Factors influencing the firm\u27s propensity to adopt inward technology licensing in new product development: an empirical investigation

Many scholars and practitioners accept that inward technology licensing (ITL) can be a viable alternative to internal R & D as a source of nev^ products. Yet, new product development (NPD) research to date has focused mainly on internal development with little attention to external technology development methods

Customer Interaction and Innovation in Hybrid Offerings:Investigating Moderation and Mediation Effects for Goods and Services Innovation

Hybrid offerings are bundles of goods and services offerings provided by the same firm. Bundling value offerings affects how firms innovate, interact with customers, and customize their goods and services. However, it remains unclear how customer interaction might drive the innovation performance of various bundled components. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of customer interactions and service customization on both goods and services innovations in a hybrid offering context, using a unique data set of 146 information technology and manufacturing firms. Customer interaction appears beneficial to both goods and services innovation in a hybrid offerings context, but service customization has different direct effects on goods versus services innovation. As a potential mediator, customer knowledge mobilization resources exert different effects on the goods and services elements of hybrid offerings. Furthermore, for high-interaction customers, medium levels of technical modularity lead to most favorable innovation outcomes for services innovation. The results thus suggest that providers of hybrid offerings should foster customer interactions, to drive the innovation performance of the good and service components, while still making sure to implement service customization strategies. These findings have notable implications for service innovation research

Resolving the capability-rigidity paradox in new product innovation

Managers face an important strategic dilemma in product innovation: how to exploit existing product innovation competencies (competence exploitation) while avoiding their dysfunctional rigidity effects by renewing and replacing them with entirely new competencies (competence exploration). Although the resolution of what is termed the "capability-rigidity paradox" is considered a fundamental managerial task in enhancing product innovation outcomes and the firm's competitive advantage, it has received little research attention. The author argues and finds support that market orientation provides a key to this paradox. Specifically, customer and competitor orientations ensure simultaneous investments in exploiting existing product innovation competencies and exploring new ones. The author also finds that the effects of these orientations on competence exploitation and exploration are differentially moderated by interfunctional coordination and perceived market opportunity. Regarding outcomes, competence exploitation and exploration have opposing relationships with incremental and radical innovation performance. However, the relationship between competence exploration and radical innovation performance is positively moderated by interfunctional coordination. Overall, the results of this study suggest that market orientation can prevent a firm from becoming operationally efficient but strategically inefficient by simultaneously engendering competence exploitation and exploration, which are differentially related to incremental and radical product innovation outcomes