As a response to the call for cumulative knowledge in ecosystem research, this paper focuses on ecosystem literature from the perspective of a focal firm. Through an in-depth analysis of modern and classic ecosystem conceptual works, this paper clarifies the theoretical underpinnings of the structure view and the coevolution view of ecosystems. Whereas according to the structure view an ecosystem features

This study explores how start-up firms raise funds at founding. Using a data set of firms founded in the manufacturing, and information and communications technology sectors of Japan during the 2003–2010 period, we examine whether founders’ human capital, including technological human capital, impacts the initial funding of start-up firms. The results reveal that start-up firms managed by entrepreneurial

This paper investigates how business and innovation strategies explain companies' responses to transformational pressures in a mature industry. The analytical framework combines two perspectives on business and innovation strategies: competitive position and resource position. Based on an embedded case study of eight companies in the Swedish pulp and paper industry, the paper contributes to previous

Past lead user research has provided strong empirical support for the claim that lead users tend to innovate independently. While the innovation activity itself is well documented, little is known about whether users' ideas and solutions also reach manufacturers' organizations. Recent research indicates that the majority of user discoveries remain limited only to local use and are rarely presented

Many nations have been investing significant funds in cyberinfrastructure for sciences (commonly known as “CI” or “e-science”) in the last few decades. The purpose of these investments has been to advance scientific progress in the supported scientific disciplines such as biodiversity and ecological research. However, there is scare research on how these CI investments impact scientific progress. We

Big Science aims to answer fundamental questions regarding our Universe and represents a great example of how science can lead to innovations that generate a positive impact. Big Science has a great deal of scientific, economic, and social relevance. The objective of this study is to better understand how Big Science impacts innovation through transfer mechanisms and spillovers. To accomplish this

Due to the industrial features of high resource dependence and high state-owned shares, the impact of the environmental information disclosure (EID) and technological innovation information disclosure (TIID) on the financial performance of Chinese coal listed companies remains unknown. This paper selects 26 listed coal companies in China from 2014 to 2018 as empirical research objects, combined with

The degree to which inter-firm research and development (R&D) networks benefit a firm's exploitative and exploratory innovation depends on two factors: (1) the kind of knowledge that the firm can access from networks and (2) how the firm acquire these knowledge resources through its connections. Utilizing a knowledge-based view of the firm, we argue that related and unrelated network knowledge diversity

This paper explains the performance outcomes of markets for technology. It examines whether, and in what context, licensing agreements function as signals of innovativeness that influence investors' evaluation of public companies and if they are consistent ex post the announcement. Joining the literature on markets for technology and signalling theory, it distinguishes the outcomes related to the expectation

As product development has recently emphasized user innovation, it should necessarily reflect customer-perceived value, as well as technological value itself. However, while previous studies for technology planning have focused on analyzing the potential of technology, they have not considered the customer-perceived value that technology can create in a new product. Therefore, this research suggests

With the tides of new entrants constantly driving the extension of an industrial technology trajectory, how does the new entrants' divergent technological backgrounds impact their cross-industry innovation performances? To answer this question, we investigated the new entrants' pre-entry technological background, including their accumulated technology (T1) different from that of their targeted industry

In recent decades, there has been growing interest in intrapreneurial capabilities. The intrapreneurship and strategic management literatures have insights for entrepreneurs about how to apply entrepreneurial and strategic techniques and concepts in creating competitive advantage. More specifically, the dynamic capabilities framework has emerged as a useful tool for managers to better develop and manage

Digitization blurs the lines between technology and management, facilitating new business models built upon the concepts, methods and tools of the digital environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data in terms of how businesses manage their digital transformation. The paper argues that the outbreak of IoT and Big Data has resulted in

Accelerators are a fast-growing form of entrepreneurship support. Literature about them remains descriptive and disjointed. While some consider them new, others believe them to be a next-generation incubator model. Based on a qualitative inductive study in India, with inputs from both accelerator executives and founders of accelerated ventures, we shift the analysis from the form (accelerator) to its

While science parks represent one of the most important policy initiatives to stimulate firm development and growth, their contributions are still highly debated. This paper takes a novel customer-oriented approach to disentangle the contributions science parks provide to their tenants. Particularly, we qualitatively explore when and how science park tenants reach customer satisfaction and how tenants

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the innovation processes of technology development across the Valley of Death. Hitherto, studies of the innovation process for this difficult early phase in technology development have implied a linear progression or have privileged the contribution of intermediaries channelling government-funded support. By making use of process theories, and pursing a novel action

The study aims to clarify the behavioral patterns of technology transfer professionals (TTPs) required in university technology commercialization. In the past, TTPs simply transferred technology using functional skills and experience gained in specific science/business fields; however, now they are often required to be entrepreneurial in the process, as mentioned in the literature and manuals on the

The management literature defines modular innovation as a way to make technological changes in product modules that does not necessarily change the product architecture. However, engineering science shows that new product modules not only change the product architecture, but they can also be used for technologically radical next generation products. Therefore, there seems to be a misalignment in how

This paper addresses how a technology holding company (THC) affects university inventions crossing the Valley of Death (VoD). A THC, which is a new incubation model, is a specialised organisation for establishing spin-offs as subsidiaries and commercialising university inventions. This study verifies the effects of THCs on the incubation productivity of universities by conducting a propensity-score

Firms invest much of their capital into basic research in order to generate new ideas and technologies. However, converting new technology concepts into marketable products is difficult, and firms struggle with transitioning projects from a knowledge discovery to product development, a gap referred to as the Valley of Death (VoD). While the concept of VoD has been well documented, the literature provides

The essential cause of the ‘Valley of Death’ (VoD) is the reluctance of the private sector to invest in technologies which are perceived as immature. However, uncertainty about whether a new product or technology complies with regulatory frameworks may also have an important effect on private sector investments. We use the cases of the Critical Path Initiative, in the pharmaceutical industry, and the

This paper explores and explains how, why and with what consequences business angels' trust in the entrepreneur affects their decisions to invest, reinvest or withdraw funding in the Valley of Death (VoD). Drawing on the VoD literature and on business angel research, we retrospectively study two contrastive cases of success and failure of French start-ups operating in the IT sector over a period of

This study provides a fine-grained analysis of the decision-making process and criteria underling the evaluation and selection of nascent corporate ventures. By integrating a small sample case-based analysis and the examination of a longitudinal dataset comprising 14 years of archival data, it explores the selection and funding process of early-stage entrepreneurial initiatives supported by the internal

We address the lack of studies focusing on internal organizational sponsorship mechanisms, while considering environmental influencers and focus on a specific type of organizational sponsorship to do so: Business incubators. We argue that to be able to offer a customized incubatee-strengthening service pack, incubator-incubatee interaction is key, requiring clear-cut and directive service co-development

Fintech innovations are enabling access to financial services through mobile devices for many unbanked in the world. Though fintech innovations are touted as game changers in deepening financial inclusion, their wide acceptance and use still remain limited. In the extant literature, technological and behavioural antecedents that influence users’ behaviour toward financial technologies are not fully

Developing marketable products based on proprietary technologies is the key to success in many firms, but it is still a big challenge. Factors explaining when technologies are more likely to lead to a marketable product are not fully understood yet. This gap calls for further research on this important topic. The present paper addresses this issue by focusing on specific characteristics of technologies

The generation and adoption of technologies have been considered key factors in resolving inconsistencies in research on the innovative phenomenon, though few studies have taken this stance. In this paper, we empirically test the validity of this theoretical framework, using the data of 87,911 surveys of firms in 13 European countries from CIS-2012. This information has allowed us to find strong evidence

Technology opportunity analysis has been the subject of many prior studies, although most of them have focused on discovering new technology ideas in a single narrow domain. This study proposes a product landscape analysis to identify product areas (i.e., potential technology opportunities) across multiple domains that firms can enter based on the technological capabilities embodied in their existing

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have received a lot of attention over the last few years. Although the technological/pedagogical aspects of MOOCs have been well articulated in the literature, empirical evidence substantiating MOOCs' role in university outcomes is scarce. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the relationships among (a) ordinary capabilities that are necessary to achieve

With the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), digital technology changes how banks translate new customer demands into new products and services. To achieve this translation, banks should increase their intrapreneurship capability through Individual-level Innovative Behavior (IIB). However, research on how to manage and promote manager's IIB in the workplace is still

University spin-offs are important mechanisms for creating and capturing value from scientific inventions. Academic scientists are uniquely positioned to shape such opportunities long before the university spin-off is founded. To better understand how science-based university spin-offs can be endowed for success, the pre-formation stage of 30 ventures co-founded over a 40 year period by a star-scientist-entrepreneur

Evidence suggests the growing importance of interorganizational relationships in developing intrapreneurial capabilities. In this paper, we argue that exploitation- and exploration-oriented network ties strengthen intrapreneurial capabilities in dynamic environments. To do so, we integrate the underlying assumptions of asset positions in the dynamic capabilities perspective with the open innovation

This paper studies the extent to which higher education graduates with higher intrapreneurial skills – creative, brokering, and championing skills – are more involved in innovation. Crucially, we differentiate between graduates employed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations and those employed in business occupations. Using data on higher education graduates from 11

We examine business planning for new firms created in the digital age, knowledge-intensive organizations that may rely primarily on adapting to dynamic environments with little predictability. This study compares the prevalence of planning for entrepreneurial versus intrapreneurial ventures, as well as for those in highly dynamic environments versus those in more mature and less dynamic environments

Today, firms encounter scarce resources and rapid technology change which render formerly successful business models obsolete. Research shows that some firms perform better than others in continuously discovering, evaluating, and exploiting opportunities in volatile environments and that this is dependent on firm’s dynamic capabilities. Besides obtaining dynamic capabilities through internal R&D activities

The aim of this special issue was to investigate the mechanisms behind China’s innovation ecosystem by viewing the key participants at multi-level: firms, research institutes, universities, intermediaries, supply-chain systems, governments and so forth. There were interesting threads connecting research on innovation participants throughout the submitted papers. Briefly, the following topics were addressed:

Concurrent increase in the degree of competition and access to information makes it both a challenge and necessity for firms to develop their ability to sense, seize and exploit knowledge-based advantages. Since absorptive capacity reflects an organization's ability to extract innovative ideas from its environment, it plays a critical role in fostering intrapreneurship and innovative performance within

While the importance of absorptive capacities for the engagement in innovative activities has been addressed in numerous studies, the drivers remain an open question. As absorptive capacities are indispensably linked to an individual's human capital, the management of these capacities needs to consider the mobility of individuals. We focus on absorptive capacities as an operationalization and essential

The innovative output of nations is partly explained by the strengths of its innovation ecosystems. The Iranian Lalejin city has been home to a ceramics and pottery industry for at least 200 years. Despite showing resilience over the years and occasional success; e.g. the 2016 “World Pottery Capital” designation; the industry is facing plummeting demand for consumer artifacts and rivalry from competitors

This study investigates the approach required to achieve competitive advantages in the digital supply chain. Moreover, the study examines how digital transformation of companies can fuel smart technologies, leading to improved relationship performance. The results of the survey given to 280 Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) show that digital transformation of the companies alone cannot

Internet of things (IoT) brings new opportunities and represents a new source of welfare and efficiency. However, the emerging consumer IoT platform competition creates the risk of monopoly power due to network effects. Overall, it is likely that both competition (incentivized through lowering consumer switching costs) and cooperation (achieved through interoperability, which enables data portability

While there is a prevailing rich body of studies on the role of university knowledge transfer office (KTO) in the commercialization process as part of the Third Mission, research on its role in community engagement activities is relatively neglected, even as funding agencies and policy makers conceive these as instrumental to sustaining social and economic development. This article focuses on the role

As firms increasingly adopt online contests to improve their innovation projects, research is needed to determine which design factors make a contest successful. We examine the effects of the innovation contest brief, the description of the problem and the requirements for the potential solutions on contest performance. We focus on the length and readability of the brief and test both their effects

The concept of innovation ecosystems has become popular during the last 15 years, leading to a debate regarding its relevance and conceptual rigor, not the least in this journal. The purpose of this article is to review received definitions of innovation ecosystems and related concepts and to propose a synthesized definition of an innovation ecosystem. The conceptual analysis identifies an unbalanced

Given the complexity of sourcing choices in R&D, driven by conflicting points of difference, scholars have struggled to formulate clear theoretical predictions about which sourcing choices lead to superior performance. Our study contributes to the elucidation of this question by studying both the antecedents and performance consequences (project cost and duration) of alternative sourcing choices in

Accelerators are a recent yet rapidly growing phenomenon within entrepreneurial ecosystems. The distinctive characteristics exhibited by accelerators, relative to previous incubation models, imply that accelerators may play a different role and have a different impact on the survival rates of participating firms. In this study, we explore the relationship between participation in an accelerator program

The Chinese high-tech industry has developed greatly since the beginning of China's “National High-tech R&D (863) Program” and “China Torch Program”. This paper introduces a conceptual model extended from the innovation value chain model to simultaneously estimate the R&D and commercialization efficiencies for the high-tech industries of 29 provincial-level regions in China. To match reality, a network

Although it has been suggested that institutional context influences a firm's innovation performance, the role of regulatory institutions has been underexplored. Extending previous research, this study investigates whether and how regulatory institutions (i.e. state ownership, region-specific marketization and industry-specific institutional policy) affect innovation performance of emerging market

Generalizability is the goal for scientists (both social and natural). In the social sciences invoking generalizability is more problematic as it is often based on assessment of a mainstream population, but may not apply to groups outside of the mainstream. This is a significant challenge to developing appropriate policy and interventions suitable for Other groups. An example is given of how this concern

This paper contains an exploratory analysis of the business model innovations (BMIs) that firms in cultural and creative industries (CCIs) undertake along their life-cycle. Despite the role that creative and cultural and creative firms (CCFs) have in the economic development of industrialised countries, they tend to remain small and often fail due to industry-specific constraints and tensions, such

At its extremes, the review process is the part of publishing that can lead to either non-publication of research or transformation of good work into a seminal article. While this process has tremendous importance and impact, very little is written about it. Consequently, a brief article is provided to offer advice and guidance in assisting new and experienced researchers in navigating this process

This research aims at exploring IoT devices appropriation process from a consumer's perspective. Using qualitative interviews on smart watches consumers, we identify four various stages of the appropriation process: symbolic appropriation, exploration, use construction and stabilization. Through the DIVA framework, our results show that the appropriation process is a dynamic phenomenon relying on both

Recent studies suggest that the effectiveness of open innovation (OI) can significantly differ among firms. One possible reason is the different ways of implementing OI strategies. Another is the ignorance of the explicit role of business model (BM). In this study, we integrate the two plausible explanations by exploring the impact of the interplay between different OI implementations and BM on firms’

Amazon jumped up to the world's top Research and Development (R&D) firm in 2017. Such a rapid and notable increase in R&D investment has raised the question of a new R&D definition in the digital economy, which Amazon insists includes both “routine or periodic alterations” (traditionally classified as non-R&D) and “significant improvement” (classified as R&D), as Amazon transforms the former into the

Imaginary technical devices and machinery portrayed in the James Bond films are known to have inspired real innovation activities. This paper investigates the dynamics of cultural entrepreneurship behind this phenomenon. It presents a hermeneutic analysis of the James Bond film series which identifies various patterns in the portrayal of technology which create labels and vocabularies for innovation

To heed the recent calls for more inquiries into the endogenous nature of governance decisions, this study aims to develop a comparative perspective on the performance implication of the project interface design in the context of international scientific cooperation. Using Heckman's two-stage model in a sample of 217 international scientific cooperation projects sponsored by the Taiwanese government

The Triple Helix (TH) interactions among innovation organizations have become increasingly important for national science and technology development. Yet, few studies in the extant literature have investigated their effects on the participants' scientific performance. This study fills in this research gap by exploring whether the scientific performance of research institutes is influenced by their

The study applies the lens of resource orchestration theory to examine the nature of the relationship between technological competence and product innovation in new technology-based firms, and the moderating effects of the entrepreneur's political competence and prior start-up experience. Drawing upon a sample of 100 young technology-based firms, the results show that technological competence has an

This research provides knowledge and builds theory related to how and why consumers engage in unsolicited innovation with existing products in order to create new ones. Specifically, this research presents an in-depth qualitative exploration of the motivations consumers have for innovating with existing offerings, of their reasons for innovating autonomously from the organization(s) linked to the source

This study examines the interdependence between research and development (R&D) resources, coopetitive performance, and extent of cooperation in development-related standardization settings that involve network effects. Coopetitive performance is measured as the firm's influence on the change process of standards. Cooperation is measured as the number of firm technology partners in influencing industry