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1 – 10 of 918Orlando Troisi, Anna Visvizi and Mara Grimaldi
Industry 4.0 defines the application of digital technologies on business infrastructure and processes. With the increasing need to take into account the social and environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
Industry 4.0 defines the application of digital technologies on business infrastructure and processes. With the increasing need to take into account the social and environmental impact of technologies, the concept of Society 5.0 has been proposed to restore the centrality of humans in the proper utilization of technology for the exploitation of innovation opportunities. Despite the identification of humans, resilience and sustainability as the key dimensions of Society 5.0, the definition of the key factors that can enable Innovation in the light of 5.0 principles has not been yet assessed.
Design/methodology/approach
An SLR, followed by a content analysis of results and a clustering of the main topics, is performed to (1) identify the key domains and dimensions of the Industry 5.0 paradigm; (2) understand their impact on Innovation 5.0; (3) discuss and reflect on the resulting implications for research, managerial practices and the policy-making process.
Findings
The findings allow the elaboration of a multileveled framework to redefine Innovation through the 5.0 paradigm by advancing the need to integrate ICT and technology (Industry 5.0) with the human-centric, social and knowledge-based dimensions (Society 5.0).
Originality/value
The study detects guidelines for managers, entrepreneurs and policy-makers in the adoption of effective strategies to promote human resources and knowledge management for the attainment of multiple innovation outcomes (from technological to data-driven and societal innovation).
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Yalan Wang, Chengjun Wang, Wei Wang and Xiaoming Sun
This study aims to investigate the influence of inventors’ abilities to acquire external knowledge, provide broad and professional knowledge and patenting output (i.e. different…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of inventors’ abilities to acquire external knowledge, provide broad and professional knowledge and patenting output (i.e. different types of inventors) on the formation of structural holes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected 59,798 patents applied for and granted in the USA by 33 of the largest firms worldwide in the pharmaceutical industry between 1975 and 2014. A random-effects tobit model was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The inventors’ ability to acquire external knowledge contributes to the formation of structural holes. While inventors’ ability to provide broad knowledge positively affects the formation of structural holes, their ability to provide professional knowledge works otherwise. In addition, key inventors and industrious inventors are more likely to form structural holes than talents.
Originality/value
The results identify individual factors that affect the formation of structural holes and improve the understanding of structural hole theory. This study is unique in that most scholars have studied the consequences of structural hole formation rather than their antecedents. Studies on the origin of structural holes neglect the effect of inventors’ knowledge abilities and patenting output. By addressing this gap, this study contributes to a more comprehensive theoretical understanding of structural holes. The results can guide managers in managing structural holes in accordance with inventors’ knowledge abilities and patenting outputs, which optimize the allocation of network resources.
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Due to the vital role of innovation for firms to respond to the change and achieve competitive advantage, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the vital role of innovation for firms to respond to the change and achieve competitive advantage, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL) on innovation performance (IP) via the mediating role of knowledge sharing (KS). This study also clarifies the KS-IP relationship by exploring the moderating role of market turbulence.
Design/methodology/approach
Analysis of moment structures and structural equation modeling are applied to examine the relationship among the latent factors in the proposed research model using data collected from 281 participants in 112 manufacturing and service firms in Vietnam.
Findings
The findings revealed that KOL serves as a key precursor to foster IP, directly or indirectly, through knowledge-oriented leaders’ effect on tacit and explicit KS behaviors. In addition, the paper highlights the moderating role of market turbulence in strengthening the impact of KS activities on IP.
Research limitations/implications
By highlighting the important role KOL practice for stimulating KS behaviors, this paper provides a valuable understanding and novel approach for firms to improve IP. The research findings support the idea that market turbulence significantly contributes to increasing the effects of KS behaviors on IP.
Originality/value
This study contributes to bridging research gaps in the literature and advances the insights of how KOL directly and indirectly fosters IP via mediating roles of tacit and explicit KS processes under the effects of market turbulence.
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Tarisai Kudakwashe Manyati, Billy Ganizani Kalima, Temitope Owolabi and Morgen Mutsau
Despite growing emphasis on green skills, innovation, and sustainable livelihoods, research remains limited in the informal economy, particularly in developing countries. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite growing emphasis on green skills, innovation, and sustainable livelihoods, research remains limited in the informal economy, particularly in developing countries. This study investigates gaps in green skills training, innovations and livelihoods among informal metal fabricators, shedding light on the challenges and opportunities within this sector. Specifically, the study critically assesses the potential for upskilling informal metal fabricators through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and university innovation hubs.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a qualitative interpretive methodology, we conducted 40 key informant interviews with small-scale informal metal fabricators operating in Magaba and Gaza home industries, two of Harare’s largest home industries in Zimbabwe. Subsequent key informant interviews were held with TVET educators and innovation hub lecturers. Observations were carried out over a period of three months to comprehensively explore the issues under investigation.
Findings
Gender disparities persist within informal innovation spaces, with women making strides in the traditionally male-dominated field of metal fabrication. However, challenges such as prejudices, stigma, ridicule and abuse hinder women’s full participation in manufacturing processes, often relegating them to less physically demanding roles like customer engagement and product marketing. Inequities in support for green skills training were evident, with the innovation hub model primarily catering to formally educated youth in universities, neglecting the active involvement of notable informal innovators with limited formal education. While a gradual shift toward renewable energy sources is observable in the informal economy, government-owned TVET institutions show minimal or no adjustments in course content to incorporate essential green skills. In light of the findings, the study proposes measures to ensure equitable green skills training, innovation and the promotion of sustainable livelihoods in the informal metal fabrication sector.
Originality/value
The findings of this study represent a novel contribution the gaps in green skills training in the informal economy and how these inform reforms for vocational learning and training practices and the incubation of innovations.
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COVID-19 has rendered many firms' business models, strategies and performance vulnerable, including entrepreneurial financials. Some managed to survive, while others drowned in…
Abstract
Purpose
COVID-19 has rendered many firms' business models, strategies and performance vulnerable, including entrepreneurial financials. Some managed to survive, while others drowned in the epidemic swamp. This study offers an exceptional model to fill the gap.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a rigorous qualitative design, the study utilizes a novel framework that integrates institutional theory (IT) and corporate entrepreneurial strategy (CES). Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis identified key themes: external environment, institutional environment and organizational response, CES and performance and survival.
Findings
The study reveals the dual nature of the external and institutional environment, acting as both facilitators and barriers for entrepreneurial financial firms (EFFs). It highlights the robust CES exhibited by these firms during the pandemic, demonstrating their adept balancing and integration of different CES components in their organizational response. The EFFs employ a mix of financial and nonfinancial indicators for performance assessment, yielding varied outcomes based on contextual factors.
Practical implications
EFFs and stakeholders are guided to adapt their business models, balance institutional pressures, implement CES and evaluate performance. It advocates collaboration within the entrepreneurial finance ecosystem and leveraging opportunities emerging from the pandemic, including new market segments, technologies, innovations and regulatory changes.
Originality/value
This topic is underexplored in many emerging economies. Fresh perspectives and rigor frameworks are developed on how EFFs navigate and capitalize on the pandemic under uncertainties.
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Binh Thi Thanh Truong, Phuong Van Nguyen, Demetris Vrontis and Zafar U. Ahmed
This paper aims to explore how the three components of intellectual capital (IC) (human, structural and relational) are related to corporate innovation and how effective knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how the three components of intellectual capital (IC) (human, structural and relational) are related to corporate innovation and how effective knowledge management can improve business performance, innovation and environmental compliance. Additionally, the study investigates the influence of environmental compliance on overall business performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The organizational resource-based view was used to develop a theoretical model and accompanying hypotheses. A survey design approach was used to collect data and evaluate the model. The predicted relationships were tested by structural equation modeling using data acquired from members of management teams in the Vietnamese manufacturing sector.
Findings
The three components of IC have significant positive effects on business performance. In addition, corporate innovation, knowledge management success (KMS) and environmental compliance all significantly increase business performance. Moreover, KMS indirectly enhances business performance through innovation and environmental compliance.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides useful insights into knowledge management, innovation and environmental compliance for administrators, practitioners and scholars. The results support practical advice for how firms can integrate KMS strategies into their operations, improve environmental compliance and increase business success.
Originality/value
The links between IC, knowledge management, innovation and environmental compliance are of ongoing interest to organizational scholars. However, empirical research on the relationships of these factors with business performance has been limited. This study investigates these links and offers factual evidence for them.
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Weiwei Liu, Jingyi Yao and Kexin Bi
Nuclear power is a stable and reliable energy source that can improve energy structure while reducing carbon emissions, which is of great significance for environmental protection…
Abstract
Purpose
Nuclear power is a stable and reliable energy source that can improve energy structure while reducing carbon emissions, which is of great significance for environmental protection and combating climate change. As a unique industry, it is facing rare development opportunities in China and has broad market prospects. However, the characteristics of technical difficulty, loose organizational structure and uneven regional distribution limit the expansion of the nuclear power industry. This paper aims to a better understanding of the accumulation process for innovation capability from the perspective of network evolution and provides policy guidance for the market development of the nuclear power industry (NPI).
Design/methodology/approach
Methodologically, social network analysis is used to explore the co-evolution of multidimensional collaboration networks. First, the development and policy evolution of the NPI is introduced to divide the evolution periods. Then, the authors identify and analyze the core organizations, technologies and regions that promote nuclear power patent collaboration. Furthermore, three levels of collaboration networks based on organizations, technologies and regions are constructed to analyze the coevolution of patent networks in China’s NPI.
Findings
The results show that nuclear power enterprises always play the foremost role in the organizational collaboration network (OCN), and the dominance of foreign enterprises is replaced by Chinese state-owned enterprises in the third period. The technology hotspot has shifted from nuclear power plant construction to the control system. The regional collaboration network was initially formed in the coastal areas and gradually moved inland, with Guangdong and Beijing becoming the two cores of the network. The scale of three collaboration networks is still expanding but the speed has slowed down.
Originality/value
In response to the pain points of the NPI, this research focuses on multidimensional collaborative innovation, investigates the dynamic evolution process of collaborative innovation networks in China’s NPI and links policy evolution with network evolution creatively. The ultimate result not only helps nuclear power enterprises integrate innovative resources in complex environments but also promotes industrial upgrading and market development.
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Gongtao Zhang and M.N. Ravishankar
Digital technologies create myriad innovation opportunities and have inspired the establishment of many new start-ups in recent years. Despite the growing knowledge on digital…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital technologies create myriad innovation opportunities and have inspired the establishment of many new start-ups in recent years. Despite the growing knowledge on digital entrepreneurship, few studies explore how start-ups exploit these opportunities to achieve entrepreneurial success. The purpose of this paper is to explore start-ups’ capabilities for successful delivery of digital artefacts in a cloud computing infrastructure.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were collected during a qualitative case study of an established start-up in the Chinese market by interviewing 41 interviewees. Informed by the notion of dynamic capabilities and using the Gioia methodology, the case firm's life cycle was analysed in detail.
Findings
The study identifies start-ups’ ordinary and dynamic capabilities for successful development and delivery of digital services. The findings provide insights into a portfolio of start-ups’ capabilities, namely adaptation, networking, reengineering and refinement.
Originality/value
The study suggests that start-ups’ capabilities and underlying entrepreneurial actions determine the degree to which adoption of digital technologies create and transfer value to customers. The study offers specific insights into how start-ups successfully develop and deliver digital artefacts in a cloud infrastructure based on entrepreneurs' prior expertise, vision and accumulated experience.
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Sergio Jesus Teixeira, Joao Matos Ferreira and António Almeida
The purpose of this study involves analysing the factors of and barriers to innovation and their respective impacts (directly and indirectly) on the competitiveness of both…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study involves analysing the factors of and barriers to innovation and their respective impacts (directly and indirectly) on the competitiveness of both destination and their host companies.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on primary data collected by questionnaire from a sample of 119 companies operating in the tourism sector in the autonomous region of Madeira (Portugal), the authors applied a quantitative methodology with recourse to econometric models and multiple linear regression.
Findings
Comprehensive results based on a conceptual model are obtained through the analysis of competitiveness tourism-based and innovation factors. The study identifies and empirically tests the existing and underlying relationships between innovation (factors and barriers) as the means of leveraging the competitiveness of destinations and their companies.
Originality/value
The results hold important theoretical and practical implications contributing towards innovation for competitiveness and filling a shortcoming identified in the literature.
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Arjun J Nair, Sridhar Manohar and Amit Mittal
Amidst unpredictable and turbulent periods, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, service organization’s responses are required to be innovative, adaptable and resilient. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Amidst unpredictable and turbulent periods, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, service organization’s responses are required to be innovative, adaptable and resilient. The purpose of this study is to explore the utilization of both reconfiguration and transformational strategies as instruments for cultivating resilience and advancing sustainability in service organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examines a proposed resilience model using fuzzy logic. The research also used a semantic differential scale to capture nuanced and intricate attitudes. Finally, to augment the validity of the resilience model, a measurement scale was formulated using business mathematics and expert opinions.
Findings
Although investing in resilience training can help organizations gain control and maintain their operations in times of crisis, it may not directly help service organizations understand the external turmoil, seek available resources or create adaptive remedies. Conversely, high levels of reconfiguration and transformation management vigour empower a service organization’s revolutionary, malleable vision, organizational structure and decision-making processes, welcoming talented and innovative employees to enhance capabilities during crises.
Research limitations/implications
The resilience model bestows a comprehensive understanding of the pertinence of building resilience for service organizations identifying the antecedents that influence the adoption of these strategies and introduces a range of theoretical perspectives that empowers service organizations to conceptualize and plan for building resilience. The research guides service organizations to become more resilient to external shocks and adapt to changing circumstances by diversifying their offerings, optimizing their resources and adopting flexible work arrangements. The study elaborates on the enhancement of resilience, increasing innovation, improving efficiency and enhancing customer satisfaction for service organizations to remain competitive and contribute to positive social and economic outcomes through the adoption of both reconfiguration and transformational strategies.
Practical implications
The study also guides the service organizations to become more resilient to external shocks and adapt to changing circumstances by diversifying their offerings, optimizing their resources and adopting flexible work arrangements. Rapid innovation and business model innovation are essential components, enabling service organizations to foster a culture of innovation and remain competitive. In addition, the adoption can lead to improved financial performance, job creation and economic growth, contributing to positive social and economic impacts.
Social implications
The resilience model bestows a comprehensive understanding of the pertinence of building resilience for service organizations. It identifies the antecedents that influence the adoption of these strategies and introduces a range of theoretical perspectives that empowers service organizations to conceptualize and plan for building resilience. The research also provides a foundation for further investigation into the effectiveness of these strategies and their impact on organizational performance and sustainability. By better preparing service organizations for disruptions and uncertainties, this research triggers ameliorated organizational performance and sustainability.
Originality/value
Within the realm of the service industry, the present investigation has undertaken the development, quantification and scrutiny of both resilience and tenacity. In addition, it has delved into the intricate dynamics surrounding the influencing factors and antecedents that bear upon resilience, elucidating their consequential impact on the operational performance and outlook of service-oriented organizations. The findings derived from this research furnish valuable insights germane to enhancing operational efficacy and surmounting impediments within the sector.
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