Alignment and Alliances for Research Institutes Engaged in Product Innovation. Two Case Studies

Weerd-Nederhof de, Petra and Fisscher, Olaf (2003) Alignment and Alliances for Research Institutes Engaged in Product Innovation. Two Case Studies. Creativity and Innovation Management, 12 (2). pp. 65-75. ISSN 0963-1690

PDF
Restricted to UT campus only: Request a copy
81Kb

Abstract:	Research institutes mainly engage in product innovation for the purpose of applying, testing and usually also transferring knowledge or technology. Managing product innovation processes in this type of environment leads to various problems with the establishment and managent of alliances and alignment. In this paper a systematic analysis of product innovation at two energy research institutes is presented, paying explicit attention to the strategic alliances in terms of alignment mechanisms. The cases illustrate clearly how the research institutes manage their external networks for product innovation, allowing comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the two research institutes, and an indication of lessons to be learned from each other. The systematic analysis contributes to the identifying of the appropriate product innovaiton objectives to be pursued through strategic alliances, as well as the determination of suitable alignment mechanisms for product innovation. Lessons learned are presented in the area of context and contingency influences, crossing organizational barriers, differences in culture and the balancing of operational effectiveness and strategic flexibility.
Item Type:	Article
Copyright:	© 2003 Blackwell
Faculty:	Management and Governance (SMG)
Research Group:	Operations, Organization and Human Resources (OOHR)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/58300
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8691.00270
Export this item as:	BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager

Show download statistics for this publication

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Metis ID: 124456