Horizontal innovation and ambidextrous organization: a new innovation model applied in a mature industrial company

Objective of the study: Analyze how Horizontal Innovation enables a company to produce radical and incremental innovations, making it ambidextrous.Methodology/approach: The research is a case study at a mature Brazilian company that puts Horizontal Innovation based on its Employee Suggestion System (ESS) into practice. A total of 18 interviews were conducted, including: all 4 directors and all 10 managers of the organization, in addition to 2 coordinators and 2 researchers.Originality/Relevance: The paper creates and defines the concept of Horizontal Innovation: a type of innovation that originates from all employees, usually stemming from an ESS. The study shows, based on continual ESS operations, how a company can achieve ambidexterity and systematically produce incremental, radical products and processes.Main results: ESS produces radical innovations as well as incremental ones, although the latter occur more frequently, and lead to Horizontal Innovations. The systematic search for Horizontal Innovations paves the way for a company to become ambidextrous, promoting, with the same competence, these two types of innovation.Theoretical/methodological contributions: The study contributes to the debate that defends the viability of innovative ambidexterity, and to new insights that clarify how a culture that stimulates ambidexterity can influence the ambidextrous behavior of employees through Horizontal InnovationPractical implications: A new type of innovation is proposed and described, reinforcing the value of an ESS as an important management tool. The case enables comparisons and contrasts with others for best practices benchmarking.

The success of e-commerce startups: an empirical study in Vietnam

Objective of the study: Although many e-commerce startups have been established in recent years, there is a high rate of business failure in start-up community. In addition, e-commerce in Vietnam is still at a beginning stage with many potentials and risks. The research aims to find impact factors which lead to the success of e-commerce startups in Vietnam.Methodology/approach: The qualitative method was applied to identify appropriate measurement scales. Then, the quantitative questionnaire survey was leveraged to test the research framework based on data from local e-commerce startups.Originality/Relevance: This research focuses on evaluating the impact of founder factors, e-service factors, and external factors on the success of startups in Vietnam.Main results: Research findings show that four factors have significant contribution to e-commerce startups’ success including risk-taking propensity, achievement orientation, reliability of e-service quality, and e-networking. Among the four, risk-taking propensity is the most contributed factor in e-commerce startups’ success.Theoretical/methodological contributions: The study helps to test the measurement scales and contributes an empirical study regarding to the success of startups in a developing country like Vietnam.Social/management contributions: Managerial implications for e-commerce incubators, entrepreneurs, and government are also recommended to improve the success rate of e-commerce startups in Vietnam.

The role of resources in recombinations and the degree of novelty of products

Objective of the study: To explain the characteristics and dynamics of resources and recombinations associated with developing products with low and high novelty.Methodology/Approach: The method was an integrative review of the literature on recombinant innovation. It included a creative synthesis that resulted in a theoretical model. Originality/Relevance: The research addresses topics the literature neglects, like explaining which resources and recombinations and why could relate to high or low product novelty.Main results: Certain features of resources (i.e., heterogeneity, specificity, accessibility) with high and low levels may differently influence costs, variety, and frequency of recombinations and, in turn, product novelty. To develop highly novel products, tangible resources, and internally produced new resources may be essential, as knowledge by itself may not be sufficient.Theoretical contributions: Different resource characteristics and their influence on recombinations may help explain whether a product will have low or high novelty. By going beyond the novel recombinations, the research expands the literature's understanding of recombinations and product novelty.Managerial contributions: Companies could assess ex ante which degree of product novelty besides types and costs of recombinations would result from their pools of resources. This assessment would make innovation more efficient for companies with fewer resources, like may occur in emerging markets.

A game to teach and apply design thinking for innovation

Objective: Develop and apply a game to facilitate the use of design thinking for innovation.Method: The construction of the game was based upon the Constructivism Theory. The game was developed following the steps of: (i) understanding the target audience and the context; (ii) defining learning objectives; (iii) structuring the experience; (iv) identifying resources and applying gamification elements; (v) evaluation. Originality/Relevance: Design Thinking emerges as an alternative to improve the innovation process in companies. To facilitate this innovation process, this paper presents a game, through its development and application, based on the principles and stages of Design Thinking, focusing on difficulties of its implementation.Results: The game provides an iterative passage through all stages of the design thinking, giving a holistic view of the process, starting with a deep understanding of the problem, and coming to a design solution.Social / management contributions: The results of the game application have shown its potential to: (i) ease teamwork, avoiding negative discussions and providing active participation from all students; (ii) lead to insight generation in a comprehensible way, making clear the difference between insights and ideas; (iii) simplify the use of inspiring methods and techniques (such as Persona, Empathy Map and Napkin Pitch); (iv) develop creative confidence; (v) provide a pleasant and motivating learning environment for collaborative multidisciplinary work.Theoretical/Methodological contributions: The game provides a method for building serious games and the game as a method of applying Design Thinking for Innovation.

Impact of creativity on student entrepreneurial intention

Objective of the study: This empirical research tests the direct and indirect impact of creativity on entrepreneurial intention, by applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as the underpinning framework.Methodology/approach: Quantitative research was conducted through a survey of 703 undergraduate students in Vietnam. Structural equation modeling with Amos version 23 was used to test the theoretical model.Originality/Relevance: Creativity is assumed to be a common characteristic of entrepreneurs and a prerequisite for innovation and entrepreneurship, but the findings on the influence of creativity on entrepreneurship intention are inconsistent in literature. This research uses a mediator effect to explain this inconsistency and focuses on the direct and indirect impact of creativity on entrepreneurship intention in an Asian emerging country.Main results: Analytical results show that creativity has no significant direct effect on entrepreneurial intention. Rather, it has an indirect effect on entrepreneurial intention through three determinants (attitude, subjective norms, and behavioral control).Theoretical/methodological contributions: The study provides empirical evidence to confirm the importance of attitude, subjective norms, and behavioral control, which together fully mediate the impact of creativity on entrepreneurial intention.Social/management contributions: These results have several implications for promoting entrepreneurship in university students.

To the top: the impact of digital transformation on the market value of Magazine Luiza

Objective of the study: This article aims to highlight the aspects that drove the implementation of digital transformation on Magazine Luiza and contribute to the development of the digital transformation theory.Relevance/originality: Information technology (IT) offers opportunities for businesses to automatize operations and change business strategies (Henderson Venkatraman, 1999), but it is still not clear for every business how to embrace technology (Drnevich Croson, 2013).Methodology/approach: Using a case study, we analyzed the main aspects of the digital transformation of the Brazilian retailer Luiza Magazine, which achieved a 43,000% increase in its share price between 2015 and 2020, mainly due to innovations enabled by IT.Main results: We identify that some of the main aspects of the company's digital transformation have not been properly studied in the literature, such as the use of a bimodal IT structure and the use and interconnectivity between traditional and new technologies in innovative and even disruptive ways.Theoretical/methodological contributions: This study contributes to the literature by analyzing empirical data on the pillars that support the implementation of digital transformation in an organization, which can be used as input to theory development on digital transformation.Social/management contributions: The digital transformation of Magazine Luiza resulted in a large increase in the market value of the company. This, aligned with the company’s expansion and increasingly better results, suggests that technology has the potential to change the company’s strategy and lead to its success, corroborating Bharadwaj’s (2013) view.

The year 2021 of the International Journal of Innovation – IJI

The International Journal of Innovation: IJI has been making some changes in recent years and, therefore, increasingly improving its content. These are transformations that would not be possible without the incessant collaboration of the entire IJI team. Ther are always tireless and impeccable. It would not be possible without all the articles submitted by the authors who believe and choose the IJI for their publications. It would not be possible either, without the reviewers who contribute with a lot of dedication, spending their time and knowledge on improving the articles to publish the IJI. We are immensely grateful to everyone! Special thanks to UNINOVE, who have always supported and continue to support IJI.At the end of 2021, we would like to present some data and information that enable readers, authors, and reviewers to follow the evolution of the IJI. We remain dedicated to raising the bar for the IJI. IJI is in the main databases: Dialnet, EBSCO, ERIHPLUS, Latindex, ProQuest, Redalyc, Redib, Spell, Web of Science and Zeitschriften Datenbank. It is classified in stratum B1 of the new QUALIS/CAPES proposal. It is published every four months (January-April; May-August; September-December) and accepts submissions in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, and published in English only.The International Journal of Innovation: IJI's mission is to serve as a vehicle for the periodic publication of scientific and technological works in innovation with a focus on emerging markets, which study individuals, organizations, ecosystems, and policies. The journal's topics of interest focusing on emerging markets are Innovative Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Learning, Innovation and Sustainability, Internationalization of Innovation, Innovation Systems, Emerging Themes of Innovation, and Digital Transformation. As we have already mentioned in another editorial comment, the IJI accepts scientific articles, technology articles, perspectives, and reviews, in addition to the editorial comment.We now present some data from IJI submissions for this year, 2021 (Table 1). Table 1Submissions to the IJIWorks submitted87Rejections65%Acceptance35% Eighty-seven works were submitted to the IJI, of which 65% were rejected and 35% were approved. With these numbers, we observe that rejection is still high. The rejection happens; most of the time, in the desk-reject the editors perform that. The reasons are: a) the submitted works are not following the scope of the IJI; b) the submitted works do not meet the minimum requirements for a publication and are not considered to proceed to a peer review and blind.When articles move to the stage of blind and peer review, the number of rejections gets smaller. Generally, works are rejected at this stage when the authors do not comply with the evaluators' recommendations. Our intention is, with the help of reviewers and authors, to increasingly improve the quality of submitted articles and increase the number of publications in the IJI.Submissions are from different countries. In this year of 2021, we had the following scenario (Table 2). Table 2Submissions to the IJI - by countryCountrySubmissionsBrazil59Argentina1Colombia1Cuba1Algeria2Indonesia2India3Jordan1Sri Lanka1Mexico1Malasia1Nigeria3Portugal2Saudi Arabia3Tunisia1Turkey1Ukraine1Vietnam2South Africa1TOTAL87 The most significant works submitted are from Brazilian authors, but with a balanced distribution among other countries. We are happy that the IJI is considered a possibility for authors from different countries on our continent and other continents. We want to increase the number of foreign submissions and their publications. We believe that this action is important for the academic community due to the diversity of contexts.The IJI counts on the valuable availability of the evaluators, who we know have to dedicate their precious time to help us improve our work. Our evaluation time is still high, up to 98 days. Some reasons impact this deadline: a) the reviewers are very demanding with researchers with little experience, causing back and forth in the assessments until they reach the expected quality for the article; b) holidays in the middle of the year and at the end of the year delay the evaluations a little; c) evaluators also divide their time with evaluations of academic events throughout the year. Due to these reasons, the publication of the works is also compromised. We took up to 122 days to publish the articles.Another interesting piece of information that we would like to share with our readers is the number of registered users of IJI. IJI has 1270 registered users, including authors, reviewers, and readers. In the last year of 2021, there were 534 new users. It makes us very happy, as the number of users has almost doubled. This action makes us hope to have more works submitted and, consequently, more quality works published.We aim to improve and make the IJI a journal with more impact in the academic and practical environment. With the help of everyone involved, we will improve the level of evaluations and significantly improve the published works. We want to bring relevant content that contributes to science in Brazil and other countries around the world.We thank you all for your help and support in this growing IJI journey!

A confluência das tecnologias I.4.0 e novos modelos de negócio: uma revisão sistemática de literatura

Objective of the study: The study’s objective is to provide a systematic literature review on the coevolution of the Technologies associated to Industry 4.0 and business models.Methodology/approach: The research was built on conceptual blocs at the interface between Industry 4.0 (I 4.0), business models (BM) and digitalization /digital business models (DBM) in order to identify relevant trends. Through bibliometric techniques, 80 articles were selected from Scopus and WoS, using specialized software.Originality/ Relevance: Few studies exist on the interface under analysis. This article contributes to this emerging literature, providing a synthesis of such literature, including both a detailed descriptive component and an analysis of the main thematic clusters associated to this interface.Main results: The literature still needs to evolve into a framework of a 4.0 business model. The majority of the existing studies focus on business models to specific technologies associated to Industry 4.0. Among the 80 articles scrutinized, 56 were associated to business models and I4.0, and 24 linked business models and digitalization. Few really described a business model that could be characterized as an I4.0 business model.Theoretical/methodological contributions: Identification of key studies underlying the elaboration of an innovative business model associated to I4.0. An immediate and useful characterization of the literature. Identification of the main thematic clusters.Social/management contributions: To provide academics and professionals (especially in Business/Economics) with a detailed and thorough review of the most relevant literature, including the main aspects underlying the creation of innovative business models based on I4.0.

Innovation in public policies: a bibliometric study for new research

Objective: To carry out a mapping of studies on innovation and public policies, presenting an overview of the scientific discussion on the topic to suggest proposals for future studies.Design / methodology / approach: A bibliometric study, through exploratory factor analysis, with the objective of identifying the path that the phenomenon takes. For this, we use the techniques of citation, co-citation and bibliographic coupling.Originality: Given the economic, social and technological importance of innovation, public policies appear as engines of the development of innovation, thus reinforcing the need to identify unexplored paths through the mapping of studies on the theme to identify unexplored paths.Results: We identified the basis on which the theme studied was developed. Thus, three factors were observed: Economic Development, Innovation Ecosystems and State Participation. In the coupling analysis, we identified four factors, namely: Entrepreneurship, Changes in Public Policies, Networks and Clusters and Knowledge Source. Looking to the future, some study trends were presented, highlighting a new research agenda.Theoretical and methodological contributions: We present some study trends on innovation and public policies, warranting a new research agenda.Management contributions: This research enables managers and decision makers to understand the aspects regarding the theme, so that they can develop strategic innovation actions with the support of public policies.

Boosting technological innovation and innovation culture from an idea generation program: the experience of a Brazilian bank

Objective of the study: The objectives of this study were to describe the strategy and the innovation results from an idea generation program (IGP) of a Brazilian bank.Methodology: The study is predominantly descriptive; the method is the in-depth case study, and the data analysis was performed through content analysis.Originality/Relevance: The IGP's implementation stage is critical due to the need for financial resources, people, and time. An IGP can generate not only incremental technological innovations but also boost the innovation culture. Innovations developed from an IGP can be effective in facing competition from fintechs and digital transformation.Main results: The IGP's strategy is well-founded, as the result of 14 years of experience. However, there is still no clear strategy for measuring the impact of the implemented innovations. The IGP boosted both incremental technological (product, services, and process) and innovation culture. It has generated financial and non-financial results, and it predominantly follows the eastern model, recognizing employees’ ideas with non-financial rewards.Theoretical/methodological contributions: An IGP is designable in three main stages: ideation, in which all employees can participate, giving ideas for solving the problems indicated by the boards; selection, when a selection board chooses the ideas with the most significant potential for implementation and generating results; and implementation, when the selected ideas are transformed into innovations.Social /management contributions: A bank’s idea generation program is effective to boost technological innovation and innovation culture, which allow to face the fintechs and other essential players in the financial market, as well as to promote internal engagement and manage digital transformation, and deal with the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) scenario.