Business-to-business (B2B) and business network scholars have begun adopting an “ecosystem” approach to describe the increasing interdependence and co-evolution of contemporary business and ...innovation activities. Although the concept is useful in communicating these issues, the challenge is the lack of overall understanding of the added value of the approach, its particular theoretical logic, and its links to network management. This systematic review analyzes the usage of the ecosystem concept in B2B journals and its implications for network management. Common themes are distilled, the specific features of the ecosystem approach are examined, and four categories of the ecosystem approach are identified: (a) competition and evolution; (b) emergence and disruption; (c) stable business exchange; and (d) value co-creation. We also examine shifts in management opportunities and challenges related to these developments. Finally, we suggest a revised network management framework, where we address the implications of utilizing an ecosystem layer for the analysis, as well as using the ecosystem as a perspective in the management of business and innovation networks. Overall, this study contributes to the literature by providing a coherence-seeking, systematic outlook on the increasingly useful, but still nascent and ambiguously utilized ecosystem approach.
•B2B and business network scholars have increasingly begun applying the “ecosystem” concept.•The study provides a systematic review on the use of ecosystem conceptualization in B2B studies.•Four categories for the application of the concept in B2B and business network research are identified.•The paper recognizes four shifts of management in the ecosystem era.•We suggest a revised network management framework, where the ecosystem can be considered as a layer or perspective.
This article introduces the Special Issue of Managing Business and Innovation Networks and makes an independent contribution to the advancement of network management research. The study has three ...ambitious goals. First, it evaluates the main developments in network management research from 2000 to 2016, focusing on disciplinary openings. Second, it specifies the contributions of recent domain extensions (business fields, ecosystems, platform networks) to network management, and clarifies the role of networks and network management in these domains. Third, it proposes a general theory of network management based on the past 20years of research in the field and the contributions of SI articles. The theory explains how the factors at three contextual levels – environment, network and actor – influence network management activities, forming patterns of management based on activity configurations. The framework consolidates our fragmented knowledge on network management and paves the way for more advanced research and management. We conclude with suggestions for future research.
•Assessment of the key contributions by network management research from 2000 onwards.•Clarifying the differences between business fields, ecosystems and platforms from network management point of view.•Proposing a general theory of network management covering all types of innovation and business networks.•Analyzing how three contextual layers (environment, network, actor) influence network management activities.•Identifying a set of network management activities, and prototypical configurations of these for different contexts.
The Public Service Innovation Network is a form of cooperation in the development of public service innovations that are run between related agencies, as an effort so that all parties are connected ...to each other in the development of public service innovations. This research is based on qualitative research method with descriptive type. Data were collected through interviews, observation and documentation. The data validation technique uses the theory of Miles & Huberman. The results of the research show that the implementation of the South Sulawesi JIPP is well implemented, with the ability to distribute the latest information with the support of a website that was created, as a learning tool and a data center for public service innovation information, and become a center for accelerating the quality of public services in the province of South Sulawesi so that a number of Regional Apparatus Organizations have succeeded. won an award at the Public Service Innovation Competition at the National level. The Public Service Innovation Network is a stakeholder collaboration node for the success of the one agency one innovation movement so that ultimately a creative climate is created to create public service innovations in the scope.
In this paper, we examine the managing of the full innovation process, from visioning to commercialization, in extensive networks. By drawing on the IMP, strategic network, and innovation network ...literatures, we develop a comprehensive picture of the management activities when ‘mobilizing’, ‘orchestrating’, and ‘involving’ actors in working towards the innovation aim in such network settings. Through using two longitudinal case studies – the one pursuing radical and the other incremental innovation - we provide an empirically refined understanding of seven key management activities (motivating, resourcing, goal setting/refining, consolidating, coordinating, controlling, and leveraging), which are needed throughout the innovation process to turn the diversity of an innovation network into an opportunity rather than an obstacle. We demonstrate how actor diversity and the type of innovation (radical or incremental) shape the management activities, and map a dynamic actor composition that evolves alongside the innovation process. The longitudinal data highlights the consequences of the presence or lack of management activities, and the interlinkages between activities throughout the process. Our findings also provide insights for practitioners on how to cope with the increasing tendency to involve diverse stakeholders in innovation by pinpointing the critical management activities that can be employed.
•This study examines how innovation processes are managed in extensive networks.•We analyse two extensive networks in longitudinal settings, pursuing radical and incremental innovation.•The paper develops a comprehensive picture of the management activities that are used to ‘mobilize’, ‘orchestrate’, and ‘involve’ actors to contribute.•Key activities are motivating, resourcing, goal setting/refining, consolidating, coordinating, controlling, and leveraging.•The type of innovation, i.e. radical and incremental innovation, shape the management activities.
•We focus on innovation, emphasizing relationships among people, technologies and core concepts.•The research builds on a case study of tabletop computing community.•We use actor-network theory (ANT) ...to explain how the innovation network coalesces.•Innovation is a sociotechnical ensemble that contains human and non-human actants.•Core non-humans in an innovation network are visions, innovative concepts and artifacts.
We theorize on the heterogonous network of people, visions, concepts, technological artifacts, and organizations that come together to enable product innovation. Drawing on the conceptual framing and mechanisms of actor-network theory (ANT), we focus on the relationships among human and non-human actors and their roles to enact new products. We do this to contribute both evidence and theory regarding the concept of a sociotechnical assemblage that serves as the innovation network. Advancing a sociotechnical conceptualization of innovation focuses attention on the contributions of, and linkages among, different types of actors; individuals and organizations, visions and concepts, and technological artifacts and prototypes together create a means for innovation to occur. The empirical basis for this theorizing comes from a detailed study of the community of research scientists, faculty, and graduate students; institutions such as research labs, funding sources, and product companies who were (and mostly still are) involved in tabletop computing. Analysis highlights the centrality of visions, concepts and technological artifacts in the innovation network. We also find that formal organizations play important, but often unrealized, roles in supporting innovation.
International and local policymakers have repeatedly encouraged the development of clusters—a dense geographic concentration of interconnected businesses—to boost competitiveness at both the firm and ...regional levels, as well as foster innovation and new product development. Following this trend, many initiatives have started to provide services and infrastructure that can facilitate the establishment of formal and informal ties between firms, local institutions or research centres, as well as upgrade the stock of human and intellectual capital. In this scenario, the present study empirically documents the effects of an innovation network, established by a regional government institution, on the participating firms. In particular, firm-level primary data, derived from the participants of “Polo di Innovazione ICT - Abruzzo” in Italy, empirically support how the cognitive, structural and relational dimensions of the social capital developed within a cluster initiative affect the performance of participating firms, unveiling a negative moderation effect arising from firms' involvement in the cluster program.
•We empirically document the effects of a public cluster initiative on firms participating.•Perceptual and objective firm-level measures of performance are used.•Primary data collected in a public cluster initiative is used to support results.•An unexpected drawback of participation is hypothesized and empirically supported.•The study contributes to the empirical literature on the effects of public cluster initiatives.
•Innovation networks also develop within public service(s) as a sector or a function.•Some of them focus on social innovation.•Innovation networks (and especially Public service innovation networks ...for social innovation) are not a third innovation regime following the entrepreneurial and routinized regimes.•They are structural arrangements that can be seen in the light of entrepreneurial and routinized regimes.•These regimes encompass several configurations that are not independent of each other.•Addressing social innovation networks within public services in the light of innovation regimes is a contribution to the shift of innovation studies “from visible innovation to dark innovation”
This article is devoted to “public service innovation networks for social innovations” (PSINSIs) – collaborative systems that are being established, within public services, to design and implement social innovations. Drawing on a database of 24 case studies collected in different European countries and different areas of wicked social problems, this article aims to discuss how PSINSIs fit into the entrepreneurial and routinized innovation and learning regimes described by evolutionary economics. It highlights the diverse variations of these general regimes, bringing to the fore different forms of social entrepreneurship (bricoleurs, constructionists and engineers) and different configurations of the routinized regime (organizational entrepreneurship, canonical, intrapreneurial, extrapreneurial, spin-off). It also highlights the relationships between these two regimes and their various configurations. Overall, this article contributes to the shift “from visible innovation to dark innovation” in innovation studies called for by Martin (2016).
The sustainable development of the new energy industry is crucial and needs support from collaborative innovation networks (CINs). However, CINs may face hindrances or interruptions under multiple ...risk shocks, impeding their effectiveness in promoting sustainable performance (SP). Enhancing CIN resilience is essential for the normal operation of CINs and requires support from the innovation ecosystem. This study aims to improve CIN resilience by optimizing innovation ecological factors, thereby improving the SP of new energy industry. The study selects China's new energy industry as the empirical object. Firstly, the impacts of CIN resilience on SP are explored through regression analysis. Secondly, the impacts of nine driving factors proposed based on innovation ecosystem on CIN resilience were uncovered by the temporal exponential random graph model. Lastly, network simulation was utilized to study how to optimize CIN resilience through network edge addition strategies and identify key regional cooperations for enhancing CIN resilience more effectively. The results indicate that: (1) CIN resilience can improve SP, with adaptive capacity exerting the most promotional effect. (2) Innovation ecological factors dynamically and heterogeneously drive CIN resilience. Innovative market subjects and technical environments exhibit substantial positive impacts on CIN resilience. (3) Promoting innovation cooperations of intermediary bridge regions can optimize CIN resilience. This study offers practical strategies for Chinese local governments and other countries or regions to formulate effective industrial policies and provides valuable insights for new energy enterprises.
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•Collaborative innovation network resilience can improve sustainable performance.•Innovation ecological factors positively and dynamically drive network resilience.•Promoting key regional cooperations can effectively optimize network resilience.•Studying network resilience drivers and optimization by complex network methods.
To develop innovative solutions for complex societal and scientific challenges, organizations need to move beyond the boundaries of single firms and engage in collaborative networks. In these ...networks, multiple, diverse stakeholders are working together to co-create innovative value. Co-creation in a network creates new challenges in terms of changed processes and outcomes. Guided by grounded theory methodology, we explore these aspects by studying a public–private partnership involving 57 stakeholders. We take the number and diversity of stakeholders into account to shed light on the distinct processes through which value is co-created and captured. We also identify the types of value outcomes that accrue to the network and its participants. Overall, we present a multi-level cyclical process framework for leveraging value in multi-stakeholder collaborations and visualize these collaborations as a value space in which all stakeholders are uniquely positioned. In doing so, this study provides novel insights into the systemic, multi-actor nature of value co-creation and supports collaborators in maximizing value for both individual stakeholders and the network as a whole.
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