Background and problem Previously, management has focused on cost, lead time reduction and quality improvement for competiveness in the market. However, most researchers agree that in today´s highly competitive business environment quality is a necessity but not sufficient. For companies to survive it is also imperative to also continuously innovate. These two activities are both important. Achieving a balance between the two, the objectives of improved quality and increased innovation, is not a straightforward exercise. Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how innovative companies manage continuous innovation and continuous improvement. Furthermore, it aims to extend the understanding of the relationship between continuous innovation and continuous improvement in innovative companies - the balance between these two activities. Method The primary research in this study has been collated through semi-structured interviews with leaders involved in innovation. The primary research is analysed and a comparison is made between primary research and secondary research. Similarities and differences are outlined in terms of the relationship. Results and conclusion The findings suggest that the innovative companies are fully aware of the importance of continuous innovation and continuous improvement. Moreover, there is a constant balancing act going on between these two activities in the companies. These activities are organised in different ways in the innovative companies. Continuous improvement is often prioritized due to for instance urgency and cost reduction. The companies support these activities through for instance recognition, rewards, KPIs, long term view, purpose and sustainability

A inovação contínua, a medição de desempenho e outras ferramentas de gestão de operações são amplamente aplicadas nas empresas para desenvolver ações de melhoria integradas aos objetivos estratégicos e monitorar os resultados alcançados com essas iniciativas. A principal hipótese deste projeto é que a medição de desempenho é uma prática que também pode ser utilizada para gerenciar o desempenho de clusters industriais de pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs). Depois da pesquisa bibliográfica realizada sobre as características da medição de desempenho e clusters industriais, assim como, uma pesquisa qualitativa no cluster de Ibitinga - São Paulo, este projeto apresenta uma proposta para desenvolver um sistema de medição de desempenho nos clusters de PMEs. Em seguida são relatados e discutidos os resultados alcançados com a pesquisa de campo realizada no cluster de Ibitinga e Jaú. Com o projeto é possível destacar que a cooperação e a confiança são as dimensões do cluster que mais interferem no sistema de medição de desempenho em aglomerações de PMEs. Ainda, a aplicação da estrutura de medição de desempenho também demonstrou que os conceitos ajudam a promover a inovação contínua do cluster e a maturidade do processo de gestão das PMEs inseridas no cluster. / Continuous innovation, performance measurement and other management tools have widely been used in companies as a means of developing new ways of improvement considering strategic objectives and monitoring results. According to this project, performance measurement methods can also be applied to manage the performance of an industrial cluster of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). After reviewing typical features for performance measurement and industrial clusters as well as carrying out qualitative research on the cluster of Ibitinga in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, this project presents a framework to control the performance perspectives of SMEs cluster. Afterwards we discuss the obtained results from a research carried out in the cluster of Ibitinga and Jaú. The project concludes that the concepts presented by the proposed model can help to raise development in SMEs clusters and thus guarantee continuous innovation.

A continuous service innovation such as Cloud Computing is highly attractive in the business-to-business world because it brings the service provider both billions of dollars in profits and superior competitive advantage. The success of such an innovation is strongly tied to a consumer’s adoption decision. When dealing with a continuous service innovation, the consumer’s decision process becomes complicated. Not only do consumers need to consider two different decisions of both whether to adopt and how long to adopt (contract length), but also the increasing trend of the service-related technological improvements invokes a forward-looking behavior in consumer’s decision process. Moreover, consumers have to balance the benefits and costs of adoption when evaluating decision alternatives. Consumer adoption decisions come with the desire to have the latest technology and the fear of the adopted technology becoming obsolete. Non-adoption prevents consumers from being locked-in by the service provider, but buying that technology may be costly. Being bound to a longer contract forfeits the opportunity to capitalize on the technological revolution. Frequently signing shorter contracts increases the non-physical efforts such as learning, training and negotiating costs. Targeting the right consumers at the right time with the right service offer in the business-to-business context requires an efficient strategy of sales resource allocation. This is a “mission impossible” for service providers if they do not know how consumers make decisions regarding service innovation. In order to guide the resource allocation decisions, we propose a complex model that integrates the structural, dynamic, and learning approaches to understand the consumer’s decision process on both whether or not to adopt, and how long to adopt a continuously updating service innovation in a B2B context.

A inovação contínua, a medição de desempenho e outras ferramentas de gestão de operações são amplamente aplicadas nas empresas para desenvolver ações de melhoria integradas aos objetivos estratégicos e monitorar os resultados alcançados com essas iniciativas. A principal hipótese deste projeto é que a medição de desempenho é uma prática que também pode ser utilizada para gerenciar o desempenho de clusters industriais de pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs). Depois da pesquisa bibliográfica realizada sobre as características da medição de desempenho e clusters industriais, assim como, uma pesquisa qualitativa no cluster de Ibitinga - São Paulo, este projeto apresenta uma proposta para desenvolver um sistema de medição de desempenho nos clusters de PMEs. Em seguida são relatados e discutidos os resultados alcançados com a pesquisa de campo realizada no cluster de Ibitinga e Jaú. Com o projeto é possível destacar que a cooperação e a confiança são as dimensões do cluster que mais interferem no sistema de medição de desempenho em aglomerações de PMEs. Ainda, a aplicação da estrutura de medição de desempenho também demonstrou que os conceitos ajudam a promover a inovação contínua do cluster e a maturidade do processo de gestão das PMEs inseridas no cluster. / Continuous innovation, performance measurement and other management tools have widely been used in companies as a means of developing new ways of improvement considering strategic objectives and monitoring results. According to this project, performance measurement methods can also be applied to manage the performance of an industrial cluster of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). After reviewing typical features for performance measurement and industrial clusters as well as carrying out qualitative research on the cluster of Ibitinga in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, this project presents a framework to control the performance perspectives of SMEs cluster. Afterwards we discuss the obtained results from a research carried out in the cluster of Ibitinga and Jaú. The project concludes that the concepts presented by the proposed model can help to raise development in SMEs clusters and thus guarantee continuous innovation.