Adoption of Technological Innovations in Large Manufacturing Firms : A multiple case study

Innovation adoption continues to be recognized as important both by practitioners as well as researchers. This thesis contributes to this field by enhancing the knowledge around the question of how large manufacturing firms can increase the likelihood of an adoption of a technological innovation. A multiple case study within a large manufacturing firm was conducted to gain insights on the factors influencing the likelihood of an adoption and assess the main reasons for adopting or abandoning innovation projects. The findings suggest, that within large manufacturing firms, a total of 13 different factors within the groups of (1) environmental characteristics, (2) organizational characteristics, (3) innovation characteristics and (4) user characteristics influence the likelihood of an adoption decision. Next to that several main reasons for adoption, such as a clear relative advantage of the innovation or freedom of the innovation teams were found. Main reasons for abandonment include the lack of a clear relative advantage or the mismatch between the innovation and the demands of the adopting firm. The results imply that large manufacturing companies can employ a set of practices and advises to increase the likelihood of an adoption. These practices can be clustered in the groups of (1) project focus, (2) structure and team, (3) technology, (4) user and (5) analysis.