How social entrepreneurship can contribute to upscale social innovation practices?

In this paper, we address the research question of to what extent is it possible to discern theories of change being built into the business practices of nascent social enterprises in ways that lay foundations for the subsequent upscaling of their social innovations? We argue that social enterprises that are ‘ready-to-upscale’ are those that clearly produce a solution to an underlying problem, and where their activities are clearly derived from the underlying problem, and also those activities clearly connect forward to deliver consistent solutions. We apply a Theories of Change approach to the concept of social entrepreneurship as a means of setting a criterion for ‘ready-to-upscale’, studying six Sri Lankan micro-social enterprises in which we can trace stories of impact. This provides a means to develop a model of the ways that social entrepreneurship creates the foundations for structural changes that reduce systematic inequalities, and offers social enterprise funders a framework to better stimulate emergence of social enterprises ready-to-upscale and deliver social innovation.

Assessing Firm Readiness to Adopt Cluster-Based Innovative Projects: A Segmentation Analysis

As innovation has garnered substantial attention on corporate success and sustainability, organizations must evaluate internal contexts to determine potential innovative practices and benefits. Firms need to investigate the determining factors of innovation preparedness as organizational innovation practices are catalyzed through internal elements. This study evaluates small and medium firms’ readiness to adopt and execute collaborative innovative projects within a future cluster and its impacts on organizational advantages, intentions, and attributes. Thereby, three dimensions were considered in examining organizational preparedness, namely, climate, culture, and motivation. A total of 70 firms operating in the labeled agri-food sector in Morocco were interviewed and homogenously classified using integrated hierarchical and non-hierarchical algorithms, following a segmentation approach. Three segments were identified, stressing the degree of organizational readiness to undertake innovative projects within future service clusters. The segments varied according to the firm’s sub-sector, experience, and resources. Considering the association of readiness with benefits and practical aims, the results broaden firm preparedness understanding to adopt innovative projects. The results also illustrate the relevance of adapting both innovative and beneficial project arrangements for firms with minor to moderate experience while addressing current issues across different segments.

Impact of Digital Transformation on Pharmaceutical Retail in Myanmar

Adopting digital technologies is believed to enhance the service innovation practices and operational excellence of MSMEs and has a positive impact on competitive advantage and at least supported for survival in the market. The adoption of digital technologies seems accessible for MSMEs of Myanmar, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it made no choice to adopt it at least for business survival. The research has been done on the pharmaceutical retailers, B2B clients of Tharmadaw.com, on adopting digital technologies and to give recommendations as to further strategic solutions for pharmaceutical retailers across the country. The adopting behaviors, challenges, problems, current and expected solutions, gaps on the road to further adoption of advanced digital technologies were revealed. The research finding is to support implementing further solutions for the clients by knowing their behaviors and perception on adopting digital technologies to enhance their service innovation practices in order to gain better competitive advantage.

Relationships and Strategic Implications Among Organizational Culture

This study aims to analyze the strategic implications that the organizational culture has on organizational knowledge, learning, and innovation. It begins from the assumption that there is a direct and positive relationship between the organizational culture and knowledge, learning, and innovation in organizations. It also is assumed that organizational culture, knowledge, learning, and innovation are receptive to sustainable organizational practices. The method used is the appreciative inquiry as a collaborative dialogue based on the question of what is the best of and what might be that aims to design and implement innovations in sustainable organizational arrangements and processes. The theoretical framework is based on organizational cultural cognitivism theory and the theory of socio-ecological intergradation. It is concluded that sustainable organization practices require the creation and development of an organizational culture supportive of knowledge, learning, and innovation practices.

Strategic Implications of Organizational Culture, Knowledge, Learning Organizations, and Innovation on Sustainable Organizations

This study aims to analyze the strategic implications that the organizational culture has on organizational knowledge, learning, and innovation. It begins from the assumption that there is a direct and positive relationship between the organizational culture and knowledge, learning, and innovation in organizations. It also is assumed that organizational culture, knowledge, learning, and innovation play a receptive to sustainable organizational practices. The method used is the appreciative inquiry as a collaborative dialogue based on the question of what is the best of and what might be that aims to design and implement innovations in sustainable organizational arrangements and processes. The theoretical framework is based on organizational cultural cognitivism theory and the theory of socio-ecological intergradation. It is concluded that sustainable organizations practices require the creation and development of an organizational culture supportive of knowledge, learning, and innovation practices.

Openness to innovation as a driver of knowledge integration in High-Tech SMEs, the roles of social capital and network competence

This paper studies an original analytical framework to address the implementation dynamics of open innovation practices by discussing their impacts on SMEs' social capital and knowledge integration. A total of 358 High-Tech SMEs in the Democratic Republic of Congo participated in the survey. The collected data were statistically analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) in Smart PLS to verify the postulated hypothesis. The results reveal that open innovation practices promote knowledge integration, and social capital partially mediates open innovation and knowledge integration capability. The results further indicate that network competence moderates the practice of open innovation and social capital interactions with external knowledge sources. The theoretical implications of this study contribute to advance the discussion on the antecedent of social capital and knowledge integration in SMEs in developing countries and propose network competence as a moderator. The study also highlights the social capital nature of open innovation and reinforces the knowledge of scholars.

Materializing the Agency of Design in Innovation Practices

This article critically reviews how we think about design in technology and service innovation. Human-centered design has emerged in this science-driven field as a way to include the interests of humans and their needs in production processes. As such, design has a considerable effect on the development of new technologies and services. Making visible the agency of design in these practices thus is of immense importance. A gap remains in the ability of current concepts of design to visualize and conceptualize design agency. Therefore, drawing on concepts of materiality in design and practice, this article proposes a framework that makes design agency visible.