The most cited articles published since 2010, extracted from Scopus
Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 152-167
Xiaowei Zhu | Samar K. Mukhopadhyay | Hisashi Kurata
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an emerging technology that is increasingly being used in supply chain management. RFID technology plays an important role in supporting logistics and supply chain processes because of their ability to identify, trace and track information throughout the supply chain. The technology can provide suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers precise real time information about the products. This accurate knowledge of the inventory would result in lower labor cost, simplified business processes and improved supply chain efficiency. If properly used, it has the potential to cut ordering lead time and cost on inventory control, increase the accuracy of inventory information, help avoid stockouts and boost the number of inventory turns. In this paper, we provide an overview of the current state of RFID applications in different industries and its impact on business operations. We provide extensive literature survey and develop a framework for future research areas in this field. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 168-185
Qinghua Zhu | Joseph Sarkis | Kee-hung Lai
Drawing on diffusion of innovation and ecological modernization theories, we identify three types of industrial manufacturers, namely early adopters, followers, and laggards, based on the adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices among Chinese manufacturers. Test results indicate that differences exist between the three types of GSCM adopters in terms of their environmental, operational, and economic performance. Understanding how Chinese manufacturers adopt GSCM practices and if this adoption affects their performance contributes theoretical advancement to the diffusion of innovation theory. Practically, the results provide managerial insights for manufacturers to benchmark for environmental management practices and performance improvement. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 27, Issues 1-2, March 2010, Pages 20-32
Maaike S. Kleinsmann | Jan A H M Buijs | Rianne C. Valkenburg
Knowledge integration is important in collaborative new product development (Co-NPD). The research literature shows that the way actors create a shared understanding about the new to create products is a quality indicator of Co-NPD. This study investigates what factors influence the creation of a shared understanding in Co-NPD. The results show factors at three different levels; the actor, project and company level. Additionally, there exist relationships across the factors. The related factors form four different types of interfaces. The interfaces differ from each other since different types of collaborative mechanisms exist within them. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 27, Issues 1-2, March 2010, Pages 74-109
Despite the extensive set of findings on the determinants of team effectiveness, academic understanding of one potentially critical set of determinants, social networks, is limited. This paper is a review and a discussion of the literature on the impact of social networks in small groups such as teams. More specifically, the interest is in the effects of the structural characteristics of the networks on team effectiveness. The review covers various types of small groups: subjects of laboratory studies, student teams, innovation and R&D teams, and other organisational groups. The research findings for each type are reviewed, and the article concludes with a comparison of the variables studied. The progress that has been made is highlighted, suggestions for further research are made, and the key contributions to this area of study are summarised. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 28, Issue 3, July 2011, Pages 184-200
Kuenhung Tsai | Minghung Hsieh | Erik Jan Hultink
An increasing number of studies in technology/innovation management contribute to the understanding of the relationship between external technology acquisition and product innovation performance. On the other hand, the meta-analytic reviews of new product development literature indicate a positive impact of product innovativeness on product innovation performance. However, existing research has not examined the link between external technology acquisition and product innovativeness. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap of knowledge by investigating the external technology acquisition - product innovativeness relationship and examining the moderating roles of R&D investment and configurational context on this link. Based on a panel sample of 105 high-technology firms over a six-year period, a least squared dummy variable s model reveals interesting results. First, external technology acquisition has a positive impact on product innovativeness. Second, R&D investment increases the effect of external technology acquisition on product innovativeness. Lastly, firm size exhibits a negative effect on the contribution of external technology acquisition to product innovativeness. However, firm age positively impacts the relationship between external technology acquisition and product innovativeness. In addition, this study reveals a positive effect of product innovativeness on firm growth. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
Volume 28, Issue 3, July 2011, Pages 128-146
Youngjung Geum | Sungjoo Lee | Daekook Kang | Yongtae Park
Today, since a single product is no longer sufficient to cope with the dynamic market environment, firms are trying to provide the integrated offering of products and services. However, despite the importance and utility of product-service integration, a limited approach has been conducted regarding the planning of the strategic management of integrated offering. To deal with this issue, this paper firstly suggests the concept and typology of technological interface in product-service integration. Based on the technological interface, a generic structure of product-service integrated roadmap is developed. Extended from the generic structure, this paper finally proposes the typological configurations of integrated roadmap according to the technological interface and investigates the usage, characteristics, and roadmapping processes. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 112-130
Eric Ngai | Dorothy C K Chau | J. K L Poon | Angela Chan | B. C M Chan | W. W S Wu
A growing number of organisations are using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to improve their manufacturing processes. A case study approach is used to explore the development of an RFID-based manufacturing process management system in a garment factory in China. The results indicate that both technology push and need pull factors influence the garment factory's intention to adopt RFID technology. The technology push factors include relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, extendibility and the cost of the technology, whereas the need pull factors include competitor and customer pressure. We identify eight factors for the successful implementation of an RFID-based manufacturing process management system, namely, vendor selection, organisational motivation, cost/benefit evaluation, top management support, user involvement, the extent of progress supervision, staff competence and training, and policy, structure and operating process compatibility. This in-depth case study details the organisation's experience and identifies the challenges it faces and important issues in the development and implementation of the system. Implications for academics and practitioners are discussed. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 71-94
Jashen Chen | Hungtai Tsou
Few academic studies have investigated how information technology (IT) capability and service process innovation can create performance gains for firms through customer service. We propose that customer service is a significant mediator through which IT capability and service process innovation influence the performance of a firm, and that IT capability is also a critical factor that facilitates service process innovation. Empirical support for our argument was derived from data collected from 174 firms in the Taiwan IT industry. The results suggest that managerial initiatives should be directed at developing IT capability and service process innovation and leveraging them to facilitate customer service to attain superior firm performance. Furthermore, greater IT capability would lead to a higher degree of service process innovation. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 27, Issues 1-2, March 2010, Pages 1-19
C. Annique Un
An examination of 202 innovation projects in 42 firms revealed two approaches in how firms manage employees to explore new knowledge for radical innovations and to exploit existing knowledge for incremental innovations. The first is the system of organization-level management practices, whereby employees are recruited based primarily on prior work experience in other companies and developed interdepartmentally, and compensation is based primarily on joint performance without a specific innovation project in mind. The second is the system of team-level management practices, whereby employees are selected based mainly on overlapping knowledge with team members, and are trained and rewarded for a specific innovation project. Although both systems offer employees the necessary psychological safety for attaining radical innovations and the perspective-taking capability helpful for incremental innovations, each system is better for achieving one type of innovation than the other. The system of organization-level management practices better achieves radical innovations because it provides greater psychological safety, while the system of team-level management practices better achieves incremental innovations because it develops superior perspective-taking capability. Using both systems assists in incremental innovations but not radical innovations, because contradictory expectations are placed on the employees, diminishing psychological safety. The main implication of these findings is that companies should manage their employees differently depending on the type of innovation they wish to achieve. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 29, Issue 3, July 2012, Pages 358-390
Mumtaz Abdul Hameed | Steve J. Counsell | Stephen M. Swift
In this paper, we develop a conceptual model for IT innovation adoption process in organizations. The model utilizes Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and a framework that contains characteristics of innovation, organization, environment, chief executive officer (CEO) and user acceptance. The model presents IT adoption as a sequence of stages, progressing from initiation to adoption-decision to implementation. The study presents a model with an interactive process perspective which considers organizational level analysis until acquisition of technology and individual level analysis for the user acceptance of IT. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 34-46
This study examines the antecedents of firm innovation capability in high technology firms in China and its effect on long-term corporate growth. It explores the growth-driven core competence of a firm by employing a knowledge-based view. The analysis of firm innovation capability indicates that firm innovation capability is related to long-term corporate growth. The results of this study support this link and the findings stress the importance of innovation intent and infrastructure to a firm's innovation capability. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 29, Issue 3, July 2012, Pages 331-337
María Teresa Bolívar-Ramos | Víctor Jesús García-Morales | Encarnación García Sánchez
This paper analyzes how top management support of technology influences the generation of technological skills, technological distinctive competencies and organizational learning. The research also examines the effects of technological distinctive competencies and organizational learning on organizational innovation and reflects how all of these variables impact organizational performance. The results of our empirical analysis, based on a sample of 201 Spanish technological firms, suggest that: (1) top management support positively influences the generation of technological skills, technological distinctive competencies and organizational learning; (2) technological distinctive competencies and organizational learning positively affect organizational performance, directly and indirectly through organizational innovation. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 28, Issue 4, October 2011, Pages 249-267
Donna J. Kelley | Gina Colarelli O'Connor | Heidi M. Neck | Lois S. Peters
Our research examines practices for managing project leaders as a component of an organization's capability for radical innovation. Our qualitative analysis of 246 interviews in twelve industry-leading corporations suggests that managers use performance-based assessment to select project leaders with demonstrated experience and skills for innovation, as well as passion that extends beyond a single project toward an awareness of its broader contribution to the organization's growth objectives. The managerial role includes concurrent hands-off/hands-on involvement, which balances autonomy and accountability with guidance. Additionally, downside/upside management involves removing the negative consequences associated with failure while providing recognition for the project leader's efforts. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
Volume 27, Issues 3-4, September 2010, Pages 197-214
Amlan Mukherjee | Helen E. Muga
The diversity of priorities and differing awareness of sustainable practices among stakeholders in the architecture, engineering and construction industry is critically shaping the adoption of green technology, and the rate at which the industry is shifting towards more sustainable practices. In this paper, we develop an integrated framework that allows reorganization and integration of existing sustainability research in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, emphasizing the perspective of decision-makers and stakeholders. Further, an agent-based model is introduced that allows study of the decision-maker with the decision context, thus making them an integral part of the decision-making process rather than independent of it. The coupled system is adaptive and dynamically organizes itself to reflect complex bottom-up interactions between individual stakeholders, their contexts and the constraints driving their decisions even as they implement or respond to top-down decisions pertaining to the adoption of sustainable practices. The contention of this research is that an integrative systems approach to top-down decision-making and an understanding of bottom-up influences in stakeholder decisions is critical to the understanding sustainable practices and decisions that lead to their adoption in the AEC industry. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 29, Issue 2, April 2012, Pages 187-209
Ulrich Lichtenthaler | Miriam Muethel
We discuss the interdependencies between deliberate and experiential learning in developing a dynamic technology licensing capability, which was termed 'desorptive capacity' in earlier conceptual work. We use new three-year lagged data from two surveys of 79 firms to examine the role of dedicated licensing employees and prior licensing experience in developing firms' sensing, seizing, and transforming capacities in technology out-licensing. The findings emphasize capabilities' multidimensionality and critical trade-offs due to interdependencies between deliberate and experiential learning in developing capabilities. Besides interdependencies with experiential learning, deliberate learning strengthens sensing and seizing capacity, but it negatively affects transforming capacity based on inertia. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 47-61
Chew Jian You | Kaman Lee | Songlin Chen | Rogerjianxin Jiao
The high failure rate of ERP implementation is due to a common pitfall that ERP projects are often enacted as merely investment into installation of IT infrastructure, rather than systematic planning of operation changes, business process re-engineering and a paradigm shift for the operation and management. To manage ERP investment in a changing environment for high payoff, this paper adopts a real option theoretic method. Fuzzy payoff valuation is introduced to deal with uncertainties in order to minimize the risk of failure. The proposed ERP evaluation model is geared towards small and medium enterprises. A case study is presented to validate the proposed fuzzy real options. The results indicate the potential of modeling ERP investment as "Expand", "Contain" and "Abandon" options in different scenarios. The fuzzy real option model bestows a novel ex-ante cost analysis for justifying ERP investment in the implementation cycle. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 131-151
WeiChen Tsai | Linglang Tang
Globalization and advances in information technology represent both realities and opportunities for enterprises in the 21st century. This paper aims to broaden understanding of service innovation as a critical organizational capability through which the adoption of information technology influences firm performance. This study examines how the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology influences the operational performance of logistics service firms. We develop the RFID adoption model based on the interorganizational information systems (IOS) view of the firm that integrates the various strands of research into the framework. The study draws from the related information technology and interorganizational information systems literatures to explore organizational factors associated with the adoption of RFID. A model of the associations between information technology and interorganizational information systems use, social support, power structure, organizational readiness, procedural flexibility, and top management support is developed, and hypotheses are advanced about the relationships among these constructs. An empirical survey was conducted among 500 logistics service firms in Taiwan. A total of 131 valid observations were analyzed using the partial least squares technique. Results showed that RFID adoption has positive effects on business practices, which in turn improves operational performance. We address the value of certain interactive firm behaviors in RFID adoption and identify related constructs of RFID adoption in terms of their efficiency and value for logistics service firms. These results have implications for both education and practice. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 28, Issue 4, October 2011, Pages 268-282
Carl M. Chang
Companies organize teams to enhance creativity and innovation. Creativity refers to the generation of new and novel ideas, whereas innovation encompasses both idea generation and the commercialization of these ideas to add value to the enterprises. Standard teams are those, wherein participants meet face-to-face to develop new ideas and/or to commercialize them. Asynchronous virtual teams are those which allow participants to interact via digital means without face-to-face meetings. Asynchronous virtual teams are especially convenient for participants at global locations. The objective of this paper is to outline a third kind of teams, the virtual teams with anonymity and structured interactions (VTASIs), in which participants remain anonymous, follow a modified Delphi brainstorming process, communicate with one another asynchronously via electronic means, apply a set of streamlined idea generation strategies (the Combinatorial Heuristic and Normatively Generic Method), and conduct multiple rounds of structured interactions under the guidance of a knowledgeable team leader. Individual team member works alone, yet interacts indirectly with all others in a group setting. After having briefly reviewed the factors that are known to constraint the performance of both the standard and asynchronous virtual teams, this paper describes a study conducted in Spring 2009 Semester at University at Buffalo, involving eight VTASI teams of a total of 72 graduate engineering students who worked on generating new ideas for improving four specific projects. Key results are discussed. For global operations, the asynchronous virtual teams represent an improvement over the standard teams in terms of reach, costs, and execution. The VTASI teams advocated in this paper represent yet a further improvement over the Asynchronous virtual teams, and hold promise to be the most effective among the three types of teams in promoting creativity. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
Volume 27, Issues 3-4, September 2010, Pages 172-182
Effrosyni Petala | Renee Wever | Chris Dutilh | Han C. Brezet
Organizations face challenges with regards to the incorporation of sustainability in the early stages of their new product development processes (NPD). This paper explores these challenges in order to understand the barriers for incorporating well-defined sustainability targets in NPD briefs. The study is based on a content analysis of 202 new product development briefs within the FMCG industry, in particular Unilever. The paper concludes that the incorporation of sustainability in the new product development briefs does not guarantee results. Furthermore, there are several organizational issues which could function either as success or failure factors for the entire process. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 27, Issues 1-2, March 2010, Pages 33-51
Leon A G Oerlemans | Joris Knoben
We focus in this study on sets of inter-organizational relationships (IORs) by applying a configurational approach that includes both the diversity and the intensity of knowledge transfer IORs. We use a latent class cluster analysis to empirically explore the kinds of IORs configurations. We then use antecedents derived from the IOR literature to explain firm membership in those configurations. Our tests allow us to identify four configurations ranging from isolated innovators to innovating firms embedded in diverse and deep sets of IORs. We show that internal knowledge use by firms, and the types of innovative activities in which they engage, are strong predictors of firm membership in different configurations. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 27, Issues 3-4, September 2010, Pages 148-159
Veronica Lindström | Mats Winroth
Research has shown that alignment between manufacturing strategy and decisions regarding automation are often of an ad hoc nature, i.e. the support for automation decisions is poor. Support tools to find an appropriate level of automation are thus needed in order to achieve more efficient and robust production systems. The methodology presented in this paper contains five sub-processes where the chosen level of automation is aligned with the manufacturing strategy. Together they form an automation strategy, which secures a desired direction of the firm and also supports robustness and reliability of the manufacturing system due to the holistic approach chosen. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 27, Issues 3-4, September 2010, Pages 131-147
We combine signalling and human capital theory to analyze how competencies of new venture CEOs impact the amount of money technology ventures acquire in venture capital (VC) financing rounds. Using data on 117 financing events in the biotechnology industry, we show that education in management, founder-based firm-specific experience, international experience, and industry-specific experience of the CEO impact the VCs' financial commitments. Moreover, we find that the effects of management education and industry experience are moderated by the size of the venture's top management team. We discuss the implications of these findings for the research literature on technology ventures and venture capital. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 27, Issues 3-4, September 2010, Pages 160-171
Annapoornima M. Subramanian | Pekhooi Soh
Understanding how a firm's scientific capability influences its technology development has important implications on the firm's research and development (R&D) strategies. However, the current literature reveals a puzzling outcome in its empirical investigations on the science-technology relationship. While many studies show the positive influence of a firm's scientific capability on its technological performance, a few others indicate that if a firm focuses its attention more on cutting edge science, its overall technological performance will suffer. We suggest that these findings can be reconciled by conceptualizing and measuring the scientific capability of the firm differently. This paper attempts to demonstrate how different notions of scientific capability are associated with different performance outcomes. Furthermore, a firm's scientific capability facilitates the integration of new knowledge to produce valuable technologies when a firm broadens its search for new knowledge. The paper highlights the nuances of conceptualizing and measuring the firm's scientific capability in two different ways: number of scientific publications and non-patent references. The findings also shed light on the mechanism through which science accelerates technological progress inside a firm. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 27, Issues 1-2, March 2010, Pages 52-73
Ben James Hicks | Stephen J. Culley | Chris A. McMahon | Philip L. Powell
The benefits of integrated enterprise-wide information systems (IS), such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, are widely accepted. The implementation of such systems in large organisations is established with many in their second or third generation. However, in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the maturity and extent of their IS infrastructure is less clear. In engineering SMEs, this infrastructure needs to support not only business processes but also the activities of design and manufacture. In this case study, our goal is to provide a better understanding of current IS infrastructure, the functional elements of IS infrastructure, integration and expenditures are explored in ten engineering SMEs. A model of IS functionality is developed and used to identify and classify functional elements within the firms and to compare and contrast the IS infrastructures. The findings are contrasted with the SME literature and conclusions and implications developed. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Volume 28, Issue 4, October 2011, Pages 215-231
Hari Bapuji | David Loree | Mary M. Crossan
Prior research suggests that firms create breakthrough innovations by using external knowledge, but it also underscores the difficulties firms face in acquiring and applying external knowledge. In this paper, we combine these insights to examine the conditions under which external knowledge usage will either enhance or erode firm performance. In particular, we argue that high external knowledge usage has a negative effect on performance when firms enter multiple new product markets, but a positive effect on performance when firms using external knowledge have higher absorptive capacity. We find general support for our hypotheses, which we test using patent citation data from the global integrated circuit manufacturing industry. Our findings have important implications for managers of firms making strategic decisions about their firms' product portfolios and the degree to which they use external knowledge. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.