The effects of the interactive use of management control systems on process and organizational innovation

This study examines how the interactive use of management control systems (iMCS) affects process and organizational innovation. Firstly, it is postulated that iMCS directly influences the development of process and organizational innovations. Secondly, we argue in favor of a moderating role of iMCS in the relationship between innovation and financial performance. Most studies of MCS and innovation have focused on new product development. However, process and organizational innovations follow innovation patterns that clearly differ from product innovation. The research model is empirically examined using data collected from a survey of 230 firms. Results from a structural model tested applying Partial Least Squares regression, controlling for size, family ownership, R&D, and product innovation, reveal that iMCS fosters process and organizational innovation. Results also suggest that iMCS could play a moderator role in the relationship between process innovation and financial performance. These findings highlight the role of iMCS in process and organizational innovation, expanding previous literature on Simons’ Levers of Control and innovation. The results are also discussed with regard to their managerial implications.     

Product innovation through module dynamics: A case study

The modularity of products is progressing in many industries. This paper uses a case study to analyze the process of integrating personal computer (PC) and numerical control (NC) machine tools, and conceptualizes as module dynamics the product innovation that works in modular products. Module dynamics refers to the process of product innovation that occur in highest-order modules of modular products and that is achieved through a two-stage process of partitioning and integrating modules.     

The ripple effects of technological innovation: The case of iron ore pelletizing

Changing part of a production system can initiate “ripples” of change in related areas as managers strive to realize the full potential of the original innovation. This paper describes the ripples stemming from one significant innovation—processing the vast stock of taconite rock to replace the depleted reserves of natural iron ore—and draws some general implications for managers from this case.     

Modeling cross-price effects on inter-category dynamics: The case of three computing platforms

Existing research on the market evolution model focused on new product sales growth for a single product category. Accordingly, this approach did not imply any interactions among separate but related product categories that could affect each other's market growth. However, the importance of analyzing these inter-category relationships is emphasized because such an analysis helps managers to better understand the underlying market dynamics and develop more profitable product-line strategies for a multi-product market.     

技术创新速度对新技术购买行为的影响--两代未来创新的情况

通过引入第二代未来创新更好地实现了将技术创新的购买看作一系列实物期权的思想.讨论了实物期权价值以及触发现有创新购买、跨越或升级到未来创新的状态临界值的求解方法,在假定现有创新和第一代未来创新均出现情况下给出了购买时机的概率模型.数字释例表明,虽然技术创新速度对购买行为的影响在仅有一代未来创新情况下呈现明显的非单调特征,但对第二代未来创新的预期将显著削弱甚至消除创新速度影响中的非单调特征,从而为直观分析特别是实证结果提供了更好的理论支持.     

技术创新速度对新技术购买行为的影响 ———两代未来创新的情况

通过引入第二代未来创新更好地实现了将技术创新的购买看作一系列实物期权的思想. 讨论了实物期权价值以及触发现有创新购买、跨越或升级到未来创新的状态临界值的求解方 法,在假定现有创新和第一代未来创新均出现情况下给出了购买时机的概率模型. 数字释例表 明,虽然技术创新速度对购买行为的影响在仅有一代未来创新情况下呈现明显的非单调特征, 但对第二代未来创新的预期将显著削弱甚至消除创新速度影响中的非单调特征,从而为直观 分析特别是实证结果提供了更好的理论支持     

Individual innovation adoption and the role of organizational culture

Review of Managerial Science - Technological innovations are generally considered to contribute positively to the organization, but there are gaps in our understanding of how benefits can be...     

Determinants of innovativeness in SMEs: disentangling core innovation and technology adoption capabilities

This paper studies innovativeness in SMEs from a set of innovation indicators at the firm level, capturing various types of innovation (product, process, organisational, and marketing innovations) and the level of innovativeness in these firm’s developments. The article identifies two separate dimensions in the innovativeness of Spanish SMEs, using factor analysis techniques. One dimension is associated with the capabilities for core/internal innovation and the other with the capabilities for the adoption of technology. The paper shows that significant differences exist in the personal and organisational factors that favour these two dimensions. The entrepreneur’s motivation, business planning, and cooperation in R&D activities constitute significant factors when considering the core dimension of a firechnology adoption. However, the use of external consultancy services seems to have no significant effect on the core dimension of the innovativeness of an SME, whereas it is a relevant factor for its technology adoption. Furthermore, it is shown that the entrepreneur’s education plays a more significant role in the core dimension of a firm’s innovativeness than in its capabilities for technology adoption. Depending on the policy objectives, these differences should lead to the application of specific policy approaches when an attempt to stimulate innovation in SMEs is made.     

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.     

Finding symbolons for cyberspace: Addressing the issues of trust in electronic commerce

E-commerce is growing rapidly, but a majority of the Internet users is still hesitant to become involved in it. One big hurdle is lack of trust. This paper deals with trust in ecommerce and measures to increase it. It discusses one particular so-called web assurance service for business-to-consumer commerce in detail. It also analyses if such services remain viable in an era of more mature e-commerce, and how they should be adjusted to the business-to-business environment.     

The innovation dynamics and technology cycles in the computer industry

This paper presents certain novel composite measures of technology. There are several important uses of the proposed measures in R & D management: to gauge the rate of innovation within any given field, to determine the relative contribution of chosen variables to technical progress, to isolate critical factors in the innovative activity, and to predict whether a technology is ahead or behind its time. This is illustrated here by means of a case study of technical progress in the computer industry. The theoretical framework of the case study is based on the earlier works of the author pointing to the existence of what may be called technology cycles that transcend both product life cycle and organization product cycle and have the same significance to innovative activity as have business cycles to economic activity. The results of our investigation reveal a ‘butterfly pattern’ of interaction between product and process innovations: The loss in the relevance of process innovations is almost exactly compensated by the gain in the relevance of product innovations to technical progress over the course of time. The results also indicate that although the pace of technical progress in the computer industry has been exceptionally rapid in the past, it shows signs of slowing down in the future. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Product innovation input and outcome: moderating effects of the innovation process

In this research, we propose and examine the proposition that product innovation process is a moderator in the “innovation input–outcome” relationship. Innovation input involves R&D spending in relation to sales or R&D intensity. Innovation outcome involves innovation frequency or the number of new products developed and marketed. Innovation process involves the level of integration in organizational mechanisms: functional coordination, tool arrangement, and external relationship. Data from 45 medical and surgical device makers suggest that functional integration is a significant moderator in the innovation input–outcome relationship. External integration has only main effects whereas tool integration has neither main nor interaction effects on innovation frequency. Results could, however, be industry and sample specific. We discuss the implications of these findings for product innovation theory and research.     

买方市场下B2B 电子商务平台的发展策略研究

B2B电子商务平台为企业间交易提供了一个场所.以买方市场为背景,根据效益最大化原则,通过构建买方企业拉动型企业间电子商务系统中买方和卖方的效益模型,研究了买方利用设置替代水平、恢复速率和补贴水平诱导卖方加入电子商务平台的策略,分析了技术进步和规模经济对电子商务发展的影响.     

The interactive effect of leader–member exchange and electronic communication on employee psychological empowerment and work outcomes

We advance understanding of the role that leaders play in promoting psychological empowerment and positive work outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance) for employees who engage in a high degree of electronic communication in their job. By integrating leader–member exchange (LMX) theory and theories of electronic communication, we build and test a mediated moderation model in which employees’ degree of electronic communication in their job amplifies the positive relationship that LMX has to psychological empowerment and subsequent employee work outcomes. Based on a sample of 353 early-career professionals employed in a range of different types of organizations, we found general support for the hypothesized model. We discuss the study’s theoretical and practical implications for leading employees in electronically-enabled work environments.     

Impacts of collaboration and network indicators on patent quality: The case of Canadian nanotechnology innovation

This article studies the impact of collaboration and co-inventorship network characteristics of Canadian nanotechnology inventors on the quality of their inventions. We investigate the impact of four types of variables on patent quality, using the number of claims as a proxy for quality: (a) the presence of highly central inventors; (b) the presence of star inventors; (c) repeated collaboration; (d) international collaboration. We show that the presence of more central inventors and of stars in the research team has a positive influence on patent quality, while repeated collaboration has a negative impact. Patents owned by foreign organisations, controlling for whether assignees are firm, yields patents of higher quality.     

创新互动框架下组织领地氛围对利用性技术创新的影响:一个被调节的中介模型

利用性技术创新是企业把已有的知识、技术和市场转化为商业价值的手段,能够塑造企业的竞争优势。本研究基于创新的互动观点和领地性理论探讨了组织领地氛围对企业利用性技术创新的影响,并识别出其发挥作用的中介机制和边界条件,由此构建出包括组织氛围(领地氛围)、组织结构(控制导向的HRM系统)和各部门主体(跨部门协调)在内的整合模型。本文以146家企业的2113名成员为样本,收集了多源数据,结果发现组织的领地氛围作为约束组织成员行为的"软"的要素会降低跨部门协调进而不利于利用性技术创新的实现。进一步,控制导向的HRM系统作为组织的结构性要素,是约束组织成员行为的"硬"的要素,能够通过调节跨部门协调与利用性技术创新之间的关系来缓冲领地氛围对利用性技术创新的消极的间接效应。研究结果对领地性理论、技术创新和HRM系统研究具有重要的理论意义。     

The asymmetric effects of exploitation and exploration on radical and incremental innovation performance: An uneven affair

Scholars have argued that the exploitation–exploration interaction provides a source of competitive advantage beyond that provided by each individually. However, we know little about the mutual effects of exploitation and exploration on either incremental or radical innovation performance. To address this gap, we examine data from 171 manufacturing firms. We find incremental innovation performance is highest when exploitation interacts with an intermediary level of exploration. Radical innovation performance, however, is solely driven by exploration. A coupling with exploitation is not effective. We contribute to the extant literature, first, by disentangling the interaction effects of exploitation and exploration on radical and incremental innovation performance, respectively. Second, we extend extant literature that agrees that maintaining an appropriate balance of exploitation and exploration is critical for innovation performance and that has conceptualized this balance as symmetrical presence and magnitude of exploitation and exploration. In particular, we provide evidence in support of an asymmetric relationship.     

A model of the adoption of radio frequency identification technology: The case of logistics service firms

Globalization and advances in information technology represent both realities and opportunities for enterprises in the 21st century. This paper aims to broaden understanding of service innovation as a critical organizational capability through which the adoption of information technology influences firm performance. This study examines how the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology influences the operational performance of logistics service firms. We develop the RFID adoption model based on the interorganizational information systems (IOS) view of the firm that integrates the various strands of research into the framework. The study draws from the related information technology and interorganizational information systems literatures to explore organizational factors associated with the adoption of RFID. A model of the associations between information technology and interorganizational information systems use, social support, power structure, organizational readiness, procedural flexibility, and top management support is developed, and hypotheses are advanced about the relationships among these constructs. An empirical survey was conducted among 500 logistics service firms in Taiwan. A total of 131 valid observations were analyzed using the partial least squares technique. Results showed that RFID adoption has positive effects on business practices, which in turn improves operational performance. We address the value of certain interactive firm behaviors in RFID adoption and identify related constructs of RFID adoption in terms of their efficiency and value for logistics service firms. These results have implications for both education and practice.     

Complementary effects of clusters and networks on firm innovation: A conceptual model

We develop a conceptual model that explains how a firm's cluster and network complement each other in enhancing the firm's likelihood of technological innovations. We identify critical innovation catalysts-awareness and motivation—and innovation barriers—resource constraints, organizational rigidity, and uncertainty. Our conceptual model explains how various factors in the cluster such as competitive intensity, social interaction intensity, and cluster vitality and network factors such as resource potential, acquisition orientation, co-development orientation, and network vitality impact innovation catalysts and barriers and subsequently the firm's likelihood of generating incremental and breakthrough innovations. We discuss several promising avenues for future research.