Knowledge Push Curve (KPC) in retailing: Evidence from patented innovations analysis affecting retailers' competitiveness

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated the extent to which an analysis of patent growth can be used to study the innovation level of a certain industry, national competitiveness in terms of technological innovation, and the inventive capacity in a specific domain etc. In terms of the retail industry, there is a propensity for patenting and an increasing consumer demand for technological innovation. In fact, integrating innovative technologies, including innovative systems for conducting product searches and comparisons, and for paying, are one of the most efficient ways to create value for businesses. Building on a historical series of patents from 1990 to 2015, this paper explores the trends in the sector, analysing the increasing number of patents. Secondly it develops a predictive curve, a technology-push curve (TPC) for making some predictions about the future directions in the retail industry that might affect retailers' competitiveness and subsequent innovation management strategies.

Prelims

“…More recently, in 2017 James Patterson hypothesized 'The Store' (The Store, Random House) as an online retail giant able to control the life of American consumers, by influencing not just their preferences as customers but also those in their private lives. More realistically, scholars predicted the future of retailing as the consequence of massive developments in technology (Grewal, Noble, Roggeveen, & Nordfalt, 2020;Inman & Nikolova, 2017;Pantano, Priporas, & Stylos, 2018), increasing usage of big data analytics (Bradlow et al, 2017), artificial intelligence (Davenport, Guha, Grewal, & Bressgott, 2020;Shankar, 2018) and changes in the retail services (Tezuka, Nada, Yamasaki, & Kuroda, 2019;Wirtz et al, 2018). Conversely, other authors tried to understand the extent to which we (as consumers) are willing to accept and use these technologies (Bertacchini et al, 2017;De Bellis & Johar, 2020;Evanschitzky, Iyer, Kenning, & Schutte, 2015), and the extent to which retailers are able to adopt them to create more pleasant and rewarding shopping experiences (Pantano & Vannucci, 2019;Van de Sanden, Willems, & Brengman, 2019).…”

Technological competitiveness of the EU member states in the era of the fourth industrial revolution

“…Nevertheless patent statistics have been widely used for assessing the competitive position in various technology fields both at firm and country levels (for an overview of merits and drawbacks of patents and patent-based indicators and databases see: Archibugi & Pianta, 1996;Dernis, Guellec, & van Pottelsberghe, 2002;Archambault, 2002;Kim & Lee, 2015;Dziallas & Blindt, 2019). Scholars apply different techniques and indicators in patent-based analyses of technological change, such as a propensity for patenting (Pantano, Priporas, & Stylos, 2018) modelling-based approach (Wallusch, 2015;Choi & Song, 2018) patent citations counts (Ernst & Omland, 2011;van Raan, 2017;Tijssen & Winnink, 2018) or use patent-based indices: revealed technological advantages-RTA, patent h-index, patent asset index, current impact index, etc. (Marinova & McAleer, 2003;Ernst & Omland, 2011;Huang, Chen, Shen, Wang, & Ye, 2015;Prud'homme, 2016;Wisla & Sierotowicz, 2016;Montresor & Quatraro, 2017;Makhoba & Pouris, 2019).…”

A digitális innovációk hatása az élelmiszer-kiskereskedelmi vállalatok teljesítményére

“…A fogyasztók egyre jobban igénylik a különféle innovációkat (és ezen belül is a digitális technológiákhoz kapcsolódó innovációkat) vásárlásaik során. Ezért ahhoz, hogy egy adott kiskereskedő sikeres és profitábilis tudjon maradni, meg kell, hogy feleljen ezeknek a fogyasztói elvárásoknak (Pantano-Priporas-Stylos [2018]). A kiskereskedelmi vállalatok közvetlen kapcsolatban vannak a fogyasztókkal, illetve lojalitásprogramokon, webáruházakon keresztül rengeteg adattal rendelkeznek a vásárlókról, mely adatok/információk sokszor alapjául szolgálnak az új megoldások kifejlesztésének.…”