Eric Brun
University of Stavanger
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Featured researches published by Eric Brun.
Creativity and Innovation Management | 2009
Eric Brun; Alf Steinar Sætre
Ambiguity, defined in this study as the existence of two or more interpretations of the same cue, is an essential component of ‘fuzziness’ in new product development (NPD) projects. In this paper, we present a model by which ambiguity in NPD projects can be classified and managed. The model has been developed grounded in case data from four NPD projects in companies making medical devices. Ambiguity is classified according to two axes: subjects of ambiguity and sources of ambiguity. Subjects of ambiguity include product, market, process and organizational resources. Sources of ambiguity include multiplicity, novelty, validity and reliability. Ambiguity can be managed by two means: reducing or sustaining it. If clarity is a main priority in the NPD project, reducing ambiguity is necessary and can be effectively achieved by applying the hypothetical-deductive method. If novelty and flexibility are high project priorities, sustaining certain ambiguities can be useful. Managing ambiguity requires a constant harmonizing of the need for clarity and the need for novelty and flexibility.
International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management | 2008
Eric Brun; Alf Steinar Sætre; Martin Gjelsvik
In this paper we challenge the traditional notion of ambiguity as an undesirable element in New Product Development (NPD) and explore how companies sometimes sustain or even increase ambiguity during their NPD projects. Based on qualitative analysis of case data from four NPD projects in the medical-device industry, we present a model by which this process can be better understood. We identify four ways that NPD projects can benefit from temporarily sustaining ambiguity: retaining fallback options, saving costs, saving time, and retaining ideas.
International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management | 2012
Alf Steinar Sætre; Eric Brun
This paper offers a model for effectively managing ambiguity at the fuzzy front end of innovation projects. We conducted in-depth studies of four new product development projects from the medical device industry. Through the abductive process of iterative grounded theory we built a model of the management of ambiguity. The model we propose shows that innovation teams that have a higher tolerance for ambiguity are better able to exploit it. The successful management of ambiguity in innovation projects rests upon the balancing of opposing needs.
International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management | 2016
Eric Brun
The research goal of this paper is to explore and explain the relation between ambiguity management and contextual ambidexterity in innovation. Based on qualitative analysis of case data, a model is presented showing how managing ambiguity is an underlying process of contextual ambidexterity. Requisite variety, perspective-taking and interpretive skills help generate ambiguity to achieve exploration, while analytic skills help reduce ambiguity to achieve exploitation. Contextual ambidexterity is achieved through a process of alternating between generation, sustention and reduction of ambiguity. High ambiguity tolerance (AT) emphasizes exploration, while low AT emphasizes exploitation. The findings contribute to a more detailed theoretical understanding of the contextual ambidexterity concept and can help practitioners to achieve contextual ambidexterity in their innovation projects.
International Journal of Innovation Management | 2015
Eric Brun
Many authors agree that ambiguity must be tolerated in innovation processes. There is however little research relating the concept of ambiguity tolerance (AT) to participants in new product development (NPD) projects. This paper adds to previous research where AT has been studied among entrepreneurs and managers. It shows that NPD team members in a variety of innovation-related roles can exhibit both tolerance and intolerance for ambiguity. To explain the seeming contradiction, this paper suggests distinguishing between dispositional AT as a personality variable and enacted AT as a behavioural variable. This research contributes towards a wider theoretical understanding of AT among NPD project participants, and proposes a new agenda for further research on AT in innovation. This research agenda will have managerial implications as it can improve an organisations ability to succeed in NPD by selecting project managers and team members with appropriate capabilities to manage ambiguity.
international conference on advances in production management systems | 2011
Eric Brun
The early phases of new product development (NPD) processes are characterized by a high degree of uncertainty and ambiguity, a phenomenon commonly recognized as the fuzzy front end of NPD. A clear understanding of the term fuzziness is lacking in NPD literature. This paper suggests that its components can be understood through earlier scholars’ use of concepts such as ambiguity, equivocality, lack-of-clarity and uncertainty. It is argued that resolving ambiguity is associated with knowledge creation, and hence that it is possible to separate useless from useful ambiguity and thus purposefully exploit ambiguity in a targeted manner to create new knowledge in innovation.
European Journal of Innovation Management | 2009
Eric Brun; Alf Steinar Sætre; Martin Gjelsvik
International Journal of Innovation Management | 2008
Eric Brun; Alf Steinar Sætre
International Journal of Innovation Management | 2012
John A. Daly; Alf Steinar Sætre; Eric Brun
International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management | 2013
Alf Steinar Sætre; Eric Brun