Call for Papers: Innovation and Engineering Management in Emerging Economies

IEEE Transactions on

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

Special Issue: Innovation and Engineering Management in Emerging Economies

Guest Editors

Dr. Li Da Xu, Old Dominion University, USA, LXu@odu.edu

Dr. Dirk Meissner, Higher School of Economics, National Research University, Russia, dmeissner@hse.ru

Dr. Ruy Quadros, S&T Policy Department, State University of Campinas, Brazil, ruyqc@ige.unicamp.br 

Theme

Over the past decade, the development of emerging economies as drivers of global economic growth has been one of the most fundamental trends.  Emerging economies account for ever more of world’s exports, including technology exports, while emerging country firms have heightened their profile in the global innovation landscape (Altenburg et al. 2008, Ernst 2008, Li and Kozhikode 2009, Lema et al. 2015). Such changes required the building of substantial technological and engineering capabilities, but this is not the entire picture. In order to move up from basic innovation to advanced innovation capabilities, firms in emerging economies have undergone a process of change and improvement in their managerial skills, by means of developing and adopting best practices of innovation and engineering management. Managerial skills are an enabling factor for dealing with systemic innovation processes and complex engineering projects. Nevertheless, while there has been substantial research on technological catching up in emerging economies, concern with how they are facing the challenges of adoption of innovation and engineering management practices have received little attention. The purpose of the Special Issue is to report on the state-of-the-art of, and emerging trends in, research and practice of innovation and engineering management in emerging economies

Innovation and engineering management theories and practices in emerging economies have made many large scale engineering and innovation projects successful in countries such as Brazil, China, India, and Russia. In fact, some emerging countries’ innovation and engineering projects are world class projects in terms of scale, complexity and new technology achievement. China’s high speed train and Three Gorge Dam, Russia’s aircraft engines, India’s satellite programme and Brazil’s deep water oil exploration are well known though not isolated examples. Researchers are interested in understanding whether innovation and engineering management theories and practices in emerging economies are distinctive. What are the characteristics that distinguish innovation and engineering management in emerging economies from their counterparts in developed economies?  Evidence suggests that some engineering management theories and practices in emerging economies are different from their counterparts in developed economies.  For example, Technological Economics is a subject originated in China which has been widely applied and has provided insights into the engineering management practice in China for many years. Likewise, the Frugal and Reverse Innovation approaches have been theorized from the Indian experience and have influenced innovation management practices in emerging economies (Zeschky et al. 2011, Bhatti 2012, Zeschky et al. 2014). The implications underlying the story of successful engineering and innovation projects in emerging economies will provide insight into the development of engineering management theories and practices in both emerging economies and developed economies.

While successful cases and projects indicate lessons to be learned, the issue of the diffusion of best practices amongst the population of innovative firms remain unknown (Quadros et al 2017, Tidd and Thuriaux-Aleman 2016). In most emerging countries, industrialization was initially based on the absorption of imported technology, with focus on building operational capabilities. The change of emerging country business firms’ strategic focus from the sole operational excellence required from imitators to the cross-functional learning and creativity required from innovators is a process of transformation of their own organizational architecture: governance, strategies, partnerships and alliances, structures, decision-making processes and management routines (Quadros et al. 2017). The pace and extension of such transformation is critical to firm innovation performance and value creation and its understanding, to subsidise policies supporting the building of engineering and innovation capabilities. The World Bank study on the “Innovation Paradox” (Cirera and Maloney 2017) argues that an important obstacle to emerging countries’ innovation catching up lies on their lack of managerial capabilities, which are an essential complement to investment on R&D, engineering and innovation activities.

The Special Issue aims at addressing the above-mentioned gaps, by calling papers which would bring about empirical and theoretical research focused on distinctive aspects of innovation and engineering management theories and practice in emerging country firms and institutions. This could comprise, on the one hand, elements which are rather “internal” to business firms and public institutions, such as the creation and diffusion of particular innovation and engineering management practices, or the challenge of changing culture and allowing for more ambitious innovation strategies or even the difficulties arising with the need to innovate new business models based on digital platforms. Also encouraged are papers which address elements of emerging country firms and institutions’ experience with open innovation, such as the particular nature of industry-university collaboration in emerging economies, or the challenge of creating entrepreneurial universities in this context or even the challenge of governing corporative engagement with start-ups. The purpose of the Special Issue is to report on the state-of-the-art of, and emerging trends in, research and practice of innovation and engineering management in emerging economies. It provides a premier forum for researchers to present research results in all areas related to the main theme. Our goal is to foster the introduction of a coherent, cumulative body of knowledge regarding innovation and engineering management theories and practices in emerging economies.

Manuscripts will be judged on the relative merits of their contribution to the research literature, the depth and completeness of the thoughts, ideas, and the technical levels that are presented, the integration of the research with existing relevant research and other related literature, and the writing quality. We seek papers that answer these core questions: “What are the characteristics of innovation and engineering management theories and practices in emerging economies? And what implications do the experience from emerging economies have on innovation and engineering management theories and practices across both emerging economies and developed countries?”

All contributions must fit into the scope of IEEE-TEM.  Suitable topics for this special issue include but are not limited to:

  • What are the characteristics of innovation and engineering management theories and practices in emerging economies as compared to their counterparts in developed economies?
  • How does engineering management theories and practices in emerging economies support their large and complex engineering projects?
  • How does innovation management theories and practices in emerging economies contribute to successful innovation projects and technological development?
  • How does the study of innovation and engineering management theories and practice in emerging economies contribute to emerging economies’ technological development strategy, policy formulation, and technological development practice?
  • How and why has evolved the diffusion of best practices of innovation and engineering management in emerging country, innovative firms?
  • What are the elements of distinctiveness of emerging country firms and institutions’ experience with open innovation?
  • Is there a particular nature of industry-university collaboration in emerging economies? What are the challenges of creating entrepreneurial universities in the context of emerging economies?
  • How have performed emerging economies in regard with recent innovation management paradigms such as co-creation for innovation and the meaning of digital tools for the organization and steering of the innovation process and research teams?
  • Important, new emerging research trends/topics within engineering management theories and practice related to emerging economies.

Review Process

Each paper will be thoroughly reviewed by qualified expert reviewers.

Submission Process

Please prepare the manuscript according to IEEE-TEM’s guidelines (http://ieee-tmc.org/tem-guidelines) and submit it to the journal’s Manuscript Central site (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tem-ieee). Please clearly state in the cover letter that the submission is for this special issue.

Schedule

  • Full Papers submitted by December 31st 2019
  • Initial Acceptance Notification by August 31st 2020
  • Final/Revised Papers submitted by January 31st 2021

References

Altenburg, T.; Schmitz, H. and A. Stamms (2008). ‘Breakthrough: China’s and India’s Transition from Production to Innovation’. World Development 36.2: 325–34.

Bhatti, Y.A., What is Frugal, What is Innovation? Towards a Theory of Frugal Innovation (February 1, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2005910 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2005910.

Cirera, X. and W. F. Maloney (2017. The innovation paradox: developing–country capabilities and the unrealized promise of technological catch-up. World Bank. Washington, D.C..

Ernst, D. (2008) ‘Innovation Offshoring and Outsourcing: What are the Implications for Industrial Policy?’ International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development 1.3: 309–29.

Li ,J. and  R. K. Kozhekode (2009). “Developing new innovation models: Shifts in the innovation landscapes in emerging economies and implications for global R&D management,” Journal of International Management 15: 328–339.

Lema, R., Quadros, R. and H. Schmitz. 2015. “Reorganising Global Value Chains and Building Innovation Capabilities in Brazil and India.” Research Policy 44.9: 1376-1386.

Quadros, R., E. Inacio Junior, I. Egler, A. Tavares, R. Quintão, D. Monaco, and G. Vieira. 2017. “Diffusion of innovation management practices in manufacturing industry in Brazil: Comparing multinational subsidiaries to Brazilian national firms.” Proceedings of PICMET’ 17: Technology Management for Interconnected World, Portland: PICMET.

Tidd, J. and B. Thuriaux-Aleman. 2016. “Innovation management practices: cross-sectorial adoption, variation, and effectiveness”. R&D Management 46.S3:1024-1043.

Zeschky, M.; Widenmayer, B. and Gassmann, O. (2011). Frugal Innovation in Emerging Markets. Research Technology Management, 54.4: 38-45.

Zeschky, M.; Winterhalte, B. and Gassmann, O. (2014). From Cost to Frugal and Reverse Innovation: Mapping the Field and Implications for Global Competitiveness. Research-Technology Management, 57.4.

Guest Editor Bios

Li Da Xu is an IEEE Fellow, academician of European Academy of Sciences, and academician of the Russian Academy of Engineering (formerly USSR Academy of Engineering). Dr. Xu is a 2016, 2017, and 2018 Highly Cited Researcher in the field of engineering named by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters Intellectual Property & Science).

Dirk Meissner professor and academic supervisor of Master Programm ‘Governance Science, Technology and Innovation’ at National Research University Higher School of Economics Moscow. Dr. Meissner has over 20 years experience in research and teaching technology and innovation management and policy. He has strong background in science, technology and innovation for policy making and industrial management with special focus on Foresight and roadmapping, science, technology and innovation policies, funding of research and priority setting. Prior to joining the HSE Dirk was responsible for technology and innovation policy at the presidential office of the Swiss Science and Technology Council. Dirk also has long experience in top level consulting as management consultant for technology and innovation management with Arthur D. Little. He is and was member of international working groups on technology and innovation policy. Dirk represented Switzerland and now the Russian Federation at the OECD Working Party on Technology and Innovation Policy.

He has published in International Journal of Technology Management, Journal of Technology Forecasting and Social Change, Technological Analysis and Strategic Management, Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Foresight and many local and regional journals. Dirk is Associate Editor of Technological Forecasting and Social Change.

Ruy Quadros is Full Professor of Innovation and Technology Management at State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) Department of Science and Technology Policy/IG, Brazil. He is leading researcher of the Research Laboratory of Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, as well as designer and head of the MBA on Innovation Management at Unicamp.  Dr. Quadros’ teaching and research activities focus on the areas of innovation, new business models and firm performance in global value chains, innovation and R&D indicators, the diffusion of innovation and technology management and organizational practices in emerging country firms, the experience of emerging country firms with open innovation, corporative engagement with startups and innovation in business models driven by digital transformation. He has recently conducted a national survey of diffusion of innovation and technology management and organizational practices in Brazilian leading industrial and software firms. He has published in Research Policy, International Journal of Technology Management, Technology Forecasting and Social Change, Research Evaluation, Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, Journal of Development Studies, Latin American Business Review and many local and regional journals.

Selected relevant papers published in IEEE-TEM with Google Citations:

Resource-Constrained Innovation for Emerging Economies: The Case of the Indian Telecommunications Industry

Ray, P.K.; Ray, S.

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 57(1), 144-156, 2010.

DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2009.2033044

Google Scholar Citations: 114

High-Technology Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: Firm Informality and Contextualization of Resource-Based Theory

Siqueira, A.; Bruton, G.D.

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 57(1), 39-50, 2010.

DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2009.2028323

Google Scholar Citations: 48

Green Process Innovation and Financial Performance in Emerging Economies: Moderating Effects of Absorptive Capacity and Green Subsidies

Xuemei Xie ; Jiage Huo ; Guoyou Qi ; Kevin Xiaoguo Zhu

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 63(1), 101-112, 2016.

DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2015.2507585

Google Scholar Citations: 16

Organizational Learning, Managerial Ties, and Radical Innovation: Evidence From an Emerging Economy

Jie Zhao; Yuan Li; Yi Liu

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 63(4), 489-499, 2016.

DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2016.2597290

Google Scholar Citations: 9

Managing Software Outsourcing Relationships in Emerging Economies: An Empirical Study of the Chinese Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Ren, S.J.-F.; Ngai, E.W.T.; Cho, V.

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 58(4), 730-742, 2011.

DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2010.2100400

Google Scholar Citations: 6

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management is a journal of the Technology and Engineering Management Society of IEEE, published quarterly since 1954. It is dedicated to the publication of peer-reviewed original contributions, by researchers and practitioners, regarding the theory and practice of engineering, technology, and innovation management.

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