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Innovative Capabilities (innovative + capability)
Selected AbstractsThe Impact of Technological Opportunities and Innovative Capabilities on Firms' Output InnovationCREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2003María J. Oltra In this study, we analyse the effect that external sources of knowledge and absorptive capacity exert on a firm's output innovation. In addition, we examine the moderating influence of absorptive capacity on the effect that technological opportunities have on output innovation. Empirical research was carried out on a sample of 91 Spanish firms from the ceramic tile industry. Absorptive capacity is operationalized by ,systematic or continuous R&D' and output innovation by ,percentage of sales from new products'. Technological opportunities are divided into several industry and non-industry related variables. Our results show the positive effect that both the industry's technological opportunities and a systematic approach to R&D exert on output innovation. Moreover, firms with a systematic approach to R&D usually achieve higher innovation output than firms which do not follow this approach. The innovation results of this second group decrease as a result of embedded technology acquisition. [source] Innovation and Regional Growth in the Enlarged Europe: The Role of Local Innovative Capabilities, Peripherality, and EducationGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2005RICCARDO CRESCENZI ABSTRACT In this paper, a formal model for the relationship between innovation and growth in European Union regions is developed drawing upon the theoretical contribution of the systems of innovation approach. The model combines the analytical approach of the regional growth models with the insights of the systemic approach. The cross-sectional analysis, covering all the Enlarged Europe (EU-25) regions (for which data are available), shows that regional innovative activities (for which a specific measure is developed) play a significant role in determining differential regional growth patterns. Furthermore, the model sheds light on how geographical accessibility and human capital accumulation, by shaping the regional system of innovation, interact (in a statistically significant way) with local innovative activities, thus allowing them to be more (or less) effectively translated into economic growth. The paper shows that an increase in innovative effort is not necessarily likely to produce the same effect in all EU-25 regions. Indeed, the empirical analysis suggests that in order to allow innovative efforts in peripheral regions to be as productive as in core areas, they need to be complemented by huge investments in human capital. [source] External Sources of Innovative Capabilities: The Preferences for Strategic Alliances or Mergers and AcquisitionsJOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 2 2002John Hagedoorn This paper explores the preferences that companies have as they use alternative (quasi) external sources of innovative competencies such as strategic technology alliances, mergers and acquisitions, or a mix of these. These alternatives are studied in the context of distinct industrial, technological and international settings during the first half of the 1990s. Different strategies followed by companies and the role played by routinized sets of preferences are also taken into consideration. The analysis demonstrates that these options are influenced by both different environmental conditions and firm specific circumstances, such as those related to protecting core businesses. [source] Life-Cycle Flexibility: How to Measure and Improve the Innovative Capability in Turbulent Environments,THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2006Tommaso Buganza Managing innovation in rapidly moving environments, such as Interned-based services, is a major challenge for the consolidated theories on product and service development. The innovation management literature identifies flexibility as the right way for coping with these challenges. By increasing the development process flexibility, it is possible to reduce the development time as well as the time and cost needed for last-minute concept changes. But this is not enough. The product or service must also be flexible after it has been released: A life-cycle flexibility (LCF) must be pursued. Focused on the Italian on-line discount brokers industry, this article is a result of a two-staged research process that started with a qualitative explorative phase (i.e., case-study methodology) and ended with a quantitative explorative one (i.e., questionnaire methodology). It identifies three different LCF dimensions,frequency of adaptation, rapidity of adaptation, and quality of adaptation,and it defines a metric for each of them. Subsequently, it identifies five managerial and organizational practices that increase at least one of the three LCF dimensions: (1) to manage the back-end technological competences; (2) to share the front-end technological competences with external suppliers; (3) to utilize open and standard technologies; (4) to have a low formalization of the new service development (NSD) procedures; and (5) to have high formalization of the NSD organization. [source] Knowledge as a mediator between HRM practices and innovative activityHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2009Alvaro Lopez-Cabrales Abstract The objective of this paper is to test how human resources management (HRM) practices and employees' knowledge influence the development of innovative capabilities and, by extension, a firm's performance. Results confirm that HRM practices are not directly associated with innovation unless they take into account employees' knowledge. Specifically, our analyses establish a mediating role for the uniqueness of knowledge between collaborative HRM practices and innovative activity, a positive influence of knowledge-based HRM practices on valuable knowledge, and a positive contribution of innovations to the company's profit. We tested hypotheses in a sample of firms from the most innovative Spanish industries through structural equation modeling. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The Elusive Underpinnings of U.S. Venturesomeness (If Not Prosperity),JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 2 2009Amar Bhidé This article explores the question of how the U.S. economy has managed to maintain (or even increase) its lead over other nations in per capita income and the average productivity of its workforce. The answer provided in the author's recent book is that such productivity depends on the greater willingness and effectiveness of U.S. consumers and businesses in making use of innovations in products and business processes. But this begs the question: What accounts for the increase in the innovative capabilities or effectiveness of U.S. consumers and businesses, both over time and relative to that of their global counterparts? After starting with the conventional "supply-side" focus on low taxes, limited regulatory barriers, and strong property rights, the author goes on to shift the main emphasis to the following six "institutional" contributors to U.S. prosperity: ,Breadth of participation: the modern U.S. economy draws, to a greater extent than either its global competitors or the U.S. of a century ago, on the contributions of far more individuals both as developers and as users of new products. ,Organizational diversity and specialization: the evolution of new forms of organization in the U.S., from small venture capital-backed firms to huge public corporations with dispersed ownership, has enabled the system to use the contributions of many individuals more effectively. ,Changes in common beliefs and attitudes: greater receptiveness to technological change has accelerated the adoption of new products in all countries, but especially in the U.S. ,Increased pressure for growth: the "grow or die" imperative faced by U.S. businesses has encouraged them to look for help from new technologies. ,The professionalization of management and sales functions,a distinctively U.S. phenomenon whose beginnings can be traced to IBM in the 1920s,has improved the capacity of modern U.S. organizations to develop markets and use new products. ,The expansion of higher education, to a far greater extent in the U.S. than elsewhere, has increased the supply of individuals with habits and attitudes that improve their ability to develop and use innovations. [source] The value of a ,failed' R&D project: an emerging evaluation framework for building innovative capabilities1R & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2009Maria Elmquist In literature and R&D organizations alike, project success consists in minimizing the deviations from set targets in terms of quality, cost and time. The main management task is to execute and monitor progress to reduce risks , assuming that project attributes are known, necessary resources can be estimated and a reasonable time table can be agreed upon. In such a context, evaluating project success is easy. However, in an innovative context, setting project targets initially is difficult and the contributions of the projects sometimes are of an unexpected nature. This paper investigates if projects can be evaluated in terms of how they contribute to the building of innovative capabilities of the firm instead of independently. Based on a case study at the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisians and the theoretical framework of innovation fields, a framework for evaluating projects from an additional perspective is proposed. Based on the following four criteria: financial resources, the development of a structured, refined and expanded strategic vision, developed competences (with related suppliers) and identification of knowledge gaps (occasionally with related partners for knowledge production), this framework shows how seemingly failed R&D projects can instead be considered as invaluable to the overall innovation process. [source] Social networks and a new venture's innovative capability: the role of trust within entrepreneurial teamsR & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008Ming-Huei Chen This paper examines the effects of social networks and trust on a new venture's innovative capability. The concept of social networks is studied as the configuration of internal and external social networks for entrepreneurial team members. This study collected information about 112 technology-based entrepreneurial teams from the 65 research-based incubators in Taiwan. The results indicate that both internal and external social networks have marginally positive impacts on a new venture's innovative capability, and trust within the entrepreneurial teams is found to be as important a moderator for the relationship between external social networks and innovative capability. Moreover, results reveal that a higher level of trust between entrepreneurial team members can reduce the external social networks spanning the boundaries of the new venture and therefore may cause a ,not invented here' syndrome which will reduce its innovative capability. [source] | ||||||||||