Oliver S. Yu

A new model of human needs as the foundation for innovation management

Defined as an idea implemented with impact, innovation can be viewed as a process involving the synergistic investments of time, money, effort, and other resources by the key participants: the creator, the core team, the supporter, and the adopter of a new idea, product, or service. A basic requirement for creating synergy in this investment perspective of innovation process is for all participants to perceive sufficient values in their respective investments. Since human needs are the motivators of human behavior and values are generated by fulfillment of these needs, understanding of human needs provides the foundation for effective innovation management by developing motivations for the key participants to perceive sufficient values for their investments in the innovation process. The traditional Maslowian model of human needs, although widely known, is not very applicable in forging this synergy because of its impractical hierarchical structure. This paper presents a new model with applications by classifying human needs into two interactive dimensions: the dimension of physiological vs. psychological needs and the dimension of safety/security vs. stimulation/growth needs. This new classification provides a basis for effective innovation management by pinpointing the specific needs that can be used to motivating participation and forging synergy in the investments by key participants in the innovation process. Moreover, it can be extended to the classifications of organizational and societal needs to provide the bases for strategies for technology investments, and used to develop effective motivators for all key participants to perceive sufficient value in their respective investments in the innovation process.

Application of Real Options Analysis to Technology Portfolio Planning: A Case Study

Purpose – The concepts of real options analysis, which transfer options analysis for financial investments to those involving real properties, such as land and plant facilities, have already existed for 30 years. However, the actual application of real options analysis to technology portfolio planning has not been as widespread as expected. Among others, a major barrier to such applications appears to be a lack of appreciation and acceptance of real options by technology executives. This case study aims to present a successful application experience of real options analysis to technology portfolio planning and highlights the lessons learned in overcoming such lack of acceptance and other barriers.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a case study approach. The methodology focuses on describing the key issues and solutions for applying real options analysis in the technology portfolio‐planning process of a company.Findings – The findings in this paper showed that considerable barriers exist in the a...

Innovation Management: A Need-Centered Optimal Joint Investment Approach

With exponential advances in technology innovations, effective management of innovation has become imperative. Existing literature on innovation management has largely focused on managing product, project, and operations or on motivating creativity in the innovation process. This paper presents an alternative integrated and systematic approach that focuses on managing the needs of all major participants of the innovation process: the idea generator, the core team, the supporter, and the adopter, to achieve an optimal joint investment in the development and implementation of a creative idea. Based on this approach, innovation management consists of three key elements: (1) productive creativity that uses the understanding of needs to motivate idea generation that will effectively respond to the needs of the other major participants; (2) impactful marketing that uses the understanding of the needs to effectively communicate and persuade the acceptance of the creative idea by the other major participants; and (3) adaptive organization that uses the understanding of the needs to develop flexible and sustainable structure and culture of the organization to effectively adapt to changes in the environment as well as challenges to the organization as it grows and matures with time. For each key element, the paper outlines the basic concepts, specific tools, and case examples for its successful accomplishment, and explores future areas of research.

Assessing and Improving Consistency of a Pairwise Comparison Matrix in the Analytic Hierarchy Process

A major breakthrough in multi-criteria decision analysis has been the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), with its innovative applications of matrix theory and pioneering concept of consistency in human judgments for pairwise comparisons. However, the criterion for assessing consistency among these judgments in a pairwise comparison matrix of AHP is somewhat cumbersome to apply and the available procedures for improving the consistency of the matrix focus mainly on the effects rather than the source of the inconsistency: the underlying human judgments. This paper presents a simplified criterion for assessing the consistency of a pairwise comparison matrix. It further develops a systematic procedure for modifying an insufficiently consistent matrix to total consistency based on the degree of confidence the decision-maker places on these judgments, and discusses the implications of this total consistency modification procedure.

A systematic approach for innovation process development with application to creative idea generation

Innovation has been the driving force of economic growth and social progress. Today, innovation is recognized more than ever as one of the most important ways to resolve economic and social difficulties and alleviate global crisis. Yet, there is no unified definition and framework for the innovation process. This paper uses a systematic approach to identify the common key elements of many different types of innovation, and to develop from which a general framework for the design and implementation of an innovation process. We will further extend this systematic approach to the practical application of a special key element of the innovation process: creative idea generation.

Integrating user perception and experience into the technology acceptance model: An empirical investigation of online payment service innovation

This study expands the traditional TAM by considering two mediators between innovation characteristics and the adoption of online payment services: perceived use efficiency and perceived use effectiveness. It also proposes the influential paths from innovation design characteristics to innovation adoption through user perceptions and experience in order to better understand how to design an acceptable innovation and identify the targeted consumer segments. This study developed experimental websites and simulated innovation characteristics to test the hypotheses. The results indicate significant mediating effects of perceived use efficiency and perceived use effectiveness on the relationship between innovation characteristics of the online payment websites and the adoption intention to use the new service. These results of the experiments support the expanded conceptual framework for TAM with two pathways—one innovation characteristics-based and the other user perceptions-based—connecting to the acceptance of new technologies. Collectively, for predicting the adoption of online payment services, the mediating model is more effective than the direct effect model of innovation characteristics in a traditional TAM.