RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WEB BASED USER INNOVATION TOOLS AND FIRMS’ INNOVATIVENESS

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the usage of web based user innovation tools and firms’ innovativeness. Besides, it is also aimed to explore the tools that are used in conjunction and trigger innovativeness. 61 firms operating in consumer goods/services sector within the list of Fortune Top 500 Turkey List, published in 2014, responded to the questionnaire. Findings reveal that not all of the web based user innovation tools have a significant relationship with firms’ innovativeness. Hypotheses of the study are tested by correlation analysis and research questions are investigated via mining association rules with FP-Growth algorithm. The association rules mined pinpoint that 71% of the companies that use “virtual communities formed by users, and marketing intelligence services” together and 65% of the firms using market intelligence services in their new product development process are found to trigger innovativeness. Up to date, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no research focusing on the relationship between the usage of web based user innovation tools and firms’ innovativeness. Therefore, the most important contribution of this study is being a pioneer attempt to provide an empirical evidence for the aforementioned relationship by shedding light on each tools’ effect on firm’s innovativeness for consumer goods/services. Web based user innovation tools are the prominent enablers of customer integration into innovation processes of firms leading to customer generated value. Thus, it may be important for firms to decide on the bundle of the web based user innovation tools to be used; since the usage of these tools together or separately might have different effects on firms’ innovativeness.

Keywords: Innovativeness, Web Based User Innovation Tools, Association Rules, Innovation.

WEB TABANLI KULLANICI İNOVASYON ARAÇLARI VE FİRMA YENİLİKÇİLİĞİ İLİŞKİSİ

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, web tabanlı kullanıcı inovasyon araçları kullanımı ile firma yenilikçiliği arasındaki ilişkiyi araştırmaktır. Bunun yanı sıra çalışmada, birlikte kullanılan inovasyon araçlarının ve yenilikçiliği tetikleyen araçların ortaya çıkartılması hedeflenmektedir. 2014 yılı Fortune ilk 500 Türkiye listesinde yer alan ve son tüketiciye yönelik ürün ve hizmet üreten 61firma çalışmamızın örneklemini oluşturmaktadır. Hipotezler korelasyon analizi ile test edilmiş olup, araştırma soruları ise FP-Büyüme algoritmasıyla analiz edilmiş ve birliktelik kuralları elde edilmiştir. Bulgular, araştırmaya konu olan web tabanlı kullanıcı inovasyon araçlarından sadece bazılarının firma yenilikçiliği ile ilişkili olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Birliktelik kurallarından elde edilen bulgular ise, yeni ürün geliştirme süreçlerinde, “kullanıcılar tarafından oluşturulan sanal toplulukları” ve “pazar istihbarat hizmetlerini” birlikte kullanan firmaların %71’inde; yalnızca “pazar istihbarat hizmetlerini” kullanan firmaların %65’inde yenilikçiliğin tetiklendiğini işaret etmektedir. Bilgimiz çerçevesinde bugüne kadar, web tabanlı kullanıcı inovasyon araçları ve firma yenilikçiliği arasındaki ilişkinin incelendiği bir çalışma yazında bulunmamaktadır. Ülkemizde ve dünyada artan inovasyon çalışmaları göz önüne alındığında, bu çalışmanın akademik alandaki en önemli katkısı, tüketim ürünleri için firma yenilikçiliğini pozitif yönde etkileyen her bir aracın ortaya çıkarılarak, söz konusu ilişkiye ampirik kanıt sağlayan öncü bir girişim olmasıdır. Web tabanlı kullanıcı inovasyon araçları, firmalara, inovasyon süreçlerine kullanıcıları entegre ederek, kullanıcılar tarafından oluşturulan değerin yaratılmasında önemli katkılarda bulunmaktadır. Bu sebeple, kullanılacak araçların doğru olarak seçilmesi firmaların yenilikçilik kapasitelerini arttırarak değer yaratmaları için de büyük önem taşımaktadır. Bu anlamda bu çalışmanın firmalar açısından da faydalı olması beklenmektedir

Keywords

• Yenilikçilik, Web Tabanlı Kullanıcı İnovasyon Araçları, Birliktelik Kuralları, İnovasyon.

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