This handbook looks to provide academics and students with a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the phenomenon of innovation. Innovation spans a number of fields within the social sciences and humanities: Management, Economics, Geography, Sociology, Politics, Psychology, and History. Consequently, the rapidly increasing body of literature on innovation is characterized by a multitude of perspectives based on, or cutting across, existing disciplines and specializations. Scholars of innovation can come from such diverse starting points that much of this literature can be missed, and so constructive dialogues missed. The editors of The Oxford Handbook of Innovation have carefully selected and designed twenty-one contributions from leading academic experts within their particular field, each focusing on a specific aspect of innovation. These have been organized into four main sections, the first of which looks at the creation of innovations, with particular focus on firms and networks. Section Two provides an account of the wider systematic setting influencing innovation and the role of institutions and organizations in this context. Section Three explores some of the diversity in the working of innovation over time and across different sectors of the economy, and Section Four focuses on the consequences of innovation with respect to economic growth, international competitiveness, and employment. An introductory overview, concluding remarks, and guide to further reading for each chapter, make this handbook a key introduction and vital reference work for researchers, academics, and advanced students of innovation. Contributors to this volume - Jan Fagerberg, University of Oslo William Lazonick, INSEAD Walter W. Powell, Stanford University Keith Pavitt, SPRU Alice Lam, Brunel University Keith Smith, INTECH Charles Edquist, Linkoping David Mowery, University of California, Berkeley Mary O'Sullivan, INSEAD Ove Granstrand, Chalmers Bjorn Asheim, University of Lund Rajneesh Narula, Copenhagen Business School Antonello Zanfei, Urbino Kristine Bruland, University of Oslo Franco Malerba, University of Bocconi Nick Von Tunzelmann, SPRU Ian Miles, University of Manchester Bronwyn Hall, University of California, Berkeley Bart Verspagen , ECIS Francisco Louca, ISEG Manuel M. Godinho, ISEG Richard R. Nelson, Mario Pianta, Urbino Bengt-Ake Lundvall, Aalborg

The Oxford Handbook of Innovation

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Analyzing the functional dynamics of technological innovation systems: A scheme of analysis

Research into the management of interorganizational relationships has hitherto primarily focused on problems of coordination, control, and to a lesser extent, legitimacy. In this article, we assert that partners cooperating in such relationships are also confronted with ‘problems of understanding’. Such problems arise from differences between partners in terms of culture, experience, structure and industry, and from the uncertainty and ambiguity that participants in interorganizational relationships experience in early stages of collaboration. Building on Karl Weick’s theory of sensemaking, we advance that participants in interorganizational relationships use formalization as a means to make sense of their partners, the interorganizational relationships in which they are engaged and the contexts in which these are embedded so as to diminish problems of understanding. We offer a systematic overview of the mechanisms through which formalization facilitates sensemaking, including: (1) focusing participants’ ...

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Coping with Problems of Understanding in Interorganizational Relationships: Using Formalization as a Means to Make Sense

When information technologies (IT) have a central role in organizational change programs, understanding how organization members make sense of technology is critical to influencing their actions and to achieving planned outcomes. Orlikowski and Gash articulated a theoretic framework centered on technological frames of reference (TFR) to investigate interpretive processes related to IT in organizations. The TFR framework has been cited across a wide range of publications and has formed the basis for a genre of studies on the interpretive aspects of IT and organizational change. In this article, the author assesses these research contributions and argues that further theoretic development is needed for the TFR framework to reach its potential contributions to knowledge. The author outlines the following research strategies that could facilitate TFR theory development: focusing analysis on frame structure, investigating framing as a dynamic interpretive process, and examining the cultural and institutional b...

A Technological Frames Perspective on Information Technology and Organizational Change

Existing studies suggest that, because knowledge is becoming more widely distributed, innovation increasingly needs to occur ‘at the interstices’ of collaborating groups and organizations. Networked innovation processes are therefore emphasized, over more hierarchical or market-based forms, as having distinct advantages for the creation and integration of knowledge. Whilst the structural properties of networks have been heavily scrutinized, there is relatively less understanding of processes, in particular the political dynamics that shape networked innovation. This article aims to develop understanding of networked innovation processes, by identifying and relating the characteristics of networked innovation to the productive, or constraining, effects of different dimensions of power (power of resource, meaning and process). It does this through comparative analysis of three case studies of networked innovation, each involving the development of new technology. This analysis suggests that understanding th...

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The politics of networked innovation

The political process perspective has done much to enhance our understanding of the organizational effects of technological change as a negotiated outcome reflecting the political and power dynamics of the adopting context. In so doing, we suggest, technology has been marginalized as an analytical category and the problem of change agency, although better understood, remains largely unresolved. This article addresses these issues through the articulation of the concepts of socio-technical configurations and technological frames and explores their utility in understanding change agency through an action research project. The project sought a novel form of 'socio-technology' transfer, taking ideas and concepts of 'human-centered' manufacturing embodied in team-based cellular manufacture from a European context into three firms in Australia.

Rethinking political process in technological change : socio-technical configurations and frames

The number of university–industry R&D partnerships (UIPs) has increased significantly over the past decade, in most OECD countries and in Australia, yet the study of risk in such commercially focused collaborative ventures is still a developing area. This review paper seeks to contribute to debate on this increasingly important phenomenon by addressing three key areas of risks for universities in entering such collaborations. The commercialization of research findings presents particular risks to universities, most notably the possibility of financial loss, which has a greater impact than for companies in cross‐sector collaborations. Another major type of risk faced by universities is relational risk, and this can significantly alter the trust dynamics that underpin research and innovation. There are also institutional risks to universities and their research staff engaged in commercializable R&D and, ultimately, to their reputation as a neutral source of expertise. It is argued there is a need for univer...

Facing Up to the Risks in Commercially Focused University-Industry R&D Partnerships.

Getting Smart: Developing an Action Research Approach to the Integrated Management of Technical and Organizational Innovation

This article addresses the conditions necessary for firms to implement concurrent engineering successfully. Although there has been considerable interest in concurrent engineering since the late 1980s, and many books and articles have been published on this approach to product innovation, there is still some confusion about the concept, and the issues associated with its successful implementation remain largely unresearched. This article seeks to add to the body of knowledge in these areas by drawing on recent Australian surveys and on the findings of four case studies of the introduction of concurrent engineering in Australian firms. It is argued that concurrent engineering research may be usefully extended by adopting a “sociotechnical configuration” approach to further extend the study of implementation practices. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Implementing concurrent engineering

Cross‐sector collaborations to perform R&D are on the increase, but they do involve various risks for each of the partners. Project risks in such ventures are explored through a case study, a successful collaboration involving an Australian Cooperative Research Centre and Ciba Vision, a division of the Swiss multi‐national Novartis. The analysis examines the project's success factors and its risks. The reputation of researchers, the development of mutual trust among the partners, and the importance of credible commitments made at project initiation are three key factors contributing to the success of commercially focused R&D collaborations.

Paul K. Couchman

Papers

Rethinking political process in technological change : socio-technical configurations and frames

Facing Up to the Risks in Commercially Focused University-Industry R&D Partnerships.

Getting Smart: Developing an Action Research Approach to the Integrated Management of Technical and Organizational Innovation

Implementing concurrent engineering

Managing risk in cross-sector R&D collaborations : lessons from an international case study