Process Innovations (process + innovation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Adoption of a Process Innovation with Learning-by-Doing: Evidence from the Semiconductor Industry

THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2001
Ricardo Cabral
This article analyzes the adoption of a new process technology in the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. The paper extends research on the relationship between learning-by-doing and technology adoption by examining the stability of learning effects across technological generations. While the results indicate that production experience with the immediately preceding technological generation is associated with a higher likelihood of adoption, we find no evidence that experience with older technologies or regional knowledge spillovers influence adoption. Finally, the results indicate that large firms and memory manufacturers have a higher likelihood of adoption than small firms and non-memory manufacturers, respectively. [source]


Process and product innovation: A differential game approach to product life cycle

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 2 2010
Luca Lambertini
C73; D43; D92; O31 We investigate the timing of adoption of product and process innovation using a differential game where firms may invest in both activities. We consider horizontal product innovation that reduces product substitutability, and process innovation that reduces marginal cost. First, we demonstrate that the incentive for cost-reducing investment is relatively higher than the incentive to increase product differentiation. Second, depending on initial conditions: (i) firms activate both types of investment from the very outset to the steady state; (ii) firms initially invest in only one R&D activity and then reach the steady state either carrying out only this activity or carrying out both; or (iii) firms do not invest at all in either type of innovation. Comparing R&D investments under Cournot and Bertrand behavior shows that quantity competition entails lower R&D incentives than price competition in both directions. [source]


Strategic Groups of EU Food Manufacturers

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2000
W. Bruce Traill
Strategic groups of food manufacturers are derived using factor and cluster analysis applied to a survey of European food manufacturers. The aim is to obtain groupings of businesses that are meaningful for industry and policy analysis. Eight strategic groups are derived and profiled. The sources of competitive advantage of the businesses in the eight groups are assessed in relation to expected developments in the European food industry and the implications for industry and policy analysis are introduced. For example, businesses that have developed competencies in international sales linked either to product or process innovation appear better placed than those relying on local or national brand strategies. Countries with a large share of the former types of firms (e.g., Denmark) are better placed than countries with a large share of the latter types (e.g., Finland). [source]


Understanding the Inputs into Innovation: Do Cities Substitute for Internal Firm Resources?

JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT STRATEGY, Issue 2 2008
Chris Forman
We examine whether there is a trade-off between employing internal (firm) resources and purchased external (local) resources in process innovation. We draw on a rich dataset of Internet investments by 86,879 US establishments to examine decisions to invest in advanced Internet technology. We show that the marginal contribution of internal resources is greater outside of a major urban area than inside one. Agglomeration is less important for firms with highly capable IT workers. When firms invest in innovative processes they act as if resources available in cities are partial substitutes for both establishment-level and firm-level internal resources. [source]


Product and process innovation in biopharmaceuticals: a new perspective on development

R & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006
Lisa P. L. Lim
Developing new products and processes is increasingly a focal point of competition and often requires the development and successful implementation of novel process technologies. The process development and production of a new biological entity are significantly more complex than those for small molecule drugs. Conventional new product development models in the literature on firm level innovation fail to explain the nature of development projects for biopharmaceuticals. This paper makes the case that a new perspective is required to understand the management of product and process development in biopharmaceuticals. An explanatory model is proposed for this purpose. [source]


Managing learning in informal innovation networks: overcoming the Daphne-dilemma

R & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2000
Joan E. Van Aken
In this article we discuss the nature and productivity of informal innovation networks, i.e. informal collaborative arrangements between organizations engaged in product or process innovation. Such networks can be used in any phase of the innovation process, but their informal nature makes them especially suited for its fuzzy front end. We explore their potential in technology exchange and learning on the basis of a combination of organization network theory and knowledge management theory. We discuss issues in network governance and network operational management and discuss the basic dilemma , which we named the Daphne-dilemma , facing attempts to improve the productivity of informal innovation networks: too little management effort may lead to under-exploitation of their potential and poor productivity, but too much management effort may destroy their informal nature and hence their creative and explorative potential. [source]


Selling licences for a process innovation: the impact of the product market on the selling mechanism

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2008
Aniruddha Bagchi
Abstract., This article considers the sale by a research lab of licences for a cost-reducing innovation. The marginal cost of a firm that wins a licence is private information and the acquisition of a licence imposes a negative externality on the other firms. The lab's optimal revenue is determined from a class of mechanisms in which the lab selects the number of licences and the reserve price before the sale. The role of the downstream product market in the determination of the number of licences is analyzed. Furthermore, it is also shown that the optimal reserve price may be zero. Ce mémoire étudie la vente par un laboratoire de recherche de licences pour l'utilisation d'une innovation qui réduit les coûts. Le coût marginal de la firme qui obtient la licence est une information qui demeure privée, et cette acquisition impose un effet externe négatif sur les autres firmes. Le revenu optimal du laboratoire est déterminé par le choix qu'il fait dans une classe de mécanismes: le laboratoire peut choisir le nombre de licences qu'il émettra et le prix le plus bas auquel il est prêt à vendre. On analyse le rôle de la nature du marché du produit en aval sur le nombre de licences. On montre aussi que le prix optimal auquel on voudra vendre peut être zéro. [source]


The determinants of environmental innovation: the impacts of environmental policies on the Nordic pulp, paper and packaging industries

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 2 2007
Paula Kivimaa
Abstract Innovations may have positive societal effects such as improved environmental performance, and they are often portrayed as solutions to environmental problems. However, the mechanisms through which innovations develop and the ways in which public incentives support improved environmental performance of innovations are complex. This paper uses empirical cases to examine how environmental policies, market factors and technological push affect process and product innovations in the Nordic pulp, paper and packaging industries. The results show that environmental improvements in technologies and products are simultaneously driven by all three of these factors. Environmental innovations are often developed in anticipation of future policy or as side-effects of existing policies. However, while environmental policy directly influences process innovations, its connection to product innovations is less clear. The study points towards the importance of gradually tightening and predictable environmental policies that are flexible enough to allow the exploration of new technological developments. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


Spatial Agglomeration, Technological Innovations, and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Italian Industrial Districts

GROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2008
GIULIO CAINELLI
ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact on firms' productivity of innovative activities and agglomeration effects among firms belonging to Marshallian industrial districts and the possible joint effect of these two forces. We study a sample of 2,821 firms active in the Italian manufacturing industry in the period 1992,1995. Our analysis uses an original data set based on three different Istituto Nazionale di Statistica statistical sources,Community Innovation Survey, Archivio Statistico delle Imprese Attive (Italian Business Register), and Sistema dei Conti delle Imprese (Italian Structural Business Statistics),to estimate an "augmented" Cobb-Douglas production function to account for the impact of technological innovations and district-specific agglomeration effects on a firm's productivity growth. Our data set allows us to distinguish between product and process innovations, thus, through econometric analysis, we hope to achieve a better understanding of which of these two types of innovative activities benefits most from participation in an industrial district. Our empirical results show that belonging to an industrial district and making product innovations are key factors in the productivity growth of firms and that product innovations appear to have a greater effect on the economic performance of district rather than non-district firms. [source]


Innovation is not enough: climates for initiative and psychological safety, process innovations, and firm performance

JOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 1 2003
Markus Baer
This paper contributes to the discussion on contingencies of process innovations by focusing on and introducing organizational-level constructs of climate for initiative and psychological safety. We argue that process innovations, defined as deliberate and new organizational attempts to change production and service processes, need to be accompanied by climates that complement the adoption and implementation of such innovations. Our study of 47 mid-sized German companies examines the relation between process innovations, climates for initiative and psychological safety, and firm performance. Results show that climates for initiative and psychological safety were positively related to two measures of firm performance,longitudinal change in return on assets (holding prior return on assets constant) and firm goal achievement,and moderated the relation between process innovations and firm performance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Fueling Innovation through Information Technology in SMEs,

JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008
Clay Dibrell
This paper describes a study that investigates the mediating effects of information technology (IT) on the relationships among product and process innovations and firm performance (measured in multiple profitability and growth rate metrics). Using structural equation modeling on a sample of 397 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we find evidence that (1) increases on the strategic emphasis placed on innovation, both product and process, positively impact the prominence managers place on IT; (2) the impact of innovation (both product and process) on performance (both profitability and growth) is primarily indirect, felt via the mechanism of the importance managers place on IT; and (3) an increased emphasis on IT abets managers' perception of their firms' performance, as compared with that observed among peer firms (other SMEs). [source]


Paths to deutero-learning through successive process simulations: a case study

KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 4 2004
Päivi Haho
This paper discusses the dynamic interaction between organizational learning processes and their outcomes in the context of innovative business process development and change projects in a pharmaceutical company. Through the answers to the research questions, I wish to demonstrate the paths to deutero-learning, which seldom can be empirically identified in an organization. The paper uses notions of strategic, operational and cultural outcomes,including their intangible and tangible manifestations,to explain different results in organizational learning processes. From 1998 to 1999, the pharmaceutical case company applied an evolutionary, process simulation-based business process development method. This method was used to invent and implement business process innovations in the New Product Development process, to shorten the time-to-market of its new medical entities. Successive process simulations guided and focused the business process development and actions on the strategically most valuable areas. The process simulations prepared the organization for the change, and promoted the implementation of the process outcomes. The successive simulations have triggered and thereafter sustained individual and organizational learning. Thus, they have accelerated organizational learning processes and the development of knowledge and innovations. The case demonstrates efficient deutero-learning, enabled through empowered successive process simulations. The results indicate that development projects are more successful, if there are intangible learning outcomes and systemic process learning at the early stages of the project. This also supports double-loop learning in the business process development project and assists changes in norms to occur. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Corporate intentions to participate in emission trading

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 1 2007
Jonatan Pinkse
Abstract The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 has led to increasing business interest in the issue of climate change. It has also created much uncertainty for companies, particularly about the role of trading in realizing emission reductions. This paper investigates what drives multinational corporations to show interest in emission trading and carbon offset projects to deal with climate change. On the basis of an analysis of data of 136 companies derived from a questionnaire, it also examines the role that country of origin, industry affiliation and companies' environmental strategy play in this regard. Findings show that industry pressure and product and process innovations are the main determinants for multinational corporations to participate in the emission market. It appears that climate policy particularly induces energy-related industries to reduce emissions, which puts them ahead of other industries with regard to their interest in emission trading. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]