Operating Successfully on a New Technological Path: The Effect of External Search

Switching to a new technological path is often a serious economic challenge for companies. Incumbents, in particular, are often led by their organizational routines, traditional technological orientation, and experience, and run the risk of losing contact with new technologies, which can decrease their competitiveness. We analyze whether opening up the innovation process to external knowledge partners can help to overcome such path dependence and enable firms to operate successfully on a new technological path. We develop a theoretical concept that shows the potential of external knowledge sources for operating successfully on a new technological path and test it empirically using the example of green technologies. Green technologies are not only relevant for addressing the current environmental problems, but they are also an example of a new technological path that is proving difficult for companies to switch to. Overall, we find strong direct effects of external (green) knowledge on green innovation success. The results even indicate that the direct effect of external knowledge tends to be larger for green than for non-green innovation.

Management by Development of Innovative Potential of Organization

This article explores the innovation potential of the staff at industrial enterprises. The relevance of the research is confirmed by the increasing interest of companies in innovation. This manifests itself both in the changing organizational structure of enterprises and a new approach to human resource management, for instance, the revision of the key performance indicators of employees. One of the main goals of the research was determining the factors that influence the development of the innovation potential of staff and assessment of their impact. The institutional approach formed the conceptual basis of the study. It allowed the authors to consider the management of innovation potential as a special mechanism for achieving sustainability, stable development of an enterprise, and its strategic success in general. The authors established that organizational and administrative factors have the greatest influence on the formation and development of the innovation potential of staff, while the constraining factors are the lack of an innovative strategy, authoritarian management style, and bureaucratization. Studying the techniques aimed at the development of staff’s innovation potential, the authors concluded that the most effective ones for industrial enterprises are consultations of subject matter specialists. A significant novelty of this work is the model of interaction of participants in the innovation process developed by the authors. The research findings enabled the authors to devise recommendations for the formation and development of the innovation potential of the company’s employees.

Using Road Maps for High-tech Projects Management

The purpose of this article is to study the necessity of creation and road maps usage as an effective ‎tool in order to create novel approaches for managing innovative high-tech projects using the author-developed criterion of innovative ‎tension, interpreted as the difference of potentials of participants in the innovation process — the ‎donor-enterprise of innovations and the recipient-enterprise of innovations.‎ The method of comparative analysis of various forms of organization of the innovation process and the corresponding variants of the ‎ratio of innovative potentials of participating enterprises was used. As a result of the conducted research, methodical approaches to evaluate innovation potentials of donors-enterprises of innovations and enterprises-recipients of innovations were developed. A ‎criterion for estimating the innovative potential in the donor-recipient system, so-called innovative stress, is formulated. An attempt to disclose the importance of methodological support of road maps on the example of ‎innovative projects is made.

The power of strategic knowledge management in the relationship between innovation and the performance of large manufacturing firms in Malaysia

Purpose This study aims to explore the interaction of strategic knowledge management (SKM) and innovation on the performance of large manufacturing firms (LMFs) in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative approach in investigating this interaction. Smart partial least-squares analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. Findings It was observed that administrative innovation, process innovation and product innovation were effective drivers of LMF performance. It was also ascertained that SKM has no moderating effect on the product innovation relationship with performance, although it does moderate the relationships between LMF performance and administrative innovation and process innovation, respectively. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this study is its focus on Malaysian LMFs. It nevertheless contributes to the literature by extending understanding of SKM and innovation dimensions from multi-faceted perspectives. As this is largely ignored in the literature, the study paves the way for additional research. Practical implications The findings may be used as guidelines for chief executive officers, particularly on the way SKM and innovation can be developed for enhanced LMF performance, in the context of South Asian countries. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical work to confirm the main drivers of SKM, including in the analysis the effect of administrative innovation, process innovation and product innovation and performance, in the context of the manufacturing sector. In support of an original conceptual model, the insights contribute to the literature on innovation, LMFs, SKM and emerging economies.

A theoretical framework on network's dynamics for precision agriculture technologies adoption

Recently, the agricultural sector has had to face several challenges related to the innovation process, the most significant of which seems to be that of its digital transformation. As a consequence, the issue of digital technology adoption is becoming of important scientific interest due to its potential impact on products, services, processes, and new business models. In general, the adoption behavior can be indirectly explained by studying factors that lead a firm to innovate; among these factors, the literature emphasizes the function of networks. The objective of the paper is to investigate the role of networks as key drivers of precision agriculture technologies adoption. To achieve this goal, qualitative research was developed by using 8 case studies recollected among that few Italian farms which can be defined as innovative for having already experienced precision agriculture. Results show that only a few farms can develop and manage innovations internally; success often requires cooperation between individual actors and organizations. Finally, the paper provides some practical advice and a set of propositions for those farms that are trying to achieve digital technological innovations.

Defining ‘Responsible’ in Responsible Research and Innovation: The Case of Quadruple Helix Innovation in the Energy Sector in the Tampere Region

This paper aims to investigate the social innovation process in the innovation ecosystem of the Tampere region, taking the energy sector as an example. It focuses on analysing how responsible research and innovation (RRI) activities are understood by regional stakeholders, particularly regarding how the roles of different actors (universities, public agencies, industry, and citizens) are constituted, and how different actors facilitate social innovation. The research questions are approached by the conceptual framework of Quadruple Helix which is useful for understanding the roles of citizens and interwoven fabric in innovation ecosystems, including social innovation. Empirically, the paper is based on analysing qualitative interviews with 12 stakeholders in the energy sector in Tampere. It is supplemented by analysing national and regional documents related to energy policies and the role of research and universities as well as citizens in sustainable (economic) development. Based on our findings the responsibility in research and innovation activities is not defined by utilising existing conceptual approaches or EU policies, such as RRI.

Open Innovation Process for Inter-Organizational Projects

Open Innovation (OI) research has covered various organizational forms in dimensions of durability (permanent versus temporary organizing) and organizational scope (intra- or inter-organizational). Inter-organizational forms - both temporary and permanent – are regarded mainly as modes of OI. However, these organizational forms also act as initiators of OI activities to extend knowledge transfer across the inter-organizational consortium borders, which is hardly researched. To address this gap, the research presented in this article develops an OI process for inter-organizational projects (IOP) as initiators of OI. The initial model is developed by action research with an IOP of museums and educational institutions implementing a series of hackathons. The model’s applicability is then evaluated for other IOPs by a survey, indicating the model’s suitability for practitioners. Findings point to the importance of collaborative activities for aligning the OI initiative with both individual partners’ and common project goals, while outbound activities are regarded least important despite the time-limitation of the project. The research is limited by its focus on the specific IOP environment of EU-funded projects and the small scope of the survey.

PERAN KELOMPOK INFORMASI MASYARAKAT (KIM) DALAM PEMBERDAYAAN POTENSI LOKAL DI KAMPUNG JAMBU DESA KARANGSONO KECAMATAN KANIGORO KABUPATEN BLITAR

This study aims to describe the role of Community Information Groups (KIM) in forming agricultural business networks in order to improve the community's economy through empowering local potentials in Karangsono Village, Kanigoro District, Blitar Regency. The approach used is to use the theory of diffusion of innovation which has 4 elements of the innovation diffusion process, namely innovation, communication channels, time and social system. However, researchers are more focused on the process of diffusion of innovations in forming a network using communication channels. This study will explain the innovations of KIM members which will be disseminated to the public using qualitative descriptive methods. This research data collection through interviews and field observations. The results of this study are the diffusion of innovation in forming business networks through communication channels that have been created by KIM members. So that the innovation process that has been disseminated can be accepted by the community and can change the community to be more prosperous.