Innovation processes and the small business: a conceptual analysis

International Journal of Business Performance Management

Volumn 2, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 276-292

  Atherton, Andrew ^a   Hannon, Paul D ^b  

^a DURHAM UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

awareness; business performance management; business strategy; capability; Innovation processes; learning and development; small firms

Indexed keywords

EID: 13644274737     PISSN: 13684892     EISSN: 17415039     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2000.000084     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. The Economist (1999) ‘A survey of innovation in industry’, London: The Economist.
2. Soderquist, K. and Chanaron, J. (1997) ‘Managing innovation in French small and mediumsized enterprises: an empirical study’, Benchmarking for Quality Management and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp.259–272.
3. Hoffman, K., Parejo, M., Bessant, J, and Perren, L. (1981) ‘Small firms, R&D, technology and innovation in the UK: a literature review’, Technovation, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.39–55.
4. Peter Drucker, when writing the prologue for the re-issue of his 1985 book Innovation and Entrepreneurship [5] noted this recent growth in interest in innovation. He observed that “‘Innovation’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ have become ‘buzz words’ in the ten years since this book was written and first published”.
5. Drucker, P. (1985) Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Butterworth-Heunemann, London.
6. Zhuang, L. (1995) ‘Bridging the gap between technology and business strategy: a pilot study on the innovation process’, Management Decision, Vol. 33, No. 8, pp.13–21.
7. Lowe, A. (1995) ‘The basic social processes of entrepreneurial innovation’, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.54–76.
8. Dierckx, M. and Stroeken, J. (1999) ‘Information technology and innovation in small and medium enterprises’, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp.149–166.
9. Feldman, M. and Audretsch, D. (1999) ‘Innovation in cities: science-based diversity, specialization and localized competition’, European Economic Review, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp.409–429.
10. Dickson, K. and Hadjimanolis, A. (1998) ‘Innovation and networking amongst small manufacturing firms in Cyprus’, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp.5–17.
11. Tibbets, R. (1997) ‘The role of small firms in developing and commercializing new scientific instrumentation: lessons from the US Small Business Innovation Research Programme’, Paper presented to the International Conference Equipping Science for the 21st Century, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
12. Panizzolo, R. (1998) ‘Managing innovation in SMEs: a multiple case analysis of the adoption and implementation of product and process design technologies’, Small Business Economics, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.25–42.
13. Galliers, R. and Baets, W. (1998) ‘Information technology and organizational transformation: innovation for the 21st century organization’, People, Vol. 11, No.4.
14. Jin, Z. (1999) ‘Organizational innovation and virtual institutes’, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.75–83.
15. Zhuang, L., Williamson, D. and Carter, M. (1999) Innovate or liquidate – are all organizations convinced?’ A two-phased study into the innovation process’, Management Decision, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp.57–71.
16. Kucamarski, T.D. (1996) ‘What is innovation? The art of welcoming risk’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp.7–11.
17. This definition derives from the description of innovation presented by Peter Drucker in ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ [5]. Our definition has, however, been extended to recognize the centrality and importance of the process management challenge and competencies required for successful innovation.
18. Ozsomer, A., Calantone, R. and di Benedetto, A, (1997) ‘What makes firms more innovative? A look at organizational and environmental factors’, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Vol. 12, No. 6, pp.400–416.
19. Hakansson, H. (Ed.) (1987) Industrial Technology Development: a Network Approach, Croom Helm, London.
20. Yin, R. (1995) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
21. Romano, C. (1989) ‘Research strategies for small business: a case study approach’, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 7, No. 4.
22. Cohen, L. and Manion, L. (1998) Research Methods in Education, 4th Edition, Routledge.
23. Bryman, A. (1992) ‘Quantitative and qualitative research: further thoughts on their integration’, in Mixing Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Research, J. Brannen, (Ed.) Aldershot, Hants: Avebury.
24. Patton, D. (1999) ‘’Research methodology, training and small firms’, Appendix Two to the Final Report A Joint National Research Project – Small Firms Training Impact Assessment: Phase One, published by the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative and the Centre for Enterprise.
25. Rubin, H.J. and Rubin, I.S. (1995) Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data, Sage Publications, Inc.
26. Atherton, A. and Hannon, P. (1997) ‘Strategic awareness and the process of innovation’, Journal of Enterprising Culture, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.193–208.
27. Kitwood, T.M. (1977) ‘Values in adolescent life: towards a critical description’, unpublished PhD Dissertation, School of Research in Education, University of Bradford (reported in Cohen and Manion, [22]).
28. Marshall and Rossman (1995) reported in Patton, D. (1999) Research Methodology, Training and Small Firms, SFEDI and Centre for Enterprise.
29. Hycner, R.H. (1985) ‘Some guidelines for the phenomenological analysis of interview data’, Human Studies, Vol. 8, pp.279–303.
30. Travers, R.M.W. (1972) extract quoted in A.H. Halsey (Ed.) Educational Priority: Volume One: E.P.A. Problems and Policies, HMSO, London (reported in Cohen and Manion, 1998).
31. Stenhouse, L. (1979) What is action research?’, Norwich C.A.R.E., University of East Anglia, Norwich, Mimeo – (reported in Cohen and Manion, [22]).
32. Carr, W. and Kemmis, S. (1986) ‘Becoming critical’, The Falmer Press, Lewes (reported in Cohen and Manion, 1998).
33. Atherton, A. and Hannon, P. (1995) ‘Thinking about strategic awareness’, Durham: Durham University Business School, Small Business Centre Occasional Papers Series.
34. Carrithers, M. (1992) Why Humans Have Cultures: Explaining Anthropology and Cultural Diversity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35. It is important to note that the nature of strategy, or direction, is neither pre-determined nor standard across the SME population. Several determinants can influence the nature of the business’s perception of its future. In some cases, a strategy or vision can be informal; in others, it is developed and articulated via formal channels. Depending upon the management style of the business, a general direction, and hence a strategy of direction, may be held by the owner-manager or a small number of individuals. Conversely, views on the future of the business may be shared clearly and explicitly throughout the business. Perhaps the most challenging determinant of the nature of strategy and vision is the degree to which it is formulated explicitly or whether it emerges tacitly.
36. Gibb, A. (1997) ‘Small firms training and competitiveness. building upon the small business as a learning organisation’, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.3–12.
37. Gooding, R. and Kinicki, A. (1995) ‘Interpreting event causes: the complementary role of categorisation and attribution processes’, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp.1–22.
38. Tversky, A. and Kahneman, D. (1974) ‘Judgement under uncertainty: heuristics and biases’, Science, Vol. 185, pp.1124–1131.
39. Schwenk, C. (1986) ‘Information, cognitive bias, and commitment to a course of action’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 11, pp.298–310.
40. Taylor, S. (1982) ‘The interface of cognitive and social psychology’, in J. Harvey, (Ed.) Cognition, Social Behavior and the Environment. Hillsdale, New Jersey; Lawrence Erlbaum.
41. Taylor, S., and Crocker, J. (1983) ‘Schematic bases of social information processing’, in E. Higgens, C. Herman, and J. Zauna, Social Cognition: The Ontario Symposium, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey.
42. Johannison, B. and Peterson, R. (1984) ‘The personal networks of entrepreneurs’, Third Canadian Conference of the International Council for Small Business, Toronto, 23–25 May.
43. Although not necessarily immediately apparent, the emergence of needs from problems and opportunities need not be a complex task. Once the problem or opportunity has been identified and accurately diagnosed, specific needs can be formulated by identifying what needs to be done to take advantage of the opportunity or to resolve the problem. This can be considered a series of: “What do we need to do in order to resolve/take advantage of this…?”
44. This term has been borrowed from a categorization of entrepreneurial activity [45], which identifies three types of entrepreneurship: refining, allocative and catalytic. Ongoing interaction with the businesses involved in both the research and the management development program highlighted the strong tendency for innovation in the smaller business to be the allocation into new contexts of existing ideas and solutions, and the need for modification and tailoring generated by the re-allocation. Both refining and catalytic forms of innovation were not as commonly identified in the participating smaller businesses.
45. Binks, M. and Vale, P. (1990) Entrepreneurship and Economic Change, McGraw Hill.
46. Hill, R. and Levenhagen, M. (1995) ‘Metaphors and mental models: sensemaking and sensegiving in innovative and entrepreneurial activities’, Journal of Management, Vol. 21, No. 6, pp.1057–1074.