ABSTRACT Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how a company which developed an envir... more ABSTRACT Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how a company which developed an environmentally friendly innovation attempted to address diffusion issues. Specifically, the purpose is to describe the ways in which an electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure company, in partnership with a major car manufacturer, tried to address barriers to diffusion of an environmentally friendly innovation during the development stage to improve the likelihood of success and lessons learned from its failure. Design/methodology/approach - The authors explore a single instrumental case of an Israeli company that developed infrastructure for EVs in partnership with a major automaker. The authors collected data using a series of semi-structured interviews at the companies' headquarters, through direct observation in the company, and through the examination of archival and secondary data sources. Findings - The authors find that the company tried to incorporate design features in both the product and organization to address key diffusion barriers identified through survey and consumer focus research. The study maps product/service design innovations for infrastructure that combined with multi-stage organizational diffusion strategies for EVs, were used to address both functional (usage, value, and risk) and psychological (tradition and image) barriers for mass-market adoption. Practical implications - The study provides insights on how to incorporate information about barriers to adoption into product/service design and on the development of organizational-level diffusion strategy to address changes of customer's behavior required by certain innovative sustainable solutions. In addition, the authors speculate potential causes for more recent developments with the technology that can serve as a lesson for future projects. Originality/value - Past studies have advanced the knowledge about issues surrounding the adoption and diffusion of EVs. The study expands this stream of research by focussing on product/service and organizational strategy design and by illustrating, through an empirical exploratory case study, how a company attempted to overcome these obstacles. The authors advance various propositions and point out potential exciting avenues for future research on the dissemination of environmentally friendly innovations.
ABSTRACT Innovation contests allow firms to harness specialized skills and services from globally... more ABSTRACT Innovation contests allow firms to harness specialized skills and services from globally dispersed participants for solutions to business problems. Such contests provide a rich setting for Operations Management (OM) scholars to explore problem solving in global labor markets as firms continue to unbundle their innovation value chains. In this study, we examine the implications of specific types of diversity in innovation contests on problem-solving effort and success. First, we conceptualize diversity among contestants in terms of national wealth (measured as Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPP) adjusted for purchasing power parity) and national culture (measured using the culture dimensions of performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance) and examine how such factors influence problem-solving effort. Next, we examine how differences between contestants and contest holders in terms of the above factors influence contest outcomes. Using data from a popular online innovation contest platform and country-level archival data, we find that contestants from countries with lower levels of GDPP are more likely to exert greater problem-solving effort compared to other contestants. With regards to national culture, we find that performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance have positive and negative effects, respectively, each of which weakens with increasing levels of GDPP. Finally, our analysis provides evidence of homophily effects indicating that contestants who share greater similarities with the contest holder in terms of national wealth and national culture are more likely to be successful in a contest. We discuss the implications of the study's findings for contest holders and platform owners who organize innovation contests, and for emerging research on innovation contests.
ABSTRACT Innovation contests are being widely used by firms to generate creative ideas and identi... more ABSTRACT Innovation contests are being widely used by firms to generate creative ideas and identify solutions to complex problems. Using a large panel dataset on real world innovation contests, we explore the effects of participation strategies and prior experience on the likelihood of winning in unblind innovation contest settings. Our results indicate that contestants differ widely in their strategies and such differences play a significant, but non-obvious, role in their success. In particular, we find that contestants whose entry pattern mimics the traditional new product development funnel process have a higher likelihood of winning. We also find evidence that prior experience enhances the likelihood of winning, and winning experience is significantly more important than participation experience. Taken together, the study’s findings generate novel insights on the nature of problem solving in unblind innovation contests and have important implications for the theory and practice of innovation contests.
We analyze a stylized duopoly model of price competition between an online firm and an offline fi... more We analyze a stylized duopoly model of price competition between an online firm and an offline firm, both selling a single physical product in a single period. We assume the value a consumer ascribes to purchasing the product includes both the utility of the product itself and the ...
ABSTRACT Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how a company which developed an envir... more ABSTRACT Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how a company which developed an environmentally friendly innovation attempted to address diffusion issues. Specifically, the purpose is to describe the ways in which an electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure company, in partnership with a major car manufacturer, tried to address barriers to diffusion of an environmentally friendly innovation during the development stage to improve the likelihood of success and lessons learned from its failure. Design/methodology/approach - The authors explore a single instrumental case of an Israeli company that developed infrastructure for EVs in partnership with a major automaker. The authors collected data using a series of semi-structured interviews at the companies' headquarters, through direct observation in the company, and through the examination of archival and secondary data sources. Findings - The authors find that the company tried to incorporate design features in both the product and organization to address key diffusion barriers identified through survey and consumer focus research. The study maps product/service design innovations for infrastructure that combined with multi-stage organizational diffusion strategies for EVs, were used to address both functional (usage, value, and risk) and psychological (tradition and image) barriers for mass-market adoption. Practical implications - The study provides insights on how to incorporate information about barriers to adoption into product/service design and on the development of organizational-level diffusion strategy to address changes of customer's behavior required by certain innovative sustainable solutions. In addition, the authors speculate potential causes for more recent developments with the technology that can serve as a lesson for future projects. Originality/value - Past studies have advanced the knowledge about issues surrounding the adoption and diffusion of EVs. The study expands this stream of research by focussing on product/service and organizational strategy design and by illustrating, through an empirical exploratory case study, how a company attempted to overcome these obstacles. The authors advance various propositions and point out potential exciting avenues for future research on the dissemination of environmentally friendly innovations.
ABSTRACT Innovation contests allow firms to harness specialized skills and services from globally... more ABSTRACT Innovation contests allow firms to harness specialized skills and services from globally dispersed participants for solutions to business problems. Such contests provide a rich setting for Operations Management (OM) scholars to explore problem solving in global labor markets as firms continue to unbundle their innovation value chains. In this study, we examine the implications of specific types of diversity in innovation contests on problem-solving effort and success. First, we conceptualize diversity among contestants in terms of national wealth (measured as Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPP) adjusted for purchasing power parity) and national culture (measured using the culture dimensions of performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance) and examine how such factors influence problem-solving effort. Next, we examine how differences between contestants and contest holders in terms of the above factors influence contest outcomes. Using data from a popular online innovation contest platform and country-level archival data, we find that contestants from countries with lower levels of GDPP are more likely to exert greater problem-solving effort compared to other contestants. With regards to national culture, we find that performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance have positive and negative effects, respectively, each of which weakens with increasing levels of GDPP. Finally, our analysis provides evidence of homophily effects indicating that contestants who share greater similarities with the contest holder in terms of national wealth and national culture are more likely to be successful in a contest. We discuss the implications of the study's findings for contest holders and platform owners who organize innovation contests, and for emerging research on innovation contests.
ABSTRACT Innovation contests are being widely used by firms to generate creative ideas and identi... more ABSTRACT Innovation contests are being widely used by firms to generate creative ideas and identify solutions to complex problems. Using a large panel dataset on real world innovation contests, we explore the effects of participation strategies and prior experience on the likelihood of winning in unblind innovation contest settings. Our results indicate that contestants differ widely in their strategies and such differences play a significant, but non-obvious, role in their success. In particular, we find that contestants whose entry pattern mimics the traditional new product development funnel process have a higher likelihood of winning. We also find evidence that prior experience enhances the likelihood of winning, and winning experience is significantly more important than participation experience. Taken together, the study’s findings generate novel insights on the nature of problem solving in unblind innovation contests and have important implications for the theory and practice of innovation contests.
We analyze a stylized duopoly model of price competition between an online firm and an offline fi... more We analyze a stylized duopoly model of price competition between an online firm and an offline firm, both selling a single physical product in a single period. We assume the value a consumer ascribes to purchasing the product includes both the utility of the product itself and the ...
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Papers by Cheryl Druehl