Innovating beyond technology: Studies on how management innovation, co-creation and business model innovation contribute to firms’ (innovation) performance Defended on Thursday, 1 October 2015

Innovation is generally considered to be a cornerstone of organizational survival in many of today’s dynamic and competitive markets. However, the technological domain of innovation has received prevalent attention. This dissertation goes beyond the dominant focus on technological innovation in innovation studies by examining how and under which conditions several types of non-technological innovation contribute to firm performance. To accomplish this goal, it focuses on three non-technological types of innovation that recently have received increased attention to be important sources of competitive advantage: management innovation, co-creation with customers, and business model innovation. The studies presented in this dissertation advance our understanding of how, and under which conditions, management innovation and co-creation with customers contribute to exploitative and exploratory product and service innovations. They also provide new insights into how and at which levels of environmental dynamism two basic types of business model innovation, i.e. replication and renewal, contribute to firm performance.

Study I identifies common and emerging areas of research, and sets a series of research priorities for management innovation. Study II finds that investments in research and development (R&D) have an inverted U-shaped effect on radical product innovations, in particular for firms with lower levels of management innovation. However, in firms with high levels of management innovation, this relationship becomes J-shaped. Study III shows that new management practices, i.e. management innovation, have an increasingly positive effect on a firm’s exploitative innovation performance. However, the larger the firm, the more this relationship moves from a positive linear relationship to one that is more J-shaped. Study IV finds that co-creation with customers, conceptualized as relationship learning, has an inverted U-shaped effect on exploitative innovation, while the effect of this learning on exploratory innovation is positive. Additionally, the informal coordination mechanism connectedness among organizational members flattens the negative effect of higher levels of relationship learning with customers on exploitative innovation. Finally, Study V advances our understanding by differentiating between and conceptualizing two basic types of business model innovation, replication and renewal, and by describing their key characteristics. Additionally, it shows that environmental dynamism weakens the positive effect of business model replication on firm performance, while business model renewal contributes more strongly to firm performance in environments characterized by intermediate and high levels of dynamism than in relatively stable settings, i.e. with low levels of dynamism.

All in all, these five studies advance our understanding of how, and under which conditions, management innovation, co-creation with customers, and business model innovation contribute to firm performance and it provides multiple avenues for future research that should further reveal the importance of innovating beyond the technological domain.

Keywords

Innovation; management innovation; co-creation; business model innovation; firm performance; types of non-technological innovation; technology; exploration; exploitation; competitive advantage


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