Is the more always better? A comparative study of internal and external integration practices in new product and new service development

This study investigates the relationship between internal and external integration practices and innovation success of new products and new services. Building on the idea that key success drivers in new product and new service development may have implementing costs besides their obvious benefits, this article examines the possibility that a nonlinear relationship in the shape of an inverted U exists between innovation success and the antecedents examined in this research. The present study also addresses scholars' call for research to investigate differences in the drivers of new product and new service success. The findings suggest that differences exist in the nature of the relationship—that is, linear versus nonlinear—between cross-functional integration, customer integration, and interfirm collaboration and innovation success in a new product versus new service setting.     

旅游度假区高端市场开发研究

以我国旅游度假区目前开发情况为基础,分析我国旅游度假区客源市场的特点,可以得出,旅游度假区对旅游市场的开发建设具有引领作用。并进一步分析了在新形势下应如何对旅游度假区进行开发建设,从品牌建设、发展模式等角度提出了开发建设旅游度假区的新思路。     

Connecting ethnography to the business of innovation

This article presents methods to help companies build processes that emphasize consumer ethnography, customer ethnography, and commercialization planning as components for innovation within mature, well-established consumer or industrial markets. It is written for multifunctional innovation teams and senior management toward increasing the success rates of new product innovations.     

Strategies for new product development

In spite of much evidence of its success, many managers hesitate to establish a policy for new product development. Their indecision often arises from two reasons: they fear that a defined strategy may discourage innovation and they are uncertain how to formulate a new product strategy. The author of this article discredits the former notion and, in reply to the latter, proposes the guidelines for developing such a statement. As new products are essential to the continued success of most firms, the strategy must exist and must be operant if the firm is to avoid wasted time, effort, and money as well as employee confusion and discouragement.     

Innovation,Creativity and Success

This article explores the role of innovation in small and medium sized firms, in relation to the firm's success. After a discussion of the relationship between success, innovation and creativity, some possible backgrounds of creativity and innovation are presented. For one part these are of a personal nature, like the entrepreneur's values, attitudes and level of education. For another part they concern institutional aspects of the firm.After the development of a number of hypotheses these are empirically checked with data from a survey among 200 entrepreneurs in six countries. In the appendices some details of the data and variables may be found.     

Moving beyond initial success: Promoting innovation in small businesses through high-performance work practices

After firms experience initial success, leaders frequently turn their attention toward producing and selling their products or services more efficiently, likely at the expense of ongoing innovation. This seemingly prudent decision may unintentionally lead firms to become one-hit wonders, effectively limiting their potential success over time. To help prevent a firm's early success from being its only success, small business executives should adopt practices that promote innovation yet don’t come at substantial cost given limited financial resources. Focusing on the positive influences of ability, commitment, and feedback, we propose a system of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) as an economical means of encouraging innovative behavior that allows for efficiency without losing an emphasis on creativity and entrepreneurial action. This article outlines and discusses nine specific HPWPs targeted for smaller businesses that are expected to promote and fully realize the potential of employees as the driving force for innovation and sustained success.     

The influence of innovation orientation in human resource management on new product development: The moderating role of innovation type

Despite substantial prior research on new product success, there are still high failure rates. Why might this be the case? This paper argues that (1) the most important determinants of new product success involve managerial behavior and therefore a need exists to examine the influence of innovation orientation of human resource management (IO-HRM) on these determinants, and (2) these relationships are moderated by the type of innovation, product versus service. Data from 275 product innovation projects suggest that IO-HRM is a significant predictor of not only new product success but also its prime determinants: the proficiency of development activities, product advantage, marketing synergy, and top management support. Further, the linkage between IO-HRM and new product success and marketing synergy is found to be stronger in service than in product innovation projects.     

度假区开发利益相关者合作模式研究

度假区的开发管理模式关系到度假区经营的成败,往往也牵涉到地方政府和当地社区的利益。山东蓬莱君顶酒庄度假区开发管理中企业、政府、社区通过相互依存的关系,构建了利于度假区良性发展的三方合作模式,为我国其它度假区探索一条适合我国国情的度假区与地方经济、当地社区共同发展的选择途径。     

The contingent influence of organizational capabilities on proactive environmental strategy in the service sector: An analysis of North American and European ski resorts

Our study of 134 North American and European ski resorts examines the influence of externally focused organizational capabilities on the generation of proactive environmental strategies under contingent effects of uncertainty in the general business environment. We find that the capabilities of strategic proactivity and continuous innovation are associated with proactive environmental strategies. Managerial perceptions of uncertainty in the general business environment moderate the deployment of the capability of continuous innovation at all levels of uncertainty and stakeholder engagement at low and average levels of uncertainty. The study contributes to the resource‐based view (RBV) by illuminating an important contingency under which capabilities are likely to be deployed to generate a proactive corporate strategy. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

管理的实质在于创新

资源的稀缺性与需求的无限性,是当今世界的一大难题,管理创新就是指创造一种新的更有效的资源配置与整合范式,达到资源的有效利用和倍增,这种创新在国家创新体系中处于综合统筹指导协调的地位。无论是制度创新、技术创新、产品创新、市场创新、知识创新,还是企业创新,其成功与否最终都取决于组织结构和管理活动的协调发展,所以管理创新是所有创新的基础和保证。     

How Environmental Management Competitive Pressure Affects a Focal Firm's Environmental Innovation Activities: A Green Supply Chain Perspective

Recently, environmental management offers firms a source of competitive advantage in the marketplace. The development of environmental innovations is critical to the success of today's firms. Drawing on the Schumpeterian perspective of competition, this research examines how the perception of rival firms' green success influences a firm to pursue and produce environmental innovation through its green supply chain integration activities. Using survey data from 230 firms, a conceptual model is developed and tested using structural equation modeling. We find that the firms in our sample do perceive pressure from their competitors' success in environmental management activities, and thus take supply chain action to pursue integration activities. By differentiating incremental and radical environmental innovation, this study also reveals the role of three dimensions of green supply chain integration (internal, supplier, and customer integration of green product development) on incremental and radical environmental innovation separately. Specifically, findings suggest that green supply chain integration has a positive impact on developing incremental environmental innovation, while only customer integration has a significant positive impact on developing radical environmental innovation.     

The Performance of Europe-wide Businesses: Has the Single Market Led to Scale Economies?

This article follows up earlier research which had found that in the 1970s and 1980s the incentives to invest in Europe-wide businesses had often been lacking or even negative: for example, the most profitable Europe-wide businesses were less likely to be European market leaders and were likely to have lower market shares than their principal competitors; they were less likely to be innovative, having entered the market as follower rather than leader. The author finds evidence that this started to change even before the single market and that the change has continued. The key success factors for profit in European business are coming closer into line with the success factors for growth – innovation, quality and intellectual property.     

Institutionalizing Ethical Innovation in Organizations: An Integrated Causal Model of Moral Innovation Decision Processes

This article answers several calls—coming as well from corporate governance practitioners as from corporate governance researchers—concerning the possibility of complying simultaneously with requirements of innovation and ethics. Revealing the long-term orientation as the variable which permits us to link the principal goal of organization, being “survival,” with innovation and ethic, the article devises a framework for incorporating ethics into a company’s processes and strategies for innovation. With the principal goal of organizations being “survival” in the long-term, it is assumed that innovation is necessary in order to realize a going concern. Firms that do not innovate and adapt to rapidly changing business environments are less likely to be sustainable. Thus, it is in a business’ best interests to adopt an innovation process for long-term success. We posit that there are two simultaneous sources of innovation and change that are unavoidable and embedded in the corporate landscape. First, we argue for genetically embedded, Darwinian explanations for adaptations that enable an entity’s survival. This view is combined with more conventional, social science explanations for change. Our new, comprehensive model of the governance of innovation processes hinges on the one hand on an organization’s long-term orientation, which we argue, is not possible without a consideration of an ethical dimension. On the other hand, the model employs, for the first time, the concept of duality, in order to make the positive coexistence of innovation and ethic analytically visible. Guided by this concept the roots of the ethic within innovation are traced from both natural science forces for change, and cultural pressures operating on members of an organization. We present our Integrated Causal Model of Innovation and propose theoretical relationships that will generate numerous avenues for future research in the field, and help managers to reorient their governance strategies.     

Seasonal employees' intention to return and do more than expected

Seasonal employment is important in the service industries. Having motivated and satisfied employees is fundamental when front-line employees play a key role for the customers' perceived service quality. Seasonal work differs from permanent employment in many aspects and if managed properly, this could be a competitive advantage and contribute to the success of an organization. This study focuses on seasonal employees' intention to return and to do more than expected at work as well as the relationships between certain motivational factors and job satisfaction. A survey was carried out at four ski resorts with 477 respondents. Correlation and regression analyses indicate that job satisfaction influences the intention to return but does not have a strong influence on organizational citizenship behaviour (i.e. doing more than expected at work). The results improve our understanding of seasonal workers' motivation and behaviour. The concluding part discusses managerial implications.     

University services for fostering creativity in high-technology firms

Innovation is commonly hailed as a fundamental factor in ensuring long-term firm survival, which is, in turn, used as a way of measuring business success. This article proposes that creativity is a vital element in the path towards innovation and discusses good practice for publicly funded services designed to support and advise potential and nascent entrepreneurs. It describes the model used by the Ideas Institute for Business Development and Creation and presents three case studies where personalised, individually tailored mentoring has marked the difference in ensuring a competitive edge for its client firms by stimulating creative intelligence among entrepreneurs and by providing the necessary tools to embark upon the road to continuous innovation.     

Determinants of Successful IT-Enabled Business Innovation： A Case Study from the Perspective of Institutional Entrepreneurship Theory

As the role of information technology （IT） in business innovation becomes increasingly important, an increasing number of organizations have started to consider how to promote IT-enabled business innovation. Although extant studies have identified organization, environment, and innovation＇s characteristics as substantial determinants of IT innovation, they do not emphasize the accompanying innovation in processes, products or services, which distinguish IT-enabled business innovation from general IT innovation. Therefore, the reason why few companies succeed in realizing IT-enabled business innovation remains obscure. Anchored on the institutional entrepreneurship theory, this paper examines determinants of the success of IT-enabled business innovation in a fast-growing company using the case study approach. Our findings indicate that IT-business coordination competency, degree of institutionalization, participation of business managers, top management team＇s （TMT） attitude towards the innovation, and the innovation＇s relative strength, have significant impacts on the success of IT-enabled business innovation. Our findings also contribute to IT innovation research by identifying special determinants of IT-enabled business innovation and redirecting research ranging from innovation in IT itself to IT-enabled innovation in business processes, products or services.     

Corporate Social Performance and Innovation with High Social Benefits: A Quantitative Analysis

This article analyses the link between innovation with high social benefits and corporate social performance (CSP) and the role that family firms play in this. This theme is particularly relevant given the large number of firms that are family-owned. Also the implicit potential of innovation to reconcile corporate sustainability aspects with profitability justifies an extended analysis of this link. Governments often support socially beneficial innovation with various policy instruments, with the intention of increasing international competitiveness and simultaneously supporting sustainable development. In parallel, firms pursue corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental management activities partly in the hope that this will foster such innovation in their organisation (alongside their main aim of improving CSP). Hence, the main research question of this article is about the association of CSP with innovation with high social benefits and the determinants of the potential moderation of this association. Based on panel data, the article analyses the link between CSP and innovation, and the effect of being a family firm using panel estimation techniques. The results point to a moderating role of family firms on the link between innovation with high social benefits and CSP. The article concludes by assessing the policy implications of this insight.     

基于技术创新与商业模式创新有机结合视角的提升产业竞争力研究

技术创新与商业模式创新的有机结合是企业提升竞争力的有效途径。阿里巴巴集团的成功就在于将技术创新与商业模式创新的有机结合。现阶段,我国在技术创新与商业模式创新方面仍存在着创新转化意识薄弱、价值链观念落后、其它现实条件束缚等问题。政府应加快完善相关政策支持体系;企业要积极提升产业创新能力;科研机构及高校应强化科技成果转化意识,在共同合作中促进中国企业实现技术创新与商业模式创新的有机结合,有效提升产业竞争力。     

网络环境下企业技术创新的影响因素和模式分析

在网络环境下,企业能否有效地进行技术创新是获取竞争优势的关键因素之一。由于网络环境下影响企业技术创新的因素已经发生了很大的变化,企业能否选择适当的创新模式对于成功地进行技术创新至关重要,企业应缩短新技术、新产品的开发周期,尽快占领市场。