Je innovativer, desto erfolgreicher?

Zusammenfassung Innovationsgrad und Innovationserfolg sind die strategischen Ziel- und Resultatsgrössen des Innovationsmanagements. Es bestehen Zweifel, ob zwischen beiden Grössen ein linearer positiver Zusammenhang besteht. Dieser Zweifel lässt sich nicht nur theoretisch begründen. Er wird auch durch die vorliegenden empirischen Befunde genährt. Es kann aber auch nicht ausgeschlossen werden, dass die Nicht- und Negativ-Befunde zur Beziehung von Innovationsgrad und Innovationserfolg auf methodische Defizite zurückzuführen sind. Die weitere Forschung hat diese theoretischen Erwägungen und methodischen Einwände zu berücksichtigen. Wir schlagen überdies vor, die Einzelprojektanalyse durch eine Portfolioanalyse zu ergänzen. JEL classifications O31, O32     

How to build a strategic network: A practitioner-oriented process model for the ICT sector

One critical success factor for the future will be the ability to build and develop strategic networks. This ability is especially vital in the dynamic information and communication technology (ICT) sector, where the development of competitive offerings often requires a coalition of platform and service providers. However, the academic literature has yet to propose a systematic managerial tool for the strategic network building process. Our distinctive contribution is the development of a practitioner-oriented process model for building a strategic network, which is linked to the resource-based view and the value creation system approach. Moreover, we suggest that instead of being a sequential stage-wise process, the construction of a strategic network can be divided into parallel, although not necessarily simultaneous, sub-processes based on the required value activities in the entire business concept. The resulting network-building model is used to provide managerial suggestions for the efficient construction of strategic business networks.     

Ein Vergleich ausgewählter europäischer Strombörsen

We study the rules of selected european energy exchanges and compare their institutional design. In most countries (except for the UK) a uniform price mechanism is used. The rules differ, however, in the possibilities to express complementary cost components in the bids. Also the degree of international coupling of markets is very different across countries. Our comparison of the markets allows to identify attractive trading rules and yields insights on an effective electricity market design.     

Europäische Klimapolitik: Zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit

In order to restrict the risks of anthropogenic climate change to a ?tolerable“ extent, the fourth assessment report of the United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change calls for a trend reversal towards globally decreasing greenhouse gas emissions within the next two decades which ultimately must lead to a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions until the mid of the century by 50 percent as compared to 2000 emission levels. The European Union claims a lead of a role in climate policy with the objective to push forward international negotiations on far-reaching emission reduction commitments with other important industrialized and developing regions. The EU’s credibility as a leading force will hinge crucially on how successfully it can fulfill its emission reduction obligations under the Kyoto Protocol by means of market-based environmental policy, in particular the exemplary operation of the EU emission trading system. Against this background, the following article provides a critical assessment of the EU’s climate policy.     

Geothermische Stromerzeugung in Deutschland — Stiefkind oder schlafender Riese?

This contribution analyses the development of power generation from geothermal energy in Germany. It considers research funding schemes, the support through the german Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and the role of decisive actors as well as technical, economic and societal framework conditions. Compared to other renewable energy sources research funding for geothermal energy had played an inferior role in the past. After the potentials for geothermal power generation had been underlined by a study in 2003, geothermal power gained more political and institutional advocates. Subsequently it was equipped with a higher tariff in the EEG 2004 and led to realization of demonstration projects. Yet, the appliance of technologies for electrical power transformation, ORC and Kalina, are at the very beginning. Presently, the geothermal energy industry consists of a small amount of medium-sized businesses. Regional and nationwide energy providers, acting as operators and investors, do not exert much pressure in view of limited returns. Despite the compatibility with existing power supply systems, constraints to the expansion of geothermal energy use — above all exploration risks and high drilling costs- are likely to lead to a step-by step enhancement rather than a rush.     

Pipeline management for the acquisition of industrial projects

The management and controlling of the industrial project acquisition process, with its staged, funnel-like structure, has been neglected in empirical research so far—even though an effective acquisition process is crucial for economic success. In addition to profitability, the main goal of industrial companies is to implement a pipeline process that ensures that the pipeline is always filled with acquisition projects and results in a constant stream of orders over time. The projects considered are characterized by complexity, uniqueness, and discontinuity. Based on a large-scale survey among German industrial companies, we describe the industrial project acquisition process, where the projects mentioned above are sold on a non-continuous basis to industrial customers. We assess how the industrial project acquisition process is really structured, whether a sales funnel management is applicable and utilized by sales management to monitor and control this process, and whether a sophisticated sales funnel management contributes to enhanced economic success.     

Representations of technology in the “Technical Stories” for children of Otto Witt, early 20th century Swedish technology educator

Children’s fiction in school libraries have played and still play a role in mediating representations of technology and attitudes towards technology to schoolchildren. In early 20th century Sweden, elementary education, including textbooks and literature that were used in teaching, accounted for the main mediation of technological knowledge to schoolchildren. An investigation of children’s literature for schools is therefore important in order to understand what was considered worth knowing about technology at the time. The aim of this article is therefore to analyse the representations of technology and attitudes towards technology that were mediated through two children’s fiction books in Swedish elementary school libraries in the 1910s. We have limited the analysis of empirical material to the books Technical Stories for Young and Old (Tekniska sagor för stora och små, 1914) and Technical Stories of the War for Young and Old (Krigets tekniska sagor för stora och små, 1915) by the Swedish inventor, author and technology educator Otto Witt. Gauging Witt’s influence on the schoolchildren and educators of his time is very difficult, but in this first English-language article on his “technical stories” one can conclude that he was in many ways unique and probably fairly well-read in the schools of early 20th century Sweden and onward. He was also a particularly perceptive forerunner of today’s technology and science educators in his use of anthropomorphism as an educational tool.