https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/file_store/production/239689/2DC85BAE-92DC-4141-AFD9-BF2C50D789D1.pdf

Marketing innovation : A consequence of competitiveness

Non-technical innovation: Organizational memory and learning capabilities as antecedent factors with effects on sustained competitive advantage☆

https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/preview/856390/the%20role%20of%20state.pdf

The role of state ownership and institutions in the innovation performance of emerging market enterprises: Evidence from China

The purpose of this paper is to establish how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in water, beverage, soap, detergent, metal fabrication, wood and furniture manufacturing industries can sustain or improve their competitive advantage by integrating specific resources and capabilities. The paper seeks to offer an alternative framework “resource capability-based view (RCBV)” that provides a strategic marketing direction for SMEs regarding how innovative marketing practices and dynamic marketing capabilities integrate to create sustainable market advantage.,This current paper employed a quantitative survey design with a positivist methodological research paradigm. The paper used a multi-stage stratified and simple random sampling technique to collect data from 591 manufacturing SMEs in Ghana. SMEs in water, beverage, soap, detergent, metal fabrication, wood and furniture manufacturing industries were sampled for the study. A structural equation model was employed to test the study hypotheses to arrive at the findings.,The study found that product design and packaging innovations, promotion innovations, retail innovations and pricing innovations provide sustainable market advantage for water, beverage, detergent and metal fabrication SMEs. The paper also found that new product designs and packages are the major drivers of sustainable market advantage followed by innovative retail outlets. The paper further originated that integrating marketing competence (marketing resources and marketing capabilities) and innovative marketing activities provides a marginal improvement in competitive advantage. Physical resources may result in market advantage but integrating physical resources with dynamic marketing capabilities provides sufficient competitive sustainability in a competitive market.,SMEs in water, beverage, soap, detergent, metal fabrication, wood and furniture manufacturing industries should prioritise their key marketing resources and capabilities in product designs, promotion, pricing and retailing innovations in order to sustain market advantage. Old products should not be faded from the market but rather SME managers should employ innovative retail strategies, such as eco-friendly advertising, product re-branding and digital platforms (social network sites and websites), which are important to sustaining market performance. Government must develop targeted policies to bridge the information gap between SMEs and research institutions such as universities through regular subsidised entrepreneurial training and creation of semi-annual industry-academic fairs. The main theoretical contribution of this current paper is the development of “RCBV” as a framework which shows how SMEs can integrate specific resources and capabilities to achieve sustainable market advantage. This framework offers an integrative view of conventional resource-based view and dynamic capability theory (DCT) which are independently examined in the literature.,This current study has proposed an integrated and elaborative approach to the conventional resource-based view and DCT which does not provide a composite understanding in the literature. SMEs may lack the needed resources and capabilities to introduce new products or extant product lines but this paper has demonstrated that how SME can sustain market advantage of existing product(s) by synchronously using specific marketing resources and capabilities. The proposed framework offers a guide for SMEs to integrate their physical resources and capabilities to sustain their market advantage.

Marketing innovation and sustainable competitive advantage of manufacturing SMEs in Ghana

This paper examines the relationship between customer orientation, innovation differentiation, market differentiation and organizational performance in the banking industry in Jordan. A survey of 16 Jordanian banks provides the basis for the empirical investigation. The relationships between the four latent constructs are examined using structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis. The findings show that customer orientation contributes positively to organizational performance by providing innovation differentiation and market differentiation. Another finding of this study is that the impact of innovation differentiation on organizational performance is greater than market differentiation. In addition, doing both innovation differentiation and market differentiation simultaneously achieves greater competitive advantage that leads to best results in organizational performance. Finally, this paper also discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of the results.

Gaining competitive advantage and organizational performance through customer orientation, innovation differentiation and market differentiation

Purpose – There are different views on how to gain a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) for firms. This topic has become an important research area in strategic management. The purpose of this paper is to provide an approach for Chinese firms to use as a springboard to identify sources of SCA through marketing innovation.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a cursory review of the generic literature on how to gain SCA, this paper considers innovation as a primary source of a firm's competitive advantage. From a practical viewpoint, marketing innovation is identified as a significant source of SCA, especially for those firms operating in the dynamic and competitive Chinese economic environment. Through an analysis of marketing innovations at the Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd in China, an approach is developed to help managers identify their unique sources of SCA through marketing innovation.Findings – This study reveals marketing innovation results from a considered analysis of the various marketing f...

Sustainable competitive advantage and marketing innovation within firms: A pragmatic approach for Chinese firms

Purpose: The climate for technical innovation has been improving in the past few years in China. This paper describes a case research concerning technical innovation practices success in three Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the manufacturing industry. This is executed by applying a technical innovation audit tool based on ‘Western’ good practices. 
Methodology: Studies on technical innovation in the Chinese SOEs started in the 1990s, but most investigations in this field were based on statistical survey and mathematical modelling. In this research, case study research method, including such strategies as open-ended, in-depth questions, intensive interviews and observations, are applied for the validity of information. 
Findings: The data and results reveal that the investigated Chinese SOEs have already some mechanisms for innovation in place. But there is still room for improvement and enhancement with respect to the effect on innovation success. It is also concluded that benchmarking (through the application of the technical innovation audit tool) does guide the Chinese management toward deciding which innovation mechanisms to adopt so as to provide the basics for innovation success. Additionally, based on the case studies the interesting conclusion could be drawn: In the context of the Chinese economy in transition, the case companies with less openness to the market (i.e. with high government involvement) have a more widespread use of innovation mechanisms. 
Practical Implication: The last finding seems to contradict the positive relationship between market focus and innovativeness as suggested in ‘Western’ innovation management theories. For clarification we relate this to the way the SOEs deal with their adaptive cycle, thereby considering their way of dealing with (increased) complexity as compared to ‘Western’ companies (complexity absorption versus reduction). The considered cases are embedded in the institutional setting of China in transition. Therefore, the conclusions and findings enrich the theory of transition by revealing the point that entering an open market abruptly may not be the solution for SOEs, which are rooted in a socialist economy, to become more competitive and more innovative. This was mostly elaborated through the influence of the two main stakeholders (i.e. government and customer/end user) on the openness of the SOEs and their use of innovation mechanisms in China, the largest socialist system of the world.
Originality/Value:	This paper is based on a doctoral research project, containing reliable, first hand data from the practice

/pdf/innovation-practices-success-in-china-the-use-of-innovation-30leuehbaw.pdf

Innovation practices success in China: the use of innovation mechanisms in Chinese SOEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report a recent technological innovation investigation to the Chinese enterprises with different ownerships. The goal of this research is to discuss whether there are innovation mechanisms in place, and to test the influence of the innovation mechanisms and the government policies to the Chinese enterprises' innovation performance.Design/methodology/approach – The investigation and analyses are based on a survey to the firms (n=42) from different sectors in central China, for which a research framework and analytical model of firm‐level innovation in China was developed.Findings – The paper finds that the innovation mechanisms in the Chinese firms are to a certain extent in place, and the market factor has become the driving force for the enterprises' innovation. By using the pooled‐variance t‐test for comparing means, the authors further tested that innovation mechanisms and the government innovation policies have positive influences on the innovation performance...

Technological innovation progress in Central China: a survey to 42 firms

PurposeThis paper aims to explore and analyze how a focal firm, coming from emerging economies, of the multinational technology standard alliance ecosystem engages different actors of the alliance in value co-creation practice, contributing to product collaborative innovation and reciprocal standards cooperation.Design/methodology/approachBased on in-depth interviews, primary company, and secondary documents, this paper conducts an exploratory single case study of TechAlpha to investigate the practice of value co-creation in the multinational technology standard alliance (MTSA).FindingsBased on the extended resource-based view (ERBV), this paper finds that in the MTSA ecosystem, actor engagement sets the anchor for the focal firm in the MTSA to dominate the resource interaction, achieving a greater interaction through goal co-discussion, standard co-construction and achievement co-sharing. Resource interaction is composed of standard resource identification, standard resource sharing, and standard resource alignment, putting a high value on the practice of value co-creation. Value co-creation dominated by the focal firm of the MTSA is embodied in the synergy of actor engagement and resource interaction.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the relevant literature by illustrating how the focal firm coming from emerging economies of the MTSA enables value co-creation through adjusting the situation of actor engagement and exerting its standards resource interaction. This paper also advances the process of acquisition, integration, and reconstruction of heterogeneous resources throughout the MTSA by offering a new supplementary perspective and new evidence from a Chinese firm.

Value co-creation in the multinational technology standard alliance: a case study from emerging economies

The competitive advantage of cluster firms includes the cost (basic) and the innovation (long-term) advantages. As a new virtual organizational structure of firms, cluster could effectively combine SMEs? innovation vitality with the innovation scale economy of cluster, cultivating SMEs' distinguished innovation capabilities. This paper starts with the horizontal as well as vertical level of cooperation and competition behavior among the cluster firms. Then it explores the cluster innovation mechanism for the Chinese SMEs, and its potential external economic and non-economic effects on the Chinese SMEs. It is concluded that cluster innovation will be a feasible option for the Chinese SME industrial cluster in gaining innovation advantage in the long run.

Liqin Ren

Papers

Sustainable competitive advantage and marketing innovation within firms: A pragmatic approach for Chinese firms

Innovation practices success in China: the use of innovation mechanisms in Chinese SOEs

Technological innovation progress in Central China: a survey to 42 firms

Value co-creation in the multinational technology standard alliance: a case study from emerging economies

Cluster Innovation Mechanism and Its External Effects on China's Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises