Perspectives On Innovation

Most firms perceive innovation as the best way to grow. However, how it can best be managed is still unclear. While the number of publications on innovation has skyrocketed over the past two decades, it is still increasingly difficult to gain an overview of its most critical aspects. Much has been written about the possible benefits of innovation, but there is still a lack of understanding of its downsides at the innovative firm level. This can lead to detrimental effects, such as a lower commitment to innovation, a lack of effective innovation strategy, inappropriate organizational design that does not enhance innovation, and either a too cautious or too risky approach to innovation. Thus, the book aims to explore the concept of innovation management as well as to identify the bright and dark sides of innovation in innovative firms. A better understanding of the positive and negative effects of product and process innovation expands the knowledge base on innovation management and allows managers to manage innovation in a more efficient and effective manner. This book will be valuable to researchers, academics, managers, and advanced students in the fields of management studies, strategy, and organizational studies.

Case studies, empirical models, appreciative analyses and formal theories abound.

The book offers new theoretical perspectives on innovation, analyzes innovation processes in diverse innovation fields, and presents case studies that reflect the diversity of innovations fields. To what extent and in what sense does innovation characterize our societies today? Innovations are no longer limited to the economic sphere; we find them in almost all areas of society today. Diverse actors generate innovations in different, increasingly reflexive ways. New concepts, practices, and institutional forms such as open source, crowdfunding, or citizen panels expand the spectrum.

Hardly anybody outside a company knows its products and processes better than its suppliers. Research confirms that intensive integration of suppliers in the value creation process positively influences the success of the company, particularly in highly competitive industries. This is a result of the progressing reduction in the depth of value creation of manufacturers and the increasing transfer of know-how towards suppliers. In multilevel business-to-business relationships, suppliers often have the best or the only access and comprehensive knowledge about the end users. Therefore, suppliers determine the scope of possible innovations, which most companies do not actively use. This unique volume provides a comprehensive overview of theories, concepts and especially empirical results on open innovation and the integration of suppliers. For this, authors from all over the world present their latest research results offering fascinating insights into collaborative approaches with suppliers.

There has been a dramatic shift towards more open forms of innovation. Drawing on practice-based insights, together with theoretical approaches developed in innovation studies & science & technology studies, this book brings together a collection of recent work that examines key aspects of this model of innovation.

There has been growing interest on business models among academics and practitioners in recent years, as business model describes how an organization creates, distributes and captures value and, therefore, can be considered the DNA of the organization. Recently, factors related to digital transformation, the vital role of sustainability and social aspects, along with an increasing globalization, have pushed towards radical transformations in business models. This book aims to further our knowledge on business model innovation in new contexts of analysis and with new perspectives of investigation. Insights from business model innovation are presented from studies focusing on start-ups, small businesses and large businesses to provide a bigger picture on new dynamics connected to digital transformation, sustainability, new global relationships. As such, the scope is on new ways to create value, new components and dynamics (such as digitalization and sustainability) concerning the key elements of the business model (value creation, value configuration and value capture), and new relationships between actors that may foster business model innovation. It represents a valuable resource for practitioners willing to innovate business models, academics aiming at finding new research lines, and students keen to learn more about business models.

How do great educators bring about real change to make a difference in students’ lives? In this first volume of the Routledge Great Educators Series, 10 of education’s most inspiring thought-leaders come together to share their top suggestions you need right now to innovate in your school or classroom. You will gain fresh insights and practical strategies on these essential topics: Personalizing professional learning (Jeffrey Zoul) Promoting a positive school culture (Todd Whitaker) Improving our hiring practices (Jimmy Casas) Designing spaces that maximize learning (Thomas C. Murray) Empowering students in their learning and assessments (Starr Sackstein) Flipping the classroom to reach each student (Kirk Humphreys) Positioning libraries as learning hubs (Shannon McClintock Miller) Helping others embrace technology changes (Katrina Keene) Developing personal, not just professional, skills (Dwight Carter) Embracing each student's passions and strengths (LaVonna Roth) Filled with inspiring stories throughout, the book will leave you feeling motivated to take risks and try new things in your own school or classroom. As the authors say, if we want to make a real difference, it’s not enough to do the things we do better; we must also do new and better things!

As we move further into the 21st century, increasing emphasis is being placed on the importance of technology transfer. Through new research and practices, scholars, practitioners and policymakers have made great strides in broadening our understanding and ability to implement technology transfer and commercialization processes. The fruit of that research is collected in this timely volume. Technology transfer is a dynamic area of study that examines traditional topics such as intellectual property management, the management of risk, market identification, the role of public and private labs, and the role of universities. This volume reflects on how government, business and academia influence technology transfer in different countries and how the infrastructure of a country enhances technology and contributes to each country s overall economy. Interpreting and adopting the processes of technology transfer and commercialization or, building innovative ecosystems is critical to seeing success in this digital age. Those leading the surge toward building innovative ecosystems for technology transfer are the fellows of the Institute for Innovation Creativity and Capital (IC2 Institute) at The University of Texas at Austin. Global in its scope of solving market economy problems, for this volume the Institute has focused its lens on accelerated knowledge-based development. Here, scholars from 13 countries come together to critique technology transfer from each of their respective nations. The results of their contributions lend innovative insight to exactly how different nations are working to maximize technology transfer and commercialization in uncertain times. Those with an interest in commercialization and technology transfer, from students to scholars, practitioners to policymakers, will find this important collection of great value.