Organizational Wisdom and its Impact on Firm Innovation and Performance

This study aims to explore the effects of: (1) the project characteristics of asset specificity, uncertainty and complexity on the performance of, and, the use of formal and social controls in inter-firm innovation projects, and, (2) the use of formal and social controls on the performance of inter-firm innovation projects. In addition, the mediating role of the use of formal and social controls in the relationships between the characteristics and performance of inter-firm innovation projects is also examined. Survey data from 75 organisations in innovation–active industries in Australia were analysed using the structural equation modelling with the Partial Least Square technique. The results show that uncertainty and complexity affected performance of inter-firm innovation projects, but in opposite directions. Higher levels of uncertainty were associated with less use of social controls but higher levels of complexity were partnered with a greater use of both formal and social controls. The use of formal and social controls individually impacted on inter-firm innovation project performance. Finally, the use of formal and social controls played a partial mediating role in the relationships of uncertainty and complexity with inter-firm innovation performance. Responding to gaps in research, this study clarifies that asset specificity may be irrelevant whilst uncertainty and complexity may be highly relevant in the performance of, and, the use of controls in inter-firm innovation projects. The study offers valuable insights into how a complementary use of controls contributes to the performance of inter-firm innovation projects.

Download Full-text

Exploring the effects of slack resources and internationalisation on innovation performance: a study of software development MNCs

10.26686/wgtn.17006017 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Shuai Wang

Keyword(s):

Software Development ◽

International Business ◽

Positive Relationship ◽

Influential Factors ◽

Innovation Performance ◽

Firm Innovation ◽

Slack Resources ◽

International Business Research ◽

And Performance ◽

Slack Resource

<p>Intensive international business research has already been done on knowledge, networking and strategic orientation, with regard to what shapes innovation performance. Looking at the existing achievements, however, it appears that little attention has been devoted to how tangible resources and internationalisation could change firms' innovation performance. To address these research gaps, this thesis intends to incorporate the slack resource theory and multinationality construct into the international business (IB) research of innovation. Through introducing the former, the study seeks to illustrate how slack, yet tangible, resources could change firms' innovation behaviours, decision-making and performance. Through introducing the latter, the study seeks to present how internationalisation could contribute to firms' innovation performance in three conceivable ways. By combining these two theoretical constructs, the study forms a conceptual model and four separate research hypotheses. The hypotheses were tested using the financial data collected from 67 internationalised software development firms. The results showed slack resources and internationalisation to be two highly influential factors that shape firm' innovation performance. In particular, a linear and positive relationship was found between slack resource, high- and low-discretion, and innovation performance. Furthermore, firms' degree of internationalisation (DOI) was found to bear a positive relationship to innovation performance. Lastly, firms' DOI was found to interact positively with high-discretion slack resources in shaping innovation performance. Potential implications of this study could enrich the IB research of innovation, extend the slack resource research of innovation and enrich the multinationality studies of innovation.</p>

Download Full-text

Industry innovation spending and openness to collaboration as levers for firm performance

European Journal of Innovation Management ◽

10.1108/ejim-04-2018-0075 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 617-638 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Luiz Fernando de Paris Caldas ◽

Fabio de Oliveira Paula ◽

T. Diana L. van Aduard de Macedo-Soares

Keyword(s):

Firm Performance ◽

Knowledge Spillovers ◽

Moderating Effect ◽

Firm Innovation ◽

Content Type ◽

Innovation Activities ◽

Industry Collaboration ◽

And Performance ◽

Italian Manufacturing Firms ◽

The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent spending on innovation activities and collaboration at the industry level affects the relationship between firm innovation and performance. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model was proposed and empirically tested using multiple linear regression. The data were obtained from the Community Innovation Survey 2012, composing a sample of 890 Italian manufacturing firms. Findings The results provided full support for the positive moderating effect of intra-industry innovation spending and partial support for the positive moderating effect of intra-industry collaboration, both regarding the relationship between firm innovation spending and performance. Knowledge spillovers derived from intra-industry innovation spending and intra-industry collaboration affect firm performance. While this finding corroborates other studies that have found that the intra-industry R&D spending influences firms’ innovation and performance, it also contributes to improve the understanding about the complementarity of internal innovation activities and knowledge spillovers. Originality/value This study contributes to theory by filling a gap concerning the complementarity of internal innovation activities and the effect of knowledge spillovers to improve firm performance. Our findings suggested that intra-industry openness to collaboration and innovation spending, as proxies of knowledge spillovers, plays an important role in complementing firm level innovative efforts, even in the case of firms that spend less on innovation and have a lower degree of collaboration. This is especially relevant for small and medium enterprises, which can take advantage of access to the necessary information to overcome their internal resource constraints for R&D and innovation. The originality of these findings adds value in terms of furthering the understanding of this phenomenon.

Download Full-text

Does organizational learning lead to higher firm performance?

The Learning Organization ◽

10.1108/tlo-10-2012-0061 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 22 (5) ◽

pp. 271-288 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Wencang Zhou ◽

Huajing Hu ◽

Xuli Shi

Keyword(s):

Organizational Learning ◽

Firm Performance ◽

Financial Performance ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Positive Association ◽

Firm Innovation ◽

Content Type ◽

Firm Financial Performance ◽

Positive Correlations ◽

And Performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for studying organizational learning, firm innovation and firm financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the effects of organizational learning on innovation and performance among 287 listed Chinese companies. Findings – The results indicate a positive association between organizational learning dimensions and firm performance (both objective financial performance and perceptual innovation measure). Research limitations/implications – The sample includes only firms for which secondary data are available. Different results might have been obtained if we include smaller, private firms into the sample. This paper only includes a limited number of measures of financial performance to assess the relationship between organization learning dimensions and firm performance. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further with different performance measures. Practical implications – The results showed that it is the combination of several learning characteristics and not a single dimension that influenced the variance of firm performance. The findings reinforce the notion that systemic interventions that address a variety and different combinations of learning organization characteristics will be more likely to be successful than interventions that solely focus on singular or a limited number of dimensions. Originality/value – The integration of objective measures of firms’ financial performance with perceptual survey data represents a unique methodology that has not been widely used in the organizational learning literature. The positive correlations between the eight learning dimensions and the measures of firms’ performance lend credence to the efficacy of the organizational learning concepts.

Download Full-text

Competitive Capabilities for the Innovation and Performance of Spanish Construction Companies

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11195475 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (19) ◽

pp. 5475 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

José Giménez ◽

Antonia Madrid-Guijarro ◽

Antonio Duréndez

Keyword(s):

Empirical Evidence ◽

Survey Research ◽

Human Capabilities ◽

Firm Innovation ◽

Construction Firms ◽

Construction Companies ◽

Competitive Capabilities ◽

Internal Capabilities ◽

Competitive Success ◽

And Performance

This research analyses the influence of internal capabilities, identified as strategic by the literature, on the performance and innovation of Spanish construction companies during a recessionary period. Based on this, we studied whether innovative, marketing, financial, managerial, and human capabilities affect competitive success in terms of fostering innovation and the performance of firms. Empirical evidence is provided by performing survey research with a sample of 94 Spanish construction firms. The results show that firm innovation is fostered by innovative, financial, and human capabilities, and that performance is promoted by innovation, and financial and human capabilities. Human capabilities have the most important effect on both innovation and the performance of the company.

Download Full-text