connecting the dots in idea markets: a study of inventor diversity and its implications for idea...
DESCRIPTION
A Master's Thesis from Copenhagen Business School on innovation management in Novozymes A/S. This thesis examines the abilities of online idea markets to support idea generation and screening in the fuzzy front-end of the innovation process. Idea markets – spun out from the present digital revolution – is a growing phenomenon that may have potential to facilitate innovation, greater participation, development of knowledge, and increased diversity. The proliferation of interconnectivity of diverse and geographically dispersed individuals enabled by the refinement of the Internet is hypothesized to offer opportunities for the development of creative and novel ideas. Due to the embryonic stage of the idea market concept, further research is considered relevant for both practitioners and scholars. This thesis thus attempts to provide empirical evidence of the implications of diversity for the development of ideas. The research is embedded in a case study of Novozymes A/S (NZ) – a leading biotechnology company in the industrial enzyme industry – and an idea market conducted in the fall of 2011. For the analysis in this thesis, I use statistical measures of quantitative data collected from (i) the external consultancy firm NOSCO who specializes in idea markets, (ii) the HR department in NZ, and (iii) the Screen Team in NZ. The findings from the analysis support the hypothesis that the quality of ideas emerging from online idea markets increase with the diversity of inventors involved in developing the ideas. This finding may support NZ and other organizations when designing forthcoming idea markets. Furthermore, to support the notion of combinatorial innovation, one could argue that idea markets facilitate new connections of skills and disciplines by engaging a diverse crowd of participants. By implementing the idea market tool in NZ, R&D Management was able to mobilize and connect a large crowd of organizational members, provide a channel that could leverage ideas, and increase the quality of go/kill decisions in the idea screening process. The fact that NZ has scheduled nine other idea markets in 2012 is considered an indicator of the success of the tool.TRANSCRIPT
Connecting the Dots in Idea Markets A Study of Inventor Diversity and its Implications for Idea Development
Copenhagen Business School Cand. merc. (SOL) Strategy, Organization, and Leadership
September 2012
Maria Carlsen
Advisor: Prof. Finn Valentin Dept. of Innovation and Organizational Economics
Std. Pages: 79.9 (STUs: 181.791)
Executive Summary
This% thesis% examines% the% abili.es% of% online% idea% markets% to% support% idea% genera.on% and%
screening%in%the%fuzzy%front:end%of%the%innova.on%process.%Idea%markets%–%spun%out%from%the%
present% digital% revolu.on% –% is% a% growing% phenomenon% that%may% have% poten.al% to% facilitate%
innova.on,% greater% par.cipa.on,% development% of% knowledge,% and% increased% diversity.% The%
prolifera.on%of% interconnec.vity%of%diverse%and%geographically%dispersed% individuals%enabled%
by%the%refinement%of%the%Internet%is%hypothesized%to%offer%opportuni.es%for%the%development%
of%crea.ve%and%novel% ideas.%Due%to%the%embryonic%stage%of%the% idea%market%concept,%further%
research%is%considered%relevant%for%both%prac..oners%and%scholars.%This%thesis%thus%aDempts%
to%provide%empirical% evidence%of% the% implica.ons%of% diversity% for% the%development%of% ideas.%
The%research% is%embedded% in%a%case%study%of%Novozymes%A/S% (NZ)%–%a% leading%biotechnology%
company%in%the%industrial%enzyme%industry%–%and%an%idea%market%conducted%in%the%fall%of%2011.%
For%the%analysis%in%this%thesis,%I%use%sta.s.cal%measures%of%quan.ta.ve%data%collected%from%(i)%
the%external%consultancy%firm%NOSCO%that%specializes%in%idea%markets,%(ii)%the%HR%department%
in%NZ,%and%(iii)%the%Screen%Team%in%NZ.%The%findings%from%the%analysis%support%the%hypothesis%
that% the% quality% of% ideas% emerging% from% online% idea%markets% increase% with% the% diversity% of%
inventors% involved% in% developing% the% ideas.% This% finding% may% support% NZ% and% other%
organiza.ons%when%designing%forthcoming%idea%markets.%Furthermore,%to%support%the%no.on%
of%combinatorial%innova.on,%one%could%argue%that%idea%markets%facilitate%new%connec.ons%of%
skills%and%disciplines%by%engaging%a%diverse%crowd%of%par.cipants.% %By% implemen.ng%the% idea%
market% tool% in% NZ,% R&D% Management% was% able% to% mobilize% and% connect% a% large% crowd% of%
organiza.onal%members,%provide%a%channel%that%could%leverage%ideas,%and%increase%the%quality%
of%go/kill%decisions% in% the% idea%screening%process.%The% fact% that%NZ%has%scheduled%nine%other%
idea%markets%in%2012%is%considered%an%indicator%of%the%success%of%the%tool.%%%%%%%
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the Three Wise Men for the contributions to
this thesis.
Professor Finn Valentin, CBS
Thank you for immeasurable guidance and for enabling me to develop and
broaden analytical skills.
Frank Hatzack, Senior Innovation Manger at Novozymes
Thank you for encouragement and inspiration. Your drive and passion for
biotech innovation has been the building blocks for this thesis.
Giancarlo Lauto, Research Fellow at CBS
Thank you for showing me that statistics can be fun. It has been rewarding
to work with you.
! 1!
Table of Contents
List%of%Figures%and%Tables%............................................................................................................................%4%
1.%Introduction%........................................................%6!1.1%Problem%Statement%............................................................................................................................%8!1.2%Research%Relevance%...........................................................................................................................%8!1.3%Disposition%.........................................................................................................................................%10!
2.%Literature%Review%..........................................%12!2.1%What%is%Innovation?%........................................................................................................................%12!2.2%Knowledge:%the%Source%of%Innovation%.......................................................................................%14!2.3%The%Fuzzy%FrontLEnd%of%the%Innovation%Process%...................................................................%16!2.3.1!Idea!Generation!and!Online!Opportunities!.....................................................................................!17!2.3.2!Quality!of!Ideas!............................................................................................................................................!19!
2.4%Crowdsourcing%Ideas%......................................................................................................................%21!2.4.1!Idea!Markets!.................................................................................................................................................!23!
2.5%The%Implications%of%Diversity%......................................................................................................%25!2.5.1!Geographical!Diversity!.............................................................................................................................!28!Hypothesis!1!..........................................................................................................................................................................!28!
2.5.2!Functional!Diversity!..................................................................................................................................!29!Hypothesis!2!..........................................................................................................................................................................!29!
2.5.3!Hierarchical!Diversity!...............................................................................................................................!30!Hypothesis!3!..........................................................................................................................................................................!30!
2.5.4!Tenure!Diversity!.........................................................................................................................................!30!Hypothesis!4!..........................................................................................................................................................................!31!
2.5.5!Diversity!Aggregated!across!Multiple!Dimensions!......................................................................!31!Hypothesis!5!..........................................................................................................................................................................!31!
2.6%Research%Gap%.....................................................................................................................................%31!
3.%Company%and%Case%Profile%...........................%34!3.1%Novozymes%in%Brief%.........................................................................................................................%34!3.2%The%Innovation%Office%.....................................................................................................................%35!
! 2!
3.3%Growth%Bets%2011%............................................................................................................................%36!3.3.1!Rules!of!the!Game!.......................................................................................................................................!37!3.3.1.1!Mobilize!People!.....................................................................................................................................................!38!3.3.1.2!Conceive!Ideas!.......................................................................................................................................................!38!3.3.1.3!Screen!Ideas!............................................................................................................................................................!40!3.3.1.4!Mature!Ideas!...........................................................................................................................................................!41!3.3.1.5!Pitch!and!feedback!from!R&D!Management!.............................................................................................!41!3.3.1.6!Reflection!.................................................................................................................................................................!41!
4.%Methodology%....................................................%46!4.1%Research%Philosophy%......................................................................................................................%46!4.2%Research%Approach%and%Design%..................................................................................................%47!4.3%Data%Collection%..................................................................................................................................%49!4.3.1!Qualitative!data!...........................................................................................................................................!50!4.3.2!Quantitative!data!........................................................................................................................................!50!4.3.2.1!Dependent!variable!.............................................................................................................................................!51!4.3.2.2!Independent!variables!.......................................................................................................................................!52!4.3.2.3!A!twoSfold!examination!of!diversity!............................................................................................................!53!
4.4%Limitations%.........................................................................................................................................%53!
5.%Analysis%.............................................................%56!5.1%Analysis%Part%I:%Patterns%of%Performance%and%Participation%.............................................%56!5.1.1!The!Output!From!GB11!............................................................................................................................!57!5.1.2!Idea!Characteristics!...................................................................................................................................!58!5.1.3!Comment!Characteristics!........................................................................................................................!61!5.1.4!Participant!Characteristics!.....................................................................................................................!62!5.1.5!Conclusion!to!Analysis!Part!I!.................................................................................................................!66!
5.2%Analysis%Part%II:%The%Implications%of%Diversity%......................................................................%68!5.2.1!Idea!Inventors!..............................................................................................................................................!68!5.2.1.1!Geographical!diversity!of!inventors!.............................................................................................................!70!5.2.1.2!Functional!diversity!of!inventors!..................................................................................................................!70!5.2.1.3!Hierarchical!diversity!of!inventors!...............................................................................................................!71!5.2.1.4!Tenure!diversity!of!inventors!.........................................................................................................................!72!5.2.1.5!Conclusion!to!diversity!of!inventors!............................................................................................................!73!
5.2.2!Commentators!.............................................................................................................................................!74!
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5.2.2.1!Geographical!diversity!of!commentators!...................................................................................................!75!5.2.2.2!Functional!diversity!of!commentators!........................................................................................................!76!5.2.2.3!Hierarchical!diversity!of!commentators!....................................................................................................!77!5.2.2.4!Tenure!diversity!of!commentators!...............................................................................................................!78!5.2.2.5!Conclusion!to!diversity!of!commentators!..................................................................................................!79!
5.2.3!Diversity!Aggregated!across!Multiple!Dimensions!......................................................................!79!5.2.3.1!Idea!inventors!........................................................................................................................................................!80!5.2.3.2!Commentators!.......................................................................................................................................................!82!
5.2.4!Conclusion!to!Analysis!Part!II!...............................................................................................................!83!
6.%Discussion%.........................................................%86!6.1%Igniting%the%Sparks%in%the%Crowd%................................................................................................%86!6.2%New%Combinations%..........................................................................................................................%90!6.3%The%Strength%of%Diversity%..............................................................................................................%91!
7.%Connecting%the%Dots%......................................%97!7.1%Conclusion%..........................................................................................................................................%97!7.2%Further%Perspectives%......................................................................................................................%98!
Bibliography%.......................................................%100!Articles%and%Books%...............................................................................................................................%100!TED%Talks%...............................................................................................................................................%104!
Appendices%.........................................................%105!Appendix%I:%Survey%..............................................................................................................................%105!Appendix%II:%Distribution%of%No.%of%inventors%.............................................................................%112!
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List of Figures and Tables !
FIGURE!1:!DISPOSITION!OF!THESIS!....................................................................................................................................!10!
FIGURE!2:!GB11!PROCESS!..................................................................................................................................................!37!
FIGURE!3:!IDEAS!WITH!MULTIPLE!VS.!SINGLE!INVENTORS!............................................................................................!69!
FIGURE!4:!IDEAS!WITHOUT!VS.!WITH!COMMENTS!..........................................................................................................!74!
FIGURE!5:!DIVERSITY!SCALE!...............................................................................................................................................!80!
FIGURE!6:!DIVERSITY!SCORES!OF!IDEA!INVENTORS!........................................................................................................!81!
FIGURE!7:!DIVERSITY!SCORES!OF!COMMENTATORS!.......................................................................................................!82!
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TABLE!1!S!DESIGN!OF!GB11!...............................................................................................................................................!43!
TABLE!2!–!PARTICIPANTS,!IDEAS,!AND!COMMENTS!IN!THE!DATASET!.........................................................................!57!
TABLE!3!–!DESCRIPTIVE!STATISTICS!OF!OUTPUT!FROM!PARTICIPANTS!.....................................................................!57!
TABLE!4!–!DISTRIBUTION!OF!CATEGORIES!OF!IDEAS!.....................................................................................................!59!
TABLE!5!–!DEPTH!OF!IDEAS!................................................................................................................................................!60!
TABLE!6!S!COMMENT!CATEGORIZATION!...........................................................................................................................!61!
TABLE!7!S!DISTRIBUTION!OF!GENDER!OF!PARTICIPANTS!..............................................................................................!63!
TABLE!8!S!DISTRIBUTION!OF!SITES!OF!PARTICIPANTS!I!.................................................................................................!64!
TABLE!9!S!DISTRIBUTION!OF!SITES!OF!PARTICIPANTS!II!...............................................................................................!64!
TABLE!10!–!DISTRIBUTION!OF!RANKS!OF!PARTICIPANTS!.............................................................................................!65!
TABLE!11!–!DISTRIBUTION!OF!SENIORITY!OF!PARTICIPANTS!......................................................................................!66!
TABLE!12!–!DISTRIBUTION!OF!IDEAS!WITH!SINGLE!VS.!MULTIPLE!INVENTORS!........................................................!69!
TABLE!13!–!DIVERSITY!OF!INVENTORS:!SITE!..................................................................................................................!70!
TABLE!14!–!DIVERSITY!OF!INVENTORS:!DEPARTMENTS!...............................................................................................!71!
TABLE!15!–!DIVERSITY!OF!INVENTORS:!RANK!................................................................................................................!72!
TABLE!16!–!DIVERSITY!OF!INVENTORS:!SENIORITY!.......................................................................................................!73!
TABLE!17!–!IDEAS!WITH!VS.!WITHOUT!COMMENTS!.......................................................................................................!75!
TABLE!18!–!DIVERSITY!OF!COMMENTATORS:!SITE!........................................................................................................!76!
TABLE!19!–!DIVERSITY!OF!COMMENTATORS:!DEPARTMENTS!.....................................................................................!76!
TABLE!20!–!DIVERSITY!OF!COMMENTATORS:!RANK!......................................................................................................!77!
TABLE!21!–!DIVERSITY!OF!COMMENTATORS:!SENIORITY!.............................................................................................!78!
TABLE!22!–!DIVERSITY!SCORES!OF!IDEA!INVENTORS!....................................................................................................!81!
TABLE!23!–!DIVERSITY!SCORES!OF!COMMENTATORS!....................................................................................................!82!
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“Innovation is all about making new connections. Most
breakthrough innovation is about combining known knowledge in
new ways or bringing an idea from one domain to another”.
– Mike Addison, New Business Development Manager, Procter & Gamble
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Chapter 1 Introduction
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1. Introduction The!digital! revolution! is! opening! the!world!making! knowledge!widely! accessible.! It! is!
only!a!few!hundred!years!ago!that!society!was!revolutionized!by!the!printing!press!that!
gave! us! access! to! new! knowledge.! Today,! the! Internet! has! revolutionized! society!
enabling!us! to!not!only!get!access! to!knowledge!but! to!be! the!producer!of!knowledge.!
Moreover,! “The!Internet!of!yesterday!was!a!platform!for!the!presentation!of!content.!The!
Internet! of! today! is! a! platform! for! computation”! (TED! Talk:! Don! Tapscott,! 2012).! The!
connectivity!of!people!in!the!online!sphere!enables!heterogeneous!groups!to!share!and!
collectively! develop! ideas! through! virtual! communities! of! interaction.! The! world! has!
indeed! become! smaller! and! the! business! environment!more! complex! and! ambiguous.!
The!vast! technological!advancements!and!developments! in! communication! technology!
have!caused!organizational!boundaries!to!become!more!porous!and!fluid;!giving!rise!to!
concepts!such!as!open!innovation!and!crowdsourcing.!!
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The!notion!of! combinatorial! innovation! derived! from!Schumpeter! (1939)! refers! to! the!
acknowledgement!that!innovation!is!in!essence!‘new!combinations’.!As!argued!by!Mike!
Addison,!“Innovation!is!all!about!making!new!connections.!Most!breakthrough!innovation!
is!about!combining!known!knowledge!in!new!ways!or!bringing!an!idea!from!one!domain!to!
another.”!(Dodgson,!et!al.,!2006:337).!Innovation!is!increasingly!being!recognized!as!the!
primary! source! from!which! organizations! gain! and!maintain! competitiveness.!Making!
the!‘right’!go/kill!decisions!early!on!in!the!‘fuzzy!frontSend’!of!the!innovation!process!is!
rewarding!albeit!challenging.!Practitioners!continue!to!emphasize!the!need!for!creativity!
and! innovation! however! as! argued! by! McAdam! and! McClelland! (2002:86),! “[…]! the!
literature!and!organizational!practice![…]!remain!somewhat!lacking!in!regard!to!the!front!
end! of! creativity! and! innovation,! namely! idea! generation.”! It! is! therefore! necessary! to!
draw! attention! to! the! conditions! under! which! ideas! are! developed! and! look! at! the!
reflective! people! who! take! part! in! their! development.! I! thus! wish! to! provide! further!
insights! of! the! idea! generation! process! and! the! opportunities! offered! by! the! digital!
revolution.!!
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An!effort!to!support!idea!generation!by!means!of!an!online!tool!was!recently!explored!in!
the!Research!&!Development!organization!(R&D)!in!Novozymes!A/S!(NZ).!NZ,!being!the!
world! leader! in! industrial! enzymes,! found! resting! on! the! laurels! highly! unfeasible.! To!
boost! the! enzyme! business! in! NZ,! the! Innovation! Office! experimented! with! an! idea!
market.!An! idea!market! is!an!online!competition!used! for! idea!brainstorming!and! idea!
ranking.! R&D! employees! from! around! the! world! were! invited! to! participate! in! a! 17S
daysSlong!idea!market!in!which!it!was!possible!to!submit!ideas,!mature!each!other’s!idea!
by!commenting!on!them,!and!rank!ideas!by!trading!virtual!shares!in!them.!The!outcome!
from!the!idea!market,!which!was!given!the!name!Growth!Bets!2011,!was!222!ideas!with!
636! comments! submitted! by! a! crowd!of! 145!participants.! As! a! result,! 25! highSquality!
ideas!were! identified! from!which!one! idea!was!crowned!the!winner.!The!winning! idea!
has!subsequently!received!research!funding!and!two!patent!applications!have!been!filed.!!
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The!growing!phenomenon!of!online!idea!markets!is!considered!to!facilitate!innovation,!
greater! participation,! production! and! dissemination! of! knowledge,! and! increased!
diversity!(Bothos!et!al.,!2012).! In!this!thesis,! I!shall! thus!examine!the!case!of!NZ’s! idea!
market!and!explore!the!conditions!under!which!ideas!emerge.!Moreover,!I!shall!examine!
the!diversity!of!people!involved!in!developing!the!ideas!as!theory!suggests!that!diversity!
is!positively!associated!with!creativity!and!innovation!(BassettSJones,!2005).!I!therefore!
hypothesize! that! the!connectivity!of!diverse!people! in! idea!markets! contributes! to! the!
development!of!creative!and!innovative!ideas.!!
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1.1 Problem Statement
The!present!thesis!studies!the!abilities!of!idea!markets!as!a!tool!for!idea!generation!and!
filtering.!As!argued!by!a!number!of!scholars,!the!body!of!literature!on!the!fuzzy!frontSend!
of!the!innovation!process!is!far!from!exhaustive.!!The!purpose!of!this!thesis!is!therefore!
to! contribute! to! the! existing! literature!with! empirical! evidence! from! the! case! of! NZ’s!
Growth!Bets!2011.!The!exploratory!nature!of!the!research!has!led!to!an!investigation!of!
the!effects!of!inventor!diversity!on!the!development!of!ideas.!The!question!examined!is!
thus:!
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Does% the%quality1%of% ideas% emerging% from%online% idea%markets% increase%with% the%
diversity%of%inventors%involved%in%developing%the%ideas?%
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1.2 Research Relevance
As!I!stumbled!upon!a!quote!by!Poul!R.!Rasmussen!(Chairman!of!the!Board,!LEO!Pharma),!
I! recognize! the! unique! opportunity! I! had! been! given! as! a! researcher.! The! quote! read,!
“The! strength!of! today! is!diversity.”! (Dansk! Biotek,! 2012:50).! The! Eureka!moment!was!
obtained!by! the! recognition! that! I! had!been!provided!an!opportunity! to! ‘measure’! the!
strength!of!diversity.!The!opportunity!was!given!to!me!by!NZ!who!searched!for!further!
enlightenment! on! the! strengths! and!weaknesses! of! using! idea!markets! to! support! the!
idea!generation!process.!When!reviewing!the!literature!on!idea!markets,!it!became!clear!
that!it!was!an!understudied!phenomenon.!Given!these!insights,!I!set!out!to!connect!the!
dots!in!idea!markets!and!thereby!attempt!to!contribute!to!existing!theory!with!empirical!
evidence! from! NZ’s! Growth! Bets! 2011.! The! relevance! of! the! research! is! therefore!
considered!abundant.!Firstly,! the!research! is! relevant! for!NZ! in! their! forthcoming! idea!
markets!so!that!they!are!able!to!customize!and!design!the!basis!for!the!desired!outcome.!!!
Secondly,! the! research! is! relevant! to! existing! innovation! theory! that! emphasizes! the!
combinatorial! nature! of! the! concept;! however! fails! to! provide! details! as! to! how! these!
new!combinations!emerge!and!develop!in!the!fuzzy!frontSend!of!the!innovation!process.!
Lastly,! this! thesis! is! the! culmination!of! five! years!of! studying! at!Copenhagen!Business!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!The!concept!of!quality!will!be!defined!in!the!Literature!Review.!
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School.!During!these!years,!I!have!obtained!knowledge!of!and!interest! in!organizations!
and! their! pursuit! and! management! of! innovation.! Moreover,! by! studying! the! SOL!
(Strategy,!Organization,!&!Leadership)!programme!as!well!as!the!BBIP!(BioBusiness!and!
Innovation!programme),! I! am! convinced! that! I! am!well! equipped! for! the! task! at! hand!
and! I! shall! therefore!attempt! to!provide!a!dissertation! that!not!only! fulfills! the! formal!
requirements,!but!also!provides!valuable!insights!to!the!dynamic!and!innovationSdriven!
company,!Novozymes.!
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1.3 Disposition
The!disposition!of!this!thesis!is!illustrated!in!Figure!1!below:!!
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Figure!1:!Disposition!of!thesis!
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“Although ideas are formed in the minds of individuals,
interaction between individuals typically plays a critical role in
developing these ideas. That is to say, ‘communities of
interaction’ contribute to the amplification and development of
new knowledge.” – Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
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2. Literature Review In!this!chapter,! I!shall!review!the!literature!relevant!to!the!study!of! idea!markets.! I!set!
out!to!discuss!innovation!and!knowledge!theories!to!elucidate!some!underlying!concepts!
to!the!embryonic!phenomenon!idea!markets.!The!objective!of!this!chapter!is!to!identify!a!
research!gap!in!current!theory!in!which!the!present!thesis!aims!to!make!a!contribution.!
In! this! effort,! I! review! literature! on! the! topics! of! the! idea! generation! phase,! online!
opportunities,!crowdsourcing,!idea!markets,!and!diversity.!By!combining!these!research!
fields,! it! is! attempted! to! shed! some! light! on! the! phenomenon! under! scrutiny.! The! reS
organizing!of!prevailing!theories!and!claims!from!extant!literature!offers!opportunity!for!
new! interpretations! and! thereby! contributions! to! current! theory.! The! notion! of!
combinatorial! innovation! is! firstly! discussed! to! present! the! motivating! argument!
throughout! the! discussions.! The! thesis! is! then! positioned! in! the! social! constructivist!
school!of!thought!by!drawing!on!theory!of!complex!processes!of!knowledge!creation.!The!
clarification!of!the!fuzzy!frontFend!of!the!innovation!process!then!leads!to!a!discussion!of!
the!opportunities!offered!by! the!growth!of! the! Internet.! In! light!of! this,! discussions!of!
crowdsourcing! and! idea! markets! are! provided.! Finally,! the! concept! of! diversity! is!
elucidated!and!thereby!five!hypotheses!are!developed.!!
2.1 What is Innovation?
Innovation! in! its!widest! sense! is! considered! to! be! anything! that! is! new! to! a! business!
(Abernathy!&!Utterback,!1978;!in!Hine!&!Kapeleris,!2006).!The!term!originates!from!the!
Latin!innovare,!which!means!‘to!make!something!new’!(Flynn!et!al.,!2003).!To!provide!a!
more! narrow! definition! of! innovation,! a! distinction! must! be! drawn! between! an!
innovation!and!the!process!of!innovation.!Van!de!Ven!(1986:591)!provides!a!definition!to!
the! former! as! “A! new! idea,! which!may! be! a! recombination! of! old! ideas,! a! scheme! that!
challenges!the!present!order,!a!formula,!or!a!unique!approach!which!is!perceived!as!new!by!
the! individuals! involved”.! The! latter! is! defined! as! “[…]! the! development! and!
implementation!of!new!ideas!by!people!who!over!time!engage!in!transactions!with!others!
within! an! institutional! context”! (Ibid.:591).! The! definitions! provided! by! Van! de! Ven!
(1986)! include! both! technical! (products,! services,! and! processes)! and! nonStechnical!
! 13!
(organizational! processes,! and! administration! systems)! innovations! (in! Hine! &!
Kapeleris,! 2006).! According! to! Rothwell! and! Gardiner! (1985)! innovation! does! not!
necessarily!imply!the!implementation!of!only!major!advance!in!the!technological!state!of!
the! art! (a! radical! innovation);! it! includes! the! utilization! of! even! small! changes! in!
technological! ‘knowShow’!(an!improvement!or! incremental! innovation)!(in!Flynn!et!al.,!
2003).! This! assertion! is! also! supported! by! Abernathy! &! Clark! (1985:4)! who! state!
“Innovation! is! not! a! unified! phenomenon:! some! innovations! disrupt,! destroy! and! make!
obsolete! established! competence;! others! refine! and! improve.”! Furthermore,! it! is! argued!
that! organizations!must! bestow! a! balanced! attention! to! both! incremental! and! radical!
innovation! in! order! to! gain! and! maintain! competitiveness.! That! is! to! say,! they! must!
divide!resources!between!exploitation!and!exploration!activities!(March,!1991).!!
A!distinction!must!also!be!drawn!between!an!innovation!and!an!invention.!As!the!above!
definitions!suggest,!innovation!is!the!successful!implementation!of!inventions.!Hence,!an!
invention! is! not! an! innovation! until! it! is! commercialized.! Invention! refers! to! the!
development! of! a! new! idea! or! act! of! creation! (Ahuja! &! Lampert,! 2001).! Schumpeter!
(1939)! offers! an! interesting! analog! to! the! distinction! between! an! innovation! and! an!
invention.! In!his!work! ‘Business!Cycles’,!he!compares! the!concept!on!an! invention!with!
Columbus’!discovery!of!America.!He!states,!“![…]!both!create!new!possibilities!and!are!no!
doubt!among!the!most!important!causes!of!economic!and!social!change.!However!they!are!
external!factors!in!a!sense.![…]!They!acquired!relevance!only!when!the!new!possibilities!are!
turned!into!commercial!and!industrial!reality,!and!then!the!individual!acts!of!realization,!
and! not! the! possibilities! themselves,! are!what! concern! us.”! (Schumpeter,! 1939:15).! The!
Schumpeterian! perspective! of! innovation,! from! which! the! concept! of! combinatorial!
innovation! has! its! roots,! commonly! inspires! innovation! scholars.! Schumpeter! (1939)!
argued! that! innovation! is! in! essence! ‘new! combinations’.! His! definition! is! thus,!
“Innovation! combines! factors! in! a! new! way,! or! it! consists! in! carrying! out! New!
Combinations.”!(Ibid.:84).!These!combinations!refer!to!the!introduction!of!a!new!product!
or!new!quality!of!a!product,!a!new!method!of!production,!a!new!market,!a!new!source!of!
supply! of! raw! materials,! or! the! implementing! of! a! new! organization! in! any! industry!
(Ibid.:84S85).!His! definition! has! been! criticized! of! being! restricted! to! only! include! the!
introduction! of! innovations! –! lacking! the! subsequent! and! consequent! steps! that!
! 14!
constitute! innovations.! According! to! Hagedoorn! (1996),! Schumpeter! did! not!
demonstrate! a! great! interest! in! the! early! phases! of! technical! change,! the! inventive!
activities! of! economic! actors,! the! preSmarket! developments! of! technology,! or! the!
diffusion! of! technological! knowledge.! However,! “[…]! there! seems! to! be! a! number! of!
similarities! between! Schumpeter’s! discussion! of! innovation! and! modern! ‘heterodox!
theories! of! innovation.’”! (Ibid.:892).! In! line! with! the! Schumpeterian! perspective,!
Flemming! and! Sorensen! (2004)! argue! that! invention! is! a! recombinant! search.! An!
invention!comes!either!from!combining!technological!components!in!a!novel!manner!or!
through!reconfiguring!existing!combinations.!These! technological! components! refer! to!
the! “[…]! fundamental! bits! of! knowledge! or! matter! that! inventors! might! use! to! build!
inventions.”! (Ibid:.910).! Furthermore,! they! argue! that! even! though! complex! physical!
systems!clearly! combine!multiple!elements,!many! inventions! intuitively! seem! like!one!
component.!However!by!deeper!examination,!these!inventions!reveal!a!recombination!of!
discrete!components!and!processes!(ibid.).!
!
The! discussion! of! the! innovation! concept! has! led! to! the! assertion! that! innovation! is!
based!on!new!combinations!of!knowledge.! Invention!thus!refers!to!the!search! for!new!
combinations!or! the!reconfiguring!of!existing!combinations.! It! then!becomes!pertinent!
to!take!a!step!back!and!discuss!how!knowledge!is!created!and!how!the!connectivity!of!
individuals!enables!the!development!of!new!combinations!of!knowledge.!
!
2.2 Knowledge: the Source of Innovation
It! is! difficult! to! discuss! the! development! of! ideas! without! first! addressing! how!
knowledge! is! created! and! developed.! The! knowledge! phenomenon! has! been! widely!
researched! among! organization! and! strategy! scholars.! From! the! traditional! resourceS
based!perspective,!knowledge!has!been!recognized!as!a!principal!source!for!competitive!
advantage! because! knowledge! is! idiosyncratic! and! difficultStoSimitate! (Teece,! et! al.,!
1997;!Winter,! 1987).! In! line! with! this,! Kogut! and! Zander! (1992:384)! argue,! “[…]! the!
central! competitive! dimension! of! what! firms! know! how! to! do! is! to! create! and! transfer!
knowledge! efficiently! within! an! organizational! context.”! ! The! resourceSbased! view! of!
! 15!
knowledge! triggered! a! vast! amount! of! subsequent! research,! which! built! upon! the!
arguments!of!knowledge!creation,!the!notion!of!dynamic!processes.!!!!
!
In! the! early! work! by! Hayek! (1945),! organizational! knowledge! is! seen! as! fragmented!
units!held!in!individuals.!He!argued,!“[…]!the!knowledge!of!the!circumstances,!of!which!we!
must!make!use,!never!exists!in!concentrated!or!integrated!form,!but!solely!as!the!dispersed!
bits!of!incomplete!and!frequently!contradictory!knowledge,!which!all!separate!individuals!
possess.”!(Hayek,!1945:519).!This!notion!of!fragmented!knowledge!is!further!developed!
by!Kogut!and!Zander!(1992:383)!who!assert,!“[…]!knowledge!is!held!by!individuals,!but!is!
also! expressed! in! regularities! by! which! members! cooperate! in! a! social! community.”!!
Central! to! Kogut! and! Zander’s! (1992:385)! argument! is! that! knowledge! is! socially!
constructed!and!“rests!in!the!organizing!of!human!resources”.!!
!
In! Nonaka’s! (1994)! organizational! knowledge! creation! theory,! dynamic! processes! are!
emphasized.! Nonaka! (1994:15)! argue,! “[…]! although! ideas! are! formed! in! the!minds! of!
individuals,! interaction! between! individuals! typically! plays! a! critical! role! in! developing!
these!ideas.!That!is!to!say,!‘communities!of!interaction’!contribute!to!the!amplification!and!
development! of! new!knowledge.”! ! Nonaka’s! argument! provides! a! further! dimension! to!
knowledge! creation! that! involves! the! creation! of! knowledge! by! social! interaction!
between! individuals! in! communities! –! communities! that!might! span! departmental! or!
organizational!boundaries!(ibid).!In!the!famous!work!‘The!Knowledge!Creating!Company’!
by! Nonaka! and! Takeuchi! (1995),! the! essential! contribution! to! theory! is! the! notion! of!
knowledge! conversion! that! explains! how! two! diverse! concepts! –! tacit! and! explicit!
knowledge!–!interact!along!a!continuum!(Nonaka!&!von!Krogh,!2009).!Their!notions!of!
tacit! and! explicit! knowledge!were! inspired! by!Michael! Polanyi! (1966)!who! described!
tacit!knowledge!as!subjective!knowledge,!which!is!hard!to!formulate!and!communicate!–!
as! he! put! it:! “we! can! know! more! than! we! can! tell.”! ! (Nonaka,! 1994:16).! ! Contrarily,!
Polanyi! described! explicit! knowledge! as! objective! codified! knowledge! that! is!
transmittable! in! informal! systematic! language! (ibid).! ! Nonaka! and! Takeuchi! (1995)!
added! to! Polanyi’s! descriptions,! the! element! of! a! dialectic! process! between! tacit! and!
explicit!knowledge.!In!the!dialectic!process!it!is!possible!to!transform!the!subjective!tacit!
knowledge!into!objective!explicit!and!thereby!practical!knowledge.!The!transformation!
! 16!
occurs! through! language,! which! renders! it! possible! for! tacit! knowledge,! held! in! the!
individual,!to!become!available!to!others!trough!its!transformation.!Stacey!(2001)!built!
upon! Nonaka! and! Takeuchi’s! (1995)! notion! of! knowledge! transformation! with! the!
concept!of!Complex!Responsive!Processes.!According!to!Stacey,!knowledge!is!not!stored!in!
individuals! but! is! continually! in! flux.! He! states,! “Complex! Responsive! Processes!
perpetually! construct! human! futures,! particularly! […]! they! perpetually! construct! human!
knowledge! in! organizations.! Relating! between! diverse! people! in! their! local! situation! is!
understood!as!the!process!in!which!knowledge!is!reproduced!and!potentially!transformed.”!
(Stacey,! 2001:6).! The! complexity! perspective! of! knowledge! promoted! by! Nonaka! and!
Takeuchi! (1995)! and! Stacey! (2001),! claims! that! social! interaction! of! individuals!
reproduces! and! creates! new! knowledge.! The! dynamic! processes! thus! allow! for! the!
combination! or! recombination! of! knowledge,! which! is! transformed! from! tacit! into!
explicit!knowledge!through!social!communities!of!interaction.!!
!
What!are!the!implications!for!idea!markets?!It!is!held!that!idea!markets!offer!a!tool!for!
knowledge!conversion.!That!is!to!say,!the!virtual!community!of! interaction!enables!the!
articulation! of! tacit! knowledge! and! thereby! transforms! it! into! practical! knowledge.!
Moreover,! the! dynamic! processes! of! social! interaction! facilitate! the! amplification! and!
development! of! new! knowledge.! This! is! because! idea! market! participants! not! only!
submit! ideas;! they! collectively! develop! each! other’s! ideas! through! the! feature! of!
commenting.! It! is! thereby! possible! to! transform! and! increase! the! quality! of! ideas!
through!a!dialectic!process!of!tacit!and!explicit!knowledge!conversion.!Having!discussed!
the!concept!of!knowledge!and!its!implications!for!idea!markets,!the!subsequent!sections!
shall!discuss!how!ideas!are!generated,!developed!and!filtered!in!the!preliminary!stages!
of!the!innovation!process.!!!
!
2.3 The Fuzzy Front-End of the Innovation Process
A! vast! amount! of! innovation! theory! and! practical! tools! are! concerned! with! the! later!
stages!of!the!innovation!process.!The!StageSGate!system!(Cooper,!1990)!has!become!the!
most! used! innovation!management! tool! in! organizations!worldwide.!While! the! stageS
gate! model! of! innovation! does! include! the! idea! generation! phase,! it! fails! to! provide!
! 17!
details! of! how! ideas! are! generated,! developed! and! filtered.! This! argument! is! also!
supported!by!Poetz!and!Schreier!(2012:245)!who!state,!“Despite!its!obvious!importance!
to! the! ultimate! success! of! a! firm,! the! idea! generation! process! is! an! area!where! scholars!
generally! still! have! limited! insights!with! regard! to! the! ‘ideal’! process.”! ! The! uncertainty!
concerning! the! preliminary! activities! of! idea! generation! has! provided! the! phase!with!
fuzzy! connotations.! This! phase,! however,! is! critical! to! any! subsequent! phase! in! the!
innovation!process.!As!argued!by!Flynn!et!al.! (2003:418),! “It!is! logical!to!maximize!the!
output! of! the! idea! generation! phase,! as! it! is! relatively! less! costly! than! the! later!
development! stages! of! the! innovation! process.”! ! It! is! therefore! important! to! ‘fail! fast’!
rather! than! ‘late’! in!order! to!optimize! the!use!of! resources.! In! the! following! section,! a!
brief! description! of! the! idea! generation! phase! will! be! provided! and! followed! by! a!
discussion!of!the!opportunities!offered!by!the!refinement!of!the!Internet.!!
!
2.3.1 Idea Generation and Online Opportunities
The! idea! generation! phase! involves! not! only! generating! ideas! but! also! filtering! and!
maturing.! The! first! step! in! this! process! is! typically! to! host! brainstorming! sessions! for!
small!groups!of!organizational!members.!The!brainstorming!sessions!(also!referred!to!as!
ideations)! involve! bringing! colleagues! together! in! groups! to! discuss! and! develop!
solutions!to!a!predefined!problem!or!opportunity.!!Ideations!can!vary!in!scope!and!size!
however!the!objective!is!to!have!as!many!contributions!as!possible!as!this!increases!the!
likelihood! of! arriving! at! a! viable! solution! (Flynn! et! al.,! 2003).! Various! creative!
techniques! can! be! implemented! to! facilitate! the! generation! of! ideas! including! groupS
work!and!high! levels!of! social! interaction.!The!subsequent! step! in! the! idea!generation!
phase! is! filtering! the!generated! ideas.!The! ideas!may!be!ranked! in!order!of!priority!or!
importance! to! the! organization! (ibid.).! Usually,! the!managers! are! the! judges! however!
some! ideations!may! take! a!more! collectivist! approach!where! ideas! are! scored! by! the!
participants!and!subsequently!filtered!based!on!the!average!scores!(ibid.).!The!filtering!
of! ideas! is! an! important! step!as! it! involves!making!go/kill! decisions!of!which! ideas! to!
accept! or! reject.! The! generated! ideas! may! not! only! bring! about! solutions! to! the!
prevailing!problems,!they!may!indeed!offer!solutions!to!problems!not!yet!identified.!The!
challenging!yet!rewarding!task!of!managers!is!thus!to!effectively!evaluate!ideas.!The!last!
step! in! the! idea! generation! phase! is! to! mature! the! ideas! that! have! passed! the! first!
! 18!
screening.!Maturation! typically! involves! further! elucidation! of! technical! feasibility,! IP,!
and!customer!need!assessment.!In!practice,!the!first!two!steps!–!generating!and!filtering!
–! are! often! interconnected! activities.! This! is! because! the! social! interaction! of!
participants! in! ideations! effects! how! and! what! is! articulated.! By! discussing! possible!
solutions!in!the!group,!the!initial!reactions!to!proposals!from!other!group!members!will!
arguably!steer!the!direction!of!proposals.!In!the!creation!of!new!solutions!there!is!thus!
an! important! relationship! between! formulating! something! new! and! at! the! same! time!
being! subject! to! a! screening! process! S! acceptance! or! rejection.! The! two! processes!
however! touch! upon! two! different! performances;! we! might! be! able! to! think! of!
something!new!but!our!screening!abilities! involve!entirely!different!capabilities.!These!
capabilities!primarily!rely!on!whether!organizational!members!are!informed!about!how!
ideas!fit!into!a!particular!context.!Physical!proximity!and!social!interaction!and!control!
in! traditional! ideations! thus! have! implications! on! idea! generation.! These! implications!
can! arguably! both! have! positive! and! negative! effects! on! idea! development.! On! the!
positive! side,! mutual! understanding! and! familiarity! breed! trust,! which! facilitates!
successful! collaboration! (Nooteboom,! 2007).! On! the! negative! side,! mutual!
understanding! and! familiarity! can! kill! creativity! (ibid.).! Furthermore,! the! pursuit! of!
social! acceptance! in! groups! with! high! social! interaction! and! control! can! have!
detrimental! effects!on!novelty! because! the! costs!of! articulating!a! ‘wild’!or! ‘unpolished’!
idea!may!be!too!high.!!
!
The!idea!generation!phase!in!organizations!is!increasingly!being!transformed!by!means!
of! online! tools.! The! Internet! has! provided! opportunity! to! not! only! share! information!
with! a! global! community,! but! also! to! develop! information! by! means! of! computation.!
Meaning!that!the!web!–!the!grand!network!of!networks!–!facilitate!idea!exchange!both!in!
real!time!and!asynchronously!which!renders!it!possible!to!aggregate!disparate!flows!of!
ideas! in!one!stream!(Brabham,!2008).!Furthermore,! “The!nature!of!the!web!mimics!the!
very!way!we!think!as!humans![therefore]!humans!should!see!themselves!in!the!medium!as!
actors,!creators,!innovators,!as!implicated!in!the!information!flow!rather!than!witnesses!to!
it.”!(Ibid.:81).!Increasingly,!ideations!are!being!held!by!means!of!online!tools,!which!offer!
opportunity!to!brainstorm!ideas!in!groups!of!geographically!dispersed!individuals.!The!
decrease! of! social! interaction! and! control! arguably! offers! the! opportunity! for! the!
! 19!
articulation!of!more!novel!solutions!by!participants.!An!idea!market!arguably!legitimizes!
the!presentation!of! ‘wild’!or! ‘unpolished’! ideas.!Furthermore,! it! is!held! that!using! idea!
markets!for!idea!generation!enables!a!separation!of!the!activities!of!idea!generation!and!
filtering.!The!screening!of!ideas!is!done!at!a!later!stage!rather!than!simultaneously!with!
idea! proposals.! This! allows! for! the! development! of! ideas! before! they! are! subject! to!
filtering!activities.!That! is!to!say,!online! ideations!offer!the!opportunity!to! increase!the!
quantity! and! quality! of! ideas! at! an! earlier! stage! than! in! traditional! ideations.! The!
importance!of!identifying!the!quality!of!ideas!is!considered!paramount!in!order!to!make!
the!right!go/kill!decisions.!Due!to!the!scope!of!this!thesis,!a!definition!of!quality!will!be!
provided!in!the!following!section.!!
!
2.3.2 Quality of Ideas
In!order!to!derive!at!a!definition!of!quality,!the!concepts!of!creativity!and!novelty!shall!
be! discussed.! Creativity! and! novelty! are! believed! to! be! key! characteristics! of! ideas;!
however!the!degree!to!which!they!contribute!to!the!quality!of!an!idea!is!arguably!a!very!
difficult!and!subjective!measure.! !In!this!thesis,!I!shall!thus!rely!on!the!judgments!from!
‘experts’!in!the!idea!market!to!be!able!to!identify!ideas!with!high!quality.!!
!
An!idea!is!commonly!understood!to!be!a!concept!or!a!plan!to!be!implemented!that!offers!
a!solution!to!a!problem.!Ideas!and!creativity!is!often!argued!to!be!two!sides!of!the!same!
coin!–!one!does!not!exist!without!the!other.!In!line!with!the!Schumpeterian!perspective,!
creativity! is! that! which! “results! in! the! generation! of! new! and! useful! ideas! or! the!
combination!of!existing!ideas!into!new!and!useful!concepts!to!satisfy!a!need”! (FaridSFoad!
et!al.,!1993;! in! Flynn!et!al.,!2003:419).!However,!Vandenbosch!et!al.! (2003:260)!argue!
that!ideas!are!not!necessarily!creative!to!be!useful;!there!exists!‘ordinary’!ideas,!that!is,!
“managers! often! rely! on! old,! ordinary! ideas! or! new!but! imperfect! ones! to! cope!with! the!
challenges!they!face.”!!In!line!with!this,!Ward!(2000)!argues!that!initial!ideas!may!not!be!
creative! solutions! in! themselves.! Rather! they! represent! candidate! ideas! or! preventive!
forms! that! may! or! may! not! lead! to! a! creative! solution! once! they! are! explored,!
transformed,! modified,! and! extended.! Similarly,! Amabile! (1983:126)! asserts! that,!
“Creativity! is! the!production!of!novel!and!useful! ideas!by!an! individual!or!small!group!of!
individuals!working!together”.! I! suggest! that! the!degree!of! creativity! in! ideas!may!vary!
! 20!
from! idea! to! idea! and! is! arguably! a! subjective! measure! bound! to! the! nature! of! the!
problem.! It! is! therefore!held! that! there! exists! creativity! even! in! incremental! solutions!
and!the!importance!of!fostering!creative!thinking!in!organizations!is!thus!paramount.!!!!
!
Novelty! of! ideas! refers! to! the! degree! in! which! they! offer! new! solutions! to! problems.!
According!to!Abernathy!and!Clark!(1985),!novelty!refers!to!the!application!of!a!known!
technology! to! a! new! purpose.! Arguably,! technological! novelty! is! the! pursuit! of! all!
scientists.! It! is! the! novelty! of! an! invention! that! provides! scientific! merit! and! peer!
recognition.!In!order!for!a!technology!to!be!patented,!it!needs!to!exhibit!a!certain!degree!
of!novelty.!The!degree!of!novelty!is!thereby!measured!by!the!hitherto!scientific!frontier.!
However,!what!can!be!regarded!as!relatively!mundane!changes!in!technology!can!have!
major!ramifications!in!the!market!(Abernathy!&!Clark,!1985).!Contrarily,!“what!may!be!a!
startling!breakthrough!to!the!engineer!may!be!completely!unremarkable!as!far!as!the!user!
of!the!product!is!concerned.”!!(Ibid.:6).!!
!
How! is! quality! defined! in! this! thesis?! As! discussed,! creativity! and! novelty! are! two!
important! characteristics! of! ideas.! It! is! therefore! held! that! the! ideas’! quality! initially!
refers! to! the! degree! in! which! they! offer! creative! and! novel! solutions! to! problems!
subjectively!recognized!by!management!who!are!the!ultimate! judges.!The!definition!of!
quality!adopted!in!this!thesis!is!thus:!ideas!with!high!quality!are!those!that!are!perceived!
by!organizational!members!to!exhibit!creative!and!novel!solutions!to!problems!recognized!
by!an!organization.!In!this!thesis,!the!identification!of!ideas!with!high!quality!is!based!on!
the! judgments! from! ‘experts’! within! the! organization! examined.! By! drawing! on! their!
expertise! and! knowledge! of! what! constitute! high! quality! ideas,! the! research! can! be!
focused!on! the!dynamics!shaping!high!quality! ideas!rather! than!attempting! to! identify!
them.!!
!
What!are!the! implications!for! idea!markets?!The!above!discussions!on!the!fuzzy!frontS
end!of!the!innovation!process!have!elucidated!the!processes!of!generating,!filtering!and!
maturing! ideas.! It!was!argued!that!traditional! ideations!might!have!negative!effects!on!
the!formulation!of!something!radically!new.!This!is!because!close!social!interaction!and!
control!facilitate!internal!filtering!of!ideas!by!participants.!The!cost!of!articulating!‘wild’!
! 21!
or! ‘unpolished’! ideas! in! idea! markets! is! argued! to! be! low! because! of! the! reduced!
familiarity! and! social! control.! Furthermore,! the! simultaneous! activities! of! generating!
and! filtering! ideas! in! traditional! ideations! render! it! impossible! for! the! further!
development! of! an! idea! before! its! evaluation.! In! idea! markets,! the! ideas! have! the!
opportunity!to!be!developed!with!additional!information!provided!by!other!participants.!!
Idea!markets! are! thus! argued! to! enable! increased!quality! of! go/kill! decisions!because!
the!decisions!are!based!on!more!mature!ideas.!In!the!subsequent!section,!I!will!discuss!
the!concept!of!crowdsourcing!as!a!means!of!tapping!into!a!wider!selection!of!ideas.!
!
2.4 Crowdsourcing Ideas
The! concept! of! crowdsourcing! relies! on! the! notion! of! the! wisdom! of! the! crowd.! The!
wisdom!of!the!crowd!refers!to!“[…]!the!discovery!that!the!aggregate!of!a!set!of!proposed!
solutions! from! a! group! of! individuals! performs! better! than! the! majority! of! individual!
solutions.”! (Yi! et! al.,! 2012:452).! The! effect! has! been! demonstrated! through! various!
experiments;! for! example! counting! the! number! of! jellybeans! in! a! jaw;! guessing! the!
weight! of! the! ox;! and! finding! the! position! of! the! missing! submarine! (Williams! &!
Williams,! 2012).! By! calculating! the! mean! of! the! suggestions! from! the! crowd,! nearly!
perfect! estimates!were! found.! The!wisdom! of! the! crowd! phenomenon! is! also! used! to!
predict!future!events!in!prediction!markets!or!information!markets.!It!is!thereby!held!that!
information!about!the!likelihood!of!future!events!is!better!predicted!by!many!people!i.e.!
the!crowd!than!by!few!individuals.!This!is!because!(i)!informants!seldom!have!access!to!
all!relevant!information!and!(ii)!using!multiple!informants!lowers!the!error!component!
of!the!group's!forecast!(Van!Bruggen!et!al.,!2010).!Furthermore!Stasser!and!Titus!(1985)!
claim,! “Groups! can! benefit! from! pooling! members'! information,! particularly! when!
members!individually!have!partial!and!biased!information!but!collectively!can!compose!a!
less! biased! characterization! of! the! decision! alternatives.”! (in! Van! Bruggen! et! al.,!
2010:404).! The! central! finding! in! the! wisdom! of! the! crowd! research! is! that! when!
judgments!are!made!by!a!group!of!people,! the! judgment!obtained!by!aggregating!their!
judgments!is!often!as!good!as,!or!might!even!be!better!than,!the!best!person!in!the!group.!
Therefore! the!wisdom! of! the! crowd! phenomenon! relies! on! being! able! to! remove! the!
noise! in! individual! judgment! to! get! closer! to! the! truth! (Surowiecki,! 2004;! in!Yi! et! al.,!
! 22!
2012).! However,! there! are! limits! to! the! applicability! of! the! wisdom! of! the! crowd!
technique! for!knowledge! retrieval!because!many! forms!of!practical! knowledge! cannot!
be!represented!with!single!continuous!or!discrete!answers!(Yi!et!al.,!2012).!That!is,!for!
combinatorial!problems!it!is!not!feasible!to!take!the!mean!or!mode!of!individual!answers!
to!obtain!a!group!answer!(ibid.).!This!leads!to!the!question!of!how!can!the!wisdom!of!the!
crowd!technique!be!applied!to!idea!generation!in!organizations?!!
!
The! case! for! crowdsourcing! ideas! externally! is! built! on! the! assertion! that,! “no!matter!
who! you! are,!most! of! the! smartest! people!work! for! someone! else”.! (Lakhani! &! Panetta,!
2007:97)!The!rather!bold!statement!emphasizes!that!“[…]!in!any!given!sphere!of!activity!
most! of! the! pertinent! knowledge! will! reside! outside! the! boundaries! of! any! one!
organization,! and! the! central! challenge! for! those! charged!with! innovation!mission! is! to!
find!ways!to!access!that!knowledge.”! (Ibid.)! !The! concept!of!open!innovation! deals!with!
this! challenge! by! inviting! externally! sourced! ideas! to! solve! internal! problems! in! an!
organization.! Chesbrough! (2011:69)! defines! open! innovation! as! “the! use! of! purposive!
inflows! and! outflows! of! knowledge! to! accelerate! internal! innovation! and! expand! the!
markets! for! external! use! of! innovation,! respectively”.!Arguably,! the! impediment! to! the!
concept!is!the!high!risks!involved!concerning!the!protection!of!knowledge.!Nevertheless,!
the! concept!has! gained! increased! attention! in!organizations.! Crowdsourcing!draws!on!
users!or!external!experts!to!contribute!with! ideas!for!either!a!monetary!compensation!
or!other!kinds!of!incentives!in!a!widely!broadcast!idea!generation!competition!(Poetz!&!
Schreier,!2012).!An!example!of!crowdsourcing!ideas!is!provided!by!Don!Tapscott!(TED!
Talk,!2012)!who!describes! the! successful!use!of! crowdsourcing!by!a!mining! company.!
The!geologists!in!the!mining!company!could!not!locate!any!gold!in!the!mine!but!instead!
of! giving! up,! they! published! the! geographical! data! on! the! Internet! and! held! a! contest!
called!the!Gold!Corp!Challenge.!There!was!a!prize!of!500.000!USD!for!the!idea!that!could!
tell! them! where! the! gold! was.! Some! of! the! best! submissions! did! not! come! from!
geologists! but! from! computer! scientists! and! engineers.! In! fact,! the!winning! idea! came!
from!a!computer!graphics!company.!The!winning!idea!helped!locate!3.5!billion!dollars’!
worth!of!gold,!which!consequently! led!the!market!value!of!the!company!to!go!from!90!
million! to!10!billion!USD.!Needless! to!emphasize! that! in! this!case,! the!smartest!people!
did!work!for!someone!else.!!
! 23!
A! recent! study! by! Poetz! and! Schreier! (2012)! found! that! crowdsourcing! might!
complement! the! work! of! a! firm’s! professionals! in! the! idea! generation! phase.! The!
scholars!compared!ideas!created!by!both!selfSselected!users!and!professionals!in!an!idea!
contest! in!the!consumer!goods!market!for!baby!products.!Their!findings!indicated!that!
the!user!ideas!scored!higher!on!average!in!terms!of!novelty!and!customer!benefit!than!
the! ones! generated! by! the! firm’s! professionals.! The! study! also! revealed! that! the! best!
ideas!tended!to!be!more!heavily!concentrated!among!users!(ibid.).!Why!the!conclusion!
can!be!drawn!that,!“firms!who!rely!too!heavily!on!their!internal!expertise!might!be!blocked!
from!finding!alternative,!potentially!more!successful!solutions.”!(Ibid.:248).!!
!
What!are!the!implications!for!idea!markets?!The!examples!of!crowdsourcing!ideas!have!
shown!promising!results.!The!research,!however,!is!more!concentrated!on!businessStoS
consumer! firms! than!on!businessStoSbusiness! firms.!What! is!more,! advanced! scientific!
knowledge! held! in! highStechnology! firms! is! more! difficult! to! aggregate! and! more!
unlikely!to!be!found!among!external!individuals.!The!crowdsourcing!technique!thus!has!
its! limits! of! applicability! when! concerned! with! businessStoSbusiness! firms! whose!
operations! involve!complicated!scientific!research.!As!argued!by!Bos!et!al.! (2007:653),!
“Scientists!generally!work!with! ideas!that!are!on!the!cutting!edge!of!what! is!understood.!
This!knowledge!often!requires!specialized!expertise,! is!difficult!to!represent,!may!be!tacit,!
and!changes!rapidly.”!!!They!find!that!advanced!scientific!knowledge!is!the!most!difficult!
to! manage! over! distances! or! disseminate! over! large! groups! (ibid.).! Furthermore,! the!
protection!of!IP!and!the!requirement!of!advanced!equipment!render!it!problematic!for!
highStechnology! firms! to! find! ideas! externally.! For! these! types! of! businesses,! internal!
crowdsourcing!–!i.e.!idea!markets!–!can!perhaps!be!a!better!solution!for!idea!generation.!!
!
2.4.1 Idea Markets
An!idea!market!is!an!online!ideaSgenerating!tool!relying!on!internal!crowdsourcing.!That!
is!to!say,!an!idea!market!is!a!tool!comparable!to!external!crowdsourcing!but!involves!the!
selection! of! promising! idea! contributors! from! among! the! firm’s! own! employees!
(Soukhoroukova!et!al.,!2012).!As!theory!of!this!phenomenon!is!lacking!(ibid.),!this!thesis!
will!investigate!the!case!of!NZ’s!Growth!Bets!2011.!The!design!and!process!of!NZ’s!idea!
! 24!
market! will! be! described! in! greater! detail! in! Chapter! 3;! this! section! will! thus! be!
delimited!to!provide!an!overview!of!the!concept.!
!
Idea!markets!serve!the!purpose!of!online!collaborative!brainstorming!and!idea!ranking.!
The!purpose!of!collaborative!brainstorming!of!ideas!is!rooted!in!the!notion!that!there!is!
a! large! dormant! reservoir! of! useful! ideas! in! many! companies,! however! there! is! a!
shortage! of! effective! channels! to! communicate! these! ideas! (van!Dijk!&! van! den! Ende,!
2002).!The!idea!market!provides!opportunity!for!a!large!group!of!diverse!participants!to!
submit!their!ideas,!develop!these!ideas!by!submitting!comments,!and!rank!ideas!through!
virtual!transactions.!Ideas!are!thus!ranked!in!accordance!to!the!wisdom!of!the!crowd!as!
participants!can!buy!and!sell!shares!in!all!ideas!with!play!money.!The!participants!in!the!
market! have! an!opportunity! to!display! their! creativity! to!management! and! colleagues!
from!all!over!the!world.!The!incentives!for!participation!can!thus!be!intrinsic!(e.g.!peer!
recognition)!and!extrinsic!(e.g.!prizes!for!best!ideas!and!research!funding).!Regardless!of!
the!design!of! incentives,! the!markets!provide!an!organized!and!structured!process! for!
idea! extraction! and! followSup,! which! in! itself! is! a!motivational! factor! for! participants!
(van! Dijk! &! van! den! Ende,! 2002).! As! argued! by! Chan! et! al.! (2002),! “[idea! markets]!
improve! upon! traditional! […]! methods! by! encouraging! greater! honesty! from! the!
participants,! providing!participants!with! valuable! feedback! from!other!participants,! and!
offering! participants! the! ‘joy! of! competitive! play’.”! (in! Spears! et! al.,! 2009:18)!
Furthermore,!Spears!et!al.!(2009)!argue!that!traditional!means!of!encouraging!new!ideas!
within! businesses! such! as! suggestions! boxes! and! brainstorming! sessions! have!
considerable! limitations.! This! is! because,! “suggestion! boxes! often! go! unused! because!
contributors! receive! little! or!no! feedback!about! their! idea!or! visibility! into!others'! ideas.!
Brainstorming! sessions! are! often! infeasible! for! soliciting! ideas! from! large,! globally!
distributed!teams!with!potentially!thousands!of!contributors.”!(Spears!et!al.,!2009:19)!!
!
As!previously!stated,!theory!and!research!on!idea!markets!is!far!from!exhaustive.!!Given!
the!novelty!of!the!tool!and!the!vast!possibilities!for!its!further!development,!research!is!
highly! relevant! for! both! practitioners! and! scholars.! Furthermore,! the! case! for! idea!
markets!is!found!in!the!notion!of!combinatorial!innovation!and!that!the!biggest!‘sparks’!
are!ignited!when!pieces!of!ideas!come!together!from!a!diverse!set!of!individuals.!In!the!
! 25!
following! section,! I! shall! therefore! draw! on! diversity! theory! to! gain! insights! of! the!
implications!for!idea!development!by!the!connectivity!of!diverse!participants.!!
!
2.5%The%Implications%of%Diversity%%Diversity!in!its!widest!sense!means! ‘variety’!or! ‘point!or!respect!in!which!things!differ’!
(Milliken!&!Martins,!1996).!The! implications!of!diversity!have!been!vastly!studied! in!a!
wide!array!of!research!fields.!In!an!organizational!context,!diversity!has!been!positively!
associated! with! creativity,! innovation,! and! competitive! advantage! where! it! has! been!
recognized!as!a!catalyst!of!creativity!in!teams!(West!&!Anderson,!1996;!in!BassettSJones,!
2005).!Furthermore,!Milliken!and!Martins!(1996:402)!studied!the!body!of!literature!on!
diversity! and! found! that! “Diversity! in! the! composition! of! organizational! groups! affects!
outcomes! such! as! turnover! and! performance! through! its! impact! on! effective,! cognitive,!
communication,! and! symbolic! processes”.! The! effects! of! diversity! on! organizational! or!
team! performances! are! thus! paradoxical! in! nature.! On! the! one! hand,! a! high! level! of!
diversity! can! lead! to! less! integrated! groups,! dissatisfaction! and! higher! turnover!
(ibid.:403).! Similarly,! BassettSJones! (2005:171)! argues! that! diversity! damages!
cohesiveness,! reduces! communication! and! produces! inSgroups! and! outSgroups.! “This!
results! in! discord,! distrust,! poor! quality! and! lack! of! customer! focus! and! market!
orientation.”!!On!a!more!positive!note,!research!also!suggests,!“More!diverse!groups!have!
the!potential!to!consider!a!greater!range!of!perspectives!and!to!generate!more!highFquality!
solutions! than! less! diverse! groups.”! (Milliken! and! Martins,! 1996:403).! Also,! “[…]!when!
diversity!is!managed!well,!it!can!enhance!creativity,!resulting!in!increased!commitment,!job!
satisfaction! and! a! better! interface! with! the! market! place.”! (BassettSJones,! 2005:171).!
Furthermore,! teams! that! are! characterized! by! high! network! heterogeneity! whereby!
relationships!in!the!team!cut!across!salient!demographic!boundaries,!enjoy!an!enhanced!
learning! capability! (Reagans!&!Zuckerman,!2001).!McAdam!and!McClelland! (2002:90)!
found! that! “While!diverse! teams!are!often!more!creative! than!homogeneous! teams,! they!
are! also! more! likely! to! fail! if! their! diversity! is! not! positively! managed.”! Resource!
heterogeneity! provides! the! potential! for! learning! and! innovation! especially! when!
dealing! with! exploration! activities! (Nooteboom,! 2007).! The! doubleSedge! sword! of!
diversity! is! thus! found! by! the! increased! opportunity! for! learning! and! creativity! along!
! 26!
with! a! higher! risk! of! dissatisfaction,! misunderstanding! and! lack! of! cohesiveness!
(Milliken!&!Martins,!1996).!!
A! distinction! must! be! drawn! between! types! of! diversity.! Inspired! by! Milliken! and!
Martins! (1996),! the! first! type! is! observable! attributes! such! as! nationality,! ethnic!
background,!gender,!and!age.!The!second!type!is!less!visible!skillFbased!attributes!such!as!
education,! technical! abilities,! functional! background,! and! tenure! in! the! organization.!
Leonard! and! Swapp! (1999)! argue! that! it! takes! more! than! ethnic! and! demographic!
diversity!to!result!in!creativity!that!leads!companies!to!perform!better!(in!BassettSJones,!
2005).! Diversity! in! personalities,! values! and! beliefs! can! have! large! effects! on!
collaboration! in! teams!(Schein,!1985).!As! the!research! in! this! thesis! is!concerned!with!
idea!markets,! the! relevance! of! diversity! in! personalities! is! arguably! not! great.! This! is!
because! the!online! connectivity!of! geographical!dispersed! individuals! in! idea!markets,!
results! in! less! social! interaction! and! control! than! traditional! group! work.! The!
consequences! of! diversity! such! as! dissatisfaction,! misunderstanding! and! lack! of!
cohesiveness! shall! not! be! examined! in! this! thesis.! Rather,! the! impact! on! cognitive!
outcomes!(i.e.!quality!of!ideas)!is!what!is!investigated.!It!is!therefore!hypothesized!that!
lack! of! physical! proximity! and! familiarity! offers! an! opportunity! to! articulate! wild! or!
unpolished! ideas! regardless! of! social! acceptance! and! cohesiveness.! The! diversity!
attributes!that!are!particular!relevant!in!the!idea!market!context!is!arguably!diversity!in!
organizational!affiliation.!More!specifically,! the!dimensions!examined! in! this! thesis!are!
diversity! in;!geographical!location;! functional!background;!hierarchical! level!and! tenure!
in!the!organization.!These!dimensions!thus!include!both!observable!attributes!and!skillS
based!attributes.!!
Nooteboom!et! al.! (2007)! studied! the! concept!of!cognitive!distance,!which! refers! to! the!
extent! that! people! have! developed! along! different! life! paths! and! in! different!
environments,!they!interpret,!understand!and!evaluate!the!world!differently.!They!argue!
that!for!organizations!to!achieve!a!common!purpose,!organizational!members!need!not!
agree! on! personal! goals! however! they! need! to! share! certain! basic! perceptions! and!
values! to! sufficiently! align! their! competences! and!motives.! The! research! of! cognitive!
distance!by!Nooteboom!et!al.!(2007)!focused!on!collaboration!between!technology!firms!
and! its! relation! to! innovation! performance.! The! research! proposed! that! there! is! an!
! 27!
invertedSU!shaped!relationship!between!cognitive!distance!and!innovation!performance.!
As! cognitive! distance! increases,! it! has! a! positive! effect! on! learning! by! interaction!
because! it! yields! opportunities! for! novel! combinations! of! complementary! resources!
(ibid.).! ! At! a! certain! point,! however,! “[…]! cognitive! distance! becomes! so! large! as! to!
preclude!sufficient!mutual!understanding!needed!to!utilize!those!opportunities.”!(Ibid.:3).!
The! challenge,! they! argue,! is! to! find! partners! at! sufficient! cognitive! distance! to! tell!
something!new,!but!not!so!distant!as!to!preclude!mutual!understanding.!!
In!the!case!of!idea!markets,!I!argue!that!the!invertedSU!shaped!relationship!is!discarded!
on!behalf!of!a!continuous!upward!sloping!line.!My!argument!is!twoSfold.!Firstly,!because!
idea!markets! rely!on!participants! selected! internally! from! the! same!organization.! It! is!
therefore!argued!that!the!mutual!understanding!of!the!firm’s!purpose!and!goals!is!great,!
which! result! in! less! cognitive!distance!between! individuals.!Furthermore,! the!multiple!
firmSlevel! study! by! Nooteboom! et! al.! (2007)! involves! large! and! more! heterogeneous!
groups! than! in! the! present! case! of! idea! markets,! which! only! involves! small! inventor!
teams.!The!research!in!this!thesis!is!therefore!only!concerned!with!the!upwardSsloping!
effect.! Secondly,! the! variety! of! perspectives! involved! in! developing! ideas! through! the!
feature!of!commenting!does!not!have!a!detrimental!effect!on!cognitive!outcomes.!That!is!
to!say,!diversity!of!commentators!can!only!contribute!to!the!quality!of! ideas!by!adding!
additional!information!to!the!previously!articulated!information.!Because!comments!are!
added!over!time!instead!of!immediately!through!inSgroup!discussion,!the!comments!will!
not!result! in!a!downward!sloping!effect.!Rather,! if!an!added!comment!is!out!of!context!
(e.g.! a! sign! of! misunderstanding),! the! comment! can! be! disregarded.! The! cognitive!
outcomes! from! added! comments! can! thus! only! have! an! upwardSsloping! effect.!
Misunderstandings!and!lack!of!cohesiveness!do!thereby!not!decrease!the!value!of!ideas!
but!rather!provide!opportunity!to!combine!and!build!new!knowledge.!The!decrease! in!
social! interaction! and! control! thus! allow! for!more! creative! and! novel! solutions! to! be!
articulated! by! a! diverse! set! of! participants.! I! therefore! argue! that! diversity! of!
participants! can! increase! the! quality! of! ideas.! The! diversity! parameters! and! the!
hypotheses!examined!in!this!thesis!shall!be!presented!in!the!following!sections.!!
!
!
! 28!
2.5.1 Geographical Diversity
Multinational!organizations!depend!on!people! throughout! the!world! to!carry!out! their!
operations!and! it! is! therefore!held! that! the!distinctiveness!of!workforce! competencies!
derived! from!different!nationalities! contribute!with!organizational!diversity! (Caliguiri,!
2010).!Hofstede!!(1983)!argue!that!nationalities!of!employees!play!an!important!role!in!
organizational! management! for! at! least! three! reasons.! The! first! reason! is! political!
because!nations!are!political!units,!rooted!in!history,!with!their!own!institutions:!form!of!
government,! legal! systems,! educational! systems,! labor! and! employer’s! association!
systems! (ibid).! The! second! reason! is! sociological! because! nationality! has! a! symbolic!
value!to!citizens.!It!is!held!that!we!all!derive!part!of!our!identity!from!it!(ibid).!The!third!
reason! why! nationality! is! important! is! psychological! because! our! thinking! is! partly!
conditioned! by! national! cultural! factors! (ibid).! Hofstede! (1983)! refers! to! ‘mental!
programming’!as!a!consequence!of!past!experiences,!which!effects!our!interpretation!of!
new! experiences.! He! argues! that! we! become! mentally! programmed! when! we! share!
experiences!with! other!members! of! our! nation! (ibid.).! Hofstede’s! (1983)! longitudinal!
study!of!50!nations!and!regions!indicated!clear!differences!in!cultural!dimensions!such!
as! individualism! vs.! collectivism,! power! distance,! uncertainty! avoidance,! and!
masculinity!vs.!femininity.!In!this!thesis,!geographical!diversity!refers!to!the!countries!in!
which! employees! carry! out! their! operations.! Milliken! and! Martins! (1996)! draw! on! a!
study! by!Watson! et! al.! (1993)! who! found! that! diversity! in! nationality! have! different!
impacts! on! group!performance.! In! the! initial! stages!of! group! interaction,! homogenous!
groups!performed!better.!However! in! later!stages!of!group! interaction,!diverse!groups!
(in! terms! of! nationality)! scored! higher! on! two! aspects! of! performance:! range! of!
perspectives! and! alternatives! generated! (Milliken! &! Martins,! 1996).! The! range! of!
perspectives! and! alternatives! generated! are! elements! that! are! consistent! with! the!
benefits!of!diversity!investigated!in!this!thesis.!I!thus!posit!the!following!hypothesis:!
Hypothesis 1
H1:%Geographical!diversity!will! increase!the!quality!of! ideas!presented!and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
! 29!
2.5.2 Functional Diversity
Functional!diversity! refers! to! the!differences! in! skills! and! competences! acquired! from!
working! in! specific! functional! areas! in! an!organization.! In! line!with! the! combinatorial!
view!of!innovation,!it!is!held!that!radical!innovations!often!happen!at!the!intersection!of!
disciplines! (Lakhani! &! Jeppesen,! 2007).! Furthermore,! “The!more! diverse! the! problemF
solving!population,!the!more!likely!a!problem!is!to!be!solved.!People!tend!to!link!problems!
that!are!distant! from! their! fields!with! solutions! they’ve! encountered! in! their! own!work”.!
(Ibid.:1).! It! is! therefore! key! to! bring! people! together! from!upstream!and!downstream!
functional!areas!so!that!they!can!communicate!and!bring!coordinated!knowledge!to!bear!
on!a!project!(Keller,!2001).!Milliken!and!Martins!(1996)!found!that!diversity!along!skillS!
or! knowledgeSbased! dimensions! have! some! positive! cognitive! outcomes! for! project!
teams.!This! is!because!diversity! translates! into!a!greater!variety!of!perspectives!being!
brought! to! bear! on! decisions! and,! thereby,! increases! the! likelihood! of! creative! and!
innovative!solutions!to!problems!(ibid.).!Ancona!and!Caldwell!(1992)!found!conflicting!
outcomes! of! functional! diversity.! Although! their! study! indicated! a! negative! effect! on!
teamSrated!performance,!an!indirect!positive!effect!was!found!on!innovation!through!its!
association! with! an! increased! frequency! of! communication! with! those! outside! the!
project!group.!The!positive!effect,!they!argue,!may!lie!in!the!creation!of!linkages!to!those!
not!in!the!team!(ibid).!Furthermore,!Simons!(1995)!argue!“Functional!diversity!will!only!
be! positively! associated! with! organizational! performance! when! the! team! uses! decision!
processes! that!allow!debate”! (in!Milliken!&!Martins,! 1996:410).! The! positive! effects! of!
functional!diversity!are! thus! consistent!with! the! idea!market! concept,!which!allow! for!
debate!by!the!feature!of!commenting.!The!benefits!of!functional!diversity!are!advocated!
by!Hansen!and!Birkinshaw!(2007:3)!who!found!that,!“the!biggest!sparks![…]!are!ignited!
when! fragments! of! ideas! come! together! –! specifically! when! individuals! across! units!
brainstorm![…]”.!I!thus!posit!the!following!hypothesis:!
Hypothesis 2
H2:! ! Functional! diversity! will! increase! the! quality! of! ideas! presented! and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
! 30!
2.5.3 Hierarchical Diversity
Hierarchical! diversity! refers! to! employees’! job! classifications! and! ranks! in! the!
organization.! Although! organizational! tenure! (discussed! in! the! following! section)! is!
sometimes! argued! to! include! the! hierarchical! level! of! employees,! for! the! sake! of! this!
thesis,!hierarchical!diversity!is!separated!from!tenure.!Hierarchical!diversity!is!relevant!
to! consider! as! it! is! held! that! the! higher! one! climbs! the! hierarchical! ladder,! the! less!
scientific! and! specialized! becomes! one’s! daily! tasks.! Scientists! who! are! lower! in! the!
hierarchy! are! expected! to! work! with! highly! specialized! and! technical! tasks! that! can!
provide! solutions! to! highStechnological! and! complicated! problems.! Managers,! on! the!
other!hand,!are!expected!to!effectively!manage!these!scientists!and!furthermore!focus!on!
the! organization’s! overall! strategy.! It! is! therefore! managers’! task! to! secure! that!
resources!are!spent!on!activities!that!fit!into!the!organization’s!strategy.!Theory!on!the!
effects! of! hierarchical! diversity! is! scarce,! however,! it! is! only! logical! to! assume! that!by!
hierarchical! diversity! comes! more! diverse! perspectives! and! more! critical! evaluation.!
This!is!because!the!synergy!between!specialized!and!nonSspecialized!tasks!provide!both!
highStechnological! knowledge! and! knowledge! on! the! overall! organizational! context! in!
which!it!has!to!fit.!I!thus!posit!the!following!hypothesis:!
Hypothesis 3
H3:! !Hierarchical!diversity!will! increase!the!quality!of! ideas!presented!and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
2.5.4 Tenure Diversity
Tenure!diversity! refers! to! the!difference! in!seniority!of!organizational!members.!More!
specifically,! tenure! refers! to! the! amount! of! time! members! have! worked! in! the!
organization.! Research! suggests! that! individuals! identify! with! others! who! enters! an!
organization! or! department! at! the! same! time! and! that! this! identification,! in! turn,!
influences! behavior! (Milliken! &! Martins,! 1996).! ! According! to! Ancona! and! Caldwell!
(1992),! teams! that! draw! their! members! from! different! cohorts! achieve! higher!
performance! because!members! who! have! entered! the! organization! at! different! times!
know!different! set!of!people,!have!different! technical! skills,! and!different!perspectives!
on! the! organization’s! history.! Homogeneous! groups! in! terms! of! tenure!may! be!more!
! 31!
harmonious,! however! the! performance! of! such! teams! is! limited! by! the! relative!
redundancy! of! members’! perspectives,! information,! and! resources! (Reagans! &!
Zuckerman,!2001).!Milliken!and!Martins!(1996:414)!state,!“Arguments!for!the!impact!of!
team! tenure! heterogeneity! on! organizational! actions! are! based! on! the! idea! that! tenure!
heterogeneity! reduces! groupthink! and! increases! creativity.”! I! thus! posit! the! following!
hypothesis:!
Hypothesis 4
H4:! ! Tenure! diversity! will! increase! the! quality! of! ideas! presented! and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
2.5.5 Diversity Aggregated across Multiple Dimensions
As! discussed! above,! research! suggests! that! diversity! in! observable! attributes! (i.e.!
nationality)! affect! the! cognitive! outcomes! (e.g.! quality! of! ideas)! in! groups! in! positive!
ways! (Milliken! &! Martins,! 1996).! Similarly,! diversity! on! skillSbased! dimensions! (i.e.!
functional!background,!hierarchical! level,!and!tenure)!also!generally!has!been!found!to!
be!associated!with!cognitive!benefits!(ibid.).!The!final!hypothesis!in!this!thesis!is!thereby!
concerned! with! diversity! aggregated! across! these! dimensions.! I! thus! posit! the! final!
hypothesis:!!!
Hypothesis 5
H5:! ! Diversity! aggregated! across! multiple! dimensions! will! increase! the!
quality!of!ideas!presented!and!developed!in!idea!markets!
!
The!five!hypotheses!presented!above!shall!be!tested!in!the!Analysis!and!thereby!lead!to!
the! conclusions!answering! the! research!question.!The! subsequent! section! shall!briefly!
summarize!the!discussions!provided!in!this!Literature!Review!and!further!elucidate!the!
research!gap!that!is!sought!filled!in!this!thesis.!!
2.6 Research Gap
The! review! of! literature! and! theoretical! discussions! provided! in! this! chapter,! have!
elucidated!concepts! relevant! to! the!phenomenon!under!scrutiny!–!a!phenomenon! that!
! 32!
may!have!potential!to!support!organizations!with!activities!in!the!fuzzy!frontSend!of!the!
innovation!process.!It!has!been!argued!that!an!idea!market!is!a!tool!for!the!conversion!of!
knowledge!from!tacit!into!explicit!through!interaction!of!participants.!The!tool!provides!
a! channel! for! the! articulation!of!dormant! ideas! and! improving! these!by! amplified! and!
new!knowledge! facilitated!by! the! virtual! community! of! interaction.! Furthermore,! idea!
markets! enable! the! separation! of! two! activities!most! often! interconnected! in! the! idea!
generation!phase:! idea!generation!and! filtering.!The!separation!of! these!activities,! it! is!
argued,! results! in! the! development! of! higher! quality! ideas! by! allowing! ‘wild’! or!
‘unpolished’! ideas! to! flourish! and! develop! before! they! are! subject! to! evaluation! –!
acceptance!or!rejection.!This!in!turn!enables!managers!who!ultimately!make!the!go/kill!
decisions! to! base! their! decisions! on! a! more! informed! foundation.! Furthermore,! the!
wisdom!of!the!crowd!technique!used!in!idea!markets,!ads!quality!to!the!go/kill!decisions!
of!ideas.!This!is!because!when!judgments!are!made!by!a!group!of!people,!the!judgment!
obtained! by! aggregating! their! judgments! is! often! as! good! as,! or!might! even! be! better!
than,!the!best!person!in!the!group.!The!research!gap!identified!in!this!thesis!concerns!the!
implications! of! diversity! in! idea!markets.! By! examining! diversity! theory,! it!was! found!
that! diversity! in! groups! of! individuals! have! positive! effects! on! problemSsolving! and!
innovation!capabilities.!This!is!because!diversity!leads!to!a!greater!range!of!perspective!
and!more!critical!evaluation.!!The!notion!of!an!inverted!USshaped!relationship!between!
cognitive!distance!and!innovation!capabilities!provided!by!Nooteboom!et!al.!(2007)!was!
discarded!in!the!case!of!idea!markets!on!behalf!of!an!upward!sloping!relationship.!The!
hypotheses!developed!thus!assert!that!in!the!case!of!idea!markets,!diversity!will!lead!to!
increased!quality!of! ideas.!The!gap!that! the!research!attempts! to! fill! is! thus!concerned!
with!the!empirical!findings!from!an!investigation!of!the!implications!of!diversity!for!the!
development!of!ideas.!!!
! !
! 33!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
“[GB11] is a much more efficient way for idea generation than
traditional ideations where you are ‘forced’ to create ideas. In
GB11 it was possible to look into other aspects of ideas because
of the longer period of time in comparison to traditional
ideations.” – GB11 participant
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Chapter 3 Company and Case Profile
! 34!
3. Company and Case Profile In!this!chapter,!I!shall!provide!a!short!description!of!the!case!company!Novozymes!and!
the! department:! the! Innovation! Office.! Furthermore,! I! shall! provide! a! detailed!
description!of!NZ’s!idea!market:!Growth!Bets!2011.!
!
3.1 Novozymes in Brief
Novozymes!A/S!is!a!Danish!biotech!company!spun!out!from!Novo!Nordisk!A/S!in!2000.!!
With! 47%!market! share! in! the! enzyme! industry,! NZ! has! become! the!world! leader! in!
industrial!enzymes!and!microorganisms2.!NZ!is!a!businessStoSbusiness!company!selling!
over! 700! products! in! 130! different! countries! and! in! 40! different! industries.! NZ! is! a!
highly! international! company! with! 50%! of! the! 5,400! employees! working! outside!
Denmark.! NZ’! solutions! are! used! in! the! production! of! numerous! products! such! as!
biofuel,! detergents,! feed! and! food.! By! having! such! a! diverse! product! portfolio,! NZ’s!
vision!is!to!provide!their!customers!with!sustainable!and!green!products!that!will!lead!to!
a!complete!bioFbased!society.!!Enzymes!are!efficient!biological!catalysts!known!from!any!
living!organism.!They!are!used!in!production!to! increase!efficiency!and!yield!of!a!wide!
range!of!processes! in!our! society.!With!enzymes! ‘we!can!produce!more!with! less’! and!
contribute!to!the!decoupling!of!economic!growth!and!use!of!natural!resources.!!
The!key!element!to!NZ’s!success!is!innovation.!NZ!is!a!highly!innovationSdriven!company!
with!over!7,000!pending!and!issued!patents!and!164!new!patent!families!filed!in!2011.!
Furthermore,!NZ!is!spending!14%!of!annual!turnover!in!R&D.!As!a!result,!NZ!is!able!to!
launch!many!new!products!every!year! (8!new!products! scheduled! for!2012)!and!new!
products!accounts!for!25%!of!the!annual!turnover.!The!R&D!organization!in!NZ!consists!
of!1,024!employees!of!which!40%!are!working!outside!Denmark.!!NZ’s!Enzyme!Business!
operates!in!five!main!areas:!
1. Household!Care!enzymes!–!used!in!household!and!industrial!laundry!and!
dishwashing!detergents.!
2. Other!Technical!enzymes!–!used,!among!other!things,!in!the!transformation!of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!2!Information!about!the!company!is!gathered!from!an!internal!presentation!from!March!2012.!
! 35!
starch!into!different!kinds!of!sugars.!This!also!includes!enzymes!for!the!textile!
industry.!
3. Food!enzymes!–!enhance!quality!and/or!efficiency!in!the!manufacture!of!food!
products!such!as!bread,!wine,!juice,!beer,!noodles,!pasta,!and!alcohol.!
4. Feed!enzymes!–!when!added!to!animal!feed!increases!the!nutritional!value!of!the!
feed.!
5. Bioenergy!–!enzymes!used!for!the!production!of!biodiesel,!biogas!and!other!
biofuels.!
As!competition!grows!worldwide,!the!continued!success!of!NZ!depends!on!its!ability!to!
innovate! in! all! parts! of! the! organization.! Providing! an! enabling! environment! for! the!
organization’s!highly!skilled!workforce!is!therefore!paramount.!!!
!
3.2 The Innovation Office
The!case!examined! in! this! thesis!was!determined! in!collaboration!with! the! Innovation!
Office! (IO)! where! I! have! held! a! student! position! since! September! 2011.! IO! is! a!
department!in!NZ’!R&D!organization!composed!of!a!small!team!of!Managers,!Directors,!
and! a! Vice! President.! The! raison! d’être! of! the! office! is! ensuring! that!NZ!maintains! its!
leadership!position!as! the!most! innovating!biotech!company! in! the!world.!The!office’s!
efforts! are! focused! on! developing! and! administering! projects! and! tools! that! facilitate!
idea! generation! and! maturation.! Furthermore,! The! office! is! also! involved! in! political!
debate! in! the! EU! and! OECD! with! the! goal! of! promoting! more! favorable! laws! and!
subsidies!for!a!bioSbased!society.!The!goal!of!IO!is!catalyzing!innovation!throughout!the!
entire! R&D! organization! by! means! of! implementing! and! administrating! a! variety! of!
tools,!which! include! ideations! (brainstorming!sessions),! the! Idea!Web! (suggestion!box!
on!the!Intraweb),!and!RIC!projects!(maturation!of!ideas).!!
!
Ideations!are!administered!by!the!IO!and!involve!bringing!together!a!team!of!scientists!
to! brainstorm! ideas! relating! to! specific! challenges! or! opportunities.! They! typically!
unfold! in! a! very! organized! workshop! setting! during! one! or! two! days.! As! the! R&D!
! 36!
workforce!is!spread!throughout!the!world,!much!time!and!resources!are!being!spent!on!
travelling.!!
!
A!second!idea!generation!tool!administered!by!the!IO!is!the!Idea!Web,!which!is!an!online!
suggestion!box.!The!Idea!Web!is!open!to!all!in!the!R&D!organization!all!year!round!and!it!
only!takes!a!couple!of!clicks!on!the!Intraweb!to!post!an!idea.!It!is!the!IO’s!responsibility!
to! screen! the! ideas! and! pass! them! on! to! relevant! idea! champions.! In! practice,! the!
screening!of!ideas!is!done!by!a!single!member!of!the!office!who!checks!the!Idea!Web!a!
couple! of! times! a!week! and! then! either! disregards! or! forwards! by! eSmail! the! idea! to!
relevant!people!in!the!organization.!!This!screening!process!is!arguably!suboptimal!and!
often!leaves!very!little!feedback!to!the!idea!contributor.!!
!
A!third!initiative!steered!by!the!IO!is!the!Radical!Innovation!Catalysts!(RIC).!RIC!involve!
maturing!ideas!from!Ideations!and!developing!them!into!New!Lead!projects.!RIC!is!built!
of!a!volunteering!community!of!employees!called!the!RIC!Community!who!are!allocated!
projects!with!the!purpose!of!maturing!them.!!
!
With! increasing!growth!ambitions! for!2011,!R&D!Management!recognized! the!need! to!
kick! off! more! large! growth! initiatives.! The! strategy! was! therefore! to! implement! new!
processes!that!could!help!identify!and!mature!at!least!two!new!DKK!500!million!bets.!It!
was!IO’s!responsibility!to!develop!and!steer!the!new!processes!that!would!help!boost!the!
enzyme!Business.!The!IO!therefore!experimented!with!the!idea!market!tool!in!the!fall!of!
2011.!!
!
3.3 Growth Bets 2011
The! overall! goal! of! GB11!was! to! identify! at! least! two! new! ideas! that! had! substantial!
growth!potential!to!expand!Novozymes’!product!pipeline.!By!applying!the!untraditional!
idea!generation!tool,!it!was!possible!to!combine!and!build!upon!the!traditional!methods!
used!for!idea!generation!and!maturation!in!a!novel!and!entertaining!manner.!The!GB11!
tool! combined! two!key! aspects! of! the! traditional! tools! by! involving! a! pool! of! selected!
employees!and!having!an!online!setup.!Furthermore,!GB11!offered!a!setting!of!a!global!
! 37!
ideation!uniting!employees!who!nonShabitually!work!together!to!share!ideas,!developed!
each!other’s!ideas,!and!additionally!rank!ideas!by!buying!and!selling!shares.!Inspiration!
to!the!setup!of!GB11!and!the!online!platform!were!provided!by!an!external!consultancy!
firm!called!NOSCO!that!specializes! in! idea!markets.!NOSCO,!besides!administrating!the!
global! online! ideation,! organized! workshops! for! the! GB11! Taskforce! (organizing!
committee)!where! the! specific! setSup! and! features! of! the! idea!market!were! designed.!
The!following!sections!will!account!for!the!process!and!design!of!GB11.!
!
3.3.1 Rules of the Game
The!course!of!GB11!ran!from!September!2011!to!January!2012!and!was!steered!by!an!
organizing! committee! referred! to! as! the! GB11! Taskforce.! The! Taskforce! consisted! of!
eight!people!(three! form!Denmark,! three! from!the!US,!and! two! from!China)!who!were!
invited! by! the! Innovation! Office.! The! Taskforce! together! with! the! consultant! from!
NOSCO!held!two!workshops!(three!hours!each).!At!the!two!workshops,!the!process!and!
design! of! GB11!were! discussed! and! determined! based! on!NOSCO’s! recommendations.!
The!process!of!GB11!can!be!divided!into!six!phases!as!illustrated!in!Figure!2!below.!
!
Figure!2:!GB11!Process%
!!
! 38!
3.3.1.1 Mobilize People
The!first!phase! involved!recruiting!people!to!participate! in!the!game.!Two!teams!were!
formed:!(i)!a!Screen!Team!and!(ii)!a!Maturation!Champions!team.!The!Screen!Team!was!
formed!of!seven!R&D!managers!and!directors!who!had!the!responsibility!to!screen!TopS
25!best!ideas!and!select!TopS5!ideas!from!these.!The!Maturation!Champions!were!a!team!
of!five!R&D!managers!who!committed!to!spend!30%!of!their!work!time!for!three!to!four!
weeks!to!work!on!maturing!the!TopS5!ideas.!The!Maturation!Champions!were!selected!
by!the!Screen!Team.!The!Screen!Team!and!the!Taskforce!could!invite!five!to!ten!people!
each!to!participate!in!the!idea!market.!The!invited!participants!were!selected!based!on!a!
recognized!ability! to!problemSsolve!and!generate! ideas!by! the! inviters.!Participants! in!
GB11! were! thus! ‘handpicked’! rather! than! randomly! selected.! Additionally,! R&D!
Management! (Senior!Directors,!Vice!Presidents!and! the!Executive!Vice!President)!was!
invited!to!participate!as!‘observers’!in!the!market.!The!Screen!Team!and!Taskforce!were!
also!participants,!which!resulted!in!a!total!of!145!invited!participants.!!!!!
!
3.3.1.2 Conceive Ideas
The! second! phase! involved! the! 17SdaysSlong! online! ideation! where! the! 145! invited!
participants!could!submit!an!unlimited!amount!of!ideas!and!comments.!The!idea!market!
was!commenced!with!an!online!meeting!where!NOSCO’s!consultant!briefed!participants!
on!the!practicalities!and!features!of!the!game.!All!participants!had!an!online!profile!with!
name!and!picture!(if!they!wished)!similar!to!a!Facebook!profile!where!they!could!see!a!
summary! of! recent! activity! on! the! site.! R&D! Management! had! the! option! to! be!
anonymous! in! the!market.! They!were! therefore! able! to! comment! on! and! trade! ideas!
anonymously.!Participants!were!encouraged!to!submit!ideas!by!writing!a!brief!summary!
and!attach!documents!and!links!to!support!their!idea.!There!were!three!predetermined!
categories!for!ideas!determined!by!the!Taskforce!and!Screen!Team.!The!ideas’!scope!was!
thus!delimited!to!fit!into!one!of!the!following!three!categories:!
!
1) Entirely% new% enzymeLusing% industries:% refers! to! ideas! that! involve! enzymes!
and!applications!in!industries%that!are!currently!not!using!enzymes.!This!category!
is!arguably!the!most!radical!because!of!the!difficulty!involved!with!penetrating!an!
! 39!
entirely!new!industry.!It!can!therefore!be!argued!that!this!category!is!the!farthest!
away!from!the!core!business!in!NZ.%
2) New%industrial%applications%for%existing%enzymes:%refers!to!ideas!that!involve!
new!applications!of! enzymes! that!NZ!currently!have!on! the! ‘shelf’! in! industries!
that! NZ! currently! supply! with! enzymes.! This! category! is! semiSradical! as! it! is!
arguably!more!difficult!to!develop!new!applications!than!new!enzymes!in!NZ.%
3) Industrial%applications%for%new%enzymes%/%new%enzyme%classes:%refers!to!the!
development! of! new! enzymes! /! enzyme! classes! for! existing! industries.! This!
category!is!arguably!the!least!radical!as!enzyme!discovery!is!the!expertise!of!NZ!
and!is!thus!the!closest!to!the!core!business.%
!
From! the! point! of! view! of! R&D! scientists,! the! three! categories! are! very! broad! and!
thereby!leave!room!for!a!wide!array!of!ideas.!An!additional!feature!of!the!market!was!to!
comment!on!the!submitted!ideas!to!support!the!idea!with!additional!information,!raise!
questions!to!the!idea!submitter,!and/or!show!appreciation!or!concerns!of!the!idea.!This!
feature! enabled! participants! to! build! on! each! other’s! ideas! and! concepts! with! their!
knowledge.!The!comments!were!visible!for!all!participants!and!it!was!possible!to!attach!
documents! and! links! in! the! comment! threads! as! well.! If! multiple! colleagues! had!
discussed!an!idea!that!they!wished!to!share!in!the!game!(whether!it!was!participants!or!
employees!not!participating!in!GB11),!it!was!possible!to!include!coSinventors!in!the!idea!
description.!A!third!distinct!feature!of!GB11!was!the!trading!of!ideas,!which!enabled!the!
crowd!of!participants!to!rank!ideas.!All!participants!were!allocated!100.000!$!of!fictive!
money.!They! could! then!buy! shares! in! their! favorite! ideas! (except! in! their!own! ideas)!
and! sell! the! shares! again! if! the! idea! in! which! they! had! bought! shares! became! less!
attractive!by!either!the!comments!or!because!other! ideas!became!more!attractive.!The!
trading! feature!was! open! during! the! entire! online! ideation! and! the! transactions!were!
made!between! the!participant! and! the! system,!hence!not!with!other!participants.!The!
value! of! the! invested! shares! increased! by! the! amount! of! shares! bought! by! other!
participant! in! the! same! ideas.! Likewise,! the! value! of! invested! shares! decreased!when!
participants!sold!their!shares!in!the!idea.!At!the!closing!of!the!market!on!November!9th!
2011,! the! ideas!where!ranked!by!the!value!of! their!shares!bought!by!participants.!The!
! 40!
value!of!the!ideas!where!based!on!the!value!of!the!shares!bought!and!not!on!the!amount!
of!investors.!!
!
3.3.1.3 Screen Ideas
The! third! phase! was! to! screen! ideas! in! order! to! identify! the! best! ideas! with! a! large!
growth!potential.!GB11!had!generated!222!ideas!submitted!by!the!participants.!The!first!
selection!process!was! to! identify!TopS25! ideas,!which!would!move!on! to!an!additional!
review!and!screening!by!the!Screen!Team.!The!pool!of!TopS25!ideas!consisted!of:!(i)!the!
10! ideas!with! the! highest!market! value! by! the! virtual! stock! trading;! and! (ii)! 15! ideas!
selected! as! ‘wildcards’! by! R&D! Management! immediately! after! closing! of! the! game.!
These! 25! ideas! where! then! reviewed! by! the! Screen! Team! and! scored! on! seven!
parameters!by!each!member!of! the!Screen!Team.!The!parameters!on!which!they!were!
scored!with!a!fiveSpoint!scale!(1!lowest,!5!highest)!were:!!
!
1) Technical%feasibility:!The!idea!had!a!strong!feasibility!rationale,!based!on!
proven!scientific/technical!facts!from!published!articles!or!inShouse!unpublished!
knowledge.!
2) Customer%Need:!The!idea!related!to!a!proved!customer!need.!
3) Resources:!NZ!had!the!necessary!resources!(i.e.!knowledge,!competencies!and!
assets)!or!could!source/acquire!them.!
4) Sales%potential:!The!idea!held!the!potential!of!DKK!500!million!turnover!in!the!
long!term.!
5) Competitive%advantage:!The!concept!gave!NZ!a!unique!competitive!advantage!over!competitor’s!enzyme!or!nonSenzyme!solutions.!
6) Gut%feel:!One’s!gut!feeling!says!“go!with!it”!OR!“this!will!never!fly!in!the!
organization”.!
7) XLfactor:!The!idea!was!something!really!surprising,!something!NZ!had!not!
realized!before.!
!
Once!the!members!of!the!Screen!Team!had!scored!the!TopS25!ideas,!the!ideas’!average!
scores!were!calculated!and!the!Screen!Team!held!a!twoShour!meeting!to!collectively!pick!
! 41!
the!TopS5!ideas!for!further!maturation!and!pitch!for!R&D!Management!eight!weeks!later.!
According! to! one! of! the!members! of! the! Screen! Team,! the! ranking! based! on! average!
scores!of!the!ideas!produced!the!day!before!the!meeting!was!almost!completely!turned!
around! during! the! discussion.! Hardly! any! parameter! seemed! predictive! to! the! final!
selection!of!Top!5!ideas!–!except!the!scoring!by!‘XSfactor’.!
!
3.3.1.4 Mature Ideas
The! next! phase! was! to! mature! the! TopS5! ideas! and! to! prepare! a! pitch! for! R&D!
Management! in! January! 2012.! Each! TopS5! idea! was! appointed! a! maturation! team!
consisting!of;!a!maturation!champion,!the!inventor(s)!of!the!idea;!two!or!three!selected!
experts!who!was!solicited!from!the!GB11!Taskforce!or!from!GB11!participants;!and!one!
coach!from!the!Screen!Team.!!
!
3.3.1.5 Pitch and feedback from R&D Management
The!next!phase!involved!pitching!the!TopS5!ideas!for!R&D!Management!in!January!2012.!
The! ideas! competed! on! becoming! one! of! the! new! large! growth! bets,! which! would!
consequently!receive!research!funding.!The!goal!was!to!identify!two!ideas!that!had!large!
growth!potential,!however,!the!jury!(R&D!Management)!crowned!only!one!winner!as!the!
other! ideas!proved!unfeasible! for! immediate! attention! in! regards! to! incubating! scarce!
resources.!The!winning!idea!has!consequently!received!research!funding!and!two!patent!
applications! have! been! filed.! Due! to! the! novelty! of! the! idea! and! the! pending! patents,!
specific!details!of!the!idea!cannot!be!provided.!!!
!
3.3.1.6 Reflection
The! final! phase! was! to! evaluate! the! GB11! pilot! project! to! decide! whether! this!
untraditional!idea!generation!tool!should!be!used!going!forward!as!support!in!the!idea!
generation!phase.!I!(in!collaboration!with!NOSCO)!conducted!an!evaluation!survey!of!the!
participants! in!GB11,!which!showed!predominantly!positive!attitudes!towards!the!tool!
(see!appendix!1).!!The!vast!majority!of!participants!would!like!to!participate!in!a!similar!
idea!market!in!the!future!and!thought!that!the!game!was!entertaining!and!easy!to!use.!
! 42!
There! were,! however,! suggestions! on! how! to! improve! the! tool! for! future! use.! The!
suggestions!included:!(i)!inviting!fewer!participants;!(ii)!having!a!narrower!scope!of!idea!
categories;! (iii)! eliminating! the! trading! function! due! to! ‘day! trading’! activity;! (iv)!
involving!marketing!and!business!development!colleagues;!(v)!and!securing!more!time!
for!participation!by!limiting!other!tasks.!A!critique!put!forth!by!a!participant!was!that!“In!
many!parts!of!R&D!we!have!very!scarce!resources!at!the!moment,!which!means!it!is!often!
difficult!to!deliver!on!the!lower!hanging!fruits!within!our!existing!business.!That!may!easily!
render! the! GB11! process! obsolete! as! it! will! not! be! the!most! obvious! place! to! spend! our!
resources”!(see!appendix!1).!This!assertion! is!arguably!supported!by!the! fact! that!R&D!
Management! initially! only! chose! one! idea! to! incubate! with! research! funding.!
Nevertheless,! the!winning! idea! is! promising! and! it! just!might! become!a! breakthrough!
innovation!that!will!boost!the!enzyme!business!in!NZ.!The!idea!market!thus!enabled!the!
development!of!an! idea!that!otherwise!may!not!have!been! identified.! In!an! interview3,!
the! inventor! of! the!winning! idea! explains! that! the! idea! had! been! articulated! in!more!
simple! terms! before! in! an! Ideation! where! it! did! not! attract! much! attention! from!
colleagues!or!managers.!The!inventor!did!thus!not!bother!to!upload!it!on!the!Idea!Web!
or!promote!it!to!the!RIC!community.!However,!GB11!offered!an!opportunity!to!articulate!
it!again!where!there!was!a!higher!chance!that!the!idea!would!receive!attention!and!could!
be! developed! in! a! sound! process.! Also,! the! fact! that! very! renowned! and! insightful!
colleagues!were!on!the!Screen!Team!and!had!ownership!of!the!process!was!encouraging.!
The! handpicked!participants! in!GB11! contributed! to! the! development! of! the! idea! and!
due! to! the! target! of! GB11! (large! growth! bets);! the! idea! was! presented! in! a! broader!
industry!context!rather!than!in!its!initial!narrow!version.!!
!
The!process!of!GB11!has!now!been!examined!and!discussed!in!terms!of!the!goals,!how!it!
was!organized,!and!how!GB11!was!perceived!by!participants.!To!get!an!overview!of!the!
many!features!involved!in!the!design,!the!Idea!Market!Framework!borrowed!from!Spears!
et!al.!(2009)!is!provided!in!Table!1!below:!!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!3!The!interview!is!not!included!in!appendices!due!to!confidentiality.!
! 43!
Table!1!S!Design!of!GB11!
Feature! Purpose!!Initial!seed!securities!
!The!market!was!seeded!with!500(+)! ‘old’! ideas!from!earlier!ideations!dated!as!far!back!as!the!early!1990s.!The! seeded! ideas! had! the! dual! purpose! of! being!securities! enabling! the! feature! of! trading! from! the!very!start!of! the!game!and! to! inspire!participants! to!generate!ideas.!!
Cash! Each! participant! was! allocated! 100.000! $! in! fictive!money! to!buy!virtual! shares.!The!participants! could!buy!and!sell!shares!unlimited!during!the!entire!game.!!!
Trading! All!participants!could!buy!and!sell!shares!in!all!ideas!–! except! in! their! own! ideas.! The! transactions! were!made! with! the! system! and! not! with! other!participants.!!
Scope The! scope! of! the! game! was! to! identify! at! least! two!new! ideas! that! had! substantial! growth! potential! to!boost! the!enzyme!business! in! the!R&D!organization.!There! were! three! predetermine! categories! for! the!ideas;! (1)! Entirely! new! enzymeFusing! industries;! (2)!New! industrial!applications! for!existing!enzymes;! and!(3)! Industrial! applications! for! new! enzymes/new!enzyme!classes.!!%
Ideas Participants! could! submit! an! unlimited! amount! of!ideas!during!the!entire!game.!The!ideas!could!include!a! headline,! a! summary! of! the! idea,! attachments! of!supportive!documentation,!and!URLs!(links).!!!
Comments The! participants! could! comment! on! all! ideas! in! an!unlimited! amount! during! the! entire! game.! The!comments! were! visible! to! all! participants! and!attachment! and! links! could! also! be! included! in! the!comments.!!!!
! 44!
Motivation!&!Prizes! The! motivation! for! participation! included! peer!recognition! and! acknowledgement! by! R&D!Management! as! the! tool! provided! an!opportunity! to!display! inventiveness.! Another! incentive! was! the!possibility!of!the!participant’s!idea!winning!the!game!and!thereby!receiving!research!funding.!Additionally,!there!were!prizes! in! form!of! toy! animals! for! the;! (i)!top! ranking! idea! in! game;! (ii)! the! best! online!commentator;!and!(iii)!the!best!trader!(highest!value!portfolio!of!virtual!shares).!!
!
The!description! above! of!GB11!has! provided! an! overview!of! the!process! and!detailed!
information! on! the! design! features! of! the! idea! market.! The! following! chapter! will!
present!the!methodological!approach!to!the!research!in!this!thesis.!!
! !
! 45!
!
!
“The world is not a solid continent of facts sprinkled by a few
lakes of uncertainties, but a vast ocean of uncertainties speckled
by a few islands of calibrated and stabilized forms.” – Bruno Latour,
2005
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Chapter 4 Methodology
! 46!
4. Methodology In! this! chapter,! I! present! the! methodological! considerations! for! the! research! in! this!
thesis.! The! philosophical! vantage! point! shall! first! be! discussed! in! light! of! social!
constructivism.!The!social!constructivist!perspective!adopted!in!this!thesis!has!led!to!an!
exploratory! and! explanatory! research! approach! and! an! abductive! research! design.!
Furthermore,! the! research! in! this! thesis! is! concerned! with! a! case! study! of! NZ’s! idea!
market,! which! has! led! to! an! inSdepth! investigation! of! multiple! sources! of! data.! The!
process! by! which! the! data! –! both! qualitative! and! quantitative! –! have! been! collected,!
explored,!and!analyzed!shall!be!explained! in!detail!below.!The!method!of!reasoning! in!
this! thesis! should!be! regarded!as! a!dialectic!process!where! the! theoretical! discussion,!
the!empirical! findings,!and!the!methodological!approach!all!play!an! important!role! for!
the!development!of!discussions!and!conclusions.!
4.1 Research Philosophy
The! social! constructivist! perspective! adopted! in! this! thesis! is! built! on! the! assumption!
that! reality! is! created! by! one’s! acknowledgement! of! it.! The! ontological! approach! is!
therefore! rooted! in! relativism! rather! than! realism.! Because! reality! is! created! through!
processes!of!social!exchange,!historically!situated,!social!constructivists!are!interested!in!
the! collective! generation! of!meaning! among! people! (Hu,! 1998;! in!Winner,! 1993).! It! is!
therefore!held!that!society!is!not!the!mere!sum!of!individuals.!Rather,!the!system!formed!
by! their! association! represents! a! specific! reality,! which! has! its! own! characteristics!
(Durkheim,!1895).!Winner!(1993)!suggests! that! to!explain!or!examine! technical! fields,!
we!need!to!look!closely!at!the!artifacts!and!varieties!of!technical!knowledge!and!at!the!
social!actors!whose!activities!affect!their!development.!This!notion!corresponds!with!the!
research!in!this!thesis!of!idea!markets!in!that!I!wish!to!examine!the!connectivity!of!social!
actors! and! its! implications! for! the! development! of! knowledge.! The! epistemological!
approach!–!how!knowledge!is!created!–!is!therefore!inspired!by!the!notion!that!there!are!
no! objective! bases! for! knowledge! because! it! is! always! a! human! construction.! The!
emphasis! in! this! thesis! is! thus!on! the!process!of!knowledge!construction!by! the!social!
group!and!the!subjectivity!established!through!the!interaction!of!the!group!(Hu,!1998;!in!
Winner,! 1993).! I! therefore! find! it! suitable! to! draw! on! Nonaka’s! (1994)! notion! of!
! 47!
knowledge! creation! through! social! communities! of! interaction.! Central! to! the! social!
constructivist! school! of! thought! is! that! language! is! a! prerequisite! for! knowledge!
creation.!Language!is!not!a!mere!tool!for!thinking,!but!rather,!language!and!its!concepts!
are!decisive!factors!for!what!we!are!able!to!think!(Fuglsang!&!Olsen,!2007).!!
!
From! this! social! constructivist! perspective,! it! should! be! recognized! that! the! empirical!
research! in! this! thesis! does! not! depict! reality! in! itself.! Rather,! the! reality! that! is!
presented!to!and!observed!by!me.!That!is!to!say,!the!conclusions!developed!are!formed!
by! my! transactional! and! situated! cognitive! perspective! and! does! not! represent! an!
objective!truth.!This!is!because!researchers!are!part!of!the!constructed!environment!and!
the! environment! is! in! turn! one! of! the! characteristics! that! constitute! the! researcher!
(Bredo,! 1994;! Gredler,! 1997).! Therefore,! if! the! environment! and! social! relationships!
among! group! members’! change,! the! tasks! of! each! individual! also! change! (ibid).! This!
notion!of!change!of!environment!is!pertinent!to!the!research!of!idea!markets!because!it!
is! held! that! the! environment! in! which! ideas! emerge! plays! a! decisive! role! for! their!
development.!When!ideas!emerge!through!social!interaction!of!individuals,!a!change!in!
the!environment!or!social!group!will!result!in!change!of!ideas.!It!is!therefore!argued!that!
the! conditions! for! social! interaction! play! a! critical! role! in! the! development! of! ideas.!
These!conditions!are!thus!examined!in!the!case!of!NZ’s!idea!market!with!the!purpose!of!
exploring!how!the!connectivity!of!diverse!inventors!can!effect!the!development!of!ideas.!!
4.2 Research Approach and Design
The!point!of!departure!in!this!thesis!has!been!to!investigate!a!case!of!NZ’s!idea!market.!
The! single! case! approach,! it! is! often! argued,! is! limited! by! the! lack! of! objectivity! and!
generalizability.! Durkheim! (1895)! however! emphasized! the! validity! of! a! single! case!
study!by!asserting!that!even!one!wellSmade!observation!will!be!enough!in!many!cases,!
just! as! one!wellSconstructed! experiment! often! suffices! for! the! establishment! of! a! law.!
Furthermore,! the! single! case! approach! enables!me! to! provide! an! inSdepth! analysis! of!
empirical!data!from!a!field!where!research!is!scarce.!The!research!approach!is!in!essence!
exploratory.!The!research!question!has!therefore!been!changed!throughout!the!process!
of!my!research.!Rather!than!describing!occurrences!of!events,!the!exploratory!approach!
! 48!
allows! for! a! cyclical! process! of! checking! and! rechecking! against! observations! made,!
which! in! turn! has! modified! the! hypotheses! (LevinSRozalis,! 2000).! The! hypotheses!
developed!through!the!research!process!of!both!theory!and!empirical!data!are!tested!in!
the!analysis!with!the!purpose!of!explaining!the!implications!of!inventor!diversity!for!the!
quality!of!ideas.!Hence,!this!thesis!has!a!dual!approach!to!research;!(i)!an!exploration!of!
theory!and!empirical!data;!and!(ii)!statistical!analyses!of!empirical!data!with!the!purpose!
of! explaining! the! association! of! variables.! The! dual! research! approach! enables!me! to!
shed!some!light!on!the!broader!understanding!of!the!situation!investigated!rather!than!
merely!explaining!the!association!of!the!variables!examined.!!
!
The!research!design!is!inspired!by!an!abductive!method!of!reasoning.!That!is!to!say,!the!
research!has!been!a! result!of! an! iterative!movement!of! theorizing!and!data! collection.!
Abduction! is! a! third! logic! of! scientific! enquiry,! in! addition! to! the! two! familiar! logical!
methods,! induction!and!deduction! (LevinSRozalis,!2000).!Abduction! is! referred! to!as!a!
process! of! drawing! conclusions! that! include! preferring! one! hypothesis! over! others!
which!can!explain!facts,!when!there!is!no!basis!in!previous!knowledge!that!could!justify!
this! preference! or! any! checking! after! the! hypothesis! was! subjected! to! a! trial! period!
(ibid.).!By!such!method,!I!have!encountered!a!situation!where!satisfactory!examinations!
are! not! yet! carried! out! to! support! the! hypothesis,! however,! I! prefer! it.! Therefore,! the!
standing! of! the! hypotheses! is! solely! held! in! the! laws! of! logic! (ibid.).! The! facts! in! this!
sense! should! be! regarded! as! the! objects! of! my! interpretation! and! the! process! that!
precedes! every! purposeful! action! that! takes! place! in! our! minds! (ibid.).! Therefore,!
abduction! is! inference! to! the! best! explanation! (Fox,! 1998).! For! quantitative! data!
analyses,!the!most!common!approach!is!deduction.!However,!I!argue!that!the!deductive!
approach!is!not!well!suited!for!my!research!inquiries!because!deductive!logic!fails!when!
dealing! with! new! phenomenon.! The! deductive! process! of! deriving! assumptions! is!
structured! in! a! way! that!makes! the! hypothesis! ‘the! thing! explained’! of! the! deductive!
statement.!Thus!there!is!nothing!novel!in!the!hypothesis!for!the!explainer!is!an!a!priori!
theoretical! assumption! (LevinSRozalis,! 2000).! Conclusions! drawn! in! an! abductive!
process!usually! show!a!new! idea,!whereas!deductive! conclusions! generally! stem! from!
their! predecessors,! continuing! them! forward! (Takeda! and! Nishida,! 1994).! In! short,!
“Deduction!is!a!process!of!checking!theories;!induction!is!a!process!of!checking!hypotheses;!
! 49!
and!abduction!is!a!method!for!their!discovery.”!(LevinSRozalis,!2000:422).!The!abductive!
design! of! my! research! thus! allow! me! to! prefer! the! hypotheses! developed! in! the!
Literature! Review! over! an! infinite! number! of! possible! hypotheses! to! be! tested.! The!
hypotheses! have! been! subjected! to! various! logical! tests! such! as! similarity,! symmetry,!
analogy,!and!authority!(ibid.).!The!stage!of!abduction!is!thus!found!when!the!hypotheses!
are!formulated,!chosen!and!explained.!!
!
4.3 Data Collection
The!process!of!collecting!data!has!been!extensive.!As!discussed!above,! the!exploratory!
nature! of! the! research! has! resulted! in! a! dialectic! process! by! which! data! has! been!
collected! from!multiple! sources! and,! through!ongoing! research,! been! revisited! to! gain!
new! insights.! The! research! for! this! thesis! was! instigated! by! participation! in! the!
organizing!of!GB11.!Data!has!been!collected!since!GB11’s!beginning!in!September!2011.!
The!longitudinal!study!of!the!market!has!enabled!both!qualitative!and!quantitative!data!
collections,!which!in!turn!has!contributed!to!an!inSdepth!understanding!of!the!research!
inquiry.! The! preliminary! methods! of! collecting! data! included! observation! of,!
participation! in,! and!multiple!methods! of! communication!with! people! involved! in! the!
market.!The!aim!was!to!get!an!idea!of!‘what!is!going!on!here’!as!a!researcher.!The!second!
step! in! the! data! collection! process! was! commenced! in! January! 2012! once! the! idea!
market!had!ended.!This!data!included!a!vast!amount!of!quantitative!data!from!multiple!
sources!such!as!NOSCO,!the!Screen!Team,!and!the!Human!Resource!department! in!NZ.!
The!third!step!of!the!data!collection!involved!visiting!and!revisiting!participants! in!the!
market,!organizers,!R&D!Management,!NOSCO,!and!external!sources!to!guide!my!further!
research.!Throughout!the!entire!research!process,!data!has!been!collected!internally!and!
externally! via! semiSstructured! interviews,! surveys,! eSmail! correspondence;! and!
meetings.! The! analyses! in! this! thesis! are! dominantly! concerned!with! the! quantitative!
data! collection;! albeit! it! is! held! that! without! the! qualitative! data! collection,! the!
development! of! hypotheses! and! the! subsequent! development! of! discussions! and!
conclusions! could!not!have!been! completed.!The! specific!data! collections!–!qualitative!
and!quantitative!–!will!be!presented!in!the!following!sections.!
!
! 50!
4.3.1 Qualitative data
The!qualitative!data!collection!is!predominantly!presented!in!Chapter!3!–!Company!and!
Case! Profile.! To! explain! the! process! of! the!market! and! the! considerations! behind! the!
rules! of! the! game,! various! qualitative! collections! were! applied.! This! included!
observation! of! the! market’s! process,! surveys! of! participants,! and! semiSstructured!
interviews!with! participants,! the! Screen! Team,! and! the! GB11! Taskforce.! Furthermore!
visiting!and!revising!eSmail!correspondence!and!taking!contact!to!relevant!people!within!
NZ! and!NOSCO! have! facilitated! an! inSdepth! understanding! of! GB11.! These! qualitative!
data!collections!have!besides!enabled!the!accounts!in!Chapter!3,!guided!the!research!of!
the!quantitative!data.!The!discussions!and!conclusions!in!this!thesis!are!thus!built!on!a!
method!of!triangulation!drawing!on!(i)!theory,!(ii)!qualitative!and!(iii)!quantitative!data.!
“Triangulation!refers!to!the!use!of!different!data!collection!techniques!within!one!study!in!
order! to! ensure! that! the! data! are! telling! you! what! you! think! they! are! telling! you.”!
(Saunders!et!al,!2007:139).!The!qualitative!data!collections!are! therefore! important! in!
the!methodological!considerations!albeit!the!quantitative!data!are!the!dominant!in!this!
thesis’!analyses.!!
!
4.3.2 Quantitative data
This! thesis’! analyses! draw! on! quantitative! data! collected! from! multiple! sources.! The!
primary!source!of!data!is!extractions!from!the!NOSCO!platform.!The!format!of!these!data!
extractions!was!Excel! spreadsheets!with! information!on;! (i)! ideas;! (ii)! comments;! (iii)!
transactions;!and!(iv)!participants.!(i)!The!information!available!on!ideas!included!time!
of! submission,! idea! submitter(s),! idea! title,! idea! category,! and! idea! price! based! on!
transactions.! (ii)! The! data! on! comments! included! time! of! submission,! the! comment!
content,!the!comment!submitter,!and!the!idea!title!associated!to!the!comment.!(iii)!The!
data! on! transactions! included! amount! of! shares! bought! or! sold,! price! of! shares,! the!
investor,! and! the! idea!associated! to! the! transaction.! (iv)!The!data!on!participants!was!
scarce! and! included! only! name,! and! time! of! first! and! last! login! to! the! system.! These!
spreadsheets! extracted! from! the! NOSCO! platform! represent! the! primary! data! source,!
however!due! to! the! scope! of! this! research,! additional! information! from!other! sources!
have!been!collected!and!implemented!in!the!spreadsheets.!!
!
! 51!
The!second!source!of!data!was!collected!from!the!human!resource!department!in!NZ.!A!
list!of!participants!was!sent!to!a!HR!employee!who!extracted!employee!information!from!
the! SAP! system.! The! available! data! included! gender,! age,! nationality,! seniority! in! NZ,!
department,!site,!and!rank.!These!variables!were!included!in!the!spreadsheets!and!thus!
associated!with! the! ideas,! comments,! and! transactions.!Furthermore,!data!on! the!R&D!
organization! in! terms! of! size! of! sites! and! distribution! of! gender! of! employees! was!
collected!from!the!HR!responsible!in!R&D.!!
!
The! third!source!of!data!was!collected! from!the!Screen!Team!who!had!ranked!TopS25!
ideas!after!the!market!had!ended.!It!was!thereby!possible!to!identify!the!TopS25!ideas!in!
the!spreadsheet.!!
!
These!multiple!collections!of!quantitative!data!enabled! the!analyses! in! this! thesis.!The!
statistical!measurements!of!data!involve!calculations!of!means!and!standard!deviations.!
Furthermore,!I!shall!present!contingency!tables!of!various!variables!to!test!for!statistical!
significance!using!Fisher’s! exact! tests,! Chi! Squared! tests,! and!WilcoxonSMannSWhitney!
tests.!The!specific!variables!examined!in!the!analysis!will!be!explained!in!the!following!
sections.!
4.3.2.1 Dependent variable
The! dependent! variable! in! most! of! the! analyses! is! based! on! categorical! data! of! the!
performance!of!ideas.!In!order!to!identify!ideas!with!high!quality!in!the!dataset,!ideas!are!
divided!into!two!categories!–!TopF25!and!NonFtopF25.!TopS25!ideas!are!those!identified!
as!highSquality!ideas!by!the!participants’!ranking!as!well!as!R&D!Management’s!pick!of!
wildcards!in!GB11.!These!25!ideas!are!thus!selected!to!undergo!further!evaluation!by!the!
Screen! Team! who! ranked! them! and! thereby! identified! TopS5! ideas.! The! NonStopS25!
ideas! are! therefore! the!deselected! ideas! that! did!not!meet! the! same! standards! of! high!
quality!as!TopS25!ideas.!The!indicator!in!the!statistical!analyses!is!therefore!TopS25!and!
NonStopS25!ideas.!The!mission!of!the!indicator,!as!described!by!De!Solla!Price!(1978),!is!
to! find! the! simplest! pattern! in! the! data! at! hand,! and! then! look! for! more! complex!
patterns,!which!modify!the!first!(in!van!Raan,!2004).!The!more!complex!patterns!in!the!
! 52!
dataset! are! thus! the! diversity! of! inventors! involved! in! developing! ideas.! The!
independent!variables!explained!in!the!following!section.!
4.3.2.2 Independent variables
The!independent!variables!are!based!on!the!diversity!of!participants!in!developing!ideas!
in!GB11.!As!I!have!hypothesized,!diversity!in!several!dimensions!has!a!positive!effect!on!
the! quality! of! ideas.! The! four! independent! variables! in! the! analyses! are:! (i)! Site;! (ii)!
Department;! (iii)!Rank;! and! (iv)!Seniority.! (i)!The!site!variable! refers! to! the!country! in!
which!the!participant!lives!and!works.!I!shall!use!this!variable!to!test!the!hypothesis!of!
geographical! diversity.! (ii)! The! department! variable! refers! to! the! organizational!
affiliation! of! the! participant.! The! departments! in! NZ! are! associated! with! a! fiveSdigit!
number,! which! has! enabled! me! to! distinguish! between! departments.! I! shall! use! this!
variable!to!test!the!hypothesis!of!functional!diversity.!(iii)!The!rank!variable!refers!to!the!
level!in!the!organizational!hierarchy.!As!there!are!numerous!different!job!titles!in!NZ,!the!
hierarchical! level! is!based!on! five!categories:!Executive!Vice!President;!Vice!President;!
Director;! Manager;! and! Professional.! The! first! is! the! highest! level! and! the! last! is! the!
lowest! level! in! the! hierarchy.! I! shall! use! this! variable! to! test! the! hypothesis! of!
hierarchical! diversity.! (iv)! The! last! variable! is! the! seniority! of! the! participants.! The!
seniority!is!based!on!number!of!years!employed!in!NZ.!Due!to!the!high!variance!of!the!
variable,!the!seniority!years!have!been!grouped!into!six!categories:!0S5;!6S10;!11S15;!16S
20;!21S25;! and!26+!years.!This!variable! thus!has! its! limitation!as!a!given!participant’s!
seniority!can!be!put! in!the!highest!end!of!a!category!and!then!associated!with!another!
participant!whose!seniority!is!put!in!the!lowest!end!of!the!category!above.!Thereby!the!
actual!distance!in!seniority!could!be!lower!than!two!participants!in!the!same!category.!In!
other!words,!two!employees!in!the!same!category!can!vary!between!one!and!five!years!
whereas!two!employees!in!two!adjacent!categories!can!very!between!one!and!ten!years.!
Albeit!this!limitation,!the!variable!is!believed!to!be!valid!in!most!cases!and!the!chance!of!
this! being! the! case! is! moderate! compared! to! the! large! variance! of! the! variable.! This!
variable!shall!be!used!to!test!the!hypothesis!of!tenure!diversity.!!
!
To! test! the! last! hypothesis! –! diversity! aggregated! across! multiple! dimensions! –! the!
independent!variables!are!converted! into!a!diversity!scale,!which!then! is!associated!to!
! 53!
the!ideas.!Each!diversity!variable!represents!one!point!on!the!diversity!scale.!The!ideas!
are! subsequently! scored! from! zero! to! four! points! –! zero! being! no! diversity! and! four!
being!maximum!diversity.!!
4.3.2.3 A two-fold examination of diversity
The!measure! of! diversity! of! people! involved! in! developing! ideas! is! twoSfold.! The! first!
measure!is!on!idea!inventors,!which!refer!to!the!participants!who!submitted!an!idea!and!
the! people! who! are! mentioned! as! coSinventors! in! the! idea! descriptions.! These! coS
inventors! are! either! participants! in! the! GB11! or! colleagues! who! were! not! invited!
participants! in! GB11.! The! second! measure! is! on! commentators! who! consequently!
contributed! to! the! development! of! ideas.! The! comments! associated! with! ideas! are!
therefore!also!measured!based!on!the!diversity!of!the!commentator!by!the!same!method!
as! the! inventors! of! ideas.! The! hypotheses! are! thereby! being! tested! twice! –! firstly! on!
inventors!and!secondly!on!commentators.!!
!
4.4 Limitations
The! single! case! approach! in! this! thesis! is! arguable! limited! in! terms! of! objectivity! and!
generalizability.! The! promotion! of! depth! over! scope! has! enabled! the! exploratory!
approach! to! the! case! examined.! As! discussed,! the! social! constructivist! perspective!
adopted! in! this! thesis!emphasizes! the!subjective!nature!of! the!research.! It! is! therefore!
not!pursued!to!identify!the!objective!truth!of!the!situation.!Rather,!the!situation!in!which!
I!as!researcher!participate!and!observe!is!explored!by!means!of!developing!and!testing!
hypotheses! that! are! based! on! my! subjective! logical! assumptions.! I! thereby! seek! to!
identify!the!best!explanation!rather!than!the!explanation.!The!case!explored!is!anchored!
in! the! R&D! organization! in! NZ,! which! as! a! consequence! limits! diversity! of! other!
functions! from! the! organization.! Functions! such! as! marketing,! communications,! and!
business!development!are!not!represented!among! the! idea!market!participants,!which!
would! have! increased! diversity! of! participants’! skills! and! competences.! However,! by!
only!involving!‘experts’!from!the!R&D!organization,!it!was!possible!to!remove!‘noise’!to!a!
greater!extent!than!had!it!been!for!the!entire!organization.!Time!is!also!a! limitation!to!
the!research.!As!explained,!the!dependent!variable!is!based!on!the!performance!of!ideas.!
! 54!
The!measure!of!quality!is!thereby!found!in!the!subjective!ranking!and!selection!of!TopS
25!and!NonStopS25! ideas,!why! I!am!not!able! to!determine! the! ‘actual’!quality!of! ideas.!
Had! time! not! been! a! constraint,! quality! could! have! been! better! measured! on! the!
monetary! returns! from! the! ideas’! commercial! implementation.! It! should! be! noted,!
however,! that! the! selection! of! TopS25! ideas! are! based! on! ‘expert’! opinion! from!
Management! and! scientists! from! the! worldSleading! company! within! the! enzyme!
industry.!The!selectors’!wisdom! is!therefore!considered!to!be!a!valid!indicator!of!which!
ideas!have!high!quality.!!
!
The! empirical! data! consists! of! both! qualitative! and! quantitative! data! however! the!
dominant!use!of!quantitative!data!in!the!analyses!has!its!implications.!The!quantitative!
data! is! used! to! simplify! the! answer! to! the! research!question.! The!Analysis! is! arguably!
limited!by!the!use!of!quantitative!data!in!that!it!fails!to!capture!the!complex!nature!of!the!
situation.! The! case! for! quantitative! data! analyses! is,! however,! that! it! reduces! the!
interpretative! and! subjective! elements! in! the! research! inquiry.! Through! the! use! of!
quantitative!data,!it!is!possible!to!support!my!assumptions!by!the!testing!of!hypotheses!
to!a!greater!extent!than!with!qualitative!data.!The!information!available!in!the!data!set!
has!inevitably!guided!the!research.!That!is!to!say,!the!limitations!of!data!have!resulted!in!
the!chosen!diversity!variables;!other!diversity!variables!could!have!been!examined!had!
different! data! been! available.! The! four! chosen! diversity! variables,! however,! are!
consistent!with!the!suggestions!from!theory!presented!in!the!Literature!Review!and!it!is!
therefore!held!that!they!are! important!diversity!dimensions! in!relation!to!the!scope!of!
this!thesis.!!
! !
! 55!
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“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds
that you plant” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Chapter 5 Analysis
! 56!
5. Analysis In! this!chapter,! I!present! the!results! from!a! twoSstep!analysis!of!GB11.!The!aim!of! the!
following! analyses! is! (i)! to! provide! an! overview! of! the! patterns! of! performance! and!
participation! (ii)! to! test! the! hypotheses! developed! in! the! Literature! Review.! The!
empirical!findings!presented!in!this!chapter!shall!be!further!discussed!in!the!subsequent!
chapter!with!the!aim!of!answering!the!research!question.!!
!
The!first!part!of!the!analysis!addresses!the!patterns!of!performance!and!participation!in!
GB11.! By! analyzing! the! output! from! the!market! i.e.! the! ideas,! the! comments,! and! the!
participants,!an!overview!of!the!data!will!be!provided!leading!to!the!second!part!of!the!
analysis.!!!
!
In!the!second!part!of!the!analysis,!I!shall!examine!the!implications!of!diversity!by!testing!
the!hypotheses.!As!explained!in!the!Methodology,!the!investigation!is!twoSfold.!Firstly,!I!
shall!test!the!hypotheses!on!the!idea!inventors!and!secondly,!I!shall!test!the!hypotheses!
on! the! commentators.! It! is! thereby! intended! to! provide! an! inSdepth! analysis! of! the!
implications!of!diversity!for!the!performance!of!ideas.!!
!
5.1 Analysis Part I: Patterns of Performance and Participation
The!description!of! the!process!and!design!of!GB11!previously!provided,! explained! the!
organizing!and! scope!of! the! idea!market.!This! section!will! investigate! the!quantitative!
output! from! GB11! by! examining! some! characteristics! of! ideas,! comments,! and!
participants.!Firstly,!I!shall!provide!descriptive!statistics!of!the!total!output!from!the!145!
participants!to!determine!the!activity!in!the!market.!Secondly,!the!222!generated!ideas!
will!be!examined!based!on! idea!categories!and! idea!depth.!Thirdly,! the!636!comments!
generated! in! the! market! have! been! categorized! in! order! to! determine! their! level! of!
improvement! to! ideas.! Lastly,! four! characteristics! of! participants! (gender,! site,! rank,!
seniority)!will!be!examined!by!looking!at!the!distribution!of!activity!(active!participants,!
inactive!participants,!all!participants).!Due!to!the!scope!of!this!thesis,!the!trading!activity!
will!not!be!investigated.!
!
! 57!
5.1.1 The Output From GB11
The!total!number!of!participants,! ideas,!and!comments! in! the!dataset!are!presented! in!
Table!2!below:!
!
Table!2!–!Participants,!ideas,!and!comments!in!the!dataset!!
! No.!Total!no.!of!participants! 145!Total!no.!of!active!participants! 109!Total!no.!of!ideas! 222!Total!no.!of!idea!submitters!! 69!Total!no.!of!comments! 636!Total!no.!of!comment!submitters! 82!!
As!shown!above,!a! total!of!145!people!participated! in!GB11!and!out!of! these!a! total!of!
109!people!(75%)!were!active!participants.!Active!participants!are!defined!here!as!those!
who!exerted!at!least!one!of!the!following!activities:!(i)!submitted!at!least!one!idea,!or!(ii)!
submitted! at! least! one! comment.! Contrarily,! inactive!participants! are! defined! as! those!
that!did!not!submit!any!ideas!or!comments!but!were!invited!to!participate!in!the!market.!
Considering!the!fact!that!participants!were!invited!rather!than!required!to!volunteer!or!
signSup! for!participation,! the! amount!of! active!participants! is! high.! It! should!be!noted!
that!participants!were!not!exempted!from!their!other!daily! tasks!during!the!market.!A!
total! of! 222! ideas! were! generated! during! the! 17SdaysSlong!market.! 69! principal! idea!
submitters4!submitted! the! 222! ideas.! A! total! of! 636! comments!were! submitted! by! 82!
unique!commentators.!The!average!output!of! ideas!and!comments!from!participants! is!
shown!in!Table!3!below:!
!
Table!3!–!Descriptive!statistics!of!output!from!participants!
! Active!participants! All!participants!! Mean! SD! Min! Max! Mean! SD! Min! Max!Ideas!per!participant! 2.03! 2.94! 0! 17! 1.53! 2.69! 0! 17!Comments!per!participant! 5.83! 8.74! 0! 59! 4.39! 7.98! 0! 59!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!4!Principal!idea!submitters!refer!to!those!who!uploaded!the!ideas,!however,!some!ideas!were!‘invented’!by!more!than!one!person.!These!ideas!will!be!examined!later!on!in!the!analysis.!
! 58!
Looking!at! ideas!per!active!participant,! the!average! is! roughly!2!with!a!minimum!of!0!
and!a!maximum!of!17.!This!is!arguably!a!rather!high!average!considering!the!relatively!
short!duration!of!the!market.!The!maximum!of!17!signifies!a!wide!distribution;!17!ideas!
are!equivalent!to!one!idea!each!day!of!the!game.!Looking!at!comments!per!participant,!
the! average! for! active! participants! is! nearly! 6,! which! are! three! times! as! many! as!
submitted!ideas.!The!distribution!is!ranging!from!0!to!59!indicating!that!one!participant!
submitted!59!comments;!equivalent!to!3.5!comments!each!day!of!the!game.!From!these!
numbers,! it! is! fair! to! conclude! that! the!quantitative!output! from!participants!was!at! a!
high!level.!To!strengthen!this!conclusion,!I!have!compared!GB11!with!General!Electric’s!
(GE)! idea!market! conducted! for! a! subdivision!of!GE's!Energy!Business! (description!of!
GE’s! idea!market! is! found!in!the!article!by!Spears!et!al.,!2009).!The!comparison!shows!
that!GB11!generated!a!much!higher!average!of! ideas!per!participant!than!GE’s!market.!
GE!invited!1,236!employees!out!of!which!only!186!(15%)!registered!for!participation!in!
the!threeSweekSlong!game!(ideas!were!only!accepted!the!first!two!weeks!of!the!game).!
The! scope!of!GE’s!market! involved! an! entire! subdivision!whereas! for!GB11! it!was! ‘by!
invitation!only’.!GE’s!market!generated!54!ideas!equivalent!to!an!average!of!0.3!ideas!per!
registered! participant.! GB11! generated! an! average! of! ideas! per! active! participant!
equivalent!to!6.6!times!as!many!as!GE’s!idea!market.!One!could!assume!that!by!actively!
registering!or!selfSselection!in!GE’s!market!would!motivate!the!registered!participants!to!
contribute! by! submitting! ideas.! In! fact,! one! could! assume! that! GE’s! participants!were!
generally! more! motivated! to! participate! than! GB11! participants,! as! they! had! to! take!
action!in!order!to!participate.!On!the!other!hand,!the!honor!and!feeling!of!exclusivity!by!
being!invited!in!GB11!may!have!had!a!motivating!factor!for!participants.!Nevertheless,!
the!difference!in!number!of!generated!ideas!is!remarkable!in!favor!of!GB11!participants.!
This! could! indicate! that! NZ! employees! are! more! willing! to! share! ideas! and/or! more!
capable!of!coming!up!with!ideas!than!GE!employees.!!
!
5.1.2 Idea Characteristics
To!determine!some!general!characteristics!of!the!222!submitted!ideas,!the!distribution!
of!categories!and!depth!of!ideas!will!be!presented!next.!!
!
! 59!
As!described!in!Chapter!3,!the!scope!of!ideas!involved!three!predetermined!categories:!
1) Entirely!new!enzymeSusing!industries!
2) New!industrial!applications!for!existing!enzymes!
3) Industrial!applications!for!new!enzymes!/!new!enzyme!classes!
!
These!categories!represent!an!escalation!of!radicalness:!the!first!being!the!most!radical!
category! and! the! last! being! the! least! radical! or! closest! to! core! business! ideas.! The!
distribution!of!the!three!categories!is!presented!in!Table!4!below:!
!
Table!4!–!Distribution!of!categories!of!ideas!
!TopS25! %!
NonSTop!25!
%!All!
Ideas!%!
1.!Entirely!new!enzymeSusing!industries!
7! 28%! 78! 40%! 85! 38%!
2.!New!industrial!applications!for!existing!enzymes! 5! 20%! 65! 33%! 70! 30%!
3.! Industrial! applications! for!new! enzymes! /! new! enzyme!classes!
13! 52%! 54! 27%! 67! 32%!
Total! 25! 100%! 197! 100%! 222! 100%!
!
A!Chi!Squared!test!shows!differences!between!TopS25!and!NonStopS25!to!be!significant!
at! the! 5%! level! (p! =! 0.0405).! The! difference! indicates! that! the! most! radical! ideas!
(category!1)!are!deselected!whereas!the!least!radical!ideas!(category!3)!are!selected!to!
be!among!TopS25!ideas.!Looking!at!TopS25!ideas,!52%!are!category!3!ideas!that!involve!
discovering!new!enzymes! to!existing!applications,!which!as!argued,! is! the!expertise!of!
NZ.!The!most!radical!ideas!(category!1)!represent!only!28%!even!though!the!majority!of!
all!ideas!(38%)!are!within!this!category.!The!reason!for!this!deSselection!of!radical!ideas!
might!be!a!matter!of!reluctance!towards!high!risks.!For!NZ,!it!is!more!straightforward!to!
introduce! new! enzymes! to! existing! industries,! than! to! create! enzymes! and! industrial!
applications! to! new! industries! because! the! core! competency! of! NZ! is! new! enzyme!
creation! rather! than! new! business! creation.! The! selection! of! ideas! in! this! case! may!
depend!on!the!view!that!financial!returns!from!radical!ideas!are!often!distant,!uncertain,!
and! negative;! whereas! for! incremental! ideas,! financial! returns! are! often! proximate,!
! 60!
predictable,! and! positive! (March,! 1991).! It! should! be! recognized,! however,! that! with!
higher!risks!comes!higher!returns.!Furthermore,!given!that!the!objective!of!GB11!was!to!
identify! large! growth! bets,! this! deSselection! may! mitigate! against! the! purpose! of! the!
market.!An!interesting!observation!is!that!the!winning!idea!was!categorized!in!the!most!
radical!category!(1).!One!could!therefore!argue!that!despite!the!general!deSselection!of!
radical!ideas,!the!most!feasible!of!those!was!still! identified!and,!what!is!more,!found!to!
be!the!best!growth!bet.!!
!
Next,! I! wish! to! investigate! the! ideas’! depth! based! on! three! parameters:! (i)! the! no.! of!
words! in! the! idea!descriptions;! (ii)! the!percentage!of! ideas!with!attachments;!and!(iii)!
the!percentage!of!ideas!with!URLs.!!This!will!allow!for!a!comparison!of!the!TopS25!and!
NonStopS25! ideas! to! see! if! there! is! a! significant! difference! in! the! depth! of! idea!
descriptions.! The! aim! is! to! determine! whether! lengthy! ideas! i.e.! more! thoroughly!
described! ideas!have!performed!better! than! less! thoroughly!described! ideas.! Firstly,! I!
have!calculated!the!number!of!words!in!the!222!ideas!and!found!the!mean!and!standard!
deviation.!Secondly,!I!have!counted!the!number!of!ideas!with!attachments!i.e.!supportive!
documentation!such!as!PowerPoint!slides,!internal!documents,!or!patents.!Lastly,!I!have!
counted!the!number!of!ideas!with!URLs!i.e.!links!to!websites!–!both!external!and!internal!
–!such!as!articles!or!project!descriptions.!The!results!can!be!seen!in!Table!5!below:!
!
Table!5!–!Depth!of!ideas!
! TopS25! ! NonStopS25! !
No.!of!words!in!idea!description! 195.3!(mean)! 129.3!(SD)! 190.5!(mean)! 127.5!(SD)!
Ideas!with!attachment(s)!Ideas!with!URL(s)!
!12%!(3)!20%!(5)!
!!11%!(22)!15%!(30)!
!!
Total! 100%!(25)! ! 100%!(197)! !
!
For!the!number!of!words! in! idea!descriptions,!a!WilcoxonSMannSWhitney!test!shows!a!
difference! between! TopS25! and! NonStopS25! to! be! significant! at! the! 5%! level! (p! =!
0.0445).!The!difference!is!not!great!however!still!significant!indicating!that!lengthy!ideas!
! 61!
have!a!higher!probability!to!be!selected!as!TopS25!ideas.!For!ideas!with!attachments,!a!
Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!no!significant!difference!between!TopS25!and!NonStopS25!(p!>!
.10).!This! indicates! that! ideas!with!attachments!do!not!have!a!higher!probability! to!be!
selected! as! TopS25! ideas.! For! the! ideas! with! URLs,! a! Fisher’s! exact! test! shows! no!
significant!difference!between!TopS25!and!NonStopS25!(p!>!.10).!This!also!indicates!that!
ideas!with!URLs!do!not!have!a!higher!probability!to!be!selected!as!TopS25!ideas.!!
!
5.1.3 Comment Characteristics
In!order!to!examine!some!characteristics!of!comments,!they!have!been!read!through!and!
categorized!from!A!to!H.!This!allows!me!to!distinguish!between!informative!comments!
and!nonSinformative!comments.!The!distribution!of!comments!in!the!8!categories!can!be!
seen!in!Table!6!below:!
!
Table!6!S!Comment!categorization!
Comment!categories! !Category! No.! %!Replies!from!the!inventor! ! ! !!
·!!!!!!Informative!reply!from!inventor! A! 137! 21.5%!·!!!!!!NonSinformative! B! 25! 3.9%!
Comments!from!others!than!inventor!! !
!!·!!!!!!Appreciation!without!improvements! C! 10! 1.6%!
Improvements! ! ! !!·!!!!!!With!referral!to!other!idea! D! 55! 8.6%!·!!!!!!Without!referral!to!other!idea! E! 328! 51.6%!
Bad!rejection!without!improvements! F! 14! 2.2%!Questions!! G! 41! 6.4%!Comment!from!Screen!Team! H! 26! 4.1%!Total! !! 636! 100%!
!
I! shall! first!explain! the!different!categories.!Category!A!comments!are!replies! from!the!
inventor!of! the! idea!that! include!new!information!to! the! idea.!These!comments!can!be!
answers!to!questions!posed!by!others!or!additional!information!to!the!idea!description.!
Category! B! comments! are! also! replies! from! the! inventor! of! the! idea;! however! these!
comments!do!not!add!any!new!information.!These!comments!can!be!simple!statements!
e.g.! ‘thank! you’.! Category! C! is! comments! from! other! participants! than! the! inventor,!
! 62!
which!show!appreciation!of!the!idea!but!do!not!bring!any!additional!information!to!the!
idea.! Category! D! comments! are! from! others! than! the! inventor! that! provide!
improvements! to! the! idea.!These!comments!also! include!a! referral! to!other! ideas.!The!
ideas! referred! to! can! both! be! ideas! submitted! in! the! market! or! ideas! from! previous!
ideations.!Category!E!comments!are!likewise!improvements!to!the!idea!from!others!than!
the! inventor! that! does! not! include! referrals! to! other! ideas.! Category! F! comments! are!
from!others! than! the! inventor! that! reject! the! feasibility! of! the! idea!without! providing!
additional!information.!These!comments!can!be!‘I!don’t!think!it!is!possible’!etc.!Category!
G! comments! are! questions! raised! to! the! idea! by! others! than! the! inventor.! Category!H!
comments! are! from! the! Screen! Team! submitted! after! the! market! had! ended.! These!
comments!provide!feedback!to!the!selected!TopS25!ideas.!!
!
If!we!look!at!the!comments!that!provide!improvements!to!the!ideas!(categories!A,!D,!E),!
it!shows!that!82%!of!the!636!comments!are!improvements!whereas!nonSimprovements!
(categories!B,!C,!F)!represent!only!8%!of!the!comments.!Category!G!S!questions!S!(6%)!
are! not! included! in! either! improvement! or! nonSimprovements! as! these! can! lead! to!
improvements!by!others!by!raising!questions,!however!they!do!not!offer!a!solution!per!
se.! Category! H! –! Screen! Team! –! (4%)! are! likewise! not! included! here! as! they! are!
submitted!after!the!market!had!ended.! It! is! impressive!that!82%!of!the!comments!add!
value! to! the! ideas.! This! arguably! reflects! the! fact! that! there! is! a!willingness! to! accept!
other’s! ideas! by! evaluating! them! and! providing! qualified! input! to! them.! I! believe! this!
result!reflects!that!the!R&D!organization!is!supportive!and!openSminded!as!participants!
work! diligently! with! ideas! coming! from! other! employees! in! the! organization.! The!
categorization! of! ideas! will! be! used! further! on! in! my! analysis! of! the! implications! of!
inventor!diversity!for!the!performance!of!ideas.!!!
!
5.1.4 Participant Characteristics
In!order!to!examine!some!characteristics!of!the!145!invited!participants,!data!has!been!
collected! from! the!Human!Resource! department! in!NZ.! The! following! tables! illustrate!
the! distribution! of:! gender,! site,! rank,! and! seniority! of! the! participants.! The! four!
parameters!will!be!examined!with!an!activity!variable!of!active!vs.!inactive!participants.!
Furthermore,!data!on!the!entire!R&D!organization!have!been!collected!with!the!purpose!
! 63!
of! comparing! the! invited! participants! with! the! general! R&D! organization.! Firstly,! the!
distribution!of!gender!is!shown!in!Table!7!below:!
!
Table!7!S!Distribution!of!gender!of!participants!
! No.!of!active!
%! No.!of!inactive!
%! All!part.!!
%! Total!R&D!!
%!
Male!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 82! 75.2%! 26! 72.2%! 108! 74.5%! 455! 44.0%!Female! 27! 24.8%! 10! 27.8%! 37! 25.5%! 569! 56.0%!Total! 109! 100%! 36! 100%! 145! 100%! 1.024! 100%!
!
The!table!illustrates!that!the!majority!of! invited!participants!were!male!(75%)!and!the!
minority! female! (25%).! The! difference! between! active! and! inactive! participants,!
however,!is!not!significant!(p!>!.10).!When!comparing!the!distribution!of!gender!with!the!
entire!R&D!organization,!the!difference!between!invited!participants!and!all!employees!
is!notable.!Out!of!the!total!of!1.024!R&D!employees,!44%!are!male!and!56%!are!female.!
A! Fisher’s! exact! test! shows! that! the! difference! between! the! distribution! of! gender! of!
invited!participants!and!the!general!R&D!organization!is!significant!at!the!0.1%!level!(p!
=!0.000).!The!strong!significance!indicates!that!there!was!a!clear!tendency!to!invite!male!
rather!than!female!participants!in!spite!of!the!fact!that!females!represent!the!majority!in!
R&D.! It! should! be! noted,! however,! that! information! about! the! job! classifications! and!
ranks!in!the!hierarchy!are!not!collected!on!the!entire!R&D!organization.!Discussing!the!
reasons! behind! the! favoring! of! male! employees! in! GB11! will! therefore! only! be!
speculations!and!shall!not!be!further!addressed.!!!
!
Secondly,! participants! are! distributed! over! six! sites! (the! country! in! which! they! are!
employed).! The! distribution! of! sites! of! participants! compared! with! the! entire! R&D!
organization!is!illustrated!in!Table!8!below:!
!
!
!
!
! 64!
Table!8!S!Distribution!of!sites!of!participants!I!
! Participants!! %! Total!R&D! %!Brazil! 2! 1.4%! 10! 1.0%!China! 12! 8.3%! 105! 11.0%!Denmark! 85! 58.6%! 537! 56.1%!India! 4! 2.8%! 57! 5.9%!Japan! 4! 2.8%! 31! 3.2%!USA! 38! 27.1%! 218! 22.8%!Total! 145! 100%! 9585! 100%!
!
As! shown! in! the! table,! the! distribution! of! participants! compared! with! the! total! R&D!
organization!is!fairly!equal!with!a!slight!underrepresentation!of!employees!from!China!
and! India!and!a! slight!overrepresentation!of!employees! from!DK!and! the!US.!The!vast!
majority! of! participants! and! R&D! employees! are! from! DK! and! the! US! (85%).! The!
distribution!of!sites!in!relation!to!active/inactive!participants!is!shown!in!Table!9!below:!
!
Table!9!S!Distribution!of!sites!of!participants!II!
! No.!of!active!
%! No.!of!inactive!
%! All!! %!
Brazil! 2! 100%! 0! 0%! 2! 100%!China! 9! 75%! 3! 25%! 12! 100%!Denmark! 55! 65%! 30! 35%! 85! 100%!India! 4! 100%! 0! 0%! 4! 100%!Japan! 4! 100%! 0! 0%! 4! 100%!USA! 35! 92%! 3! 8%! 38! 100%!Total! 109! ! 36! ! 145! !
!
The!table!shows!that!100%!of!participants!from!Brazil,!India,!and!Japan!were!active!in!
GB11.!75%!of!participants!from!China!were!active!and!92%!from!the!US.!Only!65%!from!
DK! were! active.! As! the! US! and! DK! represent! the! majority! of! participants,! I! find! it!
interesting! to! compare! the! difference! in! distribution! of! active! participants! from! these!
two! sites.! A! Fisher’s! exact! test! shows! that! the! difference! between! the! US! and! DK! is!
significant!at!the!1%!level!(p!=!0.002).!This!observation!could!reflect!the!fact!that!R&D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!5!The!remaining!employees! from!the!R&D!organization!are! from!other!sites!not!represented!among!the!participants!in!GB11.!
! 65!
management!and!NZ!headquarter!is!located!in!DK!(with!an!exception!of!one!member!of!
R&D!Mgmt.!in!China).!The!underrepresentation!of!active!participants!in!DK!compared!to!
the! US! could! be! because! Danish! employees! work! in! physical! proximity! to! R&D!
Management,! whereas! US! employees! more! rarely! interact! with! R&D! Management.!
Therefore!ambitious!US!participants!may!see!GB11!as!an!opportunity!to!get!exposed!to!
Management!and!demonstrate!their!value!to!the!company.!Furthermore,!a!small!portion!
of! the! Danish! inactive! participant! is! from! R&D! Management! as! they! were! invited! to!
participate!as!observers!rather!than!contributors.!!!
!
The!participants!are!distributed!across!five!ranks!(level!in!the!organizational!hierarchy).!
The! highest! rank! is! EVP! (Executive! Vice! President)! of! which! there! is! only! one,! the!
second!highest!rank! is!VP!(Vice!President)!of!which!there!are! five,! the! third!highest! is!
Director!of!which!there!are!18,!the!second!lowest!rank!is!Manager!of!which!there!are!65,!
and! finally! the! lowest! rank! is! Professional! of! which! there! are! 56.! The! distribution! of!
ranks!is!shown!in!Table!10!below:!!!
!
Table!10!–!Distribution!of!ranks!of!participants!
! No.!of!active!
%! No.!of!inactive!
%! All!! %!
EVP! 0! 0%! 1! 100%! 1! 100%!VP! 4! 80.0%! 1! 20.0%! 5! 100%!Director! 14! 77.8%! 4! 22.2%! 18! 100%!Manager! 45! 69.2%! 20! 30.8%! 65! 100%!Professional! 46! 82.1%! 10! 17.9%! 56! 100%!Total! 109! ! 36! ! 145! !
!
The!least!active!of!the!participants!is!at!the!EVP!rank,!which!is!logical!given!the!observer!
role!and!that! there! is!only!one!EVP.!The!VP!rank!participants!however!are!very!active!
(80%)!considering!their!observer!role.!This!–!together!with!the!high!score!of!Directors!
(78%)! –! indicate! a! high! involvement! from! R&D! Management.! The! least! active!
participants!are!at!the!manager!level!(69%)!and!the!most!active!are!at!the!professionals!
level!(82%).!A!hypothesis!to!explain!this!difference!could!be!that!at!the!high!end!of!the!
hierarchy,!the!VPs!and!Directors!are!involved!in!formulating!business!strategy!and!in!in!
! 66!
the! expansion! of! the! company.! They! are! therefore! arguably! very! informed! about! the!
challenges! and! opportunities! for! the! business.! At! the! lower! end! of! the! hierarchy,! the!
Professionals!are! typically!doing!bench!work! in! the! laboratory!creating!new!ideas!and!
technologies.!The!fact!that!they!are!very!active!in!the!market!could!reflect!that!they!see!
GB11!as!an!opportunity!to!get!exposed!to!R&D!Management.!The!middle!level!managers,!
however,! are!arguably! spending! less! time! in! the! laboratory!and!more! time!on!dealing!
with!administrative!and!HR!tasks,!thus,!less!time!for!idea!generation.!!
!
I!have!also!studied!the!distribution!of!participants!in!regards!to!their!seniority!(number!
of! years! employed! in! NZ).! ! The! actual! years! of! seniority! have! been! grouped! into! six!
intervals.!The!distribution!of!the!seniority!of!participants!is!shown!in!Table!11!below:!!
!
Table!11!–!Distribution!of!seniority!of!participants!
Years! No.!of!active!
%! No.!of!inactive!
%! All!! %!
0!to!5! 35! 77.8%! 10! 22.2%! 45! 100%!6!to!10! 24! 72.7%! 9! 27.3%! 33! 100%!11!to!15! 20! 74.1%! 7! 25.9%! 27! 100%!16!to!20! 13! 68.4%! 6! 31.6%! 19! 100%!21!to!25! 8! 100%! 0! 0%! 8! 100%!Above!25! 9! 69.2%! 4! 30.8%! 13! 100%!Total! 109! ! 36! ! 145! !
!
As! demonstrated,! there! are! a! quite! impressive! number! of! active! participants! from! all!
seniority!groups.!The!table!shows!that!participation! is!quite!equally!distributed!across!
all!seniority!levels.!It!can!therefore!be!argued!that!the!market!succeeded!in!motivating!
active!participation!from!both!newcomers!and!very!experienced!people.!
!
5.1.5 Conclusion to Analysis Part I
Part! I! of! the! analysis! has! provided! an! overview! of! the! patterns! of! performance! and!
participation.!Firstly,!descriptive!statistics!of!the!output!and!activity!of!participants!was!
presented.! It! was! shown! that! 75%! of! invited! participants! were! active! by! either!
! 67!
submitting! an! idea! and/or! comment.! The! average! numbers! of! ideas! and! comments!
submitted!by!participants!were!at!a!high!level!compared!to!GE’s!idea!market.!!
!
Secondly,! some! characteristics! of! the! 222! ideas! generated! in! GB11! were! found! by!
examining! idea! categories! and! idea! depth.! It! was! shown! that! there! is! a! significant!
difference!between!the!distribution!of!idea!categories!between!TopS25!and!NonStopS25!
ideas.!There!was!a!tendency!to!deselect!radical!ideas!in!favor!of!less!radical!ideas.!There!
was! also! found! a! small! but! significant! difference! between! number! of! words! in! idea!
descriptions! between! TopS25! and! NonStopS25! ideas.! The! selected! ideas! were! more!
thoroughly! described! i.e.! longer! on! average! than! the! deselected! ideas.! There! was,!
however,!found!no!significant!difference!between!ideas!with!attachments!or!URLs.!!
!
Thirdly,!the!comments!were!characterized!from!A!to!H.!The!categorization!revealed!that!
the!vast!majority!of!comments!were!valuable!to!the!ideas.!It!was!found!that!82%!of!the!
636!comments!added!some!additional! information!to! the! ideas.!Only!8%!of!comments!
were!found!to!add!no!additional!information!to!the!ideas.!
!
Lastly,! the! participants! were! characterized! based! on! the! distribution! in! gender,! site,!
rank,! and! seniority.! The! distribution! of! gender! showed! that! the! vast! majority! of!
participants! were! male.! Comparing! the! gender! of! participants! with! the! total! R&D!
organization! revealed! that! there! was! a! strong! tendency! to! invite! male! participants.!
Amongst! the!participants,!however,! there!was!no!significant!difference!between!males!
and!females!in!regards!to!their!activity!in!the!market.!The!distribution!of!participants!in!
regards! to! sites! revealed! that! US! participants!were! significantly!more! active! than! DK!
participants.! It! was! argued! that! this! result! reflects! the! fact! that! R&D!Management! is!
headquartered! in! DK,! which! means! that! US! participants! might! see! GB11! as! an!
opportunity!to!get!exposed!to!management.!Investigating!the!rank!of!active!participants!
suggested! that!middle!managers!might! be! underrepresented! compared! to! higher! and!
lower!levels!in!the!hierarchy!because!they!are!dedicated!to!more!administrative!and!HR!
tasks.! The! investigation! of! seniority! of! participants! revealed! that! employees! are! very!
active!across!all!seniorities!and!that!there!is!no!tendency!to!be!less!active!with!increased!
seniority.!!
! 68!
5.2 Analysis Part II: The Implications of Diversity
Having!provided!an!overview!of! the!patterns!of!performance!and!participation!allows!
for!an!inSdepth!investigation!of!the!diversity!of! idea!presenters!and!developers!and!its!
implications!on! the!performance!of! ideas.!The!hypotheses!developed! in! the!Literature!
Review!will!be!tested!on!two!levels.!In!the!first!section,!diversity!of!idea!inventors!shall!
be!measured.!In!the!second!section,!diversity!of!commentators!shall!be!measured.!In!the!
third! section,! diversity! aggregated! across! multiple! dimensions! shall! be! examined! on!
both!idea!inventors!and!commentators.!
!
5.2.1 Idea Inventors
As! previously! found,! the! 222! ideas! generated! in! the! market! were! submitted! by! 69!
principal! idea! submitters.! Some! of! the! ideas,! however,! were! ‘invented’! by! multiple!
inventors! i.e.! coSinventors,! which! were! included! in! the! idea! descriptions.! These! coS
inventors!include!both!other!participants!in!GB11!as!well!as!NZ!employees!not!invited!to!
participate! in! GB11.! The! coSinventors! who! were! nonSparticipants! in! GB11! could!
therefore!not!submit!ideas!or!comments!themselves.!I!have!collected!data!on!the!17!nonS
participating! coSinventors! in! order! to! examine! the! effects! of! diversity! of! multiple!
inventors!on!the!performance!on!ideas.!!
!
I! shall! first! investigate! if! there! is! a! significant! difference! between! the! performance! of!
ideas!with!a!single!inventor!and!ideas!with!multiple!inventors.!The!distribution!of!single!
vs.!multiple!inventors!of!ideas!is!shown!in!Figure!3!and!Table!12!below:!
!
! 69!
Figure!3:!Ideas!with!multiple!vs.!single!inventors!
!!
Table!12!–!Distribution!of!ideas!with!single!vs.!multiple!inventors!
! Single!inventor! Multiple!inventors! Total!NonStopS25! 88.8%!(175)! 11.2%!(22)! 100%!(197)!TopS25! 76%!(19)! 24%!(6)! 100%!(25)!Total! (194)! (28)! (222)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
weakly!significant!at! the!10%!level! (p!=!0.101).!The!significance! is! thus! just!above!the!
10%!level,!which!indicate!that!there!is!a!trend!that! ideas!with!multiple! inventors!have!
performed! slightly!better! than! ideas!with! a! single! inventor.! For! the!NonStopS25! ideas,!
11%! have! more! than! one! inventor.! For! the! TopS25! ideas,! 24%! have! more! than! one!
inventor.!A!total!of!28!ideas!(13%)!out!of!222!ideas!have!multiple!inventors6.!!
!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!6!See!appendix!2!for!the!distribution!of!no.!of!inventors!on!multiple!inventor!ideas.!
0%#
10%#
20%#
30%#
40%#
50%#
60%#
70%#
80%#
90%#
100%#
Non$top$25) Top$25)
Ideas)with)mul6ple)vs.)single)inventors)
Mul0ple#inventors#
Single#inventor#
! 70!
In!order!to!test!my!hypotheses,!I!will!examine!the!diversity!of!inventors!presenting!ideas!
in! GB11.! The! following! four! sections! thus! investigate! geographical,! functional,!
hierarchical,!and!tenure!diversity!of!inventors.!
!
5.2.1.1 Geographical diversity of inventors
The!first!hypotheses!is:!
!
H1:%Geographical!diversity!will! increase!the!quality!of! ideas!presented!and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
To! test! geographical! diversity! of! idea! presenters,! I! have! calculated! the! number! of!
different! sites! of! idea! inventors! for! each! of! the! 222! ideas.! The! ideas! with! a! single!
inventor! thus!have!only!one!site! represented.!The!distribution!of! ideas!with!same!site!
and!different!sites!is!shown!in!Table!13!below:!
!
Table!13!–!Diversity!of!inventors:!Site!
! Same!site! Different!sites! Total!NonStopS25! 99.5%!(196)! 0.5%!(1)! 100%!(197)!TopS25! 96.0%!(24)! 4.0!%!(1)! 100%!(25)!Total! 99.0%!(220)! 1.0%!(2)! 100%!(222)!
!
The! table! shows! that! only! two! ideas! have! inventors! from! different! sites.! The!
observations!are!thus!too!low!to!be!tested.!It!is!still!interesting!to!note!that!there!are!so!
few! ideas!originated! from!multiple!sites.!This!could! indicate! that!physical!proximity! is!
important!for!coSinventorship!of!ideas.!!
!
5.2.1.2 Functional diversity of inventors
The!second!hypothesis!is:!
!
H2:! ! Functional! diversity! will! increase! the! quality! of! ideas! presented! and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
! 71!
To!test!functional!diversity!of!idea!presenters,!I!have!calculated!the!number!of!different!
departments!of! idea! inventors! for!each!of! the!222! ideas.!The!departments!refer! to! the!
specific! functional!area! in!which!the!participant!operates.!Departments! in!NZ!are!each!
given!a! fiveSdigit!number,!which!enabled!me!to!distinguish!between!departments.!The!
distribution! of! ideas! with! inventor(s)! from! one! or! multiple! departments! is! shown! in!
Table!14!below:!
!
Table!14!–!Diversity!of!inventors:!Departments!
! 1!dept.! 2!depts.! 3!or!4!depts.! Total!NonStopS25! 90.4%!(178)! 8.1%!(16)! 1.5%!(3)! 100%!(197)!TopS25! 80.0%!(20)! 12.0%!(3)! 8.0%!(2)! 100%!(25)!Total! 89.2%!(198)! 8.5%!(19)! 2.3%!(5)! 100%!(222)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
significant! at! the! 10%! level! (p! =! 0.071).! This! reveals! that! TopS25! ideas! have! more!
inventors!from!different!departments!than!NonStopS25!ideas.!The!maximum!of!different!
departments! of! inventors! associated! to! an! idea! is! four.! For! TopS25! ideas,! 8%! have!
inventors! from!3!or!4!different!departments,!whereas! for!NonStopS25! ideas!only!1.5%!
have.!Similarly!for!TopS25!ideas,!20%!originates!from!2!or!more!departments!whereas!
for! NonStopS25! ideas! only! 9.6%! represents! 2! or! more! departments.! It! is! therefore!
demonstrated!that!if!multiple!departments!are!represented!in!the!inventor!team,!there!
is!a!statistical!significant!higher!probability!of!the!idea!being!amongst!the!selected!TopS
25.!H2%is%thereby%accepted.!!!
!
5.2.1.3 Hierarchical diversity of inventors
The!next!hypothesis!is:!
!
H3:! !Hierarchical!diversity!will! increase!the!quality!of! ideas!presented!and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
! 72!
To! test! hierarchical! diversity! of! idea! presenters,! I! have! calculated! the! number! of!
different!ranks!of!idea!inventors!for!each!of!the!222!ideas.!The!distribution!of!ideas!with!
inventor(s)!from!one!or!multiple!ranks!is!shown!in!Table!15!below:!
!
Table!15!–!Diversity!of!inventors:!Rank!
! 1!rank! 2!or!3!dif.!ranks! Total!NonStopS25! 92.4%!(182)! 7.6%!(15)! 100%!(197)!TopS25! 76.0%!(19)! 24.0%!(6)! 100%!(25)!Total! 90.5%!(201)! 9.5%!(21)! 100%!(222)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
significant! at! the! 5%! level! (p! =! 0.019).! This! reveals! that! TopS25! ideas! have! more!
inventors!from!different!ranks!than!NonStopS25!ideas.!The!maximum!of!different!ranks!
of!inventors!associated!to!an!idea!is!three.!For!TopS25!ideas,!24%!have!inventors!from!2!
or!3!different!ranks,!whereas!for!NonStopS25!ideas!only!7.6%!have.!It!is!therefore!clearly!
demonstrated! that! if! multiple! ranks! are! represented! in! the! inventor! team,! there! is! a!
statistical!significant!higher!probability!of!the!idea!being!amongst!the!selected!TopS25.!
Diversity! in! the! rank! dimension! reflects! that! an! idea! is! not! only! developed! at! e.g.! the!
technical!level!but!also!in!a!broader!context,!which!adds!to!the!value!of!the!idea.!H3% is%
thereby%accepted.!!!
!
5.2.1.4 Tenure diversity of inventors
The!next!hypothesis!is:!
!
H4:! ! Tenure! diversity! will! increase! the! quality! of! ideas! presented! and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
To! test! tenure! diversity! of! idea! presenters,! I! have! calculated! the! number! of! different!
seniority!levels!of!idea!inventors!for!each!of!the!222!ideas.!The!seniority!levels!refer!to!
the!number!of!years!hired!in!NZ.!The!distribution!of!ideas!with!inventor(s)!from!one!or!
multiple!seniority!levels!is!shown!in!Table!16!below:!
!
! 73!
Table!16!–!Diversity!of!inventors:!Seniority!
! 1!sen.! 2!dif.!sen! 3!or!4!dif.!sen.! Total!NonStopS25! 92.4%!(182)! 5.6%!(11)! 2%!(4)! 100%!(197)!TopS25! 80%!(20)! 12%!(3)! 8%!(2)! 100%!(25)!Total! 91.0%!(202)! 6.3%!(14)! 2.7%!(6)! 100%!(222)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
significant! at! the! 10%! level! (p! =! 0.052).! This! reveals! that! TopS25! ideas! have! more!
inventors! from! different! levels! of! seniority! than! NonStopS25! ideas.! The! maximum! of!
different!seniority!levels!of!inventors!associated!to!an!idea!is!four.!For!TopS25!ideas,!8%!
have!inventors!from!3!or!4!different!seniority!levels,!whereas!for!NonStopS25!ideas!only!
2%! have.! Similarly! for! TopS25! ideas,! 20%! originates! from! 2! or!more! seniority! levels!
whereas!NonStopS25! ideas!only! represents!2!or!more! levels! in!7.6%!of! the! cases.! It! is!
therefore!demonstrated!that!if!multiple!seniority!levels!are!represented!in!the!inventor!
team,! there! is! a! statistical! significant!higher!probability!of! the! idea!being!amongst! the!
selected!TopS25.!H4%is%thereby%accepted.!!!
!
5.2.1.5 Conclusion to diversity of inventors
The!above!tests!of!the!four!diversity!dimensions!have!shown!overall!positive!effects!of!
inventor! diversity! on! the! performance! of! ideas.! The! first! hypotheses! of! geographical!
diversity!could!not!be!tested,!as!observations!were!too!low!to!be!meaningful.!The!second!
hypothesis! of! functional! diversity! was! accepted! at! the! 10%! level! of! statistical!
significance.! The! level! of! significance! is! not! very! strong! however! still!meaningful! and!
revealed!that!more!diversity!in!departments!represented!in!the!inventor!team!resulted!
in!higher!likelihood!of!the!idea!being!amongst!the!selected!TopS25.!The!third!hypothesis!
of!hierarchical!diversity!was!accepted!at!the!5%!level!of!statistical!significance.!The!level!
of!significance!is!thus!stronger!than!with!functional!diversity.!This!revealed!that!if!more!
diversity!in!rank!is!represented!in!the!inventor!team,!there!is!a!higher!likelihood!of!the!
idea!being!amongst!the!selected!TopS25.!The!fourth!hypothesis!of!tenure!diversity!was!
accepted! at! the! 10%! level! of! statistical! significance.! This! also! revealed! that! more!
diversity!in!levels!of!seniority!represented!in!the!inventor!team!increases!the!likelihood!
of!the!idea!being!amongst!the!selected!TopS25.!
! 74!
In!the!following!section,!I!shall!test!the!same!four!hypotheses!on!the!idea!developers!i.e.!
commentators.!!
!
5.2.2 Commentators
The! commentators! in!GB11! contributed! to! the!development! of! ideas.! I! shall! therefore!
investigate! the! effect! of! comments! and! the! diversity! of! commentators! on! the!
performance! of! ideas.! The! comments! that! are! included! in! this! investigation! are! those!
categorized!C,!D,!E,!F,! !&!G!(see!Table!6).!These!comments!have!in!common!that!others!
than!the!inventor!have!submitted!them.!Albeit!not!all!comments!add!new!information!to!
the!ideas,!the!comment!submitters!show!their!interest!in!the!idea!and!bring!diversity!of!
perspectives! to! the! idea.! The! total! number! of! comments! examined! is! 448.! These! 448!
comments!are!submitted!to!147!unique!ideas!leaving!75!ideas!or!34%!of!ideas!without!
any! of! these! comment! categories.! To! see! the! distribution! of! ideas! without! vs.! with!
comments!see!Figure!4!and!Table!17!below:!
!
Figure!4:!Ideas!without!vs.!with!comments!
!!
0%#
10%#
20%#
30%#
40%#
50%#
60%#
70%#
80%#
90%#
100%#
Non$top$25) Top$25)
Ideas)without)vs.)with)comments)
Ideas#without#Comments#
Ideas#with#Comments#
! 75!
Table!17!–!Ideas!with!vs.!without!comments!
! With!comments! Without!comments! Total!NonStopS25! 63.0%!(124)! 37.0%!(73)! 100%!(197)!TopS25! 92.0%!(23)! 8.0%!(2)! 100%!(25)!Total! 66.2%!(147)! 33.8%!(75)! 100%!(222)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
strongly!significant!at!the!1%!level!(p!=!0.003).!For!TopS25!ideas,!92%!have!comments!
whereas!for!NonStopS25!only!63%!of!ideas!have!comments.!It!is!hereby!shown!that!ideas!
with!comments!have!performed!statistical!significantly!better! than! ideas!without.!This!
could!reflect!that!the!best!ideas!–!as!appreciated!broadly!in!the!organization!–!attracted!
comments!to!a!larger!extend!than!ideas!that!were!considered!poor!or!uninteresting.!
!
In!order!to!test!my!hypotheses,!I!will!examine!the!diversity!of!commentators!involved!in!
developing! ideas! in! GB11.! The! following! four! sections! thus! investigate! geographical,!
functional,!hierarchical,!and!tenure!diversity!of!commentators.!
!
5.2.2.1 Geographical diversity of commentators
The!first!hypothesis!tested!on!commentators!is:!
!
H1:%Geographical!diversity!will! increase!the!quality!of! ideas!presented!and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
To! test! geographical! diversity! of! idea! developers,! I! have! calculated! the! number! of!
different! sites! of! idea! commentators! for! each! of! the! 147! ideas! with! comments.! The!
distribution!of!ideas!with!commentators!from!same!or!different!sites!is!shown!in!table!
18!below:!
!
!
!
! 76!
Table!18!–!Diversity!of!commentators:!Site!
! 1!site! 2!dif.!sites! 3!or!4!dif.!sites! Total!NonStopS25! 57.3%!(71)! 32.3%!(40)! 10.5%!(13)! 100%!(124)!TopS25! 26.1%!(6)! 52.2%!(12)! 21.7%!(5)! 100%!(23)!Total! 52.4%!(77)! 35.4%!(52)! 12.2%!(18)! 100%!(147)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
significant! at! the! 5%! level! (p! =! 0.013).! This! reveals! that! TopS25! ideas! have! more!
commentators! from! different! sites! than! NonStopS25! ideas.! The!maximum! of! different!
sites! of! commentators! associated! to! an! idea! is! four.! For! TopS25! ideas,! 21.7%! have!
commentators! from! 3! or! 4! different! sites,! whereas! for! NonStopS25! ideas! only! 10.5%!
have.! It! is! therefore! demonstrated! that! if! multiple! sites! are! represented! in! the!
comments,!there!is!a!statistical!significant!higher!probability!of!the!idea!being!amongst!
the!selected!TopS25.!H1%is%thereby%accepted.!!!
!
5.2.2.2 Functional diversity of commentators
The!second!hypothesis!tested!on!commentators!is:!
!
H2:! ! Functional! diversity! will! increase! the! quality! of! ideas! presented! and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
To!test!functional!diversity!of!idea!developers,!I!have!calculated!the!number!of!different!
departments! of! idea! commentators! for! each! of! the! 147! ideas! with! comments.! The!
distribution! of! ideas! with! commentators! from! the! same! or! different! departments! is!
shown!in!table!19!below:!
!
Table!19!–!Diversity!of!commentators:!Departments!
! 1!or!2!dept.! 3!or!4!depts.! 5!or!more!depts.! Total!NonStopS25! 68.5%!(85)! 24.2%!(30)! 7.3%!(9)! 100%!(124)!TopS25! 39.1%!(9)! 8.7!(2)! 52.2%!(12)! 100%!(23)!Total! 63.9%!(94)! 21.8%!(32)! 14.3%!(21)! 100%!(147)!
!
! 77!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
strongly! significant! at! the!0.1%! level! (p!=!0.000).!This! reveals! that!TopS25! ideas!have!
more!commentators!from!different!departments!than!NonStopS25!ideas.!The!maximum!
of!different!departments!of!commentators!associated!to!an!idea!is!12.!For!TopS25!ideas,!
52.2%!have!commentators!from!5!or!more!different!departments,!whereas!for!NonStopS
25!ideas!only!7.3%!have.!It! is!therefore!demonstrated!that!if!multiple!departments!are!
represented! in! the!comments,! there! is!a!statistical!higher!probability!of! the! idea!being!
amongst!the!selected!TopS25.!H2%is%thereby%accepted.!!!
!
5.2.2.3 Hierarchical diversity of commentators
The!next!hypothesis!tested!on!commentators!is:!
!
H3:! !Hierarchical!diversity!will! increase!the!quality!of! ideas!presented!and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
To! test! hierarchical! diversity! of! idea! developers,! I! have! calculated! the! number! of!
different! ranks! of! idea! commentators! for! each! of! the! 147! ideas! with! comments.! The!
distribution!of!ideas!with!commentators!from!same!or!different!ranks!is!shown!in!Table!
20!below:!
!
Table!20!–!Diversity!of!commentators:!Rank!
! 1!rank! 2!ranks! 3!or!4!ranks! Total!NonStopS25! 51.6%!(64)! 34.7%!(43)! 13.7%!(17)! 100%!(124)!TopS25! 13.0%!(3)! 47.9%!(11)! 39.1%!(9)! 100%!(23)!Total! 45.6%!(67)! 36.7%!(54)! 17.7%!(26)! 100%!(147)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
strongly! significant! at! the!0.1%! level! (p!=!0.001).!This! reveals! that!TopS25! ideas!have!
more! commentators! from! different! ranks! than! NonStopS25! ideas.! The! maximum! of!
different!ranks!of!commentators!associated!to!an!idea!is!four.!For!TopS25!ideas,!39.1%!
have! commentators! from! 3! or! 4! different! ranks,! whereas! for! NonStopS25! ideas! only!
13.7%! have.! Similarly! for! TopS25! ideas,! 87%! have! comments! from! 2! or! more! ranks!
! 78!
whereas! for!NonStopS25! ideas!only!48%!have!commentators! from!2!or!more!different!
ranks.! It! is! therefore! demonstrated! that! if! multiple! ranks! are! represented! in! the!
comments,!there!is!a!statistical!significant!higher!probability!of!the!idea!being!amongst!
the!selected!TopS25.!H3%is%thereby%accepted.!!!
!
5.2.2.4 Tenure diversity of commentators
The!next!hypothesis!tested!on!commentators!is:!
!!
H4:! ! Tenure! diversity! will! increase! the! quality! of! ideas! presented! and!
developed!in!idea!markets!
!
To! test! tenure! diversity! of! idea! developers,! I! have! calculated! the! number! of! different!
seniority! levels! of! idea! commentators! for! each! of! the! 147! ideas! with! comments.! The!
distribution! of! ideas! with! commentators! from! same! or! different! seniority! levels! is!
shown!in!Table!21!below:!
!
Table!21!–!Diversity!of!commentators:!Seniority!
! 1!sen.! 2!sen.! 3!or!more!sen.! Total!NonStopS25! 41.9%!(52)! 37.1%!(46)! 21.0%!(26)! 100%!(124)!TopS25! 4.3%!(1)! 39.1%!(9)! 56.5%!(13)! 100%!(23)!Total! 36.1%!(53)! 37.4%!(55)! 26.5%!(39)! 100%!(147)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
strongly! significant! at! the!0.1%! level! (p!=!0.000).!This! reveals! that!TopS25! ideas!have!
more! commentators! from! different! seniority! levels! than! NonStopS25! ideas.! The!
maximum!of!different!seniority!levels!of!commentators!associated!to!an!idea!is!five.!For!
TopS25! ideas,! 56.5%! have! commentators! from! 3! or! more! different! seniority! levels,!
whereas! for! NonStopS25! ideas! only! 21%! have.! Similarly! for! TopS25! ideas,! 96%! have!
commentators! from! 2! or! more! levels! whereas! NonStopS25! ideas! only! have!
commentators!from!2!or!more!levels! in!58%!of!the!cases.!It! is!therefore!demonstrated!
that! if!multiple! seniority! levels! are! represented! in! the! comments,! there! is! a! statistical!
! 79!
significant! higher! probability! of! the! idea! being! amongst! the! selected! TopS25.! H4% is%
thereby%accepted.!!!
!
5.2.2.5 Conclusion to diversity of commentators
The!above!tests!of! the! four!diversity!dimensions!have!shown!strong!positive!effects!of!
commentator!diversity!on!the!performance!of!ideas.!The!first!hypothesis!of!geographical!
diversity!was!accepted!at!the!5%!level!of!statistical!significance.!This!revealed!that!more!
diversity!in!sites!represented!in!the!comments!resulted!in!a!higher!likelihood!of!the!idea!
being!amongst! the!selected!TopS25.!The!second!hypothesis!of! functional!diversity!was!
accepted! at! the! 0.1%! level! of! statistical! significance.! The! level! of! significance! is! very!
strong!and!thus!clearly!revealed!that!more!diversity!in!departments!represented!in!the!
comments!resulted!in!a!much!higher! likelihood!of!the! idea!being!amongst!the!selected!
TopS25.!The!third!hypothesis!of!hierarchical!diversity!was!accepted!at!the!0.1%!level!of!
statistical!significance.!The!level!of!significance!was!again!very!strong!and!revealed!that!
more!diversity!in!rank!represented!in!the!comments!resulted!in!much!higher!likelihood!
of!the!idea!being!amongst!the!selected!TopS25.!The!fourth!hypothesis!of!tenure!diversity!
was!accepted!at! the!0.1%! level!of! statistical! significance.!The! level!of! significance!was!
again!very!strong!and!revealed!that!more!diversity!in!seniority!levels!represented!in!the!
comments!resulted!in!a!much!higher! likelihood!of!the! idea!being!amongst!the!selected!
TopS25.!
!
In! the! following! section,! I! shall! test! the! fifth! and! final! hypothesis! developed! in! the!
Literature!Review.!!
!
5.2.3 Diversity Aggregated across Multiple Dimensions
In! this! final! section! of! the! Analysis,! I! shall! test! diversity! aggregated! across! multiple!
dimensions!on!both!idea!inventors!and!commentators.!The!final!hypothesis!that!shall!be!
tested!is!thus:!
!
H5:! ! Diversity! aggregated! across! multiple! dimensions! will! increase! the!
quality!of!ideas!presented!and!developed!in!idea!markets!
! 80!
The! four!dimensions! tested!above!of! geographical,! functional,!hierarchical,! and! tenure!
diversity!is!aggregated!into!a!diversity!scale.!Each!idea!is!thereby!scored!with!diversity!
points! ranging! from! zero! to! four! on! the! scale.! Ideas! with! zero! points! thus! have! no!
diversity! and! ideas! with! four! points! have! maximum! diversity! (diversity! in! all! four!
dimensions).!Each!of!the!four!diversity!dimensions!represents!one!point!on!the!diversity!
scale.! If! an! idea! has! diversity! in! site,! for! example,! the! idea! receives! one! point! and! so!
forth.!The!diversity!scale!is!divided!into!two!categories:! low!diversity!and!high!diversity!
as!seen!in!Figure!5!below:!
!
Figure!5:!Diversity!Scale!
!!
The!222!ideas!are!now!scored!on!the!diversity!scale!in!two!separate!measurements:!(i)!
idea!inventors!and!(ii)!commentators.!
!
5.2.3.1 Idea inventors
To! test! diversity! aggregated! across! multiple! dimensions! of! idea! presenters,! I! have!
calculated! the! diversity! scores! of! idea! inventors! for! each! of! the! 222! ideas.! The!
distribution! of! ideas! with! high! and! low! diversity! is! shown! in! Figure! 6! and! Table! 22!
below:!
!
! 81!
Figure!6:!Diversity!scores!of!idea!inventors!
!!
!
Table!22!–!Diversity!scores!of!idea!inventors!
! 0!to!1!points!(low)! 2!to!4!points!(high)! Total!NonStopS25! 91.9%!(181)! 8.1%!(16)! 100%!(197)!TopS25! 80.0%!(20)! 20.0%!(5)! 100%!(25)!Total! 90.5%!(201)! 9.5%!(21)! 100%!(222)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
significant!at!the!10%!level!(p!=!.067).!This!reveals!that!TopS25!ideas!have!scored!higher!
on!the!diversity!scale!than!NonStopS25!ideas.!For!TopS25!ideas,!20%!have!high!diversity,!
whereas! for!NonStopS25! ideas!only!8.1%!have.! It! is! therefore!demonstrated! that! ideas!
with! diversity! in! two! or! more! dimensions! in! the! inventor! team! have! a! statistical!
significant! higher! probability! to! be! amongst! the! selected! TopS25.! H5% is% thereby%
accepted.!!!
!
0%#
10%#
20%#
30%#
40%#
50%#
60%#
70%#
80%#
90%#
100%#
Non$top$25) Top$25)
Diversity)scores)of)inventors)
High#Diversity#
Low#Diversity#
! 82!
5.2.3.2 Commentators
To! test! diversity! aggregated! across! multiple! dimensions! of! idea! developers,! I! have!
calculated! the! diversity! scores! of! commentators! for! each! of! the! 222! ideas.! The!
distribution! of! ideas! with! high! and! low! diversity! is! shown! in! Figure! 8! and! Table! 23!
below:!
!
Figure!7:!Diversity!scores!of!commentators!
Table!23!–!Diversity!scores!of!commentators!
! 0!to!1!points!(low)! 2!to!4!points!(high)! Total!NonStopS25! 61.4%!(121)! 38.6%!(76)! 100%!(197)!TopS25! 12.0%!(3)! 88.0%!(22)! 100%!(25)!Total! 55.9%!(124)! 44.1%!(98)! 100%!(222)!
!
A!Fisher’s!exact!test!shows!that!the!difference!between!NonStopS25!and!TopS25!ideas!is!
strongly! significant! at! the!0.1%! level! (p!=!0.000).!This! reveals! that!TopS25! ideas!have!
scored!higher!on!the!diversity!scale!than!NonStopS25!ideas.!For!TopS25!ideas,!88%!have!
high! diversity,! whereas! for! NonStopS25! ideas! only! 38.6%! have.! It! is! therefore!
demonstrated!that!ideas!with!diversity!in!two!or!more!dimensions!in!comments!have!a!
0%#
10%#
20%#
30%#
40%#
50%#
60%#
70%#
80%#
90%#
100%#
Non$top$25) Top$25)
Diversity)scores)of)commentators)
High#diversity##
Low#diversity#
! 83!
statistical! significant! higher! probability! to! be! amongst! the! selected! TopS25.! H5% is%
thereby%accepted.!!!
!
5.2.4 Conclusion to Analysis Part II
In! Part! II! of! the! analysis,! I! have! examined! the! implications! of! diversity! on! the!
performance!of!Ideas.!The!first!section!dealt!with!the!implications!of!multiple!inventors!
involved!in!presenting!an!idea.!It!was!found!that!there!was!a!weak!significant!difference!
between! ideas! with! multiple! vs.! single! inventors! (p! =! 0.10).! Ideas! with! multiple!
inventors!generally!performed!better!than!ideas!with!a!single!inventor.!When!testing!the!
hypotheses! of! the! four! diversity! dimensions! of! inventors,! overall! positive! effects! of!
diversity!on!the!performance!of! ideas!was!demonstrated.!Albeit!geographical!diversity!
of! inventors! could! not! be! tested,! the! remaining! three! dimensions! (functional,!
hierarchical,! and! tenure)! of! idea! presenters! proved! to! increase! the! quality! of! ideas!
presented!in!the!idea!market.!H2,!H3,!and!H4!were!thereby!accepted.!!
!
In!the!second!section,!I!examined!the!implications!of!comments!on!the!performance!of!
ideas.!It!was!found!that!ideas!with!comments!performed!significantly!better!than!ideas!
without.!When!testing!the!hypotheses!of!the!four!diversity!dimensions!of!commentators,!
strong!positive!effects!of!diversity!on!the!performance!of!ideas!were!demonstrated.!All!
four! diversity! dimensions! of! idea! developers! proved! to! increase! the! quality! of! ideas!
presented!in!the!idea!market.!H1,!H2,!H3,!and!H4!were!thereby!accepted.!
!
In!the!third!section,!I!examined!the!implications!of!diversity!aggregated!across!multiple!
dimensions!on!the!performance!of! ideas.!By!developing!a!diversity!scale,! I!was!able!to!
score!ideas!based!on!diversity!points!(0S4)!and!thus!distinguish!between!ideas!with!high!
and! low!diversity!regarding!both! idea!presenters!and! idea!developers!respectively.!By!
testing! the! fifth! and! final! hypothesis,! positive! effects! of! aggregated! diversity! on! the!
performance! on! ideas! was! demonstrated.! For! the! idea! presenters! (inventors)! a!
significant!difference!between!TopS25!and!NonStopS25!ideas!was!found!at!the!10%!level.!
For!idea!developers!(commentators)!a!strong!significant!difference!between!TopS25!and!
NonStopS25!ideas!was!found!at!the!0.1%!level.!This!indicates!that!aggregated!diversity!of!
both!inventors!and!commentators!increases!the!quality!of!ideas.!In!general,!there!were!
! 84!
more! commentators! than! inventors! and! the! dataset! revealed! a! stronger! effect! of!
diversity!of!idea!developers!compared!to!idea!presenters.!The!conclusion!can!be!drawn!
that!aggregated!diversity!increases!the!quality!of!ideas!presented!and!developed!in!the!
idea!market.!H5!was!thereby!accepted!in!both!tests.!!
!
In!the!following!chapter,!I!shall!discuss!the!empirical!findings!presented!in!the!Analysis.!
In!order!to!derive!at!an!answer!to!the!research!question!in!this!thesis,!I!shall!draw!on!the!
quantitative!data,!the!qualitative!data,!and!the!review!of!literature.!!
! 85!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
“With time, all of science will come to be a continuum of
description and explanation of networks of principals and laws;
that is why you need training in not just one specialty but also
require breath in other fields related to and even distant from
your own initial choice.” – E.O. Wilson, 2012
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Chapter 6 Discussion
! 86!
6. Discussion This!thesis!set!out!to!research!the!concept!of!idea!markets.!–!A!concept!that!has!spun!out!
from! the! present! digital! revolution.! As! a! response! to! the! need! for! creativity! and!
innovation,! it! is! argued! that! idea!markets! can! support! organizations! in! the! challenges!
they! face! in! the! fuzzy! frontSend!of! the! innovation!process.!The!embryonic!stage!of! the!
research! enquiry! makes! it! difficult,! if! not! impossible,! to! predict! its! full! potential.! As!
stated!by!E.!O.!Wilson!(TED!Talk,!2012),!“So!swift!is!the!velocity!of!the!technical!scientific!
revolution,!so!startling!in!its!countless!twists!and!turns!that!no!one!can!predict!its!outcome,!
even!in!a!decade!from!the!present!moment.”!!!With!this!in!mind,!the!curiosity!imbedded!in!
the! study! has! led! to! an! exploration! rather! than! an! explanation! of! the! concept! under!
scrutiny.! The! discussions! and! conclusions! presented! in! this! thesis! will! therefore! not!
attempt!to!paint!a!generalizable!picture.!Rather,!they!will!attempt!to!shed!light!on!some!
of! the! dynamics! shaping! the! situation! examined! and! hereby! attempt! to! answer! the!
research! question! in! this! thesis:! Does! the! quality! of! ideas! emerging! from! online! idea!
markets! increase! with! the! diversity! of! inventors! involved! in! developing! the! ideas?! !The!
subsequent! sections! shall! draw!on! the! review!of! literature! and! the! empirical! findings!
with!the!aim!of!providing!holistic!arguments.!!
!
6.1 Igniting the Sparks in the Crowd
The! growing! complexity! and! ambiguity! of! the! business! environment! has! rendered!
organizational!adaptation!dependent!on!increased!transparency!resulting!in!porous!and!
fluid! organizational! boundaries.! The! increasing! openness! in! organizations! has!
necessitated! the! development! of! more! flexible! systems! and! tools! that! can! transfer!
knowledge! across! departments,! organizations,! and! national! borders.! The! case! for!
crowdsourcing!is!held!in!the!notion!of!the!wisdom!of!the!crowd.!As!argued,!it!refers!to!
the! discovery! that! the! aggregate! of! a! set! of! proposed! solutions! from! a! group! of!
individuals! performs! better! than! the!majority! of! individual! solutions! (Yi! et! al.,! 2012).!
Providing! an! environment! where! a! variety! of! solutions! can! connect! is! therefore!
paramount! for! the! development! of! innovation! in! organizations.! The! proliferation! of!
interconnectivity!and!interactivity!through!internetSbased!technologies!has!enabled!new!
forms!of!support!for!new!product!development!(Soukhoroukova,!et!al,!2011).!In!the!case!
! 87!
of!NZ,!the!experimentation!with!idea!markets!was!an!effort!of!innovating!the!way!they!
innovate.!The!traditional!tools!for!idea!generation!in!R&D!had!proven!obsolete!in!light!of!
the!vast!technological!advancements!for!online!knowledge!sharing.!Idea!markets!enable!
R&D! Management! to! tap! into! ideas! from! a! broader! and! more! diverse! group! of!
organizational! members.! Furthermore,! the! pursuit! of! large! growth! bets! to! boost! the!
enzyme! business! required! creative! and! outSofStheSbox! ideas! that! had! the! potential! to!
enhance!its!competitiveness.!By!implementing!the!idea!market!tool! for!such!ambitious!
targets,! R&D!Management!was! able! to!mobilize! and! connect! geographically! dispersed!
employees,! provide! a! channel! that! could! effectively! leverage! a! large! reservoir! of!
dormant! ideas,!and! increase! the!quality!of!go/kill!decisions.!A!strong! indication!of! the!
success!of!the!tool!is!that!NZ!has!scheduled!nine!other!idea!markets!to!be!held!in!2012!
alone.!
!
GB11! involved! bringing! together! a! crowd! of! organizational! members! from! various!
departments!and!sites.!The!crowd!of!participants!totaled!145!people!from!79!different!
departments!and!six!different!countries!on!three!different!continents.!Connecting!such!a!
widespread! crowd! for! idea! generation!purposes!was! arguably! only! feasible! through! a!
virtual!community!enabled!by!the!Internet.!Participation!in!GB11!was!dependent!on!the!
willingness! to! devote! extra! efforts,! as! there!was! no! time! allocated! in! the! participants!
regular!work! schedules.! Participation! therefore! relied! heavily! on! intrinsic!motivation.!
These!motivational! factors! include! receiving! valuable! feedback! on! ideas,! gaining! peer!
recognition,!being!able!to!display!inventiveness!for!R&D!Management,!and!experiencing!
the! joy! of! competitive! play.! Considering! the! rate! of! active! participants! (75%)! these!
factors! deemed! successful.! The! ‘by! invitation! only’! factor! in! GB11! arguably! facilitated!
activity!as!the!feeling!of!exclusivity!or!of!being!selected!denoted!recognition!by!peers!and!
superiors.! The! finding! of! the! distribution! of! active! participants! across! the! six! sites!
indicated! that! the! involvement! of! R&D! Management! played! an! important! role! in!
fostering!activity.!The!sites! in!which!members!from!R&D!Management!are!located!(DK!
and! China)! had! a! lower! rate! of! active! participants! than! the! sites! without.! The!
comparison!of!US!and!DK!participants!showed!a!significant!difference!between!the!rates!
of!active!participants.!As!argued,!the!need!for!recognition!by!R&D!Management!might!be!
smaller! for! participants! who! more! often! interact! with! them! enabled! by! the! physical!
! 88!
proximity!(DK).!Contrarily,!participants!who!less!often!interact!with!R&D!Management!
(US)!may! have! a! larger! desire! to! display! inventiveness! and! initiative! in! order! to! gain!
recognition.!!
!
Because! of! the! complexity! of! the! knowledge! involved! in! R&D,! it! can! be! difficult! to!
transfer!across!departments,!organizations,!and!long!distances.!As!argued!by!Bos!et!al.!
(2007:653),! “Scientists!generally!work!with!ideas!that!are!on!the!cutting!edge!of!what!is!
understood.! This! knowledge! often! requires! specialized! expertise,! is! difficult! to! represent,!
may!be!tacit,!and!changes!rapidly.”!With!this!in!mind,!one!could!argue!that!the!obstacles!
of!transferring!complex!knowledge!were!to!some!extent!circumvented!in!GB11!by!only!
inviting!‘experts’!with!specialized!knowledge!from!the!R&D!organization.!It!was!thereby!
possible!to!remove!‘noise’!in!the!market!from!potentially!less!informed!or!nonSscientific!
participants.!On!the!other!hand,!the!bias!of!selection!of! the!participants!and!restricting!
membership!to!only!include!R&D!employees!may!have!resulted!in!missed!opportunities.!
As!some!of!the!participants!claim,!it!could!have!been!beneficial!to!include!members!from!
marketing! as!many! of! the! ideas!were! technically! interesting! however! less! interesting!
from! the! customers’! point! of! view! (see! appendix! 1).! A! dilemma! is! thus! recognized!
concerning! the! selected! pool! of! participants.! On! the! one! hand,! by! solely! inviting!R&D!
employees!it!was!possible!to!reduce!noise!from!cognitive!distant!members!and!thereby!
optimize! the! development! of! complex! knowledge.! On! the! other! hand,! the! risk! of!
functional!fixedness!of!participants!may!have!rendered!the!development!of!radical!and!
customerSfocused!ideas!less!feasible.!However,!it!is!also!argued!that!the!potential!risk!of!
functional! fixedness! was! to! some! extent! circumvented! by! the! wide! distribution! of!
participants! from! all! levels! in! the! organizational! hierarchy.! That! is! to! say,! the!
connectivity!of!people!working!very!specialized!scientifically!and!people!working!more!
strategySfocused!and!with!management!contributed!to!the!development!of!more!holistic!
solutions.!!
!
Theory! suggests! that! the! connectivity! of! the! crowd! facilitates! the! amplification! and!
development!of!ideas.!As!argued!by!Nonaka!(1994:15)!“[…]!although!ideas!are!formed!in!
the!minds!of! individuals,! interaction!between! individuals! typically!plays!a! critical! role! in!
developing! these! ideas.! That! is! to! say,! ‘communities! of! interaction’! contribute! to! the!
! 89!
amplification!and!development!of!new!knowledge”.!Nonaka’s!theory!traditionally!calls!for!
qualitative! data! collections;! however! by! using! an! abductive! method! of! reasoning,! I!
hypothesize! –! based! on! logical! assumptions,! theory! and! the! empirical! findings! –! that!
idea!markets! facilitate! the!amplification!and!development!of! ideas.!Moreover,! through!
dynamic!processes!of!interaction!in!GB11!ideas!are!amplified!and!developed.!To!support!
this!argument,!I!found!that!participants!in!GB11!not!only!submit!ideas;!they!collectively!
develop!each!other’s!ideas!through!the!feature!of!commenting.!I!therefore!posit!that!the!
amount!of!comments!associated!with!ideas!is!an!expression!of!the!amount!of!interaction!
between! the! inventor(s)! and! the! crowd.! In! the! analysis! it!was! demonstrated! that! the!
ideas!with! comments! performed! better! than! ideas!without;! thus! supporting!Nonaka’s!
theory!of!amplified!and!developed!ideas!through!interaction.!Furthermore,!I!argue!that!
idea! markets! provide! a! channel! for! the! articulation! of! dormant! ideas! and! thereby!
transposing! them! to!undergo! evaluation! and! further!development.!An! example!of! this!
argument!was!found!in!the!case!of!the!winning!idea!in!GB11.!The!winning!idea!had!been!
articulated!before! in!NZ,!however! in!a!more!unpolished!and!embryonic!version.! It!had!
consequently!been!rejected.!By!submitting!the!idea!in!GB11,!the!idea!was!transformed!to!
fit! the!ambitious! targets!of! large!growth!bets!and!was!additionally!developed! through!
the!comments!from!other!participants.! It! is! therefore!also!argued!that!the! idea!market!
tool!can!increase!the!quality!of!go/kill!decisions!in!the!fuzzy!frontSend!of!the!innovation!
process.! This! is! facilitated! by! the! separation! of! idea! generation! and! idea! filtering!
activities.!First!of!all,! ideas!had! the!possibility! to!be!matured! for!up! to!17!days!before!
they! became! subject! to! the! screening! process.! During! those! days,! the! crowd! could!
develop!ideas!through!comments.!Secondly,!the!filtering!of!ideas!was,!to!a!certain!extent,!
based! on! the! evaluation! of! the! crowd.! Through! the! feature! of! buying! shares! in! ideas,!
ideas!were!ranked!based!on!the!wisdom!of!the!crowd.!Idea!markets!are!thus!argued!to!
enable!increased!quality!of!ideas!through!the!linking!of!a!wider!selection!of!perspectives!
at!an!earlier!stage!than!with!traditional!idea!generation!tools.!The!go/kill!decisions!are!
thereby!based!on!more!information!and!on!the!wisdom!of!the!crowd.!!
!
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6.2 New Combinations
This!thesis’!fundamental!argument!has!relied!on!the!notion!that!innovation!is!in!essence!
‘new!combinations’!(Schumpeter,!1939).!As!discussed,!innovation!is!about!making!new!
connections!and!combining!known!knowledge!in!new!ways!(Dodgson,!et!al.,!2006).!It!is!
therefore! emphasized! that! idea!markets! enable! the! development! of! new! connections!
and! new! combinations! by! providing! a! platform! for! interaction! of! a! larger! and! more!
diverse!crowd!than!traditional!idea!generation!tools.!Furthermore,!the!online!setSup!of!
idea! markets! facilitates! idea! exchange! both! in! real! time! and! asynchronously! which!
renders!it!possible!to!aggregate!disparate!flows!of!ideas!in!one!stream!(Brabham,!2008).!
The! pursuit! for! innovation,! as! argued! by! Flemming! and! Sorensen! (2004),! is! a!
recombinant! search.! Thus! emphasizing! the! need! to! combine! or! reconfigure! various!
technological! components! in! a! novel! manner.! It! is! therefore! argued! that! combining!
knowledge!from!diverse!people!or!fields!can!enhance!the!development!of!creative!ideas.!
An! argument! also! advocated! by! E.! O.!Wilson!who! state,! “With! time,! all! of! science!will!
come!to!be!a!continuum!of!description!and!explanation!of!networks!of!principals!and!laws;!
that! is!why! you! need! training! in! not! just! one! specialty! but! also! require! breath! in! other!
fields! related! to! and! even! distant! from! your! own! initial! choice.”! (TED! Talk,! 2012).!
Similarly,!Poetz!and!Prugl!(2010)!argue!that!the!development!of!highly!novel!solutions!is!
dependent! upon! the! capability! of! organizations! to! overcome! local! search! bias! and!
functional! fixedness.!They! suggest! that!organizations! should!draw!on!problem!solvers!
from! contextually! distant! but! analogous! fields! (i.e.! fields! linked! by! similar! problems).!
Idea!markets!offer!the!opportunity!for!participants!to!get!familiar!with!other!fields!than!
they!normally!work! in.!Moreover,! ideas! are!generated!and!developed! through!diverse!
skills! and! competences! by! means! of! computation.! It! was! therefore! argued! that! the!
quality! of! ideas! is! enhanced.! Furthermore,! in! idea!markets! submitting! ‘unpolished’! or!
‘wild’! ideas! are! legitimized! as! a! result! of! less! concern!with! social! acceptance! and! less!
social! interaction!between!participants.!A!demonstration!of! this! argument! is!provided!
by! the! examination! of! idea! categories.! The!majority! of! the! 222! generated! ideas!were!
‘radical’! in! the! sense! that! they! involved! entirely! new! enzymeSusing! industries.! It! can!
therefore!be!argued!that!these!radical!ideas!were!more!legitimately!submitted!in!GB11!
than! in! traditional! ideations.! The! trend! of! deSselecting! the! radical! ideas! (category! 1)!
reflects! perhaps! that! these! ideas! were! more! ‘unpolished’! and! ‘wild’.! However! as! the!
! 91!
winning! idea! belonged! to! this! category,! it! is! argued! that! even! ‘unpolished’! and! ‘wild’!
ideas! can!be!validated!and!matured! in!GB11.!Validating!ideas! is! the!process!of!finding!
out! the! robustness! of! ideas.! It! is! essential! to! create! a! strong! framework! for!
deciding!whether!NZ! should! continue! investing! in! a! given!idea.!Remember,! failing! fast!
rather!than!late!is!crucial!in!order!for!a!company!to!succeed!with!its!innovation!efforts.!!
!
6.3 The Strength of Diversity
In!order!to!answer!the!research!question:!Does!the!quality!of!ideas!emerging!from!online!
idea!markets! increase!with! the! diversity! of! inventors! involved! in! developing! the! ideas?! I!
developed!five!hypotheses!to!guide!my!research.!These!five!hypotheses!were!developed!
through!the!review!of!extant!theory,!which!suggested!that!increased!diversity!in!groups!
can! facilitate! better! decisionSmaking! and! problemSsolving! capability! (BassettSJones,!
2005).! I! set! out! to! measure! diversity! on! four! different! dimensions,! which! included!
geographical,!functional,!hierarchical,!and!tenure.!!
!!!!
Theory! suggests! that! geographical! diversity! in! groups! can! increase! the! range! of!
perspectives! and! alternatives! generated! (Milliken! &! Matins,! 1996).! Nationalities! of!
people! play! an! important! role! for! the! development! and! interpretation! of! knowledge!
because!of!mental!programming!as!a!consequence!for!past!experiences!with!the!nations’!
political! institutions! and! culture! (Hofstede,! 1983).! ! Hofstede! thus! argued! that! we!
become!mentally!programmed!when!we!share!experiences!with!other!members!of!our!
nation,!which!affects!the!way!we!interpret!new!experiences.!It!is!thereby!argued!that!the!
participants! in!GB11!are!mentally!programmed!by! their! experiences! in! the! country! in!
which! they! are! located.! Furthermore,! this! results! in!more! diverse! perspectives! in! the!
market,!which!in!turn!enhance!the!breadth!and!quality!of!ideas!generated.!It!should!also!
be!noted! that! the!need!and!preference! for!products! can!vary! from!country! to! country!
and!it!is!therefore!important!for!NZ!to!have!employees!working!in!proximity!with!their!
diverse!customers!in!order!to!meet!their!demands.!This!argument!might!be!even!more!
important!regarding!employees!who!are! in!direct!contact!to!customers!and!industries.!
These! external! contacts! are! highly! influenced! by! local! conditions! and! opportunities,!
which!mean!that!dispersing!employees!throughout!the!world!can!increase!the!likelihood!
! 92!
of! identifying! ideas! relevant! for! industries! in! their! local! environment! or! area! of!
expertise.!In!GB11,!geographical!diversity!was!less!represented!among!ideas!presenters!
than! among! idea! developers.! This! could! reflect! the! importance! of! being! in! physical!
proximity!when! coSinventing! ideas.! The! implications! of! geographical! diversity! for! the!
quality! of! ideas! was! examined! with! idea! developers! where! it! demonstrated! that! if!
multiple!sites!are!represented! in! the!comments,! there! is!a!statistical!significant!higher!
likelihood!(5%!level)!of! the! idea!being!amongst! the!selected!TopS25.!This! finding! thus!
supports!the!literature!and!the!hypothesis!of!the!strength!of!geographical!diversity.!
!
It!was!similarly! found!in!extant!theory!that! functional!diversity! in!groups!can!increase!
the! likelihood!of! generating!creative!and! innovative! solutions! to!problems! (Milliken!&!
Martins,!1996).!The!connectivity!of!diverse!fields!and!specializations!of!the!knowledgeS
based!dimension!was!thus!argued!to!enhance!the!quality!of!ideas.!It!is!therefore!argued!
that!the!difference!in!technological!knowShow!imbedded!in!the!different!departments!in!
NZ!adds!to!the!variety!of!perspectives.!The!connectivity!of!the!different!departments!in!
GB11! thereby! facilitates! a! recombinant! search! of! invention.! Functional! diversity! in!
regards!to!the!variety!of!departments!of!presenters!and!developers!represented!in!ideas!
was! demonstrated! to! have! positive! effects! on! the! performance! of! ideas.! For! idea!
presenters,! it!was! found! that! if!multiple!departments!are! represented! there! is! a!weak!
statistical! significant! higher! likelihood! (10%! level)! for! the! idea! being! amongst! the!
selected!TopS25.!It!should!be!noted!that!the!weak!level!of!significance!might!reflect!the!
relative!small!number!of!observations!in!this!category.!For!idea!developers,!it!was!found!
that! if! multiple! departments! are! represented! there! is! a! strong! statistical! significant!
higher! likelihood! (0.1%! level)! for! the! idea! being! amongst! the! selected! TopS25.! This!
finding! thus! supports! the! literature! and! the! hypothesis! of! the! strength! of! functional!
diversity.!
!
Theory!on!the!implications!of!hierarchical!diversity!was!found!to!be!scarce,!however,!it!
is!argued!that!given!the!differences!in!job!classifications!and!tasks,!hierarchical!diversity!
generates!a!wider!array!of!perspectives!and!more!critical!evaluation.!It!was!argued!that!
the!connectivity!of!highStechnological!knowledge! (represented! in! the! lower!end!of! the!
organizational! hierarchy)! and! knowledge! about! the! overall! business! strategy!
! 93!
(represented!in!the!higher!end!of!the!hierarchy)!facilitates!the!development!of!holistic!
ideas.! One! could! argue! that! the! higher! ranked! participants! in! GB11!may! be! in! closer!
contact! with! customers! and! therefore! be! able! to! recognize! the! demands! in! the!
industries;!however!they!may!be!less!informed!of!what!is!technically!feasible.!The!lower!
ranked! participants! (scientists)! can! thereby! contribute! with! their! highStechnological!
knowledge! thus! enabling! the! development! of! highSquality! ideas.! By! examining! the!
diversity!in!ranks!of!participants,!it!was!demonstrated!that!there!was!positive!effects!of!
hierarchical! diversity! on! the! performance! of! ideas.! ! For! idea! presenters,! it!was! found!
that! if!multiple!ranks!are!represented!there! is!a!statistical!significant!higher! likelihood!
(5%!level)!for!the!idea!being!amongst!the!selected!TopS25.!For!idea!developers,! it!was!
found! that! if! multiple! ranks! are! represented! there! is! a! strong! statistical! significant!
higher! likelihood! (0.1%! level)! for! the! idea! being! amongst! the! selected! TopS25.! This!
finding!thus!supports!the!hypothesis!of!the!strength!of!functional!diversity.!!
!
Theory! suggests! that! tenure! diversity! reduces! groupthink! and! increases! creativity!
(Milliken! &! Martins,! 1996).! Furthermore,! groups! of! members! who! have! entered! the!
organization!at!different!times!achieve!higher!performance!because!they!thereby!know!
different! people,! have! different! technical! skills,! and! different! perspectives! of! the!
organization’s!history!(Ancona!&!Caldwell,!1992).!An!additional!advantage!of!having!a!
diverse! group! in! terms! of! tenure! is! the! fact! that! the! more! senior! participants! might!
remember! older! ideas! that! in! principal!were! very! good! and! attractive! for! customers;!
however!the!technology!at!the!time!of!suggesting!the!ideas!were!not!developed!to!make!
it! feasible.! The! ideas! were! ‘ahead! of! their! time’! so! to! speak.! Tis! situation! might! be!
changed!at!a!later!point!in!time!when!new!technology!is!invented.!The!participants!with!
less!tenure!might!be!able!to!identify!technology!that!could!render!the!idea!feasible.!The!
most!famous!example!of!this!kind!is!Leonardo!da!Vinci’s!invention!of!the!helicopter.!–!A!
brilliant! idea! but! not! feasible! before! the! engine! was! invented! centuries! later.! By!
examining!the!diversity!in!seniority!(years!employed!in!NZ)!of!the!participants!in!GB11,!
it! was! demonstrated! that! there! was! positive! effects! of! tenure! diversity! on! the!
performance! of! ideas.! ! For! idea! presenters,! it! was! found! that! if! multiple! levels! of!
seniority!are!represented! there! is!a!weak!statistical!significant!higher! likelihood!(10%!
level)! for! the! idea! to! be! selected! as! TopS25.! For! idea! developers,! it!was! found! that! if!
! 94!
multiple!levels!of!seniority!are!represented!there!is!a!strong!statistical!significant!higher!
likelihood!(0.1%!level)!for!the!idea!to!be!selected!as!TopS25.!This!finding!thus!supports!
the!literature!and!the!hypothesis!of!the!strength!of!tenure!diversity.!
!
By!aggregating!the!four!diversity!dimensions,!a!diversity!scale!was!developed.!The!aim!
was!to!arrive!at!a!conclusion!to!whether!diversity!can!be!a!catalyst!for!creativity!and!the!
generation!of!highSquality!ideas!(West!&!Anderson,!1996;!BassetSJones,!2005).!The!ideas!
were! thus! categorized! based! on! their! diversity! scores! and! ideas! with! low! and! high!
diversity!was!identified!for!both!idea!presenters!and!developers.!For!idea!presenters,!it!
was!demonstrated!that!ideas!with!diversity!in!two!or!more!dimensions!(high!diversity)!
have! a! statistical! significant! higher! likelihood! (10%! level)! to! be! amongst! the! selected!
TopS25.!The!significance!is!thus!not!strong,!however,!this!could!reflect!the!fact!that!only!
few! observations!were!made! of! ideas!with! coSinventors.! ! For! idea! developers,! it! was!
demonstrated!that!ideas!with!diversity!in!two!or!more!dimensions!(high!diversity)!have!
a!strong!statistical!significant!higher!likelihood!(0.1%!level)!to!be!amongst!the!selected!
TopS25.!The!observations!in!this!case!were!plentiful!thus!adding!to!the!robustness!of!the!
conclusion.!By!accepting!all!of!the!five!hypotheses!in!this!thesis,!it!can!be!concluded!that!
my! empirical! findings! support! extant! theory! of! diversity! being! a! catalyst! for! the!
development!of!creative!and!highSquality!solutions.!!
!
As!discussed!in!the!Methodology,!quality!of!ideas!in!the!case!examined!was!identified!by!
the! ranking! of! TopS25! ideas! based! on! the! wisdom! of! the! crowd! and! on! R&D!
Management’s!pick!of!wildcards.!It!is!therefore!important!to!note!that!quality!measured!
in!the!tests!of!the!hypotheses!is!based!on!a!subjective!evaluation!from!‘experts’!in!GB11.!
It!was!not!feasible!to!measure!quality!of!ideas!based!on!their!actual!commercial!success!
or!implementation!due!to!the!embryonic!stage!of!the!ideas.!The!evaluation!of!quality!of!
ideas! is! however! considered! a! valid! indicator! of! quality! due! to! the! expertise! and!
experience!of!the!evaluators.!!!
!
In!order!to!fill!the!research!gap!identified!in!the!literature!review!and!finally!provide!a!
concluding!answer!to!the!research!question,!I!argue!that!in!the!case!of!idea!markets,!the!
relationship! between! increased! diversity! and! increased! quality! of! ideas! is! upward!
! 95!
sloping.! Thus! rejecting! the! argument! by! Nooteboom! et! al.! (2007)! of! an! inverted! US
shaped! relationship.! I! acknowledge! the! study! and! notion! on! an! inverted! uSshaped!
relationship!by!Nooteboom!et!al.!when!concerned!with! firmSsize!groups.!However,! the!
observations! in! GB11! involve! smaller! groups! of! interacting! members! wherefore! it! is!
argued!that!the!descending!part!of!the!inverted!USshape!cannot!be!measured.!The!sizes!
of! the!groups!examined! in! this! thesis!were! for! the! idea!presenters!1! to!4!and! for! idea!
developers! 1! to! 20.! Furthermore,! the! descending! part! of! Nooteboom! et! al.’s! study! is!
concerned! with! a! cognitive! distance! so! great! that! it! precludes! sufficient! mutual!
understanding! in!groups!(ibid.).! I! therefore!argue! that! in! the!case!of! idea!markets,! the!
potential!negative!effects!from!a!loss!of!mutual!understanding!do!not!devalue!the!quality!
of!ideas.!This!is!because!diversity!of!perspectives!generated!in!comments!adds!value!to!
ideas! by! providing! new! information.! If! the! new! information! added! to! an! idea! is! nonS
informative!or!out!of!context!it!can!simply!be!discarded!thus!not!resulting!in!devalue!of!
the! quality! of! the! idea.! To! conclude,! the! empirical! findings! support! the! notion! of! the!
quality! of! ideas! emerging! from! idea!markets! increase!with! the! diversity! of! inventors!
involved! in! developing! the! ideas.! The! research! question! is! thus! answered! and! it! is!
thereby! held! that! the! strength! of! diversity! can! be! found! in! ideas! emerging! from! idea!
markets.!
! !
! 96!
!
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!
!
!
!
!
!
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect
them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will
somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something -
your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never
let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
– Steve Jobs, 2005
!
!
!
!
!
!
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!
Chapter 7 Connecting the Dots
! 97!
7. Connecting the Dots
7.1 Conclusion
This!thesis!has!attempted!to!‘connect!some!of!the!dots’!in!idea!markets!by!examining!the!
case! of! NZ’s! GB11! and! its! abilities! to! support! the! idea! generation! phase! in! the! fuzzy!
frontSend!of! the! innovation!process.!The! interest! in! idea!markets!was!obtained!by! the!
recognition! that! the! strength! of! today! is! diversity! and! that! the! development! of!
innovation!pertinently! relies! on! the! connectivity! of! people! and!disciplines.! The!online!
setting! of! the! idea! market! tool! enables! people! who! nonShabitually! work! together! –!
separated! by! geographical! or! departmental! boundaries! –! to! interact! in! virtual!
communities.! I! therefore! set! out! to! investigate! the! implications! of! diversity! for! the!
development!of!ideas!in!idea!markets.!The!exploration!of!the!case!rendered!interesting!
findings! that! are! believed! to! both! contribute! to! existing! theory! and! assist! NZ! in! the!
pursuit!of!novel!and!creative!ideas.!!
!
By!examining!the!quantitative!output!from!GB11,!it!was!demonstrated!that!75%!of!the!
145!invited!participants!were!active!in!the!market.!Furthermore,!the!active!participants!
submitted! an! average! of! roughly! two! ideas! and! six! comments.! When! comparing! the!
number! of! ideas! generated! in! GB11! with! GE’s! idea! market,! it! was! found! that! GB11!
participants!submitted!an!average!of!6.6!times!as!many!ideas!as!GE’s!participants.!This!
could!reflect!a!higher!willingness!and/or!ability!to!share!and!develop!ideas!in!NZ!than!in!
GE.!When!examining!the!comments!submitted!in!GB11,!it!was!found!that!82%!of!the!636!
comments!were!value!adding!or!improvements!to!the!ideas.!It!has!been!argued!that!one!
of!the!potential!benefits!of!idea!markets!is!the!separation!of!idea!generating!and!filtering!
activities!in!the!idea!generation!phase.!This!separation!makes!room!for!maturation!and!
development! of! ‘unpolished’! and! ‘wild’! ideas! before! they! are! subject! to! a! screening!
process.! Furthermore,! it! has! been! argued! that! idea! markets! can! improve! the! go/kill!
decisions!in!the!screening!phase!because!of!the!diversity!of!perspectives!aggregated!in!
the!comments!as!well!as!the!ranking!of!ideas!based!on!the!wisdom!of!the!crowd.!!
!
The! investigation! of! the! effects! of! diversity! on! the! performance! of! ideas! involved!
measuring!four!diversity!dimensions:!geographical,!functional,!hierarchical,!and!tenure.!
! 98!
It!was!argued!that!the!relationship!between!increased!diversity!and!increased!quality!of!
ideas!is!upward!sloping!rather!than!inverted!USshaped.!This!is!because!the!diversity!of!
perspectives!generated!in!comments!adds!value!to!ideas!by!providing!new!information.!
When!information!is!nonSinformative!or!out!of!context,!it!can!simply!be!discarded!thus!
not! resulting! in! devalue! of! the! quality! of! ideas.! By! testing! five! hypotheses! on! idea!
presenters! (inventors)!and! idea!developers!(commentators),! it!was!demonstrated! that!
increased! diversity! results! in! a! statistical! significant! higher! probability! of! ideas! being!
amongst!the!selected!TopS25.!The!analysis!that!I!have!conducted!of!GB11!thus!supports!
the!notion!that!the!quality!of!ideas!emerging!from!online!idea!markets!increase!with!the!
diversity!of!inventors!involved!in!developing!the!ideas.!!
!
7.2 Further Perspectives
The!findings!from!GB11!have!facilitated!interesting!discussions!and!conclusions.! It!has!
not! been! feasible,! however,! to! examine! all! corners! of! the! concept.! It! is! therefore! held!
that!there!are!various!other! interesting!findings!yet!to!be!discovered!in!relation!to!the!
idea!market!tool.!!
!
In!order!to!make!the!findings!in!this!thesis!more!generalizable,!similar!research!must!be!
conducted!in!other!idea!markets!and!in!other!companies.!As!the!idea!market!examined!
in! this! thesis! was! a! pilot! project! in! NZ,! forthcoming! idea! markets! might! call! for!
alterations!and!improvements!in!order!to!reach!an!optimal!outcome.!Such!alternations!
could! include! involving! employees! from! other! departments! such! as! marketing! or!
business!development!in!order!to!leverage!more!customerSfocused!ideas.!This!was!also!
suggested! by! GB11! participants! in! the! surveys! as! it! was! recognized! that! many! ideas!
were!technically!interesting;!however!less!interesting!from!the!customers’!point!of!view.!
Expanding!the!tool!even!further!could!involve!a!closer!collaboration!with!customers!by!
inviting! them! to! participate! in! idea!markets.! It! could! thereby!be! possible! to! coScreate!
solutions! to! the! prevailing! challenges! that! NZ’s! customers’! face! thus! narrowing! the!
scope!of!ideas!and!limiting!resources!spend!on!‘uninteresting’!ideas!from!the!customer’s!
point! of! view.! Involving! customers,! however,! will! introduce! new! challenges! such! as!
ownership! of! IP! and! an! impediment! to! this! suggestion! could! be! that! technological!
! 99!
breakthrough!ideas!would!potentially!be!in!the!hands!of!one!customer!thus!eliminating!
NZ’s!bargaining!power!and!the!market!size!of!the!relevant!products.!
!
Further!research!on!the!diversity!of!participants!could!also!be!interesting.!As!research!in!
this! thesis! was! limited! to! focus! on! four! diversity! dimensions,! examining! other!
dimensions!may!lead!to!different!findings.!The!investigation!of!functional!diversity!could!
be! further! supported! with! additional! data! collections.! As! functional! diversity! of!
participants!was! limited!to! focus!on!the!specific!departments! in!which!they!worked!at!
the! present! moment,! it! calls! for! further! research.! It! could! be! relevant! to! investigate!
participant’s! prior! work! in! other! departments,! companies! and! their! educational!
backgrounds.!Such!research!would!have!to!include!qualitative!methods,!as!quantitative!
methods!could!not!retrieve!fulfilling!data!to!support!this!examination.!!
!
Today!(approximately!one!year!after!GB11!was!initiated),!NZ!has!conducted!other!idea!
markets! in! various! other! departments! and! sites.! Based! on! the! evaluation! of! GB11!
through!surveys!and!interviews,!subsequent!idea!markets!have!taken!on!a!narrower!and!
more! siteSspecific! focus.! The! increased! awareness! of! the! tool! in!NZ,! has! resulted! in! a!
very!high!demand!leading!to!nine!idea!markets!scheduled!this!year.!I!consider!this!fact!
to!be!a!strong!indication!of!the!success!of!GB11!in!Novozymes.!
!
The!further!perspectives!touched!upon!in!this!section,!shall!be!further!discussed!at!the!
oral!defense!of!this!thesis.!
! !
! 100!
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TED Talks
Don!Tapscott,!Four!Principles!for!the!Open!World,!Filmed!June!2012:!http://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_four_principles_for_the_open_world_1.html!!E.!O.!Wilson,!Advice!to!Young!Scientist,!Filmed!June!2012:!http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/e_o_wilson_advice_to_young_scientists.html!!
! !