Duarte, Carolina Mendonça de Moraes (2022) Innovation management in construction and development companies. PhD thesis, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil.
Abstract
The movement toward innovation in the various sectors of the economy has intensified in recent years. However, construction continues to be known for being resistant to change and reluctant to adopt new technologies. Despite the undeniable advances in recent years, innovation should no longer be seen casually and randomly, so it is important to establish effective routines to manage it, based on orderly and systematic processes of search, selection, and implementation of new ideas. Nonetheless, innovation management practices are not yet fully disseminated in construction, especially in building and development companies. This research aims to fill this gap by proposing a Model for Innovation Management in construction and development companies. To do so, Design Science Research (DSR) was used, a method that supports studies that essentially aim to prescribe solutions or design artifacts. In this research, the artifact was developed based on theoretical evidence available in the literature and empirical evidence extracted from four case studies in Brazilian companies. The first theoretical contribution of the thesis was to characterize the different types of innovation related to construction and building development activities. Then, the model was structured considering four essential dimensions for innovation management, which are interconnected and mutually influence each other, in a constant flow of feedback and improvement, namely: i) Innovation Strategy; ii) Organization and Culture; iii) Leadership and People, and iv) Processes. From each one emerges a set of fundamental guidelines to ensure the continuous and permanent development of innovations, as well as practices that can contribute to operationalizing them. The case studies reinforce that innovation management is not yet a concrete reality for these companies and that there are still many barriers to be overcome. However, it could be seen that such companies are already beginning to see innovation through more strategic lenses, either by looking at other areas of the business besides the constructive activity itself or by the simple creation of a specific organizational unit to conduct innovative initiatives. Therefore, the model serves as a reference for these companies to structure their innovation processes, adapting the elements presented according to their priorities, capabilities, and resources.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Picchi, Flavio Augusto |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | innovation; innovation management; civil construction; real estate development |
| Index terms: | movement, routine, design science research, artifact, evidence, real estate development, innovation management, case study, new technology, implementation, dimension, innovation strategy |
| Subjects: | economic development, evaluation and assessment methods, innovation studies, health behaviours and lifestyles, innovation and technology management, contractual arrangements, design practice, sociology, business, data collection methods, health monitoring assessment and metrics |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Business Strategy, Urban Studies, Design Practice, Organizational Design, Engineering Principles, Health and Safety, Procurement |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here