Luova laatu ja arvoinnovaatiot oppivan verkoston tuottamina : tapaustutkimus rakennuspuutuoteteollisuuden verkostosta

Abstract

This research focuses on quality and value innovations, which has been studied in the context of wooden building components manufacturing network. The aim is to understand how value innovations have been built and what the effect on companies’ business success is. The research explicates the concept of value innovations as an organisational learning process. The theoretical framework for this research has been constructed from networking, quality and organisational learning. Innovations have been discussed as a synthesis of these three fields. The concept of value innovations relates to knowledge management andtechnology transfer. From the methodological point of view, this is a qualitative research by means of a case study. According to the hermeneutical approach, case study research emphasizes interpretation, meaning and understanding of phenomenon. The empirical data for this research has been collected by interviews from the case company and nine of its networkcompanies. Four different value innovations are described in this research. These innovations have been developed in inter-organisational co-operation. During these innovation development processes organisational learning became evident, also in case of failure. These innovations can be called value innovations that mean more than innovations in general. Value innovations are characterised with five “S’s”: Satisfying customer needs, Surprising customer with additional value, Superposing organisational competency, Surpassing competitors’ products and services and Stimulating new market demand. Investigated innovations fit with this five “S” model. Comparing these innovations with five “S’s” proves increase of organisational competence also in the network. As a result of the learning process, the network has reached a higher stage of behaviour and it can be called a learning network. The results indicate that networking companies are able to develop value innovations more effectively than individual companies alone, partly because of complementary resources. Also the networking companies have more business and social connections, which mean that they have interfaces and social capital that stimulates innovations. Networking promotes a value innovations development process, so it will be worthwhile for SMEs to develop new innovations in cooperation. This case study will also carry a way of benchmarking and learning to both entrepreneurs and practioners as to policy makers. Combining organisational learning, quality and networking to explain innovation process is the theoretical contribution of this research. Value innovation is also quite a new concept and it has now been studied in the context of SMEs. Value innovations can be seen as a platform of future business success also in the wood industry.

Arhion väitöskirjatutkimus tuo keskustelun kohteeksi toistaiseksi liiketaloustieteellisessä tutkimuksessa niukasti esillä olleet arvoinnovaation ja luovan laadun käsitteet. Arvoinnovaatiolla tarkoitetaan innovaatiota, joka asiakkaalle tuottavan hyödyn ohella lisää organisaatioiden osaamista ja näin nostaa yritykset uudelle korkeammalle toiminnan tasolle. Arvoinnovaation avulla yritys voittaa kilpailijat ja lisäksi arvoinnovaatio saa aikaan uutta kysyntää. Arhio selvitti, kuinka verkostossa toimivat rakennuspuutuotealan yritykset luovat arvoinnovaatioita ja parantavat laatua. Tutkitut arvoinnovaatiot ovat tuottaneet myös pienten yritysten verkostolle uutta liiketoimintaa. Voivatko arvoinnovaatiot siis olla puutuoteteollisuuden menestymisen uusi perusta? Arhion tutkimus yhdistää uudella tavalla organisaation oppimisen, laadun ja innovaatiot yritysten välisessä yhteistyössä. Arhio kuvasi oppivan verkoston, joka kykenee tuottamaan arvoinnovaatioita. Tuloksia voidaan soveltaa puutuoteteollisuuden pk-yrityksissä käytännön liiketoiminnan kehittämiseen.