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发挥着重要作用，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， UNESCO, 1968; Godin, 2009）。在研究中占主导地位的观点是，没有大量研发支出的行业将比其他经济部门更缺乏创新和活力（Rothwell et al., 1974; Mansfield, 1975）。这种观点是建立在对创新的狭义定义上的，创新通常集中在开发新产品或服务上。因此，在投资者和政府支持的基础上，只有高度先进的技术产业才发挥了作为经济驱动力的重要作用（OECD, 1962， UNESCO, 1968； Gatignon等，2002;Godin, 2009; Khar Kheng， June和Mahmood， 2013）。由于低技术中小企业的规模、预算以及渐进式创新过程与激进式创新过程不同的事实，低技术中小企业很难制定出反映其研发支出的商业计划。因此，他们从政府和投资者那里得到的支持较少，导致增长和发展的机会很少（oecd, 2017）。激进创新是为了开发新的东西，而增量创新是为了改进一些东西或解决一个问题（参见Norman和Verganti， 2014）。对低技术中小企业渐进式创新的准确理解将突出创新表象背后的驱动因素，从而鼓励渐进式创新过程和组织内部的支持（参见Kwan等人，2018;Kremer， Villamor和Aguinis， 2019）。此外，一般社会可以向低技术的中小企业学习，在没有大量研发支出的情况下进行创新，因为不是每个社会都有创新和研究预算，例如发展中国家（cf. oecd, 2017）。学习如何提供合适的环境和支持来促进渐进式创新，即在没有高预算的情况下解决问题和改善现状，不仅可以改变我们定义谁是创新的人和谁不是创新的方式。它可以帮助我们在创新的定义和影响因素方面发展一个更全面的视角。今天，被判定为非创新是一个很容易做出的声明，决定了数百万人的生活，不支持低技术企业（oecd, 2017; McCarthy et al., 2018）。由于受到组织结构的影响，各组织似乎采取了不同的创新方式。组织结构的方式对他们如何处理业务和创新有影响（参见OECD, 1962； Kirton和Pender, 1982; Miron-Spektor， Erez和Naveh, 2011; Anderson， Potocnik和Zhou, 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不同的创新，2号酒庄在酒庄环境和酒窖中创新，而8号酒庄的创新几乎出现在价值链的每个部分。也就是说，重要的是要承认，这个博士项目的重点不是判断组织是否敏捷或分层，此外，这项研究是关于创新和结构如何相互需要，并在不同的组织环境中表现不同。总之，关于渐进式创新过程对低技术中小企业组织结构的影响的研究有限。这强调了深入调查的重要性，并提供了在组织和创新研究中做出原创性贡献的潜力。研究人员希望为当前关于低技术中小企业的增量创新和组织结构领域的讨论开发一种新颖而实用的价值，使企业能够了解他们如何创新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.