Nihan Yıldırım

Açıklık Üzerindeki Engeller: Teknoloji Geliştirme Bölgesi Firmaları Örneği

Acik inovasyon, isbirlikleri ve bilgi ve entelektuel varlik paylasimi yoluyla inovasyon sureclerinden daha iyi ciktilar elde edilmesini saglamaktadir. Tedarikcilerin, musteri ya da kullanicilarin, ortaklarin ve hatta rakiplerin inovatif sureclere dâhil edilmesi, dahili kaynaklar uzerindeki kisitlarin ustesinden gelmeye yardimci olmaktadir. Acik inovasyon yaklasimi, ozellikle teknoloji gelistirme bolgelerinin (TDZ) ekosistemlerinde faaliyet gostermekte olan bilgi ve iletisim teknolojileri firmalari icin, olcek kisitlari ve deneyim eksiklikleri dolayisiyla daha kritik bir hal almaktadir. Teknoloji gelistirme bolgelerindeki bilgi ve iletisim teknolojileri isletmelerinin acik inovasyon uygulamalari uzerindeki engelleri anlamak, karar vericilere politika tasarimi ve bu engellerin ustesinden gelmek ve dolayisiyla rekabet avantaji saglamak yoluyla inovasyon sureclerini guclendirme hususunda yardimci olabilmektedir. Cesitli arastirmacilar, TDZ firmalarinin yenilikcilik ve is performanslarinin yani sira cesitli baglamlarda acik inovasyon uygulamalari sirasinda karsilastiklari engelleri incelemistir. Fakat ozellikle teknoloji gelistirme bolgelerindeki bilgi ve iletisim teknolojileri firmalarinin acik inovasyon motivasyon faktorleri ve engellerini incelemek gerekmektedir. Bu calisma, Turkiye’deki teknoloji gelistirme bolgelerinde bulunan 102 bilgi ve iletisim teknolojileri firmasina uygulanan anketler ve derinlemesine mulakatlar uzerinden acik inovasyona iliskin engelleri arastirmayi amaclamaktadir. Faktor analizi uygulanarak, aciklik uzerindeki temel engeller belirlenmis ve bu engellerin sirketlerin ozellikleri ile iliskileri arastirilmistir. Bulgular, en sik gorulen engellerin finansal ve idari sorunlara iliskin oldugunu ortaya koymaktadir.

Technology Selection for Digital Transformation: A Mixed Decision Making Model of AHP and QFD

By the introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies and tools, manufacturing companies and especially SME (Small and medium sized companies) from supplier tiers of main manufacturing value chains faced the challenge of uncertain environment and lack of methods in making effective technology identification, prioritization and selection in accordance with their productivity and effectiveness improvement needs. Especially from a developing country perspective, being decision makers in the user side of Industry 4.0 value chain had been in a quest for decision making models that can be used in technology investments for Industry 4.0 technologies. However, due to the fact that, balancing potential benefits, barriers/challenges of Industry 4.0 tools with current or potential improvement needs in manufacturing systems require high level of knowledge and expertise both in manufacturing and Industry 4.0 technologies, most of the researches which focus on few pillars of the problem remained insufficient as they lack interdisciplinary and qualitative approaches. Especially for technology-dependent and follower countries such as Turkey that has limited resources and strict constraints, previous researches with proposed decision making models on digital transformation are very limited. In this context, this study proposes a multi-dimensional and hybrid technology evaluation methodology for technology selection on Industry 4.0 technologies that covers technological issues, competitive competencies and managerial pillars together. By combining the pillars of technological tools, benefits and challenges of their usage in manufacturing industry, the proposed model utilizes multi -criteria decision support model, namely AHP, a Needs Analysis framework based on Quality Function Deployment approach. Data collected via interviews and survey, the qualified participant having manufacturing excellence are preferred. Outputs from the model is expected to serve decision makers in SMEs of manufacturing industry for technology selection and use case scenario generation for the best and appropriate strategy.

HUMBLE BUT PROUD: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY ON SOCIAL INNOVATION PRACTICES IN TURKEY

Social innovation (SI) is seen as an urgent alternative to technology-oriented innovation for solving global and local problems which have wide impact on all dimensions of PEST framework, because fundamental societal changes require a paradigm shift in our systems of innovation. While 2008 recession accelerated the research and practice on social innovation. Hence in most countries, practices are evolving for upgrading the social innovation capacity in all phases of innovation from idea generation to exploitation that leads to the rapid increase in social innovation economy. However, there is still a debate on the definition and coverage of social innovation and its practical dimensions. In Turkey, despite the existence of normatic, cultural and societal patterns that can enable social innovation practices, limited research is available on social innovation cases which can provide guidelines for new SI practitioners, and insights to the nature and characteristics of local social innovations to researchers. In this context, this paper aims to provide insights to dimensional and entrepreneurial characteristics SI Practices from Turkey in a comparative multiple case study framework. Findings reveal that despite their low “new-to-world” innovativeness and their limited contribution to structural changes or institutional arrangements, social innovation cases in Turkey involves high levels of social inclusion and strong Actor attributes together with effective usage of technology and community support.

First domino tile in the social innovation process: Idea creation of university students

Interrelations between creativity, innovativeness and entrepreneurial skills of individuals have long been discussed in the literature. Due to the challenges regarding their measurement, most studies focused on the intentions rather than the outcomes. The idea generation that requires creativity is the first stage of social innovation. The young populations creative potentials in participating social innovation practices deserve a special attention as they play a critical role in the innovativeness and entrepreneurship of societies. This study aims to explore the factors that determine the creative intentions of university students that are important in generating social innovation projects. A structured survey based on the literature was conducted among 600 management and engineering students from 3 universities from the different percentiles of the Entrepreneurial and Innovative University Index for 2012 of the Turkish Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. The survey included questions on the demographic characteristics, environmental factors, motivators, university/institutional context, perceptions and creative thinking attitudes. By conducting reliability and factor analysis, accuracy and validity of data is tested and the impact factors were identified. Findings reveal that visionary attitude, curiosity, exploration and learning, attitude for own creativity, self-esteem, perception about the learnability of creativity, university and social environment are components of creative thinking intentions of students and some of these factors vary by year of study and university.