Anders Richtnér and Pär Åhlström
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of top management control in stimulating innovation through their effect on the creation of knowledge in new product development…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of top management control in stimulating innovation through their effect on the creation of knowledge in new product development (NPD) projects. Top management has a crucial role in stimulating innovation in companies, in particular as top managers affect knowledge creation through their interaction with project teams before and during an NPD project, which can of course affect innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
Through comparative case‐based research in two companies in high‐velocity industries, chosen through theoretical sampling, the authors have studied six NPD projects.
Findings
The control top management exercise over an NPD project influences the creation of knowledge in different ways, both hampering and facilitating knowledge creation. In particular, this control focuses on explicit knowledge, and not tacit knowledge, which may reduce the overall capacity for knowledge creation and ultimately innovation.
Research limitations/implications
The results are considered to be generalizable within high‐velocity industries. In terms of future research the results should be tested in other industries using either case‐based research or by increasing the sample and doing survey‐type research.
Practical implications
The advice, or perhaps challenge, for managers is to know when to exercise control, when not to and what type of control to exercise. In particular the paper highlights the importance of managers not solely controlling projects by focusing on explicit knowledge in the project, but also by understanding that tacit knowledge is necessary in order to facilitate knowledge creation and innovation.
Originality/value
The paper helps clarify the relationship between top management control and knowledge creation by specially examining how and why top management control hampers or facilitates knowledge creation.
Details
Keywords
Anders Richtnér and Jon Rognes
This paper aims to highlight that there are different levels of analysis and that there are different types of influence on the choice of R&D location and organization…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to highlight that there are different levels of analysis and that there are different types of influence on the choice of R&D location and organization. Specifically, the purpose of the paper is to identify geographically dispersing and contracting forces on R&D activities, which helps bring together these two theoretical fields.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study approach is chosen, as data are obtained from multiple levels and perspectives. Through theoretical sampling, 47 cases were identified, and 14 selected to be included in the study. The main source of information was semi‐structured interviews.
Findings
Four dispersing and contracting forces were identified as being the most influential on the choice of a company's R&D location. The four forces each have different implications at different levels of analysis (strategic, organizational and project levels) and lead to different geographical results concerning a company's R&D location.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is based on a limited sample.
Practical implications
R&D organization and localization are an area with different consequences, depending on which organizational level is involved and the perspective taken.
Originality/value
The paper brings together two schools of thought (globalization literature and communication theory) and, by doing so, improves the understanding of a complex phenomenon and reduces the risk of drawing faulty conclusions.
Details
Keywords
Anna Reetta Suorsa, Rauli Svento, Anders V. Lindfors and Maija-Leena Huotari
The purpose of this paper is to examine knowledge-creating interaction in developing an innovation in a multidisciplinary research community with hermeneutic phenomenology, to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine knowledge-creating interaction in developing an innovation in a multidisciplinary research community with hermeneutic phenomenology, to understand how previous experiences and future prospects shape the process and to examine the circumstances, which support or limit knowledge creation.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach of this study is phenomenological and the empirical case study has been conducted using ethnography. The data consist of field notes, videos, interviews and documents of a BCDC energy consortium, developing energy weather forecast (EWF) in a new type of research environment.
Findings
The results indicate that the role of actual interactive events was crucial in the development of EWF. Hermeneutic approach illustrated that the roots of that event were in the past experiences of the participants and the circumstances, which promoted the development of the innovation, but the acknowledgment of the future prospects was crucial in finalizing the process. The role of a leader organizing the interaction and collaborative work was also substantial.
Practical implications
The results of this study could be used to plan and organize knowledge creation processes in organizations, especially in universities and research communities, striving to create multidisciplinary research environments and practices.
Originality/value
This study proposes a new approach based on hermeneutic phenomenology to examine it in a unified way, by focusing on the key aspects of elements affecting knowledge-creating interaction.