Performance measurement procedures that support innovativeness rather than hamper it

This paper addresses the contemporary challenges in increasing firm-level innovativeness and developing appropriate performance metrics. The authors discuss these challenges and provide a literature review on the innovation enhancing factors in service industries. They subsequently study the case of a multinational telecom company that tries to renew its innovative capabilities after a restructuring. An interpretative approach, based on employee focus group interviews and an extensive management workshop, is taken to co-develop context specific factors that enhance innovativeness. These factors include, amongst others, personal recognition and acknowledgement for an innovative achievement, available time, customer intimacy, and a clear innovation strategy. The identified factors will be used in a follow-up research aimed to develop performance measurement procedures that support the company to develop and exploit its innovative capabilities

Performance measurement in the service business: the facilities management function

The nature of performance measurement has changed over the past few decades. Generally performance measurement indicates successful management in the fulfilment of organisation goals. In service businesses measuring customer satisfaction and service quality has become an industry standard and as FM is becomes more widely recognised as a component in the business value chain and corporate strategic objectives, the adoption of performance indicators that relate directly to the core business driver is key to success. This paper examines the state of knowledge of performance measurement in a facilities management context, expounds and reveals the role that performance measurement plays in the overall efficiency of the FM service function in relation to service business operation. The paper suggests that a fully developed performance measurement solution can deliver as a business tool whilst acting as a driver in the innovation process of service organisation

Linking Innovative Potential to SME Performance: An Assessment of Enterprises in Industrial South Wales

The attraction of inward investment from the UK and from overseas was the main focus of regional development policy in Wales for much of the 1970s and 1980s. Whilst Wales has been particularly successful in attracting foreign enterprise, the contribution of new investors to improving longer term regional economic prospects has been questioned at several levels. With concerns over inward investor stability, embeddedness, and contribution to local value added, increasing weight has been given to the encouragement, and development of innovative indigenous SMEs in the Welsh economy. General and sectoral initiatives to encourage SME development and innovation in Wales have also taken place against a background of historically low levels of new firm formation in the region, together with the presence of factors expected to hinder SME growth including low levels of capital availability. Ultimately, it is hoped that a strongly performing indigenously controlled and innovative SME sector will go some way to improving regional growth prospects, and hence play a role in reducing the GDP per capita gap between Wales and the UK. During the 1990s a series of research and consultancy studies in Wales have been undertaken seeking to audit SME activities, define needs and identify market failures in provision of information and services. These have formed the basis of revised policy and then for new resource directions emanating at the European, regional and local levels. Encouraging innovative activity has been at the forefront of the network of initiatives currently underway in Wales. New initiatives have often been instituted without a clear appreciation of the nature of innovation, and how innovative activities link to innovative outputs and then feed through to improved business performance. This paper examines the link between innovative activity, outcomes and the performance of SMEs in Wales. A range of European, UK and locally developed initiatives in Wales seek to encourage innovative activity in indigenous SMEs. However, it is the contention of this paper that these initiatives have often been instituted without a clear appreciation of how, if, and which innovative activities feed through to improved business performance. The paper offers a general method of assessing the innovative potential (the configuration of management practices, capabilities, internal and external linkages facilitating the generation of appropriation of ideas) of manufacturing SMEs. This then leads on to an examination of how far innovative potential is connected to operational and general business performance. The paper describes how the model was developed and used to assess the innovative potential of a sample of manufacturing SMEs in Industrial South Wales, and how far the innovative potential can be linked to improved operational and business performance. The introduction to the paper reviews current literature on innovation in SMEs, and demonstrates how far recent studies have succeeded in measuring, and then linking innovative inputs of SMEs to innovative outputs and firm performance. The second section builds upon the review to develop a working model of an innovative SME. Innovation is considered not only in terms of new product or process development but more generally as practice. The model reveals the innovative firm as one that identifies, interprets, and applies knowledge effectively, and as appropriate throughout the organisation. The model described represents a synthesis of previous research. Key factors in the model include strategy and the techniques and practices deployed to facilitate the development and appropriation of ideas for innovation. Broadly this focuses on SME commitment to innovation, and management practices supporting this commitment. The third section describes how the model was operationalised into an auditing tool, and then used to assess the innovative potential of a sample of manufacturing SMEs in Industrial South Wales. The fourth section summarises the results from the initial research programme, and in particular, considers whether the unique operating structures usually associated with SMEs hinder or facilitate the adoption of new structures for organisational learning. Moreover the section examines whether the existence of certain configurations of practices coincide with improved business performance and operational efficiencies. The conclusions consider these results in the context of the directions being adopted by current regional SME policy initiatives in Industrial South Wales.

The Third Way for the Third Sector: Using Design to Transfer Knowledge and Improve Service in a Voluntary Community Sector Organisation

This paper describes a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership that concluded in September 2011. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is a UK-wide activity that helps organisations to improve their competitiveness and productivity by making better use of knowledge, technology and skills within universities, colleges and research organisations. This paper details the outcome of a KTP between Age UK Newcastle and Northumbria University’s School of Design that aimed to use Design approaches to improve the charity’s services. This paper will describe the recent context for organisations operating in the Voluntary Community Sector and discuss the relevance of a Design approach to both the improvement of customer services in this circumstance, as well as the transfer of knowledge to a capacity-starved organisation. It will also document how Design was used to achieve both of these aims, and the resulting impact of this engagement on the organisation and stakeholders

Work Organisation and Innovation

[Excerpt] Innovations in work organisation have the potential to optimise production processes in companies and improve employees’ overall experience of work. This report explores the links between innovations in work organisation – under the broader label of high performance work practices (HPWPs) – and the potential benefits for both employees and organisations. It draws on empirical evidence from case studies carried out in 13 Member States of the European Union where workplace innovations have resulted in positive outcomes

Analysing relationship quality and its contribution to consumer relationship proneness

Relationship marketing has been the dominant paradigm in the sphere of marketing in the last decades. However, aspects such as globalisation, development of information technologies, or the growing competitiveness pressure have caused the way of approaching relationship management with consumers to change. A consumer feels as the lead character and demands personalised treatment customised to his/her needs and specific characteristics. In this context, relationship quality (RQ) allows to understand the proneness of consumers to keep their commercial relations alive. Several are the studies that analyse RQ antecedents, but none has used a comprehensive management approach that includes resources and capabilities (such as market orientation or knowledge management) that a company has available for management in order to enhance said RQ. Furthermore, we analyse the effect of said perceived quality on the consumer’s proneness to maintain the relationship

Managing Supplier Integration into Product Development: A Literature Review and Conceptual Model

Industrial clusters, Regional agglomerations, Technological learning, Technological capability, Knowledge spillovers, Regional innovation systems

Total Quality Facilities Management and Innovation: A Synergistic Approach

The ideas of quality and performance management and innovation in facilities management service provision are not new. Total Quality Management (TQM) is widely recognised throughout the world as a concept capable of providing competitive advantage. Innovation has also received considerable attention as having a crucial role in securing sustainable competitive advantage. However, there has been little consideration of the potential for integration of TQM practices with innovation principles in determining facilities management performance. TQM and innovation appear to corroborate each other and are becoming increasingly important in facilities management. This study takes a theoretical approach to critically review the relationship between TQM and innovation and to determine the relationship between TQM and Innovation in regard to facilities service provision. The theoretical implication is that FM service providers may adopt a synergistic approach to TQM and innovation, leading to sustained competitive advantage in terms of better positioning themselves within the saturated FM marketplace