Recognizing opportunities: initiating service innovation in PSFs

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the crucial initiation stage of service innovation in professional service firms (PSFs) by individual professionals and the implications for knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach-The paper builds theory, based on an in-depth review of the relevant literature. The developed theory is illustrated with a case study of PricewaterhouseCoopers AG (PwC), one of the Big Four accounting and consulting firms. Formal and informal interviews about innovation, learning in client interactions, and knowledge management were held with more than 70 employees of PwC over a three-year period. Findings-The paper shows that entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is a suitable framework to explain the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. Prior knowledge, alertness and search are identified as bases for the recognition of opportunities and hence the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. Therefore, the author argues that knowledge management should raise the alertness of individual professionals to engage in opportunity recognition and also provide a fruitful environment to enable active search for opportunities on the basis of relevant prior knowledge at hand. Practical implications-The findings aim to help managers in PSFs to understand better the initiation of innovation in their companies and enable fostering of innovation through the application of dedicated knowledge management initiatives. Originality/value-Previous research has not yet taken an in-depth look at the initiation stage of service innovation by individual professionals in PSFs. In this paper, entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is presented and applied for the first time as a framework to explain the activity of professionals in the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. In doing this, the paper also contributes to the understanding of the under-researched corporate entrepreneurial role of professionals in PSFs.

Opportunity Recognition: Conversational Foundations and Pathways Ahead

“…There is a multitude of different researchers that highlight the importance of individual aspects, especially prior knowledge, in opportunity recognition (e.g. Ardichvili, Cardozo, and Ray 2003;Baron 2006;Chandra, Styles, and Wilkinson 2009;Fischer 2011;Hajizadeh and Zali 2016;Hurmerinta, Nummela, and Paavilainen-Mäntymäki 2015;Kohlbacher, Herstatt, and Levsen 2015;Shepherd and DeTienne 2005;Zaefarian, Eng, and Tasavori 2016). In addition to prior knowledge, other factors influence the opportunity recognition process.…”

A systematic literature review of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition: insights on influencing factors

“…Kirzner (1973) introduced the theory of entrepreneurial alertness, which helps improve our understanding of opportunity processes. Since then, many scholars have agreed on the importance of alertness (e.g., Baumol 1993;Kirzner 1997;Shane and Venkataraman 2000;Gaglio and Katz 2001;Ardichvili et al 2003;Fischer 2011). Scholars have agreed that if a person's level of alertness is high, opportunities can be identified even without actively searching for them or by simply observing the phenomena.…”

İç Gi̇ri̇şi̇mci̇li̇k Üzeri̇ndeki̇ Mentorluğun Etki̇si̇nde Öz Yeterli̇li̇ği̇n Rolü

“…İç girişimcilik, "firmalarda kurumsal süreci yenileme" (Fischer, 2011) olarak karlılığı artırmak, stratejik yenilenmeyi sağlamak ve yenilikçiliği artırmak amacıyla; "kuruluşun faaliyetlerinde yenilik geliştirmek, risk almak ve çevreden gelen güçlere proaktif tepkiler" vermek olarak tanımlanmıştır (Jaen ve Linan, 2013). Bu açıdan iç girişimcilik: "bir örgüt içindeki bazı çalışanların yeni faaliyetler üstlendikleri ve yeni fırsatların peşinden gitmeleri için rutinlerden kaçtıkları bir süreç" olarak da görülmektedir (Garcia-Morales ve diğ., 2014; Halme ve diğ., 2012).…”