International Journal of Innovation Management

We investigate the extent to which product innovation moderates the relationship between capabilities and competitive advantage among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Using resource-based and capabilities theories, we examine capabilities as organisational routines, focusing on job rotation and multi-skilling. We examine competitive advantage by using logistic regression to assess the probability of top performance in productivity relative to most other firms in the same industry. Considering the path-dependence in developing capabilities and innovation, we use a longitudinal sample of 300 UK manufacturing SMEs in traditional and high-technology industries to evaluate the effects of innovating and using capabilities continuously over time. The results suggest that firms using job rotation or multi-skilling and introducing product innovations consistently from 2002 through 2004 are more likely to be top performers in 2004. The findings support a theoretical model according to which the association between capabilities and competitive advantage is moderated by innovation.

This paper tells the story of Geox, an Italian footwear manufacturer that, in less than a decade, has become one of the world's largest shoe manufacturers. Applying the related notions of complementarity and performance landscape to study strategic positioning in the footwear industry, we show that, though grounded on product innovation (the original Geox breathes^® patented system which allows ventilation in waterproof rubber sole), Geox's competitive advantage has not grown out of operational excellence in single activities in the business, but, rather, derives from a unique and consistent configuration of complementary activities. Such configuration represents an innovative strategic position and corresponds to a peak in the footwear industry performance landscape. The case study offers anecdotal evidence in support of complementarity based economic theory. It confirms that, in the presence of complementarities, rivals find strategy imitation and reverse engineering difficult due to the unique nature of the relationships among complementary variables.

Despite the growing awareness of the importance of researching core strategic resources and capabilities for supporting organisational change, the work that has been done to the date has rarely examined and taken into account the relevance of Intellectual Capital (IC) for the success of a company's strategic turnaround program. Moreover, little attention has been given on what encompasses IC and how it can be conceptualised and interpreted in a change management perspective.

Through an extensive review of the literature on IC and along with a case study of the Ducati Motor Holding — one of the leading world brands in the sportive motorcycles manufacturing — this paper aims to bridge this gap first of all by identifying which are the key-knowledge assets involved in a turnaround program, and then focusing on the impact IC has on turnaround actions.

Findings highlight important implications both for theory and practice, and reveal interesting relationships that suggest further effort should be placed on the development of a knowledge base-view of company's turnaround and on the analysis of the dynamics that links knowledge assets and successful change management programs.

Little has been written about new product and packaging development processes within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. While often taking on the status of apocryphical folklore, branded FMCG product development failure rates as high as 90%–95% have appeared in the popular and consultancy press. However, no rigorous study has addressed the commercial success/failure rates of private-label products in this context; an area in which the leading UK supermarket (grocery) retailers are acknowledged to excel. Using a case study-based approach that involved ASDA and six of its leading private-label suppliers, this paper details empirical findings of the operational and commercial performance of the focal ASDA NPD (new product development) process, along with initial insights into the key determinants of this performance. It also produces the first description of the origin, composition and operation of a Supplier Association within the UK FMCG industry and details the new NPD process mapping method and tool that was developed to conduct this study.

This study examines the findings of a survey of small, high innovator firms and their assessment of the risks and benefits of forming strategic alliances with third party "complementors". The study found that the entrepreneurs of these small innovator firms were willing to form strategic alliances where such collaboration would assist in reducing customer perceptions of risk in the adoption of their innovation, while also enhancing the customer's understanding of the innovation. However, the entrepreneur of the small firm also needed to be confident that the alliance would allow him or her to retain control over the quality of the final outcome to their customer. These findings suggest that education of the entrepreneur in the development and management of strategic networks may be a useful enhancement to the process of innovation in small firms.