BibSonomy publications for /user/lbbonney/coinnovationTue Jan 26 22:21:38 CET 2010DecemberConference Proceedings: Professor Amrik Sohal Amrik.Sohal@buseco.monash.edu.au The role of inter-personal and inter-organisational communication in value chain innovation2007coinnovation communication inter organisational The globalisation and liberalisation of world trade has facilitated the recent rise to dominance of world agrifood markets by large supermarket chains. Rather than competing on price they are driven by the need to create ‘value’ in the eyes of consumers through highly segmented products and services. Thus innovation, and in particular the co-innovation that occurs at the interfaces between firms, is at the heart of contemporary corporate strategy and has shifted the locus of competition from individual firms to value chains. Previous studies have indicated that communication and relationships are significantly correlated with the level of innovation and this is a deficiency of many Australian agrifood chains. This paper reports the early results of on-going research at the Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research, which aims to develop a research methodology for benchmarking the co-innovation capacity of organisations in vertically co-ordinated value chains.Thu Sep 17 03:36:58 CEST 2009Supply Chain Management6395-9From serendipity to sustainable competitive advantage: insights from the Houston's Farm and their journey of co-innovation122007coinnovation Purpose – The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the importance of a strategic approach to collaborative innovation and the use of a value chain research methodology for identifying opportunities for co-innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Value chain analysis is used to map three flows in the Houston Farms value chain; material flow, information flow and relationships. Having diagnosed the current level of co-innovation we then identify improvement projects and opportunities for co-innovation to reduce cost and add value, for the benefit of the value chain as a whole. Findings – The application of the value chain analysis methodology to the Houston Farms value chain revealed the importance of strategy and robust processes in key areas for co-innovation – R&D and new product development. It also revealed that small businesses can enjoy a degree of success as a result of comparative advantage in certain areas but that sustainable competitive advantage cannot occur by chance – identifying the potential for coinnovation is an important first step in the right direction. Research limitations/implications – The value chain innovation roadmap represents a useful framework for exploring the current state and future capability for co-innovation in a value chain. The value chain analysis methodology is an effective diagnostic tool as it focuses on what happens at the interface between stakeholders and how this relates to what final consumers regard as value adding, rather than traditional financial and functional KPIs which make it difficult to explore the competitiveness of the value chain as a whole. Originality/value – The explicit and objective measurement of what consumers value is an important addition to the value chain analysis methodology and the co-innovation roadmap is an original attempt to illustrate the core drivers and capabilities for achieving co-innovation in a value chain. The insights from the case demonstrate the value of this approach to companies who are open to innovation and recognise the need to focus the use of scarce value-adding resources on specific value chains and the needs and wants of final consumers therein.