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While extant research on open innovation and knowledge brokering has shown that boundary-spanning innovation hold great promise, less attention has been paid to how such efforts are established and managed in the context of academia-industry collaboration for IT innovation. The paper thus aims to provide insights into design and orchestration of boundary-spanning IT innovation efforts involving academia and industry. We report experiences from a longitudinal case study of the design and orchestration of a platform for collaboration in a large-scale regional IT innovation program – ProcessIT Innovations – with particular emphasis on the management challenges involved in facilitating interactions between IT providers, IT user organizations and IT researchers. Combining insights from the case study and innovation theory, we contribute to the literature on boundary spanning IT innovation by pointing to the influence of knowledge brokering capabilities in generating innovation dynamics, identifying configurations options in terms of innovation modes, and, providing an empirical illustration of the role of network diversity and size in implementing such configurations.

Purpose

– Although the potential of innovation networks that involve both university and industry actors is great variances in cultures, goals and knowledge poses significant challenges. To better understand management of such innovation networks, the authors investigate different strategies for balancing diversity. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach– In this multiple case study, the authors draw on network and trading zone theory to examine the strategies of four research centers that govern university-industry innovation networks.

Findings

– The authors provide empirically grounded descriptions of strategies for balancing diversity in innovation processes, extend previous theorizations by suggesting two types of trading zones (transformative and performative), and identify four strategy configuration dimensions (means of knowledge trade, tie configuration, knowledge mobility mechanisms and types of trust).

Research limitations/implications

– Further research is needed on transferability of results when, e.g. cultural collaboration and communication patterns change, and performance implications of different configurations. The research provides conceptual tools for future research on the impact of different diversity strategies.

Practical implications

– The findings point to the importance of identifying desired types of innovation outcomes and designing the appropriate level of diversity. To implement the selected strategy, managers need to configure communication channels and strength of relationships, establish associated capacity for knowledge transfer and build appropriate levels of trust.

Originality/value

– While extant research has provided a solid understanding of benefits from diversity in boundary spanning innovation processes, this paper outlines strategies for managing associated challenges.

This chapter explores issues associated with the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in process industries and the inherent tension between control and flexibility in IT infrastructures. A qualitative case study of the alignment between organizational elements and the ERP system was conducted. The study illustrates the complexities involved with IT infrastructure adaptation and the extensive organizational consequences accompanying process and data standardization. The main contribution to the body of knowledge on IT infrastructure is a suggestion that fit between the inherent standardization an ERP system conveys and processes in the host organization are key aspects, hence implementation is more likely to contribute with desired effects in relation to stable and universal processes. A prerequisite for accomplishing limitation of the scope of ERP systems to these processes is a truly modular system.

While research has shown that investments in IT capability may translate into improved firm performance, how and why they do is still a source of debate. Drawing on financial options thinking, recent research suggests that managers can support appropriate investment decisions by examining digital options. However, current research has not effectively translated the financial options construct into the IT domain, making it difficult to rigorously examine digital options. To address this void, we revisit general options theory and review current notions of digital options. To support understanding, we extend current theorizing by offering a rigorous conceptual foundation that defines the digital option life cycle and relationships to neighboring constructs. To support practice, we present principles for examining digital options for a specific business process. To illustrate the detailed workings of the theory, we examine a production planning process within the dairy industry to arrive at a set of desirable and feasible IT capability investments. The proposed theory supports managerial practice by offering a rigorous and actionable foundation for digital options thinking. It also sets an agenda for academic research by articulating theory-based constructs and principles that are subject to further empirical and theoretical investigation.