Innovation Management Final Flashcards
Innovation
Innovation is the process of using knowledge to solve a problem
Technological Innovation
the act of apply new knowledge for commercial or practical objectives (new devices, method, material)
Value creation
Allows for the creation of products and services that meet needs that were not previously satisfied, created values for companies and can be a source of competitive advantage
Negative Externalities
include : substantiate of labor, environmental impact, competition/monopoly, privacy issues due to data collection
Planned Innovation
Companies invest in r&D with the goal of creating a new innovative product or process
Accidental Innovation
Not result of deliberate attempt to solve a particular problem
Radial Innovation
Innovation that is now and different from prior solutions
Incremental Innovation
Innovation makes a relatively minor change from existing practices
Product innovation
Output of a firm in its goods and services, technical specification and quality improvements of a existing product
Process Innovation
Innovation in the way an organization conducts its business (ex. Production techniques)
Schumpeter’s Waves
Innovation causes cyclical instability and economic growth, not isolated events and are not distributed uniformly (industrial revolution, mechanical wave, electricity, automobile, IT)
How can we measure innovation?
We measure innovation through observational data on new products/service launches, questionnaires sent to firm, asking about new products and processes, patents, and r&D
Observational data
websites, trade-fairs, industry journals, advertisements, process innovations are difficult to track
Questionnaires:
broad set of information related to innovation can be asked, costly process, high response rate needed, respondent bias
Patents:
info can be accessed easily not all inventions are patented, can be skewed with respect to economic value
r&D expenses
asily available from income statements, input factor for innovation
What do we actually measure (in terms of innovation)
Most used metric to measure innovation is R&D spending
What is R&D Intensity?
Ratio of a firm’s r&D investment to its revenue
Firms with highest r&D intensity are labeled as “high-tech”
Who is Mainly investing in and performing R&D?
Country wise: Israel and South Korea spend the most on r&D
Businesses make up most of the funding for r&D, but governments and universities also contribute
What is the role of entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship is a important driver of innovation, but is also associated with high risk of failure
Planned vs accidental innovation
Planned innovation is when a firm intentionally invests in r&D to create a new product or process, whereas accidental innovation occurs unintentionally
Radical vs incremental innovation
Radical innovation happens when a product/process is entirely different/new whereas incremental innovation is when minor changes occur to existing products/processes
Product vs process innovation
Product innovation is when changes are made to product whereas process innovation is when changes are made to a process
Applied R&D
the effort to understand fundamental scientific and technical principles with the aim to use the knowledge for a specific application (ex research on cancer cells to improve cancer treatments)
Basic R&D
effort to understand fundamental scientific principles of a natural
Internal r&D
Pre-conditioned for accessing external knowledge
Risks: costs, timing, technological/market outcomes
External r&D
Universities, suppliers, users, competitors
Compliment for internal rather than substitute
Absorptive capacity:
a firm’s ability to identify, assimilate, transform, and use external knowledge, research, and practice
Technology pushes
When there is a new technology which occurs before anyone has figured a market need
Later innovator will find or create a market
Market pulls
When customers are asking for a product that satisfies their needs (or firms detect customers needs)
Technology determines whether it’s possible
“Not invented here syndrome”
Decision making error where we tend to value our own ideas above those conceived by people outside of our group
What’s the appropriability problem?
The appropriability problem concerns the degree to which the returns from investments in R&D accrue to the innovator or to other market participants
Is investing in R&D a necessary and/or sufficient condition to innovate?
Yes investing in R&D is necessary for innovation without it companies would not be able to survive in the market
Technology s-curve
representation of the development of a new technology, New entrants shift the curve
Do innovations arise because technology pushes or because the market pulls?
Innovations arise because of both situations, but the more common is the technology push
abernathy -utterback model
Technologies evolve through periods of incremental innovation, interrupted by periods of radical innovation, Eventually dominant design emerges
Dominant design
When firms in a industry converge to a dominant design
Leads to specific phase, marked by incremental innovation