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The purpose of this study is to measure and analyze the national innovation efficiency of organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) countries. This is to determine to what extent OECD countries efficiently use the elements that enable innovation activities possible in generating innovation outputs.

An input–output model was constructed to measure efficiency. The inputs and outputs in the research model are the input and output sub-indices of the Global Innovation Index. Data envelopment analysis was used to measure the national innovation efficiency levels of OECD countries.

The results show that national innovation efficiency is generally high in OECD countries. However, some countries lag behind in innovation efficiency. OECD countries’ ability to create and provide the elements that enable innovation activities is higher than their ability to create innovation outputs. OECD countries have a good innovation environment and a high level of resources, but they should focus on how to create more innovation outputs.

This study presents a measurement of national innovation efficiency of OECD countries which contributes “Innovation Strategy” agenda. The results empirically show that overall innovation indices cannot be the only indicator of the performance of national innovation systems. In this study, an innovation efficiency/performance matrix is constructed to present the relative positions of the countries to help in examining countries’ strengths, weaknesses and potentials based on innovation efficiency and innovation performance simultaneously. This study contributes to the literature by presenting a broader perspective and measurement of national innovation efficiency by taking an extensive number of indicators into account.

Sustainability and the search for solutions that are both efficient and ecologically sound (eco-efficient) have become topics of great interest. However, companies seeking to develop supply chain solutions that are eco-efficient are often hampered by their ability to control the wider supply chain and they may need to draw on external support from logistics service providers (LSPs). This paper aims to explore the innovative strategies undertaken by LSPs in the eco-efficiency arena and the logistics and learning capabilities needed to achieve eco-efficiency in supply chains.

The insights derived from a systematic literature review approach to identify the most relevant articles to be included in the analysis represented the starting point for building the authors empirical investigation, based on case studies with in-depth interviews to investigate the phenomenon under consideration and to explore trends and evolving paradigms.

The systematic literature review enriches the existing literature by drawing on three bodies of knowledge, i.e. logistics service providers, eco-efficiency and logistics innovation, and putting them into a single framework. The findings from the interviews suggest that although LSPs are well placed to implement innovative initiatives for eco-efficiency there is a range of inhibitors that prevent major change programmes.

The research reported in this paper is exploratory and limited in its scope. It is based on in-depth interviews within six companies. However, it does provide a platform from which more detailed research may be conducted.

The managerial implications arising from the research offer a wide range of current practices in sustainability, from which strategic and operative directions to compete can be derived.

There is little existing literature that addresses the innovative strategies undertaken by LSPs in influencing and moving supply chains towards eco-efficiency and hence the present paper is meant to help fill this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how the extent of religion in a firm’s social environment affects corporate innovation and innovation efficiency from the perspectives of religion-related risk aversion and religion-based social norms.

Using a sample of 8,601 Chinese firm-year observations from 2007 to 2012, this paper examines the relationship between religion and innovation intensity, as well as innovation efficiency. A battery of checks, that is, adopting Heckman selection model, using a province-level measure of religiosity and an alternative measure of innovation intensity, and taking the stochastic frontier analysis method to capture corporate innovation efficiency, are conducted to alleviate the concern of self-selection and to guarantee the robustness of the findings of this paper.

This paper finds strong evidence that firms registered in more religious regions, that is, regions with more Buddhist monasteries within a certain radius, undertake fewer innovation activities as measured by the ratio of R&D investment over total sales income but achieve higher innovation efficiency reflected by the value-relevance of R&D investment.

This paper complements the existing literature by suggesting that religion can serve as an informal social mechanism and performs a “less is more” effect in disciplining corporate innovation activities.

This paper aims to examine the effect of innovation-driven polices on innovation efficiency of sport firms listed on the new Third Board in China.

Firm innovation efficiency, including comprehensive innovation efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale innovation efficiency were calculated by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. The input variables and output variable in the DEA model were selected through correlation analysis. The effects of several innovation-driven policies on the innovation efficiency of sport firms were analyzed by a series of multiple regression analyses.

Regarding the innovation efficiency evaluation of sport firms, total research and development (R&D) investment and total R&D staff are two suitable input variables, and total profit, sales revenue and new effective patent are three suitable output variables. Income tax relief for high-tech enterprise has a positive effect on comprehensive innovation efficiency and pure technical efficiency, and governmental subsidies have a negative effect on comprehensive innovation efficiency and pure technical efficiency. However, pretax deduction of R&D expenses does not have a significant effect on comprehensive innovation efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale innovation efficiency, and income tax relief for high-tech enterprise and pretax deduction of R&D expenses also have no effect on scale innovation efficiency. For a large-scale sport firm, the negative effect of “governmental subsidies” and the positive effect of “income tax relief for high-tech enterprise” on its pure technical efficiency are more significant. For a sport firm with more R&D staff, governmental subsides and “income tax relief for high-tech enterprise” have more positive effect on its innovation efficiency.

The study findings could potentially provide practical guidance to both managers and government-industry policymakers in the sports industry.

Firstly, this paper focused on Chinese sport firms from a rising industry in a developing country (China). The related conclusions are conducive to the governmental management of new industries and the innovation management of new enterprises. Second, this paper analyzed the effect of three special innovation-driven policies on three types of innovation efficiency and explored enterprise innovation development in more detail. Third, this paper not only discusses the effect of innovation-driven policies on innovation efficiency, but also the heterogeneity of their effects.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current focus of supply chain management (SCM) research; it considers field level and societal constraints and consequently the potential for change. It details the underlying assumptions in the field, considering the dominant paradigms and stakeholders, and how this has shaped the research we have engaged in as a community of scholars.

This is a reflective inquiry that seeks to deconstruct the dominant discourses and paradigms in SCM. It offers alternative avenues of inquiry to “traditional” research, considering how different questions, perspectives and approaches might yield different learning for the field. offering alternative avenues to traditional research.

This is a call for collective action, for solidarity, for a re-imagining of what research in SCM could look like. Research activism is challenging and potentially risky but necessary for the research community to engage in, particularly in light of the global societal grand challenges. Change can take place in the SCM field through collective action and solidarity. Three levels of activism are explored here – acting to solve the grand challenges, acting to change the field and acting as individuals.

This is a “speak-out” piece, which embraces and encourages reflexivity, new methods of doing and writing research as well as different perspectives, and especially a consideration for context and multiple players in the supply chain. The authors contend that it is urgent to re-appropriate our own agency as SCM researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study aimed at conceptualising and developing valid measurements for two key dimensions of product innovation performance‐efficacy and efficiency – in the context of firm competition.

Data were collected from French biotechnology firms. Using structural equations modeling, the constructs’ measurement models were tested and the scale was validated.

The results of the study indicate that the operational measures developed here satisfy the criteria for unidimensionality, reliability, and validity.

This study contributes to innovation management research by providing a set of valid and reliable operational measures. These measures are expected to help researchers in theory testing. Because of the sample features, final results should be considered with caution.

The proposed measurement scale for product innovation performance could be implemented as an innovation audit tool.

This paper provides a new measurement instrument for product innovation performance.

The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.

This study aims to propose a refined dynamic network slacks-based measure (DNSBM) to evaluate the efficiency of China's regional green innovation system which consists of basic research, applied research and commercialization stages and explore the influencing factors of the stage efficiency.

A two-step procedure is employed. The first step proposes an improved DNSBM model with flexible settings of stages' input or output efficiency and uses second order cone programming (SOCP) to solve the non-linear problem. In the second step, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and Tobit models are used to explore the influencing factors of the stage efficiency. Global Dynamic Malmquist Productivity Index (GDMPI) and Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition method are introduced for further discussion of the productivity change and regional differences.

On average, Chinese provincial green innovation efficiency should be improved by 24.11% to become efficient. The commercialization stage outperforms the stages of basic research and applied research. Comparisons between the proposed model and input-oriented, output-oriented and non-oriented DNSBM models show that the proposed model is more advanced because it allows some stages to have output-oriented model characteristics while the other stages have input-oriented model characteristics. The examination of the influencing factors reveals that the three stages of the green innovation system have quite diverse influencing factors. Further discussion reveals that Chinese green innovation productivity has increased by 39.85%, which is driven mainly by technology progress, and the increasing tendency of regional differences between northern and southern China should be paid attention to.

This study proposes an improved dynamic three-stage slacks-based measure (SBM) model that allows calculating output efficiency in some stages and input efficiency in the other stages with the application of SOCP approach. In order to capture productivity change, this study develops a GDMPI based on the DNSBM model. In practice, the efficiency of regional green innovation in China and the factors that influence each stage are examined.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the innovation ability of universities (IAU) on the efficiency of University–Industry knowledge flow and investigate whether the level of provincial innovative agglomeration (PIA) moderates the relationship between IAU and the efficiency of the University–Industry knowledge flow.

This study uses the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis model to measure knowledge research efficiency (KRE) and knowledge transformation efficiency (KTE) and then studies the influencing mechanism of the two kinds of efficiency using the spatial Tobit model with panel data from 2008 to 2017.

The results show that the overall KRE in Chinese universities is higher than the KTE. IAU has a significantly positive impact on KRE and KTE. PIA has a significantly inverted U-shaped influence on KRE and KTE and positively moderates the promoting effect of IAU on KRE and KTE.

Due to the limitations of the data, this paper only selects several secondary indicators to measure KRE and KTE with reference to previous studies.

This study enriches the future research of University–Industry cooperation and knowledge flow and it is conducive to promoting the efficiency of University–Industry knowledge research and transformation from the perspective of universities, enterprises and local governments.

This study proposes the concept of University–Industry knowledge flow and divides the knowledge flow into the knowledge research stage and the knowledge transformation stage based on the knowledge supply chain theory. Moreover, the paper expands the theoretical framework of the impact of IAU on the efficiency of University–Industry knowledge flow and provides findings on the moderating effect of PIA.

The purpose of this paper is to examine supply chain (SC) innovation for improving organisational performance in the healthcare industry.

A research model is proposed which describes the impact of SC innovation, supplier cooperation, SC efficiency, and quality management (QM) practices on organisational performance. The proposed research model and hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling based on data collected from 243 hospitals.

The results of the study support that organisational performance is positively associated with constructs of each SC innovation factor. Innovative design of SC has a significant impact on selection of and cooperation with excellent suppliers, improved SC efficiency, and encouragement of QM practices.

The data used in this study were collected from relatively large hospitals with more than 100 beds in South Korea. The generalization of the study results may be limited by the size of sample hospitals.

This study provides useful planning information in the healthcare industry. The results suggest successful implementation of SC management is attained through continuous SC innovation with supplier cooperation, which in turn improves organisational performance.