دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی شیوه های نوآوری تولید کنندگان B2B و ارائه دهندگان خدمات - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

Service innovation is of critical importance for western economies. But, in sharp contrast with product innovation, the service innovation literature is fragmented and it is not clear to what extent B2B service innovation differs from B2B product innovation. This article contributes to this ongoing debate by analyzing the innovation practices of 372 B2B product manufacturers and service providers. The findings show that, compared to B2B products-focused firms, B2B services-focused firms are overall less sophisticated in their innovation practices: they manage less explicitly for innovation, have lower innovation expectations, favor incremental innovation and, when they do initiate more innovative or radical projects, they spend less time taking them to market. Nevertheless, they have innovation outcomes that are equivalent to products-focused firms. This study also acknowledges the reality that the vast majority of B2B firms actually offer product-service hybrid offerings to their customers. It shows that most B2B firms offer both products and services to customers, and that mixed product strategy firms with 75% products (services) and 25% services (products) are most committed to innovation. Therefore, firms need to simultaneously develop both new products and related services and are looking for the concepts and tools to effectively do so.

5. Discussion

5.1. Theoretical contributions

An increasing number of firms, both service providers and firms offering combinations of products and services, are turning to the innovation literature for help in designing effective service innovation processes. Indeed, the “hybrid” product-service firms are perhaps the most interesting, since they represent both the current complexity of innovation in B2B firms and, as cited in the popular press, the future of B2B innovation. Indeed, this analysis shows that these hybrid firms are slightly more higher-tech, spend more on R&D and spend more on radical innovation, supporting these popular press contentions. This study produces six contributions to extant theory on product/service innovation, including demonstrating support to our overarching hypothesis that B2B service innovation is less sophisticated than B2B product innovation.

5.1.1. The current innovation practices of B2B firms and B2C firms are very similar

Our sample consisted of 243 B2B and 129 B2C firms. Their innovation practices are very similar in: innovation-supporting cultures (in both attitudes towards risk and actively managing for innovation), innovation strategies, innovation revenue goals (goal size and number of years), percentages of sales spent on R&D, R&D allocations across products and services and across radical, more innovative and incremental projects, innovation processes, and intellectual property protection. The only empirical differences between B2B and B2C firms are that B2B firms are less likely to have an innovation strategy or to use innovation revenue growth targets, and they are less efficient in eliminating less promising innovation projects during the early stages of idea screening and business analysis.