Contenu du sommaire : Innovation et numérique

RFG 40 years – The circumstances surrounding the creation of the « Revue française de gestion » The « Fondation nationale pour l'enseignement de la gestion des entreprises » was founded in the midst of « French May 68 » civil unrest. Fast forward spring 1975, the « Revue française de gestion » issues its 1st edition. Between those 2 events, a war of attrition between Reformists and Conservatives was plaguing the French Business establishment, during which French Higher Business Education system goes through a radical cultural revolution. Forty years on, an analyse of the circumstances surrounding the creation of the Review.

Hedge fund activism: An explanatory study in French target firms This article presents an exploratory study of hedge fund activism in French firms. The study helps to think about the different aspects of these funds' activism, through a hand collected dataset and interpretation of data in order to understand the HF activist behavior. This study identifies the goals and strategic practices of activist hedge funds and also examines the institutional, cultural and regulatory terms for the emergence of hedge fund activists in France.

Grand-angle – Managers and spies: the Renault affair In 2011, the French car manufacturer Renault suddenly fires three managers suspected of spying. These executives were in fact innocent. Such an astounding mistake of decision-making (the most visible feature of this case) conceals several underlying deviant processes: organizational paranoia, follow-up of inadequate actions fed by secrecy and lie, development of micro-institutions with deviant practices. Such processes invite us to think about possible pitfalls organizational actors are likely to be trapped into.

Breakthrough innovation entities leveraging digital power Several firms set up entities dedicated to foster breakthrough innovation an hence to explore the renewal of the company. Based on the analysis of eight of these entities, we inductively characterized four types of activities carried out in these entities. Then, based on the characteristics of digital tools that support the democratization of innovation and the combination of extensive, varied and heterogeneous knowledge, we show how these tools impact the activities. We argue that digital tools enable to reconcile creative divergence with the control of exploration cost and time. These tools help, as well, to overcome the distinction often made in the literature between different forms of organizational ambidexterity.

The impact of similarity on virtual try-on efficiency The present research aims to investigate possible levers to make consumers to adopt and use new technologies such as virtual-try on in case of product testing. Through an experiment in the field of cosmetic products, we compare classical and virtual product testing strategies thanks to an online make-up virtual-try on. The results show that virtual product testing positively influences consumers' satisfaction as well as purchasing intent, more than in the classical condition, although classical product testing is perceived to be closer to reality. The research gives some news insights for companies and managers who intend to use and integrate virtual technologies into product promotion processes.

Managing openness within a multi-sided business model. The case of online video game The digital revolution is a lever for the creation of new open business models on internet. However, openness remains complex to implement in traditional business model architectures because it implies constraints that are difficult to manage. In this perspective, we mobilize the literature on multi-sided platforms and two case studies in the online video game to propose a multi-sided architecture. By creating complementary sides on value proposition but interdependent on value creation and value capture, it becomes possible to open a part of the business model in order to access the benefits of openness while limiting constraints.

Appropriation strategies in innovation. A e-medecine SME case study Our research focuses on the strategy of innovation protection. The empirical context of the study is a SME in e-medicine. Our main results are: 1) a SME deliberately uses jointly patent, design, trade mark for protecting its innovation; 2) the academic notoriety of the medical research team sets up an important asset; 3) the assets of intellectual property are a marker of a capacity to be innovated and offers insurance to shareholders, 4) the cloud computing enables secure information collect, transfer and storage, which drives 5) a virtual internal organization keeping secrecy essential firm knowledge assets.

The adoption of digital tools in communities of practice. The case of Groupe SEB Companies increasingly choose to develop communities of practice in the field of innovation. This research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the adoption of digital tools by the members of communities of practice. The empirical study was conducted within the Groupe SEB, a French multinational specialized in small household equipment. The analysis shows that it is essential to adapt the digital tools to the expectations of users. It also highlights the important role played by the direction of innovation in managing the animation of the community of practice.

Coworking spaces: New open innovation intermediaries? Concurrently with the digital generalization, new physical workspaces, like coworking spaces, increase and raise worldwide enthusiasm. In this paper, we will study three Parisian coworking spaces through a small service company which has successively located in these workspaces. We will show that coworking spaces are a new type of open innovation intermediaries facilitating multi-actor interaction dynamics, contributing to the development of inter-organizational collaborations, promoting multiple contacts, framing the interactions between potential partners, and having an autonomous business model. We will specify four spatially anchored intermediation components which can led to new offers.