The literature on new product development (NPD) contains several studies of management practices involved in different types of innovation. However, few studies focus on how cross-functional integration affects incremental and radical innovation product projects. The purpose of this study is to explore this aspect, from a qualitative perspective, through case studies of four high-tech firms in Brazil. Eight NPD projects were studied. The findings suggest that radical and incremental innovation NPD projects require different management practices in the studied cases. In incremental NPD projects, greater integration efforts may not be necessary. However, the following practices should be adopted in projects involving radical innovation product projects: intense involvement of technical teams, flexibility in the early stages of NPD, and geographical separation between the development team and other departments of the firm. Moreover, the application of these same practices in projects of incremental innovation in NPD may not bring positive results.

Small entrepreneurial firms lack the resources that large firms possess, but they often thrive on innovation. A key question is how these firms develop this innovative capacity despite their limited resources and administrative support. We examine decision-making processes and explore the relational conditions within a firm’s top management team (TMT) that drive innovation. Specifically, we develop a conceptual model in which we theorize about the socio-psychological conditions of connectivity under which strategic decision-making processes help to defy the norms and facilitate innovative behaviors. Results of data collected from the TMTs of 149 small entrepreneurial firms indicate that the link between Strategic Decision Comprehensiveness (SDC) and TMT innovative behavior was stronger when the relationships among TMT members were characterized by a high level of connectivity. This research integrates the emerging theory of Positive Work Relationships to inform Upper Echelon research on the socio-psychological conditions in which SDC may drive TMT innovative behavior.

In this study we empirically examine the persistence across input and output indicators of innovation using a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms during the period 1990–2013. We use R&D as innovation input and technological innovation, product innovation and process innovation as output measures. We analyse the transition matrices and design an econometric strategy consisting of the estimation of various specifications using random effects dynamic probit models that account for state dependence, unobserved heterogeneity and endogenous initial conditions. Findings indicate the presence of true persistence in all our innovation indicators. They also show the existence of different degrees of persistence depending on the innovation measure used. Persistence in R&D increases around 20% the probability of conducting R&D. The highest persistence is associated with technological innovation. The probability of introducing a technological or process innovation is 28% higher for firms that have innovated in the previous year. When technological innovation is broken down into product and process innovation, the degree of persistence is higher for process innovation than for product innovation. This result is not unexpected considering the Spanish productive structure, which is made up mainly of low and middle-low technological sectors which are based on process innovations rather than on product innovations.

The literature on “open innovation” so far focuses almost exclusively on strategic issues. In this largely conceptual paper we propose behavioral foundations for knowledge exchange and knowledge sharing to address this gap in the literature. Innovation and knowledge development that result from knowledge transfer, is an uncertain and cumulative process that typically involves a number of parties. Knowledge transfer between people and firms has been fruitfully studied from a structural or network perspective. The social network literature however, faces an “action problem”. Focusing on structural elements such as an agent’s position in a network and the types of relations entertained cannot explain why actors actually do share knowledge. The exchange of knowledge is elusive and is a discretionary act for the people involved, certainly in the case of open innovation (OI). It is argued here that social network analysis is to be complemented by the concept of gift exchange, drawing on social exchange literature. Gift exchange – following Mauss’ dictum to “give, receive and reciprocate”– establishes obligations between people especially under circumstances of ambiguity, which explain why and how knowledge exchange relations are established, persist, and may also end. Relationships in a social network and the social capital that inheres in these cannot be drawn on at will to exchange knowledge. These obligations established by gift exchange between individuals who share a connection explain why agents exchange knowledge with each other even in the absence of markets or hierarchy.

Play provides a means by which organizations explore, learn and adapt in order to deal with uncertainty. By allowing the freedom to move beyond everyday organizational constraints, play encourages and facilitates innovation. This paper examines the nature of play and its significance. It considers the role of technology, and especially virtuality, and the provision of space and time, for play. It suggests playful organizations can provide a reminder, at a time of growing societal and political introspection and disillusionment, of the value of animating cooperative interactions producing negotiated futures.

Science and technology innovation has always depended on organizational innovation. But the complexity of many innovation systems now transforms the nature of this interdependence. The essay proposes a framework of organizing for twenty-first-century complex innovation systems that capture their emergent, situated, and integral nature. The framework disentangles the complex system into four distinct yet interdependent problems that must be set and solved (project, knowledge systems, strategy, and ecological connections). New research thrusts within and among the four problems are proposed.

Observers around the world are impressed by the rapid growth of China’s economy, some with hope and others with fear. Some hope that China will offer the unique experience of successful economic gr...

This paper has two objectives related to two gaps identified in the literature. The first objective is to extend research on the impact of using different knowledge sources on the innovation performance of firms in the family business context. The second objective is to study the moderating effect of family characteristics on these relationships. We adopted items from Community Innovation Surveys to collect data on Spanish family firms. Our results primarily show a positive effect of internal and collaboration sources on firms’ innovation performance specifically with respect to innovations that are new to the firm. Regarding the moderating effect of family characteristics on the relationship between the use of knowledge sources and innovation performance, the results suggest that CEO tenure, CEO founder duality and family involvement exert negative moderating effects. Thus, the family firm dimension tends to attenuate the positive effects of using various types of knowledge sources on innovation performance.

The role of ownership heterogeneity in influencing the extent and nature of innovation has been neglected but is an important omission as ownership differences can influence the goals, time horizons, and governance mechanisms relating to innovation. In this article I develop a novel framework that explores the potential impact and future research avenues in firms with a variety of ownership forms based on whether the organizational form in which innovation takes place is either a new venture or an existing business, and whether ownership involves new independent owners or existing independent owners of the organization. With respect to organizational form, new ventures are effectively locked into innovation by definition, while existing businesses may find a balance between investing in innovation and exploiting previous innovations, and engaging in more incremental innovation. Existing independent owners may be expected to take a more sustained view of innovation over time while new owners may be time delimited in their innovation. On the basis of this framework I analyze the following ownership types: academic spin-offs, private equity backed management buyouts, family firms and firms owned by habitual entrepreneurs. I identify the need for research to explore other ownership forms and the interaction between ownership types and different contexts.

Sport and sport equipment are permanently subject to innovation. The current research on innovation sources in sport industries has focused on user innovation and firm-internal sources of innovation. This paper uses the network approach to analyze external links as sources of product innovation in nautical sport clusters. It addresses the question: how can sport organizations effectively use interorganizational links for innovation? An empirical study identifies and compares innovation practices in the Auckland sailing cluster in New Zealand with the Victorian surfing cluster in Australia. In total 52 firms, non-profit-organizations, and governing bodies were interviewed. In spite of much existing research focusing on internal firm resources and end users as sources of innovation in the sport sector, interorganizational linkages provide rich sources of innovation for organizations located in clustered sport industries. This research identifies 11 practices that can be imitated by other organizations located in sport clusters or similar settings. Eight practices occur in both clusters while three only occur in one of both. This paper contributes to knowledge on mechanisms for information and knowledge transfer that leverage innovation via interorganizational linkages.