Collaboration in Discontinuous Innovation in the Construction Industry

Lauri Pulkka

Collaboration in Discontinuous Innovation in the Construction Industry

Julkaisun otsikon käännös: Yhteistyö rakennusalan innovaatiotoiminnassa

Lauri Pulkka

Tutkimustuotos: Doctoral Thesis › Collection of Articles

Abstrakti

Rakennusalan yhteiskunnallinen, ympäristöllinen ja taloudellinen merkitys on huomattava. Innovaatio eli ideoiden tai keksintöjen käytäntöön panemisen prosessi on keskeinen alan yrittäessä samanaikaisesti vastata nopean kaupungistumisen, ilmastonmuutoksen ja laahaavan tuottavuuden haasteisiin. Johtuen rakennusalan luonteesta, uusien ideoiden vieminen käytäntöön on mahdotonta ilman yhteistyötä. Yhteistyön tarve on erityisen suuri, kun kyse on radikaalista muutoksesta, joka on tämän tutkimuksen keskiössä. Tutkimuksen tavoite on kehittää ymmärrystämme organisaatioidenvälisestä dynamiikasta innovaatioprosessissa rakennusalalla. Tutkimuskysymys kuuluu: Miten organisaatioiden tulisi tehdä yhteistyötä edistääkseen innovaatiotoimintaa rakennusalalla? Tutkimus hyödyntää laadullisia ja määrällisiä tutkimusmenetelmiä. Määrällinen osa perustuu kyselyaineistoon. Kyselyn analyysi on luonteeltaan eksploratiivinen. Johtopäätökset perustuvat aineiston kuvailuun eikä tilastolliseen päättelyyn. Laadullinen osa perustuu yksittäiseen, vertailevaan ja monitapaustutkimukseen, joiden aineisto koostuu haastatteluista, dokumenteista ja havainnoinnista. Organisaatioiden tulisi tehdä läheisempää ja aktiivisempaa yhteistyötä. Yhteistyön laatua koskeva väite on kolmiosainen. Ensiksi onnistuminen innovaatiossa vaatii momentin keräämistä innovaatioprosessille. Yhteistyön lisäämää innovaatiojohtamisen kompleksisuutta voidaan hillitä ottamalla käyttöön innovaatiokeskeinen innovaatiojohtamisen malli. Toiseksi momentin keräämistä helpottaa, jos innovaatioon yhteensopiva vallitsevan regulaation ja teknologisen kehityskaaren kanssa. Ongelmaksi tosin muodostuu, että potentiaalisesti houkuttelevimmat mahdollisuudet voivat olla regulaation ja nykyisten teknologioiden ulkopuolella. Organisaatioverkostojen tulisikin yrittää muokata ympäristöään aktiivisesti. Kolmanneksi verkostot, jotka toimivat ekosysteemiperiaatteiden mukaisesti, ovat kyvykkäämpiä innovoimaan, mahdollisesti koska ne laittavat arvon luomisen arvon jakamisen edelle. Tutkimus lisää ymmärrystämme muutoksesta alalla, joka on tunnettu konservatiivisuudestaan ja epäinnovatiivisuudestaan. Tutkimus osoittaa, ettei innovaatio vaadi pyörän keksimistä uudestaan, vaan jo alalla käytössä olevien toimintatapojen yhdistelemistä. Tutkimustuloksilla on merkitystä innovoiville yrityksille ja rakennusalan innovaatiotutkimukselle. Sen lisäksi tulokset koskettavat julkista sektoria, joka ei tunnu täysin ymmärtävän merkitystään arvon luonnille verkostoissa, ja erityisesti rahoittajille, joiden tulisi harkita innovaatiorahoituksen ohjaamista yksittäisiltä yrityksiltä enemmissä määrin verkostoille.

Julkaisun otsikon käännös	Yhteistyö rakennusalan innovaatiotoiminnassa
Alkuperäiskieli	Englanti
Pätevyys	Tohtorintutkinto
Myöntävä instituutio	Aalto-yliopisto
Valvoja/neuvonantaja	Junnila, Seppo, Vastuuprofessori
Kustantaja	Aalto University
Painoksen ISBN	978-952-60-7034-6
Sähköinen ISBN	978-952-60-7033-9
Tila	Julkaistu - 2016
OKM-julkaisutyyppi	G5 Artikkeliväitöskirja

Tutkimusalat

innovaatio
yhteistyö
rakennusala
ekosysteemi

YK:n kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet

Tämä tuotos edistää seuraavia kestävän kehityksen tavoitteita:

Pääsy asiakirjaan

http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-7033-9Lisenssi: Määrittelemätön

Siteeraa tätä

@phdthesis{2192d2a93a8148139670b7b14caab65c,

title = "Collaboration in Discontinuous Innovation in the Construction Industry",

abstract = "The construction industry holds great societal, environmental and economic importance. Innovation is central to the industry's attempts to simultaneously respond to challenges of increasing urbanization, climate change mitigation and stalling productivity. Construction is inter-organisational by nature, and collaboration is required to successfully introduce and implement new ideas. This is particularly true for more radical change, discontinuous innovation, which is the focus of the dissertation. The main aim of the research is to develop a better understanding of the inter-organisational dynamics of discontinuous innovation in the construction industry. How should organisations collaborate to spur innovation? The research combines quantitative and qualitative methods; a mixed methods design is employed. The quantitative component consists of a study using survey data. The analysis of the survey is explorative in nature. All inferences are based on descriptive statistics. The qualitative component consist of studies that follow a single, comparative and multiple case study design. The data consists of interviews, documents and participant observation. Discontinuous innovation requires closer and more active collaboration. Three arguments concerning the nature of collaboration are made. First, successful discontinuous innovation depends on gaining momentum for the innovation process. Adopting an innovation-centric rather than firm centric approach to innovation management is suggested. Second, gaining momentum is also facilitated when innovation is aligned with regulation and the dominant technological trajectory. Third, networks that operate according to the ecosystem principles are more conducive to innovation, possibly because such networks are able to prioritise collective value creation over value appropriation. The research contributes to the understanding of change in an industry known for its conservativeness and uninnovativeness. It shows that discontinuous innovation does not require re-inventing the wheel but a combination of practices that are already being used in the construction industry. The findings have implications for firms wanting to pursue discontinuous innovation and for construction innovation research, but also for regulators, who do not always understand their major impact on the value creation of construction networks, and for funding agencies, who should consider reallocating some of their funding from individual organisations to networks pursuing innovation.",

keywords = "innovation, collaboration, construction industry, ecosystem, innovaatio, yhteisty{\"o}, rakennusala, ekosysteemi, innovation, collaboration, construction industry, ecosystem",

author = "Lauri Pulkka",

year = "2016",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-952-60-7034-6",

series = "Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS",

publisher = "Aalto University",

number = "193",

address = "Finland",

school = "Aalto University",

}

TY - BOOK

T1 - Collaboration in Discontinuous Innovation in the Construction Industry

AU - Pulkka, Lauri

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - The construction industry holds great societal, environmental and economic importance. Innovation is central to the industry's attempts to simultaneously respond to challenges of increasing urbanization, climate change mitigation and stalling productivity. Construction is inter-organisational by nature, and collaboration is required to successfully introduce and implement new ideas. This is particularly true for more radical change, discontinuous innovation, which is the focus of the dissertation. The main aim of the research is to develop a better understanding of the inter-organisational dynamics of discontinuous innovation in the construction industry. How should organisations collaborate to spur innovation? The research combines quantitative and qualitative methods; a mixed methods design is employed. The quantitative component consists of a study using survey data. The analysis of the survey is explorative in nature. All inferences are based on descriptive statistics. The qualitative component consist of studies that follow a single, comparative and multiple case study design. The data consists of interviews, documents and participant observation. Discontinuous innovation requires closer and more active collaboration. Three arguments concerning the nature of collaboration are made. First, successful discontinuous innovation depends on gaining momentum for the innovation process. Adopting an innovation-centric rather than firm centric approach to innovation management is suggested. Second, gaining momentum is also facilitated when innovation is aligned with regulation and the dominant technological trajectory. Third, networks that operate according to the ecosystem principles are more conducive to innovation, possibly because such networks are able to prioritise collective value creation over value appropriation. The research contributes to the understanding of change in an industry known for its conservativeness and uninnovativeness. It shows that discontinuous innovation does not require re-inventing the wheel but a combination of practices that are already being used in the construction industry. The findings have implications for firms wanting to pursue discontinuous innovation and for construction innovation research, but also for regulators, who do not always understand their major impact on the value creation of construction networks, and for funding agencies, who should consider reallocating some of their funding from individual organisations to networks pursuing innovation.

AB - The construction industry holds great societal, environmental and economic importance. Innovation is central to the industry's attempts to simultaneously respond to challenges of increasing urbanization, climate change mitigation and stalling productivity. Construction is inter-organisational by nature, and collaboration is required to successfully introduce and implement new ideas. This is particularly true for more radical change, discontinuous innovation, which is the focus of the dissertation. The main aim of the research is to develop a better understanding of the inter-organisational dynamics of discontinuous innovation in the construction industry. How should organisations collaborate to spur innovation? The research combines quantitative and qualitative methods; a mixed methods design is employed. The quantitative component consists of a study using survey data. The analysis of the survey is explorative in nature. All inferences are based on descriptive statistics. The qualitative component consist of studies that follow a single, comparative and multiple case study design. The data consists of interviews, documents and participant observation. Discontinuous innovation requires closer and more active collaboration. Three arguments concerning the nature of collaboration are made. First, successful discontinuous innovation depends on gaining momentum for the innovation process. Adopting an innovation-centric rather than firm centric approach to innovation management is suggested. Second, gaining momentum is also facilitated when innovation is aligned with regulation and the dominant technological trajectory. Third, networks that operate according to the ecosystem principles are more conducive to innovation, possibly because such networks are able to prioritise collective value creation over value appropriation. The research contributes to the understanding of change in an industry known for its conservativeness and uninnovativeness. It shows that discontinuous innovation does not require re-inventing the wheel but a combination of practices that are already being used in the construction industry. The findings have implications for firms wanting to pursue discontinuous innovation and for construction innovation research, but also for regulators, who do not always understand their major impact on the value creation of construction networks, and for funding agencies, who should consider reallocating some of their funding from individual organisations to networks pursuing innovation.

KW - innovation

KW - collaboration

KW - construction industry

KW - ecosystem

KW - innovaatio

KW - yhteistyö

KW - rakennusala

KW - ekosysteemi

KW - innovation

KW - collaboration

KW - construction industry

KW - ecosystem

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

SN - 978-952-60-7034-6

T3 - Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS

PB - Aalto University

ER -

Collaboration in Discontinuous Innovation in the Construction Industry

Abstrakti

Tutkimusalat

YK:n kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet

Pääsy asiakirjaan

Sormenjälki

Siteeraa tätä