David Gann

Innovation in project-based, service-enhanced firms: the construction of complex products and systems

This paper explores the management of innovation within firms producing complex products and systems. It is based on a study of how design, engineering and construction firms develop and produce buildings and structures. We contend that these project-based, service-enhanced forms of enterprise are not adequately addressed in the innovation literature. Project-based firms rely upon combining technical expertise from other organisations in order to deliver their own technical capabilities, usually in one-off processes. The paper argues that these firms are only able to effectively harness and reproduce their technological capabilities by integrating project and business processes within the firm. Our results show the need for a better conceptual understanding and new management practices to link project and business processes. The paper offers a framework for achieving this, explaining the dynamics of project-based firms and how they can improve performance across portfolios of projects.

Construction as a manufacturing process? Similarities and differences between industrialized housing and car production in Japan

In Japan, similar management practices in product development, design, supply-chain coordination, marketing and sales have been used to produce very different products: industrialized housing and automobiles. Manufacturing principles derived from the car industry have been successfully used to produce attractive, customized and affordable homes. But there are limits to which such techniques can be applied to manage the assembly of wide varieties of component parts needed to produce complex customized products. Managers must trade off the need to achieve economies of scale in the production of standardized factory parts with economies of scope in various stages of assembly in order to provide flexibility to satisfy consumer choices. The housing industries can benefit by learning more about the use of advanced manufacturing techniques developed in car production. At the same time, automobile makers may learn more about the management of customization from the way in which housing firms organize sales, desig...

Building innovation: complex constructs in a changing world

In order to deliver value, maintain competitiveness and remain profitable, construction professionals need to develop their capabilities for managing innovation and technical change. This new book presents a rich historical framework for understanding how to manage contemporary changes. It starts in the Machine Age, showing how a sophisticated set of industries and design processes have evolved to work with new materials, components and systems, culminating in the experiences and skills needed to integrate systems in the Digital Age. The book compares approaches and draws lessons from Europe, Japan and North America. It addresses the role of government policies and professional institutions in supporting innovative approaches aimed at improving performance in construction. It concludes with lessons for the management of technology and innovations in project based firms, assessing skills and forms of business organisations needed to compete in todays dynamic markets.

The Effects of Culture and Structure on Strategic Flexibility During Business Model Innovation

This study uses responses from 107 multinational firms to reveal CEO perceptions of the drivers of strategic flexibility during business model innovation. While the positive effect of creative culture is confirmed, partner reliance reduces strategic flexibility during business model innovation. Further, structural change is disaggregated into efforts that either focus managerial attention on core activities or reconfigure existing activities. CEOs perceive that structural flexibility requires structural simplification while retaining control of non-core functions. We find that the relative magnitude of business model innovation effort moderates the effect of reconfiguration on strategic flexibility. The implications for theories of organizational design and dynamic capabilities are discussed.

Do regulations encourage innovation? - the case of energy efficiency in housing

This paper addresses the impact of building regulations on constraints and drivers for innovation. It seeks to clarify whether a supposed shift from prescriptive to performance-based regulations has improved the environment for technical innovation in energy ef�cient housing in Britain. We argue that when ’performance-based’ building regulations are treated as static sets of technical requirements, their effect is similar to more traditional prescriptive forms of regulation. A more progressive approach is possible in which regulations can be used as part of a portfolio of policies aimed at improving performance. In this mode, functional performance speci�cations can stimulate systemic innovation. A �exible ’performancebased’ form of standard could provide �rms with the freedom, market incentive and institutional frameworks within which to innovate. The process itself could lead to information sharing and cooperation but for this to be achieved, competitiveness and regulatory policies need to be co-ordinated better. Regulatory objectives and mechanisms for achieving them need to match. Regulations need to accommodate technical change at different levels in the production process, including new product development and systems integration.

Last among equals: a comparison of innovation in construction, services and manufacturing in the UK

This paper contrasts the attitudes of firms towards innovation from the construction sector with those in services and manufacturing, using data from the UK innovation survey. We examine the liabilities that construction firms face in their innovative activities in comparison to other sectors, drawing from literature on the distinctiveness of construction as an economic activity. We find that the liabilities of immobility and unanticipated demand are among key distinguishing features that separate innovative behaviour in construction from other industries. The paper concludes with a discussion of the merits of cross‐sectoral comparative research of this kind, together with issues for further research.

Can integrated solutions business models work in construction

It has recently been suggested that the future of the construction industry lies in adopting a new business model based on the concept of integrated solutions. Integrated solutions are combinations of products and services that address a customers unique requirements throughout the life cycle, from development and design to systems integration, operations and decommissioning. Research on integrated solutions in other capital goods sectors has shown suppliers have had to create new business models, including developing new approaches to adding value, and building up new capabilities – especially in systems integration. The paper presents some preliminary empirical findings about construction industry perceptions of value, systems integration and integrated solutions that suggest the concept of built environment solutions provision is still at an early stage in its development and that the best opportunity for its introduction is in the context of private finance initiatives in the public sector or large clients who require repeatable solutions in the private sector.

Learning and Innovation Management in Project-Based, Service-Enhanced Firms

This paper explores the management of innovation in project-based firms. Our research indicates that the traditional boundary between manufacturing and services is becoming obsolete as new forms of manufacturing emerge to supply physical products packaged together with intangible services. Many complex products are now designed, produced and operated as discrete or small batch projects, leading to a growth in firms specialising in project-based activities. These range from the provision of specialist services to co-ordination and systems integration. Not enough is known about how project-based firms manage technology. This paper attempts to develop a framework for understanding the dynamics of project-based firms. It offers a new approach to understanding how they improve performance by focusing on the development of technical capabilities in the context of the provision of enhanced services.

The Oxford handbook of innovation management

INTRODUCTION THE SOURCES OF INNOVATION THE CONTEXT FOR INNOVATION STRATEGY, MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION

THE INTENSIFICATION OF INNOVATION

This paper suggests that the innovation process has intensified as a result of the application of new digital technologies. These technologies that simulate, model and integrate, intensify the innovation process through facilitating economy of effort and definiteness of aim. Of all the many analytical lenses used to examine innovation, the most valuable in accounting for this “automation of innovation” is Rothwells concept of the 5th Generation Innovation Process. Our paper revisits this element of Rothwells (1992) prize-winning article in R&D Management. It reviews the use of a range of enabling technologies and strategic management practices for the automation of innovation that were either in gestation or unknown at the time of Rothwells paper. Rothwells speculation about the increased “electronification” of the innovation process, and of related technological and strategic integration, has proven to be correct. The use of the new “electronic toolkit” can transform the innovation process by facilitating the transfer, transformation and control of information. Using insights from contemporary innovation and management research, this paper examines the benefits and limitations of these digital technologies in dealing with the challenges of innovation of reducing costs and increasing speed, predictability and strategic organisational integration. It presents a conceptual framework for assessing the intensification of innovation and outlines some strategic managerial precepts that will facilitate effective use of these technologies. The paper concludes with speculations about future developments in the intensification of innovation and its impact for strategic management, together with questions for further research.