Innovation Management Software can promote Entrepreneurial Ecosystems by consolidating an organization’s innovation programs, stakeholders, and resources in one place. In this study, we highlighted the digitalization of innovation processes. We focus particularly on the factors influencing the adoption of a specific class of software tools called Innovation Management Software (IMS) or Digital Innovation Management System to support innovation management methods and activities. Specifically, we address the two questions (a) which specific functionality drives the adoption of IMS tools, and (b) which services of IMS providers are valuable in supporting the adoption of IMS by organizations aiming to digitalize their innovation processes. By using an online questionnaire, we gathered survey data from 199 innovation managers of German firms. We used regression analysis to test our hypotheses. While the overall IMS adoption is considered to positively affect the new product development (NPD) efficiency, our results indicate that especially idea management functionalities and services for updates and upgrades improve the IMS adoption. Surprisingly, offering complementary consulting services together with IMS offerings to support the digitalization of innovation processes reduces the likelihood of IMS adoption. These findings are important for managers, consultants, and developers in order to choose and leverage the right options for improving the adoption of IT tools in the NPD process and therefore increase NPD performance and thus also promote Entrepreneurial Ecosystems.

This paper uses the theoretical perspectives of disruptive innovation, network externalities, and regulation to study the submarket strategies of incumbent firms that operate in a regulated

Purpose Previous research has highlighted the digitization of innovation processes and outcomes especially with regard to the impact of information technology (IT) on new product development (NPD). Instead of analyzing generic IT usage in the NPD, the purpose of this paper is to explore the influencing factors on the adoption of specific software tools to support innovation management methods, called innovation management software (IMS) and their specific functionality. Design/methodology/approach The authors used an online questionnaire and gathered data from 99 innovation managers of German industrial firms to explore which functionalities embedded in the tools such as aided innovation methods and activities influence the adoption of IMS. Findings This study’s results indicate in contrast to the previous assumptions in the literature that the likelihood of IMS adoption by innovation managers is positively influenced if the IMS tools offer support functionality for idea evaluation and portfolio management but decreased for idea generation and scenario management. Therefore, this paper can show, that the digitalization of the innovation process though IT tools is more finely nuanced than a “the more – the better” logic often promoted in the digitalization context and proposed in the literature on IMS before. Originality/value These findings advance the understanding of technological and organizational drivers of the transformation toward the digitalization of the innovation process from the perspective of innovation managers, who intend to do so by successfully introducing and using IMS in their NPD. Additionally, suppliers of IMS get valuable empirical-based indications from the user perspective that potentially supports their development and sales activities. From a theoretical perspective, this study extends prior research on IT usage and digitalization in the innovation process by expanding to an under-researched category of digitization for the innovation manager perspective aspects of the NPD activities.

No abstract

Due to the quick advancement of science and technology, the services sector which has a high content of knowledge and technology has experienced globally expeditious development in the past decade. Development in general and the growth of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) such as Information and Communication Technology services (ICT services) in particular are at the core of the major trends that are restructuring the economic landscape of not only German but also Chinese economies.In Germany, in the new era of service economy, more emphases are put on KIBS instead of the traditional giant clusters of steel manufacturing and auto manufacturing. Especially in Bavaria, high technology clusters are prospering. The ICT services in Bavaria accounts for 40% of all software companies in Germany. A lot of ICT services clusters can be found, including IT Speicher, FIWM, BICC-NET, etc. Similar cases can be found in Shanghai, where a number of government driving as well as market pulling ICT services cluster are also coming into being.Previous empirical evidence shows an asymmetric bipolarity in the location behavior of KIBS. There is a general predominance of low concentration due to equal diffusion of these services in many regions, and a high concentration in some regions located at the top of the spatial hierarchy, particularly capital cities. . Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX on 03/25/15. For personal use only.The current exploratory research, drawing upon cluster theory and network theory, aims at discovering the cluster features both from the perspective of the company executives in the cluster. Using the data collected through interviews and questionnaire surveys from company managers, incorporated with current theoretical framework and, through integration and analysis, important features of the cluster such as network mechanism are calculated both in Bavaria and Shanghai. We check the supply side as well as the demand side of the reasons why clusters are formulated in the first place, and they both have a positive effect on the network mechanism of the cluster. The network mechanism has a positive effect on innovation performance of the ICT service companies. The reasons are also discussed. Suggestions are provided for policy making about the KIBS cluster forming for both regions and the cooperation in these fields, especially in terms of service outsourcing relationship. Valuable implications for deciding the location for a KIBS company on the firm level are also provided.