Rule #1 : value co-creation starts with a firm level innovation culture

Bali, Azad Singh and McKiernan, Peter and Vas, Christopher and Waring, Peter (2015) Rule #1 : value co-creation starts with a firm level innovation culture. In: R&D Management Conference Pisa 2015, 2015-06-23 - 2015-06-26, Istituto di Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.

[thumbnail of Bali-etal-RDMC-2015-Rule-1-value-co-creation-starts-with-a-firm]
Preview
Text. Filename: Bali_etal_RDMC_2015_Rule_1_value_co_creation_starts_with_a_firm.pdf
Accepted Author Manuscript

Download (440kB)| Preview

Abstract

At the firm level, what facilitates co-creation of value? This paper reflects on the theoretical literature on value co-creation and makes the argument that a strong firm-level innovation culture is an essential prerequisite to co-creating value between firms and customers. This study reports the results of a benchmarking exercise of firm-level innovation practices in a representative sample of 215 manufacturing SMEs across 6 industrial sub-sectors in Singapore. Singapore is undergoing sweeping economic reforms aimed at reenergizing the manufacturing sector, improving productivity, fostering collaborations and innovation in creating value. The government’s efforts in Singapore to incentivize firms to collaborate with external stakeholders and co-create value is largely encumbered by firm-level characteristics (poor communication, limited empowerment, lack of collaboration, top-down approaches, limited appetite for risk and failure) and other attributes that do not facilitate innovation, collaboration, and co-creation of value. Our findings are a lesson in caution, and the limited efficacy of the role of incentives to improve collaboration and the creation of value, in the absence of a culture that facilitates innovation.