Identity and Externalities toward Sustainability

Two focus group discussions involving 14 entrepreneurs and 106 questionnaires administered to employees were analyzed to explore various parameters of externalities, such as: (1) how externality is conceived; (2) the interplay between a sense of community and a re-definition and negotiation of identity; (3) the role of technology; the sense of belonging, and (4) the propensity to collaborate. Data are analyzed through both thematic discourse analysis and quantitative frequencies analysis. Results show that entrepreneurs hold a multidimensional definition of externality, meditated by their professional and private experience. Ultimately, the reflection on externalities sustains a sense of innovation connected to multi-membership and to re-negotiation of the sense of identity. Within this framework, technology is conceived as a tool supporting the appropriation and sharing of externalities.

Risk-Off Method

Here the Risk-Off Method is presented as a contribution to improve the quality of data and information using milk chemical safety as a model, as overseen by the National Plan for Control of Residues and Contaminants (PNCRC) of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA). In particular, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which notably lack internal expertise, could benefit from the Risk-Off method, given that SMEs worldwide contribute significant amounts of food to meet global needs. This study develops an innovative tool to help countries provide robust and transparent chemical safety guarantees for their food products. Creating a flexible base platform to appropriately pre-classify results generated by laboratory testing of food samples, the method pre-processes data undergoing the process of Knowledge Discovery in Databases – KDD, producing systemic intelligence deriving from effective, proactive assessment and management of chemical safety risks in foods, a complex issue of increasingly global concern.

Cardmobili

The developments of the internet, the proliferation of the use of Web 2.0 tools, and of the technology in general, are leveraging new ways of people to communicate, collaborate, and interact. This new world and new markets, in a daily change, are enabling the emergence of new innovative enterprises and services, taking advantage of the new technologies and of the global network. Cardmobili is a Portuguese start-up company working in the area of mobile services. This company provides a mobile service to manage rewards and membership cards, enabling users to store them in the cloud, while using mobile applications to present them in store, collecting and using the rewards, sharing cards and information with other users and friends in social networks. Cardmobili is linked to merchants’ loyalty management systems, enabling users to access exclusive offers, delivered to their mobile application and web account. The company provides complete services to make any loyalty or membership program mobile: branding, new customer registration, integration of customer account balance, mobile vouchers, coupons and offers, and mobile communication.

How can Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Innovation Enhance Enterprise Performance?

By analyzing the experience in Romania, this study aims to provide insight into the relationship between SMEs’ CSR activities and their economic competitiveness in the light of innovation, mandatory in times of economic crisis, and emphasize the idea that business as usual is no longer acceptable. In addition to providing research on the general situation of CSR in Romania, this case is also describing the most relevant (public) actors engaged in this issue, the level of deployment of CSR among SMEs, as well as the characteristics of these activities. In order to prove that innovative CSR initiatives are a positive investment resulting in an economically beneficial outcome for the businesses, that can be disseminated via open innovation networks, a number of five Good Practice case studies have been identified and described in-depth.

ICT Mediated Value Chain for Managing Weavers’ Livelihoods

Value chain practices focus on market orientation of products and services. Products and services highly rely on processes included in the supply chain in order to contribute to the value chain. Globalization, competition, and high cost of production influence the value chain imperatives. Thus, organizations involved in the value chain are challenged with creation of innovative designs and establishing lean production scenarios. This challenge is more serious in the cases of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The rugs industry in India is one example of such market behavior, and various SMEs are involved in this sector. Besides, the sector demands market orientation and customer retention for which continuous innovative practices are essential. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have played a crucial role in supporting these SMEs in India in rolling out innovative designs through customer engagements in the entire production life cycle. There are also efforts to use ICT as a tool to innovate processes, products, and services to harness better returns on investment and to sustain business. In this case, Jaipur Rugs Company (JRC) strives to manage innovation cycles to ensure development oriented value chain for the weavers and ICT applications have been intrinsic to realize these efforts.

The Case of Region Marketing of a Greek Southwestern City

The examination of the municipal broadband and building a “digital city” for a southwestern Greek city is the heart of this case study in terms of city’s repositioning through open innovation and creativity. The paradigm of the first successful Greek digital city (“e-Trikala”) shows to every Greek that the Digital City ICT applications can improve everyday life by simplifying public transactions in regional urban centers, reducing telecommunication costs, and by delivering new services related to the local way of life (Heeks, 2010). However, every SME has its own social, economic, geographic, or political characteristics (Foster & Heeks, 2010). For this reason, the digital city can vary from region to region, so that ICT applications enhance local characteristics rather than detract from them. The author’s objective is to create an independent case study that can be used as the basis for class discussion. The case of repositioning of Kalamata, a Greek southwestern city, as an open innovative and creative city through the new municipal broadband infrastructure presents a situation that requires the readers of this case study to develop and evaluate solutions. The case may be also meaningfully discussed, presented, or analyzed with reference to other cases. It can be used by itself without creating false impressions. In this case study, Kalamata’s municipal leadership believes that a short-term promotion campaign for the benefit of the city’s digitalization is enough to build a new image and personality for the city: the image and personality of an open, innovative, and creative city, an ideal location to visit, do business, and live. The development of a short-term promotion campaign in order to achieve the repositioning of a city is a major strategic pitfall. The municipal leaders must realize that transforming the city as an open innovative and creative city, needs a new philosophy. The achievement of such a strategic goal prerequires an overall transformation of all the protagonists (from citizens to municipal administrators to entrepreneurs) as the following strategic issues must be managed: the introduction of an open innovation model, the choice of an innovation scenario for the local economy, and the strategy in order to address the way of urban innovation through the municipal broadband infrastructure. However, the question remains whether transformative learning and building critical reflection are the paths for building a new image and personality for Kalamata as an open innovative and creative city.

Rvolta, a Case for Open Innovation

Rvolta has been working in waste management industry for 16 years now. This SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) from Portugal is taken as a focus point for the case study addressing a network of partners working in various activities which became related, so as to disclose the underlying innovative spirit, strategy, and partnership structure. Objectives of the present chapter are to portray and analyze a SME success case in open innovation (through various innovation practices), and clarify how knowledge creation and collaboration amongst different players in a network takes place. An exemplary collaboration episode is told. Framing issues are addressed so as to understand how they affect open innovation in SMEs. The study finds interactions, networking, and partnership connections, are important issues and indeed make a difference, thus enabling SMEs to innovate. This case evolved from an exploratory phase of an Information Systems PhD qualitative research, addressing open and crowdsourcing innovation.

Open Innovation for Non- High-Tech SMEs

This chapter presents a case of SMEs from non-High-Tech sector, which would normally find innovation harder than sectors with intensive R&D. The Users Association of Advanced Technologies is a national program that helps SMEs in searching, identifying, selecting, and implementing technologies, methodologies, and processes by reducing the resources required for that activity. The program reduces operation as well as managerial costs and allows SMEs to acquire the innovation they require, which they could not otherwise get. The initial concept of the program was meant for Israeli SMEs, however, as the concept is universal, the case study argues that the concept and basics can be adopted by other countries/regions. It can also be regarded as a risk mitigating program executed on behalf of SMEs. The readers can identify and define the concept as well as the basics to be adopted for other countries and regions. The program presented through this case does not support R&D, or the creation of new knowledge by itself, and therefore presents a complementary activity to R&D support programs.

Championing SME eCollaboration

Collaboration and eCollaboration are arguable necessities for firms in today’s economic age. Gone are the times when a firm could stand alone in the market warding off the competitive pressures of rival firms. Today, just the competitive forces of globalization alone are significant drivers to enable collaboration amongst rivals. The advantages of collaboration and eCollaboration for SMEs are profuse, providing small firms a measure of economic security in a world in which many industries face hyper-competition, particularly from countries with very low costs of labor. In discussing the nature and advantages of eCollaboration, the need for an eCollaboration champion becomes apparent. This case discusses eCollaboration from the perspective of 70 Australia SMEs and presents a model for the successful championship. In so doing, it discusses the multiple roles a champion must embrace and the various issues and dilemmas that are contingent to these roles.

“Casa do Conhecimento” (Knowledge House)

The project “Casa do Conhecimento” (Knowledge House), based on a partnership between the Vila Verde Municipality, the University of Minho, and the Computer Graphics Center, is a case of adoption of the open innovation paradigm in a public administration context. The purpose of the Knowledge House is to work as a municipal infrastructure that invests in information technologies, and a set of technological assets and associated services. The aim is to create a space to support creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship as a local implementation of the Living Lab concept. This chapter will present the project Knowledge House in detail. It begins by approaching the theoretical assumptions that make the project highly relevant and actual; afterwards it describes the case with the aim of setting the stage for presenting the socio-economic impact of the project, and proceeds by detailing the project and what is being done to create the Knowledge House in Vila Verde, Portugal. Finally, it describes what will be done in the near future and details the expected socio-economic impacts of the Knowledge House.