International Journal of Innovation Management

In the era of "open innovation", external knowledge is a very important source for technology innovation. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between external knowledge and performance of technology innovation. The effect of external knowledge on the performance of technology innovation can vary with different external knowledge sourcing methods. We identify three ways of external knowledge sourcing: information transfer from informal network, R&D collaboration and technology acquisition. We propose three hypotheses to examine relationship between the three methods of external knowledge sourcing and the technology innovation performance. Our results show that information transfer from informal network and technology acquisition have positive relationships with the technology innovation performance. R&D collaboration, however, has an inverted-U-shape relationship with technology innovation performance. This implies that the effect of external knowledge on technology innovation varies depending on the particular external knowledge sourcing method. This research has an important implication for firms in selecting an appropriate strategy for accessing external knowledge.

What can cause five postponements and a delay of two years in introducing a relatively simple ERP system that usually takes only a few months to be implemented? We find the answer to this puzzle by highlighting the context of use of this high technology IT capital good, an issue so far overlooked because the literature on complex product system (CoPS) focuses on the intrinsic dimensions of the product and the provider. We rely on an extensive case study of the ERP system Movex at the furniture manufacturer Edsbyn and on literature on user-related innovations, organisational studies and inter-firm relationships to extract a series of additional user-related complexity dimensions. These include the importance of the capital good for the user, the user's perception of its complexity and the strength and complexity of the routines to be changed at the using organisation. We conclude the paper with implications for complex systems providers.

Innovation processes are out of necessity and by definition always open-ended and embedded in social interests and beliefs. This paper reports a study of how a power-split technology for hybrid vehicles needed and found support and interest from a variety of social actors to reach the market. One of the principal challenges of innovators is to mobilise support and attract interest among relevant social groups; innovations are always, to some extent, dependent on their ability to conform to pre-existing practices and beliefs. Based on a study of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) project at Volvo Cars, this paper investigates how the concept of interessement can contribute to a better understanding of the innovation processes (Akrich et al., 2002a,b). It concludes that this concept contributes to interesting perspectives on the dual technological and social nature of the innovation process but that the idea of one central innovator driving the process all the way may not always be applicable.

Although measuring the performance of a firm's R&D activities is a very challenging task, the critical role played by R&D in creating and sustaining a firm's competitive advantage has raised the need to adopt appropriate performance measurement systems (PMSs) in R&D units. Therefore, management scholars have been studying this issue and PMSs have diffused in the R&D departments of most R&D-intensive companies. Nevertheless, empirical investigations into the diffusion and practical use of PMSs in R&D units mainly concern Anglo-Saxon countries, where R&D information disclosure requirements have been in place for a long time. The purpose of this paper is to study the diffusion and practical use of PMSs in the R&D units of firms that are not subject to these types of external institutional influences. With this aim, the results of a survey on the R&D performance measurement practices adopted by a sample of Italian R&D-intensive firms are discussed. They allow to understand why and how R&D-intensive companies design and use a PMS in their R&D units for managerial purposes.

The relationship between competition and innovation has drawn great attention from economists and strategic management researchers. However, the empirical evidence for this relationship remains inconsistent. On the one hand, the Schumpeterian viewpoint credits that the large firms with substantial monopoly market power have resources and incentives to innovate. On the other hand, it is also possible for a monopolist to have incentives to suppress subsequent innovations. It is suggested by Baldwin and Scott (1987) and Tang (2006) that the relationship between competition and innovation is dependent on the competition context and specific type of innovation activities. In this study, we investigate the relationship between foreign competition and pioneering innovation and consider the moderating role of absorptive capacity for this relationship, using the Canadian Innovation Data. We find a U-shaped relationship between foreign competition and pioneering innovation: when foreign competition increases from a low to a moderate level, the likelihood of pioneering innovation decreases. However, the likelihood of pioneering innovation increases when foreign competition continues to increase from a moderate to a high level. We also found evidence that absorptive capacity may positively moderate the relationship between foreign competition and pioneering innovation.

To be able to utilise opportunities in a radically changing business environment, various organisations are transforming their practices towards open innovation processes. Openness does not, however, mean any kind of looseness in innovation management but calls for coordination and facilitation. The challenge for the management in the open innovation process is to find out the appropriate methods and practices for the utilisation of external knowledge resources. One of the first attempts, this study brings two widely utilised innovation management methods — scenarios and the group decision support system (GDSS) — to the open innovation context and suggests guidelines for the management of the open innovation process in an inter-organisational context.