Renewing a dysfunctional innovation ecosystem: The case of the Lalejin ceramics and pottery

Sepehr Ghazinoory, Alfred Sarkissian, Mojtaba Farhanchi and Fatemeh Saghafi

Technovation, 2020, vol. 96-97

Abstract: The innovative output of nations is partly explained by the strengths of its innovation ecosystems. The Iranian Lalejin city has been home to a ceramics and pottery industry for at least 200 years. Despite showing resilience over the years and occasional success; e.g. the 2016 “World Pottery Capital” designation; the industry is facing plummeting demand for consumer artifacts and rivalry from competitors. Innovation is the key to survival and sustainability but innovation capacity is low. This study adopts the “innovation ecosystem” lens to address the problems. Interviews provide information for understanding the historical evolution of the industry, mapping the status quo, highlighting the barriers and drivers of innovation, and crafting a renewal plan. The proposed renewal process pools regional authority, expertise, and stakeholders to craft an effective and sustainable solution. While the study does not proffer a new theory of ecosystem renewal, there are important implications for research and practice. For practitioners, understanding the ecosystem evolution and the cultural underpinnings of the observations will help craft a detailed, sustainable ecosystem renewal plan. A cultural turnaround program may also be needed. For researchers, linking cultural characteristics, ecosystem evolution and outcomes is a viable and fruitful research avenue.

Keywords: Innovation ecosystem; Ceramics and pottery industry; Sustainable development; Lalejin; Iran (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497220300122
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:techno:v:96-97:y:2020:i::s0166497220300122

DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2020.102122

Access Statistics for this article

Technovation is currently edited by Jonathan Linton

More articles in Technovation from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().