Unpacking the coexistence between improvement and innovation in world-class manufacturing: A dynamic capability approach

Andrea Furlan and Andrea Vinelli

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2018, vol. 133, issue C, 168-178

Abstract: Recent contributions in management and organizational literature call for research to investigate how companies can simultaneously pursue initiatives of improvement and innovation. Questions also remain about the extent to which a commitment to continuous improvement hinders innovation. Blending organizational literature with lean management literature on Just in Time, we propose a model that shows how improvement and innovation can co-exist within the same manufacturing plant. We test our hypotheses on an international database using structural equation modelling. Findings show that improvement and innovation coexist within those plants that nurture a supportive organizational context and implement JIT at the same time. While a supportive organizational context is necessary for the coexistence of innovation and improvement, JIT acts as a catalyst that provides resources to innovation activities and incentivizes the firm to replace ill-designed products and processes. Our study offers original contributions that lie at the intersection of operations management and organizational literatures.

Keywords: Innovation; Continuous improvement; Just-in-time; Supportive organizational context (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:133:y:2018:i:c:p:168-178

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.03.022

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