Franz Barjak and Fabian Heimsch
The relationship between corporate culture and inbound open innovation (OI) has been limited to two sub-constructs: a culture for openness and an innovation culture, but until now…
Abstract
Purpose
The relationship between corporate culture and inbound open innovation (OI) has been limited to two sub-constructs: a culture for openness and an innovation culture, but until now a richer conceptualization of corporate culture is missing.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply Quinn and Rohrbaugh's (1983) competing values framework and regress these together with company internal and external control variables on five measures of inbound OI, reflecting product innovation, process innovation and the sourcing of innovation activities. The authors use data from a survey of more than 250 Swiss companies, primarily SMEs.
Findings
The importance of the firms' market environments suggests that the results are affected by the specific situation in which the firms found themselves at the time of the survey: after a strong currency shock, inbound OI activities seem to be a reaction to external pressure that favored planning and rule-oriented (formal) cultures to implement cost-cutting process innovations.
Practical implications
Companies should develop a vision and a strategy, ensure open and transparent communication, have suitable reward and support mechanisms in place, adjust structures and processes, and institutionalize and formalize any change whenever they are confronted with a situation that requires a quick reaction and an adjustment to their degree of openness.
Originality/value
The paper clarifies the relationship between cultural traits and inbound OI, using a well-established understanding of corporate culture and differentiating between innovation types. It points to the importance of the external environment in order to understand the role of culture.
Details
Keywords
Mike Thelwall, Xuemei Li, Franz Barjak and Simon Robinson
The purpose of this paper is to claim that it is useful to assess the web connectivity of research groups, describe hyperlink‐based techniques to achieve this and present brief…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to claim that it is useful to assess the web connectivity of research groups, describe hyperlink‐based techniques to achieve this and present brief details of European life sciences research groups as a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
A commercial search engine was harnessed to deliver hyperlink data via its automatic query submission interface. A special purpose link analysis tool, LexiURL, then summarised and graphed the link data in appropriate ways.
Findings
Webometrics can provide a wide range of descriptive information about the international connectivity of research groups.
Research limitations/implications
Only one field was analysed, data was taken from only one search engine, and the results were not validated.
Practical implications
Web connectivity seems to be particularly important for attracting overseas job applicants and to promote research achievements and capabilities, and hence we contend that it can be useful for national and international governments to use webometrics to ensure that the web is being used effectively by research groups.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to make a case for the value of using a range of webometric techniques to evaluate the web presences of research groups within a field, and possibly the first “applied” webometrics study produced for an external contract.
Details
Keywords
Manorama Tripathi and V.K.J. Jeevan
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the usage of e‐resources in academic libraries. It also describes various…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the usage of e‐resources in academic libraries. It also describes various studies undertaken to study the users' behavior and attitude towards e‐journals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a comprehensive review of the recent published literature on the importance of the usage statistics of e‐resources subscribed to by the academic libraries.
Findings
The findings show that the usage statistics help in studying and evaluating the users' behavior in an online environment. The library services can be extended and modified, to reflect user interests suiting the users the most, in the light of the evaluation and analyses done.
Originality/value
The paper has pertinence and wider implications for library staff engaged in providing e‐resources' services to readers.