Internetisation Management as a Facilitator for Managing Innovation in High Technology Smaller Firms

• Published in: Global business review Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 121
• Main Authors: Adli, Abouzeedan, Klofsten, Magnus, Hedner, Thomas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: e-globalization; High technology smaller firms; HTSFs; ICTs; information and communication technologies; innovation management; internetisation management; management innovation; open innovation; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs
• ISSN: 0972-1509; 0973-0664
• DOI: 10.1177/0972150912466462

Managing innovation in smaller firms imposes challenges of specific nature. Such challenges include: scarcity of resources for R&D and innovation activities, complexity of scientific fields, coordinating innovation activities with the operational functions of the firm and availability of access to up-to-date scientific excellence. A question of importance should be raised as to how one can use the recent development in information and communication technologies (ITCs) to meet these challenges and to facilitate innovation activities in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), specially the high- technology smaller firms (HTSFs), as these use innovation as their major competitive edge. In this conceptual paper we proposed using a newly introduced management paradigm, namely “internetisation management” to achieve the said. In the article we discussed the different challenges of innovation in HTSFs and how these challenges can be meet when adapting the internetisation management paradigm. The work shed the light on the need for a coupling between management and innovation studies in relation to SMEs while taking in consideration the e-globalized nature of the modern economy. It addresses in a more particular way HTSFs need for that coupling.