This article examines the context of the front-end process in a multinational Brazilian firm that manufactures electric motors. By adopting an in-depth case study method, this article evaluates the front end as a strategic and tactical process within the Brazilian firm studied. The competitive arena, consisting mainly of Asian competitors, encouraged the Brazilian firm to review the stages of the front-end process and include new activities, such as (i) involving abstractive practices in the first stages; (ii) developing cross-functional capabilities in the research and development department; (iii) adopting tear-down activities of competitors' products concerning all business segments; and (iv) defining a priori the boundary conditions of financial constraints.

Este artigo analisa as configurações do processo de captação de novas oportunidades para o desenvolvimento de produtos numa indústria multinacional de origem brasileira fabricante de Motores Elétricos Industriais, ganhadora do prêmio FINEP de inovação. Numa abordagem qualitativa, foi estudada a evolução do processo em níveis estratégicos e táticos, desde sua fundação em 1970, buscando investigar oportunidades de aprimoramento à luz dos modelos teóricos. Os resultados demonstram a necessidade de um novo paradigma organizacional que possibilite novas orientações à captação de oportunidades. A saúde financeira e a capacidade técnica da empresa lhe asseguraram posição de destaque no cenário internacional. No entanto, as mudanças no contexto oriundas em especial no mercado chinês apontam para a necessidade de uma reformulação do processo de captação de novas oportunidades. Considerando o modelo teórico adotado, constataram-se as seguintes oportunidades de melhoria: (i) aprimoramento da fase inicial para uma etapa mais criativa, abstrata, multidisciplinar e com perspectiva de longo prazo; (ii) desenvolvimento de habilidades multifuncionais pelos departamentos de pesquisa e desenvolvimento; (iii) análise do potencial tecnológico dos concorrentes com base em práticas de tear-down para todos os segmentos de negócio; e (iv) indicação a priori de macrodiretivas pelo grupo diretor.

Firms are increasingly relying on collaborating with external partners to drive technology development. Many firms struggle with managing the inherently uncertain and ambiguous technology development process, however, especially with external actors involved, because they may not have or share the same project management practices concerning coordination and control activities. To address this gap, this study examines appropriate project management practices for market- and science-partnerships in three large technology intensive firms. Our results suggest that interorganizational technology development is problematic because firms lack sufficient partner understanding and struggle with aligning their project management practices with those of their partners. To address these problems, we identify project management practices of coordination and control to fit the contingencies of each type of partner collaboration. Our results provide implications for theory and managerial practices related to managing interorganizational technology development.

This article investigates the vital and often underemphasized front end of innovation. It aims to explore how firms utilize organizational capabilities to manage multiple sources of fuzziness (uncertainty, equivocality, and complexity). In so doing, we use the capability- and knowledge-based view to examine the use of firms’ capabilities to navigate the front end process from vague ideas towards corroborated product definition. In our qualitative case of seven manufacturing firms, we explore practices, methods, and routines for managing the front end. We explain that new product ideas can be classified according to different degrees of fuzziness, which implies that not all product ideas can or should be treated in the same way. In fact, certain capabilities are more important for managing the development of ideas at low (i.e. process management and idea refinement) and high (problem formulation and problem solution) levels of fuzziness. Ultimately, we suggest a theoretical framework that elucidates how firms use two distinct paths (i.e. tolerance-based or reduction-based) to transform early new product ideas into corroborated product definitions. In doing so, our results guide project members in matching the magnitude of knowledge problems with organizational capabilities and thereby increase front-end performance.

Collaborative ideation is a key practice for innovation. Implementing suitable appropriability mechanisms during this collaborative ideation is a necessary yet difficult task. This difficulty owes to a high level of uncertainty and low level of codification because partners work on loosely defined concepts that may change during the collaboration. Firms can employ several appropriability mechanisms to protect their knowledge. Examples include patents, copyright, legal agreements, document management, lead time, secrecy and complexity. However, the best time to apply each mechanism remains unclear, and few empirical studies have explored this issue. This study is based on exploratory case studies of three manufacturing firms. The goal is to identify which appropriability mechanisms are pertinent at each phase of collaborative ideation and how they influence the effectiveness of protection. The results of the analysis lead to the development of a model describing the managerial practices that influence the effectiveness of protection. The results also lead to a set of research propositions to define when each appropriability mechanism is most likely to be used. Overall, this research contributes to the discussion of how to integrate formal and informal appropriability mechanisms for safe collaborative ideation. The paper concludes by discussing theoretical and managerial implications as well as directions for future research.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) largely depend on proficient idea generation activities to improve their front-end innovation performance, yet the liabilities of newness and smallness often hamper SMEs’ ability to benefit from systematic idea generation. To compensate for these liabilities, many SMEs adopt an open innovation approach by collaborating with market-based partners such as customers and suppliers. This study investigates the relationship between SMEs’ systematic idea generation and front-end performance and investigates the moderating role of market-based partnership for SMEs. Drawing on a survey of 146 Swedish manufacturing SMEs, this study provides two key contributions. First, the systematic idea generation and front-end performance relationship in SMEs is non-linear. Accordingly, higher levels of front-end performance are achieved when idea generation activities are highly systematic. Second, the returns from higher levels of systematic idea generation are positively moderated by market-based partnerships. Thus, external cooperation with customers and suppliers pays off most toward front-end performance when SMEs have highly systematic idea generation processes. These results indicate a contingency perspective on the role of external partnerships. They also have implications for research into the front-end of innovation and open innovation in the context of SMEs.