No / This study explores the progress of social innovation research in a public sector context by systematically analyzing its existing body of knowledge to identify areas of societal impact and reveal areas of limitations and potential further research. The findings revealed that most of the studies on social innovation in the public sector are conceptual in nature. The article presents propositions based on the diagnosed limitations of research in the area.

Yes / This paper examines the relationship between open innovation (OI) practices (inbound and coupled) and innovation performance in service firms. Specifically, it invokes a dynamic capabilities perspective to propose the differential moderating effects of two forms of reconfiguration capabilities, strategic reconfiguration capability (SRC) and operational reconfiguration capability (ORC), on the focal relationship. Based on a sample of service sector firms drawn from the UK Community Innovation Survey, our analysis shows the positive combinative effects of SRC and coupled OI on radical innovation outcomes and those of ORC and coupled OI on incremental innovation outcomes. The findings of differential moderating effects underscore the need to assess the boundary conditions within which OI positively impacts on innovation outcomes and offer insights to managers on the importance of strategic and operational reconfiguration capabilities for achieving better innovation outcomes from OI practices.

This research is an investigation of the adoption of e-commerce by organisations in Botswana. E-commerce has the potential to uplift organisations in developing countries in terms of higher profits, increased productivity and efficiency in the way business is done . Organisations can also reach out to more customers and suppliers thereby increasing their geographical market without any physical expansion of their operations or increasing their workforces. Challenges abound in trying to adopt e-commerce applications and technologies by organisations in Botswana as the study will reveal. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2013

Published Article / A key lever for unlocking the economic potential of any nation is a competitive tooling industry. Like other sectors of the South African economy, the tooling industry has experienced a marked decline in the skills base and requisite expertise needed in a globalised economy. Furthermore, over the past few years, there have been low levels of capital investment among tooling companies in South Africa to keep pace with global trends. This paper will highlight the Department of Science and Technology's (DST) response to the unacceptable decline in the competitiveness and innovative capacity of the tooling industry in the country. Through the Tshumisano Trust, its implementation agency, the DST has launched three Institutes for Advanced Tooling (IATs) over the past year. These institutes are meant to stimulate the development of innovative products, processes and services through tooling to accelerate economic growth in South Africa. The potential impact of IATs on high growth and innovation-driven industries such as automotives and chemicals will be discussed.

Published Article / There have been numerous national- and international-level calls for the reform of engineering education. This includes the need for a shift to a knowledge economy - one that utilises knowledge as the key engine of competitive growth. However, despite several initiatives to address reform, relatively little has changed in the content and conduct of engineering education. It has been argued that engineering education has entered a period where changes are required, but that the management structures that are in place do not provide the needed support to encourage and facilitate these changes in order to promote innovation. The current study employed a multiple case study method to explore challenges faced by the deans of four engineering faculties in four non-adjacent countries and to explain the organisational structures and management processes employed to deal with these challenges in their unique contexts. The analysis identified four areas of challenges and innovative structures and management practices that can be transferred and implemented in other contexts.

Genom att nya krav och riktlinjer från Havs- och vattenmyndigheten tillkommit kan inte båtklubbar/båtägare längre tvätta på de sätt som tidigare genomförts. Arbetet har gått ut på att hjälpa MSE AB i deras stundande produktlansering och ta reda på hur kunder vill erbjudas en båttvätts-lösning samt vad som är värdeskapande hos kund. Denna studie har undersökt behoven hos 20 båtklubbar vilket tillsammans med studiens valda teori legat till grund för det resultat som rapporten presenterar.

The consultant in the construction process may have an important role in the innovation development. The purpose of this study is to investigate what impact on innovation in the construction process consultants might have. It also illustrates how innovation can be managed and distributed on the basis of consultant's role. It also discusses the diffusion of innovation from the consultant's involvement in both "ordinary" and R&D projects. On a consulting firm in Uppsala qualitative interviews were conducted with several employees. It appears that the "major innovations" usually takes place in the R&D projects. For a consulting firm with technology competence it can be centrally to present competitive offer, which is one reason to strive for innovation. The study shows that a consultancy firms participating can strengthen their skills. It is important that the consulting firm becomes aware of new materials and products. The construction industry is considered to have a low degree of innovation in comparison to other industries. Many actors continue with old and well-known methods to avoid risks and costs. The construction industries have a complex system with a number of actors involved in different parts of a project. There is no clear culture to bring further innovations to action. The type of contract in project is considered to have an impact on the ability to influence innovations. To strengthen the consulting companies, the opportunity to work with initiatives for innovation and to hold a dialogue with employees about innovative work, developing new methods and techniques are important.

The objective of this paper is to increase our ability to understand the systems of innovation approach as a flexible and useful conceptual framework for innovation analysis. It presents an effort to develop some missing links and to decrease the conceptual noise often present in the discussions on national innovation systems. The paper specifies elements and relations that seem to be essential to the conceptual core of the framework and argues that there is no a priori reason to emphasise the national over the subnational [regional] scale as an appropriate mode for analysis, irrespective of time and place. Localised input-output relations between the actors of the system, knowledge spillovers and their untraded interdependencies lie at the centre of the arguments. The paper is organised as follows. It introduces the reader, first, to some basic elements and concepts that are central to understanding the approach. The characteristics of the innovation process are examined: its nature, sources and some of the factors shaping its development. Particular emphasis is laid on the role of knowledge creation and dissemination based on the fundamental distinction between codified and tacit forms. These concepts recur throughout the paper and particularly in discussions on the nature and specifications of the systems approach. The paper concludes by summarising some of the major findings of the discussion and pointing to some directions for future research activities. (author's abstract) / Series: Discussion Papers of the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience

This report studied innovation activity in four areas of the solar photovoltaic balance-of-system (BOS) technologies (inverters, mounting equipment, monitoring systems, and site assessment) in the Japanese market. Through patent searches with specific keywords, this study found that innovation activity in these four technology areas increased and decreased responding to both supply-side and demand-side policies. This report also empirically studied effects of demand-pull policies on innovation activity in the BOS technology areas. The regression analysis of the patent data found that the demand-side policies such as residential subsidy programs employed by the Japanese government were a major factor which influenced innovation activities in these technology areas in the Japanese market. Finally, the regression analysis also found that the termination of the residential subsidy program by the government in 2006 had a negative effect on the innovation activity of the four BOS technologies. / text

<p>Much research has been done in the field of safety culture and how organizations manage to keep a good safety record. Fewer studies however have focused on how these safety critical organizations balance short term stability and safety versus the fact that they have to survive in the long run and implement new technology and knowledge.</p><p>This problem has then specifically been studied by interviewing certain persons working for SKB, The Swedish Nuclear Waste Management Company. This is a company that, at the same time, has to have a good safety culture and an appropriate innovation culture. SKB as an organization have traditionally researched and analyzed how to achieve long term safety and how to store nuclear waste, but nowadays the organization also has to provide for the safety and management of the nuclear waste facilities, facilities that have been traditionally managed by other companies. The problem is that these waste facilities are dependent upon rules and a more rule-focused culture than the part of SKB that does the research and development of a future terminal storage for radioactive waste.</p><p>A unified definition of the terms safety culture and innovation culture has not been found, but some common dimensions of the concepts has however been found. Aspects that are considered good for both safety culture and innovation culture are not exclusive for these cultures but rather aspects that usually characterize a learning culture.</p><p>Furthermore it seems like it is not inherently good to try to strive for a unified culture within an organization. An effort to create overarching mottoes or guidelines that everyone can relate to seems to be a more plausible solution, rather than specifically trying to create a unified safety or innovation culture in the organization. Different divisions and work teams have different goals and means to reach those goals, and therefore the concept of safety has to have different meaning and connotation in a strictly rule-governed facility compared to a development division within an organization.</p> / <p>Det finns gott om säkerhetskritiska branscher och det har gjorts mycket forskning kring hur dessa organisationer lyckas upprätthålla en god säkerhet. Det har däremot gjorts mindre forskning kring hur organisationer som är beroende av en god säkerhet och säkerhetskultur balanserar detta mot det faktum att de måste överleva i längden och implementera ny kunskap och teknologi.</p><p>Denna problematik har specifikt studerats genom att intervjua utvalda personer vid Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB. Ett företag som, på samma gång, har en innovativ och en säkerhetsorienterad kultur. SKB som organisation har traditionellt sett analyserat och forskat kring långsiktig säkerhet, men nu inbegriper organisationen även kärntekniska anläggningar. Dessa anläggningar är i hög grad regelstyrda och har en kultur som är mer regelfokuserad och säkerhetsorienterad än den del av SKB som sköter analyser kring långsiktig säkerhet och utvecklar ett framtida slutförvar.</p><p>Studien har inte funnit någon enhetlig etablerad definition av begreppen säkerhetskultur eller innovationskultur, men flertal beröringspunkter har ändå identifierats mellan områdena. De aspekter som anses vara goda för både säkerhet och innovation är inte exklusiva för dessa kulturer utan ses ofta som dimensioner som brukar karaktärisera en ”lärande kultur”.</p><p>Vidare är det inte eftersträvbart att, enbart för sakens skull, försöka skapa en enhetlig kultur inom en organisation. Det kan vara fördelaktigt att skapa övergripande ledord eller ett motto som alla kan relatera till, men att specifikt försöka skapa en enhetlig säkerhetskultur eller innovationskultur borde inte vara den bästa lösningen. Olika delar av en organisation har olika mål och olika metoder, så synen på säkerhet vid en mycket regelstyrd anläggning måste därför kanske skilja sig från synen på säkerhet vid en utvecklingsavdelning.</p> / QC 20100413