An Investigation into the Reciprocal Relationship of Incremental Innovation Processes and Organisational Structures' Evolvement in Project-Based Low-T

尽管低技术中小企业在全球经济中扮演着重要角色，但它们很少成为创新研究的重点。然而，它们占全球所有企业的99%，其中大多数是低技术组织(OECD，1962，联合国教科文组织，1968；Godin，2009)。在研究中占主导地位的是这样一种观点，即没有在研发(R&D)上投入大量资金的行业将比其他经济部门更缺乏创新和活力(Rothwell等人，1974；Mansfield，1975)。这一论点建立在对创新的狭义定义之上，创新通常侧重于开发新产品或服务。因此，只有高度发达的技术产业才能在投资者和政府支持的基础上发挥推动经济的重要作用(OECD，1962联合国教科文组织，1968；Gatignon等人，2002；Godin，2009；Khar Keng，6月和Mahmod，2013)。低技术中小企业由于其规模、预算以及渐进式创新过程与激进创新创新过程不同的事实，很难制定出反映其研发支出的商业计划。因此，它们从政府和投资者那里得到的支持较少，几乎没有增长和发展的机会(OECD.org，2017)。激进创新是为了开发新的东西，而渐进式创新是为了改进某事或解决问题(参见。Norman和Verganti，2014)。对低技术中小企业增量创新的准确理解将突出创新出现背后的驱动因素，从而鼓励增量创新过程和组织本身的支持(参见。Kwan等人，2018年；Kremer，Villamor和Aguinis，2019年)。此外，社会一般可以从低技术中小企业那里学习创新，而不需要在研发上投入大量资金，因为并不是每个社会都有用于创新和研究的预算，例如发展中国家(参见。OECD.org，2017)。学习如何提供适当的环境和支持来促进渐进式创新，这意味着在不花费高额预算的情况下解决问题和改善现状，这不仅改变了我们定义谁是创新的人，谁不是创新的方式。它可以帮助我们从更全面的角度来看待创新的定义以及影响因素。如今，被判定为非创新是一个太容易通过不支持低技术企业来决定数百万人生活的宣言(OECD.org，2017；McCarthy等人，2018)。组织似乎以不同的方式对待创新，因为它们受到组织结构的影响。组织结构的方式对他们如何处理业务和创新有影响(参见经合组织，1962；Kirton和Pender，1982；MIron-Spektor，Erez和Naveh，2011；Anderson，Potocnik和周，2014；OECD，2018)。图3描绘了一个酒庄的价值链，展示了在这些组织中出现的不同创新，酒庄2在酒庄环境和酒窖方面进行了创新，而酒庄8‘S的创新几乎出现在价值链的每一个部分。尽管如此，重要的是要承认，这个博士项目的重点不是评判敏捷或层级的组织，而且这项研究是关于创新和结构如何相互必备，并在不同的组织环境中表现出不同的表现。总而言之，关于增量创新过程在低技术中小企业中与组织结构的关系中的影响力，出现了有限的研究。这突显了深入调查的重要性，并赋予了在组织和创新研究方面做出原创性贡献的潜力。研究人员希望为当前低技术中小企业增量创新和组织结构领域的讨论开发出一种新颖而实用的价值，使企业能够了解他们是如何创新的，并能够获得支持和资金。

Despite their role in global economy, low-tech SMEs are seldom the focus of innovation research. However, they account for 99% of all businesses globally, with the majority being low-tech organisations (OECD, 1962 UNESCO, 1968; Godin, 2009). Predominant in research is the argument that industries without extensive spending on research and development (R&D) would be less innovative and dynamic than other sectors of the economy (Rothwell et al., 1974; Mansfield, 1975). This argument is built on a narrow definition of innovation often focusing on developing new products or services. As a result, only highly advanced and technological industries have achieved an important role as the driving force of the economy based on investor and government support (OECD, 1962 UNESCO, 1968; Gatignon et al., 2002; Godin, 2009; Khar Kheng, June and Mahmood, 2013).It is difficult for low-tech SMEs to develop a business plan that reflects their spending on R&D due to their size, budget, and the fact that the incremental innovation process differs from the innovation process for radical innovation. Consequently, they get less support form governments and investors leading to little opportunities to growth and development (Oecd.org, 2017). Radical innovation is done to develop something new while incremental innovation is done to improve something or solve a problem (cf. Norman and Verganti, 2014).A precise understanding of incremental innovation in low-tech SMEs will highlight the drivers behind the appearance of innovation resulting in encouragement of the incremental innovation process and support within the organisations itself (cf. Kwan et al., 2018; Kremer, Villamor and Aguinis, 2019). Moreover, society in general can learn from low-tech SMEs to innovate without an extensive spending on R&D as not every society has a budget for innovation and research i.e. developing countries (cf. Oecd.org, 2017). Learning how to provide the right environment and support to foster incremental innovation, meaning to solve problems and improve current situations without a high budget, cannot only change the way how we define who is innovative and who is not. It can help us to develop a more holistic perspective to innovation in terms of its definition as well as influential factors. Today, being judged as non-innovative is a declaration too easily made deciding over the life of millions of people by not supporting low-tech businesses (Oecd.org, 2017; McCarthy et al., 2018).Organisations seem to approach innovation differently, as they are influenced by their organisational structures. The way how an organisation is structured has an influence on how they approach their business and innovation (cf. OECD, 1962; Kirton and Pender, 1982; Miron-Spektor, Erez and Naveh, 2011; Anderson, Potocnik, and Zhou, 2014; OECD, 2018). Figure 3 depicts the value chain of a winery demonstrating innovation appearing differently within these organisations, Winery 2 is innovative in the winery environment and the wine cellar, while Winery 8's innovation is appearing nearly at every part of the value chain. That said, it is important to acknowledge that the focus of this PhD project is not on judging organisations of being agile or hierarchical, moreover this study is about how innovation and structures necessitate each other and appear differently in varied organisational settings.In summary, limited research has emerged regarding the influential powers of incremental innovation processes in its relationship to organisational structure in low-tech SMEs. This underlines the importance of in-depth investigations and gives the potential to make an original contribution to research in organisational and innovation studies. The researcher wants to develop a novel and pragmatic value for the current discussion in the field of incremental innovation and organisational structures in low-tech SMEs, enabling businesses to understand how they innovate and are able to gain support and funding.