Search results

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the degree to which employees’ proactive behavior contributes to innovation performance in firms operating in high-technology sectors. Despite the benefits of these behaviors for individuals and organizations, few studies have analyzed the contextual conditions that enable firms to capture their value in order to improve innovation performance. Drawing on the interactionist perspective, the authors also examine the extent to which informal and formal controls, such as perceived support for innovation and innovation process formalization, can facilitate the contribution of proactive behaviors to improve innovation performance (product and process innovation).

Based on an empirical study with a sample of 173 firms operating in chemical and information technology service sectors, hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the relationship between employees’ proactive behavior and innovation performance, and the moderating effects of informal and formal controls.

The results reveal a positive and significant association between proactive behaviors and product and process innovation performance. Both control mechanisms positively moderate the association between proactive behavior and product innovation, but no moderating role was found for process innovation. Moreover, rather than inhibiting innovation performance, innovation process formalization is positively associated with innovation. More specifically, a curvilinear relationship was found, which implies that when the level of formalization is high, it is able to improve product and process innovation.

The findings suggest that managers should consider proactive behavior in selection processes and performance management, and should cultivate a climate to support innovation and establish formal controls for innovation as a way to channel employees’ initiatives into product innovation.

This study contributes to the theoretical and managerial understanding of the extent to which proactive employees and organizational controls are able to enhance innovation in a technologically dynamic context.

To date, it remains unclear whether the experiences of large corporations with regard to knowledge transfer and process formalization can be successfully replicated in small companies. In this paper, the authors seek to contribute to the specialized literature on internal knowledge transfer processes and their degree of formalization in the context of small-sized innovative firms.

The authors adopt a multiple case study approach to perform an in-depth comparative analysis of processes deployed to transfer knowledge internally and their degree of formalization, relying on rich narratives shared by informants during the data gathering stage. This sample is composed of five small innovators operating in the software industry in Quebec and Ontario.

The authors identify seven knowledge transfer processes in our sample, namely communities of practice, within project teams, across project teams, non-project related meetings, in-house exchanges with clients, technological devices, and playful activities. Uncovering a high cross-case variation in terms of process formalization, the findings imply that the degree of formalization of intra-firm knowledge transfer processes has no direct bearing on the innovative success of small software companies.

The study sheds new light on the topic of heterogeneity of small organizations from the perspective of knowledge transfer endeavors and provides empirical evidence in support of equifinality for a subset of small-sized innovators from the software sector.

The relationship between corporate culture and inbound open innovation (OI) has been limited to two sub-constructs: a culture for openness and an innovation culture, but until now a richer conceptualization of corporate culture is missing.

The authors apply Quinn and Rohrbaugh's (1983) competing values framework and regress these together with company internal and external control variables on five measures of inbound OI, reflecting product innovation, process innovation and the sourcing of innovation activities. The authors use data from a survey of more than 250 Swiss companies, primarily SMEs.

The importance of the firms' market environments suggests that the results are affected by the specific situation in which the firms found themselves at the time of the survey: after a strong currency shock, inbound OI activities seem to be a reaction to external pressure that favored planning and rule-oriented (formal) cultures to implement cost-cutting process innovations.

Companies should develop a vision and a strategy, ensure open and transparent communication, have suitable reward and support mechanisms in place, adjust structures and processes, and institutionalize and formalize any change whenever they are confronted with a situation that requires a quick reaction and an adjustment to their degree of openness.

The paper clarifies the relationship between cultural traits and inbound OI, using a well-established understanding of corporate culture and differentiating between innovation types. It points to the importance of the external environment in order to understand the role of culture.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Employee proactive behaviors have the capacity to considerably improve the company's innovation performance. However, this relationship can be moderated by the impact of different organizational control mechanisms and degree of innovation process formalization which prevails.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to explore knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), to understand how they implement their service development (SD) processes and how these processes are related to their knowledge bases (KB) as not enough studies have focussed on the understanding of KIBS heterogeneity, by analysing the nature and essence of these firms’ activities.

The work adopts the case study approach involving 12 KIBS firms with different KB according to Bjorn Asheim and colleagues’ “synthetic, analytical, symbolic model”, which identifies synthetic, analytical and symbolic primary KB.

The research results showed how the SD processes are systemised in KIBS companies depending on the KB. The proposed empirical method for defining KB confirmed the assumed existence of a new type or subtype of KB for legal companies “Compliance/Interpretive”.

Further research, based on a larger number of companies, is needed to confirm or complement the results of this research, as well as to find more methods to define and evaluate KB on an empirical basis.

The correct classification of the applied KB can help a company to create effective processes for developing innovative services, while understanding of knowledge dynamic in general – to organise a working process that corresponds to employees’ needs and is more adaptable to the changes in society.

The study proposed a new empirical method for defining and evaluating KB in KIBS companies based on their SD processes. This study makes a significant contribution to research by identifying knowledge-integration practices needed to enhance innovation performance.

Incumbent retail organisations need to develop new capabilities to adapt with the increasingly competitive retail landscape. Despite the growing relevance of innovation in retail practice, the strategic management of innovation in retailing is still vastly under-researched. This explorative study thus aims to investigate how incumbent retail firms can organise for innovation from an organisational ambidexterity perspective.

A single-case study of an established Swedish retail firm was conducted from December 2016 to July 2018 and followed up in June 2021. The authors followed the process of implementation of organisational changes aimed to increase innovation in the company, particularly the introduction of a digital marketing initiative and a corporate innovation hub. Data collection was based on nine semi-structured interviews and participant observations and unstructured interviews from 13 meetings and workshops. An abductive approach to data analysis was followed, iteratively comparing theoretical concepts and empirical data using open, axial and selective coding to distil findings into aggregated themes.

Given the inherently limited formalisation of innovation processes in most retail organisations, structural ambidexterity appears to be necessary when the aim is radical, strategic retail innovation. Structural mechanisms are able to safeguard the space and resources to focus on long-term research and projects with higher risk and uncertainty; however, integration of innovation activities to the mainstream organisation is critical. Pursuing contextual ambidexterity, wherein instead of structural solutions, employees are empowered to divide employees' time between innovation-related and efficiency-related tasks, is more likely related to retail innovations that are incremental and operational.

The paper contributes to the emerging topic of strategic management of innovation in retailing, by explicating how incumbent retailers can organise for innovation depending on the type of innovation that is aimed for, using organisational ambidexterity as a novel perspective.

This paper is concerned with the management and organization of product innovation processes, and how innovation performance relates to business performance. The underlying rationale is that encouraging firms to innovate will lead to a better business performance.

This study leverages a data set of 99 medium-sized technology firms in Sweden. The first part of the analysis in this study aims at finding determinants of product innovation processes, and the second part is the analysis and trade-off between innovation performance and business performance. First, a research framework is developed in which the link between strategic dimensions, process dimensions and organizational dimensions of product innovation activity and product innovation performance is tested. Second, the research framework tests the relationship between innovation performance and business performance (sales and profitability).

Product innovation performance (patent) is affected by seven variables of the 14 variables that represent product innovation processes. Product innovation performance is not affected by firm size, firm age, branch and product life cycles and, in the regression model, all three innovation performance variables (patents, copyrights and licenses) have a positive effect on the firm's sales, but there were no connections to the firm's profitability.

The main implication of the study is the idea supporting a multi-aspects approach to the product innovation processes and performance since product innovation process dimensions (variables used in the study) have only partial influence on innovation-/business performance.

Performance framework (PF) is a well-established practice to measure innovation performance and identify improvement opportunities. However, whether PFs academic research are applicable to companies remains unclear, as well as their support in the definition of improvement actions. This study aims to present the implementation and assessment of a new and updated PF proposed in previous research in a real industrial context.

The PF was implemented through an in-depth case study carried out in a European machinery manufacturer and further assessed by practitioners.

The results indicate that the PF enabled the creation of a multidimensional view of the innovation performance and the definition of improvement projects in the company. Additionally, the findings also reveal an overall positive assessment of the PF by senior managers who work with the innovation process.

As a case study, this research is inherently limited in the extent to which results can be generalised. Thus, the analyses are reductive and rationalising. Future research is needed to assess the replicability of the PF.

The study's practical contribution is based on the combination of insights and steps that provide a straightforward and actionable approach for the company to improve performance.

This study aims to advance the importance of implementing the new and updated PF after its proposition, which is often overlooked in preceding research. Furthermore, the assessment of the PF also enables to infer its value to the company's employees.

Family firms (FF) reveal a considerable heterogeneity in their innovation behavior. Due to the successful long-term preservation of their innovation capacity via special resources and routines, multi-generational FF are of special interest in terms of learning from good practices. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain principles for successful innovation behavior in long-term successful FF and to contribute to bridging the theory-practice gap.

Results are generated by analyzing innovation and innovation processes in five cases of long-term successful FF. On the basis of these good practice cases, the “rules of the game” of innovating are re-constructed using fine and system analyses based on narrative interviews with the FF CEOs.

Intense reflection on the innovation characteristics of the five good practice cases along with a critical examination of the literature on innovation in FF were used to derive practical suggestions for FF in the form of 11 principles for FF taking a proactive interest in innovation.

The 11 generated principles of successfully innovative FF were validated by FF CEOs who confirmed the practical relevance of these principles as valuable guidelines for successful innovation. Owners and managers may reflect on these principles against the background of the innovation behavior of their firms and adapt them to their contextual conditions.

These principles serve as tangible suggestions for developing adequate innovation management strategies for individual FF. Furthermore, two FF CEOs were invited to comment on the viability of principles based on their comprehensive practical experience.

The purpose of the research described in this paper is to provide empirical evidence pointing to IT artifacts' contribution to organizational mindfulness.

To accomplish the specified aim, the authors studied how a leading company in the cork industry uses a platform to support the innovation process's ideation phase. This case study took two and a half years, and the research information was collected in documents, meetings, observations and interviews.

The study provides empirical evidence pointing to the funneling of collective attention induced by the studied platform. The use of an innovation platform was engaging the collective attention to the incremental innovation of processes to the detriment of products' disruptive innovation.

The authors’ findings contribute to developing an IS mindfulness theory and designing sociotechnical arrangements that expand organizational mindfulness. The analysis of the gathered research information resulted in a first explanation for the impact of using IT artifacts on organizational mindfulness. The resulting framework emerged as a first step in the effort to develop an IS mindfulness theory, paving the way for developing a methodological approach to support CIOs in addressing the challenges of the digital age.