Quantitative Assignment
SBRM
,Question 1: Operationalization and valid measurements
A
The article by Kleinknecht et al. (2002) mentioned various indicators for innovation including: R&D and
patent application. These two will be used to answer this question. Several questions are formulated for
each indicator.
Questions about R&D
The focus of the question is on the competition resulting from R&D. These questions can be asked to:
CEOs/directors of SMEs (small and medium enterprises)or to R&D managers of SMEs.
First, three overall questions can be asked about the R&D in the company. All three questions will obtain
ratio data as answers.
Q1: What were the R&D expenditures in the last year (2021)? (answer in US Dollars)
Q2: How many employees have been working on R&D in the past year (2021)? (answer in number of
employees)
Q3: In how many countries were the R&D activities located? (answer in number of countries)
Next, two questions are focused on obtaining information about the competitive advantage of R&D. The
data obtained from these two questions will be ordinal.
Q4:
What sectors are important for your company to invest in to ensure the increasing competitive
advantage of the firm in the future? Circle the number which is most applicable for the company varying
from low to high importance.
Sector Low importance Medium High importance
importance
Sustainability of technologies 1 2 3
Artificial intelligence 1 2 3
Software investments 1 2 3
Hardware investments 1 2 3
Organization of the company 1 2 3
1
, Other: 1 2 3
………………………………………………
….
Q5:
In what aspects does your company gain the most competitive advantage in the sector? Circle the
number which is most applicable for the company varying from low to high competition.
Low competition Medium High
competition competition
Competition based on price differences 1 2 3
Competition based on the technological 1 2 3
advantages of the technology
Other: 1 2 3
………………………………………………
….
Questions about patent application
The focus of the questions lies on licensing out patents and the motivation to do so. This question should
be asked to: The staff who controls the licensing-out of the patents knows the most information about
the patents. For example a Managing Director of Knowledge and Technology or a Manager and
coordinator of Corporate Intellectual Property (IP)
Q6: Does the company own any patents? Circle the option most applicable for the company, or state
otherwise. Ordinal data will be obtained from this question.
Yes No Otherwise:............
Q7: What is the percentage of the patents the company that is licensed out? Circle the option most
applicable for the company. Ratio data will be obtained from this question.
0% >0% - 25% >25% - 50% >50% - 75% >75% - 100%
2
, Q8: What can be considered as the most important reasons to license out patents? Circle the option most
applicable from low importance to high importance. The answer to this question will be ordinal data.
Motivation Low importance Medium High importance
importance
Gain knowledge to improve own company 1 2 3
Collect revenue 1 2 3
Share knowledge to improve the industry 1 2 3
Gain market power 1 2 3
To avoid others from patenting themselves 1 2 3
Other: 1 2 3
………………………………………………
….
B
Definition: The concept of eco-innovation arose because of the increasing environmental customer
awareness (Bocken et al., 2011), which made the companies include environmental and social issues in
developing products (Medeiros et al., 2014). This was necessary for the successes of the companies.
First, company growth was associated with environmental damage, but now enables the concept of
eco-innovation the companies to grow economically and consider the environmental impacts of such
growth. (Bossle et al., 2016)
Dimension: The concept of eco-innovation involves the following four dimensions: product, process,
organizational and marketing dimensions (García-Granero et al., 2020). Also can the four components
written by Park et al. (2017) be considered as dimensions: Eco-innovation Capacity, Eco-innovation
Supporting Environment, Eco-innovation Activities and Eco-innovation Performances.
Indicator: There are many indicators possible to measure the eco-innovation of a company. The research
by Park et al., (2017) shows different indicators divided into four components. These can be found in the
table below. These indicators are based on national level eco-innovation and therefore on macro level.
3
SBRM
,Question 1: Operationalization and valid measurements
A
The article by Kleinknecht et al. (2002) mentioned various indicators for innovation including: R&D and
patent application. These two will be used to answer this question. Several questions are formulated for
each indicator.
Questions about R&D
The focus of the question is on the competition resulting from R&D. These questions can be asked to:
CEOs/directors of SMEs (small and medium enterprises)or to R&D managers of SMEs.
First, three overall questions can be asked about the R&D in the company. All three questions will obtain
ratio data as answers.
Q1: What were the R&D expenditures in the last year (2021)? (answer in US Dollars)
Q2: How many employees have been working on R&D in the past year (2021)? (answer in number of
employees)
Q3: In how many countries were the R&D activities located? (answer in number of countries)
Next, two questions are focused on obtaining information about the competitive advantage of R&D. The
data obtained from these two questions will be ordinal.
Q4:
What sectors are important for your company to invest in to ensure the increasing competitive
advantage of the firm in the future? Circle the number which is most applicable for the company varying
from low to high importance.
Sector Low importance Medium High importance
importance
Sustainability of technologies 1 2 3
Artificial intelligence 1 2 3
Software investments 1 2 3
Hardware investments 1 2 3
Organization of the company 1 2 3
1
, Other: 1 2 3
………………………………………………
….
Q5:
In what aspects does your company gain the most competitive advantage in the sector? Circle the
number which is most applicable for the company varying from low to high competition.
Low competition Medium High
competition competition
Competition based on price differences 1 2 3
Competition based on the technological 1 2 3
advantages of the technology
Other: 1 2 3
………………………………………………
….
Questions about patent application
The focus of the questions lies on licensing out patents and the motivation to do so. This question should
be asked to: The staff who controls the licensing-out of the patents knows the most information about
the patents. For example a Managing Director of Knowledge and Technology or a Manager and
coordinator of Corporate Intellectual Property (IP)
Q6: Does the company own any patents? Circle the option most applicable for the company, or state
otherwise. Ordinal data will be obtained from this question.
Yes No Otherwise:............
Q7: What is the percentage of the patents the company that is licensed out? Circle the option most
applicable for the company. Ratio data will be obtained from this question.
0% >0% - 25% >25% - 50% >50% - 75% >75% - 100%
2
, Q8: What can be considered as the most important reasons to license out patents? Circle the option most
applicable from low importance to high importance. The answer to this question will be ordinal data.
Motivation Low importance Medium High importance
importance
Gain knowledge to improve own company 1 2 3
Collect revenue 1 2 3
Share knowledge to improve the industry 1 2 3
Gain market power 1 2 3
To avoid others from patenting themselves 1 2 3
Other: 1 2 3
………………………………………………
….
B
Definition: The concept of eco-innovation arose because of the increasing environmental customer
awareness (Bocken et al., 2011), which made the companies include environmental and social issues in
developing products (Medeiros et al., 2014). This was necessary for the successes of the companies.
First, company growth was associated with environmental damage, but now enables the concept of
eco-innovation the companies to grow economically and consider the environmental impacts of such
growth. (Bossle et al., 2016)
Dimension: The concept of eco-innovation involves the following four dimensions: product, process,
organizational and marketing dimensions (García-Granero et al., 2020). Also can the four components
written by Park et al. (2017) be considered as dimensions: Eco-innovation Capacity, Eco-innovation
Supporting Environment, Eco-innovation Activities and Eco-innovation Performances.
Indicator: There are many indicators possible to measure the eco-innovation of a company. The research
by Park et al., (2017) shows different indicators divided into four components. These can be found in the
table below. These indicators are based on national level eco-innovation and therefore on macro level.
3
