Anne-Marie Coles

Building Innovation Networks: Issues of Strategy and Expertise

This article investigates the role of networks in new product development by reporting on a contemporary case study of a firm in the defence electronics sector. A specific focus is the development and ongoing management of a network that comprises a number of formal inter-firm strategic alliances. The paper begins by reviewing earlier literature on technology strategies for innovation that has identified a key role for inter-firm networking in the organization and management of new product development. We then consider the related issue of the relevant management expertise, which enables firms to adopt a network approach to their strategy for innovation by developing a competence in the process of network building. In this particular case study the critical issue centred upon the extent of the internal resources in terms of time and personal effort that was devoted to building trust and actively managing various inter-firm relationships over time. The article concludes that while inter-firm networking can facilitate new product development across firm boundaries, it is not a panacea for success. Whilst financially successful in terms of product and market development, the networking strategy has also set up problems within the particular case study firm in terms of resourcing and managing the very growth that has been generated.

Technological Entrepreneurship and Firm Strategy: The Development and Commercialization of the Ballard Fuel Cell

An entrepreneurial strategy has been identified as playing a key role in radical innovation due to the risk-taking nature of the entrepreneurial firm. However, less attention has been paid to the factors that are critical to the success of such innovations by small firms in which these occur. The Schumpeterian idea of visionary individuals who can both operate in the world of advanced engineering and take on a business role as part of a global industry still appears to be essential. This article focuses on the fate of one such individual, Geoffrey Ballard, who has played a pioneering role in developing and commercializing fuel cells for vehicle propulsion.

Sustainable energy projects and the community: Mapping single-building use of microgeneration technologies in London

Microgeneration technologies offer the potential for distributed energy supply and consumption resulting in reduced reliance on centralised generation. Adoption of microgeneration for use in community settings is usually understood as having a beneficial contribution to sustainable development. This is particularly relevant in urban environments which present specific challenges relating to the heterogeneity of building and land use. Small-scale installations in buildings also appear to offer technological flexibility at the ‘human’ level, necessary for local participation in shaping the direction of sustainable development. This paper reports on a project concerned with identifying on-site energy generation projects in Greater London. A database was compiled comprising renewable and energy efficient microgeneration installations in multi-occupancy buildings. The relationships between each project and its associated organisations are mapped as a social network, which illustrates the heterogeneity of technologies and actors involved, as well as the flows of funding and expertise. The structure of the resulting networks indicates a lack of participation by social or not-for-profit groups who are traditionally identified as community level actors. The findings indicate that large institutional actors on the supply side may become regarded as renewable energy experts. Hence, there is a need to consider how the concept of community level actors in urban microgeneration projects is applicable to local government and commercial organisations.

Is small really beautiful? A review of the concept of niches in innovation

ABSTRACT This article reviews the concept of innovation niches through three categories: strategic niche management (SNM), specialised markets and niches formed as a technology declines. In the literature, innovation niches generate interest from both innovation and marketing perspectives. This review focuses predominately on the former from which the niche types have been adopted and analysed. Mostly, contributions since 1980 have been included, representing the period of academic interest in innovative small firms, while both temporal and locational filters were applied to the study. It is noted that SNM has been proposed as a means to protect potentially useful innovations from full market competition, while specialist niches supply technologies to few customers in more stable environments. Incumbent technologies at the stage of decline may also retreat to niches where they can still remain competitive. Finally, it is suggested that further research on innovation niches would extend our understanding of technology dynamics.

Non-Linear Discourse and Control of Technology: The Pharmaceutical Society and Poisons Legislation in 19th-Century Britain

The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was established in 1841 to represent the interests of its members, many of whom were small chemist and druggist retailers. Throughout the century this institution attempted to influence new policies designed to control the sale of poisonous substances routinely held by these shopkeepers. Using its in-house publication, the Pharmaceutical Journal, the Society argued for recognition of chemists and druggists as experts in the storage and distribution of poisons. This article examines the discursive strategy adopted by the Pharmaceutical Society in its attempts to retain control over the sale of chemicals. Its activities are analysed both in respect to the complex and socially embedded nature of chemical products, and to the technocratic nature of its claims.

Urban development projects: A case study of the Greater Port Harcourt city development project in Rivers State, Nigeria

Sustainable urban development is fundamental to future generations as it determines the longevity of a city. The strategy is about developing an urban area that fulfils the needs of the present generation, protect and preserve the environment for the future generations. Uncontrolled and unregulated urban developments in Nigeria are documented to be some of the major challenges that support unsustainable urban development. Thus, urban decay is stirred by overstretch on existing infrastructures as a result to unprecedented population growth, lack of maintenance due to institutional breakdowns, unauthorised/ unregulated construction works, and nonchalant behaviours on the part of the citizens. Sustainable urban development is a convoluted phenomenon that is dependent on several other intricate developmental strategies centric on land/water use, housing, transport, water management, waste management, sanitation, education, healthcare, and energy. These are major developmental aspects of an urban area that can drive sustainable development goals, hence, it is important to critically address the challenges that emanates as a result to the inefficiency around them. As a means to address the challenges of unsustainable urban development, this research is aimed at developing a sustainability framework for the ongoing urban development projects in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. To achieve the aforementioned aim, the objectives are to identify and examine the factors that are hindering the success of the project. The framework will be developed to cover major areas of stakeholders’ concern. Stakeholders opinions were obtained through the collection of qualitative www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and The Environment, Vol 210,

The Potential for Sustainable Production and Consumption in a Technological Society

The French philosopher Jacques Ellul articulated the concept of the technological society in 1954 to describe the deeply interwoven relationship between social, cultural, economic, political and technical factors that exists in mature industrial societies. Some commentators have seen a continuing role for this concept pertinent to understanding the broad social dynamics of technological change. This chapter draws on current commentary to investigate the implications for change in existing processes of production and consumption through sustainable innovation. It reviews current thinking in the social studies of technology to identify the ways in which discourses of sustainable innovation might not transform socio-technical systems in the manner conceived by proponents. It identifies how technical characteristics relating to sustainable performance of a particular artefact could fail to transfer from artefact to system or from innovation to widespread adoption and use. In conclusion, it is suggested that calls for sustainable innovation represent part of the ‘business as usual’ operations of a technological society.