Planning for the Microcomputer: Innovation Insurance May Help

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to identify different types of organizational innovativeness in Austrian hotels and analyze their connection to (innovation) success. In the face of growing international competition, innovation is becoming increasingly important for Austria’s hotel industry. A prerequisite for innovation is organizational innovativeness.Design/methodology/approach– This paper is based on a quantitative survey of 255 Austrian hotel businesses with a minimum of five employees. Innovativeness was measured by three dimensions (willingness, ability and possibility to innovate) and success by five dimensions (overall performance: financial, market and employee-related success; innovation success: product and process innovations). Findings were obtained by combining an exploratory factor analysis with a cluster analysis.Findings– Factor analysis reveals five factors determining organizational innovativeness: “cooperation as trigger for change”; “acceptance of change”; “resource based scope for change”; “pluralism as trigger for change”; and “loose coupling and error-tolerance”. The cluster analysis identifies four types of hotels regarding organizational innovativeness indicating differences regarding the success dimensions: “potential innovators hindered by scarce resources and unsupportive structures”, “well-resourced conservatives”, “potential innovators hindered by a haphazard approach” and “cautious idea hunters”. On the whole, results show that a balanced configuration of organizational innovativeness combined with a cautious approach is connected with greater (innovation) success.Research limitations/implications– Key-informant and survivor biases have to be considered as all items in the questionnaire were evaluated by self-assessment of the hotel management and only successful hotels (in the sense of survival) were analyzed. One important implication is that (innovation) success depends on the system that enables it; therefore, organizational innovativeness is a precondition of successful innovations. Nevertheless, there is little research on organizational innovativeness in the service sector so far.Practical implications– This paper supports tourism businesses in understanding the concept of organizational innovativeness and its relation to (innovation) success. SMEs, which dominate the Austrian hotel industry, tend to focus on the financial aspect of innovativeness and, in general, do not consider the range of factors that constitute an organization’s innovativeness (willingness, ability and possibility to innovate) and the various outcomes.Originality/value– By combining organizational innovativeness and (innovation) success, the paper applies an important element of innovation theory to the Austrian hotel industry. The characterization of different types of hotels regarding organizational innovativeness and success enables a (self-) assessment for hotel businesses and the deduction of customized implications.

The purpose of this article is to present the concept of building business models (BM) of modern organizations based on their potential for innovation. Creation of innovation in organization is a complex process that depends on many factors, including the potential which is generated in the past, and make some links with innovative capacity to its current use. Business models synthetically describe the organization’s ability to create value and make profits. Well-prepared BM determines the success in the process of implementation innovation. The study presented in this article is located in the area of discussions around basic skills in the organization, divided into three factors: resources, processes and values that determine the success of innovation. The main question refers to the assessment of the chances of achieving growth through possessed innovation potential. The research in the article includes an assessment of the potential of innovative BM. In particular, it is the analysis of BM used in modern organizations whose business is based on innovation. The author concludes that the BM based on the innovative potential is an important factor of the innovation of modern organizations.

Chapter 6 - India: Issues for Sustainable Growth/Innovation for Sustainability

Innovation processes in services remain under-researched, but recently large-scale surveys have been conducted which allow for a more systematic appraisal of the level and scope of innovation in services. To date, much of the literature on innovation in services focuses on the adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Innovation in services, and services innovation, should, however, be understood in broader terms, and this understanding should extend to non-technological innovation. This paper presents evidence from a recent large-scale survey of innovation amongst German commercial service firms. It shows that services are much more active with respect to innovation than is widely thought. They are innovative in terms of being producers of service and process innovations. From our broader perspective, we examine the pattern of innovation as it relates to the standardisation-particularisation of service products, across a range of service sectors and across firms of various sizes. The production of bespoke or customised services shaped by client inputs has long been considered a defining characteristic of many services, and one that has affected their innovation potential. The present analysis reveals a pattern of diversity in behaviour, which reflects the diversity amongst service firms, and demonstrates the need for more subtle and differentiated analyses of services and services innovation.

Calculating the price trajectory of adoption of fuel cell vehicles

Recent science policy encourages the installation of Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI) practices, which should help solve grand societal challenges and be more readily adopted by society. RRI may be implemented by setting up interdisciplinary innovation development teams, bringing together technical and non-technical experts from various disciplines and backgrounds, enabling engineers to let their work become inspired by – or even partly co-shaped by – societal insights and viewpoints, while societal actors get acquainted with techno-scientific context. We developed a Decision Support Tool to support interdisciplinary innovation teams, that visualizes innovation project performance and success chances. It supports communication and collaboration in interdisciplinary teams by proposing practical improvement areas, based on shared expertise, including socio-ethical, societal, economic and management related aspects. Still, further investigation is needed to learn how such a tool can be used to systematically integrate RRI in practice, to harness its full innovative potential.

Innovation and new ventures have been part of the food production and distribution industry for decades if not centuries. In recent times, new ventures under the banner of valueadded agriculture have become the mantra for producers, politicians, and agri-businesses that are searching for better margins and higher incomes than provided by traditional commodity production and distribution. But, the commercial potential of value-added ventures and innovations is not obvious, often is not realized, and may be frequently overestimated. In fact, studies of new business start-ups in agriculture and other sectors indicate that a high proportion of those businesses fail during the first twelve months of operation, and many are not sustainable even after this most vulnerable start-up period (SBA). The objective of this paper is to provide a framework for assessing the commercial potential of innovation in agriculture. We highlight the four critical components of market analysis essential to successful innovation and new ventures, those are the assessment of customers, competitors, sustainable competitive advantage, and internal capabilities. We identify and describe where concepts of economics

Innovational Complementarities and Network Neutrality

Many ideas flow into the innovation funnel but only 1 out 3000 becomes a successful new product. There are many variables that interact in this complex process and investors decisions are often based on experience and feeling rather than a comprehensive evaluation of the social, economic and technological factors. The innovation potential, the innovator capability, the accessibility of the technology as well as the social acceptance and the chosen business model are the some of the critical factors of a successful innovation strategy. In the broad sense, a business model is the approach of doing business through which a company can sustain itself and generate profits in the long term. Digital platforms can help manage and facilitate the complexity of value propositions and provide an immediate feedback to the entrepreneur. Creating value is necessary, but not sufficient, for an organization to profit from its business model. It is important to see the whole picture of the business that is why the business models are so important for a good start of the business. However, innovation assessment and business model development sometimes are not an easy task and ICT can make this process easier. Then, the aim of this paper is to explore the role of digital platforms as facilitators for the techno-socio-economic impact assessment and the development of sustainable business models through the analysis of a case study from the EU Horizon 2020 “i3 project”.

The article is dedicated to consideration of theoretical and applied aspects of the main balance factors of construction business successful innovation and investment development. The analysis of scholars’ works enabled presenting the components of a construction enterprise innovation and investment development, in particular process, resource and potential. Considering the relationship between innovation potential and development, the author's definition is suggested, where construction business innovative development is an activity based on constant search and use of new methods, technologies and areas of enterprise potential realization in changing external and internal market of construction products and the adopted competitive strategy of activity and business development. Analysis of the problems associated with conservatism and slowness in introduction and dissemination of new technologies in the construction industry is performed. Despite the fact that energy-efficient technologies are being actively introduced in the industry, “smart homes” are being built etc., analytical report of the Global Innovation Index states that the share of R&D expenditures in construction is only 2.9%. One of the reasons for such a low rate is that a significant part of new technological developments implemented in construction, originate from other industries, namely metallurgy, forestry and woodworking, chemical industries and others. It is established that innovation inertia of Ukrainian construction companies is determined by buildings and structures prolonged operation, during which the faults of the used technology may be revealed as well as builders’ high responsibility for the result, since construction products must be safe for people’s lives. In order to implement the strategy of construction company innovative development, it is suggested to create the success factors of innovation and investment development, which are balanced and to some extent interdependent. Adequate assessment these factors impact will enable choosing the right direction of construction business innovation and investment development and construction industry in general under pandemic and growing economic selfishness.

Purpose– The research empirically investigates the firm-level impact of ISO 9000 certification on innovation propensity. The study aims to distinguish between manufacturing and service sectors and adopts different innovation definitions aimed at capturing the peculiarities of innovation in services and small firms.Design/methodology/approach– Relying chiefly on Community Innovation Survey data for Luxembourg, the impact of certification on innovation probability is assessed using a logit model that controls for relevant firms characteristics and market features.Findings– The innovation potential of services and small firms is understated when adopting innovation definitions restricted to technological aspects and more formalised innovation activities. ISO 9000 certification may promote innovation when adopting definitions that captures sectoral innovation specificities. In particular, certification increases innovation propensity in manufacturing when the focus is on technological innovation and formalised innovation expenditures. On the contrary, when non-technological aspects are included and allowance is made for wider innovation activities, the impact of certification on services tends to emerge. However, sharper statistical evidence for manufacturing indicates a more important role of certification for innovation success in this sector.Research limitations/implications– Case-study research could supplement the findings concerning the relative effectiveness of certification in services and manufacturing. The investigation would also benefit from extensions in the econometric analysis to address comparisons across samples and potential causality issues.Practical implications– Findings are interesting to practitioners and registrars in order to identify the specific characteristics of firms for which certification provides higher innovative potential.Originality/value– The study highlights the relevance of sectoral specificities and innovation definitions for the debate about the effect of ISO 9000 certification on innovation.

Marrying Work and Technical Artifact within the Healthcare Organization: A Work Network Approach

The term Knowledge Exchange (KE) is commonly used to describe university-industry collaborations that frequently foster innovation. Understanding such collaborations and their potential value is a difficult activity. The means of supporting collaboration vary significantly and potential for successful innovation is hard to asses. In this paper, we describe work aimed at developing an improved understanding of knowledge exchange within a digital context - both within digital sectors and also in non-digital sectors where the adoption of digital technologies can lead to new and challenging opportunities. Our work focuses upon digital innovation for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) aiming to support effective Knowledge Exchange based innovation; a specific driver being the difficulty of understanding the potential for successful and productive collaborations with individual SMEs. From a number of existing digital innovation models and instruments, factors for characterizing digital innovation potential have identified. However, based on our experience and expert feedback, such characterizations appear to be inappropriate for SMEs. In response to this, an instrument has been developed to identify potential for quality digital innovation based on collaborative KE between SMEs and universities. The instrument is introduced, and its development and refinement discussed.

Preparing Researchers for Entrepreneurship Based on Systematic Innovation Training

The article defines that for the successful implementation of an innovative project and the introduction of a new product into production it is necessary to use advanced technologies and modern software, which is an integral part of successful innovation by taking into account the life cycle of innovations. It is proposed to consider the general potential of the enterprise through its main components, namely: production and technological, scientific and technical, financial and economic, personnel and actual innovation potential. Base for the introduction of technological innovations LLC "ALLIANCE- PARTNER", which provides a wide range of support and consulting services, services in the employment market, tourism, insurance, translation and more. To form a model of innovative development of the enterprise, it is advisable to establish the following key aspects: the system of value creation through the model of cooperation with partners and suppliers; creating a value chain; technological platform; infrastructure, determine the cost of supply, the cost of activities for customers and for the enterprise as a whole. The system of factors of influence on formation of model of strategic innovative development of the enterprise is offered. The expediency of the cost of the complex of technological equipment, which is 6800.0 thousand UAH, is economically calculated. Given the fact that the company plans to receive funds under the program of socio-economic development of Sumy region, the evaluation of the effectiveness of the innovation project, the purchase of technological equipment, it is determined that the payback period of the project is 3 years 10 months. In terms of net present value (NPV), the project under study is profitable. The project profitability index (PI) meets the requirements for a positive decision on project implementation> 1.0. The internal rate of return of the project (IRR) also has a positive value of 22% because it exceeds the discount rate.