Transcript Challenge in Innovation Research -

Challenge
in Innovation Research
Changhui Zhou
Guanghua School of Management
Peking University
Beijing, China 100871
July 13, 2007
Guanghzhou
The legacy of Schumpeter
• Schumpeter:
– Competition through innovation is the driving
force of economic development.
– Five types of innovation
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New products
New methods of production
New sources of supply
The exploitation of new markets
New ways to organize business
Innovation can be seen from both big
picture and micro processes
• The broadly defined field of technological innovation
research covers diverse, yet overlapping, sets of
literature. For example:
– macro level (e.g., nation, state/province, industry sectors,
clusters) of aggregate analysis of technological innovation (e.g.,
Pavitt, 1984; Saxenian, 1991; Audretsch and Feldman, 1996; Almeida and Kogut,
1999; Frost and Zhou, 2000).
– firm level examination of strategic choice and structural
contingencies of innovative activities and the performance
implications (e.g., Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Danneels, 2002; Laursen and
Salter, 2006; Powell et al. 1996; Pisano, 1990).
– more micro level (e.g., team/planning) inquiry into the
management of innovation process (e.g., Eisenhardt and Tabrizi, 1995;
Hedlund and Ridderstråle, 1995; Nobel and Birkinshaw, 1998; Hoopes and
Postrel, 1999).
It is a broad field that intersects with
different streams of research
• The innovation literature can also been seen as a broad
field that intersects with different streams of research
– Entrepreneurship, SMEs and business venturing ()
– MNEs (Kogut and Chang, 1991; Zander, 1999; Nobel and Birkinshaw, 1998;
Frost 2001; Kuemmerle, 1999; Dunning and Narula, 1995)
– Strategic alliances, network studies (Powell et al. 1996; Pisano, 1990;
Ahuja, 2000; Hagedoorn, 1993;)
– Learning and knowledge transfer (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Hansen,
1999)
– Search (Greve and Tailor, 2000; Chen and Miller, 2007)
– Spillovers and geography of innovation (Audretsch and Feldman, 1996;
Jaffe 1993; Almeida and Kogut, 1999)
– Technical change (Nelson and Winter, 1982; Tushman and Anderson, 1986)
– Etc…
How firms go about
innovation process and
the consequences of
innovative activity
Organizational
behavior
What theoretical lenses can be
employed? How?
• Economic theories
– TCEs and governance; agency theory and incentives; IO theory and
competitive rivalry; strategic options and investment decisions
• Evolutionary, RBV, dynamic capabilities
– Nelson (1991) “Why do firms differ and how does it matter?”
• It is organizational differences, especially differences in abilities to generate
and gain from innovation, rather than differences in command over particular
technologies, that are the source of durable, not easily imitable, differences
among firms.”
• Sociological perspectives
– Network, social capital, and social embeddedness
– Institutional theory and mimetic process
– Powell (1990) networks are most pronounced in the domain between
the flexibility and autonomy of markets and the force and control of
organizational authority.
• Cognitive perspectives
– Learning
In terms of empirical approaches
• Existing studies
– range from broad-brush explorations to in-depth case
studies (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1995).
– range from archival data to questionnaire data
– are conducted in different settings (firms, industries,
countries; time periods;)
• Measuring innovation
– Existing and new indicators: what can be measured
and what are the limitations?
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R&D expenditure
Patent data
New products (introduction)
Survey: “subject” vs. “object” approach
Two papers to discuss
• Ahuja G & Lampert CM. 2001. Entrepreneurship
in the large corporation: A longitudinal study of
how established firms create breakthrough
inventions. Strategic Management Journal 22:
521-543.
• Laursen, K. & Salter, A. 2006. Open for
innovation: The role of openness in explaining
innovation performance among UK
manufacturing firms. Strategic Management
Journal 27: 131-150.
Questions
• For each paper, please discuss:
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What is the research question? Why this question?
How was the question positioned in the literature?
How have the authors developed the arguments?
What is your reaction to the main hypotheses?
Do you think the empirical approach is appropriate?
How would you assess the rigor of the empirical
analysis of the paper?
– Do you think the results make sense?
– What can you learn from the paper about how to
discuss the findings in terms of theoretical
implications, practical implications, and broader
contributions?
Challenge in Innovation Research
in the context of China
Promising areas of research may
include the following…
• Capability building of Chinese indigenous
companies
– (SOEs / private; large / SMEs; science park firms;
etc.)
• Adaptation of foreign invested enterprises
– (WOS; IJVs; new products; new business models)
• The interplay between foreign and domestic
firms
– Competition effect; spillover effect; strategic alliances;
network;
• Foreign R&D in China
– Antecedents; process; consequences;
Challenge I: Can we mapping out
the complex phenomenon
• To understand the nature of the Chinese companies in
learning and innovation
– We have learned form prior literature about Lean production
(Womach et al. 1990), N-form organization (Hudlund, 1994),
Hypertext organization (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995), J-form
(Aoki, 1988; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995), Cellular forms (Miles
et al. 1997), Modular forms (Galunic and Eisenhardt 2001),
Project-based networks (DeFillippi, 2002)
– We ask: Is there a C-form organization?
– How to delineate the impacts of social, institutional and
economic factors? Capability building and OEM? Spatial pattern
of innovation? Innovation and time? The role of local government?
Entrepreneurship? IPR regime and firms’ innovative propensity?
Patenting behavior of foreign and domestic firms?
Challenge II: How to develop Chinabased theories and discuss findings in
terms of generalizability and contributions
to the mainstream literature?
Challenge III: How to overcome the
difficulty in obtaining quality data and to
ensure the rigor of research process?
Three examples
• Su Yiyi’s dissertation
– Focus
– Setting
– Ideas and approach
• Liu Mingkun’s dissertation
– Focus
– Setting
– Ideas and approach
• Zhu Quanzhen’s dissertation
– Focus
– Setting
– Ideas and approach
Q&A
• My questions:
– What do you think are the major challenges in
conducting innovation research in China?
– What problems have you encountered in your
research?
• Your questions:
1?
2?
3?