†the multistage process whereby organizations transform ideas into new/improved products/services or processes,
. 75%10.48%Services 22.56%17.95%21.59%17.28%18.78%21.98%23.51%20.49%Sources: Carta Albä a IMM-urilor din Romã¢nia (White Charter of SMES from Romania), Editions 2004,2005, 2006,2007, 2008,2009, 2010,2011.
Results show that the most frequent innovations for the whole period were the introduction or the renewal of new products and services.
and services and new ways of delivering them to customers (Blumentritt, 2004; Laforet and Tann, 2006.
Figure 2. Dynamics of investments in innovations in Romanian SMES Renewing products either as new products/services or modernized products/services
Table 4. The level of renewing products and services in Romanian SMES in 2003/2004 †2010/2011 (percentage of the turnover collected from the sale of innovative products) The level of renewing
products/services 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 0%22.10
Packham, G.,Miller, C. and Brooksbank, D. 2004), The use of Web services for SME innovation and technology support services in Wales, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development,
we must continue to deliver consumer-driven innovative products and services as well as further developing new business models, new organisational structures and skills for innovation.
However, emerging sectors where innovation can be exploited better include services and public procurement and these two areas will be given additional focus.
, Clusters and Gateways 17 6 Intellectual Property Protection and Management 21 7 Services and Emerging Sectors 23 8 Entrepreneurship and Business Expansion 25 9
and apply technology innovation in products, services and business processes. Success, however, does not depend on Government and policy alone.
including the development of new or enhanced products and services and the introduction of new business models, new organisational structures or new work practices.
New thinking and policies on services innovation are being developed. Many services firms serving international markets from Ireland, for example, have been particularly successful in adopting innovative approaches to servicing international supply chains.
Innovation and public policy While enterprises and individuals are the primary sources of innovation, public policy can establish the right framework conditions for innovation to flourish.
to develop new products and services. Innovation in Ireland Summary 2008 Building knowledge partnerships Our development agencies are attuned fully to keeping innovation at the core of their strategies and policies.
Public bodies can request tenders that provide innovative solutions rather than just basic products or services.
and prove the viability of new products or services. In this way, innovation in public procurement can stimulate long-term export success by showcasing emerging and innovative products and services and providing authoritative reference clients for Irish companies.
Pre-commercial procurement †where the risks are shared between public procurers and firms-can be used to promote innovation while respecting State Aid rules.
This rapidly growing global market †in which the public sector is the most likely early mover †is open to SMES with innovative products and services.
Innovation in Ireland 2008 22 Innovation in Ireland 2008 23 Nearly 70 percent of The irish workforce is employed now in the services sector,
and, with services exports worth â 64.8 billion in 2007, Ireland is now the 11th highest exporter of services in the world.
We are refining policies and supports in line with both the opportunities that services innovation offers,
Ireland†s focus on services has the potential to give us an †early mover†advantage.
s convened The Services Strategy Group to develop a national services strategy with the aim of maximising the returns from existing enterprise services,
and developing new service industries. The Group acknowledges the need for and recommends the development of a National Services Innovation Policy and Strategy.
Innovation where it†s most needed and least expected Services and Emerging Sectors Innovation in Ireland 2008innovation in Ireland 2008 International financial services Financial services have become more important as a source of both wealth generation and employment in Ireland.
The international financial services sector operates in a global environment, in which innovation and productivity are essential drivers of competitive advantage.
Innovation in environmental goods and services While climate change and the need for more sustainable use of resources pose significant challenges for industry,
they also offer significant opportunities for innovative products and services in a range of sectors.
The environmental services sector has expanded greatly in recent years, with annual global sales now at â 680 million,
With greater competition in markets, companies need to draw on all their entrepreneurial and innovative skills to develop new products and services,
and assist people and firms to produce new services and products and gain new markets.
introducing new products and services and more efficient ways of working. They underpin the adaptation of our economies and societies to new challenges and drive economic development.
and services and increasing efficiency but also for meeting the job creation challenge of high unemployment. In the short to medium term there is a real opportunity for governments to use policies for entrepreneurship
while the massive shift from manufacturing to services is bringing with it new types of non-technological innovation that render economies of scale in R&d far less significant.
technologies) from abroad and in exploiting its outputs (products and services, patents, licenses, etc.)in foreign markets.
For example, it may involve SMES in tracking competitors†actions through electronic monitoring of news and information services or the introduction of total quality management techniques on the work floor.
non-technological innovation is equally important to services and manufacturing (European commission, 2007). This is very significant
because the services sector has seen a dramatic rise in its share of economic value added in recent years (rising for example from 55%to 70%of Japanese
The new European union Services Directive is part of a move to redress the balance in Europe by removing legal and administrative barriers to the full tradability of services within the European Single Market.
logistics, product service and ancillary corporate services. Cohen (2010) calls this the â€oesilicon Valley business modelâ€, for where it first developed into a significant economic force.
which has opened up a gap for the entrepreneurial supply of social goods and services. This too can be seen as part of the above-mentioned shift from the managed to the entrepreneurial economy.
They generate new goods and services such as environmental protection and services to the individual. At the same time many address problems of unemployment and the social problems of poor neighbourhoods.
Furthermore, whilst many of the goods and services offered through social enterprise and social innovation seek to fill gaps in purely public provision by welfare states,
At the same time productivity may be enhanced as new firms bring better products and services and better technologies into the economy.
and by closer interaction with users of products and services outside the organisation. The result is localised innovation with usability in addressing problems faced by the firm.
Some organisations operate across the whole innovation value chain †from basic research to the final delivery of new products and services (in effect vertically-integrated innovation.
Here new products and services are conceived of and developed entirely internally by the firm through the pursuit of technical breakthroughs.
and †platforms†on which others provide products or services (itunes, for example). This is not to say that the development of these technologies could not be through open innovation, in our understanding,
and allows it to sell more advanced bolt-on services which improve the experience of using the open source software. 4 However,
and services by carefully releasing related knowledge, allowing others to engage and develop complementary offers.
and business services where there are fewer †tangible†barriers to new-entrant competition. As organisations consider their place within innovation value chains they reflect on the subtle and complex balance between the advantages and disadvantages of openness for each area of corporate knowledge.
which constrains their ability to develop their products and services, KLM has adopted a partnership model in
To follow this, Amazon has begun offering cloud computing services to smaller businesses, enabling them to buy Amazon†s capability rather than developing their own at great cost.
This allows Amazon to offer excellent services to customers at a lower cost while also making a profit itself.
and services †this depends on the operation of key open processes; •Convergent technology †the rise of general purpose technologies, particularly in digital, computing and internet areas has been identified by many as leading to a convergence of platform technologies,
•Increasing flows of knowledge services †while these flows are incredibly difficult to quantify at a national level,
OECD trade data does confirm that the past decade saw a dramatic increase in the scale of international trades in knowledge services;
and a better chance of successfully commercialising the new knowledge than an SME †they may for example have stronger routes to markets or complementary products and services
Equally, some products and services may be driven best forwards through independence and greater flexibility. 18 E g.
We know that such knowledge markets are much more complex than standard markets for goods and services.
(i e. non IP based services and business models in particular) †strong venture capital markets are likely to be relevant here for building into a business
for the knowledge economy, the presence of strong business services networks are an equally important consideration.
Business Services in the Knowledge Economyâ€, London: the Work Foundation, http://www. theworkfoundation. com/research/publications/publicationdetail. aspx?
Business Services in the Knowledge Economyâ€, London: The Work Foundation, http://www. theworkfoundation. com/research/publications/publicationdetail. aspx?
Programmes-Key Findings & Recommendations High Potential Start ups Programme †Findings This programme is targeted at providing a wide range of services to a relatively small cohort of companies identified as high potential
or innovative product or service to international markets, involved in manufacturing or internationally traded services,
and 58 per cent of mentoring services are directed to start-up businesses. The evaluation found that over the 2004-2010 period the financial supports are likely to have paid at least their way in terms of wages,
either providing personal and local market services or are related in construction activities. In terms of SYOB training, there were almost 18,900 participants over the period 28 The Department of Jobs,
it would be advisable to target these soft supports to start ups in the fields of manufacturing and exportable services,
by excluding supports to start-ups in local and personal services. This will require †real-time†assessment and a more anticipatory and agile support system across the CEB network.
In line with enterprise policy, financial supports are targeted toward manufacturing and internationally trading services companies thereby minimising the potential for displacement.
in Ireland with the capacity to sell innovative products and services in world markets Foster job creation across the regions of Ireland Promote the growth of new sectors with sustainable competitive advantage Inputs Enterprise
Enterprisestart, CORD) Outcomes & Impacts Increased number of high potential, innovation-led companies with the capacity to sell innovative products and services in world markets Increased exports
or innovative product or service to international markets, involved in manufacturing or internationally traded services,
and services in world markets in order to foster job creation across the regions of Ireland, promoting the growth of new sectors with sustainable competitive advantage, providing for growth in exports and employment in Ireland.
The increased potential for international trade in services is also pertinent. The Enterprise Strategy Report Group
which reported in 2004 cited â€oeinternationally-traded services sector†as â€oeforming an increasingly important component of trade in the economies of the more developed countries,
Costs to Enterprise Ireland in providing support services such as advice for clients on aspects of their business
over half of recipient companies (54.1 per cent) and over half of all funding (57.8 per cent) fell within Internationally Traded Services,
and Business Services (Table 2. 3). Metals and Engineering accounted for 20.7 per cent of recipients and 21.5 per cent of funding.
0. 9%Financial services 1 0. 7%â-0. 0%Food 8 5. 9%â 939,380 3. 4%ITS (ICT and Business Services
) 73 54.1%â 16,192, 797 57.8%Metals and Engineering 28 20.7%â 6, 033,163 21.5%Mining, Quarrying and Indigenous Services (Health and Education Services;
28,001, 699 The HPSU team works closely with the Investment Services Division of Enterprise Ireland to identify suitable third party funding for start-up companies.
outputs and activities involve the provision/facilitation of HPSU activities itemised in Table 2. 3. Enterprise Ireland offers a wide range of services to HPSUS eligible to be considered for supports
â€oeinternationally Traded Services†broadly categorised includes Internationally Traded Services and Software and Public Procurement; â€oemanufacturing†refers to all other sectors for the HPSU 2004-2006 cohort only. 50 Note that ages of individual companies were calculated in years on a deductive basis,
estimates of nvolved in a of costs and by inflating this is based as were calc f the two HP efit-to-Cost rence betwe d raw mater U group was to should norma or services co ere public
i e. a manufacturing or internationally traded services proposition with the potential to create a minimum of 10 jobs and â 1 million in sales.
and services that can add value in the domestic economy and have potential to export.
Salary costs include the provision of soft support services such as evaluating who is eligible for the project,
These salary costs allow for soft support services such as answering queries, organisation of resources for the programme and advice on business issues.
entrepreneurs and businesses to engage in the development and commercialisation of innovative products, technologies and services.
and services by start-up companies with a high potential to grow, underpinned by the effective and imaginative use of technology,
The figure for indirect costs includes support services such as mentoring, answering queries and offering advice on clients business.
The same supports were offered with some additional services available such as one to one meetings with sector experts.
Increase As with program services product Any proj New pro develop develop. 5: Projecte mme †Surve Grant Conne ed numbers impacts on e mme in terms.
Propel is relatively new and the full impacts in terms of the development of commercially successful products or services,
and does not support â€oeme too†businesses or services. Propel has clear criteria in place to ensure participants are appropriate to deliver on these aims.
and services based on research outputs and market led business innovations. Inputs Enterprise Ireland contribution: Organisation and hosting costs;
services or technologies and who would benefit from collaboration with other local businesses and higher education institutes (on a regional scale)
in order to develop innovative products and services. The pilot for Ideagen was launched in the South East region in 2009
and combine this knowledge to develop products or services that service a customer need68. In many instances, this knowledge and expertise does not sit with any one individual or cohort.
skills and creativity of people-and its ability and effectiveness in translating ideas into valuable processes, products and services. †Building on the Smart Economy strategy, the Report of the Innovation Taskforce (2010) places
and services by start-up companies with a high potential to grow, underpinned by the effective and imaginative use of technology,
which is weighted then by the amount of time the project leader estimates was spent administering soft support services such as organisation of events,
and the full impacts in terms of leading to the development of commercially successful products or services are difficult to measure at this point.
The premise of the programme is that it leads to the development of new and not â€oeme too†businesses and services.
Ireland's Competitiveness Challenge FORFÃ S EVALUATION OF ENTERPRISE SUPPORTS FOR START-UPS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP 97 into the future is vital for the commercialisation of the research investments and commitments into tradable products and services
Indirect costs are estimated at â 130,000 per annum related to the cost of providing soft support services to clients through activities such as answering queries
and that these staff members provide a day to day information and support services to small businesses and new start ups.
This involves signposting of services and supports for existing and would-be entrepreneurs. The CEBS€ presence on the ground locally is an important feature of this service.
A manufacturing or internationally traded services business; A domestically traded service business with the potential to trade internationally;
and/or A domestically traded services being established by a female returning to the workforce or unemployed persons where the potential for deadweight and displacement is likely to be minimal.
500 per employee and a maximum of ten employee C Training & Management Development The CEBS provide Start Your Own Business, Management Development Training and Mentoring services.
and 132 For practical reasons, services, such as management training, may be delivered most effectively jointly to new and existing entrepreneurs.
the services arising from these activities are delivered to both new and existing enterprises. Only Priming Grants and the SYOB courses are focused solely on start-up enterprises.
and 58 per cent of mentoring services are directed to start-up businesses. 9. 9 Impacts and Outcomes Financial supports:
excluding the cost of related advisory services and at â 14.1 million when we include related advisory services.
Comparing the annual benefits to the fully loaded costs indicates that the least favourable scenario would mean that each firm supported would have had to deliver the employment benefits for a period of approximately 3 years
. 0 Manufacturing Green Technology 1 1. 4 Other Manufacturing 8 11.3 Software Development 3 4. 2 Web Based Services for Consumers
0 0. 0 Web Based Services for Businesses 4 5. 6 Construction and Related Activities 8 11.3 Personal & Local Services for Consumers 25
35.2 Other Consumer Services 6 8. 5 Services for Businesses 10 14.1 Other 4 5. 6 Total 71 100.0 Source:
while there may be further efficiencies possible in terms of delivery FORFÃ S EVALUATION OF ENTERPRISE SUPPORTS FOR START-UPS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP 145 of services,
Joint purchasing of services and other supplies by CEBS; Joint development of courses, publicity material and reference material;
either providing personal and local services or are related in construction activities. This indicates substantial scope for product market displacement,
and export oriented services, this is less of a concern. However, exceptions are made where a domestically traded service is being established by a female returning to the workforce
or exportable services if resources were to become more limited or if 148 demand from this cohort could not be met.
In these circumstances the more effective use of resources would exclude supports to start-ups in local and personal services.
15 2. 3. Innovate beyond products and services: the relevance of the experience economy for innovating SMES...
and services or how they can generate income by licensing their technology to other companies.
and integrating knowledge from external partners to create new products or services. An urgent need exists,
and deliver products or services. Each of these SMES provided an interesting case to examine how SMES apply open innovatio n. We did not restrict our attention to any industry
In section 2. 3, we look at how several companies transitioned from products or services to experiences in their search to offer more value to the customer.
When products or services commoditize, price competition becomes predominant and results in intensive price battles and industry shake-outs.
Case Devan 20 21 22 2. 3. Innovate beyond products and services: the relevance of the experience economy for innovating SMES New offerings can create value for customers in different ways.
In today†s service economy, many SMES wrap additional services around their products to increase customer value in exchange for a premium price.
Although selling additional services might be a viable strategy in many industries, several of the successful SMES we analysed preferred to offer genuine experiences to their customers as a new source of value.
Experiences are as distinct from services as services are from goods. Experiences have always been around (in the entertainment business
for instance), but they have gone largely unex plored as a major driver for strategic innovation in SMES, in both manufacturing and services.
As products and services increasingly become commoditized, experiences have emerged as a next step in creating value for customers.
some SMES have grown profitably by transforming existing products or services into experiences for the customer.
the range and quality of individual services (nurses, doctors, cleaning services) is not the main qualifier;
indeed, more services can be quite bothersome for patients. Instead, Prof is centred a customer approach using the patient room as a stage to improve the patient†s hospitalisation experience drastically.
and in offering customized products and services to clients (particularly in business-to-business industries). Segers & Balcaen (see p 35) is a small Belgian plastics packaging company that continuously identifies new packaging needs among its customers. 33 For many other companies,
Some small firms sidestep commoditization by turning products or services into experiences. Jan Kriekels, CTO of Jaga (see p 47), expressed it this way:
SMES may also wrap additional services around their product or offer genuine experiences to the customers. ï Turning businesses under the threat of commoditization into genuine experiences for customers is a difficult target for SMES
The innovation network is an enabling factor in generating new products or services, but it also limits the number of options for the company to change and diversity. 47 Figure 7:
, DNA Interactif Fashion), increasing the attractiveness of the customers†products or services (e g.,, Curana), and providing new functionalities and increasing emotional value (e g.,
and commercialize the new product or services. Most SMES we studied rely heavily on value chain partners
and commercialize innovative products or services for specific customers 33. PROF is different: It starts from the patient†s room as customer-centric concept
or deliver services that were necessary to develop a new concept of the patient room.
All product and services innovations were aligned with and integrated in the new patient room concept,
Integrating different products and services into a new patient room concept also implied that their value for the usability groups was several times higher than
Partners have to trust each other to charge a reasonable price for the products or services they offer to innovation partners in the network.
and services to the central firms. Each partner is preoccupied with his own part of the new concept,
or services they offer to innovation partners in the network. 6. Manage the balance between internal management of the company and external management of the network.
and services or create new businesses. Because they lack the required internal resources, SME€ s often collaborate with external partners to innovate successfully
and integrating knowledge from external partners to create new products or services. Fourth, managing and organizing open innovation in SMES is quite specific,
or services the SME wants to launch. 90 Networks of partners have to be managed as well,
looking for new ways to reposition their products and services. Some of the SMES we described opened new market space,
the acquisition of readymade products/services developed by third parties (i; the acquisition of processes set up by external parties (ii;
1 •Faster development and market launch of new products and services; •More diversity brought to innovation resulting in identification of more opportunities for growth;
and •Improved success rate of new products and services by making the innovation process stronger.
on the one hand, for different, better or cheaper products and services and, on the other hand, to mobilise or exploit the opportunities and capacities within their value chains.
•Advice and Services †the specialised support that innovators require to create and enhance innovation capability;
and skills, finance, advice and services, knowledge and intellectual property, are exchanged within an ecosystem that is influenced by the prevailing framework conditions
or services (or whole businesses to go to scale. Knowledge Intensive, Business Services Organisations •Provide specialist services,
from designing user interfaces for new products and services through to researching market entry strategies or prior art searches. •Provide access to specialist people and facilities (from interim CEOS to product testing/accreditation).
•Provide a conduit for knowledge flows between science and industry, facilitating knowledge spillovers. Intermediary Bodies •Aggregate and represent sectoral interests to other actors in the innovation ecosystem. •Share the cost of developing generic solutions/innovations. •Facilitate the diffusion of innovations
Overview of the industrial base in Ireland, Northern ireland and the EU-27 Policy makers/Regulators set Framework Conditions Market Conditions Intermediary Bodies Higher education Institutes Business Services
and the UK (see Figure 3). Innovation Ecosystem Actors Firms Financial services Orgs Higher education Institutes Innovation Support Agencies Business Services Orgs Intermediary Bodies Policy makers
or services New/improved processes, machinery, equipment or tools New/improved marketing methods or routes to market New/improved packaging
and shows that development of new or improved products or services is the most commonly undertaken activity:
or services New/improved processes, machinery, equipment or tools New/improved marketing methods or routes to market New/improved organisational structure Other form of development or improvement New
solving problems, implementing new developments and ideas, project management skills, launching new products and services,
or sector Finding external support for new ideas and developments Implementing new developments and ideas Launching new or improved products or services Quite Poor Very Poor Extremely Poor Not Sureexcellent
and (c) launching new or improved products or services. Looking at the survey results by export orientation, it shows that firms who export off the island regard themselves in a better light than firms who trade cross-border or within their own domestic market.
%•Services firms were more likely than firms in the other sectors to use some external input while fewer construction businesses use external support than in the other sectors.
Innovation support agencies, business services organisations and higher education institutes emerged as the least important partners,
Clients/Customers Suppliers Intermediary Bodies Financial services Organisations Innovation Support Agencies Business Services Organisations Higher education Institutes 0%20 40 60 80
The only exception is that exporters off the island see innovation support agencies and business services organisations as slightly more important than cross-border traders or non-exporters. •Sectorally,
while services companies make relatively greater use of industry associations and networks. Manufacturing and agriculture businesses rate innovation support agencies and higher education institutes as being more important innovation partners than do other sectors. •Innovative firms in Northern ireland placed slightly more importance on a number of external partners
Businesses regarded business services organisations as not very important but relatively more effective innovation partners,
Ranking of the effectiveness of external partners by innovative businesses Clients/Customers Suppliers Financial services Organisations Innovation Support Agencies Intermediary Bodies Business Services Organisations Higher education
Businesses trading cross-border were more complimentary about the effectiveness of business services organisations, suppliers and innovation support agencies. •Service sector firms were more likely than those in agriculture,
Overall, international partnerships are reported more widely than cross-border ones for links with suppliers, higher education institutes, intermediaries and business services.
Intermediary bodies, financial services organisations, business services organisations and innovation agencies are deemed moderately important and quite effective.
Services Organisations Financial services Organisations Innovation Support Agencies Customers Firms Suppliers Very Important Importance of actor Effectiveness of actor Very Effective Quite Important Quite Effective
However, business services organisations are regarded as less important and less effective while higher education institutes and financial services organisations are reported also as less effective.
A further opportunity exists to explore how business services organisations can support innovation in small firms.
on the design services sector on the island, suggested that such services were utilised under both because of lack of design companies (the sector is approximately one third the relative size of the UK€ s) and also a lack of understanding of the application and benefits
of such services. Another aspect of increasing the effectiveness of the innovation ecosystem is need a to develop
Rag analysis of innovation ecosystem †large firms Framework Conditions Market Conditions Intermediary Bodies Higher education Institutes Business Services Organisations Financial services Organisations Innovation
particularly new/improved products and services, packaging and marketing methods. This is consistent with a more discerning international marketplace.
construction and manufacturing combined to have innovated around (a) products and services;(b) packaging or branding;(
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011