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Abstract:
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Many studies have focused on the topic of product innovation. As a key element
of how industrial organisations work, of how competition is shaped and how
economic growth is realised, innovation provides an interesting research field,
which will never be fully explored. Industrial organisations explore these grounds
through strategic processes in which objectives should guide product development
processes. Ideas, alternatives or decisions form these processes in which
heterogeneous actors need to be aligned and coordinated towards the final product
innovation. Heterogeneity is a key aspect here; different, new technologies,
conflicting objectives, different opinions and different management practices for
example, are part of this process. Although these elements have been studied
extensively in extant research, I identify several gaps in the existing literature,
which I in turn strive to fill with this thesis. First, a perspective of the interactions
in innovation processes is needed with a focus on control mechanisms and the
mobilisation of strategic objectives. Secondly, focusing on control, the way calculative boundaries are created and explored and how these may be overcome
needs more development and empirical insights. Thirdly, the interaction of control
mechanisms and the coordination of product development networks through these
interactions lack empirical insights and build an interesting research ground. I do
not provide a holistic framework or a contingent perspective of how organisations
should manage innovation. Rather I discuss the many ways in which product
development networks become convergent through the interaction of control
mechanisms, which may act as a vehicle or translator of strategic objectives... |
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