Benefits of Early Adopter Feedback in Innovation Commercialisation

In this report we analyse how successful innovative firms select early adopter users, collect feedback from them and create benefits in the innovation commercialisation stage. Adopting the multiple case study method, we investigated 14 successful innovative firms operating in Australia, conducted in-depth interviews with managers holding high-level responsibilities in the case firms and analysed the data using a thematic analysis method. We find that innovator firms’ access to end users depends on the type of user (corporate or individual), downstream supply chain structure, congruence between the innovation and the core business products as well as built relationships with users. Case firms use an array of strategies to select early adopters and generate specific benefits of user feedback for product innovation. Successful case firms institutionalise the learning from user feedback to create sustained benefits. To institutionalise learning, firms need to interact with users across the innovation process and learn efficiently. Subsequently, governments can promote interactive learning relationships among actors in the national innovation system by diffusing the knowledge created in innovative firms to nudge the behaviour of laggard firms towards best practices

Paving the way to net-zero : identifying environmental sustainability factors for business model innovation through carbon disclosure project data

Net-zero emission targets are crucial, given the environmental impact of the food and beverage industries. Our study proposes an environmentally focused Sustainable Business Model (SBM) using data from 252 food, beverage, and tobacco companies that reported to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). We investigated the risks, opportunities, business strategies, emission reduction initiatives, and supply chain interactions associated with climate change by analyzing their qualitative answers using the NVivo software. Following the grounded theory approach, we identified the Environmental Sustainability Factors (ESFs) that support businesses in meeting pollution reduction targets. The ESFs were integrated with Osterwalder’s business model canvas to create an archetype focused on delivering “net-zero” or “carbon neutral” value to customers. The model’s efficacy is enhanced by the advantages and motivations of environmental collaborations. The paper provides critical support for sustainability theories and assists Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to develop strategic business models for net-zero emission targets

An industrial blockchain-based multi-criteria decision framework for global freight management in agricultural supply chains

In view of increasing supply chain disruption events, for example the China–United States trade war, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russia–Ukraine war, the complexity and dynamicity of global freight management keeps increasing. To build a resilient and sustainable supply chain, industrial practitioners are eager to systematically revamp the freight management decision process related to the selection of carriers, shipping lanes, and third-party logistics service providers. Therefore, this study aims at strengthening decision-making capabilities for global freight management, in which an industrial blockchain-based global freight decision framework (IB-GFDF) is proposed to incorporate consortium blockchain technology with the Bayesian best-worst method. Through the blockchain technology, pairwise comparisons can be conducted over the international freight network in a decentralized and immutable manner, and thus, a secure and commonly agreed-on pairwise comparison dataset is acquired. Subsequently, the pairwise comparison dataset with multi-stakeholder opinions is analyzed using the Bayesian best-worst method in order to prioritize the selection decision criteria related to carriers, shipping lanes, and 3PL service providers for global freight management. To verify the methodological feasibility, a case study of an Australian agricultural supply chain firm was conducted to support the development end-to-end (E2E) supply chain solutions originated from Australia. It was found that port infrastructure, ports of call and communication effectiveness were the major criteria for the selection decision, which can be emphasized in future global freight collaboration. In addition, an immutable and append-only record of pairwise comparisons can be established to support the visibility of time-varying stakeholders’ preferences

Labels only answer the basic questions

Letter to the editor: The new 'country of origin food labelling system' commences on 1 July 2016. This new system will address the ambiguity of the current country of origin labelling system, but will telling us what percentage of a product is Australian made or grown be enough

A stochastic decision model for achieving optimal trans-shipment

We study the total cost of an inventory system considering that the lead time is a controllable function of service cost which is more realistic but has got a limited attention in previous research. The proposed method is less complex, more pragmatic and easily adoptable by ordinary logistics managers

Technological development strategy for functional upgrading of local industries : a case of Sri Lanka

Firms with resource constraints need to be strategic and understand what works best for them in developing their local technological capabilities. External technology acquisition through partnership arrangements and learning by doing has become the most important learning mechanism for firms that do not possess in-house resources to create technology. Lessons on maximising technological benefits and local competence development can be learnt from those who have been successful in benefiting from partnerships and have achieved sustainable technological development. The broad interaction between external knowledge, its internalisation and modification by local firms and diffusion to local industries is conditional to the presence of complementary assets from public and firm level assets such as dynamic local knowledge base, backward links to local research and development (R&D) through public research, foreign technology transfer and appropriate engineering capability among local partner firms for functional upgrading at industry level. Policymakers need to consider the strength of innovation systems and the knowledge infrastructure influencing the focus industries and subsequent effects on technological development approaches including the heterogeneous requirements of innovative firms

A framework to analyse the role of government in promoting quality innovation in developing economies : a case study

This chapter analyses the role of government in promoting quality innovation in developing economies. The emphasis is on the importance of understanding firms as main actors of innovation that form the central core of the national innovation system framework. The authors discuss the importance of recognising the range and diversity of innovation firm-level actors in the world’s developing economies and their broad requirements for systemic support in order to capitalize on existing resources within the economy. Using the Sri Lankan national innovation system as a case study, the authors discuss the limited ability of traditional systemic approaches to account for diverse firm requirements in the innovation process. In order to promote quality innovation in firms, it is important that governments in developing economies where resources are scarce build on existing capabilities in innovation and technology

Downstream developments of a traditional industry through foreign investment and local knowledge and capabilities? : evidence from the Sri Lankan rubber industry

This article analyses the Sri Lankan rubber industry in terms of the integration of local knowledge and capabilities with technology and skills derived from foreign direct investment. We argue that foreign technology initiated a transformational process within the rubber products sector but functional upgrading of the traditional industry from raw rubber production to value-added rubber products manufacturing was underpinned by a symbiotic relationship between a strong public innovation system in the upstream value chain that enhanced absorptive capacity in the rubber production industry, enabling subsequent spillover to the local industry, and increased innovation capabilities among local partner firms in rubber products manufacturing. The findings of this study inform the policymakers of the importance of designing heterogeneous policies across sectors

Lean thinking and the innovation process

This chapter analyses the evolution of lean thinking and its widening applications from its origin of the manufacturing industry towards the other industries with the emphasis on how organizations could learn from lean thinking for achieving improved performance of innovation processes. Based on the degree of novelty, uncertainty and complexity associated with innovation processes, direct adoption of lean thinking for optimization is considered to be challenging. We discuss that organizations need to realize that there are opportunities for lateral learning from lean applications that have benefited systematic repetitive processes such as manufacturing by adapting to innovation processes through identification and shedding of non-value added activities. By identifying several lean innovation approaches in practice for optimizing innovation process, we stress the need and opportunity for the adaptation of lean thinking to cater the special characteristics of innovation processes

The barriers to innovation diffusion : the case of GM food in Sri Lanka

Genetically modified (GM) food has been positioned as a significant innovation with a huge potential for alleviating malnutrition in developing economies. Some potential beneficiaries, however, have been reluctant to accept GM food. Many countries have GM food regulations and some have banned GM organisms. This chapter focuses on barriers to diffusion of innovation and analyses the case of GM food diffusion in Sri Lanka using the Rogers’s classical model of innovation diffusion (2003). A complete ban on GM products in 2001 was later relaxed to demand only GM labelling regulations, but GM food has not gained a prominent position in the Sri Lankan market. The attributes of GM food perceived by consumers, the communication system, government responses and broader social expectations have been unfavorable to GM food diffusion. The case of GM food innovation in Sri Lanka demonstrates the very social nature of the process; involving far more than seed producers, growers and related commercial enterprises