The Digital Transformation of Search and Recombination in the Innovation Function: Tensions and an Integrative Framework*

Search and recombination are important mechanisms in the creativity phase of innovation. Digital transformation and the resulting pervasive digitalization of the innovation function have often been associated with increasing possibilities for search and recombination. In this paper, by systematically integrating the search and recombination literature with the literature on digitalization, we demonstrate that digitalization may engender new idiosyncratic tensions in the organizational antecedents of search and recombination and, by implication, in their likely outcomes. We propose that, depending on the interactions among the idiosyncratic tensions identified herein, knowledge recombination might spur very different outcomes, including knowledge layering, knowledge integration, knowledge grafting, or even no recombination at all (which we label “search for the sake of search”). These outcomes may not always be the initially planned desired outcomes. Finally, we provide implications of our integrative framework pertaining to product development and to organizing for innovation

A geo-chemo-mechanical study of a highly polluted marine system (Taranto, Italy) for the enhancement of the conceptual site model

The paper presents the results of the analysis of the geo-chemo-mechanical data gathered through an innovative multidisciplinary investigation campaign in the Mar Piccolo basin, a heavily polluted marine bay aside the town of Taranto (Southern Italy). The basin is part of an area declared at high environmental risk by the Italian government. The cutting-edge approach to the environmental characterization of the site was promoted by the Special Commissioner for urgent measures of reclamation, environmental improvements and redevelopment of Taranto and involved experts from several research fields, who cooperated to gather a new insight into the origin, distribution, mobility and fate of the contaminants within the basin. The investigation campaign was designed to implement advanced research methodologies and testing strategies. Differently from traditional investigation campaigns, aimed solely at the assessment of the contamination state within sediments lying in the top layers, the new campaign provided an interpretation of the geo-chemo-mechanical properties and state of the sediments forming the deposit at the seafloor. The integrated, multidisciplinary and holistic approach, that considered geotechnical engineering, electrical and electronical engineering, geological, sedimentological, mineralogical, hydraulic engineering, hydrological, chemical, geochemical, biological fields, supported a comprehensive understanding of the influence of the contamination on the hydro-mechanical properties of the sediments, which need to be accounted for in the selection and design of the risk mitigation measures. The findings of the research represent the input ingredients of the conceptual model of the site, premise to model the evolutionary contamination scenarios within the basin, of guidance for the environmental risk management. The study testifies the importance of the cooperative approach among researchers of different fields to fulfil the interpretation of complex polluted eco-systems

The Online Shadow of Offline Signals: Which Sellers Get Contacted in Online B2B Marketplaces?

This article extends the understanding of what impels buyers to contact particular sellers in online business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces, which are typically characterized by sparse social structures and concomitant limitations in observing social cues. Integrating an institutional perspective with signaling theory, our core argument is that offline seller characteristics that are visible online—in particular, geographic location and legal status—convey credible signals of seller behavior because they provide buyers with information on sellers’ local institutional quality and the institutionally-induced obligations and controls acting on sellers. Using unique data from a large Italian online B2B marketplace between the fourth quarter of 1999 and July 2001, we find that both sellers’ local institutional quality and their legal statuses affect a buyer’s likelihood of contacting a seller. Moreover, consistent with the idea that a buyer’s own local institutional quality generates a relevant reference point against which sellers are evaluated, we find that a buyer is progressively more likely to contact sellers the higher their local institutional quality relative to the buyer. Jointly, our findings imply that in online B2B marketplaces, signals conveyed by sellers’ geographic locations and legal statuses may constitute substantive sources of competitive heterogeneity and market segmentation

Erfolg im Enterprise 2.0: Selbstorganisation und Freiheit gegen vorstrukturierte Planung und Steuerung

1 Einleitung und Status Quo Im November 2011 haben in einer großzahligen Befragung 86% der Unternehmen aus der High-Tech und Telekommunikationsbranche angegeben, eine Technologie einzusetzen, die den sozialen Medien zuzuordnen ist, während in der Energiebranche mit der geringsten Verbreitung nur 62% verzeichnet wurden (Negley 2011). Gleichwohl diese Neuerung noch am Beginn der Ausbreitung steht, planen innovative Köpfe teilweise schon so weit, das etablierte Medium der Email für die interne Kommunikation bis 2014 komplett durch soziale Medien zu ersetzen (Kiisel 2011). In anekdotischen Einzelberichten wird immer wieder von einer Einstellung berichtet, die davon ausgeht, dass Enterprise-2.0-Anwendungen so attraktiv seien, dass man sie nur zur Verfügung stellen müsse und die Anwender sie sich sogleich zu eigen machen - “If you build it, they will come” wird dabei ein US Film zitiert (so beispielsweise bei Butts 2011). Die aktive Nutzung von Enterprise-2.0-Anwendungen ist jedoch nur freiwillig und aus Initiative der Nutzer heraus sinnvoll (Wolf 2011: 54). Die freiwillige Adaption von Technologien verläuft in Form von S-Kurven (Rogers: 1962), wobei zunächst sehr zugewandte Nutzer eher hohen Aufwand auf sich nehmen und zuletzt zögerliche Nutzer dann einsteigen, wenn für sie die Kosten durch Nicht-Nutzung zu hoch werden. Für die meisten Unternehmen heißt das, dass sie mit einer Situation umgehen müssen, in der einige Nutzer und Gruppen schon sehr aktiv mit Enterprise-2.0-Anwendungen arbeiten und andere sie teilweise nur zögerlich nutzen. Die zuletzt Genannten müssten nun, um aus Unternehmensperspektive eine rasche Durchdringung der Anwendungen zu erreichen, vorstrukturiert und gesteuert zur Teilnahme aufgefordert werden, während erstere die Selbstorganisation in den sozialen Medien zu schätzen wissen und sie dementsprechend frei nutzen sollten. [...

Towards non-invasive methods to assess population structure and biomass in vulnerable sea pen fields

Colonies of the endangered red sea pen Pennatula rubra (Cnidaria: Pennatulacea) sampled by trawling in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea were analyzed. Biometric parameters, such as total length, peduncle length, number of polyp leaves, fresh weight, and dry weight, were measured and related to each other by means of regression analysis. Ad hoc models for future inferencing of colonies size and biomass through visual techniques were individuated in order to allow a non-invasive study of the population structure and dynamics of P. rubra

On the suitability of DEKF for improving GPS location in car accidents

The first fundamental step within a research project aiming at the 3D reconstruction and rendering of the accident scenes involving motor vehicles is accounted for. More specifically, the paper deals with the problem of accurately locating and georeferencing both the considered scenario and all involved elements (such as cars, debris, peeling out and so on) of interest for Road Safety experts. A new method, based on Kalman filtering, is presented for enhancing the preliminary estimates, obtained through low-cost GPS devices, of the position of proper scene markers. To this aim, the distances between the markers is measured through a low-accuracy device (as an example, an ultrawideband radar) and the achieved results are used as feedback to improve the estimate of markers positions. Preliminary results, obtained in numerical tests, are presented to prove the feasibility of the method, thus suggesting its implementation in an actual measurement statio