Journal of Innovation Management - The International Journal on Multidisciplinary Approaches on Innovation | Volume 4 | Issue 1

Abstract

This Spring Issue will discuss about big data and multiple aspects of its usability and applicability. Many of us have seen blockbuster movies Back to the future (premiere in 1985), The Terminator (1984) or Minority report (2002). The unifying element of the above mentioned movies is that manuscripts are introducing a superior competitive advantage factor. The protagonists create an advantage by having either real-time data (sometimes from the future) or all relevant (big and historical) data with enormous computing capacity over competitors. A bit after first two of those movies premiered, NASA scientists Cox and Ellsworth (1997) published an article where term 'big data' appeared first time (Press, 2014). Intelligence needs to be topped up in a way to create advantage. Data has been there for a long time, in all forms and sizes. It is applied in almost single every business sector and it is getting faster in sense of usability. The data storage capacity has been exponentially increasing over time, but the usability of this wealth of data remains a critical issue. This Issue aims to deepen our current understanding of the Big Data phenomenon, from multiple perspectives: definitional, conceptual, analytical, and empirical. Drivers, as well as obstacles, to the adoption and diffusion of big data are unearthed, providing grounds for managerial and policy implications. All papers adopt a comprehensive approach to big data, embracing both technological, processual, organizational and human aspects that are inherent to any type of innovation. The potential offered by big data to generate "bigger" novelties, and to create a wider, more sustainable impact from innovation, remains an essential question, to which this Issue partially answers. In the first Letter of this Issue, Hanna discusses the drivers and barriers of e-commerce, which is portrayed as a techno-managerial innovation. Distinctive national features and peculiarities influence the speed of diffusion and adoption of e-commerce, at multiple levels: across industries and sectors, across firms within a nation, and within the boundaries of firms with differentiated levels of depth and breadth of extent and use. Hanna further elaborates on the role played by national policies aimed at promoting the adoption of e-commerce and highlights the importance of developing e-skills and increasing the general awareness and digital literacy of stakeholders.