scholarly journals Social Capital and Sustainable Innovation in Small Businesses: Investigating the Role of Absorptive Capacity, Marketing Capability and Organizational Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Xin ◽  
Fangcheng Tang ◽  
Shuwei Zhang ◽  
Zhen Pan

Facing resource constraints and fierce competition, it is relatively difficult for small firms to achieve product innovation to gain sustainable development independently. Previous studies have explored the positive relationship between social capital and product innovation, yet there is still a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanism and the boundary conditions. Drawing upon the dynamic capabilities framework, we expect that absorptive capacity and marketing capability will mediate the relationship between social capital and new product development. Moreover, since product innovation is considered a process of learning, we also examine the moderating effects of explorative learning, and exploitative learning within moderated mediation models. Employing a sample of 221 small firms based in China, we find that social capital is indeed positively associated with new product development and is simultaneously fully mediated by absorptive capacity and marketing capability. Furthermore, the impact of absorptive capacity on new product development is amplified when a condition of explorative learning exists. This study, therefore, advances the current understanding on the predictors of innovation and enriches the dynamic capabilities theory, and also provides empirical support for the sustainable development of small firms.

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 1850019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tor Guimaraes ◽  
Ketan Paranjape ◽  
Mike Cornick ◽  
Curtis P. Armstrong

Purpose: Important determinants of new product development success fall into five main areas encompassing strategic leadership, competitive intelligence, management of technology, specific characteristics of the company's innovation process, and the company's absorptive capacity to use available knowledge to produce and commercialize new products. Unfortunately the existing knowledge on each of these five areas is not being shared by researchers in the other areas, thus the models are focused on the particular research area. This study tests these constructs as a set of determinants of product innovation success. Design/methodology/approach: A field test using a mailed questionnaire to collect a relatively large sample of manufacturing companies has been used to test the proposed model. To eliminate possible multicollinearity among the independent variables, a multivariate regression analysis was used. Findings: The results provide clear evidence about the importance of competitive intelligence, strategic leadership, competitive intelligence, management of technology, specific characteristics of the company's innovation process, and company absorptive capacity with company success in new product development. Research limitation/implications: Despite the relatively broad scope of the proposed model, other factors may also be important and should be included in future studies. Practical implications: The items used for measuring the main constructs provide further and more specific insights into how managers should go about developing these areas within their organizations. Originality/value: While the study is grounded in the literature of what until now have been five separate areas of knowledge, it proposed a unique integrated model for these areas important to new product development.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (06) ◽  
pp. 1750040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nnaemeka Vincent Emodi ◽  
Girish Panchakshara Murthy ◽  
Chinenye Comfort Emodi ◽  
Adaeze Saratu Augusta Emodi

This study investigates the factors influencing the Chinese manufacturing industry’s innovation and industrial performance utilizing a panel data approach on a sample of Chinese manufacturing enterprises over the period of 2008–2013. The industries were grouped according to related sectors into five groups, a general group was also created which included the whole data sample. The study found that research and development (R&D) expenditure positively influenced the growth of product innovation and industrial performance, but not necessarily knowledge innovation and export performance. Also, expenditure on new product development had a positive impact on both innovation and industrial performance. The growth of patent application was discovered to be influenced by an R&D project and foreign patent license. Finally, the number of enterprises and firm size (i.e. number of employees) contributed positively to the industrial output performance. The findings suggest that industrial R&D and new product development influences the success of product innovation and sales performance. The study recommends that the government should set up policies that will stimulate industrial R&D, while supporting technology transfers from foreign partners. Most importantly, government policies on the development of the industry should be addressed on a sectorial level and not a “one-size-fit-all” type of policy.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilert Puriwat ◽  
Danupol Hoonsopon

PurposeThis study is to compare the impact of organizational agility and flexibility on performance of each type of product innovation (radical vs incremental innovation). Additionally, the moderating effect of technological turbulence on the relationship between the two types of organization is examined.Design/methodology/approachBased on gaps in the existing literature, the survey data are collected from managers who are in charge of developing new products in three industries: food and beverage, chemical and machinery (N = 431). Confirmatory factory analysis is used to verify measurement items and regression analysis is used to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that organizational agility increases performance in radical innovation both in a certain situation and an environment with technological turbulence. In contrast, the impact of organizational flexibility is limited to increasing performance in both radical and incremental innovation performance in a certain situation.Originality/valueOur study extends the knowledge of organizational agility and flexibility in the domain of product innovation. Adaptation of organization to respond the technological turbulence will stimulate creativity of new product development teams to produce new useful ideas and transform these ideas to product innovation. The different types of organizing a new product development team to handle technological turbulence will provide different results in product innovation performance. In addition, the findings provide a recommendation on how the organization of a new product development team can improve performance in each type of product innovation under technological turbulence.


Author(s):  
Rao Sanaullah Khan ◽  
Saw Lin Kiat ◽  
John Mark Grigor

Functional foods, being one of the major food categories of the global health and wellness market, are becoming a major focus of new product development (NPD) in the food industry. The development of functional foods is more complex than traditional food New Product Development (NPD), calling for a concerted effort from researchers and NPD experts to explore and understand the functional food product development (FFPD) process in more detail.  The current research in this field has reported that there is a need to evolve from a traditional NPD approach, towards an integrative and innovative approach involving cooperative networks and techniques of commercialization. However, there is little practical evidence on how much progress has been made to date.  Therefore, this research was designed to investigate the food product innovation process of food manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific region (Singapore) with reference to functional foods development. Results report on a comparative account of NPD practices between registered Singapore food companies that are doing some sort of functional food development (Group 1) and those that are not (Group 2). A significant difference (P<0.05) in the aims and mode of NPD between Group 1 and Group was observed. Further it was observed that food companies in Group 1 have significantly (P<0.05) more diverse external collaborations with broad aims to collaborate, in comparison with food companies in Group 2.  This is a positive step toward developing an external resource base, which is essential in developing functional foods. This attitude should be encouraged in future innovation polices as being critical to value-added food product innovations in Singapore.  Apart from these differences, food companies are still pursuing a traditional NPD approach (independent and closed NPD); with loose Intellectual Property protection practices irrespective of type of innovation activity. There is a need to create awareness among the stakeholders about the factors needed for developing unique and inimitable resources, and dynamic capabilities in food manufacturing. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 3271-3293
Author(s):  
Mesbahuddin Chowdhury ◽  
Girish Prayag ◽  
Vidya Patwardhan ◽  
Nischal Kumar

Purpose Using social capital theory, this study aims to investigate internal social capital (ISC) and external social capital (ESC) as determinants of knowledge sharing intention (KSI) and new product development (NPD) in high-end restaurants. Design/methodology/approach A theoretical model is developed and tested using data collected from 523 respondents (owners/proprietors, partners and managers) from high-end restaurants in Karnataka, India. Partial least square structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data. Findings The results suggest that ISC has a significant and positive influence on ESC. This highlights the important role of ISC in building ESC. While ISC has a positive relationship with KSI, ESC has no influence on KSI. KSI has a positive effect on NPD. Practical implications Restaurant managers and owners should invest time and resources in building ISC by nurturing relationships with employees and partners. Encouraging and rewarding collaborative behaviors internally will facilitate the development of external relationships. Results also suggest the existence of an optimum level of knowledge sharing with external partners in restaurants. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between ISC and ESC, and test the effects of both KSI and NPD in high-end restaurants.


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