There has been a dramatic shift towards more open forms of innovation. Drawing on practice-based insights, together with theoretical approaches developed in innovation studies & science & technology studies, this book brings together a collection of recent work that examines key aspects of this model of innovation.

Managing technological innovations and related policy and strategy issues have been a central focus of the new millennium. This book series presents an interdisciplinary scholarship and dialogue on the management of innovation and technological change in a global context from a variety of perspectives, including strategic, managerial, behavioral, and policy issues. Papers selected in this volume have four prominent themes: the wide spread interests and the global application of the technological innovation; the practicality of the research on technological innovation implementation to foster success and financial growth; the sociotechnical challenges behind innovation and creativity that might outweigh the benefits; and the new principles/practices/perspectives on our understanding of the technological innovation. Contributed by prominent scholars and practitioners from around the world in innovation, management and policy area, this book will become a very useful read for anyone who is interested in learning the most contemporary perspectives on the subject.

Innovation intermediaries have been a central part of regional economic and innovation policies for several decades. During this time a plethora of different models have emerged shaped by cultural, contextual, policy and ecosystem variances. The key objective for policy-makers has been to create an ecosystem and culture within a region that harnesses and develops the next generation of high-tech firms and scales existing SMEs, with the hope rebalancing a modern economy. The science park and university incubator intermediary has grown into one of the most widespread intermediary models and both developed and developing nations have invested substantial resources into this model. This book comprises insightful case studies into innovation intermediaries in the USA - such as Georgia Institute of Technology, Europe and China. Differences in the ecosystem development, lessons learned - both exemplars and impediments to innovation are illustrated in this book. Several spin-off models, practices, mechanisms and entrepreneurship programmes are featured. We hope that this book will be of value to students of innovation and entrepreneurship, regional innovation policy-makers and practitioners.

Hardly anybody outside a company knows its products and processes better than its suppliers. Research confirms that intensive integration of suppliers in the value creation process positively influences the success of the company, particularly in highly competitive industries. This is a result of the progressing reduction in the depth of value creation of manufacturers and the increasing transfer of know-how towards suppliers. In multilevel business-to-business relationships, suppliers often have the best or the only access and comprehensive knowledge about the end users. Therefore, suppliers determine the scope of possible innovations, which most companies do not actively use. This unique volume provides a comprehensive overview of theories, concepts and especially empirical results on open innovation and the integration of suppliers. For this, authors from all over the world present their latest research results offering fascinating insights into collaborative approaches with suppliers.

This journal attempts to fill a gap between the general-interest press and other academic economics journals. Its articles relate to active lines of economics research, economic analysis of public policy issues, state-of-the-art economic thinking, and directions for future research. It also aims to provide material for classroom use, and to address issues relating to the economics profession.

This thesis provides insight into the interactions between user inputs and organisational mechanisms. These interactions enable firms to create product innovations through user involvement. While the user innovation literature extends our understanding of user involvement, its user-centric discussions focus on determinants, methods, and outcomes of user involvement. Only a small number of studies examine the intricacies within the firm that facilitate the access and transfer of user inputs to generate product innovations. To enhance our understanding of these intricacies, I examine how characteristics of user inputs affect a firm’s use of organisational mechanisms for product innovation. The user innovation literature left largely unexplored the notion that firms require specific organisational mechanisms to access and transfer user inputs. Furthermore, no clear user-input categorisation exists. Navigating around these limitations, the research question is studied through a theoretical framework grounded in the knowledge-based view (KBV) and innovation management perspectives. A systematic review of the user innovation literature was conducted to develop a typology of user inputs. The empirical process is carried out through a qualitative multiple case study research design. Three firms operating in New Zealand and Australia’s farm management and steel castings industries contributed a total of five cases. Findings indicate that firms access and transfer four types of user inputs: Add-ons, Critiques, Homemade, and White Spaces. The ability of users to contribute these types of inputs largely depends on their possession of relevant technical knowledge. Firms use four main organisational mechanisms: decision-making, intra-firm communication, reward-related mechanisms, and knowledge governance to facilitate access and transfer of user inputs. The user input characteristics of complexity and uncertainty increase the need for firms to adapt their organisational mechanisms accordingly. This allows them to apply these inputs to create product innovations. This thesis contributes to the user innovation literature by providing a firm’s perspective on user involvement. The user-input typology categorises knowledge inputs that firms obtain from users when involving users in innovation activities. The organisational mechanisms that support access and transfer of inputs shed light on processes within the firm that supports open and user innovation activities. In addition, interactions between these inputs and associated organisational mechanisms explain the underlying reasons why and how applying user innovation methods lead to product innovation for firms.

The results of the empirical investigation of Japan and Korea show that the user firms in both countries, represented by car makers, have involved themselves in the technical and entrepreneurial entry into machine tools along with making active investments. As a consequence, they made a considerable contribution to the innovation of machine tools, increasing their competitive advantage as well as the competence of their specialized suppliers.

Uses new approaches and solutions to tackle innovations in an international context. Some of the challenges of innovating are remarkably consistent and recent times have shown the emergence of new ways for stimulating and managing the innovation process. The authors explore these new routes and assess their value for markets and companies.

Brings together works by scholars in organization theory and experts in the implementation of manufacturing innovation to examine how American industry can overcome individual and organizational obstacles to technological innovation. Uses the results of empirical studies, case histories, and extensive interviews with managers in a wide range of industries to identify the issues managers face when adopting such technologies as computer-aided design and robotics.

Contributed articles with reference to India.

While innovation is widely recognized as being critical to organizational success and the well-being of societies, it requires careful management to ensure that innovation processes have the best possible impact. This volume provides a wide range of perspectives on the nature of innovation management and its influences.

This book demonstrates pioneering work on user-based service innovation using an analytical framework. This approach involves understanding the needs of users, the service firms collaborating with them, and recognising the fact that users are innovators and, as such, services develop whilst in use. As well as presenting case studies, the book discusses theoretically what user-based innovation means in the context of services. Three main fields are analysed: user-based innovation in knowledge-intensive business service, user-based innovation in public services, and models and methods for structuring user-based innovation. Incorporating both an academic and analytical approach, this insightful book will be a source of inspiration for researchers in innovation and services. Graduate and postgraduate students in business administration and innovation, as well as administrators in public administrations and executive managers in service firms will also find plenty of important information in this invaluable resource.