34 research outputs found
Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Transition to Sustainability Trajectories: An Activity-Based Conceptual Analytic Framework
No full textAs the road to environmental and social sustainability is tied to large-scale systemic transitions, inevitably, sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship should be considered in their context. In this paper, we investigate how entrepreneurial opportunities develop in trajectories of sectoral transitions to sustainability. We adopt a social practice perspective and, based on insights from sectoral systems of innovation, socio-technical systems and activity theory, we develop an activity-based template/framework to represent sectors and their inherent dynamics in a structured and holistic way. The framework allows for the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities in the contradictions that emerge during transitions in the activities of sectors due to internally developed inconsistencies and/or external interventions. Hence, plausible narratives of the anticipated business futures can be constructed. It also surfaces the role of learning and knowledge creation, i.e., innovation, in resolving contradictions, thus creating value and stirring transitions in the direction of sustainability. The case study of the transition of the automobility sector to sustainability is used to test the framework proposed
Cooperation in the Conceptualization of Autonomous Strategic Initiatives: The Role of Managers’ Intellectual and Social Capital
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to explore how the social position of functional managers, as defined by their stocks of intellectual and social capital, influences their attitude towards cooperation for the integration of distributed knowledge in the conceptualization of bottom-up (autonomous) strategic initiatives. Bourdieu’s social practice theory was employed for integrating the organizational conditions in the initiative conceptualization-as-knowledge-creation process. By developing and analyzing two case studies on strategic operations, it was found that the degree of engagement in productive cooperation, and hence the potential and effectiveness of functional managers as knowledge-creating agents promoting their particular interests, are influenced by their social position which in turn depends on the path of accumulation of their intellectual and social capital resources
Information technology for supporting the development and maintenance of open innovation capabilities
No full textWe discuss ICT for Open Innovation (OI) from a capabilities perspective. We distinguish two types of capabilities for OI: strategic, which need to be developed so that the organization can take advantage of an OI strategy proactively, and operational for the efficient implementation of OI processes. ICT at the strategic level supports dynamic capabilities and related cognitive processes of managerial staff for developing and using the appropriate level of absorptive capacity and active transparency, whereas ICT as part of operational capabilities aims at enhancing the day-to-day performance of OI activities. Through analysis of capabilities, we associate specific ICT with the functionalities required in the entire OI process. Paying particular attention to the issues of collaboration and sophisticated data analysis, we also comment on the seamless integration of these technologies and their embedment in OI-related organizational processes
