Abstracts
Continuous Innovation in Technology Firms: Exploring the Role of Strategic Firm Orientations
Sreedhar Madhavaram and Radha Appan, Cleveland State University, United States
Pelin Bicen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States
The importance of innovation as a major source of sustainable growth cannot be underestimated for any firm. In particular, markets that are characterized by a rapid pace of technological changes (Hills \& Sarin 2003; Mohr and Sarin, 2009) highlight the vitality of innovation for firms. As Tellis, Yin, and Niraj (2009) note, firms in high-technology markets are growing at a faster rate than economy as a whole and generate significant returns for their shareholders. However, it is a challenge to keep up with the pace of innovation in high-tech markets. In fact, very few firms have the ability to innovate continuously and keep up (Economist, 2013). In addition, there is lack of systematic research that explores this important phenomenon. In this paper, we focus on three important issues: the nature of continuous innovation, the role of marketing and R\&D interface, and strategic orientations of firm as main drivers of continuous innovation.
First, in the last decade, Hill and Sarin (2003), Ofek and Sarvary (2003), and Slater and Mohr (2006) introduced the concept of continuous innovation into marketing research. For Hills and Sarin (2003), firms drive the market through continuous, radical and incremental innovations in market offerings. On similar lines, Ofek and Sarvary (2003) note that firms can retain their lead position only through increasing investments in R&D and marketing that, in turn, helps them come up with a continuous supply of next-generation products. For Slater and Mohr (2006), strategic orientation can help firms continually develop disruptive innovations. Though scholars have initiated discussion on this concept, there needs to be a more systematic exploration to understand its nature and drivers.
Second, historically, the marketing and R&D interface has been known to be a vital mechanism in firms’ innovation efforts. For example, Krishnan, Tadapelli, and Park (2009) note that the interaction between firm’s marketing capabilities and R&D functions enhances the ability to generate innovative technologies. Also, as noted earlier, for Ofek and Sarvary (2003), firms can retain their lead position only through increasing investments in marketing and R&D. Building on previous research, we argue that the strength of the firm’s marketing and R&D interface can help firms with reference to continuous innovation.
Third, as noted by Slater and Mohr (2006) and Carpinetti, Gerolamo, and Galdamez (2007), strategic orientation direct firms in their innovation efforts. In marketing and management strategy literatures, several firm ``orientations'' have been developed and researched that drive firm performance. An orientation is supposed to give strategic guidance to the firm. For example, market orientation, which is the implementation of marketing concept (e.g., Day and Moorman, 2010), provides guidance to the firm. In addition, there are other strategic orientations such as internal customer orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation, and technology orientation that have been researched upon. In this paper, we explore how such orientations can be effectively integrated in helping the continuous innovation efforts of firms.
Addressing the aforementioned issues, a conceptual framework is developed based on three foundational arguments: (1) a strong marketing and R&D interface, as captured in connectivity, cooperation, knowledge exchange, and knowledge integration, can help firms in their continuous innovation, (2) strategic firm orientations such as internal customer orientation, market orientation, and learning orientation can help firms in their continuous innovation through the marketing and R&D interface, and (3) strategic firm orientations such as learning orientation, technology orientation, and entrepreneurial orientation directly influence firms’ continuous innovations. Also, this paper elaborates on the nature of continuous innovation and includes approaches to market learning, development of new market offerings, development of internal processes, and development of new marketing programs under firms’ continuous innovation efforts.
About the Author(s)
SREEDHAR MADHAVARAM (Ph.D., Texas Tech University) is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Cleveland State University. His work has been published in or has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Industrial Marketing Management, the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, the Journal of Advertising, Psychology & Marketing, the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review, and others. A frequent presenter at national and international conferences, his research interests include marketing strategy, marketing theory and concepts, marketing communications, marketing pedagogy, organizational knowledge, and sales management.
RADHA APPAN (Ph.D., Texas Tech University) is an Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science at Cleveland State University. Her work has been published in or has been accepted for publication in MIS Quarterly, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Information and Management, Psychology & Marketing, and others. In addition, she has also published her work in the proceedings of several national and international conferences. Her research interests include strategy and information systems, systems analysis and design, online auction markets, human decision making, and e-commerce related trust issues.
