What Drives Innovation?: Inferences from an Industry-Wide Survey in Nigeria

This chapter seeks to make some contributions to the literature on firm-level innovation in Africa by attempting to identify the significant factors that explain the capability of firms in Nigeria to innovate using the results of an industry-wide study. We focused on the product and process innovation activities of firms between 2003 and 2006 and found differences in the factors that drive them at the firm level. Our results further show that interactions matter more than most innovation-related variables and that the most important actors that influence a firm’s innovation efforts are its customers and suppliers. We conclude that product and process innovations are not mutually exclusive and that a major key to successful innovation is how and with whom a firm collaborates. The implication of this for firms and policy makers is that an effectively wired innovation system where all stakeholders are active is critical for firm-level innovation capability.innovation; drivers; manufacturing industry; Nigeria; determinants

Entrepreneurial Orientation In Management Buy-Outs And The Contribution Of Venture Capital

This paper focuses on the development of entrepreneurial orientation (EO)after a management buy-out (MBO) and on the role played by venture capitalfirms in enhancing EO. It presents results of two exploratory case studiesof divisional buy-outs with regard to their EO and the areas where theventure capital firm (VC) has been of greatest help. We discuss theircontribution to elements of the EO of the buy-out firm. The key output isexpected to be a better understanding of the functioning and operations ofthe VC with regard to their contribution to the EO of the firm after an MBO.This will also benefit the management team that seeks venture capitalsupport to improve the firm?s economic performance by using its upsidepotential.governance;venture capital;entrepreneurial orientation;management buy-outs

What drives innovativeness in industrial clusters? Transcending the debate

Industrial clusters, Regional agglomerations, Technological learning

How do environmental enterprise systems contribute to sustainability value? A practitioner-oriented framework

Environmental enterprise systems (EES) are integrated software services that offer a platform to automate and manage environmental sustainability processes, data, risk and reporting. EES are widely used in organisations, but their return depends on nurturing value creating mechanisms and pathways. Since the organisational value of EES has not been well researched and documented in the information systems literature, we have undertaken an exploratory practitioner literature analysis. The findings indicate that EES investment spurs the development of EES competence and EES-enabled capability which are associated with environmental efficiency and competitive values. Based on these findings and drawing from the dynamic capability theory, we contribute an EES value framework. This paper also illustrates to business organisations how to leverage EES’s potential to improve environmental sustainability without trading off economic outcome

"We are always after that balance":managing innovation in the new digital media industry

The pressure to innovate is growing as technology cycles change more rapidly. Organisations need to balance exploration and exploitation effectively if they are to heed the innovation imperative. Organisational ambidexterity is proposed as a means to achieve such balance with structural or contextual ambidexterity as possible choices. Yet how organisations become ambidextrous is an as yet underresearched area, and different industry sectors may pose different innovation challenges. Using the case study method, this paper examines how a computer games company responds to an industry-specific innovation challenge and how it endeavours to balance exploration and exploitation. The findings suggest that ambidexterity is difficult to achieve, and is fraught with organisational tensions which might eventually jeopardise the innovation potential of a company. The paper suggests that more qualitative research is needed to further our understanding of innovation challenges, innovation management and organisational ambidexterity

Appraising and enhancing a leadership in innovation model

Innovation is a significant contributor to effective economies worldwide. This paper aims to apprise a model of Innovation and Leadership created by Grant Mooney and Ken Dovey (Mooney & Dovey 2008). The model examines the resource of individual creativity and organisational innovation through the use of constructs and metrics. Recent developments have identified constructs that were used to appraise and enhance the model as a result of the strong correlations identified in literature and their high level of relevance. The new factors are (1) 'followership' or confidence in top leadership, and (2) 'return on investment' which measures the innovation efforts in an organisation

Assessing health institutional readiness for Ebola epidemic containment in Nigeria

A research report Submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Epidemiology in the field of Implementation Science May, 2018.Background: This study investigated the health institutional readiness to implement innovations for combating Ebola epidemic outbreak in the post-epidemic era between the periods of June 2016 and May 2017 in Nigeria at healthcare facility levels. Rationale: There is paucity of literature on the subject of organisational readiness to implement innovations in the health space. Previous studies often depict readiness as a minor element of the implementation space .In this study, readiness is considered as an instrumental element with strong essence in the implementation framework. Objectives: the study was guided by four objectives;(1) to assess readiness to implement innovations in response to Ebola epidemic outbreak containment;(2)to identify the drivers/detrminants of motivation , general and innovation-specific capacities to implement innovations in response to Ebola epidemic outbreak containment and (4)to investigate predictors of readiness to implement innovations in response to Ebola epidemic outbreak containment. Methods: The sequential exploratory cross-sectional mixed method design was employed. The study population was 785 health care workers (HCWs) and non-health workers working UPTH and four affiliated sites .The purposive sampling was used for qualitative study while Stratified random sampling technique was utilised for the quantitative study. Qualitative data were collected from fifteen respondents while a total of 511 questionnaires were administered at the study site. The qualitative data was analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The quantitative data was analysed using univariable analysis , multivariable analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis /structural equation modelling (SEM) Results: From the qualitative study, quality improvement was perceived as most useful in influencing all the tree sub-components of readiness and readiness. Training is perceived as most useful in building readiness while it is perceived to be moderately useful in influencing the sub-component of readiness. The OLS estimates indicates that QI/QA exert a positive and significant effect on motivation (β=0.004, p<0.05) and general capacity score (β= 0.28 p<0.05) while it inversely but significantly exerts influence on innovation specific capacity (β=-0.21x 10-3, p<0.05).The SEM /pathway analysis showing the direct and indirect routes of interactions among variables that predict institutional readiness reveals that after adjusting for confounders, all the explanatory variables have significant effect on readiness except gender which was dropped from the final model. Conclusion: Health institutional readiness is a vital element in the implementation space. The strength of evidence of how Evidence-Based System for Innovation Support (EBSIS) can influence readiness was established. Though readiness is a rate-determining step in ensuring robust and effective implementation outcomes, exploring innovation outcomes and their amplification through explicitly target readiness dynamics and subcomponents as part of an innovation implementation process is a desideratum that requires stakeholders in the health sphere and implementation space to fill the void. Keywords: innovation, readiness, innovation specific capacity, general capacity, motivation resilience Ebola Virus disease.LG201

Factors for analysing and improving performance of R&D in Malaysian universities

This paper presents a model for analysing and improving performance of R&D in Malaysian universities. There are various general models for R&D analysis, but none is specific for improving the performance of R&D in Malaysian universities. This research attempts to fill a gap in the body of knowledge with regard to developing countries by explicitly focusing on factors that are relevant for analysing and improving R&D performance in Malaysian universities.\ud The project's methodology essentially entails a deductive route to identify and progressively refine the factors that determine R&D performance. It is based on extensive literature study aimed at developing a model that is appropriate for researching and improving R&D in an emerging economy. The paper addresses the development of the model and the research project’s approach. This model will be applied in collecting data from surveys and a number of field studies. The results will be used to improve the model as well as recommending points of improvement for Malaysian universities

Accounting for change and innovativeness: organizational climate change or renewable organizational energy? / Helen Black.

This paper examines how understanding the current climate for change and innovativeness in an organisational unit can inform decision making, strategic management and future change initiatives to enhance innovativeness. Specifically, this study contributes to the growing literature with a focus on using management control systems in pursuit of innovation outcomes and assesses the current climate for change and innovativeness in three organisational units. Using the data collected from a quantitative survey, this study demonstrates that intangible elements that influence change and innovation initiatives can be measured, understood and managed through decision-making and strategy development to drive future outcomes. The results show that each of the sample organisations has different strengths and weaknesses, each individual unit is unique, and analysis of the current climate highlights areas that may impede change and innovative processes. This is useful tool for managers and management accountants when interpreting performance results and/or developing strategies and future actions