Innovative and socially motivated village development in a regional context: The Grythyttan case

The typical study object in business administration is a private company. It is also common in that discipline to analyse groups of companies like networks or clusters. Moreover there are many studies on public and idealistic organizations. In this study however, we will not focus on companies or organizations. Rather we want to shed light over villages (or small towns). The study object is "village development", and especially such kind that is a) socially motivated, b) intended and conscious, and c) has parallels to innovation and entrepreneurship. Most studies on local communities are based on political science, geography, economics, or architecture. Classical references include Marshall (1919) and Beccattini (2004) on industrial districts or von Thünen (1826) on economic geography. Most studies (except architecture) are characterized by a high level of abstraction. One main point in this paper is the analysis of village development from a strategic perspective, and therefore the study is based primary on business administration theory. Villages are not the core interest of the discipline business administration. There exists however exceptions like Johannisson (1978) on local networks or Kotler et al (1993) on "place marketing". In this paper we focus on Grythyttan. We relate that village to another village in the same region. The two villages experienced decline from the years dominated by industrial businesses. But while Grythyttan has transformed to a gastronomic centre there are few positive signs of development in the other village. The question is: Why? The first aim is to derive success factors, but also other factors (and pattern of events) that affected the process. The second aim is to develop a visual language for description of village development processes. A third aim is to connect the micro level analysis with some meso and macro aspects of the region to which Grythyttan belongs. The empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews with key persons related to the case during the years 2002-2010. The data collection also included participation, photographing and archive-work. Books, reports and statistical databases were used as well

Agriculture 4.0: broadening responsible innovation in an era of smart farming

Agriculture is undergoing a technology revolution supported by policy-makers around the world. While smart technologies will play an important role in achieving enhanced productivity and greater eco-efficiency, critics have suggested that a consideration of social impacts is being side-lined. Research illustrates that some agricultural practitioners are concerned about using certain technologies. Indeed, some studies argue that agricultural societies may be changed, or ?re-scripted?, in undesirable ways, and there is precedent to suggest that wider society may be concerned about radical new technologies. We therefore encourage policy-makers, funders, technology companies, and researchers to consider the views of both farming communities and wider society. In agriculture, the concept of responsible innovation has not been widely considered, although two recent papers have made useful suggestions. We build on these interventions by arguing that key dimensions of responsible innovation - anticipation, inclusion, reflexivity, and responsiveness - should be applied to this fourth agricultural revolution. We argue, however, that ideas in responsible innovation should be further developed in order to make them relevant and robust for emergent agri-tech, and further that frameworks should be tested in practice to see if they can actively shape innovation trajectories. In making suggestions on how to construct a more comprehensive framework for responsible innovation in agriculture, we call for: (i) a more systemic approach that maps and attends to the wider ecology of innovations associated with this fourth agricultural revolution; (ii) a broadening of notions of ?inclusion? in responsible innovation to account better for diverse and already existing spaces of participation in agri-tech, and (iii) greater testing of frameworks in practice to see if they are capable of influencing the innovation process

Relationship Between Firm's Performance and Factors Involved in the Selection of Innovation Providers

Innovation is the backbone of the product development in present era for the survival of the corporate organization in the respective market. Changing trends in every passing day are making the product development more competitive and innovative. This paper investigates the relationship between firm’s performance with respect to outsourcing innovations and factors affecting the selection of contract research organizations or innovation providers. The research is conducted by a self-designed instrument in the form of a survey form on 112 respondents internationally in 17 countries. The paper will give empirical relationship among firm’s performance, outsourcing innovations and six major factors, which play a vital role in the selection of CROs. Proposed hypotheses in this article are based on empirical relationship, which is validated by SPSS 24. The findings support the conceptual model and offer many managerial implications, which are described in detail at the end of the paper

Questioning two myths in innovation literature

Which knowledge is most important in the completion of innovative processes? In which contexts does such knowledge develop? The combination of an in-depth case study, theory and reasoning formed the platform from which conclusions could be drawn. One conclusion is that the strategic knowledge necessary for innovation not only concerns technology. It is rather about business intelligence, funding, marketing and other non-technical areas. Moreover, the production and development of frontline knowledge and research is not the sole province of universities. In many areas, companies are far ahead of universities. Both conclusions differ from the assumptions in mainstream innovation literature. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.</p

Innovation in the Arts : Lessons from the Creation of Dalhalla

Innovation is crucial for progress in many parts of society including the arts. A lot of innovation theories have also emerged in the literature, however most of them focus on business firms and technology. Moreover, the term, innovation, is not always defined. This article attempts to deepen the understanding of innovation, both at a general and specific level, although its focus is arenas for classical music. Three research questions were formulated: 1) What was the original meaning of the innovation concept? 2) What shape can innovation have in the area of opera and classical music arenas? 3) Which barriers as well as stimulating factors affect innovation processes in the context of novel arena creations? The theoretical basis is a selected spectrum of innovation theories derived from an analysis of the international innovation literature. The first perspective is the diffusion theory, originated by Gabriel Tarde and followed up by Hirsh Zvi Griliches, Bryce Ryan, Neal Gross and Everett Rogers. The second perspective, termed the Great-Man theory, is represented by Friedrich Nietzsche, Donald A. Schon, Robert A. Burgelman and Diana L. Day.The third perspective is called collective determinism, and put forward by sociologists such as William F. Ogburn and Seabury Colum Gilfillan. The fourth perspective is represented by Joseph Schumpeter. Focus here is innovation in economic development. The fifth perspective is about innovation processes and formulated by authors such as Kenneth Arrow, Arnold Cooper, Gordon Foxall, Andrew van de Ven, Robert G. Cooper, Steven C. Wheelwright and Kim B. Clark. The sixth perspective consists of evolutionary theories and is represented by not least Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter. The final perspective is the open innovation and key players here are Eric von Hippel, Henry Chesbrough, and Clayton M. Christensen. Besides these innovation perspectives an etymological study of innovation is included, and this theoretical platform – the theories and the etymology – is then encountered with a case study on how Margareta Dellefors created Dalhalla in Sweden, an opera and classical music arena. Because of the combination of nature and art, Dalhalla gained world fame. The case study opens Schumpeter's black box "creative destruction" and it deepens the understanding of barriers and stimulating factors. The analysis ends up in a definition of innovation and a new model of innovation, called the innovation cube. This model positions phenomena that are “candidates of innovations” by means of the three dimensions originality, impact and time. </p

Innovationen som tog skruv

Läkaren och professorn emeritus Per-Ingvar Brånemark avled 20 december 2014. Han etablerade området osseointegration, strukturell förbindelse mellan levande ben och ytan av ett artificiellt material, som i dag utnyttjas för allt från höftleder och fästelement för silikonproteser till hörapparater. 2011 fick Brånemark priset European Inventor Award i kategorin Lifetime achievement av det europeiska patentverket. Men processen från uppfinning till berömmelse var tidvis turbulent – både i medicinskt och ekonomiskt perspektiv.Per Frankeliuse artikel Innovationen som tog skruv utsågs till Årets artikel 2015 i Läkartidning i kategorin Övriga artiklar.</p