Contribute to Shaping Aspects of the Business within the Context of a Globalised Economy - Research Proposal Example

The Competitive Dynamics Of High-Tech Firms: Examination of the Service Innovation Framework in East Asia’s High-Tech Supply Chain Ecosystem Institution The Competitive Dynamics Of High-Tech Firms: Examination of the Service Innovation Framework in East Asia’s High-Tech Supply Chain Ecosystem Overview of the Research Innova (2011) defines transformative service innovations as those that disrupt conventional market channels, traditional business models or processes and promote exceptional customer experience in a manner that reforms the entire value chain. Service innovation helps support competitive businesses, globally. There are several service innovation frameworks based on the European system. However, not so many literatures examine service innovation in East Asia’s high-tech firms. The research will examine the competitive dynamics of High-tech firms. The research will involve a critical examination and evaluation of the service innovation framework in the case of East Asia’s high-tech supply chain ecosystem. In addition, the research will focus on the examination of the influence or significance of geographical locations on the attainment of competitive advantage by high-tech firms in East Asia in comparison to the case of European high-tech firms. In the course of assessing these objectives, the research will consider an illustration of keywords such as service and systems of innovation, competitiveness, industrial dynamics, competitive advantage, innovation process, geographical locations, global economy, knowledge transfer, social implication and policy recommendation. MBS provides the perfect chance and platform for integration of the most innovative and ambitious research schools. From that perspective, the research will fit into MBS’s perception in relation to innovation and ambitious research symbols, thus increased understanding of the scope of the study and evaluation of the framework in service delivery by the high-tech firms in East Asia. Moreover, this research focuses on making a difference through evaluating trends in the operations or transactions of the business entities within the market and industry of importance. It is critical to executing this research to facilitate an evaluation of the ways in which organisations operate in accordance with the demands including expectations of their target audiences. The institution provides an excellent environment since research is at the heart of every activity within MBS. The research will contribute towards informing and shaping every aspect of the business and management within the context of a globalised economy. Positioning of the Research In the contemporary society, business entities and companies focus on the achievement of competitive advantage and sustainability through utilisation of various strategies. One of the areas where researchers have focused on is the creation and utilisation of an exceptional service experience that is ideal in the achievement of sustainability for the business entities. Based on that perspective, exceptional service experience relates to warm, knowledgeable, helpful and friendly services provided when addressing the needs and preferences of consumers within the markets and industries of operation. In that context, timeliness and anticipation are critical to addressing the demands and expectations of employees and target audiences. There is the necessity for genuine engagement between consumers and business entities of companies with the intention of addressing consumers’ demands effectively and efficiently. In addition, researchers have focused on examining the influence of global responsibility and consumer awareness in the course of providing quality products and services in accordance with the demands and market expectations. Similarly, business researchers focus on the assessment of the influence of globalisation on internal and international business strategies that aid the achievement of goals and targets of competitiveness of business entities or companies. Emphasis has been on the increasing rate of change, thus the necessity to adopt and implement effective change management practices and mechanisms. Such management practices and mechanisms are critical in enabling organisations to achieve the desired service experiences. Another fundamental aspect of the discussion is innovation. Business entities and companies have focused on the utilisation of innovative strategies and mechanisms that are appropriate for eliminating competition among various players within the industry. Innovation entails attempts to create purposeful transformations in the economic and social potential of the business organisation or entity within the market and industry of operation. Innovation is critical in aiding the ability of the organisation to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and reducing operation costs through flexibility, effectiveness and efficiency in meeting the demands and expectations of business entities. In the course of implementing innovative ideas, business entities have the obligation of developing mission and vision statements. Mission and vision statements are essential to enabling business entities overcome potential challenges within the market and industry. Besides addressing such challenges, they help in the improvement of effectiveness and efficiency of the supply chain or delivery of products and services in accordance with the demands and expectations of the consumers (Phaal et al., 2011). Pim den Hertog et al. (2010) focused on the examination and assessment of capabilities for the management of service innovation and utilisation of a conceptual framework to attain the goals and targets that emanates from having a competitive advantage. In the course of developing the research, the authors focused on identification and reflection of the set of dynamic capabilities in the management of service innovation. It also involves the application of dynamic capabilities of high-tech firms in supply chain management. The attributes are essential to improving the image and reputation in the market and industry of operation to ensure increased profitability of high-tech firms at the end of a fiscal period. The researchers contributed a critical role in the determination of six capabilities of dynamic service innovation in the form of signalling user needs and technological options, conceptualisation, co-production and orchestrating, scaling and stretching and learning and adoption. According to the findings of the study, successful service innovators, which might include manufacturing firms, have the potentiality of developing into providers of service solutions, thus the potentiality of outperforming their competitors in the management of the some of the aforementioned capabilities in innovation management (Malerba, 2007). Over the last two decades, there have been advancements in East Asian nations’ high performance in relation to economic growth and development. Remarkably, trade and investment have been critical and essential drivers of success in the high-tech firms in East Asia. In East Asia, trade has focused on the movement from import substitution to export orientation and technology while aiming at maximisation of the benefits and opportunities of globalisation. Furthermore, business entities focused on the utilisation of various activities and strategies in pursuit of competitive advantage while exploiting innovative ideas and decisions to address the demands and wants of the consumers (Malerba, 2007). Researchers have been attentive on the evaluation of a rapid increase and growth in relation to the concept of innovation in the Asian nations. From that perspective, it is remarkable that Asian nations have concentrated on building their capabilities and efforts on innovation. That is through the utilisation of service management frameworks in the course of harmonising innovation efforts of the member nations to gain a sustainable competitive advantage in the market and industry of operation. Remarkably, entities such as Samsung, Huawei and other high-tech firms based in China and Korea continue to experience rapid growth and increase in the theory of innovation activities and management of service innovation (Malerba, 2004). Most entities in the globalised economies tend to adopt and implement consistent approaches and strategies with the intention of keeping up with various corporations or entities based in China, Japan and Korea. Various high-tech companies in East Asia seem to outsmart their counterparts in Western n and Europe. That is emphasized by the analysis presented by Chen and Koppisch (2014) outlining the high performance of Asian Tech companies in comparison to their competitors over the world. According to by Chen and Koppisch (2014), Asia’s Tech companies are considerably highly competitive, globally. Technology companies in Asia are increasingly gaining a great market on a global platform. Baidu, for instance, favourably competes Google in the Chinese market and remains the most dominant over other competing search engines (Lacy, 2010). Tencent is performing exceptionally well in the market against Facebook and Zynga. Similarly, Tudou outdoes YouTube in the Chinese market. It is possible to evaluate and explain trade and innovation using a two-way approach. In the first instance, it is possible to assess trade and investment as the major drivers in relation to the increase in innovation under the influence of technology transfer, competition effects and spillover effects. In other instances, spillover might happen when firms resolve to import products while observing and imitating foreign production, thus the platform to develop new products while addressing the demands of their local and international target markets under the influence of globalisation (Malerba, 2007). Researchers have also focused on the illustration of the influence of high technology import in the course of increasing domestic innovation. Currently, nations focusing on importing high-tech products have high expectations of learning about the new technology under the influence of spillover effects. Second, innovation can affect trade particularly in regards to high-tech products. It is the obligation of innovative firms to produce high-tech products, which offer alternatives to export a product in the global context, license the technology to the third party, and invest in the globalised economy with the intention of exploiting the advantage or benefits of innovation in the market of transaction. It is possible for innovation to take the form of product innovation, thus focusing on the introduction of new products. Similarly, there is the concept of process innovation, which relates to the improvement of the processes and procedures of manufacturing and production in accordance with consumers’ demands and expectations (Wong & Mathews, 2005). Besides, the effects might negatively affect high-tech exports should there be advancements in innovation among nations initially regarded as uncompetitive in the market. That presents an opportunity to overcome technology of other nations that were highly advanced. From that perspective, service innovation focuses on the application of appropriate strategies to improving the image and reputation of firms while also focusing on reducing the costs of operation and increasing profitability levels by the end of a fiscal period. Researchers have also focused on the determination of the potentiality of the East Asian firms or high-tech corporations to innovate cutting-edge technologies in the contemporary world. According to various economic and business articles or research experiments, rapid growth and competitiveness experienced among East Asian firms emanate from the booming export industry of the. The rapid growth also emanates from the influence of other foreign affiliated entities that help promote innovation in the industry. Moreover, business entities within the region continue to focus on the utilisation of the rapidly emerging competitive firms at the domestic level and the vast but dynamic domestic market (Wong & Mathews, 2005). From the above review of existing literature, it is critical for the research to examine competitive dynamics of high-tech firms with the intention of examining the influence of the service innovation framework in the attainment of sustainable competitive advantage. In assessing the scope of the study, the research will focus on addressing the following questions: i. What are the competitive dynamics of high-tech firms in East Asia? ii. Why and how are these competitive dynamics effective and efficient in the pursuit of competitive advantage in the globalised economy? iii. Does service innovation framework play a critical role in enhancing the competitiveness of the supply chain of such high-tech firms? iv. How do high-tech firms compare to their respective counterparts in the Western and European markets? Research Design & Methodology Research design refers to the detailed outline of how an investigation will occur, thus integration of the collection of data, instruments application in the data collection, processes of using the instruments, and intended means of data analysis. In this context, the research will focus on determination and illustration of two critical components. In the first instance, the study will seek to determine what is going on in relation to the high-tech firms in the context of East Asia, thus the aspects of descriptive research. On the other hand, the research will seek to illustrate why it is going on, thus the element of explanatory research design. Research Design Descriptive research refers to the study focused on depicting participants in an accurate way, thus exact description of the people or objects in the research. Noteworthy is that descriptive research tool is innovative for the researchers to blend both quantitative and qualitative data with the intention of reconstructing the questions that emanate from the topic of study. Nevertheless, descriptive research design has potential advantages and disadvantages. The advantages and disadvantage require a skilled research to focus on the useful and wrongful aspects of the design in the course of collecting and analysing data. In the first instance, it is remarkable that descriptive research design provides an opportunity for the usage of specific forms or mechanisms in the collection of data such as observation, case studies and surveys. Similarly, the approach is essential to the generation and utilisation of unique means or mechanisms that are appropriate for data collection. The major weakness of descriptive research design is the issue of confidentiality. In most cases, the research participants or subjects are not truthful in relation to their responses since they develop a feeling of the need to tell the researchers the information that they perceive the research demands to retrieve in the course of assessing the topic of interest as outlined by Onwuegbuzie and Combs (2011). That is a major concern during the execution of interviews that relates to the tendency of the research participants to decline providing accurate answers to questions they perceive as personal (Onwuegbuzie & Combs, 2010). Descriptive research design, however, might be susceptible to error and subjectivity. That makes it critical for the researchers to determine and beware of their influence in relation to the study’s outcome. On the contrary, marketers do not have substantive machines to assess decision problems or issues. Instead, business entities and companies focus on the usage of certain research processes and mechanisms with the intention of evaluating the problem. Investigators utilise these methods, explanatory research designs, with the intention of facilitating the clarification of the research questions that are essential in guiding the entire research project. In this research, explanatory research design is justifiable because it enhances an increased understanding of the topic of study. The major objective of the explanatory research design is to focus on the improvement of the researcher’s knowledge of the topic, thus the perfect platform for understanding or determining why and how things occur or happen. In addition, explanatory research design is vital in the concept testing prior to implementation or application in the market aspect. The study will focus on the utilisation of the explanatory research design with the objective of generating and determining the potential causes of the patterns or the trend in relation to service delivery and supply chain within the market and industry of operation. The approach is also accurate in the provision of flexible data sources (Onwuegbuzie & Combs, 2010). From that perspective, the research design will provide a perfect opportunity for the utilisation of secondary sources such as the published literature. Thus, the inclusion of a literature review to position the study in accordance with the scope and research design. Similarly, an explanatory research design will be essential to the generation and development of better conclusions with references to the collection and analysis of data. Research Methodology The research will seek to consider the incorporation of both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the collection and analysis of data, thus the concept of mixed research methodology. Quantitative research methodology will focus on the integration of hard numbers and provable results, thus the usage of questionnaires or surveys. On the other hand, qualitative research design is more subjective, thus observation and interpretation of data from semi-structured interviews. Mixed research methodology provides an accurate mechanism for exploration and analysis of the scope of the study. In most cases, mixed methodology research begins with the qualitative observation of the phenomenon, thus the perfect platform for outlining the problem. The research will then use the quantitative approach to validate or invalidate the observations in the initial phase under the influence of the qualitative research method. Similarly, mixed research methodology provides a broader perspective, thus the usage of the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the provision of the holistic perspective of the phenomenon (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). The approach will be essential in the generation of more data while eliminating the influence of personal bias in the outcome or conclusions of the research. In the course of collective data, the study will focus on the usage of two critical mechanisms. In the first instance, there will be the need for administration of the questionnaire (Feinberg, Kinnear & Taylor, 2013). The approach is effective because it is practical and provides the opportunity for maximization of large amounts of information. Besides, the approach generates quantifiable data, which can experience scientific or objective analysis in comparison to other forms of research. Furthermore, it is possible to use this data in the development or creation of new theories or testing the existing hypothesis in accordance with the demands and objectives of the study. Secondly, the research will consider utilisation of the semi-structured interviews, which will be ideal in the execution of the qualitative research method. The approach is vital in the generation of accurate information. Semi-structured interviews are important in research as emphasized by Mitchell and Jolley (2013). This is because of the possibility of the research to follow up in accordance with the responses of the research participants concerning the research questions and objectives. Moreover, the approach will focus on illustration of objectivity in the collection and analysis of data while focusing on reporting the findings in accordance with the perceptions of the research participants (Onwuegbuzie & Combs, (2010). The research will consider assessment or analysis of the data through quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques. In the course of analysing this research data, the focus will be on the usage of the seven-step process for the mixed analysis as illustrated by (Combs & Onwuegbuzie, 2010). The processes will incorporate the following elements (Onwuegbuzie & Combs, 2011): i. Data reduction, thus the opportunity to reduce the dimensionality of the quantitative and qualitative data ii. Data display, which relates to description of the visual elements of quantitative and qualitative data iii. Data transformation, which concentrates on quantifying data iv. Data correlation, which focuses on correlating quantitative and qualitative data from the data collection mechanisms v. Data consolidation, which focuses on combining quantitative and qualitative data with the objective of generating consolidated variables or sets of data vi. Data comparison, which provides the perfect platform for comparing qualitative and quantitative data vii. Data integration, which is the final step focusing on integrating or incorporating both sets of data with the intention of generating a coherent whole Bibliography Chen, J & Koppisch, J 2014 Aug 27, Fab 50: Asias Tech Takes Over The World, Forbes, Retrieved June 17, 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2014/08/27/asias-tech-takes-over-the-world/ Combs, J. P., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J 2010, Describing and illustrating data analysis in mixed research, International Journal of Education, 2(2), 1-23. Feinberg, F. M., Kinnear, T. C., & Taylor, J. R 2013, Modern marketing research: Concepts, methods, and cases, Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Innova, E 2011, Meeting the Challenge of Europe 2020: The Transformative Power of Service Innovation, Report by the Expert Panel on Service Innovation in the EU, Retrieved June 17, 2015 from http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/initiatives/esic/materials/expert_panel_report.pdf Johnson, R. B., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. 2004. Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14-26. doi:10.3102/0013189X033007014, http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0013189X033007014 Lacy, S 2010, Jan 13, Google v. Baidu: It’s Not Just about China, TechCrunch, Retrieved June 17, 2015 from http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/13/google-v-baidu-it%E2%80%99s-not-just-about-china/ Malerba, F. (Ed.). 2004. Sectoral systems of innovation: concepts, issues and analyses of six major sectors in Europe. Cambridge University Press. Malerba, F. 2007, “Innovation and the dynamics and evolution of industries: Progress and challenges.” International Journal of Industrial Organization, 25 (4), 675-699 Mitchell, M. L., & Jolley, J. M 2013, Research design explained, Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Combs, J. P. 2010. Emergent data analysis techniques in mixed methods research: a synthesis. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (2nd ed., pp. 397-430). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Combs, J. P. 2011. Data analysis in mixed research: A primer. International Journal of Education, 3(1), E13. Phaal, R. OSullivan, E. Routley, M. Ford, S. Probert, D. 2011, “A framework for mapping industrial emergence.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 78 (2), 217-230. Pim den Hertog, Wietze van der Aa, & Mark W. de Jong, 2010, "Capabilities for managing service innovation: towards a conceptual framework", Journal of Service Management, 21 (4), 490 – 514. Wong, P. K., & Mathews, J. 2005, “Competitive strategies of Asian high-tech firms: the challenge of late-industrialisation”, International Journal of Technology Management, 29 (1), 1-5. Yeung, H. W. C 2013, Globalizing regional development in East Asia: production networks, clusters, and entrepreneurship (Vol. 41), Routledge. Read More