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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 major research studies into success and failure in new product development that have been conducted over the last 40 years are reviewed. These have provided consistent evidence, especially in the management of the development process, of attributes associated with success. It is shown that most of the studies have produced results that are not in a form for easy application by practitioners. A methodology as to how the past lessons may be applied practically is proposed.

This article focuses on university education in innovation. We examine and present a novel system we have developed that is achieving our vision of instantiating a robust education that teaches, develops, and grades innovation in the education system. This paper is discussing a paradigm shift, offering new degrees with a common core focused on innovation, with teams of students learning and practicing the key elements of the innovation process. First we examine the motivation and need for a radically new approach, not a new major or a course, that is based upon a new common core and family of degrees. We describe how we knew that to effectively reach our goals the program had to span across departments, college boundaries, and beyond the very core of the university. Second, we show how in doing so we created a family of degrees that moved us beyond the centuries-old B.S. and B.A. educational constraints with a new, innovative "Bachelor of Innovation^™" (B.I.) family of degrees that includes a core built around multi-disciplinary multi-year innovation partnering with real companies. Lastly we summarize the unique aspects of the program and the rationale behind them, from the 3-year multi-disciplinary team experience to the trademarked name. We present our B.I. program as its own case study in innovation within higher education, reviewing the key challenges we faced so that other innovative institutions and departments may learn from our experience. We conclude with lessons learned and the future of the B.I. family of degrees.

This paper contributes to the theory of the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and innovation at small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by conducting a conceptual analysis of the question why Germany boasts by far the highest number of “Hidden Champion” SMEs. This is done by case studies from the army and public financial management of aid disbursal in developing countries. Implications for HRM at SMEs are discussed.

Conceptual analysis using case studies.

Contributing towards filling the gap concerning theoretical underpinnings of the link between HRM and innovation, we suggest that interdisciplinary work from relevant organisational case studies indicates that the concept of institutional design to provide motivational incentives may be relevant, especially concerning high performance systems with bundles of HRM practices. Specifically, the fundamental principle of subsidiarity is found to be important.

The research is broadly applicable to organisations of all kinds, as the diverse case studies indicate. We point towards tentative implications for the firms that account for the majority of the work force, namely SMEs, and among them the most successful ones, the so-called “Hidden Champions”.

HR managers can improve motivation, performance and innovation by decentralising decision-making as far as possible, while ensuring the overall organisational goals are well understood and shared, and resources are dedicated to train and educate staff. Additionally, the conception of rank-order competitions complements the institutional design.

Greater productivity and material performance as well as greater job satisfaction via larger autonomy and decision-making power on the local level can be achieved by the application of subsidiarity as key HRM configuration. This can be employed at SMEs, as discussed, but also other organisations. Further, the principle of subsidiarity and the greater emphasis on staff training and education may help reduce inequality.

Our paper contributes towards filling the gap in the literature on the link between HRM and innovation, by identifying the role of subsidiarity. We introduce an interdisciplinary perspective, with contributions from economics and psychology, among others. We also contribute to the history of HRM.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this paper is to consider how organizations with diverse, interdependent functions with differing evaluative principles and differing ideas as to which behaviors are the most desirable, use management controls in their efforts to achieve innovation.

The authors conducted a case study of TechCo, an Australian technology start-up company, over a 12 month period.

The authors demonstrate how the clash of differing evaluative principles among interdependent teams led to the organization seeking new ways of organizing, which in turn, enabled the organization to better manage the interdependencies between the diverse functional areas. Additionally, the findings show how, through the use of management control systems, the organization was able to promote idea generation and “buy-in” across all functional areas, order competing priorities for innovation and set the agenda as to what constituted “acceptable” innovation for the organization to pursue.

The authors find that management controls play an important role in managing the tensions between differing evaluative principles in diverse functional areas in a heterarchical organization, and in supporting innovation in such an environment. As such, the authors provide the first research evidence on how management controls are used within a heterarchy to generate and select innovative ideas.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

Companies are increasingly adopting design processes as a key driver for their innovation practice. Design processes help companies develop innovations that produce high user value as well as economic value and business value. The purpose of this paper is to describe how design processes can be effectively used in innovation projects through a good understanding design principles, tools, and frameworks.

The frameworks in this paper are based on our direct experience with several innovation projects within leading companies. The processes adopted by many other companies and innovation projects, both academic and professional from around the world, were also studied as drawn from various sources. The goal was to uncover insights about the types of processes adopted by successful innovators.

These analyses reveal that there is a new focus on “design innovation” that produces offerings with a better fit with users and results in higher rates of adoption. It is found that these design processes are transforming the innovation practice of companies. The paper has identified four key principles that innovators use to ensure the success of their innovation practice. Further, it has developed a generic design process model that can be used as a guide for innovation projects, and identified a set of specific tools and frameworks that support the various stages of this generic process.

As design innovation processes are increasingly becoming a core part of the innovation practice in companies, there is a growing need to understand how companies can gain competence in this area. The generic design process model discussed in this paper, and a good understanding of the associated tools and frameworks, is a valuable resource for successful innovation practice.

This research aimed to create inventive principles in managing quality and innovation systems that can be used as a guide for the development of effective innovation projects in hospitals.

Total quality and innovation management in healthcare (TQIM-H) framework and theory of inventive problem-solving (TRIZ) were integrated with results from in-depth interviews with 30 healthcare experts, resulting in TQIM-H inventive principle. The developed inventive principle was validated using 50 effective innovation projects from one of the largest healthcare conglomerates in Southeast Asia.

The TQIM-H inventive principle consisted of 7 dimensions and 72 procedures for creating innovation in hospitals under the medical quality framework. The principle effectively helps innovators develop innovative solutions that still strictly comply with medical guidelines.

Innovation is recognized as a critical factor that helps organizations adapt to global changes and increases the potential for competition, especially in hospitals. However, creating innovation in hospitals has a lower success rate than in other industries because, in general, ineffective innovation development strategies are used and the created innovation is not aligned with regulations and restrictions regarding healthcare quality in the healthcare system.

Organization renewal through innovation represents a difficult managerial challenge in family firms. This paper aims to reveal a framework for sustaining innovation capabilities through a perspective of value and process principles.

The author examined the findings from consulting projects in high performing family firms and literature from the areas of family firm strategy and leadership.

The author describes how combining patterns of innovative organizations with patterns of high-performing family firms can help leaders to sustain innovation. This study indicates that a value- and process-driven perspective is important for effective innovation. In particular, the four value principles are continuity-, community-, connection- and command-related factors (4C’s). The four process principles, in turn, are profession-, project-, product- and purchase-related factors (4P’s).

This paper is a part of a wider study of innovative German family firms initiated in 2012. The 4C’s and 4P’s framework suggests a practical means to better implement innovation by reconciling the firm’s innovation strategy, leadership behavior and organizational learning.