Innovation
Supply Chain: A Case Study Of Blog Industry
Te Fu Chen, Ching Yun
University , Taiwan
ABSTRACT:
Owing to limited resources and insufficient competitiveness, an enterprise must become a virtual company. It must use every means to borrow strength from external resources to increase its competitive edge. The target of this borrowed strength might be the upstream suppliers, partners or the competition or the customer. Whatever the form, the guiding principle of the enterprise is to construct an ISC (Innovation Supply Chain) and break the limitations of the enterprises and extend its scope by using a strategy called “integration of external resources”. This is a break from the former strategy – “selection of internal resources”. In general, ISC is a type of dynamic union to respond quickly to market changes. This study develops an integrated innovation model, and through the case study of blog firm examines the model. The model integrates research, development, industrial/commercial design, manufacturing and marketing/distribution to produce continued innovation and value creation and then to achieve SCA (Sustainable Competitive Advantage).
Keywords: ISC, Innovation supply chain, Blog, Integration, Sustainable competitive advantage
1. The Innovation Supply
Chain
In recent years, the innovation supply chain (ISC) has attracted increasing attention as a comparatively mature organisational innovation mode, and this concept is still developing. The ISC has now become a common phrase in daily business life, similar corporations’ temporarily joining together into meta-enterprises, and that of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and even customers linking together in an enduring relationship built on mutual trust (Desbarats, 1999). The innovation revolution is the defining business transformation of our generation. The Taiwan Economic Daily held that though ISC can deal with production, sales, design, finance and other functions, enterprises have no such internal organisation to carry out these functions. That is to say, the enterprise will not relinquish its key functions. Concerning the rest of the company’s functions, due to limited resources and insufficient competitiveness, the enterprise must become a virtual company. It must use every means to borrow strength from outside to increase its competitive edge. The target of this borrowed strength might be the upstream suppliers or the competition or the customer. Whatever the form, the guiding principles of ISC are to break the limitations of enterprises and extend the scope of the entity by using a strategy called “integration of external resources”. This is a break from the former strategy – “selection of internal resources”. In general, ISC is a type of dynamic union to respond quickly to market changes.
Alongside the increase in the complexity of modern science and technology, integration becomes the main feature of high-tech development. No important invention or creation is an exception. All must rely on the integration of different technologies and inter-organisation co-operation. However, technological or knowledge integration is the integration of minds. ISC gathers people from different fields and technological backgrounds and organises teams according to specific goals and systems to create superior environments for inter-organisational innovation and integration of knowledge and intellect (Powell et al., 1996).
According to the definition by Sciquest Company (2004), the innovation supply chain is a methodology used to efficiently integrate suppliers and research-intensive organisations to ensure materials and information are made accessible and distributed in the right quantities, to the right locations, at the right time, in order to speed up the process of innovation, reduce costs and improve quality. The ISC provides a framework for a seamless, streamlined approach to planning, sourcing and delivering products, As in manufacturing, optimising the ISC is critical to maximising throughput and enabling flexibility. ISC introduces intellectual capital, information management and regulatory compliance into the traditional supply-chain methodology (Sciquest Company, 2004).
2. Utilising
The Innovation Supply Chain To Achieve The Goal Of A Well-Managed Consumer
Experience
Through examining the attitudes along the innovation supply chain, we can see what needs to change and how each discipline helps the collective to deliver better consumer experiences. The use of outside supply may enhance an organisation’s ability to provide a wider product range and to diversify. Focusing on a narrower range of activities may allow core activities to be more easily levered to achieve a wider product range (Quinn et al., 1996); the amount of investment required to enter a new business area can be reduced and there can be easier achievement of optimum performance (Snow et al., 1992). Suppliers and collaborating partners can assist the innovation process through access to technologies, skills or information (Dodgson, 1993) and, through providing complementary expertise, improve the speed to market of new product developments (Child and Faulkner, 1998).
Shepherd and Ahmed (2000) proposed how to achieve this higher level of integration as follows:
¨ The innovation process needs to be seen as a knowledge supply chain – whose efficiency is measured by the extent to which a vision of the target experiences reaches each link in the chain. In parallel, other factors, such as intense price competition, are working to make integration even more difficult.
¨ To achieve maximum efficiency, professionals in different disciplines tend more and more to work for different companies, often in different countries or on different continents.
¨ Commercial and cultural barriers abound. Information technology is helping information flow and is a parallel catalyst for change in the innovation process.
However, to achieve any effective change, current underlying attitudes need to be understood and altered if they present an obstacle to progress. Shepherd and Ahmed (2000) also pointed out that it is becoming more and more difficult to satisfy consumers in mature markets like C&EE products, high-tech manufacturing margins are being squeezed and competition on price is no longer a valid strategy. Increasingly, across many markets, the driving purchase criterion is the consumer’s expectation of the overall experience a product will deliver. Those that do not offer a clearly differentiated experience risk being valued as commodities. A more effective strategy for manufacturers is to differentiate on the basis of consumer experience – behave like a successful service company (Desbarats, 1999) – but to not only benchmark on price, or even command a small premium.
The use of outside supply may enhance an organisation’s ability; this focus on consumer experiences represents the ultimate challenge for manufacturers. New products are delivered into the economy by teams of professionals from different disciplines. In some of these – marketing and sales, for example – the knowledge focus is clearly on the consumer. In other disciplines – technical and creative in particular – the knowledge focus tends to be inward, that is, towards the specification of the product (Shepherd and Ahmed, 2000). Therefore, poor knowledge flow, and entrenched uni-disciplinary attitudes emerge as the main barriers to the creation of better – higher margin – products brought to market in the shortest possible time. Shared goals, leading to collaborative effort and planning, seem to be the key to achieving reliable products with good functionality at a realistic price. However, to achieve the goal of a well-managed consumer experience, a much higher level of knowledge transfer is needed, between consumer-facing disciplines such as marketing and design and delivery disciplines such as engineering and manufacturing (Shepherd and Ahmed, 2000).
The problems involved when marketing to consumers in mature markets emphasise the need for firms to build a direct knowledge of their consumers and to differentiate the service, product and brand from those of competitors. Small, distinct service experiences will combine to create a strong overriding impression of quality and value, and this mechanism is the foundation of achieving a strong brand. However, to be achieved in practice, these service targets need to be understood and communicated clearly up and down the innovation supply chain. This involves full co-operation between marketers, designers, manufacturers and distributors. In practice, B Corp assumed a framework to link the theories of “Innovation Supply Chain”.
In summarize above literature reviews, the study develops an integrated innovation model as figure 1, and through the examination of a case study of blog firm as following. The model integrates research, development, industrial/commercial design, manufacturing and marketing/distribution to reach continued innovation and value creation and then to achieve SCA (Sustainable Competitive Advantage).
Figure 1: Innovation Supply Chain
3. Methodology
3.1. The Study Design
This study involves a
two-phased design, and each phase with its distinct methodology. First, an
initial questionnaire guide to the interview was sent to 10 blog
industries in
This research adopts the case
study method to assess actual sources of innovation and determinants of ISC and
how they can be leveraged to accumulate innovation capacity to the decision to
implement an innovation management in the context of the blog
firm. The completed questionnaire, company reports/industry-specific
newsletters and an in-depth interview created an established chain of evidence
for each company.
3.2. Data
Collection
This research deals with the two stages of the interviewing methodology. Data was collected from questionnaires of interviews in the first stage, in-depth interviews with the directors or managers of the selected case company were conducted in the second stage. No confidential or classified information were asked.
The study implemented the in-depth interview with directors or managers who are related to innovation, R&D and supply chain in the selected blog firm. About 10 interview questionnaires were sent out. The interview questionnaires were designed as informal and semi-structured. In addition, the study implemented the in-depth interview after the interview questionnaires were retrieved. Written notes were used in this phase. The record of the interviews is represented by notes taken during four informal interviews with the directors or managers in the R&D, Marketing and Manufacturing departments. This involved follow-up tracking of innovation management in the case company via e-mail, and conversations through MSN Messenger, Internet phone and telephone for in-depth discussions.
3.3. The
Method Of Data Analysis
All interviews undertaken were recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were then coded with concepts and transformed and simplified in order to facilitate display, analysis and comparison. The coding was revised and developed as the research progressed. Displays were developed for the different concepts, summarising the response of each respondent and allowing for cross-department analysis.
The departments will be referred to as department A through to department D in order to facilitate discussion and satisfy ethical considerations. Two different techniques were used in the processes of cross-department analysis, namely: 1) putting information in different arrays to make a matrix of categories and 2) tabulating the content of different constructions and putting information in the order of elements. The interviews will be intended to be part of a search for meaning rather than as part of a statistical survey. Hence, only the general direction of emphasis is presented, analysed and described. Quotations from the interviewees are presented in quotation marks identified by the case study’s corresponding letter.
4. Case Study
The CEO explained that B Corp helped itself and other firms to establish a virtual industry through its innovation supply chain (ISC) solution. The characteristics of the ISC solution were as follows:
4.1. Manufacturing
Through the network platform, to provide a “production website” with the capability of speed, large volume and low cost: the blog of B Corp is the website component platform with the largest scale and depth, it can dynamically decompose and construct a whole website and provide the cross-website copy capability of the whole website (including all of the functional mechanisms, image style and content).
4.2. Design
According to the industrial characteristics, to provide the capability of “industrial differential” which belongs to websites it provides the design platform of website DNA version. There is no need to revise the program, it quickly provides ten thousand website versions due to the industrial characteristics, and provides the upgrading capability of dynamic website DNA, it can dynamically upgrade the mechanism function of a website in real time.
According to firms/individuals, to provide the capability of
“individual differential” of firms’/individual websites:
provide the copy capability of a theme example for a specific industry,
including the complete website functional mechanism, “outcome within
three minutes”, on the net immediately, such as “pet website”,
“restaurant website”, “electronic company website”,
“church website”, “entertainer website” and so on. It
provides “digital publication” platform and a global “experts
service” platform, it can direct buying on-line for ready-made services
(such as clothing) or cross-regional customised
service. It provides customised and differentiated
capability for the highest speed and low cost. For example, the cost for direct
on-line and cross-national use human resources of mainland
It can provide website image design and content establishment service of quick flexibility, cost competitively: provide “digital publication” and “B Corp experts” service exchange system to combine with physical service productivity. It provides high flexibility, high quality of professional customised services, through reduced time cost of physical “communication and traffic”, a large reduction of 45% in cost and time, through the technology of “high component”, “cross-website copy” and “access and use” to provide productivity of “cross-national physical service” to create ten times the personnel cost advantage. It provides exchange services to raise the sales volume and total value of high-quality services. Service productivity includes characters, image, voice and various plan inquiries, agents for operations, etc., on-line service. It provides websites with a platform for “listening, speaking, reading, writing” and” nervous system” capability.
4.3. Marketing
According to the survey on blog use in Taiwan conducted by Taiwan Network Information Centre (TWNIC, 2005), until July, 2005, the total population using the Internet in Taiwan was 14,660,147, and the people who have used blogs represent about 43% of the people who have used the Internet. Thus we know that there are approximately 6,300,000 Taiwanese bloggers, and this figure doubles every 5.5 months.
The research of TWNIC and InsightXplorer shows that in Taiwan, due to the age division among blog users, 52% of Internet users who are below 19 years old use blogs, 48% who are 20–29 years old use blogs, 32% who are 30–39 years old, and about 26% who are over 40 years old sexing terms of gender, 46% of blog users are male, and 54% are female. Further to explore the using situation for male and female, in the population who participate writing blog article, female is occupied 61% and make is only occupied 39%. In addition, in the Internet users who use blogs, 53.4% of users most publish the “diary style” blog (includes family diary, love diary, student diary, working diary), and about 32.4% mostly publish in the “love diary” style.
According to the above analysis, the target customers of B Corp comprise the following:
¨
The consumers who can use the
Internet, or bloggers.
¨ Indoor sedentary people (digital video-audio talent and skills and learning, computer digital-on net, PC).
¨ A large amount of customers of on-line leisure game.
¨ People who like digital camera or mobile phone photograph functions to record life.
¨ Users who are 16–30 years old (the usage rate of mobile phones is already over 90% and they can use mobile phones on the net function).
In summary, Table 1 shows the lifestyle of target customers. We can see the target customers focus on the people who prefer indoor, static, on-line leisure games, photography, mobile phone-using and young people aged 16 to 30. Their consumer characteristics are consideration of price, chasing fashion, high attention to activities relating to gifts, the low volume and the first time with loans for purchasing, and stressing the function of products and services. They use the web as their main information channel, for example, the Yahoo! Portal website is the number one in website flow rate, entertainment and friend-making programs. They feel that the most useful information medium is “TV news”, such as TVBS and ET TV set. The number one newspaper brand is “Apple daily”. They have the greatest willingness to accept advertisement recommendations.
The CEO indicated that, according to the analysis of lifestyle for target customers, and for fulfilling the needs of customers, B Corp provides the capability of high interaction with Internet consumers (visitors); provides the capability of collecting consumers’ experiences and comments and real-time market dynamic data analysis. It provides messaging, response, inquiries, appointments, purchasing, auction, case services, friend-making, recruiting, visitors’ response, etc. Through the strong platform mechanism of the blog, it can quickly form and replace various community portals (that is, auction website, friend-making website, case services website, personnel bank, international trade website…. etc.)
|
Characteristic |
Contents of characteristic |
|
Life Characteristic |
1.
The people who prefer indoor static state (accomplishments of digital
video-audio and learning, computer, digital-on net, PC). 2.
Large amount of customers for on-line leisure games. 3.
The people who like using digital camera or mobile phone photography
to record life. 4.
The people who are 16–30 years old and are used to using mobile
phones and can use mobile phones on the net. 5.
The people who use Okwap mobile phone, as
it is the favourite mobile phone for females in |
|
Psychology Characteristic |
1.
Emphasis on schoolwork. 2.
Emphasis on the management of friend-making. 3.
The tendency to use Yahoo! Messenger and MSN 4.
Prefer using the photos of Messenger real-time sharing with friends and
over 80% indicate that they totally agree with publicly sharing their private
photo album. 5.
While at festivals, prefer to celebrate together with friends and
classmates. |
|
Consuming Characteristic |
1.
Consider price. 2.
Chase fashion. 3.
The high attention to the activity for gift. 4.
The low volume and the first
time with loans for purchasing. 5.
Stress the function of products
and services. |
|
Medium characteristic |
1.
To use web as the main information channel. Yahoo! Portal website is the
number one in website flow rate. 2.
Entertainment and friend-making programs. 3.
Feel the most useful of information medium is “TV news”
such as TVBS and ET TV set. 4.
The top newspaper brand is “Apple daily” 5.
The greatest willingness to accept advertisement recommendations. |
|
Using function of blog |
1.
Recognise blog is the
place for “sharing life” and “express emotion” 2.
Often use web photo album, blog and web
forum etc. function. 3.
The greatest expectation of acquiring travel, fine food category of
information. 4.
The information which most think about publishing immediately on a blog is “emotion of venting (65%)”,
“the timing of touching (62%)” and “momentary inspiration
(60%)”. |
Table 1: The lifestyle of target
customers; B Corp (2006)
Moreover, B Corp provides the “community clustering” capability among websites (that is, brilliance electronic products mall), provides industrial information-sharing and exchanges and creates a “co-competition effect” of product services to raise the ration of quality and price and, through the “market clustering effect”, to absorb market capacity. Based on the platform function of “connection and collaboration”, it provides a “central alliance” organisation, quickly forms blogs such as the virtual “brilliance electronic mall” or global corporate headquarters, integrates and provides resources to all members and provides co-sharing resources to be used by all members. The organic blog provides website co-publishing and exchange of space for all members, and provides the following management capability to all members:
¨ Proposal: provide internal processes, accept document proposal and sign in of multinational branches.
¨ Publication: publish various image designs, information contents; advertise marketing and e-commerce resources etc. to be used by all members.
¨ Channel: just like cable TV, a blog can arrange programs, relay a dynamic and real-time TV broadcast through all members’ websites.
¨ Download: provide resources to be copied by all members.
The CEO explained that interest in the blog as a business tool has coincided with a growing realisation that traditional marketing methods are no longer suited to today’s fragmented markets and increasingly cynical customers. New forms of marketing are being introduced, including relationship marketing, buzz marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, one-to-one marketing, opt-in marketing, guerrilla marketing and viral marketing, to name but a few. Blogs have the potential to fulfil many of the aims of these new marketing methods. They are a form of instant publishing that enables companies to “have conversations” with their customers while projecting a more human face.
The CEO stated that the B Corp platform has the strong capability of collaboration connection, and the B Corp public website represents the first view of characteristics due to cultivating blogs using talents such as operation orientation, a user interface designed by Word for Windows, which is familiar to consumers; this speeds up the time for users to be familiar with the operational interface. The CEO explained that B Corp utilised its blog products to promote “blog marketing” for individuals, organisations and enterprises. It is a kind of collaborative advertising marketing. For example, each web page allocates eight advertising spaces, virtual-reality marketing, image style plate, ornament elements, document paragon example, experience and trust marketing, theme expert’s entering and staying, the entry of consumers’ experience content, blog package marketing and exclusive blog version. She summarised the innovative marketing strategy of B Corp, “4P1S” (Market the Marketing), as follows:
¨ 1P (Promotion) scenario marketing – integrative scenario push-force, consumer experienced pull-force. The promotional strategy of B Corp is a blog application; it includes:
§ Reputation of brand – to increase visibility and fame;
§ Professional image-rich and real-time information contents,
§ Customers’ services to mould professional image;
§ Loyalty – through interaction and to go deep into the needs of customer to establish suitable strategy and raise loyalty and stickiness;
§ Virtual channel – on-line order services and product delivery services to facilitate larger value and operational scale;
§ Private medium-low cost, convenient use and full communication are the best operationally sharp weapon of marketing and public relations.
¨
2P (Price) collaborative website: the pricing
strategy of B Corp is a collaborative
website of “pricing value” but not pure pricing. The on-line
platform provides real-time and quick response (on-line platform) for
consumers. The channel establishment and resource mutual sharing provides cost
efficiency. The unfixed time and place of global expert service provides
professional flexibility.
¨
3P (Place) virtual channel: the
“place” strategy of B Corp is a “place virtualisation”.
It provides quick expansion of scope, depth, and stickiness. It is also a
matrix (vertical and horizontal) connection collaboration network. It has high
stickiness and instant interaction communication, which is based on human
(interpersonal network) technology and processes. It combines technology
network and interpersonal networks, and combines virtual and physical
value-creation networks with unlimited commercial chances. The objectives of
place strategy are firstly direct selling: for accumulating personal sales
experiences, through telephone calling and face-to-face visiting (market survey
and understanding the needs of blogs), on-line
development. The second is to hold a seminar (once to develop more customers).
The third is distributor channels, through developing customers to develop
distributors. The objectives of distributors are teams: (a) web page design
house, (b) company; and individual: (a) the students of information management related department; (b)
¨ 4P (Product) wisdom workshop-information, knowledge and wisdom: Information: the “product” strategy of B Corp is information (collection and supply: original manufacturer information), vertical supply (publishing), horizontal collection (publishing) and original manufacturer information (= true product).
¨ Knowledge: to proceed and integrate exclusive assets, vertical supply process (sharing and embedded editing), horizontal value integration (linkage and real time updating) and collective display by exclusive website.
¨ Wisdom: dissemination and application (exclusive value). The value of knowledge lies in dissemination and application, at the right time and in the right place to provide visitors with the correct knowledge, connection collaboration and real-time interaction of the collaboration website).
¨ 1S (SVC): consumers experience Service, Voice and Customisation. It provides the services of real time and interaction, consumers’ experienced opinions, personalisation service needs, new market product trends, the reliving of wisdom products.
4.4. Distribution
B Corp provides the capability of marketing advertising and information distribution which is based on the “channel supply chain”. Through the platform function of “collaboration platform”, “connection and collaboration” and “organic blog“, B Corp is able to assist the newest mobile phone of Nokia synchronal on sale in ten thousand stores within 10 minutes. Currently, there is an insufficient connection mechanism for the Internet platform; ten thousand e-shops need self-make the newest mobile phone webpage of Nokia. The industrial cost is over 10 million, the result after ten thousand e-shop self-make their webpages will be over ten thousand specification. This will guide consumers to incorrect information, and Nokia cannot control this situation.
B Corp adopts the dynamic integration of “original manufacturer information” and “channel information (such as price)” to assist Nokia’s product suppliers to timely control and hold the product information and distribution channel of ten thousand shops, saving web-making costs and integrating the self-marketing price information to assist Nokia to acquire the market’s response to the newest mobile phone and consumers’ opinions within seven days. Privately owned cable TV sets global blog trend, an increase of over 250 thousand individual website (blog) occurs every day, B Corp is able to provide McDonald’s and 200 thousand elementary school students with interaction on the Internet; it forms the strong power of the Place-in Marketing network. Every day, it occupies 80,000 thousand minutes of “eyes time” and “whole website’s vision space”, McDonalds provides free blogs for children to post photos, write or take part in activities for gathering its consumer group. Through platform publication and relay mechanism, B Corp can put McDonalds in 200,000 students’ websites, dynamically assign “200 thousand websites of image style”. For example, the website image style based on “Uncle Mcdonalds” or “Hamburglar” has strong power in the “Place-in Marketing” network, due to a blog of elementary school students, about 20 people visit it every day, the average staying time is 20 minutes, 200,000 people every day occupy 80,000 minutes of “eyes time”, the platform provides “eyes contact space”. It is not a general linkage advertisement but is a “whole website vision space”. In other examples, B Corp can assist Swatch to transform a watch’s fashion style into an Internet clock and disseminate it on thousands of thousands blogs. It can assist actors to establish an exclusive private blog and timely connect and interact with fans’ blogs, to create personal cable TV, application of unlimited space, unlimited sales channels and central wisdom pricing logic.
B Corp provides the capability of e-commerce which is based on individual commercial logic”: In addition to providing quick channel expansion capability and product permeating capability, it also provides the mechanism of “self-making wisdom commerce logic” due to different promotional activities, customer categories or professional channel fields (that is, insurance direct sale). All of the commerce exchange, product price quotation or profit distribution can occur in any corner of the unlimited space of s virtual channel. The platform provides the mechanism of “wisdom commerce logic”. While visitors read the information, it can, due to “commerce logic”, auto-provide intelligent price quotation profit distribution in real time, due to people, place and time.
Moreover, B Corp provides the capability of “connection and collaboration” between website and website to make websites as well as physical commerce connect each other to form virtual industrial supply chains and channels. Through the platform function of “connection”, it can connect website and website together to form a “virtual channel” or “central alliance” and “collaboration”, allow website and website to quickly share and integrate information.
In summary, the CEO explained that the strategy of B Corp to develop an ISC can be described as follows:
Integration of physical and virtual: physical commerce virtualisation, virtual value physicalisation, series connection, and collaboration.
¨ Blog (tribe): through series connection, the polymerisation organisation’s respective website members form the alliance, construct high interaction of a horizontal or level vertical supply value chain or the virtual distribution network.
¨ Marketing: provides the respective blog (tribe) and the member websites with information integration and the transaction service mechanism which are the needs of establishing, alliance, marketing, commerce and management.
¨ Website: the establishing system of innovation collaborative-type websites, through various types of website construction set, resource-sharing and collaboration expert service, to quickly establish high-quality enterprises of stores or individual website of various types.
¨ Expert: unifies the whole world’s specialist resources through on-line an immediate fast interaction. Surmounts the regional limit, provides high flexibility, unfixed time, unfixed point, high efficiency of specialised and decentralised service.
She further explained that no matter which
kind of enterprises, individual or communication website for
instant communication of information, series connection of supply chain, series
connection of instant information, professional services, vertical series
connection of upstream and downstream, they
could all only operate independently, as they were limited by the current
frameworks and techniques of websites and were unable to exchange information
and share resources with other websites.
In view of this, B Corp decided to utilise its excellent platform technique to overthrow the
current framework and limitations of websites, to strive for R&D of
“collaborative websites” and to provide the capability of mutual
links and collaboration between physical and virtual enterprises,
individual to individual, individual and enterprises, enterprises and
enterprises. Such an innovative
platform can definitely provide the unique establishment of websites for
individuals and enterprises.
Finally, through links and collaborative utilisation,
it will be able to integrate the supply–demand value chain and community
gathering quickly and dynamically, so that the “collaborative
website”, vitality and high explosive force of marketing will emerge. In
summary, the characteristics of ISC for B Corp are as follows:
¨ Collaboration
¨ Links physical and virtual enterprises, links individual to individual, individual and enterprises, enterprises and enterprises.
¨ Shares resources and knowledge
¨ Creates the future world in the era of the knowledge economy.
5. Conclusions
In summary, ISC emphasises the need to build a direct knowledge of its consumers and to differentiate the service, product and brand from those of competitors. It asserts that small, distinct service experiences will combine to create a strong overriding impression of quality and value, and this mechanism is the foundation for achieving a strong brand. However, to be achieved in practice, these service targets need to be understood and communicated clearly up and down the innovation supply chain. This involves full co-operation between marketers, designers, manufacturers and distributors. In brief, an ISC meets the needs of value creation.
The innovation supply chain is a methodology used to efficiently integrate suppliers and research-intensive organisations to ensure materials and information are made accessible and distributed at the right qualities, to the right locations, at the right time, in order to speed up the process of innovation, reduce costs and improve quality. Suppliers and collaborating partners can assist the innovation process through access to technologies, skills or information and through providing complementary expertise improve the speed to market of new product developments. In brief, an ISC meets the needs of continued innovation.
Finally, an ISC is able to speed up the process of innovation and distribute products and services in the right quantities, to the right locations, at the right time and reduce costs and improve quality for product and process innovation.
6. References
Bryman A., Burgess, R.G. (1999), Qualitative
research,
Child, J., Faulkner, D. (1998), Strategies of Co-operation: Managing
Alliances, Networks and Joint Ventures,
Desbarats, G. (1999), "The innovation supply chain", Supply Chain Management, Vol. 4, No. 1; pp. 7-10
Dodgson, M. (1993), "Learning, trust and technological collaboration", Human Relations, Vol. 46; pp. 77-95
Powell, W. W., Koput, K. W., Smith-Doer, L. (1996), "Interorganisational collaboration and the locus of innovation: networks of learning in biotechnology", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 41; pp. 116–45.
Quinn, J. B, Anderson, P., Finkelstein, S. (1996), "Managing professional intellect: making the most of the best", Harvard Business Review, Vol. 2, No. 2; pp. 71–80.
Sciquest Company (2004), Innovation supply chain, www.sciquest.com
Shepherd, C., Ahmed, P.K. (2000), "From product innovation to solutions innovation: a new paradigm for competitive advantage", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 3, No. 2; pp. 100-106.
Snow, C.C., Miles, R.E., Coleman, H.H. (1992), "Managing 21st century network organisations", Organisational Dynamics, Vol. 20, No. 3; pp. 5-19.
TWNIC (2005), Taiwan Network Information Centre, www.twnic.net.tw
Contact the Author:
Dr Te Fu Chen, Assistant Professor, Department of International Business, Ching Yun University, Taiwan; Email: phd2003@gmail.com