Exploring indicators of circular economy adoption framework through a hybrid decision support approach

Circular economy (CE) focuses on a circular approach to energy and material resources, which provides economic, environmental and social benefits for manufacturing organisations. CE adoption in emerging economies facilitates in substantial economic growth through appropriate utilisation of energy and material resources across manufacturing industries. This study identifies CE indicators in the context of an emerging economy. The study further develops a framework for the adoption of CE and tests it through a hybrid Best Worst Method and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory approach. The framework is validated through an Indian manufacturing case organisation. While Best Worst Method computes the CE related indicator weights, Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory analyses the inter-relationship among indicators. Disparate CE related indicators, e.g. strategic, managerial, informational and technological, supply chain and organisational, influence the CE adoption in an emerging economy context. The findings reveal that the strategic and managerial indicators have the strongest influence on developing other indicators. The causal digraph and relationship diagram assist the practitioners in predicting the inter-relationship of indicators in CE adoption. The study outcomes will help the practitioners, policymakers and researchers to draw a framework for adoption of circular and green practices and usage of resources sustainably

An integrated model of organisational innovation and firm performance: generation, persistence and complementarity

Our paper encompasses an integral view of organizational innovation (OI), covering from the generation of OI to the effect of OI on firm performance, tackling the gap identified by Damanpour et al. (2009) about the lack of studies that comprehensively study OI. We empirically test this question using data from the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC, 2016) carried out in the years 2008-2013, focusing on a sample of 3,795 manufacturing firms. The results provide empirical evidence that confirms OI as an innovation capability. We conclude that innovation capabilities operate through a reciprocity and complementarity relation, where technological, product and process, innovations and OI are all determining factors of one another. Last, our paper explores the effect of OI on firm performance, expanding the current analysis of the effect of process and product innovation on firm performanc

Open innovation and organizational innovation: organizational innovation as leverage for open innovation practices and the effect of open and organizational innovation practices on business performance

Open innovation is currently one of the hottest topics in innovation management, in particular since in 2003 it was conceptualized as “the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation and to expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively” (Chesbrough et al., 2006). This concept is based on the idea that the search for innovations is carried out with the participation of external actors (Enkel et al., 2009). However, there is still research to be done regarding the process through which companies incorporate open innovation practices and take advantage of them (Huizingh, 2011). Furthermore, it has been known for some time that innovation involves much more than technology and R&D (Chesbrough, 2007); however the literature available on organizational innovation is relatively scant. Taking this into account, the present work aims to give some insight into the following questions: •How do firms turn their innovation efforts into value and how do they capture part of that value? •How does organizational innovation have an impact on the optimization of open innovation practices? •What are the effects of open innovation and organizational innovation on the business performance? The work addresses the aforementioned topic both through a qualitative and a quantitative research method. As for the first one, an in-depth case study methodology is used. The firm studied is a brake systems designer and manufacturer that underwent a profound process organizational innovation. Also, the context of openness in which the company had already been moving begun to be systematized thanks to the implementation of the new structure. A business model perspective is used to explore the first two questions raised in the introduction. The work will adopt the definition of Osterwalder and Pigneur (2009), the developers of the widely used “Business model canvas” tool for describing and discussing business models. Based on this framework, the work analyzes the process of change undergone by the firm and illustrates how and to what extent the organizational innovation contributes to the creation and capture of value, focusing especially on the way in which the open Innovation practices are leveraged by an appropriate business model design. As for the quantitative research, it is based on the Technological Innovation Survey, provided by the INE. This survey has its origins in Community Innovation Statistics (CIS), produced at a supra-national level. The sample selected corresponds to 1,323 firms from Navarre that completed the CIS for the year 2008. By means of econometric tools applied to the aforementioned data, the work aims to answer the third question posed in the introduction.Máster Universitario en Análisis Económico y FinancieroUnibertsitate Masterra Ekonomia eta Finantza Analisia

Technological proximity and the intensity of collaboration along the innovation funnel: direct and joint effects on innovative performance

Purpose. This paper aims to advance the understanding regarding the profiting of collaborative innovation practices, focusing particularly on how the intensity of collaboration along the innovation process and the relatedness between the partners' technological bases affect the outcomes of such process in terms of efficiency and generation of technological innovations. Design/methodology/approach. Drawing on the results from causal models and the estimation of average marginal effects, this research analyses the direct and joint effect of technological proximity and intensity of collaboration in the early and late phases of the process. Findings. The findings suggest that there is a positive unconditional relationship between the aforementioned aspects and innovative performance and that the joint effects diverge depending on the stage of the process, i.e. while in the early phase collaborating intensely with close partners seems to be advisable, this circumstance proves to be problematic in the late phase of the innovation process. Originality/value. The analysis developed provides clarity regarding relevant aspects of collaborative innovation practices, particularly, the search for and selection of optimal partners. In general terms, the evidence found here suggests seeking for collaborating intensely along the whole process with partners whose technological bases present a tight matchup with that of the focal firm. Results also call for awareness of the potential drawbacks derived from intense collaborations with close partners in the late phases of the process, thus hinting toward the convenience of developing protection mechanisms. In addition, this work provides interesting insights that challenge the notion of "proximity paradox" and set out further questions that might be worth considering for future research