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1 – 10 of over 56000The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the influence of the knowledge base (KB) of the company on driving forces of innovation processes in knowledge-intensive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the influence of the knowledge base (KB) of the company on driving forces of innovation processes in knowledge-intensive services (KIS) and to compare the level of innovativeness of the final services.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper investigates through qualitative research 11 KIS organisations with different KB.
Findings
The research results identified and described the influence of the KB on driving forces of innovations processes and its results in companies with four newly identified KBs (analytical, synthetic, symbolic and compliance).
Research limitations/implications
Further research, based on a larger number of companies, is needed to confirm the results of this research and to complement the effect of the KB on driving forces of innovation.
Practical implications
This research can help organisations understand how to develop strategic plans and new ideas for innovative services depending on the KB of the organisation.
Social implications
The description of successful innovation processes and results in several leading companies presented in the study may help other companies in identifying knowledge-integration practices to improve performance and innovation processes that support multiplicity, productivity and creativity.
Originality/value
The study systemised the sources of new ideas for innovation in companies with different KB, several driving forces of innovation were identified and how these forces are affected by each KB; lastly, innovation results were compared in companies with different KB.
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The main purpose of this paper is to identify the technological innovation process, stakeholders of the process, sources of innovation, driving forces of innovation, and obstacles…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this paper is to identify the technological innovation process, stakeholders of the process, sources of innovation, driving forces of innovation, and obstacles of innovation for the Turkish public sector.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, interviews are used as data‐collection methods. For the purpose of this paper, the researcher has conducted a series of semi‐structured or open interviews. The interviews are recorded and transcribed. In addition, information related to the technological‐innovation projects performed in the public organizations is collected from documents, books, and governmental reports. A total of 20 organizations have been conducted to participate in the study; however, only 14 of them are retained after consideration of the selection criteria. In addition, 28 e‐government projects that lead innovation are analyzed.
Findings
Results of the study show that external relations with stakeholders enhance the innovation process. Innovation emerges as a result of interaction between the stakeholders. Innovation process has four main stages and six steps. Stages of the innovation process are idea generation, project development, production, and innovation. Six steps of the innovation process are idea, project study, project approval, project implementation, new services, and innovation. Innovation starts with idea generation in the first stage. New ideas can be generated by the personnel of the organization, legislation, citizens, and other firms. After idea generation, the new ideas should be conceptualized projects in order to reach innovation. Innovation cannot be achieved due to some obstacles. The main obstacles in the public sector can be listed as legislation, lack of qualified staff, approval authority, and bureaucracy. Production as the third stage can only start after overcoming the mentioned obstacles. Project implementation is performed in the fourth step and a new service is acquired in the fifth step. Innovation is the last stage of the technological innovation process where diffusion of the new service is performed in order to innovate in the organization.
Originality/value
The significant findings of this paper may help managers for long‐term planning of innovation activities and they may pave the way of managers for their innovation projects by means of determining unclear innovation process and identifying the inputs and outputs of the process. Moreover, this paper is a guide for the managers in public organizations; finding out possible obstacles, identifying driving forces to accelerate the innovation process, emphasizing the importance of interaction between the stakeholders.
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The socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics reflects the characteristics of ushering into a new era, and the research object thereof shifts to productive forces…
Abstract
Purpose
The socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics reflects the characteristics of ushering into a new era, and the research object thereof shifts to productive forces. Emancipating and developing productive forces and achieving common prosperity become the main theme. Wealth supersedes value as the fundamental category of economic analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical system of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics cannot proceed from transcendental theories but is problem-oriented. Leading problems involve development stages and research-level problems.
Findings
The economic operation analysis is subject to the goal of optimal allocation of resources with micro-level analysis focused on efficiency and macro-level analysis focused on economic growth and macroeconomic stability also known as economic security. The economic development analysis explores the laws of development and related development concepts in compliance with laws of productive forces. The new development concepts i.e. the innovative coordinated green open and shared development drive the innovation of development theory in political economy.
Originality/value
Accordingly, the political economy cannot study the system only, but also needs to study the problems of economic operation and economic development. Therefore, the theoretical system of the political economy tends to encompass three major parts, namely economic system, economic operation and economic development (including foreign economy). The basic economic system analysis needs to understand the relationship between public ownership and non-public ownership, between distribution according to work and factor payments, and between socialism and market economy from the perspective of coexistence theory, thus transforming institutional advantage into governance advantage.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore whether a gender perspective contributes to or functions as a driving force for innovations in organizations. The following questions are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether a gender perspective contributes to or functions as a driving force for innovations in organizations. The following questions are addressed: how can a gender perspective generate innovations and what are the conditions that favour innovations driven by a gender perspective?
Design/methodology/approach
This study builds on a qualitative case study of an upper secondary school in Sweden, which has been showcased as a good example of gender awareness and gender mainstreaming in schools. Semi-structured interviews with representatives of the school were conducted and documents were analysed.
Findings
The gender perspective contributed to innovations by triggering them and supporting the innovative processes, ensuring that the innovations did not stop at essentialist solutions. New ways of performing core processes were developed with the innovative leverage of the gender perspective. The perspective must be actively used and integrated into the core processes if it is to work properly, which was the case in this school.
Research limitations/implications
This study indicates the importance of conducting further studies on innovations in the public sector as well as acknowledging gender in innovation studies, not least because this study focuses on a local case in a specific national context.
Practical implications
This school exemplifies the use of a gender perspective as a driving force for innovations in organizations. The case points to important organizational conditions for innovation and actual gender-aware innovations.
Originality/value
The study expands the understanding of innovation(s) in organizations and elaborates on the gendered dimensions of innovation as both process and product.
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The purpose of this study was to identify technological innovation in libraries and further examine the knowledge source and their effects during the technology life cycle (TLC).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to identify technological innovation in libraries and further examine the knowledge source and their effects during the technology life cycle (TLC).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper discusses the technological innovation taking place in libraries. Patent citation analysis was used to capture the trend of technological innovation associated with libraries.
Findings
The findings are as follows: (1) library technologies are now in the ascent phase of their life cycles; (2) private companies from the United States, Germany, France, Japan and the United Kingdom are the top-five owners of intellectual property rights associated with library technology and (3) patent data along with knowledge and technology indicators can be interpreted in the light of library development. The knowledge source with the highest degree of scientific and technological orientation was identified as basic material chemistry. The major technological categories that have received the greatest knowledge effect from library-associated technological innovation are chemistry, electrical engineering, instruments, mechanical engineering, with other fields (civil engineering and furniture, games) being subject to less effect.
Research limitations/implications
There are two research limitations in this study. First, the results use single informants, patents retrieved from United States Patent and Trademark Office, as the source of data. Second, this study uses patent citation measures for exploring the knowledge source and effect of technological innovation, these measures are only subjective for those new invention highly based technological advances. This study concludes that technological innovation for libraries will be characterized by an increasing role for science-intensive and interdisciplinary areas. This study also suggests that organizational learning facilitates innovation. Therefore, a library hoping to co-evolve with dynamic environment through technological innovation should improve its organizational learning processes.
Practical implications
Theories of technology-push and demand-pull were examined in relation to technological innovation taking place in libraries. The TLC analysis indicated that library technology is mainly in the ascent stage, suggesting that libraries have not achieved the strongest technological transformation. The findings suggest that the importance of demand-pull and technology-push vary over the TLC of libraries.
Social implications
To survive in a dynamic environment library must be able to cope with increasing complexity and high-speed technological change. It is pivotal to integrate the views of users (as customers), software houses or design companies (as suppliers) as well as other libraries (as communities) into the sustainable development strategy of a library. In these contexts, libraries with the capacity to innovate will be able to respond to new demands faster and to invent and provide new services better than noninnovative libraries.
Originality/value
Analysis based on the technological innovation perspective to identify the future development of libraries is still lacking. This paper seeks to identify the technological innovation employed in libraries to accommodate the 21st century model of information-seeking behavior. This study identifies a variety of factors that have influenced the transformation of library services, and these include technology developments and new demands from library users. To illustrate the driving forces of technology-push in libraries, this paper examines holistic-patented technologies invented for libraries.
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Tatjana Volkova and Inga Jakobsone
The purpose of this paper is to identify the dominant strategy and business models of companies and to analyse the awareness of design and the stage of design application in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the dominant strategy and business models of companies and to analyse the awareness of design and the stage of design application in business in its broader sense from the perspective of business executives in the manufacturing sector and professional designers in the design industry that lead to creating successful business models in Latvia and Estonia.
Design/methodology/approach
The questionnaire was used with two target groups – business executives (based on NACE 2, B-E sections, i.e. manufacturing companies) and professional designers in the design industry (NACE 2, M 74.10 section). In the first target group, 374 responses of business executives in Latvia and 371 responses of business executives in Estonia were received; in the second target group, 85 respondents in Latvia and 42 respondents in Estonia providing professional design services were analysed to identify the level of design awareness and its application in business in the respective countries.
Findings
There are national and regional specifics in Latvia and Estonia based on the development level of micro and macro factors that influence the entire innovation ecosystem. When comparing both countries in these terms, both target groups specify that design is applied more frequently in the processes of product development in Estonia, thus leading to new forms of innovation, than it is in Latvia. Conversely, in Latvia, many business managers still focus on short-term business solutions and cost-reduction as a sole challenge, with limited awareness of management approaches based on the broader application of design as a powerful innovation source for product development, improvement, and renewal of business models.
Research limitations/implications
A suggestion for further research is to replicate the study in Lithuania and explore the perspective of other stakeholders.
Practical implications
The results of this research demonstrate the necessity to change the thinking patterns of business managers in order to develop their skills and capabilities to recognize emerging new driving forces of innovation unfolding through awareness of design and opportunities for its extended application that create successful business models for continuous value generation.
Originality/value
This paper makes a contribution to understanding the current stage of awareness of design and its application in the manufacturing sector in the Baltic States.
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Lee Li, Gongming Qian and Zhengming Qian
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the early internationalization and the performance of small firms in technology‐intensive industries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the early internationalization and the performance of small firms in technology‐intensive industries.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 278 small US firms in technology‐intensive industries, this paper employs quantitative methodologies to test hypotheses.
Findings
The findings indicate that such organizational variables as firm size and international experience have a non‐linear, inverted U‐shaped relationship with these firms’ early internationalization. Some strategic variables, such as R&D intensity, have significant impacts, whereas others, such as advertising intensity and strategic alliances, have none. However, the interactions between these strategic variables have a more significant influence upon these firms’ early internationalization than do the individual strategic variables in isolation. Moreover, early internationalization has significant and positive impacts on the performance of these firms.
Practical implications
The paper’s findings have important managerial implications. The paper identifies the driving forces for the early globalization of small firms and provides useful guidelines for managers to manage these factors in their efforts to maximize firm performance.
Originality/value
The paper differentiates organizational factors from strategic factors against the background of small “born globals” in technology industries and investigates the interactions among these internal factors and external factors, i.e. the environments of technology industries. Findings of non‐linear relationships among these factors shed light on the strategy determinants of a unique group of small to medium‐sized enterprises and their performance.
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Tamara Besednjak Valič, Janez Kolar and Urša Lamut
This paper aims to explore the dynamic relationships between high-performance computing centres (HPC centres) and small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the dynamic relationships between high-performance computing centres (HPC centres) and small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working in the automotive sector.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical study was conducted in 14 European countries with a total of 92 participants, representatives of HPC centres and SMEs. Data were collected through focus groups.
Findings
Findings show there is a distinct manner of shaping collaboration and cooperation networks between both spheres. In shaping the relationships, cognitive frames play a role through specific values involved share. Institutions also play an important role.
Research limitations/implications
Research into relationships between HPC centres and SMEs conducted was qualitative; therefore, limitations arise on data not being able to be generalized. The cultural aspect is to be taken into account when conducting further studies.
Practical implications
Findings of this study can be used by policymakers, especially those interested in regional innovation. The results can be of use when tailoring innovation policies, especially when it comes to enhancing the regional and extra-regional cooperation between HPC centres and SMEs.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first research contributions to analyse the relationships between HPC centres and SMEs from the automotive sector in selected European countries.
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Recently, industry policy researchers have been more interested in public procurement, as a “demand side” policy approach. The mainstream exclusively targeted public procurement…
Abstract
Recently, industry policy researchers have been more interested in public procurement, as a “demand side” policy approach. The mainstream exclusively targeted public procurement demand to push innovation and furthermore leads to the “first mover strategy.” This paper points out that procurement decisions are likely to have a broader innovation impacts, and mostly via their influence on intermediate outcomes such as the structure of industrial competition. In this paper, the author explores the specific features of public procurement as a competition shaping instrument, and conducts an empirical study to measure the correlations among the competition regulation of procurement contracts awarding, industry competition structure and dominant design cultivation efficiency.