China's New Energy Vehicle (NEV) industry has typical characteristics in the development of global manufacturing and has achieved remarkable results. This study employs the Quadruple Helix model to analyze and explain the complex dynamics of China's NEV industry, revealing the roles and interactions of multiple innovation entities, including the government, industry, the market, and universities, in the industry's development. The study finds that the Chinese government plays a key driving role in the early stage, accurately designing and adjusting the development direction of the industry by determining the technology roadmap, building R&D platforms, formulating marketing strategies, and technology policies. As the market matures, the government's role has gradually shifted from direct financial incentives to establishing a sustainable long-term mechanism to ensure the stable growth of the industry. This sustained but flexible involvement of the government ensures the continuity of industrial policy and the dynamic adaptability of the market. Through empirical analysis and case study, this study points out that government-led collaborative innovation and the continuous enhancement of local R&D capabilities are crucial driving forces for the industry's evolution. This study aims to provide theoretical and practical insights for the development of the global automotive industry and offer valuable experiences and references for other countries in the development of the NEV sector.
How do video game developers balance the pursuit of creative freedom with the demands of market responsiveness? Based on 62 in-depth qualitative interviews with Swedish game developers, this article advances a theory of individual ambidexterity in the creative digital industries. We identify two core dimensions: creative autonomy, characterized by experimental playfulness, personal vision and independence, and resistance to market conformity, and market alignment, marked by responsive iteration, stakeholder engagement, and commercial mobilization. Rather than operating as simple trade-offs, these dimensions constitute generative tensions that developers actively navigate and leverage. The study contributes to research on ambidexterity and paradox theory in innovation management by showing that contradictory demands in creative work are managed not only through structural and temporal separation but also through emergent, situated practices that allow creative intent and market logic to dynamically interpenetrate. By conceptualizing ambidexterity as a contextually enacted individual capability shaped by cognitive reframing, the study offers a practice-based perspective on innovation in R&D-intensive, culturally embedded sectors. These insights have important implications for how organizations structure autonomy, engage users, and sustain creative innovation under commercial constraints.
This study examines the role of domain knowledge diversity within corporate R&D teams and its impact on the development of significant innovations in the Climate Change Mitigation Technologies (CCMTs) sector. The research emphasizes the moderating effects of team size, embeddedness, and interconnectivity on the relationship between domain knowledge diversity and high-impact innovations. Analyzing 10,293 CCMT patents filed with the USPTO by 28 Japanese automotive companies between 1994 and 2016, findings reveal that knowledge diversity is crucial for impactful climate technology innovations, and its benefits are amplified in larger teams with a broader expertise range. Moreover, deeply embedded teams with shared values and trust, combined with higher interconnectivity, effectively leverage domain knowledge diversity to drive premier climate technology innovations. This study contributes to theory in green R&D management by highlighting the importance of domain knowledge diversity in corporate R&D teams for groundbreaking climate technology innovations, demonstrating the advantages of this diversity in larger teams, and elucidating the synergistic dynamics of team embeddedness and inter-team connectivity. Practically, the research suggests that businesses addressing climate change should emphasize domain knowledge diversity and nurture intra-organizational networks to enhance R&D initiatives and foster sustainable advancements.
This research fills the gap identified in the extant literature regarding the relationship between eco-innovation and innovation performance, employing the Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) approach within the configuration theory framework. We analyze data from 2123 innovative manufacturing firms across eight European countries. The results highlight how the combination of product and process eco-innovations, and the firm's internal and external knowledge sources, leads to high innovation performance. Configurations vary significantly with firm size. Small firms benefit from simultaneous engagement in product and process eco-innovation when supported by innovation collaborations. Medium-sized firms benefit from comprehensive investments in their internal knowledge base combined with eco-innovations. Large firms benefit from product eco-innovation combined with R&D investments. This research offers valuable insights into the application of eco-innovation to achieve high innovation performance, providing eco-innovation strategies for managers to focus on sustainable business practices.
Although 5G is considered an enabling technology (ET), subject to ongoing technical improvements and permitting several complementary innovations, its transformative potential and pervasiveness are still limited. The unrealized potential of 5G is particularly burdensome for mobile network operators (MNOs), who have traditionally played a central role in the telecommunications sector. For MNOs, 5G represents a significant opportunity to renew their strategy, especially in light of the substantial investments in spectrum licenses and infrastructure made in recent years. Through an exploratory multiple case study of incumbent MNOs and 5G pioneering end-user companies in Italy, this study puts forward the 5G strategic ambiguity spectrum of MNOs in terms of value proposition, creation, and capture, framed along two main dimensions: (i) the choice between a strategy of technological innovation or servitization; and (ii) the scope of 5G commercialization (narrow vs. broad) across industrial verticals. By merging these two perspectives, which belong to two distinct streams of literature-business models (BMs) and enabling technology-this study offers an original view of the 'strategy in the making' challenges MNOs are currently facing during this shift in technology. We contribute to the open debate concerning technology and business model innovation, highlighting ambiguities in the value architecture that can arise when commercializing an ET, which are not so evident in the existing literature. Finally, three BM archetypes are proposed, based on key determinants of value proposition, creation, and capture, to provide managerial guidance on developing appropriate 5G business models and identifying the main aspects to consider.
