International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management

This paper analyzes the necessary and sufficient conditions for successful innovation in design and engineering companies (DECs) of the aerospace industry in Mexico. It is argued that successful innovation activity is a condition for achieving a high-performance level (HPL) among DECs. Seven innovation capabilities are analyzed to determine whether an HPL exists. Based on the dynamic capabilities approach, this research suggests that learning capability (LRC), research and development capability (RDC), creative capability (CRC), collaborative innovation capability (CIC), knowledge sharing capability (KSC), and exploitation capability (EXTC) are necessary conditions to achieve an HPL in DECs of the aerospace industry in Mexico. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods are applied in this research to get insight into the configuration complexity that determines configurational causal relationships between HPL and innovation capabilities among firms of this industry in Mexico.

Firms that operate in high-velocity markets must configure and utilize diverse technological innovation capabilities (TICs). TICs provide the firm with technological strength and adaptability to manage technological changes with respect to demand changes on the customer value trajectory. In this paper, we examine the configuration of a high tech firm’s TICs involving R&D, manufacturing and marketing capabilities to develop technology exploring or market exploiting activities in response to shifts in the customer value trajectory. We analyze the cases of micro, electrical, mechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer innovators, and identify strategic configuration of TICs that has been necessary to trace the customer value trajectory with technological changes. We further show how the stability of the customer value trajectory plays a role for the firm in market transition to configure and utilize its TICs for exploring or exploiting the market. Based on our findings, we offer a managerial decision-making framework regarding strategic management of TICs with respect to the customer value trajectory in high-velocity markets.

Shared leadership (SL) is important as a micro-perspective management in a team to promote innovative knowledge creation. SL consists of various processes of “emergent team property” resulting from “distributed influence among members,” and affects innovative knowledge creation. We examined the processes using text-mining analysis through an experimental workshop that simulated an actual class. As a result of controlling the distribution of influence by a conversation protocol and the interactions that occurred, SL autonomously emerged in the team as a division of leadership roles, each of which facilitated divergence and subsequent convergence of the discussions to achieve innovative team knowledge.

This study reviewed the literature to understand “how does research produce impact?”. Despite all discussion threads in the literature, it was clear that management of the Front-end of Innovation (FEI) of non-profit research centers has received little attention. As a result, this study was a first step toward proposing a model that describes the Front-End of R&D at non-profit Research Centers. This paper is an Integrative Literature Review that follows the PRISMA statement methodology. Building on FEI2O’s High-Level Ontology, this paper’s contribution elicited relevant constructs from the literature and took the first steps to extend it to the Front-End of R&D. New research-related concepts such as the RESEARCH CONCEPT, the INFLUENCING FACTORS, and the RESEARCH PROJECT were introduced. The RESEARCH PROJECT produces RESULTS that may have an IMPACT ON SOCIETY. All these concepts are interconnected through a feedback loop that feeds the FEI2O: STRATEGIC PURPOSE of the non-profit research center, contributing to the advancement of its research strategy, objectives, and goals. The current work contributed to understanding a domain of knowledge that is of interest to researchers, research managers, and those interested in bringing new scientific research results to society.

This study analyses the effects of different integrative strategies related to supply chain (SC) actors (suppliers, customers and internal manufacturing) in the early stages of new product development (NPD) on NPD success. Relying on various theories and related empirical evidence, we state three hypotheses and empirically test them using multi-country and multi-industry data from 309 manufacturing plants. The results show that different strategies of involvement explain different NPD success. We observed that integrative practices involving three distant actors have a positive impact on all NPD success indicators. We also observed that NPD success related to specific purposes, for example, market or internal processes, can be obtained with simpler combinations of collaboration. This shows the significance of choosing a differentiated portfolio of SC partners based on cognitive distance to achieve success in different NPD performance measures. Our results confirm that the types of partners are determinants in achieving different NPD success and that there are different alternatives to achieve success. These results have implications for managers to optimise the allocation of limited resources when cooperating with different agents in NPD projects.

In an exploratory inquiry, involving informants in 19 global manufacturing companies in six sectors of the process industries, ideation, and concept integration during the pre-development of non-assembled products was studied. New and previously deployed constructs and concepts related to innovation in a process-industrial context have initially been developed, refined, and empirically tested. The findings demonstrate the importance of an early integration of constructs and concepts for raw material innovation, innovation-related process technology, and product innovation, as a prerequisite for successful ideation of new or improved products in the process industries. Companies in different sectors of the process industries can implement and use the novel “integrated framework” for contextualization and conceptualization of new product ideas in their development or reconfiguration of an enhanced work process for non-assembled products.

Comparing companies solely based on tax incentives for R&D activities can be misleading. Hence, this research aims to assess how Portuguese companies that make use of tax incentives for R&D activities on an ongoing basis behave in terms of promoting and appropriating value through innovation. From an initial population of 3,156 companies, a final database with 339 Portuguese companies that made use of fiscal credits from 2013 to 2016 was analyzed. The tax incentive program targeted was the Fiscal Incentive System supporting R&D in Enterprises (SIFIDE). Using the analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA), the main results suggest that, considering the internal resources, there are no statistically significant differences between the promotion and appropriation of value through innovation according to the size and age of companies. The data indicate that good management regarding the generation and implementation of innovations may occur independently of size and age of firms, in the Portuguese case. Albeit the averages of the indicators of value appropriation of the intangible (e.g. patents, trademarks, and new processes), and the efficiencies of assets and liabilities for the promotion of the intangible are different according to the level of technological intensity. These results point to the need to reevaluate the tax incentives for R&D activities, since its generic nature may not meet the different innovation needs arising from the distinctive characteristics of these enterprises and their technological dynamics. Implications and future research directions are provided.

Virtual reality (VR) offers the opportunity to create virtual worlds that could replace real experiences. This research investigates the influence of user motivation, temporal distance and experience type on the satisfaction with the VR experience, and the degree of acceptance of a VR experience as a substitute for a real experience. The results suggest that the degree of acceptance of a VR experience as a substitute for a real experience is higher for passive VR experiences compared to active VR experiences. Furthermore, the results support the assumption that users are more satisfied with passive VR experiences.

This paper assumes that cultural characteristics of IT are critical for business-IT alignment (BITA), especially in crises such as COVID-19. A case study of a Swiss higher education institution examines this relationship and its contributions in terms of performance. The study develops a strategic alignment and organizational culture research model based on semi-structured interview guidelines by interviewing employees with different job roles and characteristics. It reveals the dominance of corporate infrastructure and process-strategic orientation and the combined influence of clan, hierarchy, and market culture. Results mapping leads to novel propositions for BITA at different management levels.

The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated infection control measures imposed by governments caused a major disruption to traditional workflows, leading to an immense increase in remote work. At the same time, innovation activities became more collaborative and digitalized than ever before, as firms worldwide were forced to shift from physical to virtual innovation spaces literally overnight and suddenly had to adapt and practice “remote innovation”. By means of a systematic literature review based on 80 selected articles, this paper contributes to the academic discussion in three ways: First, the paper explores the synthesis between open innovation and remote work and uncovers a set of necessary determinants that form the basis for practicing remote innovation. Second, the paper offers a conceptual framework based on Chesbrough’s open innovation model and extended by various determinants of open innovation in a remote work environment to provide initial advice to managers on how to innovate in times of social distancing. Third, the study concludes by identifying several promising areas for future research in the field of remote innovation management, a hitherto under-researched but highly topical field.