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The purpose of this study is to conceptualize the paradigm of meaningful innovation (MI) by exploring the theoretical basis, identifying its core concepts and key processes, and supporting it with evidence from leading world-class enterprises.

Based on a systemic literature review on the evolution of innovation paradigms, this study builds a conceptual framework to explicate the core concepts and process of MI. Moreover, a horizontal embedded case study of GREE electric appliances is conducted to further enrich, refine and support the proposed framework.

The main finding of this study is that MI could be regarded as a process of integrating innovation elements (resources, capabilities, systems, etc.) with internal and external innovation meaning to obtain outcomes with both economic value and social significance. As a “long-termism” paradigm with meaning identification and conversion as its core, MI is driven by the collaboration of “deductive mechanism” and “reflective mechanism.”

Based on the previous studies concerning innovation paradigms on the internal and external meaning, this paper proposes an integrated framework of MI. In this framework, enterprises can consider internal and external meanings through deductive and reflective mechanisms, to better coordinate resources, capabilities, institutions, markets and other factors to achieve higher innovation performance.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to knowledge and theory on innovation in small and medium-sized organisations (SMEs) by exploring the role of size and age on organisational engagement with position and paradigm innovation.

Data on organisational characteristics, including age and size, and engagement with position and paradigm innovation was collected as part of a questionnaire based survey of food sector SMEs in the UK. Structural equation modelling was used to identify the existence of any significant relationships between engagement with position and paradigm innovation and organisational age and size.

Findings suggest that organisational engagement with position and paradigm innovation is not affected by either age or size.

Prior research, based primarily on process and product innovation, has generated contradictory results regarding whether size or age effect innovation. This study contributes by focusing on the previously unexplored concepts of position and paradigm innovation.

This article aims to offer insights into the range of innovations in food sector SMEs, and demonstrate the way in which managers classify their innovations on the basis of Francis and Bessant's classification of innovations into the following four types: product, process, position, and paradigm.

As part of a larger questionnaire‐based survey on innovation in food sector SMEs, respondents were asked to provide examples of their recent innovations and to categorise them as product, process, position, or paradigm innovations.

Food sector SMEs offered a wide range of examples of innovation. They were able to classify their innovations into product, process, position or paradigm innovations. Further, there is evidence that food sector SMEs are engaged in a range of innovation types, although a greater number of examples were offered for product innovation than for other types of innovation. Additionally, there is evidence of overlap and complementariness between different types of innovation.

Although the food sector plays an important role within the UK economy, innovation in food and drink sector SMEs has received relatively limited attention. This article offers interesting insights into the reality of innovation in food sector SMEs. In addition, it demonstrates the applicability of Francis and Bessant's model of types of innovation to SMEs in this sector.

This chapter aims at building a conceptual framework that could inspire innovation policies able to take into account the emerging agricultural and rural agenda, based on a comprehensive conceptualization of the innovation system. The systems of innovation and the broader processes of knowledge creation (and co-creation), transfer and adoption represent a crucial set of conditions influencing family farms' trajectories in response to the various opportunities and drivers of change, as well as their capability to contribute to sustainable food systems and FNS. This chapter analyzes the concept of innovation in relation to transition towards new configurations with a non-linear and multidimensional vision based on actors assembling themselves in a geographical space where resources and information are used to generate change. This leads to consider knowledge as an asset co-generated by the interaction of different actors within agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) (Leeuwis & van den Ban, 2004). Agriculture and countryside are experiencing deep transformations towards concentration and globalization on one side and post-productivism and rural development on the other (Van der Ploeg et al., 2000). These processes of change require innovation policies aimed at pursuing ‘second-order’ innovation based on new goals and new rules. From a transition perspective (Geels, 2004) these radical innovations can develop within niches to a certain extent protected from mainstream market forces, to be then progressively embodied into higher structuration levels (the ‘regimes’).

The impact of the e-globalization combined with staggering costs for R & D across industries has resulted in the call for new approach to innovation where openness and interconnectivity is the role. This new approach is designated as “open innovation”. The new paradigm calls for the sharing of knowledge and resources in conducting innovation activities within and among organizations. As such, one needs to re-orient the structure of the organization to meet these new requirements. On the conceptual level, it becomes a significant undertake to try to grasp how our traditional understanding of the organization can be fitted within the requirements of the open innovation when the environment of the e-globalization is taken in consideration. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the question of how organization structure theories can be coupled to the open innovation paradigm. Out of that analysis the authors propose a new theoretical framework of organizational analysis that takes both the classical knowledge and the new economic context of e-globalization.

The contemporary period is recognized by the term “new economy”, as a replacement for the “old economy”. Another term of importance is “globalization”, which is coupled to the issue of economy categorization. Humanity launched the modern age of globalization some decades ago, but we are going through a new type of globalization, e-globalization. In the e-globalization, processes are induced basically by the impact of the new tools of communication and information technologies. These dynamic processes have forced a re-thinking of the traditional innovation practices. In the paper, the authors reflect on the changes in relation to the traditional knowledge about organization structure, using a deductive approach and textual analysis and relate that to the requirements of an open innovation paradigm. In the process, the authors introduce the basics of the “theory of internetisation dynamics” as a new potential organizational theoretical framework.

From the analysis, it was found that some traditional concepts about organization structure and organizing mechanism theories are responsive to the needs of the open paradigm settings while other theories are not. However, each of these is able to contribute to one of the five components of the theory of internetisation dynamics.

The authors argue that by using the correct framework for the analysis of the organizational structure, one can propose a set of strategic steps which would help the companies to re-structure. That would save time and effort for policy-makers and managers of firms, as well as researchers active in this field of organization and organizing processes, who are focused on the open innovation transformation requirements of the firms. Running this analysis would add some input into organizational re-orientation in troubled sectors such as in pharmaceutical industries.

This paper aims to present a profile of innovation in food sector SMEs in the UK, exploring specifically the degree and types of innovation employed, and engagement with activities that support innovation orientation, or organisational innovativeness.

A questionnaire‐based survey was conducted to gather data from food sector SMEs in the UK. The questionnaire design was informed by previous studies on degree and types of innovation, and the characteristics of innovativeness. Questionnaires were distributed and gathered by hand and online in order to optimise response. A total of 221 usable responses were received and analysed using SPSS.

Food sector SMEs are more focused on incremental innovation as opposed to radical innovation, and they are also more engaged in product and process innovations than in packaging, position and paradigm innovations. In terms of innovation characteristics, SMEs agree that they are usually committed to the majority of a wide range of factors that affect innovation orientation, but most important amongst these are a commitment to encouraging new ideas, and cultivating innovative employees.

Although the food and drink sector plays an important role within the UK economy, innovation in food sector SMEs has received little previous attention. This paper makes an important contribution by profiling innovation, according to type, and innovation characteristics in food sector SMEs in the UK. In addition, it demonstrates the importance of developing understanding of the management of innovation portfolios embracing a range of types and degrees of innovation.

This study aims to provide an example of the intersections between resilience and innovation within the social economy. It describes the Portuguese context, boosted by a pioneering public policy focused on building resilience through innovation. The sustainable development concept usually sets multilevel relationships among the government, social investors and entrepreneurs. In this sense, the study explores the role of innovation in promoting resilience in initiatives and society that may lead to sustainability.

The authors collected the primary data through semistructured interviews with social investors and an online survey with the invested or awarded entities from 2015 to 2020. The database represents 43.63% of acknowledged Portuguese social innovative initiatives, describing a complex and multilevel result. The case also provides a unique context for deepening the understanding of popular, relevant, but still underdeveloped concepts.

The results highlight progress in overcoming social and economic challenges. This progress happens through innovative initiatives aiming to solve social problems that reflect collective interests. The data suggest a context dynamization due to an increase of 31.3% in new initiatives. This increase can potentially represent a consistent investment in resilience and sustainable development.

This paper helps to contextualize and structure information for three fragmented concepts. It relies on their combination to compensate for each other frailties, assuming that innovation can be a crucial factor for boosting sustainable development, making possible the countries’ resilience. It also argues that the literature state can result from a paradigm shift, and these features can favor this process toward a better world.

The paper seeks to examine the manifestation of management paradigms in personnel magazines of Finnish metal and forest industry corporations from the 1930s to recent years.

The research data consist of articles of personnel magazines on management. The articles were analyzed by quantitative and qualitative content analysis.

The findings indicate that normative paradigms, such as industrial betterment, human relations school, and cultural theories, have been discussed in personnel magazines more than rational paradigms, although earlier studies suggest that in general rational management paradigms have been more influential in Finland. The frequent use of normative paradigms can be seen as a tool in enforcing the role of personnel journals in generating a sense of belonging and togetherness among employees. Normative paradigms are also discussed more frequently in the articles that are written from the viewpoint of the worker than those written from the viewpoint of the manager or company.

The study offers empirical evidence on the adoption of management paradigms in different lines of industries. It also shows that personnel magazines provide a rich and interesting source of data that could be used more frequently than has traditionally been the case.

The need for consumer involvement in innovation processes has been recognised for four decades. Consumer involvement as a part of open innovation is an important strategy in the food sector, specifically for enhancing consumer acceptance and promoting successful market introduction. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyse the concept of consumers’ role and the level of consumer integration and interaction in recent food innovation processes.

In 2016, a three-step literature search was performed to identify the state-of-the-art scientific literature on consumer-involvement approaches and methods in the food sector. These methods and approaches were qualitatively analysed based on categories in accordance with the qualitative content analysis method.

A key finding is that most implemented consumer-involvement approaches and methods fall under von Hippel’s manufacturer-active paradigm rather than the customer-active paradigm (CAP). However, there are practical reasons for the low diffusion of CAP. The presumed reasons include needed change of the perception of roles and of organisational structures, as well as a lack of trust among actors.

There remains a need to promote an active role for consumers, especially amid changing consumer demand and increasingly conscious consumer behaviour concerning food production and processing conditions.

This paper contributes to the theoretical and practical discussion about innovation management by reflecting on the innovation paradigm underlying an approach or method. The paper may also have practical implications for the choice and implementation of business models that consider consumers’ role.

This chapter considers the role of entrepreneurship theory in the development of ideation techniques for entrepreneurship education. It begins by considering how metatheories impact theory construction in entrepreneurship research and discusses the role of ontology, epistemology, axiology, as well as the role of assumptions about human nature and social change. The chapter presents four different paradigms of thought that apply different philosophies and illustrates how these different paradigms conceptualize entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial opportunity differently. The four paradigms include the equilibrium paradigm, the disequilibrium paradigm, the disruptive innovation paradigm, and the social constructionism paradigm. Within each paradigm, the nature of entrepreneurial opportunity is discussed, and the chapter provides examples to show how different ideation techniques can be generated from these different conceptualizations. Forms of ideation technique are presented and explained, as they relate to each paradigm, and the chapter concludes by explaining the value of these techniques for ideation, opportunity discovery, and creation, in the entrepreneurial process.