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The purpose of this paper is to theoretically and empirically analyze the impact of the types of micro-innovation on innovation performance and the choice of micro-innovation strategies in different contexts on the basis of an examination of the basis and standards of micro-innovation categorization.

The authors collected and analyzed 206 survey samples from the Zhejiang Province in China; there were 68, 63 and 75 enterprises at inception, high growth and maturity stages, respectively, and there were, in total, 53, 90 and 63 low-tech manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), technology-intensive manufacturing SMEs and service-oriented SMEs, respectively. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The analysis results suggest that SMEs at the embryonic stage should choose strategies of imitative innovation, whereas SMEs at growth stage should use continued micro-innovation and independent micro-innovation as the optimal choices; it is better for the SMEs at the mature stage to resort to independent micro-innovation. Low-tech manufacturing SMEs should opt for the continued micro-innovation strategy, and technology-intensive manufacturing SMEs should adopt independent micro-innovation, whereas service-oriented SMEs should choose both continued and independent micro-innovation strategies.

This study sets up a classification framework of micro-innovation and addresses its category and sources, thus extending the micro-innovation research results. The conclusion also supports and enriches the view of open innovation in the innovation theory. Hidden behind the phenomenon that internal and external factors play vital roles, it is a basic rule that innovation activities must be subject to various related factors.

This paper aims to explore and analyze how a focal firm, coming from emerging economies, of the multinational technology standard alliance ecosystem engages different actors of the alliance in value co-creation practice, contributing to product collaborative innovation and reciprocal standards cooperation.

Based on in-depth interviews, primary company, and secondary documents, this paper conducts an exploratory single case study of TechAlpha to investigate the practice of value co-creation in the multinational technology standard alliance (MTSA).

Based on the extended resource-based view (ERBV), this paper finds that in the MTSA ecosystem, actor engagement sets the anchor for the focal firm in the MTSA to dominate the resource interaction, achieving a greater interaction through goal co-discussion, standard co-construction and achievement co-sharing. Resource interaction is composed of standard resource identification, standard resource sharing, and standard resource alignment, putting a high value on the practice of value co-creation. Value co-creation dominated by the focal firm of the MTSA is embodied in the synergy of actor engagement and resource interaction.

This paper contributes to the relevant literature by illustrating how the focal firm coming from emerging economies of the MTSA enables value co-creation through adjusting the situation of actor engagement and exerting its standards resource interaction. This paper also advances the process of acquisition, integration, and reconstruction of heterogeneous resources throughout the MTSA by offering a new supplementary perspective and new evidence from a Chinese firm.

The purpose of this paper is to report a recent technological innovation investigation to the Chinese enterprises with different ownerships. The goal of this research is to discuss whether there are innovation mechanisms in place, and to test the influence of the innovation mechanisms and the government policies to the Chinese enterprises' innovation performance.

The investigation and analyses are based on a survey to the firms (n=42) from different sectors in central China, for which a research framework and analytical model of firm‐level innovation in China was developed.

The paper finds that the innovation mechanisms in the Chinese firms are to a certain extent in place, and the market factor has become the driving force for the enterprises' innovation. By using the pooled‐variance t‐test for comparing means, the authors further tested that innovation mechanisms and the government innovation policies have positive influences on the innovation performance of the Chinese enterprises.

The first‐hand technological innovation situation of the Chinese firms are evaluated by the relevant firm leaders (insiders) and analyzed by a Western research team (outsiders), which is of great significance to the Western academic and practitioners.

There are different views on how to gain a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) for firms. This topic has become an important research area in strategic management. The purpose of this paper is to provide an approach for Chinese firms to use as a springboard to identify sources of SCA through marketing innovation.

Based on a cursory review of the generic literature on how to gain SCA, this paper considers innovation as a primary source of a firm's competitive advantage. From a practical viewpoint, marketing innovation is identified as a significant source of SCA, especially for those firms operating in the dynamic and competitive Chinese economic environment. Through an analysis of marketing innovations at the Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd in China, an approach is developed to help managers identify their unique sources of SCA through marketing innovation.

This study reveals marketing innovation results from a considered analysis of the various marketing factors in the environment and the inter‐relationships between these factors. Subsequently, new sources of SCA can be identified, based on a firm's previous sources of competitive advantage. In this process, different types of competitive advantage are viewed in a holistic framework, which provides the basis for improving firm performance.

The approach developed in this paper offers a basis for managers to identify their firm's unique SCA through marketing innovation.

The paper provides insights for academics and professionals in the field and adds to the literature on emerging economies and SCA.

The climate for technical innovation has been improving in the past few years in China. This paper describes a case research concerning technical innovation practices success in three Chinese state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) in the manufacturing industry. This is executed by applying a technical innovation audit tool based on “Western” good practices.

Studies on technical innovation in the Chinese SOEs started in the 1990s, but most investigations in this field were based on statistical survey and mathematical modelling. In this research, case study research method, including such strategies as open‐ended, in‐depth questions, intensive interviews and observations, are applied for the validity of information.

The data and results reveal that the investigated Chinese SOEs have already some mechanisms for innovation in place. But there is still room for improvement and enhancement with respect to the effect on innovation success. It is also concluded that benchmarking (through the application of the technical innovation audit tool) does guide the Chinese management toward deciding which innovation mechanisms to adopt so as to provide the basics for innovation success. Additionally, based on the case studies the interesting conclusion could be drawn. In the context of the Chinese economy in transition, the case companies with less openness to the market (i.e. with high government involvement) have a more widespread use of innovation mechanisms.

The last finding seems to contradict the positive relationship between market focus and innovativeness as suggested in “Western” innovation management theories. For clarification we relate this to the way the SOEs deal with their adaptive cycle, thereby considering their way of dealing with (increased) complexity as compared to “Western” companies (complexity absorption versus reduction). The considered cases are embedded in the institutional setting of China in transition. Therefore, the conclusions and findings enrich the theory of transition by revealing the point that entering an open market abruptly may not be the solution for SOEs, which are rooted in a socialist economy, to become more competitive and more innovative. This was mostly elaborated through the influence of the two main stakeholders (i.e. government and customer/end‐user) on the openness of the SOEs and their use of innovation mechanisms in China, the largest socialist system of the world.

This paper is based on a doctoral research project, containing reliable, first hand data from the practice.

The purpose of this paper is to identify salient topic categories and outline their evolution patterns and temporal trends in microblogs on a public health emergency across different stages. Comparisons were also examined to reveal the similarities and differences between those patterns and trends on microblog platforms of different languages and from different nations.

A total of 459,266 microblog entries about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 on Twitter and Weibo were collected for nine months after the inception of the outbreak. Topics were detected by the latent Dirichlet allocation model and classified into several categories. The daily tweets were analyzed with the self-organizing map technique and labeled with the most salient topics. The investigated time span was divided into three stages, and the most salient topic categories were identified for each stage.

In total, 14 salient topic categories were identified in microblogs about the Ebola outbreak and were summarized as increasing, decreasing, fluctuating or ephemeral types. The topical evolution patterns of microblogs and temporal trends for topic categories vary on different microblog platforms. Twitter users were keen on the dynamics of the Ebola outbreak, such as status description, secondary events and so forth, while Weibo users focused on background knowledge of Ebola and precautions.

This study revealed evolution patterns and temporal trends of microblog topics on a public health emergency. The findings can help administrators of public health emergencies and microblog communities work together to better satisfy information needs and physical demands by the public when public health emergencies are in progress.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a dynamic model considering the actual operating conditions of the train and to study the dynamic performance and vibration characteristics of axle box bearings under different operating conditions.

In this paper, based on the internal contact characteristics of double-row tapered roller bearings, a dynamic model considering the actual operating conditions of the train is established. The correctness of the model is verified by the vibration test of the bearing. Comparative analysis was conducted on the effects of axial force, radial force and rotational speed on the angular velocity of the cage, slip rate and vibration acceleration level of the inner ring.

As the force increases, the slip rate of the cages on both sides decreases, and the vibration acceleration level of the inner ring increases. With the increase of rotational speed, the cage slip rate of the axle box bearing increases and the vibration acceleration level of the inner ring increases.

A dynamic model is established considering the actual operating conditions, and the dynamic performance and vibration characteristics of the axle box bearing under different operating conditions are analyzed by numerical method. The research content can provide reference for the parameter design of high-speed railway bearings.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-03-2024-0085/