Ronny Reinhardt

Measuring critical success factors of TQM implementation successfully – a systematic literature review

In times of globalisation and international trade, the concept of total quality management (TQM) as a strategy to enhance organisational performance is growing in importance. To exploit the benefits provided by TQM, organisations must manage the complex implementation process successfully. Therefore, organisations need to measure critical success factors (CSFs) when introducing TQM. However, previous research has developed a plethora of measurement instruments and researchers do not agree on certain factors or on one single measurement instrument. A systematic literature review is conducted to structure and clarify the scattered research field. The analysis of 145 studies reveals that CSFs can be classified into 11 distinct dimensions. The article proposes a three-level framework and a holistic set of measurement instruments to help researchers and managers measure each critical dimension in a timely and comprehensive manner. A focus group consisting of six quality managers validated these results. The study concludes with further findings and future research. Deficiencies of current measurements are presented and the article discusses the finding that human related factors are regarded as highly relevant but have remained low on many researchers’ and practitioners’ agendas. Hence, this article is a major contribution to structure the complex research field of measuring CSFs of TQM implementation.

Open Innovation in Health Care

Traditionally, the dominant form of innovation required that firms generate ideas internally and subsequently develop and market resulting products themselves. Yet, this mode of innovation is not always the best solution, because a single firm might not possess all relevant knowledge or capabilities. The open innovation concept, therefore, postulates that ideas and knowledge should be used as both inputs and outputs for the innovation process. In contrast to other industries, the health care industry holds peculiarities that influence and restrict the open innovation concept. This chapter analyses existing literature to describe the current state of research for open innovation in general and to specifically analyze health care industry characteristics. We discuss differences in organizations, norms, regulations and data protection, intellectual property (IP) protection culture as well as innovation complexity and information asymmetry. In addition, we present solutions for each of these peculiarities to develop a comprehensive understanding of open innovation in health care.

Stakeholder integration in new product development: a systematic analysis of drivers and firm capabilities

In this article, we develop a conceptual model of stakeholder integration in new product development (NPD) that (i) explains the drivers of the process and (ii) proposes a framework of capabilities that firms need for successful stakeholder integration. The focus lies on external stakeholders that directly influence the adoption of new products. We conduct a systematic literature review and content analyze a sample of 96 peer-reviewed journal articles. The study is restricted to the medical device industry to enable the use of specific search terms and the consistent categorization of information. We dedicate a section to showing how the framework applies to other settings. The drivers of stakeholder integration are classified into push factors (i.e., expected benefits for the focal firm) and pull factors (i.e., expected benefits for the stakeholders). This study provides an initial model of how stakeholder integration works based on its drivers. In addition, three related stakeholder integration capabilities emerge: stakeholder identification capability, stakeholder interaction capability and stakeholder input integration capability. The paper proposes a description of these capabilities for stakeholder integration in NPD and, thus, contributes to stakeholder theory and research on the management of NPD. The results open new paths for empirical testing and offer practical guidance on how to successfully integrate stakeholders in NPD processes.

Measuring the Success of Open Innovation

Managers and researchers agree that innovations are necessary for a firm to endure within a global and competitive environment (Mirow & Linz 2000; Davila et al. 2005). The process of generating innovations, however, has changed significantly. The innovation process is determined by the constantly changing environment, the availability of private venture capital, and increased cooperation between companies and their suppliers (Chesbrough 2003).

Adoption and Diffusion of Innovations in Health Care

This chapter discusses the theory and practice of adoption and diffusion of innovation. It has a healthcare sector emphasis and is aimed for readers who are new to the field of innovation. The chapter offers a broad overview of the literature on the adoption of complex organizational and technological innovations in health systems. In doing so, it summarizes the most commonly used perspectives that explain the factors that determine the fate of the innovation process, namely the characteristics of the innovation, the adopter characteristics and health care system and innovation context characteristics. The strategic importance of these perspectives in determining successful diffusion of innovation is discussed in detail. A framework is constructed that offers guidance and support to those responsible for managing innovation projects.

The Cost Problem in Health Care

Healthcare costs are hotly and widely debated, with conflicting perspectives each claiming individually to explain the rising cost of health care. Yet, the global cost problem in healthcare might not be as simple or clearly understood as some hold it out to be. The following chapter presents and elaborates on five theoretical perspectives for understanding the issues underlying rising healthcare costs. Each of these suggests a different path for costs and cost reduction. On one hand, two of the perspectives suggest the inevitability of healthcare cost increases, either because costs are largely for personnel or because patient demographics reflect adverse global population trends. On the other hand, three of the perspectives imply that healthcare costs might be inflated because of regulatory and industry forces unique to health care. Thus, the chapter challenges overly-simplistic explanations of the cost problem, attempting to frame a more rigorous and thoughtful debate among payers, providers and policy makers.

Overcoming consumer resistance to innovations – an analysis of adoption triggers

Traditionally, innovation adoption research has focused on the determinants of the states ‘adoption’ and ‘nonadoption’. Aiming at a more detailed understanding of innovation adoption and resistance behavior, this study takes a different perspective and analyzes the transition stage between the nonadoption state and the adoption state to investigate triggers that overcome initial consumer resistance. The study seeks to answer three questions within this novel perspective: (1) What are triggers that lead nonadopters to become adopters? (2) Do adopters and nonadopters differ in their assessment of adoption triggers? and (3) How do adoption triggers relate to innovation adoption barriers? We apply a qualitative exploratory approach that relies on 160 face-to-face interviews with both adopters and nonadopters about nine different innovations to generate a framework of adoption triggers. The results reveal that adoption triggers fall into three broad categories: ‘increasing innovation attraction’, ‘reducing barriers’ or ‘tilting the system’. In addition, we find that adopters and nonadopters differ significantly in their assessment of (potential) adoption triggers. Nonadopters mention performance improvements more frequently as crucial adoption triggers than adopters do. In contrast, adopters indicate knowledge acquisition and a social system push significantly more often than nonadopters do. However, adoption triggers and corresponding adoption barriers do not appear to be linked in a systematic way. Instead, adoption triggers such as a social system push exert influence independent of the existing adoption barriers. We suggest strategies for pre- and postlaunch strategies to facilitate adoption triggers. We also discuss the implications of our findings for theory and present further research opportunities.

The High-end Bias – Investigating the Irrational Preference for High-end over Low-end Innovations

Managerial decision-making idiosyncrasies continue to be pressing issues for academia and practice. Building on implicit attitude and evolutionary psychology theory, we hypothesize that decision ma...