We only innovate on customer's requests : an exploration of innovation and market orientation in Australian manufacturing SMEs

David R. Low, Ross L. Chapman, Terrence R. Sloan, Amrik Sohal

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paper

    Abstract

    ![CDATA[Employees of manufacturing firms are often asked to participate in the implementation of firm strategic initiatives such as innovation, customer relationship management, entering new overseas markets, and competitive actions within the marketplace. Previous studies that examine this participation invariably look at employee participation and involvement in the implementation of one of these intervention strategies in isolation, rather than considering employee behaviours and involvement when a firm simultaneously implements two or more of these initiatives. The research reported in this paper extends our earlier work exploring the interaction between two strategies, innovation and market orientation using a series of interviews with key managers from manufacturing SMEs in the Greater Western Sydney economic development zone in NSW, Australia. Six firms were selected from the full list of 73 firms who provided quantitative survey responses in the initial phase of the research. The six firms were selected to provide a spread of company sizes from very small to medium-sized manufacturing organisations. In analysing the interview transcripts, we initially identified key concepts by conducting a word frequency analysis followed by elimination of commonly used words such as prepositions, conjunctions, and proper nouns. Utilising the Leximancer software package the remaining list gave us 110 identified concepts with which we used a multidimensional scaling technique to identify key themes and connections arising out of the data. From the resulting analysis this paper reports on the relationships found, demonstrates how these links are triangulated with the authors’ previous quantitative study and finally discusses the implications of the findings in terms of the current literature. The findings of this research suggests that market orientation plays a significant part in the innovation processes of manufacturing SMEs, and it appears to be an explanatory factor in the eventual outcome of innovation processes within the targeted firms.]]
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationQuality Innovation Knowledge : Conference Proceedings : the Eighth International Research Conference on Quality, Innovation and Knowledge Management, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 12-14 February 2007
    PublisherMonash University
    Number of pages10
    ISBN (Print)9780732622978
    Publication statusPublished - 2007
    EventInternational Research Conference on Quality, Innovation and Knowledge Management -
    Duration: 12 Feb 2007 → …

    Conference

    ConferenceInternational Research Conference on Quality, Innovation and Knowledge Management
    Period12/02/07 → …

    Keywords

    • strategic planning
    • small business
    • technological innovations
    • work
    • marketing
    • New South Wales
    • Australia
    • urban living
    • Western Sydney (N.S.W.)
    • Centre for Western Sydney

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