Anthony Di Benedetto

What makes firms more innovative? A look at organizational and environmental factors

Innovative firms are generally more successful in both industrial and consumer markets. However, factors that make firms innovative are often elusive and complex. Looks at how strategic posture, organization structure, environmental hostility and uncertainty interact and how each factor contributes to an explanation of firm innovativeness. Suggests that strategic posture is a major factor determining the innovativeness of firms while organization structure mediates the effects of strategic posture, uncertainty, and hostility. Hence, for managers striving to make their firms more innovative, a prerequisite is to adopt a proactive strategic posture which gradually leads to a flexible organizations structure ‐ the two factors that have a direct effect in making firms more innovative.

A Staged Service Innovation Model

Drawing from the new product development (NPD) literature, service quality literature (SERVQUAL), and empirically grounded research with 53 service innovation decision makers, we develop a staged service innovation model (SIM) for decision makers. We tested the model using empirical data from 329 firms across five industries. The empirical results show that integrating prelaunch service quality training into new service development process leads to successful service innovation. The model developed in this article can be used as a decision support tool and diagnostic model for assessing service innovation ideas, evaluating performance of ongoing service innovations, allocating resources, and improving success rate of service innovations. Decision makers can use the measures developed in this study as a checklist to identify their strengths in delivering service quality to their own customers as well as areas of improvement. This article extends service innovation research by combining NPD and service quality development into a single study and opens the door to further work that could help improve the success rate of service innovations. The model can serve as a base model for future research extensions in service innovation research. A major takeaway for the academic reader is that the SIM demonstrates the value of using the SERVQUAL literature to understand how best to provide excellent quality that results in more fully satisfied customers and, ultimately, improved service performance.

New product development team intelligence: Antecedents and consequences

Our study investigated the effect of team knowledge on new product development (NPD). By investigating 207 NPD projects, we found that the declarative and procedural knowledge of the team and their use of IT had a positive influence on the teams knowledge base; and that the higher the functional diversity of the project team, the greater their overall knowledge. We also found that team knowledge positively impacted new product creativity and success in the market place.

Pioneering Advantage in New Service Development: A Multi-Country Study of Managerial Perceptions

Pioneering advantage in manufacturing firms has received much attention in the management and marketing literature. Few research studies, however, have been conducted to investigate the pioneering advantages and disadvantages involved in new service development, especially across several geographic regions. We build a theoretical framework of pioneering advantage in service industries based on the distinguishing characteristics of services. From this framework, we develop a set of testable propositions about the importance of several types of pioneering advantage (economic, preemptive, technological, and behavioral advantages) to service managers. Specifically, we propose that all of these types of pioneering advantages are important to service managers, and that these managers perceive that pioneering results in improved firm performance. We also propose that, due to the distinguishing characteristics of services such as intangibility and heterogeneity, service managers will not perceive the risks of pioneering in a service industry to be severe. In addition, we propose that certain types of pioneering advantage will be more important to service managers in Western countries than in Asian Pacific countries due to cultural and business environmental differences. In particular, we propose that service managers from Western firms perceive preemptive advantages of pioneering to be more important than do their Asian Pacific counterparts, and service managers from Asian Pacific firms perceive behavioral advantages of pioneering to be more important than do their Western counterparts. To test our propositions empirically, we develop a set of pioneering principles from the literature. We then collect and analyze data from a sample of 982 senior managers in service industries from nine countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong,1 South Korea, and Singapore. We find evidence of several significant cross-cultural differences consistent with our propositions. In fact, seven of the eight propositions are strongly or partially supported. The only nonsupported proposition concerned the importance of technological advantage. We find that technological advantages of pioneering are much less important to service managers than are other pioneering advantages. We conclude with strategic recommendations for managers involved in new service development and international or global competition, and provide directions for future research. We note that the insights from this study can help managers from both the West and the Asian Pacific region to better understand their global competitors who pursue a new service pioneering strategy, and can potentially help them select entry deterrence strategies more effectively.

The relationship between strategic type and firm capabilities in Chinese firms

Proposes that firms of different Miles and Snow strategic types will have different bundles of firm-level capabilities; that is, certain capabilities will be more important to certain strategic types. Specifically, proposes that prospectors have greater relative inside-out capabilities and information technology capabilities, while defenders have greater relative outside-in capabilities and marketing capabilities. Empirically tests, and finds support for, the propositions using a data set of 245 Chinese firms, comprised mostly of state-owned enterprises. Understanding the Chinese business environment is of importance to businesses around the world as the Chinese economy undergoes rapid expansion and decentralization of strategic decision making to the level of the state-owned enterprise. As the central government takes on a lesser role in the management of enterprises, and Chinese enterprise managers become more responsible for their own strategic decision making, a clear understanding of the enterprises specific capabilities and advantages is required in order to achieve sustained competitive advantage. Concludes by discussing managerial implications.

Procedural and interactional justice perceptions and teamwork quality

Purpose – This paper aims to understand the role of organizational justice (procedural and interactional justice) as a precursor to new product development teamwork quality and team performance; to study the moderating impact of environmental turbulence on these relationships.Design/methodology/approach – This is a survey‐based empirical study of 117 product/project managers based in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey. A series of multiple regression analyses were used to obtain results.Findings – Only two of the six facets of teamwork quality (coordination and balance of member contribution) are significantly associated with interactional justice; all six facets (coordination, balance of member contribution, communication, mutual support, effort and cohesion) are associated with procedural justice. Teamwork quality is significantly related to team learning and speed to market; environmental turbulence partially moderates these relationships.Research limitations/implications – Perceived organizational justice is...

An Exploratory Study of Entrepreneurial Creativity: Its Antecedents and Mediators in the Context of UAE Firms

In this study, we attempt to advance our understanding of the role of entrepreneurial creativity in the context of firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Through field research accompanied by a review of the related literature, this study identifies crucial antecedents of entrepreneurial creativity. The proposed model combines variables belonging to different contextual factors such as external factors (resource access, resource possession, and alertness to opportunity) and individual factors (creative self‐efficacy, expertise and intrinsic motivation). The model is tested using data from a large‐scale survey of firms in the UAE. We find that expertise and creative self‐efficacy is significantly related to entrepreneurial creativity. The results also reveal that intrinsic motivation and alertness to opportunity are the key mediators between contextual factors and entrepreneurial creativity. The findings of this study present some interesting practical implications to entrepreneurs in order to improve their creative skills.

Product Design: Research Trends and an Agenda for the Future

Abstract Academic research in product design is growing in popularity, and new challenging research questions are emerging. This article explores several of these product design research issues. We first explore the role of design as a driver of innovation and as a strategic resource to senior managers for competitive advantage. We revisit the topic of functional integration on the new product team, focusing in particular on the cooperation between designers and marketers. There is also a rich literature emerging on customer-initiated design and user toolkits for design, and we explore this intriguing stream as well. Considering these topics, and several others identified in a recent special issue on design research in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, we present an agenda for research in product design. We conclude with a discussion of how these design research trends affect researchers as well as practitioners involved in high-fashion or luxury-brand goods.Abstract Academic research in product design is growing in popularity, and new challenging research questions are emerging. This article explores several of these product design research issues. We first explore the role of design as a driver of innovation and as a strategic resource to senior managers for competitive advantage. We revisit the topic of functional integration on the new product team, focusing in particular on the cooperation between designers and marketers. There is also a rich literature emerging on customer-initiated design and user toolkits for design, and we explore this intriguing stream as well. Considering these topics, and several others identified in a recent special issue on design research in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, we present an agenda for research in product design. We conclude with a discussion of how these design research trends affect researchers as well as practitioners involved in high-fashion or luxury-brand goods.

The effect of entrepreneurial orientation, willingness to change, and development culture on new product exploration in small enterprises

Purpose This study aims to assess the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and development culture and the role of willingness-to-change in this relationship and analyzes their effect on new product exploration in small enterprises. Design/methodology/approach A model based on structural equations with partial least squares (PLS) analysis is used to test the hypotheses. This model was tested on a sample of 250 respondents from 125 small enterprises, with less than 50 employees, located in all seven emirates of the UAE. Findings The results suggest that EO will induce organizational members’ willingness-to-change and will favor the advancement of a development culture in small enterprises; in addition, EO, willingness-to-change and development culture can lead to new product exploration in small enterprises. Research limitations/implications The study findings are subject to potential limitations. First, the research design for the quantitative study was cross-sectional and self-reported, which could cause problems of common method and inflation bias. Second, the conceptual model may not be completely representative of the perspective the authors aim to elucidate. Third, as this study is country-specific, further research investigation in other developing economies is recommended to further understand the possible influences of cultural or socioeconomic contexts on the relationships presented in the model. Practical implications The article includes several practical implications about the relationships between willingness-to-change and development culture. It sheds light on the controversial link between EO and new product exploration in small enterprises. Originality/value The present study expands current knowledge on the EO–new product exploration relationship by investigating some key mediating variables such as willingness-to-change and development culture in an under-researched context such as UAE.

Launch activities and timing in new product development

Abstract This essay builds from the article “Launch Timing and Launch Activities Proficiency as Antecedents to New Product Performance.” The study here summarizes the literature streams which informed that research study, describes the contribution of our manuscript and how it has been taken forward by later researchers, and reviews current research issues which remain unexplored. The objective is to provide insights into the emergence of the research stream on product launch as well as inspiration for future researchers in the new product area.