Nos últimos anos, novos tipos de inovação surgiram nos mercados emergentes. Dentre eles, o conceito de inovação frugal vem chamando atenção de acadêmicos e profissionais por sua proposta de valor. A inovação frugal vem sendo considerada uma nova fonte de inovações, porém poucos trabalhos acadêmicos discutem o assunto de forma robusta. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo principal averiguar a associação entre determinadas capacidades organizações que auxiliam no desenvolvimento da inovação frugal. Antes dessa associação, foi necessário demostrar como o conceito de inovação frugal pode ser mensurado. Neste estudo a inovação frugal é um construto endógeno de segunda ordem que manifesta o novo por menos medido reflexivamente, pela: inovação em custo, inovação sustentável, inovação aberta e inovação em produto. As capacidades organizacionais, são os construtos exógenos definidas em termos de: capacidade de produção, capacidade tecnológica, capacidade de capital humano e capacidade de marketing. Alguma dessas capacidades, foram consideradas como sendo de primeira e segunda ordem. Com o intuito de verificar a relação entre os construtos definidos, os procedimentos metodológicos adotados nesta pesquisa podem ser classificados como do tipo formal, descritivo e associativo, positivista e de natureza quantitativa. Para coleta dos dados, método de pesquisa adotado foi o survey classificado como interseccional. A amostra coletada é composta por 257 empresas brasileiras de diferentes setores e tamanhos. O processo de análise da amostra e consistência dos dados coletados consistiu do uso de técnicas estatísticas de análise univariada e multivariada. O uso de Análise de Equações Estruturais pelo método dos mínimos quadrados parciais (Partial Least Square - PLS) mostrou-se mais adequada para estimação dos parâmetros do modelo. Os resultados empíricos demonstraram que inovação frugal é uma estratégia que combina eficiência em custos e inovação. A inovação frugal pode contribuir para uma gestão mais adequada dos recursos ambientais não renováveis quando orientada para sustentabilidade. A análise dos resultados, demonstrou que das oito hipóteses levantadas, apenas duas hipóteses não foram suportadas. As capacidades de capital humano e marketing de primeira ordem não foram associadas a formação da inovação frugal. As demais capacidades utilizadas na pesquisa se mostraram associadas ao modelo proposto. / In recent years, new types of innovation have emerged in emerging markets. Among them, the concept of frugal innovation has attracted the attention of academics and professionals for its value proposition. Frugal innovation has been considered a new source of innovation, but few scholarly papers discuss the subject in a robust way. This research aims to ascertain the association between certain organizational capabilities that help in the development of the frugal innovation. Prior to this association, it was necessary to demonstrate how the concept of frugal innovation can be measured. In this study, frugal innovation is an endogenous construct of the second order, which manifests the new with fewer resources, reflexively measured by: innovation in cost, sustainable innovation, open innovation and product innovation. Organizational capabilities are the exogenous constructs defined in terms of: production capability, technological capability, human capital capability and marketing capability. These capabilities were considered to be first and second order. To verify the relationship between the defined constructs, the methodological procedures adopted in this research can be classified as formal, descriptive and associative, positivistic and quantitative in nature. For the data collection, the survey method adopted was the survey classified as intersectional. The data were collected is composed of 257 Brazilian companies of different sectors and sizes. The process of sample analysis and consistency of data collected consisted of the use of statistical techniques of univariate and multivariate analysis. The use of Structural Equation Analysis using the Partial Least Square (PLS) method was more adequate for estimation of model parameters. The results have shown that frugal innovation is a strategy that combines cost efficiency and innovation. Frugal innovation can contribute to a better management of non-renewable environmental resources when oriented towards sustainability. The analysis of the results, showed that of the eight hypotheses raised, only two hypotheses were not supported. Human capital and first-order marketing capabilities were not associated with the formation of frugal innovation. The other capabilities used in the research were shown to be associated to the proposed model.

Context: In today’s highly competitive business environment, shortened product and technology life-cycles, it is critical for software industry to continuously innovate. To help an organisation to achieve this goal, a better understanding and control of the activities and determinants of innovation is required. This can be achieved through innovation measurement initiative which assesses innovation capability, output and performance. Objective: This study explores definitions of innovation, innovation measurement frameworks, key elements of innovation and metrics that have been proposed in literature and used in industry. The degree of empirical validation and context of studies was also investigated. It also elicited the perception of innovation, its importance, challenges and state of practice of innovation measurement in software industry. Methods: In this study, a systematic literature review, followed by online questionnaire and face-to-face interviews were conducted. The systematic review used seven electronic databases, including Compendex, Inspec, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Business Source premier, Science Direct and Scopus. Studies were subject to preliminary, basic and advanced criteria to judge the relevance of papers. The online questionnaire targeted software industry practitioners with different roles and firm sizes. A total of 94 completed and usable responses from 68 unique firms were collected. Seven face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with four industry practitioners and three academics. Results: Based on the findings of literature review, interviews and questionnaire a comprehensive definition of innovation was identified which may be used in software industry. The metrics for evaluation of determinants, inputs, outputs and performance were aggregated and categorised. A conceptual model of the key measurable elements of innovation was constructed from the findings of the systematic review. The model was further refined after feedback from academia and industry through interviews. Conclusions: The importance of innovation measurement is well recognised in both academia and industry. However, innovation measurement is not a common practice in industry. Some of the major reasons are lack of available metrics and data collection mechanisms to measure innovation. The organisations which do measure innovation use only a few metrics that do not cover the entire spectrum of innovation. This is partly because of the lack of consistent definition of innovation in industry. Moreover, there is a lack of empirical validation of the metrics and determinants of innovation. Although there is some static validations, full scale industry trials are currently missing. For software industry, a unique challenge is development of alternate measures since some of the existing metrics are inapplicable in this context. The conceptual model constructed in this study is one step towards identifying measurable key aspects of innovation to understanding the innovation capability and performance of software firms.

Organisations accept the fact that innovation is a crucial element in achieving long-term competitive advantage. The key business challenge, however, lies in acquiring the expertise and methodologies needed to effectively motivate, support and nurture innovation. South African companies in particular are performing poorly in developing effective reward strategies to encourage and motivate innovation. This research therefore investigates the critical success factors for rewarding and motivating innovation in the workplace. The results of this study should assist executive managers to formulate reward strategies to stimulate innovation. In line with qualitative research methodological principles, this study followed an exploratory approach to investigating the important factors in rewarding innovation. A total of 15 in-depth interviews were held with executive managers within the Financial Services sector. The sample represented a diverse group of highly successful business leaders, including General Managers (such as CEOs), Human Resource practitioners (such as HR directors) and Innovation Leaders (such as R&D leaders). Key findings reflect that a multi-faceted reward strategy is required to motivate innovation. This includes financial rewards, non-financial rewards, learning and development opportunities, as well as specific elements within the work environment. Leadership was found to be a critical success factor in the implementation of an effective total reward strategy. The research allowed for the development of a framework outlining the critical success factors for rewarding and motivating innovation in the workplace. This is believed to be a useful tool for senior managers who wish to develop a total reward strategy to increase the level of innovation within their organisations. This study also contributes to the body of academic knowledge by clarifying the relationship between innovation and the notion of total reward, which was identified as a gap in the literature. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / ccgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Studiens syfte är att (1) kartlägga de faktorer som påverkar implementering av innovationsprojekt i externt reglerade organisationer, (2) att utveckla en förklaringsmodell som beskriver sambanden mellan dessa faktorer. Undersökningen består av en fallstudie där ett läkemedelsföretag följs under uppstartsfasen av ett innovationsprojekt. Metoden som användes var induktivt kvalitativ. Data samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer, öppna observationer och dokument som var kopplade till innovationsprojektet. Studien visar att följande faktorer: interna relationer, resurser, extern reglering, ledningens inställning, intern styrning och intern kommunikation påverkar implementering av innovationsprojekt och att dessa faktorer både kan ha en positiv och en negativ inverkan på implementeringen. Vid utvecklingen av förklaringsmodellen fann studien att interna relationer och resurser är faktorer som har en direkt påverkan på implementering av innovationsprojekt och att extern reglering, ledningens inställning, intern styrning och intern kommunikation är faktorer som har en indirekt påverkan.

This study describes how institutions in a developing country, South Africa influence the salient characteristics and patterns of innovation in firms belonging to an emerging versus a mature industry. The patterns and characteristics of innovation in firms belonging to industries in different phases of their life cycles are influenced by various factors. Because of the wide range of factors and often due to the endogenous relationships between them, empirical studies in describing these patterns remain inconclusive. This research describes the patterns and the significant innovation characteristics of the firms through the lens of institutions. Special attention is paid to the institutional frameworks influencing innovation in firms at national and regional levels. These frameworks are often referred to as National and Regional Innovation Systems. The central argument of this study is that these innovation systems are expected to influence the characteristics of innovation in different ways when firms are situated in developed versus the developing countries. In this regard, this study attempts to contribute to the innovation knowledge-base of developing countries. The salient characteristics discussed in this study are types, institutional support (government), centre of knowledge and geographical locations of innovations. Chi-square, t-tests and stepwise logistic regressions were run on the responses of the firms regarding the chosen characteristics. The results suggest that in most cases these characteristics were different in firms belonging to an emerging versus a mature industry. Also the patterns of innovation were mostly dissimilar from the expectations of the studies based in the developed world. A logistic model was built to explain the relationships between the individual characteristics and the firms belonging to the two phases of the industry life cycle. The model, formulated on the salient characteristics of innovation discussed could successfully predict if a firm belonged to a mature industry or not. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Living in the era of globalization and the Internet, the demand for faster innovation cycles is increasing. Thus companies have the aim to explore new innovation strategies. Therefore the basis of this study is to investigate the development from the traditional way of innovation to Open Innovation practices. If companies want to get a benefit of Open Innovation, many structural and cultural changes have to be overcome. The protection of company secrecies and the retention of the core competencies are the most elementary factors, which have to be considered if external stakeholders are involved in the innovation process. In addition to that, the purpose of this is to examine and declare the limitations and challenges of Open Innovation strategies. Through a multiple case study of three companies, including semi-structured interviews with key individuals, who have extensive experiences in the research and development department, the empirical findings are deducted and connected with the framework. Furthermore the gathered data is analysed on the basis of a research model, which was developed from the existing literature. The research model contains the most common challenges when adopting Open Innovation. These challenges are intellectual property, flexibility, internal structure, trust, acceptance and integration. In the course of this study, different significant manifestations of the respective factors were determined. Moreover it can be identified that some factors are related to each other or have several similarities. This study shows that the structure and the size of a company is the most crucial challenge by adopting Open Innovation practices in the ongoing innovation process. The challenge of company size is affecting the corporate and process structures. This includes the organization of intellectual property as well as the cooperation with companies of different sizes. The second important challenge is the generic term of trust, which is related to the overall acceptance of the company towards Open Innovation. Moreover, the factor of trust is influencing the level of integration of suppliers and customers in the innovation process. To find the right balance between trusting and supporting the internal innovation department and be open for external knowledge is the key factor for success. Additionally, it can be recommended to implement a central innovation department, which is only responsible for Open Innovation.

The concept of innovation hubs are increasingly being adopted by different sectors as a means to accelerate innovation. Previous research on innovation hubs have focused on large-scale and trans-regional hubs on its managerial practices instead of its geographical situation. This paper studies an innovation hub in the Northern Swedish city of Skellefteå, in a region historically relying on heavy industry trying to transform into a high technology economy. The study aims to answer the research question: “what are the challenges and opportunities in building and managing an innovation hub to foster innovation in a geographically isolated region with a relatively small population?” To answer this question, interviews with stakeholders in the innovation hub has been conducted as part of a qualitative case study. The results indicate that the region’s large heavy industry companies provide a fertile ecosystem for startups in the digital industry by enabling the necessary supporting industries and infrastructure. Meanwhile, the lack of certain important elements needed in the startup process, most prominently private funding in the form of angel investors and venture capital, pose challenges to the development of the digital startup community in the region.

The topic of this thesis is to analyse the impact of Slovak innovation policy on trade balance. The aim of this thesis is to assess how Slovak Republic uses innovation policy instruments to support innovation and enhance competitiveness. I analyzed basic macroeconomic indicators, indicators of innovation performance comparison through the European Innovation Scoreboard and analysis of the trade balance. I evaluated Slovak innovation policy at the conclusion of the thesis.

This thesis is focused on French innovation system and its outputs. The aim is to analyze innovation performance of France, as well as its innovation policy and to find out the meaning of the innovation system for French economy and its competitiveness. The thesis also includes a case study of a shareholder and presents his perspective. The first chapter explains basic definitions and innovation related terms and reviews innovation associated theories. The second chapter examines the French innovation system evolution and its performance based on statistical data. Moreover, the French innovation business conditions and an innovation policy will be discussed. Following the analysis of the French innovation system, the last chapter evaluates whether the target of reinforcing innovation capacity is met. At the same time, the third section presents a player of the system, Raise company, and its position within this innovation system.

Innovation has been acknowledged as a main driver for competitiveness whether it is for a firm, industry, region or country. Solutions for improvements in products and processes have emerged from the multitude of innovation tools and its techno-scientific features. However, the path traced by firms to innovate is rarely clear and not always successful. In this regard, a variety of uncertainties have been shaped into the obstacles that hinder firm’s innovation activities and prevent them to innovate. To the best of our knowledge, there is no literature that directly addresses the obstacles for innovation in Brazil in a broader sense. Also, the articles focused on the strategies of innovation did not investigated its antecedents, characterizing a clear avenue for research. The objective of this study is to understand which innovation barriers affect the Brazilian industry and how they influence the adoption of innovation strategies. In this way, one of the main strategies that stand out in literature is industrial cooperation. Secondly, a discussion that stands out in literature regards the existence of two juxtaposed strategies, known as Market-orientation and Technology-acquisition. This work combined with an exploration of the current state of industrial innovation studies in Brazil through a systematic review. Also, we combined multiple methods to quantitatively analyze the relationship among variables of the Brazilian innovation survey (PINTEC). The main results of this dissertation are: (i) the systematization of the industrial innovation literature in Brazil and the proposition of a research agenda; (ii) the assessment of which innovation barriers trigger or which affect industrial cooperation for R&D; (iii) the exploration of the innovation barriers’ role on the choice of firms to adopt either Market-orientation or Technology-acquisition as innovation strategies. From an academic perspective, this study contributes to clarify future avenues of research on industrial innovation in Brazil and to provide insights about the role of innovation barriers in the Brazilian industry. From a practical point of view, this manuscript presents a map of findings so as industries can use in a strategic way. Also, we bring insights on how innovation strategies should be adopted in relation to innovation barriers.