Frida Lind

Exploring university-industry collaboration in research centres

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore university‐industry collaboration in research centres.Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds on an explorative study of three research centres at a technical university in Sweden, using in‐depth interviews. The three research centres, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, have various degrees of involvement with industry.Findings – A total of four broad forms of collaboration are suggested: distanced, translational, specified and developed collaboration.Research limitations/implications – The paper shows that the different institutional logics of academic actors, industry actors and funding agencies can be present in collaborations in (at least) four different ways resulting in four different types of research processes. Since not all actors are likely to be equally satisfied in all types of collaborations, the continued development of the research centres will be at risk.Practical implications – If the role of the research centre is to be a forum for collaborati...

Customer Involvement in Product Development : An Industrial Network Perspective

Purpose: In business markets, working with customers and users has become increasingly important to get knowledge about customer needs and to develop new products. The purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to develop a framework for analyzing customer involvement in product development in a business market context, and (2) to apply this framework to a particular company to describe and analyze how it practices customer involvement. Methodology/approach: The article takes its main theoretical starting point in the industrial network approach, but also uses other literature from the innovation and product development field. The empirical study applies a qualitative case study approach and focuses on one company in the truck business. Findings: The suggested framework deals with four key aspects of customer involvement: Why, when, how, and who. The observed pattern of the truck manufacturer shows how dealers, hauliers, and truck drivers are all part of the overall understanding of the customer. These actors are involved for different, typically very clear, purposes at different points in time through surveys, product clinics, and field testing. The pattern, referred to as mixed facilitative, is not one of close collaboration with individual customers, but one of broad involvement of several customers through business intelligence and direct involvement. Research implications: First, the article provides researchers with a framework and method for studying customer involvement in product development. Second, the case study provides an illustrative example of the customer involvement pattern pursued by a leading company in a major industry. This enhances the understanding of the focal phenomenon, leads to managerial implications, and gives ideas for future research. Practical implications: There are several managerial implications related to the why, when, how, and who questions. For example, it is pointed out that managers should consider involving customers more extensively than what seems to be common today—for example, by using customers as codevelopers, working with them throughout the entire development process (i.e., not only early and late), and including different types of users (with different requirements and wishes). Originality/value/contribution of the article: The contribution lies in the development of a framework centered on the four key questions of customer involvement in product development and using this framework for observing a pattern, and finding explanations and relating this pattern to how other firms are doing.

Goal diversity and resource development in an inter-organisational project

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the role of goal diversity for resource development organized in an inter-organizational project. Design/Methodology/Approach – The paper builds on a case study of an inter-organizational research project in the field of plant biotechnology in Sweden. The project had four members with differing goals: two research departments, one firm and one co-operative. Findings – This particular project shows a diversity of goals and seeks to explain how actors with very different goals and resources involve in inter-organizational collaboration. The case illustrates how the goals are nested in different ways and how the goals are and become related with the resources developed during the project. The explanation found is that the involved actors manage to match their goals and resources. Research limitations/implications – The paper identifies goal-and-resource-matching processes as an explanation behind resource development in collaboration between actors with diverse goals. Pra...

5 R&D Collaboration and Start Ups

It is well known from previous studies that RD Baraldi, Gressetvold, & Harrison, 2012; Gressetvold, 2004; Hakansson, 1987; Hakansson & Waluszewski, 2002, 2007; Laage-Hellman, 1997; Wedin, 2001) as well as other types of innovation studies (e.g. McKelvey, Zaring, & Ljungberg, 2015; Melander, 2014; von Hippel, 1988). Innovation thus tends to be the outcome of interaction processes between different types of actors including, for example, selling and buying firms.

Balancing centripetal and centrifugal forces in the entrepreneurial university: a study of 10 research centres in a technical university

In the recent interest for the so-called entrepreneurial university, there is a strong emphasis on academic (i.e. theoretical) knowledge to be used more effectively as a source of innovation and renewal in industry. Drawing on a theoretical framework developed by the literature theorist Mikhail Bakhtin and a study of 10 research centres in a major technical university, this paper suggests that rather than representing something radically new, the entrepreneurial university is a domain wherein traditional academic research interests and industry objectives are continuously negotiated and mutually adjusted. Seen in this view, the entrepreneurial university is what is always in a process of becoming, in flux and change, continuously under the influence of opposing and complementary goals and objectives. Therefore, the entrepreneurial university is not a solid state or an entrenched position but the effect of an attitude towards the role and purpose of the university in the so-called knowledge society.

Interactive resource development: implications for innovation policy

Purpose – Previous studies of innovation policy claim that there is a mismatch between the underlying assumptions of these policies and the reality of how firms involved in innovation operate. The purpose of this paper is to deepen the knowledge of actual innovation processes in order to contribute to the modification of innovation policies. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on: a literature study focusing on the criticism and suggestions for revision of mainstream policy; and two empirical illustrations of innovation through interactive resource development. The framework is rooted in the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) approach to innovation, implying that a potential innovation needs to be embedded in three network settings – the developing, the producing and the using settings. Findings – The study shows that effective policy requires a modified perspective on the basic mechanisms behind innovation. First, the paper emphasises the central role of inter-organisational interacti...

Process validation: Coping with three dilemmas in process-based single case research

Purpose - Recent research suggests that the interest in process-based single-case studies is increasing in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This paper aims to discuss research validity issues and dilemmas encountered by process-based single-case researchers in B2B marketing. Design/methodology/approach - This is a methodology paper that builds on an integration of experiences, ideas and literature. Findings - In the paper, three dilemmas are suggested that researchers need to deal with in process-based single-case research. These relate to the casing process: crafting the case, communicating the case and describing the process of the study. Furthermore, process validation is suggested as a research quality concept concerned with how these dilemmas are handled. Research limitations implications - Based on the notion of process validation, the authors provide suggestions for how casing, as a process-based single-case approach, can be conveyed and advanced in its own right. Practical implications - This study can be used to convey insights that can help new and experienced researchers in conducting single-case studies in B2B. Originality/value - Coping with issues of research quality in B2B marketing is of relevance to researchers dealing with process-based single-case research and process validation issues, as well as to journal reviewers evaluating the qualities of process-based single-case research.

Introduction: Starting Up in Business Networks—Why Relationships Matter in Entrepreneurship

Few people would object to the contention that relationships matter in entrepreneurship. In the research field of entrepreneurship, there has been increasing attention to the social relationships of the entrepreneur and to the role of networking in starting up a business (e.g. Fayolle, Jack, Lamine & Chabaud, 2016; Hoang & Antoncic, 2003; Hoang & Yi, 2015; Jack, 2010). Research has shown that social relationships and the networks of entrepreneurs matter because they are resource entrepreneurs that can leverage in the starting-up process. Instead of focusing on the social relationships, this book focuses on the initial customer and supplier relationships of a start-up developed at an early stage and examine why these are important in starting up a new business venture.