Miko Laakso

Understanding idea advancement efforts in innovation through proactive behavior

Purpose – Innovations lie at the heart of both entrepreneurship and marketing. While research has long focused on the idea generation phase at the beginning of the innovation process, ideas need to subsequently be realized through efforts in idea development and implementation. This paper aims to study the antecedents and practices of idea advancement behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Seven product developers of an international company were interviewed in-depth based on a critical incident technique. Findings – Idea advancement behavior was found to be distributed in time and between people, pervasive in the development process. Antecedents for efforts were identified at personal, interpersonal and work organization levels. Although personal antecedents were most numerous, interpersonal and work organization antecedents distinguished successful and unsuccessful efforts. Key idea advancement behaviors were centered on the inclusion of others and communication channel choices. Research limitations/im...

The impact of leadership, management and power in an international knowledge-intensive organization

The shift to knowledge economies and the boom of knowledge-intensive organizations with their expert employees pose new challenges for leadership and management of development work. What is the appropriate amount and form of managerial control that is needed in knowledge-intensive development work? This paper focuses on illuminating the kind of leadership and management efforts that either support or hinder advancing development projects. The results highlight the paradoxical role of power and control, and reveal that employees need freedom and yet strong guidance and managerial commitment to develop work in order to stay motivated. Implications for leading knowledge-intensive development are discussed.