The contrary forces of innovation : an ethnography of innovation in the food industry

The complexity and tensions of industrial innovation processes are fleshed out through the analysis of an intriguing case study from the food industry. Drawing together insights from multiple disciplines, this book shows the controversial nature of innovation processes.

Author Notes

THOMAS HOHOLM'S research focuses on processes of innovation, learning and knowledge within and across organizations. He has published ethnographic studies of innovation in the food industry, in healthcare, and in education. He is currently a Postdoctor at BI Norwegian School of Management, and has previously been a visiting researcher at Lancaster University, UK

List of Illustrations	p. x
Acknowledgements	p. xi
Part I
1 Understanding Innovation As Process	p. 3
Innovation in the making: a case study	p. 4
Situating the study	p. 7
Innovation management and process	p. 10
The industrial network approach	p. 14
Actor-network theory and the study of emergence	p. 21
Investigating process and controversy	p. 33
The structure of the book	p. 36
2 Constructing Ethnography38Digging into potential cases	p. 45
Doing organizational ethnography	p. 47
Gathering materials	p. 47
Reorganising materials: writing ethnography	p. 50
Part II
3 Introducing the Case Study	p. 57
Combining fish, fermentation and proteins	p. 53
The idea of fermenting fish	p. 58
Starting product development	p. 59
Market research and technological development	p. 61
Including pre-rigor salmon	p. 63
Shift from Umi No Kami to Salma	p. 64
Scalingup production	p. 65
Market testing: presenting the product	p. 66
Market testing: selling Salma Cured	p. 67
Market testing: selling fresh	p. 69
Summing up the case study	p. 70
Blue-green innovation and Tine's strategy	p. 71
Agricultural R&D and the appeal of fish	p. 71
Blue-green innovation	p. 74
Tine's efforts to industrialise fish	p. 77
The biomarine projects	p. 84
Restructuring Tine Biomarin	p. 87
4 Fermenting Fish: Innovation in Practice	p. 94
Idea and invention: recombining elements	p. 95
Neptun: research and technology development	p. 99
Collaboration in the laboratory	p. 99
Funding the Neptun project	p. 101
Testing different types of fish	p. 106
Umi No Kami: from science to product development	p. 109
Filing and marketing a patent application	p. 109
Starting the Umi No Kami project	p. 115
Organising the project	p. 117
Recombining materials and stabilising fatty acids	p. 121
Recruiting and controlling micro-organisms	p. 127
Summing up: organising micro-actors	p. 133
Early market research and conceptualisation	p. 135
Types of customers and quality/price	p. 140
Management preconditions and initial intentions	p. 143
International study tour	p. 144
Domestic market research	p. 146
Summing up market opportunities	p. 148
Summing up identity negotiations	p. 149
Reorganising the project and scaling up production	p. 151
The 'coup' of Umi No Kami	p. 155
The market system for fish	p. 163
The cold fish technology and pre-rigor processing	p. 169
Bremnes Seashore's point of view	p. 172
Partnering: negotiating contracts and practice	p. 174
Scaling up production	p. 181
The intervention of micro-organisms	p. 185
Adjusting production practice	p. 187
Looking for users	p. 193
Making the concept: Salma	p. 193
Looking for users: the marketing tour	p. 198
Catering for Asia	p. 204
A market test for salmon salami in Germany	p. 212
Fish salami unmade	p. 215
Part III
5 An Analytic Scheme of Innovation Processes	p. 221
Staging of innovation processes	p. 224
Mobilising actor-networks	p. 225
Knowledge exploration	p. 226
Interaction and confrontation of sub-processes	p. 227
A network of interconnected processes	p. 230
6 The Contrary Forces of Innovation	p. 232
Realising and stabilising innovations	p. 235
Mobilising and committing to uncertain outcomes	p. 242
Translation and path creation	p. 243
Mobilisation in the face of exploration	p. 248
Exploring knowledge and generating complexity	p. 258
Punctuated learning	p. 259
Exploration as divergent process	p. 262
Interacting and mutual translation of interests	p. 270
Interacting with users	p. 271
Mutual translation of interests	p. 278
7 Conclusion	p. 286
Innovation: processes, controversies and networks	p. 287
Mobilising actor-networks	p. 289
Exploring knowledge	p. 290
Network of interconnected processes	p. 292
Innovation process research	p. 294
Afterword	p. 296
Notes	p. 298
References	p. 305
Index	p. 313

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Table of Contents