Topic: MANAGING INNOVATION ASSIGNMENT
Total: Deadline: Nov 7, 2013 20:00 UTC+03:00
Number of parts: 1 parts
Number of pages: 2 pages
Price initial by Customer: n/a
Order details: Type of paper needed: Writing > Coursework
Topic category: Other
Academic level: College (3-4 years: Junior, Senior)
Number of Sources required: 0 Paper format: not defined
Paper instructions:
MANAGING INNOVATION ASSIGNMENT
QUESTION 1( WEEK 6 VIDEO –Small is beautiful by E.F. Schumacher on appropriate Technology – 1 – you tube). Watch the video and comment on it.
100 WORDS PLUS REFERENCES.
QUESTION 2. (W6TDQ1)
What are the key innovation networks and why is this important in the innovation process? Provide examples.
150 WORDS PLUS REFERENCES
QUESTION 3. (W6TDQ2 )
What are some of the key challenges of managing innovation networks?
150 WORDS PLUS REFERENCES
QUESTION 4. ( Review the case under Week 6 Assignments. Your assignment is to do the following):
1) Provide a summary of the case.
2) Discuss the key issues in the case.
3) Evaluate how issues are resolved.
4) Provide a conclusion to the case.
Each of the four sections should be one detailed paragraph. You should use essay format in your analysis with a title page and double spacing. The total length of the paper should be 300- 400 words.
WEEK 6 CASE REVIEW
EXECUTIVE BRIEFING
Written by:
Dr. Luke Pittaway
Dr. Maxine Robertson
Dr. David Denyer
Dr. Kamal Munir
Professor Andy Neely2
Written by:
Dr. Luke Pittaway, Dr. Maxine Robertson, Dr. David Denyer, Dr. Kamal Munir, Professor Andy Neely
AIM – the UK’s research initiative on management
The Advanced Institute of Management Research
(AIM) develops UK-based world-class management
research. AIM seeks to identify ways to enhance
the competitiveness of the UK economy and its
infrastructure through research into management
and organisational performance in both the private
and public sectors.
about AIM
AIM consists of:
¦ Over 100 AIM Fellows and Scholars – all leading academics in their fields…
¦ Working in cooperation with leading international academics and specialists
as well as UK policymakers and business leaders…
¦ Undertaking a wide range of collaborative research projects on management…
¦ Disseminating ideas and shared learning through publications, reports,
workshops and events…
¦ Fostering new ways of working more effectively with managers and policy makers…
¦ To enhance UK competitiveness and productivity.
AIM’s Objectives
Our mission is to significantly increase the contribution of and future capacity
for world class UK management research.
Our more specific objectives are to:
¦ Conduct research that will identify actions to enhance the UK’s international
competitiveness
¦ Raise the quality and international standing of UK research on management
¦ Expand the size and capacity of the active UK research base on management
¦ Engage with practitioners and other users of research within and beyond the
UK as co-producers of knowledge about managementforeword
contents
As I join AIM, as the initiative’s new director, I am delighted
to see the early work of our AIM Scholars come to fruition.
The AIM Scholars scheme takes some of the UK’s best and
brightest young academics and sets them the challenge of
summarising what is known about specific topics.
This report, the first in a series, deals with the issue of networks and how these
help firms become more innovative. The report is underpinned by a systematic
review, which involved the AIM Scholars looking at over 600 publications dealing
with the issues of networks and innovation.
The best of these papers were summarised and the core themes from this vast
body of knowledge synthesised. It is this background material that was used
to develop the i-works concept and associated report.
I trust that you find the report of interest and value and invite you to contact
my colleagues and I at AIM if you would like to discuss this, or our other related
work, more fully.
Professor Robin Wensley
Director, AIM Research
3
AIM – the UK’s research initiative
on management 2
About AIM 2
Foreword 3
Executive review 4
Introduction 6
Characteristics of innovative networks 8
Conclusions 12
Biographies 14executive review
4
Improving the competitiveness of the UK economy
is a national priority. Recent studies – the Porter
Report
1
and the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) Innovation Review2
show that the UK
lags behind its major competitors in terms of
productivity. There is a growing consensus that
closing the productivity gap relies on transforming
the UK from a low cost to a high value economy.
Innovation – the successful exploitation of new ideas – is a
prerequisite for a high value economy. Despite an impressive
science base, the UK lags behind other developed economies
in converting new ideas into commercial applications. Both the
Porter Report and the DTI Innovation Review identified networks
as vital to the creation, dissemination and exploitation of ideas.
As part of its ongoing work, the DTI asked AIM to undertake
further research into the state of networking and innovation in
the UK. This report provides an overview of the findings of a team
of management scholars selected by AIM to review existing
research on business-to-business networks and innovation. 5
Key findings
It is clear that networks play a major role in the innovation process. Moreover, a
certain type of high value network is far more effective at sparking innovation. We call
these Innovation Networks or i-works. i-works have the following characteristics:
¦ Highly diverse: network partners from a wide variety of disciplines and
backgrounds who encourage exchange about ideas across systems
¦ Third party gatekeepers: science partners such as universities, but also consultants
and trade associations, who provide access to expertise and act as neutral
knowledge brokers across the network
¦ Financial leverage: access to investors via business angels, venture capital firms
and corporate venturing which spreads the risk of innovation and provides market
intelligence
¦ Proactively managed: participants regard the network as a valuable asset and
actively manage it to reap the innovation benefits
For firms, access to i-works offers a potent source of new ideas and competitive
advantage. Fostering relationships with such networks should be seen by firms as
a critical capability.
The research also points to the need to encourage the formation of and participation
in i-works. More research is required to understand the full implications for firms
and policymakers. 6
The Porter Report and the DTI Innovation Review highlighted weaknesses in the UK’s
competitive position. In particular, they identified low productivity compared to other
major developed economies. At present, for example, the UK trails rivals like the US,
France, and Germany on a number of important measures including:
¦ Output per hour worked in key sectors including financial and business
services and distribution
3
¦ Business R&D expenditure per worker
4
¦ Business investment as a percentage of GDP
5
To close the gap, both reports concluded, the UK must move from being an economy
that competes on low cost to one that competes on high value. Higher levels of
innovation are a prerequisite to making this transition. Innovation allows companies
and countries to benefit from the technological and scientific advances that are
changing the world more rapidly than ever before.
But on two vital indicators of innovation, business R&D and patents, the UK trails
the US and is falling behind other international competitors. Overall, R&D spending
as a percentage of UK GDP declined from 1.5% of GDP in 1981 to 1.16% in 1997.
And by 2003 it had risen only marginally to 1.83%.
6
Where the UK does score highly is with its strong science base. Using a measure of
scientific papers published, adjusted for population, it is well ahead of its international
rivals including the US, Germany, France, Canada and Japan.
7
What is clear, however,
is that the UK is failing to convert its scientific research advantage into products and
services. One way to increase the rate of this conversion of ideas into profitable
products and services is through better networking.
The power of networks
To gain a better understanding of how business networks in particular affect innovation,
AIM asked a team of scholars to examine what research has been carried out in this area.
The findings confirm that networks are an essential part of modern economic life.
As technologies increasingly converge to create new products and entire new markets,
the knowledge required for such innovations is increasingly scattered within and among
organisations. As a result, innovation processes are becoming more extended and more
complex. Harnessing these pockets of knowledge requires firms and individuals to
collaborate in more interactive ways. Networks play a vital role in facilitating this collaboration.
As the diagram opposite shows business-to-business networks are complex.
Networks provide important benefits including:
¦ Access to external knowledge
¦ Risk sharing
¦ Access to new markets and technologies
¦ Faster time to market
¦ Pooling complementary skills
introduction
One way to
increase the rate
of innovation is
through better
networking.7
Yet many questions about how networks support innovation remain unanswered.
For example: How should firms position themselves within networks? What kinds
of networks contribute most to innovation?
While more research is required to explore these issues, the AIM research did
identify that networks with certain characteristics are more likely to foster innovation.
AIM Conceptual Framework: Networking and Innovation
Networking
Consultants
Professional
Associations
Science Partners
Suppliers
THE FIRM
Network Governance
Network Management
Distributors Competition
Co-suppliers
Customers
Science Parks
Incubators
Industry Networks
Trade
Associations
Business Clubs Clusters
Investment
Networks
Centres for
Collaboration
The power of networks – the biotech industry
The biotechnology industry highlights the value of networking. Biotech companies
translate scientific discoveries into commercial technologies and new medical products.
To do this they need, among other things: large amounts of capital to fund costly
research; assistance with management and clinical trials; and later on, experience with
the regulatory approval process, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and sales.
The technological and scientific knowledge required to stay on top of such a field is
diverse. The industry is complex and changing rapidly. Many new areas of science are
converging or have become inextricably intertwined – from genetics, biochemistry, cell
biology, general medicine, computer science, even to physics and optical sciences.
Modern biotechnology is a set of technologies relevant to a wide range of disciplines
and industries.
As all the necessary skills and organisational capabilities needed to compete in the
industry are not readily available under one roof, biotech firms enter into a wide array
of alliances to gain access to different competencies and knowledge. These alliances
may be with larger pharmaceutical companies, for example, that provide a set of
organisational capabilities that biotech firms are lacking, or they may be with research
institutes and other specialised firms to stay abreast of the latest technological and
market opportunities. Ultimately, however, success in the biotech industry depends
on a firm’s ability to access knowledge and skills located beyond its organisational
boundaries. Without access to the appropriate network partners and the skills to
manage the process of networking a biotech firm would be unable to compete
and survive.
