Marianne Gloet

Innovation capability in Australian manufacturing organisations: an exploratory study

This paper reports on the results of a comparative case study of innovation capability in Australian manufacturing companies. Following a review of the salient literature in the field, six case studies were undertaken with organisations having a degree of variance across company size, ownership type and industry sector. All the cases reflected a history of successful innovation and the managers were interviewed about the attributes of innovation and the ways in which sustained innovation was manifested in their organisations. Based on the interview data, a model of innovation capability was developed with a view to identifying attributes common to systematic and sustained innovation. These companies derived competitive advantage from differentiation through their innovation. The implications of the model for manufacturing organisations in general, and their managers in particular, are subsequently discussed.

Knowledge Management to Support Systematic Innovation Capability

This qualitative research examined the links between knowledge management (KM) and innovation in 16 Australian manufacturing and service organizations that exhibited successful innovation and robust KM practices. A review of the literature indicated the contributions of KM to systematic innovation capability. Using a multiple cross-case analysis methodology and applying a framework of sustained innovation capability, in-depth interviews were held with managers of the case study organizations. The analysis of the data revealed the main contributions of KM to systematic and sustained innovation. Areas in which KM could contribute more to sustained innovation capability are also discussed.

Knowledge Management and Innovation Performance in Australian Service Sector Organizations

This study establishes links between knowledge management (KM) and innovation performance (IP) in Australian service sector organizations. Critical success factors in KM practice that lead to IP followed an analysis of six case studies of service-based organizations and a survey of service organizations. A model of KM practices was developed and validated. Statistical analysis tested individual and combined relationships between the KM model and IP, which subsequently revealed specific KM practices that positively affected IP. Several KM practices predict positive outcomes in IP and therefore, managers can improve their KM practices for greater outcomes in IP.

Knowledge Management and Systematic Innovation Capability

This qualitative research examined the relationship between knowledge management KM and systematic innovation capability in 16 Australian manufacturing and service organizations that exhibited both successful innovation and robust KM practices. A review of the literature indicated a number of areas where KM enhances and supports innovation capability. Using a multiple cross-case analysis methodology and applying a framework of systematic innovation capability, in-depth interviews were conducted with managers of the case study organizations. The analysis of the data revealed the main contributions of KM to systematic and sustained forms of innovation. Areas in which KM could contribute more to sustained innovation capability are also discussed.

Managing Knowledge and Innovation for Performance

This research examined the extent to which knowledge and innovation management practices contribute to innovation performance. A model of Systematic Innovation Capability consisting of various building blocks of innovation and linked to innovation performance and business success framed the study. A quantitative survey of 1,579 Australian managers was conducted to determine the extent to which various practices relating to systematic and sustained innovation were prevalent in the respondent organizations. The analysis of the data revealed the major predictors of innovation performance. The relationship between innovation performance and business performance across the respondent organizations was also examined.

SYSTEMATIC INNOVATION CAPABILITY: EVIDENCE FROM CASE STUDIES AND A LARGE SURVEY

This study involved a series of case studies that were combined with an extensive literature review to frame and construct a large-scale survey, measuring systematic innovation capability, and innovation performance (IP). Previous literature is quite fragmented with little inherent cohesion. Relatively few truly holistic studies have been done, especially in a large-scale multi-industry context. The case studies and structural equation modelling (SEM) in the present study validated important predictor variables of IP, including leadership and innovation strategy, customer focus and innovation process management, culture and human resources management, knowledge and technology management. The SEM determined that systematic innovation capability is a valid concept and can be measured as such, relating strongly to IP and business performance. Based on deep case studies and our large sample, innovation capability was demonstrated to be a holistic concept comprising a number of core elements that act together to strongly determine performance outcomes.

Adoption of ICT Enabled Telehealth Services in the Australian Context: Implications of Technology Use for Telehealth Workers

This study investigated the major issues and challenges associated with ICT enabled telehealth service delivery from the point of view of workers engaged in telehealth delivery in Australia. Through intensive interviews with telehealth workers across three case study organizations, the study examines the types of technology employed to deliver ICT enabled health care, as well as implications of technology use in the health care environment, particularly as they relate to workers.

Achieving benefits with enterprise architecture

Abstract There is strong anecdotal evidence that Enterprise Architecture (EA) brings benefits to organisations and that organisations are investing significantly in EA initiatives. However, demonstrating the business value of EA has proven elusive. Many of the benefits of EA are intangible and value is achieved indirectly within business change projects. Furthermore, it is not the EA itself that provides benefits, it is the ability to provide advisory services enabled by the EA that is important. In this paper we focus on EA service capability and develop and test a new research model that explains how EA service brings benefits to organisations. Our findings highlight the importance of EA service capability and dynamic capabilities in creating benefits from EA.

Multi-stakeholder decision theory

Decisions made by people at work often have outcomes for their employer (sales, costs, profits) and for themselves personally (career progression, bonus), which are not perfectly aligned across the choice options. When such misalignment exists, decision-makers at all levels in organizations must evaluate choices in terms of conflicting outcomes across stakeholders. Existing theories of agency and stewardship provide very different answers to this question, and utility theory does not address this question at all: it assumes that the decision maker will act so as to maximize the expected utility of the firm, essentially a pure steward position. Yet we see commonplace practices of incentives and monitoring of people’s work and decisions aiming to overcome agency problems, with mixed success in practice. We also sometimes see ‘super-agent’ choices, of managers lining their own pockets while their organizations lose out. In this study, we propose, develop, mathematically model and illustrate a new theory of decision-making, based on a multiple stakeholder utility function approach, where the argument of that function explicitly includes both the employer’s and the employee’s utilities as stakeholders. This new approach is shown to be more generalizable than both pure agency and stewardship approaches, within a broad continuum of tradeoff-based decisions.

Linking Knowledge Management, Business Excellence and Innovation Performance

Performance Marianne Gloet Danny Samson University of Melbourne University of Melbourne marianne.gloet@unimelb.edu.au d.samson@unimelb.edu.au Abstract This research examined the extent to which the management of knowledge and the application of business excellence frameworks can contribute to innovation performance. A model of Knowledge Management (KM) and Business Excellence (BE) framed the study. Intensive case studies were conducted with six Australian service sector organizations that had won business excellence awards to determine the ways in which a business excellence framework can inform knowledge management practices that lead to sustained innovation performance. Analysis of the data revealed the manner in which the Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF) informed knowledge management practices and contributed to innovation in the six service sector organizations. Although the research is preliminary in nature, results indicate that principles of the ABEF shaped KM activities through fostering continuous improvement which in turn encouraged a stronger focus on incremental rather than radical forms of innovation.