earticle

영어

Which innovation should a company prioritize, given limited resources? This question emerges as one of the most popular topics to the Top Management Team as well as the scholars of business management across the globe. Given the world-class R&D expenditure for innovations taking place in Korea, this issue calls for the multifaceted approach to the mechanism by which R&D and innovations lead to economic growth and firm performance(Jung, 2020). Recent researches on innovation have evolved from product or process-related innovations to variety types of innovations in organizational innovation, marketing innovation, business model innovation, management innovation, which contribute to the impact of diverse innovations on the firm performance. In line with this research stream, this study aims at providing the foundational data to the management and the academia in regards to the management decisions of which innovations to prioritize and how to strategize the chosen innovations in a rapidly changing business environment by analyzing the impacts of various innovation types on the company performance. Against this background, our study empirically tested the effects of technological innovation on firm performance and analyzed the roles of marketing innovation and organizational innovation in the relation of technologicl innovation and firm performance utilizing ‘Korean Innovation Survey 2018; Manufacturing Sector’. The Korean Innovation Survey 2018, the most recent data, reported various innovation activities of Korean companies from 2015-2017, based on the conceptual definition of innovation types presented in the Oslo Manual (OECD, 2005). The manufacturing data covering +3000 companies was empirically analyzed by conducting hierarchical regressions and Sobel tests. Main findings of our analysis are as follows. First, the technological innovation showed a significantly positive (+) effect on marketing innovation, organizational innovation, and firm performance, respectively. In other words, the higher is the level of technological innovation activities, the stronger becomes the financial performance of the company, which suggests that marketing innovation and organizational innovation are required to maximize the benefits of technological innovation. The analysis also showed the significant impact of technological innovation on marketing innovation and organizational innovation while marketing innovation significantly impacting organizational innovation in a positive(+) manner. This finding contributes to the literature on innovation by empirically investigating large data set with detailed innovation types such as technological innovation (i.e. product innovation and proc-ess innovation), marketing innovation and organizational innovation included in the study model. Second, the significant mediating effect of organizational innovation on the relationship between technological innovation and firm performance was reaffirmed. Process innovation, a component of technological innovation, was found to have an effect on firm performance through complete mediation of organizational innovation, which provides theoretical implications for confirming the central role of organizational innovation in the process of linking technological innovation to firm performance. Third, the double mediating effect of marketing innovation and organizational innovation was demonstrated in the relationship between technological innovation and firm performance. This means that technological innovation directly affects firm performance and indirectly affects firm performance by affecting marketing innovation and organizational innovation. This study has academic differentiation in that it integrates the role and impact of marketing innovation and organizational innovation in the relationship between technological innovation and firm performance. Our finding also offers practical implications for corporate managers that balanced investment in management innovation areas of marketing innovation and organizational innovation is critical, in order to improve firm performance and productivity through technological innovation.

한국어

‘무엇을 혁신할 것인가?’ 이는 경영자와 학계의 공통의 관심사이다. 본 연구는 한국기업의 최근 3년의 혁신 활동을 보여주는 ‘한국기업혁신조사 2018; 제조업부문’을 활용, 기술혁신이 기업성과에 미치는 영향과 이 관계 에서 마케팅혁신과 조직혁신의 효과를 실증분석 하였다. 분석결과, 첫째, 기술혁신은 마케팅혁신, 조직혁신, 기업성과에 각각 정(+)의 영향을 보였다. 둘째, 기술혁신과 기업성과의 관계에서 조직혁신의 유의한 매개효과 와, 셋째, 기술혁신과 기업성과의 관계에서 마케팅혁신과 조직혁신의 이중매개효과를 실증하였다. 이는 기술혁 신이 직접적으로 기업성과에 영향을 주며, 마케팅혁신과 조직혁신에도 영향을 주어 기업성과에 간접적으로도 영향을 미침을 의미한다. 본 연구는 기술혁신과 기업 성과와의 관계에서 마케팅혁신과 조직혁신의 역할과 영향 을 통합적으로 조명한 점에 학문적 차별성이 있으며, 경영자들에게 제품개발과 생산, 판매 및 조직 구조를 통합적으로 고려할 때 기업성과에 기여가 높아진다는 실무적 시사점을 제공한다.