René Chester Goduscheit

Managing Inter-Firm Collaboration In The Fuzzy Front-End: Structure As A Two-Edged Sword

Literature on innovation emphasises the potential for organisations to collaborate and network instead of carrying out innovation individually. Integrating suppliers, customers and other organisations into the innovation process is perceived as a key to success in innovation management (Chesbrough, 2003). Furthermore, the management of the initial phase of the innovation process has proven vital to the overall innovation success (Kim and Wilemon, 2002a,b). Although the merits of network-based innovations are widely acknowledged, the managerial challenges of the initial integration of external organisations in an innovation network are somewhat neglected in the literature. The aim of this paper is hence to address the challenges that an organisation faces when integrating a plurality of suppliers, customers and other organisations into the Fuzzy Front End of the innovation process.

User toolkits for innovation – a literature review

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on the toolkits for user innovation approach. It identifies a sample of articles that employ toolkits for user innovation and closely related approaches to user involvement. The paper illustrates that the identified studies merely employ parts of the user toolkits for innovation attributes and that the users, who employ the most advanced toolkits, are primarily specialists, while the average users are only given access to rather simple toolkits. Furthermore, the paper shows that while the user toolkit for innovation approach represents a distinct theoretical position, the empirical evidence of the application of the approach is closer to other approaches within the user innovation paradigm like customisation. The paper concludes in some considerations for future research on the topic and some implications for practitioners.

An Examination of a Reciprocal Relationship Between Network Governance and Network Structure

In the present article, we examine the network structure and governance of inter-organisational innovation networks over time. Network governance refers to the issue of how to manage and coordinate the relational activities and processes in the network while research on network structure deals with the overall structural relations between the actors in the network. These streams of research do contain references to each other but they mainly rely on a static conception of the relationship between network structure and the applied network governance. Based on a case study of a loosely coupled Danish inter-organisational innovation network, the proposition is that a reciprocal relationship between network governance and network structure can be identified. Such a reciprocal relationship involves theoretical and practical implications for how to govern an inter-organisational network.

Leadership in interorganisational network-based innovation projects

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of interorganisational innovation projects and interorganisational settings as an arena for marketing. The literature review identifies a need to elaborate on the strategic challenges facing an organisation which is seeking to establish and lead an interorganisational network. These challenges are aimed at interorganisational networks in general and networks in which (potential) customers participate in particular. An interorganisational network in the Danish energy sector serves as the empirical basis of the paper. The paper presents a number of findings regarding the involvement of potential partners in the project, intra- and interorganisational anchorage, profile of project managers and management of customer relations within an interorganisational setting.

Lean Start-up in Established Companies: Potentials and Challenges

Lean start-up is an emergent perspective on how entrepreneurs can bring new products and services to the market. This approach challenges the dominant role of lengthy business plans, linear product development processes, and seeking complete overview of the potential of the new products/services before market launch. Instead it suggests that start-ups could benefit from a ‘minimum-viable product’ approach where products and services are launched when they contain critical features. The emphasis in the lean start-up approach is on business models rather than the elaborate business plan. This chapter is based on the in-depth case studies from three established companies that have all sought to employ a minimum-viable product approach to developing and launching new products. The data will consist of rich interview data from the three companies and observations from various events at the companies (strategy meetings, development workshops etc.). The aim is to shed light on the implications for companies that seek to employ lean start-up. These implications will be aimed at aspects like innovation management, organizational structure, customer relations etc.

A Revision of the Role of Innovation Promoters: Towards a Dynamic Approach

This paper empirically examines the role of innovation promoters in loosely-coupled inter-organisational innovation projects. With a starting point from existing literature on innovation promoters, it seeks to develop a theoretical framework for analysing the particular challenges of inter-organisational innovation projects. Data from seven inter-organisational innovation projects provides the empirical setting of the paper, and this data is analysed on the basis of an inductive, interpretive approach. The paper results in a development of the four overall types of innovation promoters (the power, expert, process and relationship promoter) into the particular setting of a loosely-coupled inter-organisational context. In addition, the results indicate the substantial challenges of dividing the labour between several promoters in inter-organisational innovation projects. The paper concludes in some managerial and academic implications.