Innovation is a crucial component of business strategy, but the process of innovation may seem dif ficult to manage. To plan organizational initiatives around innovation or to bolster innovation ...requires a firm grasp of the innovation process. Few organizations have transparently defined such a process. Based on the findings of an exploratory study of over 30 US and European companies that have robust innovation processes, this paper breaks down the innovation process into discrete stages: idea generation and mobilization, screening and advocacy, experimentation, commercialization, and diffusion and implementation. For each stage, context, outputs and critical ingredients are discussed. There are several common tensions and concerns at each stage, which are enumerated; industry examples are also given. Finally, strategies for and indicators of organizational success around innovation are discussed for each stage. Successful organizations will use an outlined innovation process to create a common framework for discussion and initiatives around the innovation process, and to establish metrics and goals for each stage of the innovation process.
Developing a comprehensive human resource (HR)-planning framework that corresponds to the variety of HR-related issues has seldom been observed in existing project management literature. The present ...study applies a three-step design science approach to introduce a holistic HR-planning framework. The rigor and relevance cycles in this approach address the HR-related issues in projects and the shortcomings of the literature associated with developing a thorough HR-planning framework. Subsequently, the proposed framework is being validated by an exploratory study undertaken at Parsons Brinckerhoff (USA) and BISOL Group (EU). Next, in line with the guidelines of the design cycle for justifying the use of the framework, a survey is conducted on the collected data from 110 Iranian experts in the construction industry. Using Partial Least Squares for analyzing the data, the outcomes indicate that ‘Empowerment/Training’ could significantly improve the performance of HRs in projects. The results also confirm the substantial impact of ‘Quality Assessment’ on the constructs included the HR-planning framework. Furthermore, ‘Networking Management’, ‘Delegating’, and ‘Reward/Compensation’ are prioritized as the subsequent influential constructs for effective HR management practices.
•The research adopts design science approach to develop a comprehensive human resource-planning (HR-planning) framework.•Shortcomings of the existing literature and PMBOK in addressing HR-related issues in projects are enumerated.•PLS analysis reveals the impact of identified constructs within the framework on HRM practices.•The application of Goodness of Fit (GoF) in the PLS analysis confirms the overall fit of the framework.•The findings reveal that ‘Empowerment/Training’, ‘Quality Assessment’, and ‘Delegating’ constructs are the most influential constructs on HRM practices in projects.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to uncover the mechanisms of organizations managing innovation outsourcing to business partners. In a business environment characterized by the development of ...deep, niche expertise in a particular domain, business partnerships can provide a source of innovative rejuvenation by outsourcing the innovation to business partners who have complementary skills and expertise. This paper addresses a critical challenge which the organizations are currently facing: how do you manage outsourcing of innovation to business partners effectively while maintaining your strategic competitiveness?Design methodology approach - Exploratory multiple case studies of over 30 innovative European and US companies were done. It involved 50 semi-structured interviews with senior executives from research and development, product management, information technology, and marketing.Findings - The paper identifies three complementary models of managing outsourcing of innovation to business partner: acquisition, strategic alliances, and open source (OS). Based on these, a three-dimensional "Co-Innovation Space" is proposed that can help in analysis and planning of current and future innovation projects.Research limitations implications - Although the research is carefully designed, it is an exploratory study and has the limitation of generalizability of the findings. Nevertheless, findings from multiple case studies from diverse organizations shed a light to current innovation and strategic alliance literature.Practical implications - Partnerships can open the door to multiple knowledge sources. Accessing and integrating information from these sources can greatly enhance knowledge base of organizations and can help fuel sustainable innovation. The models proposed in this study provide a lens to examine existing innovation project portfolios and or to plan for future innovation programmes.Originality value - This study is probably among few to study such a large, diversified, and geographically scattered group of organizations. Although exploratory and preliminary, this makes the findings of the study insightful.
Improving how knowledge is leveraged in organizations for improved business performance is today considered as a major organizational change. Knowledge management (KM) projects are stigmatized as ...demanding, fuzzy and complex, with questionable outcomes—more than 70% of them do not deliver what they promised. A case of Samsung Electronics mobile branch we present shows how KM projects can be more successful if they are treated as business process-oriented organizational change projects. Both organizations and academia can stand on the shoulders of giants as previous experience and research in that area is rich. Adding the KM flavor to such organizational change is the goal of this case study; the learning outcomes include a six-step KM solution design method, a justification for the business process level of analysis and managerial action, and the need for modest and just-do-it approach when introducing KM-related organizational interventions.
Global software development efforts have increased in recent years. One force fueling these efforts is the worldwide availability of a rich and talented knowledge pool that can be effectively and ...efficiently mobilized, increasing the prominence of outsourcing initiatives. Outsourcing projects have moved from mundane software maintenance tasks to more complex and significant engagements such as innovative product development, complex system development, and large-scale R+D projects
Customer-Driven Innovation Desouza, Kevin C.; Awazu, Yukika; Jha, Sanjeev ...
Research technology management,
05/2008, Letnik:
51, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Involving customers in the innovation process entails a host of new concerns, concepts and managerial decisions. Transitioning from older models of no or low customer involvement requires attention ...to the different types of customer innovation, organizational mission and organizational structure. This article provides a typology for customer innovation, describes how to involve customers in the innovation process, and offers guidelines for shifting organizational structure and emphasis toward customer-driven innovation in order to enable continual, sustainable innovation.
Information-Communication Technologies (ICTs) are no longer just for internal use. Rather, in the era of open and distributed innovation, they must be leveraged by businesses and organizations to ...reach, record and review ideas from internal and external sources ranging from vendors, suppliers and customers to employees. ICTs enable the entire innovation process, from idea generation and development to experimenting and testing, and, finally, to commercialization of ideas.
Organizations must innovate if they are to survive in today's fiercely competitive marketplace. In this paper, we explore how leading organizations are using emerging technologies to enable novel ...forms of ideation that can radically increase the sheer volume of ideas they explore. In addition, we outline how organizations use technologies to cost effectively manage this increased volume of ideas by optimizing generation, mobilization, advocacy and screening, experimentation, commercialization, and even the diffusion and implementation of ideas. Critical to this is the management of knowledge during the innovation process.
The prominence of business process outsourcing (BPO) continues to intensify in today's hyper-competitive marketplace. Engaging in BPO can help an organization focus on its core competencies, while ...gaining specialized knowledge, skills, and processes in auxiliary spaces. The literature is laden with evidence that engaging in a BPO will help organizations secure financial, operational, and even strategic advantages. While there is little doubt that organizations can attain these benefits, few BPO arrangements work out as planned. Managing risks in BPO arrangements is paramount. In this case analysis, we describe a significant failure through chronological description of scandals that took place at one of India's largest outsourcing vendors, Satyam Computer Services. In describing the study, we draw attention to the fact that organizations need to (1) improve their sensing capabilities and keep abreast of strategic transformations at their outsourcing vendors, (2) be able to plan for and execute contingency plans, and (3) balance the risks and rewards of BPOs in terms of knowledge and capabilities dependencies.
Only a strong interaction of people, information and technology can improve business performance. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the new age has to be a 'hybrid' business and information ...systems manager who can play a major role in strategy formulation for effective use of information technology, who does not neglect the human side of the information equation, and who does not forget that information has to be managed like any other resource and thus puts the T back in the 'IT', This leads to new aspects of what kind of competencies and skills a CIO, a 'hybrid' business and information systems manager, must have. In the paper a recently developed Information Systems Management under- and post-graduate curriculum is verified whether it sustains sufficient degree of relevancy to the needs of present-day business community. This analysis can serve as a guideline when building, revising and endorsing contemporary and relevant curricula for similar educational programs.
