Market Structure and Energy Efficiency: The Case of New Commercial Buildings

This is a report on why commercial office buildings aren’t more energy efficient. Several decades of energy efficiency programs have resulted in some gains, but overall increases in the energy efficiency of buildings have fallen far short of the 30 to 50 percent improvement that many efficiency advocates believe is possible. The purpose of this study is to consider the “why” question by empirically examining the dynamics of new commercial building markets. To do so, the authors used multiple research techniques, including qualitative field observation and interview methods that allow for a more in-depth understanding of complicated market processes. Their research focused primarily on new office buildings and centered in four regional markets: Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. The authors identify key dynamics of commercial office building markets, describe how change and innovation occurs in commercial development, discuss the implications for energy efficiency, and suggest next steps

Reasons behind ERP package adoption: a diffusion of innovations perspective

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages have been widely adopted and it is becoming clear that this is driven by multiple rationales that may be simultaneously at odds and complimentary. In this paper, we aim to develop a greater understanding of these rationales by taking ERP packages to be innovations and analysing their adoption with reference to the theory of diffusion of innovations. In particular, we consider the attributes of ERP packages that may affect their adoption such as relative advantage, compatibility, complexiblity, trialability and observability. We argue that users’ perceptions of these attributes are not always accurate and these ’misconceptions’ can further explain reasons for ERP adoption or rejection. Although our analysis aims to provide rich insights into the adoption of ERP packages, the results of the study are arguably of further interest to the more general study of packaged software and the more established literature on custom development

Innovation in Private Infrastructure Development Effects of the Selection Environment and Modularity

This study investigates how the selection environment and modularity affect innovation in private infrastructure development. Our findings stem from an in-depth empirical study of the extent ten process innovations were implemented in an airport expansion programme. Our findings suggest that developer and customers can each occasionally champion or resist innovations. An innovation succeeds contingent upon the capability of the stakeholder groups to develop collectively a plan to finance and implement the innovation, which reconciles subjective individual assessments. Innovations can be particularly hard to adopt when they require financing from different budgets, or when the developer’s investment pays off only if customers behave in a specified way in the future. We also find that the degrees of novelty and modularity neither represent sufficient or necessary conditions enabling or hindering innovation. Novelty, however, makes the innovation champion’s job harder because it leads to perceptions of downside risk and regulatory changes, whereas modularity helps the champion operationalise ways that moderate resistance to innovate.Innovation; financing; implementation

Managing interactions between technological and stylistic innovation in the media industries, insights from the introduction of ebook technology in the publishing industry

The mainstream of innovation research pays a lot of attention to technological innovation, but has neglected its interaction with another type of innovation, which is particularly important in sectors like the furniture, fashion and the media content industries: stylistic innovation. This paper explains how the quality certification processes for technological and stylistic innovations differ and how they may interact in the media industries. Awards are discussed as specific instantiations of micro certification schemes indicating excellence with respect to stylistic and/or technological product features. Furthermore, a definition of stylistic innovation is developed with reference to organizational identity as well as reputation, two key concepts, which permeate the processes of innovation and certification discussed in this paper. Stylistic and technological innovation may take place in both, the content as well as the form of media products. It will be argued that the interaction between stylistic and technological innovation depends, first of all, on the location of each of these types of innovation within the product, and, secondly, on the characteristics of the certification scheme faced by the producing firms. Within the media sector the literary publishing industry has been chosen to provide the subject of the empirical part. Two case studies related to the introduction of eBook technology are presented: One is a study of the first digital literary publisher in Europe and the other is a case study of the first international eBook award, which mixes technological and stylistic criteria. Theory and cases lead to a number of hypotheses, which are offered as potential departure points for future research on the interaction between innovation in style and technology.awards;certification;media industries;stylistic innovation;technological innovation

Housing supply chain model for innovation: research report

The aim of this research is to undertake a case study analysis of successful delivery of an innovation to the Australian housing construction industry. This study is conducted on the “innovator group”; that is, the group that created the idea of an innovation for the housing sector and then were intimately involved in creation, development and diffusion. It is apparent that there were key players involved in this process which are representative of various organisations along the supply chain – designer, developer, subcontractor and supplier. Much rhetoric states that integration of the supply chain actors will solve construction problems, however, in reality we know little beyond this in the Australian context as there has been little research conducted previously. This study will examine in detail the process undertaken by this particular group to deliver an innovation to the housing sector which required an integrated construction supply chain model. This report was published by the Australian Housing Supply Chain Alliance and written by Professor Kerry London, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University with Research Fellow, Jessica Siva

Toward a process theory of entrepreneurship: revisiting opportunity identification and entrepreneurial actions

This dissertation studies the early development of new ventures and small business and the entrepreneurship process from initial ideas to viable ventures. I unpack the micro-foundations of entrepreneurial actions and new ventures’ investor communications through quality signals to finance their growth path. This dissertation includes two qualitative papers and one quantitative study. The qualitative papers employ an inductive multiple-case approach and include seven medical equipment manufacturers (new ventures) in a nascent market context (the mobile health industry) across six U.S. states and a secondary data analysis to understand the emergence of opportunities and the early development of new ventures. The quantitative research chapter includes 770 IPOs in the manufacturing industries in the U.S. and investigates the legitimation strategies of young ventures to gain resources from targeted resource-holders.Open Acces

Towards designing a sustainable is-enabled service delivery system

This paper aims to bring into focus the concept of service sustainability. The normative literature advocates that services by companies, government institutions and service delivery are still posing great challenges to many organizations in this digital age. In highlighting the distinctive feature of service innovation, businesses will be able to maintain competitive advantage. In examining the literature on the service concept, successful companies have the customer at the forefront of their business strategy. As a result, the authors formulate suggestions on the most effective way an organization and the people concerned, can recast strategic thinking. to anticipate and adapt to ever increasing changing service environment. The contribution of the study is an IS-enabled Service Delivery Model (SDM) that places customer and staff as an integral part of the service delivery system with managed interactions and continuous quality control. This intends to support practitioners and researchers which could provide the former useful means of conceptualizing service, and raises an important issue to the latter in revisiting service quality research

Leadership as a determinant of innovative behaviour

In knowledge-intensive services innovative behaviour of co-workers is a critical success factor. In sectors like consultancy, research and architecture the nature of the work implies that projects are never alike. Innovative behaviour means that co-workers generate ideas for better and/or different products, services or working methods, and strive for implementing such changes. By carrying out certain leadership styles, entrepreneurs are able to boost innovative behaviour of their employees. This study presents an overview of innovation-enhancing leadership styles.

Kestävyyden rooli ruokapakkausinnovaatioiden taustalla

Ruokapakkausinnovaatiot kytkeytyvät useisiin kestävyyteen liittyviin haasteisiin ruoan arvoketjussa syntyvästä hävikistä luonnonvarojen käyttöön ja kasvavaan muovijätteen määrään maailmassa. Sääntely alalla on perinteisesti keskittynyt pakkauksista syntyvään materiaalijätteeseen, jättäen muut kestävyyteen liittyvät kysymykset kuten ruokahävikin syntymisen huomiotta. Samaan aikaan perinteiset käsitykset innovaatioista kohdentavat huomion innovaatioiden tuottamaan lisäarvoon ja kilpailukyvyn parantamiseen sosiaalisten tai eettisten taustatekijöiden sijaan. Tämä tutkimus keskittyy asiantuntijoiden kestävyyteen liittyviin käsityksiin suomalaisessa ruokapakkausarvoketjussa. Samalla työ tutkii kuinka vastuullisen tutkimus- ja innovaatiotoiminnan (Responsible Research and Innovation, RRI) periaatteet näyttäytyvät alan tutkimus- ja kehitystoiminnassa. Vastuullinen tutkimus- ja innovaatiotoiminta ymmärretään tässä kontekstissa viitekehyksenä, jonka avulla voidaan tarkastella sosiaalisia ja eettisiä kysymyksiä innovaatioprosesseissa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten kestävyys ymmärretään alan asiantuntijoiden toimesta, ja mitä toimia tarvittaisiin kestävien innovaatioiden edistämiseksi pakkausalalla. Tutkimusta varten toteutettiin 14 puolistrukturoitua asiantuntijahaastattelua, jotka analysoitiin kvalitatiivisen sisällönanalyysin keinoin. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat toimialan kestävyyskäsitysten olevan vaihtelevia. Ruokahävikin syntymistä pidettiin kuitenkin keskeisimpänä kestävyysvaikutuksena ruokapakkaamisessa. Alan toimijoita motivoivat henkilökohtaiset syyt, sekä kestävien innovaatioiden synnyttämä taloudellinen etu. Alan innovaatiota hidastavat etenkin sääntelyyn liittyvät haasteet, elintarviketurvallisuuden vaatimukset, vaikeasti ennustettavissa olevat tulevaisuuden muutokset, ja teknologiset esteet. Lisäksi tuloksista voidaan nähdä, että alan toimijat katsovat suomalaisen julkishallinnon ja elintarvikealan toimijoiden olevan vastuussa kestävän innovaatiotoiminnan edistämisestä. On kuitenkin huomionarvoista, että tutkimuksen kvalitatiivisen orientaation vuoksi johtopäätökset eivät välttämättä päde muissa tapauksissa. Tutkimustuloksien pohjalta voidaan kuitenkin todeta, että sosiaaliset ja eettiset syyt vaikuttavat tutkimus- ja kehitystoiminnan taustalla.Innovation in food packaging interlinks many sustainability challenges ranging from food loss and waste through the value chains, to resource extraction and growing amounts of plastic waste globally. Food packaging innovations arising from regulation often focus on material waste and ignore other facets of sustainability such as food loss and waste. Simultaneously, conventional notions of innovations are focused on firm growth and competitiveness. This study investigates the perceptions of sustainability in food packaging among expert actors in Finland. Moreover, it examines how notions of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) are reflected in the research and development processes in the field. Here, RRI is understood as a framework for examining the role of socio-ethical considerations in research and development. The study aimed to find out which packaging attributes are considered sustainable, what motivations actors in the field have, what type of obstacles exist to innovation in the field, and which actor groups are perceived to be responsible for accelerating the food packaging transition towards sustainability. Semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with 14 participants, and the interview data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis (QCA). The results show that perceptions of sustainability in food packaging vary across the field. However, reducing food waste and loss was considered the most important facet of sustainability in food packaging. Actors in the field are motivated by personal reasons and the anticipated profitability of sustainable innovations. However, innovations in the field are slowed down because of regulatory issues, food safety requirements, unpredictable future changes, and technological lock-ins. Finally, the results of this study indicate that actors in the sector believe the Finnish government and brand owners in the food and beverage industries should be responsible for driving innovation towards improved sustainability. However, the qualitative approach taken here limits the generalizability of the results. The results suggest an ongoing narrative shift in innovation towards greater inclusion of social and ethical considerations in the research and development process

What is systemic innovation?

The term ‘systemic innovation’ is increasing in use. However, there is no consensus on its meaning: four different ways of using the term can be identified in the literature. Most people simply define it as a type of innovation where value can only be derived when the innovation is synergistically integrated with other complementary innovations, going beyond the boundaries of a single organization. Therefore, the term ‘systemic’ refers to the existence of a co-ordinated innovation system. A second, less frequent use of the term makes reference to the development of policies and governance at a local, regional or national scale to create an enabling environment for the above kind of synergistic, multi-organizational innovations. Here, ‘systemic’ means recognition that innovation systems can be enabled and/or constrained by a meta-level policy system. The third use of the term, which is growing in popularity, says that an innovation is ‘systemic’ when its purpose is to change the fundamental nature of society; for instance, to deliver on major transitions concerning ecological sustainability. What makes this systemic is acknowledgement of the existence of a systems hierarchy (systems nested within each other): innovation systems are parts of economic systems, which are parts of societal systems, and all societies exist on a single planetary ecological system. Collaboration is required across organizational and national boundaries to change the societal laws and norms that govern economic systems, which will place new enablers and constraints on innovations systems in the interests of sustainability. The fourth use of the term ‘systemic innovation’ concerns how the people acting to bring about an innovation engage in a process to support systemic thinking, and it is primarily this process and the thinking it gives rise to that is seen as systemic rather than the innovation system that they exist within or are trying to create. It is this fourth understanding of ‘systemic’ that accords with most of the literature on systems thinking published between the late 1970s and the present day. The paper offers an overview of what systems thinkers mean by ‘systemic’, and this not only enables us to provide a redefinition of ‘systemic innovation’, but it also helps to show how all three previous forms of innovation that have been described as systemic can be enhanced by the practice of systems thinking