The development of marine biotechnology in Oman: Potential for capacity building through open innovation

This study examines the current state of the art in the emerging and strategically important marine biotechnology sector in Oman, which has a long coastline, rich marine heritage and strong fishing industry. In a knowledge-based economy, the ability to innovate is a key factor for increasing organisational competitiveness and this may be achieved using open innovation. This is the use by firms of external knowledge, ideas and technology to innovate. In this study, the extent of open innovation in Omani marine bioindustry companies has been studied by examining data from the top sixteen companies ranked by number of employees. The results indicate that the extent of openness in these companies is higher towards market side activities. In addition, the use of open innovation to increase collaboration between companies, Universities and government research institutes needs to be significantly strengthened

Entrepreneurial adaptation: Insights from existing literature and possibilities for new research.

Recent research shows that new ventures have great difficulties in defining a viable business model from the outset and that minor or major adaptations to this initial business model are needed as the venture evolves. Entrepreneurial adaptation or the entrepreneur's willingness and ability to make appropriate adjustments to the business concept become critical. If adaptation is so important for entrepreneurial companies, we need to ask ourselves a number of questions. (1) What causes this need for adaptation? (2a) What is the precise effect of adaptation on a start-up's performance or survival and (2b) is this effect similar for all start-ups? Also, (3) what do we know about the process of adaptation? And (4) what are factors enabling this adaptation process? Finally, we also need to determine (5) how the concept of adaptation in entrepreneurial companies is related to existing concepts of change and adaptation. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of different literature streams that are specifically relevant to entrepreneurial adaptation and the questions listed above, and to point out gaps in the existing literature requiring further investigation. We look at whether and how the existing literature can provide insight into each of those five questions. In a final section, we point out directions for further research.Innovation; Research; Model; Companies; Performance; Startups; Processes; Factors;

The quest for corporate growth

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-122).by Gabriel D. Obrador Ramos and Edmundo E. Ruiz Rodriguez.M.S

A Literature Review on the Effect of Industrial Clusters and the Absorptive Capacity on Innovation

In recent decades, the analysis of the effects of clustering as an essential factor for the development of innovations and the competitiveness of enterprises has raised great interest in different areas. Nowadays, companies have access to almost all tangible and intangible resources located and/or developed in any country in the world. However, despite the obvious advantages that this situation entails for companies, their geographical location has shown itself, increasingly clearly, to be a fundamental factor that positively influences their innovative performance and competitiveness. Industrial clusters could represent a unique level of analysis, positioned between the individual company and the industry, which makes them an ideal unit of analysis to determine the effects derived from company membership of a cluster. Also, the absorptive capacity (hereinafter 'AC') can mediate the process of innovation development by companies located in a cluster. The transformation and exploitation of knowledge could have a mediating effect between knowledge acquisition and innovative performance. The main objective of this work is to determine the key factors that affect the degree of generation and use of knowledge from the environment by companies and, consequently, their innovative performance and competitiveness. The elements analyzed are the companies' membership of a cluster and the AC. To this end, 30 most relevant papers published on this subject in the "Web of Science" database have been reviewed. Our findings show that, within a cluster, the knowledge coming from the companies' environment can significantly influence their innovative performance and competitiveness, although in this relationship, the degree of access and exploitation of the companies to this knowledge plays a fundamental role, which depends on a series of elements both internal and external to the company

The adaptability of companies in the automotive sector to the ban on internal combustion vehicles in Europe from 2035

This dissertation explores a topic of great actuality, with an almost daily presence in the press and on people’s minds. Although the adaptability of companies to change is a diverse research area, the study focuses on an intensely affected domain, the Automotive Sector, for being an area that raised my particular interest. The realisation that there is a rapid change occurring in the world’s mobility and transportation, allied to the fact that companies in the automotive and mobility sector need to reshape to fit the market needs promptly, is what attracted me to investigate this theme. This paper aims to identify the factors that condition the adaptability of companies in the automotive sector to the new paradigm that will emerge in 2035. For this reason, the study’s objective is to analyse the relationship between organisational citizenship behaviour, intrinsic motivation, creative behaviour, problem-focused voice behaviour and affective commitment constructs and demographic variables such as age, level of education and job tenure. This study assessed the reactions, adaptations, and innovations adopted by companies in the automotive sector. The study is based on an organisational questionnaire answered by 64 workers in Portuguese companies in the automotive sector through a Microsoft Forms link. This study is organised in two parts: in the first, I present the theoretical framework, I characterise innovation and adaptability, the relationship between these two factors and the analysis of the case in the Automotive Sector; In the second part, I present the empirical study collected from the questionnaire above mentioned.A presente dissertação explora um tema de grande atualidade, com presença quase diária na imprensa e nas preocupações dos cidadãos. Embora a questão da adaptabilidade das empresas à mudança, respeite a uma diversidade de áreas de investigação, centrei o meu estudo num domínio intensamente afetado – o Setor Automóvel –, por ser uma área que me suscita particular interesse. A perceção de que, a nível mundial, há uma mudança rápida a ocorrer na mobilidade e transporte, aliada ao facto de as empresas do setor automóvel e de mobilidade precisarem de se adaptar prontamente às necessidades do mercado, determinaram o meu interesse na investigação do tema. Este trabalho visa identificar os fatores que condicionam a adaptabilidade das empresas do sector automóvel ao novo paradigma, que surgirá em 2035. O objetivo do estudo é a análise da relação entre comportamento de cidadania organizacional, motivação intrínseca, comportamento criativo, comportamento de voz focado no problema e construções de compromisso afetivo e variáveis demográficas tais como idade, nível de educação e permanência no emprego. Resultou deste estudo a avaliação da reação, adaptações e inovações adotadas pelas empresas do setor automóvel. O estudo baseia-se num questionário organizacional, respondido por 64 trabalhadores de empresas portuguesas do setor automóvel, através de Microsoft Forms. Este estudo organiza-se em duas partes: na primeira, apresento o quadro teórico, caracterizo a inovação e a adaptabilidade, a relação entre estes dois fatores e a análise do caso no Setor Automóvel; na segunda parte, apresento o estudo empírico recolhido no questionário acima referido

Nuevos productos altamente innovadores: factores de éxito en el front end (pre-desarrollo)

364 p.El objetivo de esta investigación es contribuir a la mejora del conocimiento de los factores explicativos de los distintos resultados del pre-desarrollo de la innovación; es decir, el proceso precedente a la toma de decisión formal en relación a si continuar con una idea innovadora o darla por concluida. Este proceso se denomina comúnmente Fuzzy Front End (en adelante, FFE). Nuestro estudio se focaliza en el desarrollo de nuevos productos altamente innovadores. Nuestro enfoque es novedoso desde tres puntos de vista. En primer lugar, el proceso FFE no se considera uniforme tal y como algunas investigaciones previas, fundamentalmente cualitativas, habían sugerido. En segundo lugar, se examina una amplia gama de factores explicativos del FFE, incluidos los factores vinculados a la innovación abierta, a la empresa y a las personas. En tercer lugar, esta investigación examina información procedente de tres fuentes de información diferentes: (1) entrevistas en profundidad con expertos en innovación; (2) una fuente secundaria de datos obtenida del Instituto Vasco de Estadística (Eustat); y (3) una encuesta ad-hoc que proporcionó información de una muestra representativa de 190 empresas innovadoras. Utilizando diversas fuentes de información, hemos podido triangular los datos cuantitativos obtenidos y controlar la validez y el sesgo del método común. Esta investigación realiza las siguientes aportaciones principales : (1) el éxito en cada una de los tres resultados del FFE estudiados, es decir creatividad de la idea, definición del producto y definición del proyecto, se explica por diferentes factores; (2) los factores relacionados con la empresa son relevantespara explicar los resultados del FFE; en particular, la flexibilidad estratégica; (3) la innovación abierta influye en los resultados finales, principalmente a través de la calidad de la red de innovación abierta, pero no a través de su amplitud y profundidad, como la mayoría de las investigaciones anteriores habían sugerido; (4) los factores relacionados con la persona (es decir, el promotor de la innovación) son también relevantes para explicar el desempeño en el FFE, siendo la variable más importante el ¿expertise¿ del promotor de la innovación; (5) los factores principales para explicar la creatividad de la idea y la definición del producto son los relacionados con la empresa, mientras que para explicar la definición del proyecto los factores más importantes son los relacionados con la persona (promotor de la innovación) ; (6) los tres resultados del FFE considerados son relevantes para explicar el éxito en dicho proceso. Las empresas podrían considerar nuestras conclusiones para priorizar los factores en cada fase del FF

Open Innovation in Business Incubators

In the past, companies had an incentive to innovate their products to maintain a leading position in the market. The new technologies and prototypes developed in the research and development (R&D) laboratories were jealously guarded because a company's profits and position in the industrial sector could be endangered if competitors became aware of the new technology and copied it. Universities and governments did not participate in the co-creation of innovation, thus placing the burden and risk of scientific research on individual companies. However, over the years, external factors have emerged and radically changed the situations in which companies operate, thus necessitating a change in the strategy used for maintaining a leading position in the market. In addition to phenomena such as globalization, development in telecommunications, and the success of other disruptive technologies, new players in the innovation sector have also emerged, such as the technology transfer offices of universities, centers dedicated to R&D on behalf of third parties, and business incubators. With this thesis, I want to focus precisely on the latter, delving into their role in economic development, their structure, and how they relate to external actors, with particular attention on open innovation methodologies.In the past, companies had an incentive to innovate their products to maintain a leading position in the market. The new technologies and prototypes developed in the research and development (R&D) laboratories were jealously guarded because a company's profits and position in the industrial sector could be endangered if competitors became aware of the new technology and copied it. Universities and governments did not participate in the co-creation of innovation, thus placing the burden and risk of scientific research on individual companies. However, over the years, external factors have emerged and radically changed the situations in which companies operate, thus necessitating a change in the strategy used for maintaining a leading position in the market. In addition to phenomena such as globalization, development in telecommunications, and the success of other disruptive technologies, new players in the innovation sector have also emerged, such as the technology transfer offices of universities, centers dedicated to R&D on behalf of third parties, and business incubators. With this thesis, I want to focus precisely on the latter, delving into their role in economic development, their structure, and how they relate to external actors, with particular attention on open innovation methodologies

Markets for technology (why do we see them, why don't we see more of them and why we should care)

This essay explores the nature, the functioning, and the economic and policy implications of markets for technology. Today, the outsourcing of research and development activities is more common than in the past, and specialized technology suppliers have emerged in many industries. In a sense, the Schumpeterian vision of integrating R&D with manufacturing and distribution is being confronted by the older Smithian vision of division of labor. The existence and efficacy of markets for technology can profoundly influence the creation and diffusion of new knowledge, and hence, economic growth of countries and the competitive position of companies. The economic and managerial literatures have touched upon some aspects of the nature of these markets. However, a thorough understanding of how markets for technology work is still lacking. In this essay we address two main questions. First, what are the factors that enable a market for technology to exist and function effectively? Specifically we look at the role of industry structure, the nature of knowledge, and intellectual property rights and related institutions. Second, we ask what the implications of such markets are for the boundaries of the firm, the specialization and division of labor in the economy, industry structure, and economic growth. We build on this discussion to develop the implications of our work for public policy and corporate strategy