Embedded innovation - Strategic management incubators for knowledge hegemony

 

 

I.A. Khota^I; L. Pretorius^II

^IRizQapital Management, University of Johannesburg, South Africa irfaan.khota@gmail.com
^IIGraduate School of Technology Management, University of Pretoria, South Africa leon.pretorius@up.ac.za

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Global competitiveness and category leadership is the strategic challenge for South African innovators over the next decade. Within the context of engineering management, this research identifies the strategic drivers and corporate positioning necessary to meet this challenge and to create a vibrant manufacturing and innovation landscape leading to wealth for South African stakeholders. Focusing on the product life-cycle, the research identifies 'incubators of competitive advantage' within the areas of context-management, resource-management, and opportunity-management. The aim is to establish an organisational paradigm relating to the creation of intellectual capital and to knowledge management within these arenas, as sources of innovation and competitive advantage.

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OPSOMMING

Wêreldwye kompetisie asook produkleierskap is strategiese uitdagings wat Suid-Afrikaanse innoveerders in die volgende dekade gaan aanspoor. Hierdie navorsing identifiseer strategiese drywers en korporatiewe posisionering wat nodig is in die konteks van ingenieursbestuur om van hierdie uitdagings aan te spreek. Sodoende word 'n aktiewe vervaardigings- en innovasielandskap wat kan lei tot welvaart-skepping w Suid-Afrikaanse belanghebbendes bevorder. Deur te fokus op die produklewensiklus word 'omgewings van kompeterende voordeel' binne in konteks-, hulpbron- en geleentheidsbestuur geïdentifiseer. Die doel is om 'n organisasie-kultuur te skep wat deurentyd intellektuele eiendom en kennisbestuur as bronne van innovasie en kompeterende voordeel vooropstel.

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1 Doctoral student in Engineering Management at the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg