J. Roland Ortt

The evolution of innovation management towards contextual innovation

Purpose – In recent decades, innovation management has changed. This article provides an overview of the changes that have taken place, focusing on innovation management in large companies, with the aim of explaining that innovation management has evolved toward a contextual approach, which it will explain and illustrate using two cases.Design/methodology/approach – The basic approach in this article is to juxtapose a review of existing literature regarding trends in innovation management and research and development (R&D) management generations, and empirical data about actual approaches to innovation.Findings – The idea that there is a single mainstream innovation approach does not match with the (successful) approaches companies have adopted. What is required is a contextual approach. However, research with regard to such an approach is fragmented. Decisions to adapt the innovation management approach to the newness of an innovation or the type of organization respectively have thus far been investigat...

Innovation management: different approaches to cope with the same trends

The constant failure rate of new product introductions in the last decades implies that little progress in innovation management can be witnessed. Innovation management is seen as an activity in a multi-level system. The main trends in this system will be described. These trends are inter-related in a complex way and, as a result, the focus in innovation management should be on the combined effect of these trends and on the events that could destabilise the entire system. This article describes four general consequences of the trends in innovation management: 1 the end of the linear model 2 the rise of the systems approach 3 the inherent uncertainty and need for learning 4 innovation becomes more entrepreneurial. These consequences can lead to entirely different approaches to innovation management, two of which will be discussed. The article concludes that significant progress in innovation management has been obtained, but the failure rate has remained the same because of the changing conditions.

Adoption of behaviour: predicting success for major innovations

Purpose – The goal of this article is to show that memetics is particularly useful to predict the adoption of major innovations.Design/methodology/approach – Describes how TNO Telecom, an applied research institute in The Netherlands, adopted the theory of memetics to develop an instrument that predicts the adoption of major innovations. Explains and defines relevant aspects of this focus.Findings – Initial results are encouraging and suggest that the approach may provide qualitatively better results than the existing methods when applied to major innovations.Originality/value – Describes for the first time how the theory of memetics can be used to gain a real insight into the market adoption of major innovations as well as to focus and optimise product development.

The effect of internal and external technology sourcing on firm performance throughout the technology life cycle

In studies about the impact of technology sourcing on firm performance, the impact of the technology life cycle has thus far received scant attention. This paper investigates this topic from the knowledge-based perspective. Data was gathered from 22 PLD (Programmable Logic Device) manufacturers in the integrated circuit industry between 1986 and 2005, and used to test two hypotheses based on panel analysis: (1) that strategic alliance networks, as a mode of external technology sourcing, have a positive effect on a firms innovative and market performance early in the technology life cycle, and (2) that internal development as a mode of internal technology sourcing has a positive effect on a firms innovative and market performance later in the technology life cycle. Although both hypotheses are supported as far as market performance is concerned, neither is supported when it comes to innovative performance.

Strategies to Commercialise Breakthrough Technologies

In this paper we focus on the different strategies used by companies during the process of development and diffusion of breakthrough technologies. We distinguish three phases in this process and show that, depending on the length of these phases, pioneers might be confronted with completely different scenarios just after the invention of a breakthrough technology. Different strategies to commercialise breakthrough technologies are also distinguished: a mass market strategy, a niche market strategy and a wait-and-see strategy. We show that the result of these strategies can diverge considerably depending on the scenarios. These strategies are studied in detail for the cases of the photocopier, video cassette recorder, digital camera and microwave oven. Several conclusions are derived from the cases. The main actors involved in the development and diffusion of breakthrough technologies change considerably during the different phases. The market adaptation phase is the most turbulent among all phases: many actors enter and leave the market over a relatively short period of time while making substantial losses. Customer segments and user applications also change considerably during the phases. Usually, niche markets emerge first, i.e. specific customer segments using the technology in specific applications, which diverge considerably from the mass market applications that emerge later. In our cases, pioneers of breakthrough technologies never create a mass market. The pioneers that do survive stick to their niche market strategy. After the pioneer, multiple entrants adopt a similar strategy but many of them have to leave the market later. Only a small number of them survives, either by consistently adopting a niche market strategy or by creating a mass market. The strategy of the entrants that manage to create a mass market is discussed in more detail. The management implications of these findings are large. Companies should be well aware of which phase they are in; their strategies need to be adapted to the phase of the process, strategies that appear to be successful in the market adaptation phase, for example, can be detrimental in a later phase. The results of the case studies also indicate that most successful actors consistently pursue one strategy.

Towards a functional classification of standards for innovation research

This chapter seeks to define a functional classification that distinguishes between different kinds of standards in order to understand in more detail the different effects of standards on processes of innovation and diffusion. Analysis of relevant standards classifications already in the literature shows rough consensus among a variety of authors as to what these basic functions are, but contains many inconsistencies and omissions. The authors draw up a new classification of primary and secondary functions and test its applicability for innovation research. The effects of innovation as identified in academic and standards practitioner literature are sorted according to these functions, and explore the implications for possible new avenues of innovation research.

Ten niche strategies to commercialize new high-tech products

There are serious gaps in the scientific literature relating to niche strategies as a means for commercializing new high-tech products. In particular, there is no clarity about what types of niche strategies can be distinguished, or how a niche strategy can be selected to suit a certain situation. In this paper, we identify generic actors, factors and functions that play a role in the commercialization of high-tech products, and that can form barriers to large-scale diffusion, thereby necessitating the implementation of a niche strategy. We analyse thirty-six different market situations and assess historical cases to identify the niche strategies that emerged. We find ten generic niche strategies, each of which can be applied in a number of situations. We present a model to aid managers in purposefully selecting an appropriate niche strategy.

Two Multi-criteria Approaches to Supplier Segmentation

Supplier segmentation is a strategic business activity whereby suppliers of a firm are categorized on the basis of their similarities. Instead of handling all suppliers separately, segmentation yields a manageable number of segments, each of which requires a similar strategy. Standard methods of supplier segmentation have serious shortcomings: they often use a limited number of criteria and do not capture the complicated interaction between different supplier aspects. There is often little by way of data that can be used to apply more advanced statistical segmentation approaches. In this paper, we use two overarching dimensions to capture all available segmentation criteria: supplier capabilities and supplier willingness. We propose two multi-criteria approaches to assess the position of suppliers with regard to these dimensions and subsequently that outcome to identify segments. These multi-criteria approaches, a fuzzy rule-based system and a DEA-like linear programming model are applied to a real-world case to demonstrate how the results can be used in practice. The results of the two approaches are compared and some strategies are suggested to handle different segments.

Reconfiguring the innovation ecosystem: An explorative study of disruptive change

This paper examines the variables that determine innovation ecosystem reconfiguration under disruptive technological change. The study focuses on the impact of disruption upon the innovation ecosystem, which is the network of firms that collaborate in producing a holistic, integrated product system. Three disruptive innovations - Bakelite, the microwave oven, and the photocopier - and respective ecosystems that have formed around the incumbent and the disruptive innovations are investigated by using historical data. Special attention is paid to the variables that are likely to have explanatory power in reshaping of the ecosystem. Four tentative research propositions are derived that can be examined in future research endeavors.

Building a Radical Innovation Mechanism at Large Firms

Large firms are generally good at managing incremental innovations, yet they often lack the capabilities that are conducive to developing and deploying radical innovations (RI). Even though large firms recognise the importance of RI, most of them have failed to establish a mechanism, that is, a well defined organisational structure, management processes and resource allocation system that facilitates RI. Drawing on extant literature we build a research framework that explains the obstacles that large firms face with respect to developing radical innovations. We collect data among three large firms, namely Shell, Nokia and IBM, and identify the practices these firms have developed and established a radical innovation mechanism that allows them to circumvent the obstacles for tapping into RI. Following these practices we conclude with managerial implications for managers that are building a RI mechanism for their firms.