Towards technological rules for designing innovation networks: a dynamic capabilities view.

Inter-organizational innovation networks provide opportunities to exploit complementary resources that reside beyond the boundary of the firm. The shifting locus of innovation and value creation away from the “sole firm as innovator” poses important questions about the nature of these resources and the capabilities needed to leverage them for competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to describe research into producing design-oriented knowledge, for configuring inter-organizational networks as a means of accessing such resources for innovation

Disruptive innovation in the higher education sector : The case of the one planet MBA

In 2010 the MBA team at the University of Exeter in the UK faced a strategic challenge: how to differentiate and grow their MBA provision in a context in which there were major players with size, location and branding advantages. The decision was taken to adopt a radical approach, building on early discussions with the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), and to create a ‘One Planet MBA’ with the explicit mission of providing relevant management skills to people who in the future would help deal with the challenge of sustainability. The strategy was developed and framed in part through the emerging theory of disruptive innovation (Christensen, 1997) and tried to open up a distinctive market niche in a previously underserved segment of the management education marketplace. This chapter reviews the case and the learning which came from trying to deal with a number of challenges at institutional, faculty, student and market level. It offers insights for institutional players looking to align their offering more closely with the wider societal concerns as framed, for example, by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.publishedVersio

A study of inputs and their influence on technological innovative activity

Technological innovation has been widely studied: however surprisingly little is known about the experience of managing the process. Most reports tend to be generalistic and/or prescriptive whereas it is argued that multiple sources of variation in the process limit the value of these. A description of the innovation process is given together with a presentation of what is knovrn from existing studies. Gaps identified in this area suggest that a variety of organisational influences are important and an attempt is made to identify some of these at individual, group and organisational level. A simple system model of the innovation management process is developed. Further investigation of the influence of these factors was made possible through an extended on-site case study. Methodology for this based upon participant observation coupled wth a wide and flexible range of techniques is described. Evidence is presented about many aspects of the innovation process from a number of different levels and perspectives: the attempt is to demonstrate the extent to which variation due to contingent influences takes place. It is argued that problems identified all relate to the issue of integration. This theme is also developed from an analytical viewoint and it is suggested that organisational response to increases in complexity in the external environment will be to match them with internal complexity. Differentiation of this kind will require extensive and flexible integration, especially in those inherently uncertain areas associated with innovation. Whilst traditionally a function of management, it is argued that integration needs have increased to the point where a new specialism is required. The concept of integration specialist is developed from this analysis and attempts at simple integrative change during the research are described. Finally a strategy for integration - or rather for building in integrative capability - ln the organisation studied is described

Open collective innovation

Report published by Advanced Institute of Management ResearchThe innovation context is changing. The production of knowledge is accelerating. Knowledge creation is now a globally distributed activity. Globalisation has massively increased the range of markets and segments – putting pressure on innovation search routines to cover much more territory. The proliferation of the internet and emergence of large-scale social networks necessitates the development of new approaches to innovation. The involvement of active users in innovation is accelerating. As a result of the changing context in which innovation is taking place established organisations need to review their approaches to innovation management.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Dealing with discontinuity: how to sharpen up your innovation act

Report published by Advanced Institute of Management ResearchEvery now and then a disruptive event happens, such as the invention of the internet, that changes markets, industries, even societies. Successful well-managed companies thrive in mature markets by focusing on doing what they do, just a little bit better. Consequently, when a disruptive event, such as new technology or a regulatory change comes along, the successful company is often blindsided. It is just not very good at the ‘doing it different’ type of innovation. The very attributes that make it successful in stable conditions hinder its ability to detect or exploit the change. The consequences of failing to take advantage of such disruptive change are all too frequently severe. Companies lose out to new entrants. Eastman Kodak, for example, struggled to cope with a shift to digital photography. Xerox failed to capitalise on digital photocopying. Many companies missed out on the internet. Our research suggests that companies should adopt parallel routines for managing innovation related to discontinuous events, alongside their routines for managing innovation in stable conditions

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Contents : 1. He innvations imperative 2. Organizing innovation and entreprenuership 3. Network and systems 4. Innovative manuvactring 5. New produc and service development 6. Creating and sharing knowledge and intellectal roery 7. Exploiing disconins innovation 8. Entreprenuership and new ventures 9. Social entreprenurship and innovation 10. Innovation for growth and susatinbility 11. Innovation, globalizatioin and developmen

Is discontinuous innovation on your corporate radar?

© Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM)In a fast moving world, one of the biggest challenges facing organisations is dealing with discontinuous innovation (DI). Most organisations understand that innovation is an organisational imperative. They learn to listen to customers and constantly evolve their existing products and services, continuously improve their processes, so that they are not left behind by competitors. The ability to deal with this steady state type of innovation – the constant storms of change within an industry – is essential. Every so often, however, a whirlwind blows through an industry – whether caused by regulatory or political change, a technology, or a product, so radically different that it changes the shape of an industry completely and in doing so puts many existing, successful companies out of business. In the early 1900s the buggy whip manufacturers in the US, an entire city dedicated to making a supposedly indispensable item, were put out of business almost over night by a new fangled machine called a quadracyle, built by a young inventor called Henry Ford. More recently Polaroid, one of America’s great and longest standing companies, almost went the same way as the buggy whip manufacturers. The instant photography company was wrongfooted by the advent of digital photography, making a number of strategic mistakes in responding to this threat to its business. For an organisation to be truly successful and sustain that success over many years it needs to be good at both steady state, conventional innovation, and to be able to sense a radical new discontinuous innovation on the horizon, and, preferably, come up with one itself. Being ready for discontinuous innovation requires a specific set of organisational skills, not least the ability to search for signs of the potential whirlwind that may sweep through an industry, or, as with the internet, across entire business sectors right around the world. This briefing document focuses on that search skill. By looking at what some leading organisations are doing in this area it suggests 12 different strategies for developing a search capability to detect triggers of discontinuous innovation. These strategies are also useful for more conventional innovation, and all organisations should employ some at least, if they aim to remain both competitive and durable.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Modelos de Negócios Sustentáveis: Uma Revisão Sistemática de Abordagens e Desafios na Manufatura

Objective: there is an ongoing need for businesses to strive to maintain ideals within environmental, economic, and social values — commonly known as the triple bottom line. Manufacturing as a sector has advanced drastically and the literature on sustainable business models in this sector has emerged. The purpose of this paper is to analyze sustainable business models in manufacturing and the approaches and challenges faced in creating and implementing them. Methods: this paper uses a systematic approach to review the literature. We identify sustainable business models and classify them within different industry areas while strategies and challenges emerge from the literature. Results: the findings indicate that there is some empirical work done in investigating the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability in manufacturing. Overall, there is an ongoing transition to sustainable business models in varying divisions of industry. However, the creation and delivery of sustainable economic value is still unexplored. Conclusions: the research provides insight to researchers and practitioners on how organizations implement sustainability while delivering value to their stakeholders. It also provides new avenues for conducting research in unexplored strategies of sustainable business modeling.Objetivo: há uma necessidade contínua de que as empresas se esforcem para manter os ideais dentro dos valores ambientais, econômicos e sociais - comumente conhecidos como triple bottom line. A manufatura como um setor avançou drasticamente e a literatura sobre modelos de negócios sustentáveis neste setor emergiu. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar modelos de negócios sustentáveis na manufatura e as abordagens e desafios enfrentados na sua criação e implementação. Métodos: este artigo usa uma abordagem sistemática para revisar a literatura. Identificamos modelos de negócios sustentáveis e os classificamos em diferentes áreas da indústria, enquanto estratégias e desafios emergem da literatura. Resultados: os resultados indicam que há algum trabalho empírico realizado na investigação das dimensões sociais e ambientais da sustentabilidade na manufatura. No geral, há uma transição contínua para modelos de negócios sustentáveis em várias divisões da indústria. No entanto, a criação e entrega de valor econômico sustentável ainda são inexploradas. Conclusões: a pesquisa fornece uma visão para pesquisadores e profissionais sobre como as organizações implementam a sustentabilidade e, ao mesmo tempo, agregam valor às suas partes interessadas. Ele também fornece novos caminhos para a realização de pesquisas em estratégias inexploradas de modelagem de negócios sustentável.publishedVersio

Opening up healthcare innovation: Innovation solutions for a 21st century healthcare system

Report published by Advanced Institute of Management ResearchHealthcare systems in the early 21st century face a crisis. Rising demand and expectations are increasingly out of step with the funding models available.Without radical innovation it seems unlikely that we can sustain the kind of healthcare which we associate with highly developed societies. The healthcare sector has always been characterised by innovation – in treatments and drugs, in hospital and care systems, in primary and acute care pathways and in chronic disease management. But arguably the system suffers from the problem facing all kinds of organisations – a recognition that, despite huge commitment and investment in generating innovation, ‘not all the smart guys work for us’. The ideas behind ‘open collective innovation’ essentially involve finding ways to spread the knowledge net much more widely, bringing into the innovation process a wider range of players and mobilising their experience and creativity in the search for novel and sustainable solutions. One key direction in which healthcare innovation can open up lies in harnessing the innovation potential of patients and their carers.We already know of many examples where patients have been a key source of innovation; in today’s environment the challenge is to find ways of scaling this to help deal with the innovation crisis. One powerful route is opened up via interactive web-based platforms which build and mobilise communities with common interests. This report discusses the potential of Web 2.0 interactive platforms and provides examples of several which appear to offer considerable additional traction in developing innovative solutions to the healthcare issues faced by such patients.Economic and Social Research Counci