scholarly journals Innovation in the Business Sector: Where There's a Will There's a Way. Managers’ Perception of Science and R&D and Firms’ Engagement in Innovation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesús Rey-Rocha ◽  
M. Isabel González-Bravo ◽  
Irene López-Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Business Sector ◽  
Scientific Culture ◽  
Innovation Research ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Corporate Innovation ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Towards Science ◽  
The Way

This research considers the hypothesis that firms’ propensity to undertake innovation activities is linked to variables related to their perception of science, their appraisal of the benefits and risks of R&D investing, and their attitude towards the role science plays within the firm, besides their economic and structural characteristics. We explore an empirical approach to studying the implications of managers’ perceptions and attitudes towards science and R&D on firms’ engagement in innovation. Research is based on the survey ‘Scientific culture, perception and attitudes towards science and innovation in the business sector’. Results evidence that corporate innovation decisions are not just a matter of money, and confirms the combined effect of a firm’s economic characteristics and perception of science on innovation engagement. Results confirm that managers’ attitude towards science and R&D is related to firms’ commitment to innovation, suggesting that their attitudes and behaviour in relation to science and investment in R&D should be given a more prominent role in S&T and innovation studies and in developing models of innovation in the future. This study provides some important implications for the management of innovation in the business sector. It stresses that innovation is related with managers having a perception of science and R&D that paves the way for the allocation of a firm’s resources to activities oriented towards knowledge generation and innovation. The results obtained here are still important regarding the way to address possible initiatives aimed at encouraging innovation in the business sector.

Knowledge Management: Case Studies in SMEs and Evaluation of an Integrated Approach

2005 ◽  
Vol 04 (02) ◽  
pp. 95-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan Yew Wong ◽  
Elaine Aspinwall
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Business Sector ◽  
Integrated Framework ◽  
Implementation Effort ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
The Way

To date, very few publications have been found that describe how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are adopting knowledge management (KM). The same is true concerning attempts to develop a framework to help them implement it. To redress this, this paper presents the results of four case studies conducted in UK SMEs to examine their KM implementation effort. In addition, a new integrated framework developed by the authors was evaluated to determine its applicability in this business sector. The methodology employed to conduct the studies is described and each of the cases is then presented. The results are analysed and key lessons or findings gathered from the companies are highlighted. Comments received from the companies with respect to the integrated framework were positive and favourable. It is hoped that the information accrued from the case studies, together with the integrated framework, will help to pave the way for SMEs to accomplish KM.

MAPPING THE PERCEPTION AND REALITY OF OPEN INNOVATION

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (06) ◽  
pp. 1340016 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUSTYNA DĄBROWSKA ◽  
IRINA FIEGENBAUM ◽  
ANTERO KUTVONEN
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Innovation Research ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Current State ◽  
Business Practitioners ◽  
The Right ◽  
Innovation Practices ◽  
Innovation Processes

Open innovation holds great potential for improving the efficiency of companies' innovation processes, but also presents substantial risks. A key issue in innovation management is finding the right balance of openness, i.e., determining how open companies should be in their innovation activities. However, academics and business practitioners hold conflicting notions of what constitutes open innovation practice and of how "open innovation companies" are defined. In this paper, we present three in-depth case studies of global R&D-intensive companies, where we find that the firms' perception of their openness differs from their actual situation (as determined by the innovation practices that they apply), and that each company has a different view as to what constitutes open innovation. We claim that resolving conceptual ambiguity and differentiating between openness (as a philosophical aspect) and open innovation (as a way of structuring the innovation process) in research is critical in order to clarify the current state of open innovation research and enable the communication of results to practitioners.

scholarly journals The Ethical Experience of Nature: Aristotle and the Roots of Ecological Phenomenology

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan B. Van der Schyff
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Deep Ecology ◽  
Scientific Culture ◽  
Environmental Challenges ◽  
Moral Meaning ◽  
Ethical Experience ◽  
The Way

I demonstrate here how Aristotle's teleological conception of nature has been largely misunderstood in the scientific age and I consider what his view might offer us with regard to the environmental challenges we face in the 21st century. I suggest that in terms of coming to an ethical understanding of the creatures and things that constitute the ecosystem, Aristotle offers a welcome alternative to the rather instrumental conception of the natural world and low estimation of subjective experience our contemporary techno-scientific culture espouses. Among other things, I consider how his conception of orexis and eudaimonia (happiness or, as I prefer here, "the flourishing life") might be extended to include the eco-system itself, thus allowing us to better understand the moral meaning of nature. I conclude with a look at the way in which modern phenomenology re-addresses the fundamental Greek concern with ontology, meaning and human authenticity. I consider the ways in which phenomenology reasserts the value of direct human experience that was so important to Aristotle; and I consider how this view, and that of Deep ecology, may help us to experience nature - and all of Being for that matter - in a more authentic, meaningful and altogether ethical light.

scholarly journals Be Green to Be Innovative: The Role of Government Subsidies

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingbo Xu ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Ruihui Pu ◽  
Yonghui Xu
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Industrial Firms ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Market Strategy ◽  
Institutional Legitimacy ◽  
Government Subsidies ◽  
Environmental Investment ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Corporate Innovation

Corporate environmental investment has long been recognized as a non-market strategy that helps secure both economic and social benefits. However, we know much less about how environmental investment affects corporate innovation. We argue that investment in environmental protection is an important source of institutional legitimacy for firms to secure government resources, thus providing financial support for corporate innovation activities. Using a sample of Chinese industrial firms, we find that firms investing more in environmental protection can receive more government subsidies and then have better innovation performance. This study emphasizes the mechanism of government resources, which enriches our understanding of the effect of environmental investment on corporate innovation.

Neoliberal Platform Capitalism and Subjectivity

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 795-808
Author(s):  
Fábio Luís Ferreira Nóbrega Franco
Keyword(s):  
Labor Relations ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Application Software ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Software Companies ◽  
Peripheral Areas ◽  
The Way

Across the globe, algorithmic technologies have undeniably altered the way labor relations are governed. The purpose of this article is to investigate a particular manifestation of that phenomenon: how, in Brazil, platform capitalism consists in a hybrid rationality whose control over the sphere of work combines new mechanisms of governance with structural characteristics that are particular to a type of precarious work commonly found in peripheral areas of Brazil, known as viração. While such a scenario presents us with a multitude of aspects worthy of consideration, this article focusese on the apparatuses for the psychic management of workers deployed by platform capitalism in Brazil. Within this scope, the article develops a double analysis: first, it examines the forms of subjectivity and the libidinal economy of Brazilian peripheral workers, with a particular emphasis on how certain of their characteristics have been subordinated, controlled, exploited, and ultimately disseminated by application software companies in Brazil; second, and conversely, it evaluates how the form of subjectivity associated with platform capitalism has, through the neoliberal discourse of self-entrepreneurship, impacted viração.

Elaborations

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Suk-Young Chwe
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
The One ◽  
Influence Behavior ◽  
The Way

This chapter begins by describing two competing kinds of explanations to the one offered in the preceding chapter. The first is the way in which rituals are thought to influence behavior through direct psychological stimulation. The second is based on how being physically together in a group of people affects individual emotions. It addresses the question of whether common knowledge is an impossible ideal. It then discusses how publicity—or more precisely, common knowledge generation—and content are never really separable, in contrast to the book's argument that both must be considered in understanding cultural practices such as rituals. The chapter goes on to explain how historical precedent can generate common knowledge and generating community through common knowledge.

Three configurations of corporate innovation programs and their interplay

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kötting ◽  
Andreas Kuckertz
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Strategic Innovation ◽  
Corporate Innovation ◽  
Best Fit

Purpose The success of corporate innovation is based less upon the success of a single innovation program than on a holistic and overarching corporate innovation system integrating various activities. Taking this perspective, the purpose of this paper is to extend existing research on the design of innovation programs. Design/methodology/approach Utilizing an inductive theory-building case study approach, this study provides a detailed analysis of how one of the largest and most successful German technology companies structures its many innovation activities. Findings The analysis identifies key elements of innovation programs and suggests three configurations that illustrate how these generic elements can be structured so as to offer the best fit with the underlying logic of the respective innovation program. Furthermore, this study highlights how the identified configurations come together to deliver overarching strategic innovation goals. Originality/value Existing research too often focuses solely on single innovation programs. The current research is among the first to take a holistic and overarching perspective, considering different innovation programs within a single company and analyzing their configuration and their interplay.

Variety perception and attitude toward digital assortments

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 1353-1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolande Piris ◽  
Nathalie Guibert
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Product Category ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Real Product ◽  
The Way

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ variety perception for online grocery assortments and, more generally, to better understand consumers’ attitude toward digital assortments. In particular, this research examines the influence of the organization of products that results from assortment structure and display. Design/methodology/approach Starting from the observation that previous work on traditional assortments is not sufficient to understand consumers’ perceptions and attitudes, the paper adopts a hypothetico-deductive approach and develops four hypotheses. These hypotheses are tested using an experimental approach. Findings This research enables us to see that both attitude and variety perception are affected by the way products are organized on a website. Furthermore, contrary to what the literature on traditional assortments allows one to assume, the assortment corresponding to a more positive attitude is not perceived as being the more varied. As a result, our findings reconsider the link between variety perception and consumer assortment evaluation for digital assortments. Research limitations/implications The work is based on data collected for only one product category. It would be interesting to explore other categories also, to determine if the structure of the assortment and variety perception have stable effects. Practical implications The results inform retailers that they must carefully design the display of their digital assortments. If a retailer wants to enhance variety perception, the authors recommend using an assortment organized by brand, or presenting all the products together. If, instead, the goal is to encourage a positive attitude, the retailer should opt for assortments sorted by attribute or that present all products together. Originality/value This research adopts a new orientation on assortment perception and evaluation, considering the specificities involved in digitizing assortments. In addition, this research studies a real product category and puts respondents in experimental conditions close to reality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document