Abstract
This study analyzes how and why a firm's change program to create a market-oriented innovation process depends on its environmental, innovational and organizational context. Based on an organizational-learning capabilities framework, the results from a multiple case study indicate how a firm's change objectives, activities and approach are affected by this context. Whereas in low-tech firms a market-back approach with changes in organization structure and project management structure was effective, high-tech firms were more effective implementing a combined programmatic and market-back approach with changes also in philosophy and process management structure. The study contributes to theory by demonstrating that a firm's change program depends on its context and a one-best-way-fits-all change program is not feasible. It also shows that the change program could start with a coherent set of changes in structures, systems instead of starting with people's values and attitudes in order to change their behavior. The findings suggest that firms use a much more fragmented emergent approach to organizational change than the literature suggests. in addition, managers creating a market orientation in a key process - product innovation - need to use an approach different from a cultural change program as often advocated to change a whole organization. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 517-526 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Technovation |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug-2009 |
Keywords
- Innovation
- New product development
- Market orientation
- Customer orientation
- Contingency approach
- Strategic change
- Implementation
- ORGANIZATIONAL-CHANGE
- CUSTOMER ORIENTATION
- PERFORMANCE
- FIRMS
- IMPACT
- CAPABILITIES
- ANTECEDENTS
- STRATEGIES
- INDUSTRIAL
- MODEL