From the book’s Foreword by Trevor Mole, Managing Director, Property Tectonics; President of the European Association of Building Surveyors and Construction Experts:
‘ Shu-Ling and Martin have built on their research work and that of others to produce an understandable and readable insight into innovation in small professional service firms. They have successfully unravelled the complex behavioural and organisational forces taking place and created a framework to help practitioners understand the issues and to fashion the right environment in which to foster innovation and deliver economic value.’
Small professional practices in the built environment are crucial to the success and long-term viability of the design, construction and property industries. This research-based book addresses the urgent need to better understand the nature and process of innovation in these important firms.
The authors offer an analysis of both why and how innovation is a key competitive factor for small professional practices in the built environment. As these practices are located in different business environments and behave in different ways to other types of industry firms, the context-specific methodology to design, implement and assess innovation in small professional practices presented in this book will appeal to researchers and practitioners in surveying and design.
Innovation in Small Professional Practices in the Built Environment makes a significant contribution to an underdeveloped area of innovation by offering new theoretical and practical insights and models grounded in results from a 22-month case study of a small professional practice.
Author(s): Shu-Ling Lu, Martin Sexton
Series: Innovation in the Built Environment
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 239
Innovation in Small Professional Practices in the Built Environment......Page 5
Contents......Page 9
About the Authors......Page 11
Foreword......Page 13
1.1 Background......Page 15
1.2 Research Problem......Page 17
1.3 Summary and Link......Page 19
2.2 Conceptualisation of Small Professional Practices......Page 20
2.3 Definitional Debate on Innovation......Page 22
2.4 Market- and Resource-Based View of Innovation......Page 23
2.5 Knowledge-Based View of Innovation......Page 26
2.6 Key Managerial Challenges for Innovation......Page 34
2.7 Key Research Questions......Page 39
2.8 Summary and Link......Page 40
3.2 Description of Knowledge-Based Innovation Model......Page 41
3.4 Research Hypotheses......Page 43
3.5 Summary and Link......Page 46
4.2 Overall Research Process......Page 47
4.3 Case Study Design......Page 48
4.4 Research Techniques: Qualitative Data Collection Techniques......Page 57
4.5 Research Techniques: Qualitative Data Analysis Techniques......Page 61
4.6 Validation – Triangulation Strategy......Page 68
4.7 Summary and Link......Page 71
5.2 Background of the Case Study Company......Page 72
5.3 Case Study Firm Perception of Knowledge, Innovation, HC, SC and RC......Page 75
5.4 Description of Identified Company Innovations......Page 81
5.5 Mode 1: Explorative Innovation Analysis......Page 83
5.6 Mode 2: Exploitative Innovation Analysis......Page 92
5.7 Summary and Link......Page 110
6.2 Diagnosis......Page 111
6.3 Action Planning......Page 117
6.4 Action Taking......Page 123
6.5 Action Evaluation......Page 133
6.6 Specifying Learning......Page 136
6.7 Summary and Link......Page 139
7.2 Types of Knowledge-Based Innovation......Page 140
7.3 Hypothesis 1: Knowledge-Based Resources......Page 141
7.4 Hypothesis 2: Capabilities......Page 152
7.5 Meta-Hypothesis: Knowledge Capital......Page 159
7.6 Summary and Link......Page 161
8.2 Contribution to Innovation Theory......Page 162
8.3 Comment on Research Problem......Page 172
8.4 Comment on Research Questions......Page 174
8.5 Key Limitations and Future Research......Page 177
8.6 Theoretical and Practical Implications......Page 178
8.7 Policy Implications......Page 179
References......Page 181
Appendices......Page 193
Appendix A: List of Company Documentation......Page 195
Appendix B: Cooperation Proposal......Page 196
Appendix C: Interview Cooperation Proposal......Page 198
Appendix D: Interview Protocol......Page 200
Appendix E: Company General Finding Report......Page 227
Index......Page 235
