External technology acquisition and product innovativeness: The moderating roles of R&D investment and configurational context

An increasing number of studies in technology/innovation management contribute to the understanding of the relationship between external technology acquisition and product innovation performance. On the other hand, the meta-analytic reviews of new product development literature indicate a positive impact of product innovativeness on product innovation performance. However, existing research has not examined the link between external technology acquisition and product innovativeness. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap of knowledge by investigating the external technology acquisition—product innovativeness relationship and examining the moderating roles of R&D investment and configurational context on this link. Based on a panel sample of 105 high-technology firms over a six-year period, a least squared dummy variable s model reveals interesting results. First, external technology acquisition has a positive impact on product innovativeness. Second, R&D investment increases the effect of external technology acquisition on product innovativeness. Lastly, firm size exhibits a negative effect on the contribution of external technology acquisition to product innovativeness. However, firm age positively impacts the relationship between external technology acquisition and product innovativeness. In addition, this study reveals a positive effect of product innovativeness on firm growth.     

Organizational emotional capability,product and process innovation,and firm performance: An empirical analysis

The concept of emotional capability is one of the competencies that a firm has which is vital for the daily life of the organization. However, the effect of emotional capability, involving the dynamics of encouragement, displaying freedom, playfulness, experiencing, reconciliation, and identification constructs on the firm innovativeness (i.e., product and process) is interestingly missing in the technology and innovation management (TIM) literature. In this study, by investigating 163 Turkish firms, the dynamics of encouragement and experiencing were found to have a positive association with both firm product and process innovativeness; and the dynamics of displaying freedom have a positive relationship with firm process innovativeness. We also demonstrate that the impact of emotional capability constructs on firm innovativeness is contingent upon environmental uncertainty. Specifically, we find that the influence of the dynamics of encouragement on firm product innovation increases with increased rate of environmental uncertainty. Interestingly, the relationship between the dynamics of experiencing and product innovation across low, medium, and high levels of environmental uncertainty is an ∩-shaped. And, the relationship between the dynamics of displaying freedom and product innovation across low, medium, and high levels of environmental uncertainty is a U-shaped. In addition, we show that a firm's emotional capability influences its financial and market performance via firm innovativeness. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the study's findings.     

Casting a Wide Net for Innovation: Mediating Effect of R&D Human and Social Capital to Unlock the Value from Alliance Portfolio Diversity

This paper examines the performance effects associated with different alliance portfolio configurations in terms of geographical location and partner type. Based on these distinctions, the authors hypothesize that more diverse alliance portfolios enable firms to gain and exploit innovation opportunities. Additionally, the mediating effects of R&D human and social capital on the R&D alliance portfolio diversity–innovation performance relationship are explored. The authors reason that the absorptive capacity of R&D intellectual capital determines a firm's potential gains from highly diverse alliance portfolios. From panel data of manufacturing firms in Spain for the period 2008–2013, the results confirm the inverted U‐shaped relationship between alliance portfolio diversity and firm innovation performance, implying that both insufficient and excessive alliance portfolio diversity may be detrimental to firm innovativeness. Additionally, R&D human and social capital partially mediates the R&D alliance diversity–innovation performance relationship, emphasizing the importance of internal capabilities to leverage the benefits of highly diverse alliance portfolios. These findings add a dynamic dimension to the conceptualization of alliance portfolios and how firms create value by balancing explorative and exploitative alliances.     

Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management: An Empirical Investigation

Two important streams of the literature have examined intellectual capital (IC) and knowledge management (KM). Surprisingly, they have developed in parallel, without any empirical research on the relationship between them. This article empirically examines how IC and KM affect each other, and also investigates their consequences, viewing three intermediate consequences (dynamic capabilities, efficiency, and innovativeness) to mediate their effects on firm performance. In addition, this article examines the effects of the organization's culture on IC and KM. To address these issues, a comprehensive model is developed and tested using a combination of survey and secondary data of 533 companies in Taiwan. The results support the theoretical model. Major findings include the following: IC affects KM and dynamic capabilities; KM facilitates innovation but not dynamic capabilities or IC; a learning culture facilitates IC and innovation but not KM; firm performance depends on efficiency and innovation, but not directly on dynamic capabilities; and efficiency does not depend on any of the other constructs in the study. The article's implications for research and practice are examined.     

Innovativeness: Redefining the concept

The main objective of this research is to highlight the need to reconceptualize the theoretical construct of innovativeness. There is a large body of research on the adoption of innovations. Although research studies in this area are motivated by fundamentally different objectives, there is a common thread that runs through all of them—the identification of innovative firms.In order to identify innovative firms, a variety of unidimensional measures of innovativeness have been employed in past research. Thus, innovation diffusion research studies have used the time of innovation adoption as a measure of a firm's innovativeness. Other studies have assessed innovativeness on the basis of the number of innovation adoptions. This research contends that the conceptualization of innovativeness as a unidimensional construct is incomplete. Innovativeness, we believe, is an enduring trait that is consistently exhibited by innovative firms over a period of time. In other words, a valid measure of innovativeness must represent this temporal dimension. This study proposes and tests the validity of a multidimensional measure of innovativeness.     

Determinants of RFID adoption intention by SMEs: an empirical investigation

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has been considered as one of the 10 technologies that will transform firm across industries. However, the adoption and use of the technology has been slower than predicted, mainly because of technological, organisation and environment factors related to RFID. This study develops a conceptual model that explores the role that technological, organisational, environmental and managerial characteristics of small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) play in their intention to adopt RFID technology. To test the model, a web-based survey was administered to 453 SME managers from the USA, the UK, Australia and India. Logistic hierarchical regression is used to test the proposed model. Implications for RFID technology research, theory and practice are discussed.     

The Brazilian Multinationals' Approaches to Innovation

Brazilian multinationals, born in a country where the environment is non-conducive to the scientific breakthrough type of innovation so stimulated in other countries, are increasingly expanding in international markets, where innovativeness is an intrinsic component of competitiveness. Aiming to study Brazilian multinationals' approaches to innovation, a new analytical framework was developed assuming that the internationalization process relies on the firm's innovative capability. In turn, innovative capabilities are derived from core competences and competence formation at firm level is influenced by the characteristics of the national environment. A survey involving 61 Brazilian multinationals led to the identification of four approaches to innovation, the competences that enable each one of them and the country-of-origin effects over competence development. That led to the explanation of why firms that do not show the expected strength in R&D, but are able to combine skillfully their organizational competences, manage to develop innovative capabilities which allow them to internationalize successfully. The overall outcome suggests that the dynamic relationships among institutions – competences – innovation – internationalization are setting new grounds for the international expansion of Brazilian firms.     

中小企业全面创新管理模式的关键维度研究

提高创新能力是我国中小企业发展的关键.从我国实际情况来看,在经济全球化大背景下占全国企业总数99.8%以上的中小企业创新正面临着严峻的考验,关于中小企业创新管理和能力建设的许多理论和实践问题亟待进行深入系统的理论与实证研究.中小企业的TIM创新管理模式是企业充分利用已有创新资源并克服自身劣势,突破企业技术发展瓶颈的有效途径之一,也是构建中国未来经济核心竞争力的手段之一.本研究以问题为导向,从全面创新管理理论、企业能力理论、中小企业创新管理理论等不同理论与方法出发,研究我国中小企业进行创新管理的关键子维度,及其对企业创新绩效的作用机理.在实证研究部分,作者以杭州X电器有限公司等三家企业为例进行了案例分析,梳理了企业在创新管理模式构建与实施过程中的关键问题与取得的成效.     

专业化知识搜寻、管理创新与企业绩效：认知评价的调节作用

本研究基于探索/利用双元分析框架,将管理创新划分为利用式管理创新和探索式管理创新两个维度,并将知识搜寻和认知评价的理论观点整合到现有管理创新采纳与实施过程理论模型中,构建了一个研究模型,以考察双元管理创新的采纳过程及其实施对企业绩效的影响。本文以我国华南地区468家制造型企业为问卷调查对象,对上述研究模型进行实证检验,结果表明:(1)科学型知识搜寻主要促进探索式管理创新;市场型知识搜寻对利用式和探索式管理创新均有正向影响;供应链型知识搜寻主要促进利用式管理创新;(2)科学型知识搜寻与探索式管理创新间的关系同时受到风险性认知(负向)、匹配性认知(正向)和复杂性认知(负向)的调节效应影响;市场型知识搜寻与利用式管理创新间的关系仅受到复杂性认知的负向调节效应影响;供应链型知识搜寻与利用式管理创新间的关系同时受到风险性认知(负向)、匹配性认知(正向)和复杂性认知(正向)的调节效应影响,但其与探索式管理创新间的关系仅受到匹配性认知的负向调节效应影响;(3)利用式管理创新与企业绩效呈倒U型关系;探索式管理创新与企业绩效呈正U型关系。研究结论对于厘清管理创新的复杂采纳过程及其实施机理有一定的理论贡献,同时对企业顺利开展管理创新具有一定的实践启示意义。     

Complementarity between CSR dimensions and innovation: behaviour,objective or both?

This research assesses the impact of combining the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm innovation. In particular, we test whether the three dimensions of CSR (economic, social and environmental) are interrelated (behavioural complementarity), and whether their joined adoption will generate super-additive innovation performance effects (objective complementarity). To that end, we draw on the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) for Spain during the period 2009–2014. The analyses confirm behavioural complementarity among the three dimensions of CSR, as well as differences on objective complementarities depending on the innovation performance measure considered. In particular, the combination of the social dimension with any of the two others (economic and environmental) is the one that gives the best results in terms of radical innovation, whereas both the economic and environmental dimensions of CSR seem to be fundamental to foster incremental innovation. These results have implications for academics and practitioners, since they provide useful guidelines for the design of CSR in order to enhance firm innovation.     

Innovativeness as an Unintended Outcome of Franchising: Insights from Restaurant Chains

A growing trend in improving innovation outcomes is to go outside the firm's boundaries. One mechanism by which firms extend organizational boundaries is through franchising their channels. Yet, the effects of franchising on innovation outcomes have been overlooked in the literature. We propose that a firm's emphasis on franchising will affect its organizational innovativeness, conceptualized as product and process innovativeness, independently and with other firm characteristics—franchising experience, firm size, financial leverage, and slack resources. We find support for our hypotheses using a nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression model estimated using panel data from 38 U.S. restaurant chains between 1992 and 2005. The positive effect of the emphasis on franchising on product innovativeness is stronger for firms with high financial leverage, but weaker for firms with high slack resources. For process innovativeness, the effect is stronger for firms with high financial leverage but weaker for large firms, and for firms with high franchising experience and high slack resources. The findings indicate that a firm's emphasis on franchising has contingent effects on product and process innovation outcomes. Thus, franchising emerges as a competing mechanism (to alliances and joint ventures) that extends organizational boundaries and affects organizational innovativeness.     

The impact of national culture and social capital on corporate social responsibility attitude among immigrants entrepreneurs

Although significant attention has been given to the phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurship, little is known about the adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in immigrant firms. Beyond the traditional social, cultural and regulatory challenges in the last years immigrant entrepreneurs have had to cope with the wide growing interest towards CSR, with raising expectations about firm’s environmental and social behaviors. This study provides initial insights on this topic by studying the effect of social capital and national culture on the immigrant entrepreneur’s attitude to adopt CSR in three areas: social, health and safety and environment. Sixty semi-structured interviews were conducted among immigrant entrepreneurs in the Italian Province of Milan; the first one for number of immigrant entrepreneurs. Data collected were analyzed through OLS regression. Findings shows that power distance and individualism/collectivism have a negative relation with all the three CSR areas, while uncertainty avoidance is negatively related only to environmental effort. We find out a robust relation between national culture and environmental and social practices and the health and safety area. The study concludes with practical implications and suggestions for future research. The paper is one of the first studies that address the topic of CSR among immigrant entrepreneurs. Understanding the commitment of this firms is relevant for the debate around CSR and SMEs, mainly because immigrant entrepreneurs are increasing their relevance in the developed countries.     

Linking Dynamic Absorptive Capacity and Service Innovation for Born Global Service Firms: An Organization Innovation Lens Perspective

Grounded in the dynamic capabilities approach and organizational sub-system view on internationalization, this quantitative study develops and empirically tests a model of international market performance of born global service firms. While several scholars highlighted innovativeness as a driver of competitiveness for born global firms, the capacities underlying the born global firm's innovativeness have received limited scholarly attention, specifically, dynamic absorptive capacities (exploratory, transformative, and exploitative learning capacities). The uniqueness of this paper posits that dynamic absorptive capacities in a born global service firm have contributed to innovation and resulted in international market outcomes. The data was collected using the survey method from born global service firms and was analyzed using structured equation modeling. The findings of this study reveal that service innovation and business strategy are critical drivers of international performance for born global service firms. The paper contributes to the literature on the significance of absorptive capacity in born global service firms by identifying those dynamic absorptive capacities that operate in a composite set of relationships with other capabilities and significantly contribute to their innovation, impacting their internationalization outcomes. This study also supplements the theoretical and practical implications derived from the key findings of this study and provides future research directions.     

Resilience of organisations and territories: The role of pivot firms

How can organisations and territories contribute to maintain a high level of innovation while at the same time adapting to a turbulent environment? We give an answer to this question by mobilizing the concept of resilience. In order to do this, we develop a conception of resilience based on two dimensions. First, an organisational dimension which refers to the capacity of an organisation to manage a disturbance to its environment and to develop a new pathway and, a territorial dimension which refers to the collective capacity of the actors to contribute to facilitate the development of territorial responses to external disturbances. We illustrate this double dimension of resilience by focusing on the role of pivot firm as major actor in a territory.     

Drivers and Performance Outcomes of Innovativeness: An Empirical Study

The issue of innovativeness within organizations has attracted considerable attention in the literature. However, limited knowledge exists about the drivers of and their simultaneous effects on innovativeness and the role of innovativeness in enhancing performance. We adopt the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm and insights from the literature on capabilities to investigate specific capability types serving as antecedents to innovativeness and to examine its performance outcomes. From a sample of 218 Greek manufacturers, the results indicate that managerial, entrepreneurial and technical capabilities facilitate the establishment of innovativeness, which in turn enhances business performance. The study lends support to prior research that highlights the importance of innovativeness in enhancing organizational performance and sharpens understanding of the drivers of innovativeness and the way they collectively operate through innovativeness to boost performance. The study further provides new insights into the role of innovativeness from the perspective of the RBV, while highlighting certain firm capabilities that might both enable and impede competitive advantage and superior performance creation. As such, this study contributes to the effective management of the innovativeness process within organizations.     

组织创新提升中小企业创新能力的机制

组织创新对提升中小企业的创新能力具有重要作用.运用案例分析方法,本文首先揭示企业家在组织创新过程的推动作用,然后从信息技术创新、组织结构创新、业务流程创新和管理制度创新四个维度探讨中小企业通过组织创新提升创新能力的机制.     

Internationalization Orientation in SMEs: The Mediating Role of Technological Innovation

This study examines the relationship between internationalization orientation and international performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the mediating effect of technological innovation. Prior research suggests that internationalization is a prominent strategic choice for SMEs growth and profitability. However, there is still no explicit agreement on how internationalization affects international performance. Similarly, the role of innovation on performance has long been emphasized, but the implications of technological innovation on international performance are still eluding us. Our investigation of 116 SMEs in the United Kingdom reveals that internationalization orientation has a significant effect on their international performance, with SMEs adopting simultaneously an inward and outward international orientation achieving superior results. We further demonstrate that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between technological innovation and international firm performance among SMEs. Meanwhile, we find that technological innovation positively mediates the effect of internationalization orientation on international firm performance, particularly for the SMEs exhibiting moderate levels of technological innovation activities. The findings of this study suggest that managers can improve international performance by combining inward and outward internationalization orientation with technological innovation activities in their strategic decisions.     

Culture,connectedness, and international adoption of disruptive innovation

Why might nations vary in whether and how fast to adopt potentially disruptive innovations? Our study investigates this issue, specifically how a nation's adoption of creatively destroying innovations is related to two previously unexplored variables: cultural looseness, which is a norm-based measure of informal institutions, and global connectedness. To highlight potential contributions from these new variables, we control for within-nation contextual variables examined in prior research, including formal institutions, Hofstede's dimensions of cultural values, socioeconomic attributes, and between-nation economic grouping. Our empirical analysis of a specific disruptive innovation, agricultural biotechnology adoption, covers 47 nations over a 14-year period and provides broad support for the usefulness of cultural looseness and global connectedness for understanding innovation adoption. Cultural looseness is significantly related to adoption of agricultural biotech. Global connectedness dimensions of depth and breadth are not directly related to adoption, only interactively with cultural looseness. These findings highlight the role of informal institutions and global connectedness in shaping complex interactions between disruptive innovation and industrial evolution within and across nations. The findings also have implications for what public policy makers might do to influence the extent of adoption of such innovations.     

A new framework of firm-level innovation capability: A propensity–ability perspective

One of the critical topics in contemporary innovation management literature concerns what constitutes innovation capability (IC) at the firm level. There have been many attempts to conceptualize and operationalize this capability. Still, they either fail to discriminate the elements that characterize IC or to present consistent, comparable elements across distinct models or frameworks. This paper reports the results of a systematic approach to formulate a firm-level IC framework. To do so, the authors conducted an extensive systematic literature review, screened 19,589 papers, and analyzed in detail 186 documents that directly address empirical or theoretical elements of IC. The researchers cross-analyzed these papers for direct and indirect references to ICs (and related concepts, such as innovation orientation, innovation competence, and innovativeness) and generated thematic categories. We drew on a hybrid approach moving between inductive and deductive coding and theme development. We adopted an ex-ante theoretical perspective of the propensity/ability axis built upon the willingness–ability approach and the dynamic capability lens. The proposed synthetizing framework is coherent with Teece’s (2014) ordinary and dynamic capabilities. It comprises two sets of elements: on one hand, structural and contextual antecedents that characterize an organization's propensity toward innovation and, on the other hand, actions and resource-related capacities that act as causal mechanisms that, articulated within functions—sensing, seizing, and transforming—constitute the ability to generate innovation.     

以创新网络提升中小企业技术创新能力

经济低迷时期,中小企业更趋向于通过创新网络来提升竞争力,塑造核心能力,结合文献分析和企业调研,从能力和要素组合两个维度,提出了创新网络中企业能力提升的分析框架,指出创新网络中的中小企业核心能力来自于企业内外创新要素协同.最后通过一个案例分析详细阐述了这种能力提升与要素协同的关系.