Este libro desarrolla el nuevo paradigma para la competitividad de la empresa: la innovación. Se ilustran temas que tienen que ver con la tecnología, el diseño, el desarrollo de nuevos productos y la creatividad, a través de una novela vivida por el personaje central. También se apela a la responsabilidad de las empresas frente a la generación de “falsas” necesidades.

A principios del año 2005, a través de una alianza generada por redes de confianza entre las empresas Tramando (indumentaria de Martín Churba), PEL Patagonia (empresa proveedora de cueros) y Puma Argentina –través de su empresa Unisol– anunció el lanzamiento de un producto dirigido al mercado de la “Alta Moda”: las primeras zapatillas del mundo fabricadas con piel de pescado.

Innovation- New Product Development (NPD) and the best practices (BP) (Kahn, 2006), are considered to be core sources of sustained competitive advantage and growth (Barney, 1991). Our research is an empirical cross-case study, which aims to study BP in firms operating in economies in Stage 2 and Transition from Stage 2 to Stage 3 of development (e.g. Hungry, Poland, Argentina) according to the WEF’s competitiveness classification (López-Claros, 2006). A frame work to array best NPD practices and effective implementation had been developed based on more than twenty-five Chilean and Argentinean companies. The objective is to clarify the contribution of best NPD practices to firms’ innovation performance (IP). The best NPD practices were selected after a careful study of literature (Dooley 2002; Cooper 2004) and have been distributed in three dimensions: internal networking, development of innovation strategy and external networking. Innovation performance has been measured in terms of a) frequency of firm’s new product launch; b) innovativeness of new products. Although BP have demonstrated to be associated with performance improvement through broad real-life implementation, no single practice can guarantee success. The effectiveness of BP strongly depends on implementation context and its strategic impact (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000). CEOs of the case-studies firms were asked to characterize the implementation (Szulanski, 1996) of the best NPD practices on the basis of 5-point Likert-scale. Some of the dimensions used are: a) perceived contribution of each practice to the IP; b) mechanisms used to incorporate each practice; c) degree of involvement of the organization, resources assigned and the hierarchy of the implementation leader. Our main theoretical and managerial contribution highlights that the impact of the best NPD practices on the IP depends on a balance between strategically selected practices and implementation pattern of the practices. To our knowledge, little research has been done on the contribution of best NPD practices to the firms’ IP in efficiency-driven economies. Thus, we expect this paper will encourage scholars and practitioners to further explore this field.

This empirical single case study studies the role played by successive New Product Developments (NPDs), conducted within transnational Technological Alliances (TAs), on an Argentinean Small to Medium size Enterprise (SME) active in its home country agricultural seed breeding sector along the last twenty five years. This explanatory case exposes how the firm´s management faced the challenges posed by different NPDs based on transnational TAs. A within-case analysis of two collaborations, with polar outcomes, between the Argentinean SME and, in both instances, an American counterpart was conducted with the purpose of identifying the relevant factors which intervened in these particular inter organizational collaborations´ outcomes. This article is grounded on existing bodies of literature on NPDs and on TAs. Although this study focuses on only one Argentinean SME our approach can’t support decision makers in private and public organizations with a focus on biotechnological SMEs.

Innovation (Bates and Flynn, 1995) as well as the so-called best practices (Kahn et al., 2006; Marjorie et al. 2006; Davies and Kochhar, 2002), are considered to be sources of sustained competitive advantage (Barney, 1991; Peteraf, 1993). This empirical cross-case study (Yin, 1981; Eisenhardt, 1989) analyses the way an array of best New Product Development (NPD) practices is implemented in nine private manufacturing companies, in order to clarify the contribution of best NPD practices to the firms’ innovation performance in efficiency-driven economies (López-Claros et al., 2006).  

This cross-case project studies innovation in Argentine SMEs through the interplay of strategy development, internal and external networking. We set out to develop a framework combining these dimensions to better understand the implications of this relationship. The constructed framework is intended to help in the mapping of a firm’s current position and to envisage future innovation plans. We also propose the Innovation Rate as a measure to evaluate firm-specific decisions over time. This article is grounded on existent literature on innovation strategy, networking and leadership. The approach can be of interest to worldwide decision-makers in private and public organizations.

This empirical cross-case study studies innovation in eight Argentinian SMEs (Small to Medium Enterprises) through the interplay of three dimensions: a) the stage of development of the innovation strategy, b) internal networking and c) the firm’s external networking (i.e. scientific-technological public-private collaboration). We set out to develop a framework combining these three key dimensions to better understand the implications of this complex relationship. This article is grounded on an existing body of literature on innovation strategy, S&T cooperation, leadership and innovation culture. Although this study focuses on eight Argentinian SMEs, our innovation approach can be a matter of interest to worldwide decision-makers in private and public organizations with an SME focus.

Se trata de una investigación en el grado de innovación y en el reflejo económico del mismo. Dicho estudio se lleva a cabo en empresas Argentinas de Capital puramente nacional de los siguientes rubros: Software, Electrodomésticos, Alimentos y Bebidas, Metalmecánica y Maquinaria en la Argentina.

There are three main streams of literature on the impact of firms’ innovativeness on business performance, one regarded to market orientation, other focused on innovation, and the last one related to National Innovation Systems. All of them agreed upon the importance of innovation to business performance and focus on how internal and external facilitating factors influence on it. Successful innovation largely depends on how the process of turning knowledge into commercial ends is well organized and implemented. An empirical study on innovation in Argentinean small and medium enterprises from the Software, Electronics, Home & Electrical Appliances, Iron & Steel, Machinery, Metal Mechanics and Food & Beverages sectors we have performed highlights what strategies companies are pursuing in terms of innovation processes at industry level, and their results. Findings reveals how firms organize and deal with innovation and R&D policies, best practices, cooperation with science and technology centers, market or technology orientation, and intellectual property rights and how that impacts on the firm’s innovativeness and sales growth.