Journal of Strategy and Management

Roth, Angela; Dumbach, Martin; Schliffka, Barbara; Möslein, Kathrin M.

2017 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-08-2015-0066

PurposeIncreasing demographic diversity within societies and workforces causes challenges with regard to the innovation performance of companies. By definition, innovation communities nowadays are composed of members with diverse function background and age diversity. The challenging question is how to manage diverse corporate innovation communities. The purpose of this paper is to find out which factors determine the success of corporate innovation communities in times of demographic shifts.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical field to answer the research question are three corporate innovation communities in companies of different industries and size. Multiple case study methodology is applied to gather and analyse the data.FindingsThe study presents an empirically derived framework to structure success factors of diverse corporate innovation communities chronologically in the three phases of preparation, execution and finalization of a community work process. The success factors are described in detail and finally a time sequential guideline for those who are responsible for community management in demographic change is provided.Research limitations/implicationsIt is contributed to the literature on innovation communities and it is shown that innovation communities are not only an instrument to solve innovation tasks but are also a promising means to tackle other challenges of recent demographic changes. As limitation must be considered, that the analysed innovation communities only received corporate support for a short period of time and the supporting organizations operate in manufacturing industries in Germany only.Practical implicationsThe paper highlights that managers need to be aware that diversity in corporate innovation communities per se does not lead to success. Furthermore, a guideline of success factors for managers of diverse corporate innovation communities is presented which highlights important aspects that managers need to consider during the community work process.Social implicationsDue to demographic shifts in Germany and other European countries, societies in general and workforces in particular have modified. Most pervasive shifts take place with regard to age structures and diversity. Implications how manager could handle diversity successfully are therefore of high relevance for societies.Originality/valueThis study provides a theoretical understanding of the implications of organizational and age diversity on corporate innovation community management. Extant authors have already focussed on success factors in innovation communities and diverse settings isolated, but have not merged these issues.

Agogué, Marine; Berthet, Elsa; Fredberg, Tobias; Le Masson, Pascal; Segrestin, Blanche; Stoetzel, Martin; Wiener, Martin; Yström, Anna

2017 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-01-2015-0005

PurposeInnovation intermediaries have become key actors in open innovation (OI) contexts. Research has improved the understanding of the managerial challenges inherent to intermediation in situations in which problems are rather well defined. Yet, in some OI situations, the relevant actor networks may not be known, there may be no clear common interest, or severe problems may exist with no legitimate common place where they can be discussed. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the research on innovation intermediaries by showing how intermediaries address managerial challenges related to a high degree of unknown.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw upon the extant literature to highlight the common core functions of different types of intermediaries. The authors then introduce the “degree of unknown” as a new contingency variable for the analysis of the role of intermediaries for each of these core functions. The authors illustrate the importance of this new variable with four empirical case studies in different industries and countries in which intermediaries are experiencing situations of high level of unknown.FindingsThe authors highlight the specific managerial principles that the four intermediaries applied in creating an environment for collective innovation.Originality/valueThereby, the authors clarify what intermediation in the unknown may entail.

Haller, Jörg B.A.; Velamuri, Vivek K.; Schneckenberg, Dirk; Möslein, Kathrin M.

2017 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-05-2015-0039

PurposeFirms increasingly integrate a wide range of actors in the early ideation and concept creation phases of innovation processes leading to the collection of a large number of ideas. This creates the challenge of filtering the most promising ideas from a large number of submissions. The use of external stakeholders into the evaluation and selection of submissions (i.e. open evaluation (OE)) might be a viable alternative. The purpose of this paper is to provide a state-of-the-art analysis on how such OE systems are designed and structured.Design/methodology/approachSince OE is a new phenomenon, an exploratory qualitative research approach is adopted. In all, 122 instances of OE in 90 innovation contest cases are examined for their design elements.FindingsThis research reveals that OE systems are configured in many different ways. In total, 32 design elements and their respective parameters are identified and described along the six socio-technical system components of an OE system. This study allows for a comprehensive understanding of what OE is and what factors need to be taken into consideration when designing an OE system.Practical implicationsScholars and professionals may draw insights on what design choices to make when implementing OE.Originality/valueThe comprehensive analysis performed in this study contributes to research on open and user innovation by examining the concept of OE. In particular, it extends knowledge on design elements of OE systems.

Clauss, Thomas; Spieth, Patrick

2017 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-07-2015-0057

PurposeThe realisation of joint innovation outcomes in open innovation networks is closely related to an efficient utilisation of governance mechanisms, which coordinate joint processes (e.g. knowledge sharing) and eliminate undesired behaviours (e.g. opportunism). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the complex effects of multiple governance approaches on outcomes of open innovation networks with a national and an international scope.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on a large-scale survey-based study of 100 mechanical engineering firms involved in open innovation networks. Hypotheses are tested by means of PLS structural equation modelling.FindingsThe evidence shows that the three governance mechanisms: transactional governance, relational governance and institutionalised governance significantly foster innovation outcomes of open innovation networks. In national open innovation networks, only relational governance exerts positive effects, internationally transactional and institutionalised governance is necessary.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to research in multiple ways. First, it shows that governance of open innovation networks is crucial for their innovation performance, thereby providing some explanations for the performance differences between certain networks. Second, the results indicate that the effects of governance mechanisms depend on the scope of the network. By showing that the effect of governance mechanisms varies under different contextual conditions the study also contributes to the ongoing debate on combined effects of governance mechanisms.Originality/valueThe paper fills important gaps in the existing research on the link between governance and performance in open innovation networks and delineates interesting areas for further research.

de Waal, André; Peters, Linde; Broekhuizen, Merel

2017 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-10-2015-0083

PurposeMany researchers argue that the shared values of a generation affect people’s attitude, commitment, and ethics toward work. It is also argued that generational differences may cause tension between employees and with that prevent projects – such as a transition to a high performance organization (HPO) – from being completed successfully. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether generational differences in work values influence people’s perceptions of HPO, and if so, in what ways and how management could deal with it. The HPO Framework developed by de Waal (2012b) was used as a starting point for the study.Design/methodology/approachThis study was performed at a Dutch multinational with a management trainee program. In this program, young talents, all belonging to Generation Y, followed a series of internships in various business units. A questionnaire on HPO was distributed among the trainees and their direct managers (all Generation Xers). The average scores for the five factors described in the HPO Framework were calculated for both groups. In addition, attention points were identified for the multinational, i.e. issues that needed to be addressed by the organization in order for it to become an HPO. The scores and the attention points were discussed in a workshop with both trainees and managers. Finally, the results of the workshop were analyzed and several weeks later presented by the authors to a larger audience, to validate the research findings.FindingsThe research results showed that there was a close match between the opinions of trainees (Generation Yers) and of managers (Generation Xers) concerning the general importance of the HPO factors, the organization’s performance on these factors, and the actions needed to improve on them. There were several explanations for the fact that generational differences did not influence the opinions of both generations on HPO. For example, the corporate culture in a multinational may be predominant over national culture, creating uniform thinking; or new employees adapt quickly to the organization and behave according to established patterns and thereby comply to the accepted way of thinking in the company.Research limitations/implicationsThe practical implication of this study is that an organization does not have to target specific groups to convince people of the importance of HPO. It should be sufficient to hold an informative session for all staff on HPO before starting the joint HPO transition process.Originality/valueThis is the first study into how generational differences in work values could influence the opinions of various generations on HPO.

Seifzadeh, Pouya

2017 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-10-2015-0079

PurposeDrawing on the literature on corporate diversification, the purpose of this paper is to shed light onto the influence of geographic dispersion on the effectiveness of control mechanisms in related diversified corporations. This research contends that control mechanisms implemented by corporations and the extent of geographic diversification play a role in the synergies expected from related diversification being realized.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses OLS regression to analyze data collected through surveys from managers of 193 Iranian corporations and their 2,704 subsidiaries to examine the relationship between relatedness, corporate performance, geographic dispersion, and emphasis of strategic controls.FindingsThe author finds that a triple interaction effect between corporate strategy (diversification approach), controls mechanisms, and the extent of geographic diversification influences the overall performance of corporations. Findings of this research suggest that the positive effects of strategic controls in related diversified corporations are most when there is less geographic dispersion and will attenuate as corporations become more geographically disperse.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this research, have contributed to the extant literature in several ways. First, the findings further establish the superiority of related diversification to unrelated diversification in achieving economic performance in corporations. The findings reveal that, ceteris paribus, the more relatedness between activities of subsidiaries in corporations exists, higher performance can be expected at the corporate level. Second, the findings show once more that to achieve the higher performance that results from synergies in related diversified corporations, emphasis of strategic controls play a crucial and important role. Third, the author find that although the emphasis of strategic controls in essential to realizing the potentials in related diversified corporations, greater geographic dispersion attenuates the positive effects expected from stricter enforcement of strategic control mechanisms.Practical implicationsAn important consequence of findings of this research is that managers should be more aware of the implications of selecting the geographic location of the subsidiaries that they either acquire or establish. While the literature focusing on corporate diversification has mainly focused on the differences between related and unrelated diversification, this paper brings a new factor into light. Therefore, the findings of this research provide the author with a better understanding of the factors that define success or failure in achieving financial objectives of corporations.Originality/valueThere has been very little done to investigate the factors that influence effectiveness of strategic controls in related diversified corporation. Much of this shortcoming has resulted due to difficulties in measurement of strategic controls their operationalization in empirical studies. This study has taken a step to that direction and therefore, provides a more coherent and clear picture of the factors that influence the overall performance in corporations.

Okuyama, Ryo

2017 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-02-2016-0016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of tacit knowledge in incremental innovation, which has hitherto been neglected.Design/methodology/approachQualitative case analysis was used to focus on two large Japanese pharmaceutical companies’ development of new antihypertensive drugs. The study uses interview data and documentary research materials to explore the knowledge bases of the companies’ research teams as they refined an existing drug to produce new products – a process of incremental innovation.FindingsExplicit knowledge (chemical structure of preceding drug) was used in both successful and failed cases of drug discovery. In the two successful cases, the tacit knowledge of key researchers, based on their long-term experience of related research, provided insight into developing compounds with good in vivo efficacy, which led to successful clinical development.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that tacit knowledge may play an important role in incremental innovation processes, and that its influence on product development should be considered in such ways as team and organization structure.Originality/valueThis study addresses a gap in the literature regarding the impact of tacit knowledge on incremental innovation processes. It is often assumed that incremental innovation is based on existing technology. This study suggests that tacit knowledge may play a hitherto largely unrecognized role in incremental product development.