Non-R&D Innovation Patterns in Chinese SMEs: An Empirical Study from Zhejiang Province

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (06) ◽  
pp. 1640014
Author(s):  
Gang Zheng ◽  
Yanting Guo ◽  
Yajuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Zhejiang Province ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Marketing Innovation ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Innovation Patterns ◽  
Policy Incentives

During the last few decades, research and development (R&D) have always been regarded as the most important or even the only factor in the attempt to explain the innovation capability and performance of enterprises, industries and economies, while to a large extent, those heterogeneous innovation activities beyond formal R&D are ignored or underestimated. Some research has shown that non-R&D innovation activities contribute to make full use of resources beyond R&D to promote performance, especially to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with weak R&D capability. However, non-R&D innovators’ behavior is still a black box by far, and especially few empirical research have been conducted in China context. This paper first explores the heterogeneous innovation patterns of non-R&D innovation by survey among Chinese SMEs in Zhejiang Province. It shows that, product and service customization, imitation and design, technology adoption and incremental modification, organizational innovation and marketing innovation are the main patterns of non-R&D innovation in China. Then, a case study is followed to cross-validate the patterns and relationships between non-R&D innovation and growth of SMEs in China. Generally, this study has implications for both academia and policy-makers. As it demonstrates, non-R&D innovation is an effective way for SMEs to quickly grow and sustain competitiveness in competition. On the other hand, this study helps to optimize some of current innovation policies for SMEs in China, where policy incentives are mainly R&D-focused. It also likely sheds light on the SMEs in other emerging economies.

scholarly journals Measuring radical innovation project success: typical metrics don’t work

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimmi Normann Kristiansen ◽  
Paavo Ritala
Keyword(s):  
Radical Innovation ◽  
Incremental Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Firms ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Innovation Projects ◽  
Innovation Project ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Depth Interviews

Purpose Firms frequently struggle with measuring the performance of their radical innovation activities. Due to the uncertainty and ambiguity involved, key performance indicators (KPIs) used for incremental innovation projects are often not useful in this context. The purpose of this paper is to explore suitable KPIs particularly useful for radical innovation projects. Design/methodology/approach This study first reviews commonly used measures for innovation projects, which is then followed by case-study evidence from three industry-leading international firms. This study includes 13 in-depth interviews with innovation managers and directors in these firms, providing insights on how they measure the progress and performance of radical innovation projects. Findings KPIs used commonly in incremental innovation showed lackluster results in the case firms and were problematic for radical innovation context. A key finding was that radical innovation project performance should be evaluated based on the process rather than on the expected outcome. Concurrently, based on the literature review and the cases, three sets of KPIs with 13 specific KPIs useful for radical innovation projects are proposed. Originality/value The paper addresses a core challenge in using established KPIs in a radical innovation context. The paper gathers and synthesizes a range of measurement points suitable for radical innovation projects and provides specific suggestions for appropriate metrics that innovation managers can use.

Pro-innovation restructuring strategy: case study of a multipurpose public organization in health

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Patrícia Santos Cavalheiro Silva ◽  
Marcos Filgueiras Jorge ◽  
Branca Regina Cantisano dos Santos e Silva Riscado Terra ◽  
Jorge De Abreu Soares ◽  
João Alberto Neves dos Santos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Intangible Assets ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Restructuring Strategy ◽  
Na Effect ◽  
And Performance

The aim of this article is to measure the effect on performance, of the innovation in the organizational structure of the laboratories for clinical research associated with healthcare in infectious diseases of the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI) at Fiocruz in 2007, na effect herein identified as representative of the corporate intangible assets resulting from such restructuring strategy. The method consists, first, in the analysis of the literature about the measurement of intangible assets and organizational innovation, the potential effects of organization�s structure in performance, and the assessment of multipurpose public organizations in health, as sources of the basic notion on relations between intangible assets, organizational structure and performance which is used in this research. Next, the empirical research involves: (a) characterizing the change in organizational structure of 8 INI laboratories; (b) quantifying variables on the use of consumer goods and specialized personnel and on the production of teaching, research and health care; (c) calculating indicators about the development of relative technical efficiency of INI laboratories in the period 2002-2014, through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA); and (d) using these indicators to compare the performance of these laboratories before and after the organizational innovation associated with the adoption of the Innovative Structure in their restructuring. As a contribution to knowledge, opens up prospects of collaborative research in Administration, Accounting and Economics for the development of a metric for organizational innovation. As management contribution, confirms the association between restructuring of INI laboratories as Innovative Organizations and their improvement in performance. Although the case study method imposes limitations to the generalizability of these results, mainly because there are no sufficient multipurpose organizations that use this methodology in performance assessment, it brings evidence on the potential benefit of the entrepreneurial-oriented innovation for the expansion and improvement of multipurpose public organizations.

scholarly journals The effects of innovation on firm performance of supporting industries in Hanoi, Vietnam

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nham Tuan ◽  
Nguyen Nhan ◽  
Pham Giang ◽  
Nguyen Ngoc
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Reliability Factor ◽  
Innovative Performance ◽  
Marketing Innovation ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
The Impact

Purpose: Innovation, including product, process, marketing, and organizational innovation within a firm, is considered as one of essential component for surviving and growing. These innovation activities create value and competitive advantages for successful organizations; therefore, understanding the organization’s overall innovation is the first and foremost to understand the role of innovation on firm performance. The objective of this research is to explore two parts: the impacts of innovation on the different aspect of innovation performance, then their effects to firm performance (production, market, and financial performance).Design/methodology/approach: This study uses primary data from questionnaire survey. The questionnaire involves 4 parts including general information, innovation activities; innovative performance, and firm performance. This research focuses on firms in supporting industries of mechanics, electronics, motorbike and automobile. These firms are in a list of companies (known as The Excellent Vietnamese Companies in Northern and Central Vietnam) established by JETRO and VCCI. There are 150 firms in this list. The questionnaire survey was administered to directors, CEO of those firms during April and May, 2014. Out of the 150 questionnaires sent out, 118 were valid, accounting for 78.7% of the true response rate. Analysis methodologies of reliability, factor analysis and regression are utilized in this paper.Findings: The result demonstrated there are positive effects of process, marketing, and organizational innovations on firm performance in supporting firms. More specifically, the higher the level of innovation activities is, the greater the innovative performance is, which means the larger level of Process, organization and marketing innovation activities are, the higher level of innovative performance are likely to be. Secondly, the higher level of Process, organization and marketing innovative performance, the better level of firm performances is likely to be. To sum up, in order to improve the innovative and firm performance, those firms in supporting industry should highly concentrate on process, marketing, and organizational innovation activities, rather than product innovation activities.Originality/value: Initially, this study applies successfully the model which supposing innovation is a process, then clarifying innovation definition through the impact of innovation activities on innovative performances. Secondly, this research confirmed the positive impact of innovative performances on firm performances. It provided one more empirical evidence of the relationship between innovation and firm performance. For practitioners, organizational innovation and process innovation are more important factors affecting innovative performance and firm performance than product and marketing innovation. Therefore, enterprises should focus and mobilize resources to create improvement in organizational structure and manufacturing processes.

Benchmarking of Singapore maritime cluster: the role of cluster facilitators

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahrin Osman ◽  
Balan Sundarakani ◽  
Torger Reve
Keyword(s):  
Case Study Research ◽  
Maritime Industry ◽  
Research Institutions ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cluster Development ◽  
Innovation Activities

PurposeThis article analyses the role of cluster facilitators in the Singapore maritime cluster. Singapore has been recognised for its pro-business policies and its ability to attract international shipping companies to set up the ship ownership headquarters and ship management activities in Singapore.Design/methodology/approachThe research is an empirical investigation on the approach for industrial cluster development of the Singapore maritime cluster, using the case study research methodology. The case study approach leverages on multiple sources of evidence from deep interviews (of 24 Singaporean firms and 13 Norwegian firms) related observations, documentation and archival records. As a means of contributing to the cluster renewal process, Singapore as the country embarks on the next stage of maritime cluster development, a benchmarking against the Norwegian Innovation Cluster has been incorporated.FindingsThe research findings reveals that Singapore is lacking in innovation activities that entails multi-firms collaborations and collaboration between multi-firms and research institutions. The existence of cluster organisation to facilitate collaborations between firms in the cluster and between firms in the cluster with research institutions is another contributing factor that are not institutionalised in the Singapore maritime cluster.Research limitations/implicationsThough the research is grounded primarily on the international business theory, particularly from firm- and country-specific advantages of location decisions, the economic geography theory and cluster theory also complement the theoretical grounding.Practical implicationsThe findings derived from this research aim to facilitate policy makers, maritime leaders and practitioners to develop effective courses of action in current and future maritime industry development.Originality/valueThe research provides value to maritime industry stakeholders, maritime leaders and policy makers in their firm positioning strategy. Thus, the research adds values to the maritime industry with similar country perspectives and firm values for developing policies.

scholarly journals Stakeholder engagement in intra- and inter-organizational innovation

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia M. Jonas ◽  
Julian Boha ◽  
David Sörhammar ◽  
Kathrin M. Moeslein
Keyword(s):  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Service Ecosystems ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Service Ecosystem ◽  
Over Time

Purpose To further extend the understanding of multidimensional engagement of stakeholders embedded in service systems, the purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents that constitute stakeholder engagement in inter-organizational service ecosystems where stakeholders co-create innovations over time. Design/methodology/approach An explorative, longitudinal case study design is employed to analyze stakeholders’ engagement in co-innovation in an inter-organizational service system in an engineering context. Findings The study identifies eight antecedents for stakeholder engagement in innovation in the context of a B2B environment. Building on related engagement research, the empirical data show how stakeholder engagement is influenced at both individual and organizational levels by the antecedents friendship, common experiences, self-representation, trust, a common goal, resource dependency, level in the hierarchy, institutional arrangements, and local proximity. Originality/value The paper extends current understanding of engagement and illuminates stakeholder engagement on a micro level, addressing four key issues for stakeholder engagement in a service ecosystem. How can stakeholder engagement be maintained over time? Does stakeholder engagement at specific hierarchical levels enhance or hinder inter-organizational co-innovation? Is strong engagement necessary for innovation activities? Are the different engagement antecedents linked?

scholarly journals Knowledge Creation, Innovation and Financial Performance of Firms: Evidence from Vietnam

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thang V. Nguyen ◽  
Anh T. T. Phan ◽  
Mai T. T. Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Knowledge Creation ◽  
Product Innovation ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Marketing Innovation ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Innovation Product ◽  
Institutional Uncertainty

<p>Drawing on the knowledge-based perspective and Nonaka’s theory of knowledge creation, this study proposes a model linking firms’ knowledge creation, innovation, and financial performance. The model is tested in a sample of 529 Vietnamese firms. The results show that firms’ knowledge creation has significant impacts on three out of four types of innovation, including product innovation, organizational innovation, and marketing innovation.  Product innovation is also found to contribute significantly to the firm’s financial performance. The results improve our understanding of innovation at the firm level under institutional uncertainty and resource-deficiency and provide some important implications for managers and policy makers. </p>

Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Through Microfinance - A Case of Rural Bangladesh

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Saida Parvin
Keyword(s):  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Donor Agencies ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

Women’s empowerment has been at the centre of research focus for many decades. Extant literature examined the process, outcome and various challenges. Some claimed substantial success, while others contradicted with evidence of failure. But the success remains a matter of debate due to lack of empirical evidence of actual empowerment of women around the world. The current study aimed to address this gap by taking a case study method. The study critically evaluates 20 cases carefully sampled to include representatives from the entire country of Bangladesh. The study demonstrates popular beliefs about microfinance often misguide even the borrowers and they start living in a fabricated feeling of empowerment, facing real challenges to achieve true empowerment in their lives. The impact of this finding is twofold; firstly there is a theoretical contribution, where the definition of women’s empowerment is proposed to be revisited considering findings from these cases. And lastly, the policy makers at governmental and non-governmental organisations, and multinational donor agencies need to revise their assessment tools for funding.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document