Jan Kratzer

Virtuality, communication, and new product team creativity: a social network perspective

Abstract Creativity is essential to the performance of new product development (NPD) teams. Since the creative NPD task requires teams to combine and integrate input from multiple NPD team members, the team’s communication pattern is an important determinant of NPD team creativity. In the empirical part of this study, we find that team creativity requires a moderate frequency of communication and a low level of communication centralization. Building on these results, in the second part of this paper, we present a three-factor model (member proximity, communication modality, team task structure) that addresses how creativity can be managed through the effective design and management of virtuality in NPD teams. We end with recommendations for further research.

Is trust really social capital? Knowledge sharing in product development projects

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to focus on the role of trust in knowledge sharing. Social capital researchers have put forward trust as an important force behind the sharing of knowledge. This study aims to investigate whether trust indeed explains knowledge sharing relationships, or whether there are in fact much more important drivers of the sharing of knowledge in new product development projects.Design/methodology/approach – A survey study was carried out in large new product development projects, including 23 teams and 91 individuals.Findings – The main finding is that trust is a poor explanatory of knowledge sharing. Team membership, on the other hand, has the largest effect on the density of knowledge sharing relationships. Social capital thus does not reside in trust but in team membership, especially for longer‐lived teams.Research limitations/implications – There should be more attention for other aspects affecting knowledge sharing, including team characteristics.Originality/value – ...

Distinctive Roles of Lead Users and Opinion Leaders in the Social Networks of Schoolchildren

Prior research has shown that both lead users and opinion leaders may propel the diffusion of innovation. This raises the question of whether lead users and opinion leaders are positioned similarly in social networks, which we address using a sample of 23 school classes consisting of 537 children. Research among children is very scarce in this particular domain. Our statistical analyses based on hierarchical linear modeling reveal two general results: first, lead users among children appear to possess a variety of links between clusters; second, opinion leaders are locally positioned within clusters of children and have many direct links.

A Social Network Perspective of Lead Users and Creativity: An Empirical Study among Children

Generating ideas at the fuzzy front end of new product development is risky and has serious consequences for all preceding development stages. One of the currently most prominent techniques in supporting this idea-generation stage is the lead user approach. Involving lead users in idea generation closely correlates to individual creativity, and both, in turn, to the provision of information in social networks. This study, guided by lead user theory, creativity research and network theory, investigates 16 school-groups of children examining the relationship between the childrens social networks and their resulting creativity and lead userness. In addition, the interplay between lead userness and creativity is discussed and empirically tested. The main result of this study is that children who are positioned as bridging links between different groups in social networks reveal both a high degree of lead userness and a high level of creativity.

Informal contacts and performance in innovation teams

Purpose – The paper addresses the effect friendly and friendship relationships among members of innovation teams on the performance of the teams.Design/methodology/approach – The members of innovation teams may develop friendly and friendship relationships over time. In our study, we focus on the effect of the frequency of such non‐work relationships on team performance. For this research, we collected full network data on non‐work relationships in a sample of 44 innovation teams and investigate how these “friendly and friendship networks” affect the performance of innovation teams.Findings – As result turns out that the frequency of friendly ties has positive as well as negative consequences on team performance, whereas the frequency of friendship ties positively relates to the performance.Research limitations/implications – The results indicate the importance of informal relations for the performance of innovation teams. Further, it is shown that friendly and friendship relations have different theoreti...

A delicate managerial challenge: how cooperation and integration affect the performance of NPD teams

Multifunctional teams have become commonplace in new product development (NPD) endeavors. Knowledge on the functioning of such teams, however, remains little. In this article two major principles about how these teams function are investigated, team cooperation and team integration. A theoretical discussion indicates that there is not a clear‐cut way to manage team cooperation and team integration in order to achieve high performance. The management of these principles in NPD teams is rather a delicate managerial challenge. These theoretical considerations are statistically examined then. The results show that both team cooperation and team integration are inversely U‐shaped related to NPD team performance. In managerial terms the results imply that creating the right level of team cooperation and team integration managers have to balance their actions between two extremes. The article finishes by presenting opportunities how to do so.

An Investigation of Antecedents and Outcomes of Marketing Capabilities in Entrepreneurial Firms: An Empirical Study of Small Technology-Based Firms in Germany

Abstract The proper development of marketing skills and capabilities can help the entrepreneurial firms achieve a competitive advantage (Hills, Hultman and Miles 2008). The following research proposes an integrative framework built on previous research, which tests the various antecedents and outcomes of marketing capabilities in entrepreneurial firms. Environmental turbulence, as well as entrepreneurial and market orientation of the firm are tested as an antecedent to marketing capabilities of the firm. Firm performance is tested as an outcome of the marketing capabilities construct. A survey was conducted during the period of August 2008 to January 2009 among the CEOs of small technology firms in Germany. A structural equation model using PLS was developed to test the model. Environmental turbulence was found to have significant impact on the entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation of the firm, which in turn were found to have significant impact on marketing capabilities. Moreover the marketing capability of the firm was found to be significantly related to firm performance.

Innovation team networks: the centrality of innovativeness and efficiency

In this article we employ Social Network Analysis (SNA) to study the performance of new product teams that are part of an international innovation network. We are interested in explaining why some teams are exceedingly innovative but not efficient, whereas others excel in efficiency but stumble on innovativeness. We compare two teams that are very similar in task, background and skill. Using SNA we find that both teams are equally present on the shortest communication paths, but the innovative team has a much stronger presence on alternative communication paths as well. This provides it with many different sources and types of knowledge. The highly efficient team is strongly connected to well-connected knowledgeable others. It can thus efficiently tap relevant information. The article shows that SNA techniques are useful in uncovering network positions and in understanding the differential levels of performance of otherwise comparable teams.

Contingency factors on university spin-off formation: an empirical study in Germany

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate contingency factors on the emergence of university spin-off firms. The institutional and organisational factors the paper explores comprise the transfer potential of the university, the strategy and characteristics of the University Technology Transfer Organisations and specific support for spin-off formation. Design/methodology/approach - – Based on a unique data set, this cross-sectional study analyses the population of 54 higher education institutions in Germany. At this, 31.4 per cent of the German universities with technology transfer activities participated in this study. Findings - – The research identifies a high degree of heterogeneity in the qualification of University Technology Transfer Offices (UTTO) staff and the existence of an entrepreneurship support programme as important antecedents of spin-off formation. In addition, the results reveal that pursuing different or multiple transfer strategies will not be detrimental to the establishment of spin-offs. Practical implications - – It seems that there is still a lack of consensus with respect to the importance of spin-offs as an effective channel to transform research results into economic value. Furthermore, universities aiming at the promotion of spin-offs need appropriate regulations which do not jeopardise the usage of research outcomes for entrepreneurial purposes. Originality/value - – This study contributes to enhance the knowledge on what promotes and inhibits the formation of university spin-off firms, as it first analyses a considerable population of UTTOs in Germany and explicitly considers underexplored and new contingency factors.

Resource scarcity in SMEs: effects on incremental and radical innovations

Purpose This study deals with the impact of resource scarcity on the innovation performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise whether resource scarcity among SMEs has an effect on their innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach The sample was based on panel data for 302 SMEs from the mechanical and electrical engineering sectors. Firms were divided into four groups by resource scarcity: human resource scarcity, financial resource scarcity, both types of resource scarcity and no resource scarcity. To test for significant inter-group differences in innovation performance, multivariate analysis of covariance and a multiple discriminant function analysis were carried out. Findings The results indicated that resource scarcity can have a positive effect on incremental but not radical innovation performance in SMEs. However, the authors found this to be true for financial resource scarcity only. Research limitations/implications These results may not be applicable to all SMEs, as the authors only focused on the industries of mechanical and electrical engineering. Future studies should focus on analysing the internal structures of SMEs that led to this study’s results. More research should also be conducted on ways that resource-limited SMEs can appropriately conduct radical innovations. Finally, resources should be made available for both practitioners and academics, explaining why the acquisition of resources is not always be the best option in response to limited resources. Practical implications These results indicate that resource-constrained SMEs, especially those that struggle with limited finances, should concentrate their innovation activities on incremental rather than radical innovations. Originality/value This study closes the knowledge gap as to whether it is beneficial for resource-limited SMEs to focus on either incremental or radical innovation. From the theoretical viewpoint, the resource-based view provides two strategies for resource-limited SMEs: acquiring new resources or recombining available resources. The authors were able to clearly demonstrate for the first time that the recombination of resources is especially important for SMEs that specifically wish to pursue incremental innovation.