corporations in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Gathered through an extensive series of interviews with key personnel in the management, technical, manufacturing, and marketing divisions of each firm, the stories revealed seven traits widely shared from one company to the next, irrespective of business focus, geography, or nationality. These traits, as discussed in this article, not only serve to reconcile the culturally contradictory demands of the three critical stages of innovation—the “fuzzy front end,” the product development process, and marketplace operations—but also condition the company as a whole to sustain its innovative capacity over time. The principles at work in highly innovative companies encompass corporate as well as individual attitudes and behaviors. On the one hand, company leaders demonstrate in every decision, action, and communication that innovation propels profitability. So, for the CD project at Sony, the R&D general manager heeded “a voice from above that does not question the possibilities and absolutely believes” in the potential of the enterprise. On the other hand, actively helping individuals create a linkage between their “work life” and longer term “life work” is a crucial step in generating an environment where innovation and high productivity flourish together. Thus, a divisional chief executive at ICI/Imperial Chemicals Industries recognizes the need to “create an environment where people will work at what they are best at doing and what they like doing best.” Although the trail to successful innovation inevitably follows the unique contours of any company's environment, some universal guideposts point the way.     

Estimating the Value of Proximity to Water,When Ceteris Really Is Paribus

Proximity to water is appreciated by households. Hedonic analyses that try to measure the value of this amenity are potentially biased by omitted variables because locations close to water may be selected by households with higher incomes who construct more luxury houses. Because it is difficult to observe all the relevant characteristics, the coefficient for proximity to water may be biased upwards. We circumvent this problem by exploiting a specific characteristic of the Dutch system of planned residential development: often a number of exactly similar houses are constructed close to each other. By comparing the values of such identical houses, we can measure the effect of proximity to water under almost ideal circumstances. Introduction of these fixed effects lowers the estimated impact of this amenity, thereby confirming the conjectured presence of an omitted variable bias.     

关键是实现发展观念的创新

上期本栏目编发的“树立科学的电力发展观”研讨会部分发言,主要从电力工业发展的宏观环境方面探讨了电力科学发展观的内涵与外延。本期编发的部分发言则以电力发展观念的创新和电力结构调整为主线,特别是关于核电与可再生能源的发展应引起充分关注。     

When the role fits: How firm status differentials affect corporate takeovers

This study explores the implications of interfirm status differentials for firm behaviors in corporate takeover transactions. We argue that the more the status differential between two firms is aligned with expectations of their roles embedded in the specific economic activity, the easier it is for them to agree on the appropriate means to reach consensus on the transaction. Using the empirical context of the U.S. corporate takeover market, we found that the greater the status differential between an acquirer and a target, the more positively the market reacts to both the acquirer and the target upon the announcement of the acquisition deal, the more likely it is for the deal to be completed, and the more likely the acquirer is to achieve better post‐acquisition performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perspective: Leveraging Open Innovation through Paradox

In search of fresh ideas, firms increasingly engage with external contributors in open innovation collaborations. However, research has found that such collaborations frequently fail, and has pointed to conflicting demands of control and openness. On the one hand, firms want controlled and selective participation, clarity of purpose, and a choice of ideas based on their own current capacity and value appropriation strategies. On the other, their external contributors tend to want open and unfettered participation, the creative potential of the idea per se, and unrestricted knowledge sharing. This article proposes to shift the conceptual frame from looking at the tensions between control and openness as problems to looking at them as synergies. Drawing on the literature of open innovation and organizational paradox, this article contributes a novel perspective on open innovation that suggests how firms can leverage open innovation collaborations through paradox by combining practices based on differentiation and integration.     

加入WTO对我国房地产业的影响及应对策略

房地产业作为我国新一轮经济增长点，加入WTO对其直接或间接的影响是不容忽视的，分析我国加入WTO后对我国房地产业的影响，针对目前我国房地产业中存在的问题提出应对策略。     

提高项目代建制企业竞争力的研究

项目代建制企业应从自身出发，提高企业竞争力，以“不变应万变”，迎接市场发展的挑战的策略。分析项目代建制企业发展现存的问题，提出了从明确代建制企业服务的指导思想、改变经营机制、深化体制改革、加强人力资源管理和发展信息化管理水平等方面，提高项目代建制企业的市场竞争力。