Three months ago, in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and immediately after the Spanish government declared the state of emergency, we wrote the op-ed "Companies vs Coronavirus: A Call for Responsible Innovation" in which we called for rapid responsible innovation to combat Covid-19. This is defined as innovation developed in a short period of time in a state of emergency with the hope of protecting people and saving lives (Gutierrez, Castillo, and Montiel 2020). Following our initial call, things have moved very quickly, and we continue to track how innovation has mushroomed.
The social and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on humanity is already devastating. The pandemic demands responsibility from companies to step up for the service of society. Companies must show their commitment not only to shareholders but also to all of their stakeholders, while also putting their resources and expertise at the service of governments and the entire society. Firm responsible innovation is a positive impactful alternative to combat Covid-19. This Virtual Special Issue presents a collection of recent articles on responsible innovation —innovation oriented towards avoiding harm, doing good and developing responsible governance that involves establishing institutions, structures, and procedures to facilitate innovation (Voegtlin and Scherer, 2017)— connected to situations of crisis. We hope that these research works can help understand the business responsibilities in the current 2020 global Covid-19 pandemic even though this crisis is unprecedented and is demanding of much faster action to save lives. Briefly summarizing this set of articles covers the role of business in tackling grand societal challenges through innovation (Candi et al., 2019) and civic engagement (Skarmeas et al., 2019), the role of post-disaster business communities (Dinger et al., 2019), and innovation in multi-stakeholder settings (Rühli et al., 2017). This Virtual Special Issue also wants to serve as an action call to business ethics researchers to study how such global crisis is affecting the way businesses reorient their responsibilities, embark in cross-sector collaborations, and develop rapid responsible innovation to fight Covid-19.
Although the operative benefits of Six Sigma methodology in the business world are well accepted, the long-term benefits of the initiative are currently under discussion. This paper aims to analyze how Six Sigma methodology is related to the knowledge transfer process, a source of competitive advantage. For this purpose, we observe how team management in Six Sigma firms differs statistically from team management proposed by other quality management initiatives, and how Six Sigma team management is related to the knowledge integration and knowledge transfer processes. An ANOVA analysis and Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach were used to analyze data from 53 European Six Sigma firms, confirming the hypotheses developed. The results confirm that Six Sigma methodology offers new possibilities to companies and that implementation of Six Sigma has a positive effect on variables that influence long-term organizational performance, such as knowledge management. Relevant academic contributions and implications for practitioners are included. ; This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Projects ECO2010-15885; ECO2013-47027P), Junta de Andalucia (P11-SEJ-7294) and the European Union (European Regional Development Funds).
"This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Total Quality Management and Business Excellence on 20 Apr 2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14783363.2015.1032237". ; Although the operative benefits of Six Sigma methodology in the business world are well accepted, the long-term benefits of the initiative are currently under discussion. This paper aims to analyze how Six Sigma methodology is related to the knowledge transfer process, a source of competitive advantage. For this purpose, we observe how team management in Six Sigma firms differs statistically from team management proposed by other quality management initiatives, and how Six Sigma team management is related to the knowledge integration and knowledge transfer processes. An ANOVA analysis and Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach were used to analyze data from 53 European Six Sigma firms, confirming the hypotheses developed. The results confirm that Six Sigma methodology offers new possibilities to companies and that implementation of Six Sigma has a positive effect on variables that influence long-term organizational performance, such as knowledge management. Relevant academic contributions and implications for practitioners are included. ; This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Projects ECO2010-15885; ECO2013-47027P), Junta de Andalucia (P11-SEJ-7294) and the European Union (European Regional Development Funds).
The markets in which organizations currently operate require them to use behaviour based on both exploitation strategy and exploration strategy, each of which contributes fundamental benefits for the firm's success. Exploitation strategy attempts to obtain the maximum advantage from existing abilities, whereas exploration strategy searches for new ways for the organization to adapt. Further, since manufacturing markets are characterized by short product life, they require a high level of manufacturing flexibility, which can play a crucial role in the development of the exploitation and exploration strategies. This study analyses the relationship of manufacturing flexibility to exploitation and exploration strategies, taking into account an issue of maximum international scope: the implementation of ISO standards. In many international markets, ISO implementation is crucial in enabling organizations to be competitive. However, no consensus has been reached concerning the real benefits that these systems provide to the organizations that implement them. The main goal of our study is to analyse whether there are significant differences in the relationship of manufacturing flexibility to exploitation and exploration strategies in ISO 9001:2000 certified organizations and non-certified organizations. Our results show that most of the relationships analysed are only significant in ISO certified organizations. As an added value, the study analyses the relationship of exploitation and exploration strategies to organizational learning orientation and finds this relationship to be significant in all cases. ; This work has been developed with funding and collaboration of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Union. Project I+D ECO2010-15885.
The markets in which organizations currently operate require them to use behaviour based on both exploitation strategy and exploration strategy, each of which contributes fundamental benefits for the firm's success. Exploitation strategy attempts to obtain the maximum advantage from existing abilities, whereas exploration strategy searches for new ways for the organization to adapt. Further, since manufacturing markets are characterized by short product life, they require a high level of manufacturing flexibility, which can play a crucial role in the development of the exploitation and exploration strategies. This study analyses the relationship of manufacturing flexibility to exploitation and exploration strategies, taking into account an issue of maximum international scope: the implementation of ISO standards. In many international markets, ISO implementation is crucial in enabling organizations to be competitive. However, no consensus has been reached concerning the real benefits that these systems provide to the organizations that implement them. The main goal of our study is to analyse whether there are significant differences in the relationship of manufacturing flexibility to exploitation and exploration strategies in ISO 9001:2000 certified organizations and non-certified organizations. Our results show that most of the relationships analysed are only significant in ISO certified organizations. As an added value, the study analyses the relationship of exploitation and exploration strategies to organizational learning orientation and finds this relationship to be significant in all cases. ; This work has been developed with funding and collaboration of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Union. Project I+D ECO2010-15885.
This article contributes to research on transactive memory systems (TMSs) by analyzing the relationship between trust, collective mind (CM), and network ties (NT) as antecedents of performance in innovative university research (IUR), and the mediating role of the TMS in these relationships. The conceptual model grounded in seven hypotheses is tested through structural equations modeling. The data analyzed are drawn from 257 directors Spanish university research groups. The results show that TRUST, CM, and NT are positively related to the TMS and that the TMS is positively related to IUR. The most striking result is that the TMS mediates the relationships of TRUST, CM, and NT to IUR, becoming a necessary condition for TRUST, CM, and NT to improve IUR. These results support the conclusion that managers of university research groups should promote the development of TMSs to stimulate IUR in order to make these groups more competitive. ; This study was financed by projects from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ECO2013-47027-P) and the Ministry of Science and Innovation (ECO2010-15885). It was also funded by a project for Excellence from the Council for Economics, Innovation, and Science of the Andalusian Regional Government (P11-SEJ-7294) and by the European Regional Development Fund.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend understanding of the success of the six sigma quality management initiative by investigating the effects of six sigma teamwork and statistical process control (SPC) on organizational‐shared vision.Design/methodology/approachThe information used comes from a larger study, the data for which were collected from a random sample of 237 European firms. Of these 237 organizations, 58 have implemented six sigma. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe main findings show that six sigma teamwork and SPC positively affect the development of organizational‐shared vision. A positive but not significant influence is also observed between shared vision and organizational performance.Research limitations/implicationsPositive effects found in this study should be investigated further employing a larger sample of six sigma firms and including other variables such as organizational learning. Further, the effects of these variables on performance should be measured with real results from firms to test possible direct and indirect influence on performance.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study offer a justification of six sigma implementation in firms. This study provides the authors with an in‐depth understanding of some structural elements that characterize the six sigma methodology, enabling the authors to provide an explanation for its success.Originality/valueThere is little empirical research on the positive effects of six sigma implementation and even less that explains the success of six sigma initiatives. This paper contributes to filling this gap. It also contributes to emerging literature on how the development of shared vision affects organizational performance.
