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Article
Publication date: 11 March 2014

Karl Joachim Breunig, Tor Helge Aas and Katja Maria Hydle

To guarantee alignment between ongoing activities and organizational goals, innovation management theory emphasizes management control and explicit innovation strategies as

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Abstract

Purpose

To guarantee alignment between ongoing activities and organizational goals, innovation management theory emphasizes management control and explicit innovation strategies as prerequisites for innovation performance. However, the theory on open services innovation emphasizes individual autonomy and incentives to foster open innovations. The aim of this paper is to explore this inconsistency.

Design/methodology/approach

An explorative research design involving 25 semi-structured interviews in five large scale-intensive service firms is explored. Scale-intensive service firms are strategically sampled for this study since these firms experience tension between open service innovation characteristics and efforts to standardize.

Findings

The authors show how individual autonomy facilitates the internal and external networking required in open innovations. However, individualized incentives do not suffice to motivate, mobilize and direct the collaboration and collective effort needed to ensure successful implementation of open innovation processes. Innovation performance is a collective effort, and the findings suggest that firms' business strategy works as a collective incentive system.

Practical implications

The findings imply that firms should not rely on individualized incentives alone to implement open innovation processes successfully. The implementation of more collectively oriented incentives is also necessary to motivate the collective effort required to succeed with open innovation.

Originality/value

The study extends previous work and shows how innovation practices are collective efforts that also involve the mobilization of external resources. The incentives observed have an effect on individual behaviour, while performance measures, to a larger degree, cater to the collective level. The authors present three propositions for further empirical investigation.

Details

Measuring Business Excellence, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-3047

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 August 2024

Marius Kristiansen and Tor Helge Aas

Digital servitization research has focused on how manufacturing firms use digital technologies to change business models and offer smart services; less attention has been devoted…

Abstract

Purpose

Digital servitization research has focused on how manufacturing firms use digital technologies to change business models and offer smart services; less attention has been devoted to the degree to which external actors in the existing ecosystem accept these smart services. Therefore, the authors pose the following research question: How does a manufacturing firm introduce and gain acceptance of new smart services within an established ecosystem?

Design/methodology/approach

Building on servitization, ecosystem and legitimacy theories, this paper addresses the research question through an in-depth case study of a world-leading original equipment manufacturer that is currently developing and introducing new smart services in its existing ecosystem.

Findings

The findings suggest that external actors emphasize different types of legitimacy in deciding whether to accept a new smart service. The findings also show that the type of legitimacy required to gain acceptance changes throughout the development of the smart service, from the definition of the value proposition to the design and delivery of the service.

Practical implications

This study can assist smart service providers in identifying which type of legitimacy is important for each ecosystem actor and strengthening these types of legitimacy to gain acceptance from the ecosystem.

Originality/value

This study develops a framework to help describe the thresholds for acceptance of a smart service through the development phases, as well as to indicate the types of legitimacy that smart service providers must relate to when seeking to gain acceptance for their new offering.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 39 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 7 December 2023

Seidali Kurtmollaiev and Tor Helge Aas

On the one hand, there is a long tradition of approaching management control and innovation as opposites that prompt organisational tensions. On the other hand, recent studies…

Abstract

On the one hand, there is a long tradition of approaching management control and innovation as opposites that prompt organisational tensions. On the other hand, recent studies have shown that management control may foster innovation and promote innovative behaviour. At the same time, both these perspectives focus on innovation management, and discussions regarding the role of management control in innovation leadership are conspicuously absent from the literature. In this chapter, we analyse how innovation leaders use management control in two service companies. We demonstrate that, in contrast to innovation managers who employ management control systems primarily for planning, monitoring, and evaluation purposes, innovation leaders use management control for advocacy, engagement, and visibility.

Details

Innovation Leadership in Practice: How Leaders Turn Ideas into Value in a Changing World
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-397-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 November 2013

Tor Helge Aas and Per Egil Pedersen

Componentization is a common approach in manufacturing that is suggested to lead to increased innovativeness at the firm level. Componentization has recently been given attention…

Abstract

Purpose

Componentization is a common approach in manufacturing that is suggested to lead to increased innovativeness at the firm level. Componentization has recently been given attention as a relevant approach for service providers. However, due to differences between services and manufactured products, and due to the diversity of the service sector, it is not obvious to what degree the application of componentization is relevant for all service providers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness of componentization for specialized service providers in the public sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper applies an interventionist research design, in which the componentization approach is implemented in one case organization.

Findings

The paper finds that componentization increases the service orientation of specialized public sector organizations (PSOs) and improves the ability of the top management to manage and control specialized PSOs. Perhaps most importantly, the paper determines that componentization represents a foundation and a baseline for identifying service innovation ideas in specialized PSOs.

Practical implications

The practical experiences reported in the paper may provide guidance to managers of specialized service providers who are seeking for ways to increase the efficiency, flexibility, and innovativeness of their organization.

Originality/value

By empirically testing and evaluating a componentization approach, the paper contributes to the knowledge base of how componentization increases the efficiency, flexibility, and innovativeness of specialized service providers. In addition, the paper demonstrates that the application of an interventionist research approach may be useful when the research aims to develop, adopt, or evaluate new service management methodologies.

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 7 December 2023

Abstract

Details

Innovation Leadership in Practice: How Leaders Turn Ideas into Value in a Changing World
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-397-8

Content available
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Abstract

Details

Measuring Business Excellence, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-3047

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