Astrid Heidemann Lassen

The Nexus of Corporate Entrepreneurship and Radical Innovation

This paper explores the linkage between the entrepreneurial orientation of established firms and the development of radical innovation. Through five case studies in firms involved in radical innovation, three propositions are developed, suggesting that proactiveness, risk-taking and autonomy stimulate the development of radical innovation, whereas competitive aggressiveness does not necessarily do so, as radical innovations are directed towards the creation of entirely new arenas of business, where existing competitors are not present.

Re-Orienting the Corporate Entrepreneurial Journey: Exploring the Role of Middle Management

In this article we report research on the implementation of an increased exploitative market orientation in explorative technology-driven firms, and how the interaction between middle management and the internal context shapes this process. It appears that middle managers play an important role in balancing planned and emergent activities, reconciling market and technological understandings, and negotiating and sanctioning ideas. These roles do not happen automatically. Dominant logics, mindsets and meanings, developed and successful in the past, ‘talk back’. Managerial systems and processes supporting the transition to more and more successful market exploitation are not automatically accepted. Rather, all these and similar changes need to be socially negotiated. In that process, the opportunities and incentives for middle managers to reach beyond their formal job and to engage in the organizational sense-making process play a key role.

Managing Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship

This book focuses upon a particular type of entrepreneurship, called knowledge intensive entrepreneurship, which is defined and analyzed through a model proposed here. One main message is that entrepreneurship is a phenomenon that may be thought of as structured and defined processes - as taught with business planning - but also one involving high levels of uncertainty and risk due to the nature of knowledge involved in this type. This book proposes a new model for the creation of this type of ventures, based upon a richer understanding of the interactions between the company and hte external environment for opportunities and knowledge.

User-driven Innovation in a Construction Material Supply Network

Purpose – User‐driven innovation (UDI) has been proven to successfully increase the value of products and services in single companies with direct linkages to the end‐user. The construction material industry often has no direct linkages to the end‐user, due to supply networks through builder merchants. Moreover, a lack of user knowledge is common in such networks, and companies rarely have explicit knowledge on how their products and services are in fact used and valued by their end‐users. Thus, it is clear that UDI is not directly applicable to the construction material industry without further developments. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that a network perspective is essential when adapting and implementing UDI in the construction material industry and to let the advantages of doing so surface.Design/methodology/approach – The research design includes a number of different approaches and types of interaction between the researchers and industry. Additionally, an extensive literature ...

The challenge of Managing Knowledge in Innovative Organizations: Internal Versus External Knowledge Acquisition

Ideas are no longer generated solely within a firm’s internal boundaries but also sourced from the external knowledge environment. Therefore, firms can no longer rely solely on internal knowledge to develop new ideas or solve problems. This paper is based on empirical research which investigates different knowledge acquisition strategies utilized by firms during the innovation process. It suggests that there is a relationship between the kind of innovative activity (cumulative or radical) and the sourcing of knowledge (i.e., the internal and/or external environment). Two hypotheses are derived from the literature and tested empirically. These hypotheses are based on the premise that cumulative type organizations focus primarily on internal knowledge or existing core competencies within the firm and are less likely to scan the external environment for ideas and knowledge, whereas radical type organizations are continually pushing out the boundaries of knowledge and replacing existing core competencies with new ideas and knowledge and are therefore predisposed toward utilizing external knowledge. The research findings confirm the hypotheses and enable the development of a third dimension based on a dual ability to focus on both cumulative and radical innovation aligned with the most appropriate knowledge acquisition strategy.

Open innovation: on the influence of internal and external collaboration on degree of newness

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the effect of internal and external collaboration on the degree of newness (incremental/radical) in innovation projects. This adds to the understanding of the particular patterns of open innovation (OI) and what characterizes the innovation emerging through this approach. Design/methodology/approach Tests are performed on the effect of internal and external collaboration on the degree of newness (incremental/radical) in innovation projects. This adds to the understanding of the particular patterns of OI and what characterizes the innovation emerging through this approach. The empirical analysis is based on a data set including responses from 512 Danish engineers. Findings The results show that external collaboration has significantly different effects on the degree of newness depending on the type of external partners involved, and they also show that radical innovation output is positively related to involving the R&D department (internal) and universities (external involvement) and negatively related to involving suppliers. Originality/value The results provide a more detailed understanding of how different OI patterns affect the development of incremental vs radical innovation in existing organizations. In particular, three findings add new insights into how OI affects innovation to reach the highest degree of newness: high importance of collaboration with external partners with distinct interests and skills; low reliance on existing customers and suppliers for the development of radical innovation; and narrow and focused internal involvement rather than broad internal involvement.

Understanding innovation spaces through emerging multinational enterprises in China: an explorative case study of a Chinese wind turbine manufacturer

This chapter firstly provides a theoretical framing to explicitly relate the entrepreneur (individual) with the venture (company) to the national innovation system in China. The proposed framework defines an innovation space as a multifaceted organism not restricted geographically; but rather seen as consisting of multiple levels, including institutional, organisational and geographical aspects. This chapter also provides empirical insights of this journey from entrepreneurial venture to multinational enterprise, by focusing upon the process of expansion and internationalization of research and development of the Chinese wind turbine manufacturer. In doing so, the chapter provides a thick case description, with many details about the development of this Chinese company in the renewable energy industry. Right from its establishment in 2006, the company has been emphasizing the importance of innovation for its activities.

Developing Knowledge Intensive Ideas in Engineering Education: The Application of Camp Methodology

Background: Globalization, technological advancement, environmental problems, etc. challenge organizations not just to consider cost-effectiveness, but also to develop new ideas in order to build competitive advantages. Hence, methods to deliberately enhance creativity and facilitate its processes of development must also play a central role in engineering education. However, so far the engineering education literature provides little attention to the important discussion of how to develop knowledge intensive ideas based on creativity methods and concepts. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate how to design creative camps from which knowledge intensive ideas can unfold. Design/method/sample: A framework on integration of creativity and knowledge intensity is first developed, and then tested through the planning, execution and evaluation of a specialized creativity camp with focus on supply chain management. Detailed documentation of the learning processes of the participating 49 engineering and business students is developed through repeated interviews during the process as well as a survey. Results: The research illustrates the process of development of ideas, and how the participants through interdisciplinary collaboration, cognitive flexibility and joint ownership develop highly innovative and knowledge-intensive ideas, with direct relevance for the four companies whose problems they address. Conclusions: The article demonstrates how the creativity camp methodology holds the potential of combining advanced academic knowledge and creativity, to produce knowledge intensive ideas, when the design is based on ideas of experiential learning as well as creativity principles. This makes the method a highly relevant learning approach for engineering students in the search for skills to both develop and implement innovative ideas.

Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship in manufacturing and creative industries: Same, same, but different

To date, there is little empirical evidence on the specificities and commonalities of entrepreneurship in the creative industries relative to other sectors. This paper explores this issue by comparing knowledge‐intensive entrepreneurship (KIE) in the manufacturing and creative industries by examining their differences and similarities. Given the lack of prior studies, our comparison is exploratory and based on descriptive statistics. We use survey data that comes from a large‐scale Eurupean Union research project (AEGIS) which studied KIE firms across 10 countries and a diverse set of industries. Our analysis shows that KIE firms in creative industries resemble those in manufacturing in several dimensions, but also that there are some pronounced differences, such as (i) a higher level of knowledge intensity of KIE firms in creative industries, with higher educational attainment of both founders and employees; (ii) that personal financing plays a much larger role in creative industries; (iii) KIE in creative industries focuses more on service innovations, but introduces radical innovations to a lesser extent; and (iv) they remain smaller in terms of number of employees and turnover, but are more profitable than KIE in manufacturing relative to their size. We end the paper by pointing out directions for future research, based on our exploratory results.

Enablers of Innovation in the Construction Material Industry

The construction material industry is often acknowledged as slightly more innovative than the overall construction industry and could hence serve as a valuable learning place for how innovation could flourish in the construction industry. Construction is viewed as network or supply chain based, which creates a strong interdependence between the different supply network partners and can be seen as a hindrance for innovation. Innovation models must embrace such a contemporary business structures, where competition often takes place between supply chains rather than between individual companies. By exploring case-based innovation processes the purpose is to discover enablers of innovation in the construction material industry. The research design is based on explorative case studies. By applying case study as method, the research is drawn towards inductive research, where we investigate patterns suitable for generalization on enablers for innovation. In total, six cases of successful innovation are investigated. The conclusion of this research validates that open innovation in a network approach is a precondition for a successful innovation journey in the construction industry. In addition, it was found that different approaches for facilitating this journey exists, based on company characteristics. This paper adds to the body of knowledge on how to succeed with innovation in the construction industry. The increased awareness of an open and cooperative approach to innovation is of value both theoretical and practical.