The Front End of Innovation in Converging Industries: The Case of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods(Betriebswirtschaftliche Studien in forschungsintensiven Industrien)

Industry Convergence - as the coalescence of previously separated industry sectors - can be observed in various areas of economic activity and therefore is a phenomenon of growing relevance. Convergence can be induced by the application of technologies across industry sectors or by converging trends regarding the demand side of different industry sectors. However, it results in the development of products, which combine features of different industries. The area of functional foods and nutraceuticals for instance, is an expression of the increasingly blurring boundary between the nutrition and pharmaceutical sectors. In particular, the area of functional foods is a striking example of industry convergence, as it shows converging trends between a technology-driven and a market-driven industry sector. As the term nutraceutical indicates, innovation projects in the context of industry convergence do not seem to follow the conventional path of innovation, but require resources and competences of different industries. The reasoning is that firms in different industries have developed along certain learning paths which have lead to the creation of an idiosyncratic set of competencies. Such a path dependently developed competence base seems not sufficient in times of convergence, where hybrid innovations require competencies and resources rooted in different industries. Generally speaking, firms are confronted with new areas of knowledge which becomes increasingly relevant to their innovation system. Industry convergence, thus, presents a context for innovation management, which not only seems to be a very interesting area of research but alsO is of increasing importance from a business perspective.

Table of Contents:
1 Introduction.- 1.1 Research problem.- 1.2 Research question and objectives.- 1.3 Research strategy and method.- 1.4 Outline of the thesis.- 2 Innovation, innovation process and the front end of innovation.- 2.1 Definitions, classifications and situations for innovation management.- 2.2 Dimensions of innovation.- 2.3 Literature review of process models of the front end of innovation.- 2.4 The front end — idea generation.- 2.5 The front end — idea evaluation and selection.- 2.6 Critical review of the extant literature of the front end of innovation.- 3 Industry convergence as a context for the front end of innovation.- 3.1 Industry convergence.- 3.2 Patterns of industry convergence.- 3.3 Industry convergence — a particular context for the front end of innovation.- 4 Conceptual framework and research design to assess the front end in converging industries.- 4.1 Conceptual framework: reasoning and theoretical basis.- 4.2 Empirical research: methods and data collection.- 5 Empirical analysis of the front end in converging industries.- 5.1 Industry convergence — the case of the emerging NFF-sector.- 5.2 The sample — description and identification of different project types.- 5.3 Qualitative data analysis of the front end in converging industries.- 5.4 Quantitative data analysis of the front end in converging industries.- 5.5 Overview on empirical findings and Hypotheses building.- 6 Discussion of findings and implications for theory and practise.- 6.1 Discussion of R&D project types and implications for the RBV-theory.- 6.2 Discussion of type-specific front end decision making and implications for innovation management research.- 6.3 Managerial implications for the front end in general and for the NFF-sector.- 7 Conclusion.- Appendices.- References.