Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Este estudio comprende un análisis estadístico sobre los resultados del diagnóstico de estrategia de innovación en 52 grupos de investigación de una Universidad en Medellín – Colombia, para validar el estado actual de los grupos frente a la innovación, sus estrategias, estructuras de equipos de desarrollo y otros temas relevantes. La metodología fue diseñada por el Grupo de Investigación de Política y Gestión Tecnológica, fundamentada en diferentes modelos: Metodología de Gestión Tecnológica por proyectos, diagnósticos de innovación de Albacete, Cataluña y metodología de estrategia de innovación de Melissa Schilling. Los resultados ofrecen una base para la formulación e implementación de estrategias de innovación en grupos que permitan mejorar la generación de innovación en productos, servicios, procesos, mercados y mejorar su competitividad.

Diversity and diverse integration viewpoints into organizations are pertinent in a world of shifting demographic patterns and work practices. The challenge of implementing diversity in organizations is increased by the lack of clarification regarding the difference between functional and social diversity in the literature, which results in a lack of differentiation in organizational policies. This lack of clarification is reflected in theoretical research regarding diversity in the workforce and in pragmatic research regarding diversity. This research thematically analyzes the definitions of diversity in management literature to determine whether this differentiation is made in theoretical or practical discussions of diversity management.

This paper explores into the relationship between institutions and innovations at coastal fishing activities. It is said that institutions favor innovation because they give rise to the necessary stability for fluid knowledge exchanges and learning processes. Nevertheless, at the same time, innovation implies breaking or altering routines and behaviors, i.e. to alter institutions. We try to clarify in which conditions existing institutions may foster innovation or, on the contrary, hinder it. For this purpose we have analyzed the case of a natural resource based sector, the coastal fishing sector in Galicia (Spain). Our findings indicate that a given institutional arrangement can give rise at the same time to positive and negative factors affecting innovation. Moreover, when dealing with major innovations, not only the institutions shaping production relationships must be altered but also the way the sector organizes innovation, i.e. the innovation system itself must change.

As environments become more competitive and change, firms need to look for new ways of competing by implementing changes and innovations aiming at improving or even building new capabilities. Through multiple case studies, we examine the relationship between routines, capabilities and innovation seeking to identify the changes and innovations that have occurred along the trajectory of two wine producing firms in the Serra Gaúcha of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The results indicate that both companies submitted changes/innovations in routines and capabilities, however, the different strategies and decisions made led to totally different outcomes in terms of size, growth and market-share.

The Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED), a process-based innovation originally published in the mid 1980s, involves the separation and conversion of internal setup operations into external ones. Although very important in increasing productivity SMED experiences are not very widespread in Ibero-America. Accordingly, this article has as its main objective to contribute to the literature addressing this less studied topic: SMED. A case study was put forward emphasizing a process-based view. The main finding is that by implementing SMED techniques the firm managed to eliminate wastefulness and non-added value activities worth around 360 000€, which is about 2% of the firm’s sales volume.

The paper is based on a multiple-case study of conditions for product-based innovations. Key actors from 18 cases were interviewed concerning the specific character of the innovation process, its parts and phases, with a focus on the realization phase. The cases are analyzed and discussed on the basis of an experience-based framework with seven specific components. In addition, the data are illustrated and discussed by more general themes of successful and unsuccessful innovation processes. It is concluded that the components of the used framework are necessary but individually not sufficient to maintain a continuous friction-free innovation process. The dynamics of the innovation processes are well illustrated by the framework.

Technological innovation is represented by the conversion of knowledge into new products and processes which, when commercialized, generate wealth. In relations with companies, universities’ role is to develop scientific knowledge, fostering industry’s R&D activities. This article proposes an analysis of the technology transfer process performed by public universities in Brazil. Results demonstrate that universities are facing difficulties in requesting and licensing patents based on scientific results, due to lack of commercial contact with companies and their limitations in adapting available technologies. The increase in scientific output is not being effectively transformed into new technologies for products and services, exposing the necessity for new policies to approach university-industry relations. For universities, this may mean rethinking the role of patents in the technology transfer process, such as increasing co-authorship with companies and have companies support technological research within the university, instead of investing in legal protection, distant from market needs.

This paper analyzes innovation trends in North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries by means of the number of patent applications during the period 1965 to 2008. Making use of patent data released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Network for Science and Technology Indicators (Red Iberoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología, RICYT), we search for presence of multiple structural changes in the patent applications series in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Such changes may suggest that firms’ innovative activity has been modified in these countries (Mansfield, 1986). Accordingly, it would be expected that the new regulations implemented in these countries in the 1980s and 1990s have influenced their intellectual property regimes through the NAFTA and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. Consequently, the question conducting this research is how the new dispositions affecting intellectual regimes in NAFTA countries have affected innovation activities in these countries. The results achieved in this research confirm the existence of multiple structural changes in the series of patent applications resulting from the new legislation implemented in these countries.

The concepts of market orientation and innovation and their interrelationship with business success have been explored from a number of perspectives. However, research in this area has not explored the differences between start-up and mature companies. The research study acquired data from over two hundred Chief Operating Officers (CEO’s) and Managing Directors from both start-up and mature companies. The results illustrate the differences in both types of company and reveals new insights with regard to market orientation and its constituent elements and its relationship with both incremental and radical innovations. Key research results are that strong competitor orientation, a key ingredient of market orientation, has positive relationship to incremental innovation for start-up companies but it is contra productive for mature companies. In mature organizations a strong customer orientation is associated with radical innovation.

The aim of this study is to analyze the research and the patent of phytotherapeutic and phytocosmetic products in the Brazilian Amazonia, in order to identify the current landscape of these markets and propose actions to leverage the development of these industrial sectors. The data analyzed proceed from research groups of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and patents applications from the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). Our results showed the existence of 86 regional research groups and 35 patent applications and none can be related to Amazonian companies. Legal impediments of the Provisional Measure 2.186-16/2001, in relation to applications for inventions by individuals, may result in refusal of the patent, representing a significant loss of Amazon innovative effort and reduction in the development of these sectors in the Brazilian Amazonia.