The Front End of Innovation in Converging Industries

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Research problem.- 1.2 Research question and objectives.- 1.3 Research strategy and method.- 1.4 Outline of the thesis.- 2 Innovation, innovation process and the front end of innovation.- 2.1 Definitions, classifications and situations for innovation management.- 2.2 Dimensions of innovation.- 2.3 Literature review of process models of the front end of innovation.- 2.4 The front end — idea generation.- 2.5 The front end — idea evaluation and selection.- 2.6 Critical review of the extant literature of the front end of innovation.- 3 Industry convergence as a context for the front end of innovation.- 3.1 Industry convergence.- 3.2 Patterns of industry convergence.- 3.3 Industry convergence — a particular context for the front end of innovation.- 4 Conceptual framework and research design to assess the front end in converging industries.- 4.1 Conceptual framework: reasoning and theoretical basis.- 4.2 Empirical research: methods and data collection.- 5 Empirical analysis of the front end in converging industries.- 5.1 Industry convergence — the case of the emerging NFF-sector.- 5.2 The sample — description and identification of different project types.- 5.3 Qualitative data analysis of the front end in converging industries.- 5.4 Quantitative data analysis of the front end in converging industries.- 5.5 Overview on empirical findings and Hypotheses building.- 6 Discussion of findings and implications for theory and practise.- 6.1 Discussion of R&D project types and implications for the RBV-theory.- 6.2 Discussion of type-specific front end decision making and implications for innovation management research.- 6.3 Managerial implications for the front end in general and for the NFF-sector.- 7 Conclusion.- Appendices.- References.