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The purpose of this article is to analyse the role of national context in public sector innovation. Whilst there is a growing literature on innovation types in the public sector, prior studies have analysed data from a single country. Consequently, there is an incomplete understanding of the national context. Our comparative study examines 108 innovations from Italy, Japan and Turkey. The first stage of our empirical evidence uncovers a divergent configuration of innovation types. Further analysis of how national context was constructed by the innovators allows us to provide evidence for a national-context framework for public sector innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of involving citizens in the early stages of public sector innovation and bottom‐up governance arrangements for collaboration has been proposed in a number of theoretical papers. However, to date, few empirical studies are evident in the literature. To deepen our understanding of collaborative public sector innovation, our exploratory article analyses: (i) the actors of collaboration, (ii) collaboration across the innovation stages, (iii) the perceived aspects of collaboration for innovative outcomes, and (iv) the governance of collaboration. Our analysis covers 99 innovations from Italy, Japan, and Turkey. We reveal that collaboration still largely occurs within the bureaucracy of public sector organizations. Attempts to include civic and private sectors are evident, depending on the country context. Further, we uncover that a mutual understanding and shared goals are crucial for success, which is accomplished through top‐down governance as opposed to self‐governed bottom‐up networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration can offer both significant benefits and costs. This article reviews and synthesises approaches and related critiques on managing migration. Precautionary approaches to migration are guided by securitisation and governmentality paradigms that imply a potential impediment, whereby models are informed by security- and threat-nexus (cost), making the paradigm one-dimensional. The need for a holistic model for consistent migration management is frequently expressed in migration literature. Here, inclusive risk governance is proposed as a viable alternative model that can produce better policy outcomes by fulfilling four conditions: (a) enhancing inclusion and participation; (b) appraising costs and benefits; (c) considering the impact on all affected stakeholders; and (d) facilitating constructive deliberation. Incorporating these elements to support coherent goals makes the model a valid enabler, corresponding better to the diversity of the migration policy context. This model is demonstrated through a critical reading of the literature that has suggested that migration is managed through securitisation, governmentality, and risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the concept of consumer vulnerability in the context of older consumers’ packaging interactions. Consumer vulnerability is viewed as a situational state of powerlessness where marketplace imbalances or harm may occur from consuming marketing messages and/or products. The paper draws upon evidence from a series of in-depth interviews and observations with a cross section of 11 consumers aged between 59 and 85 years concerning their experiences with fast-moving consumer goods packaging. The findings reveal that changes as a result of the multiple dimensions of ageing can increase older consumers’ risk of experiencing vulnerability during packaging interactions. The paper provides new insights to aid firms in empowering older consumers through packaging development, thus reducing vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent literature on supply chain partnerships in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), there is controversy regarding the benefits of these partnerships. To resolve this controversy, specific information is needed on the implementation of these partnerships by SMEs; an area, that, thus far, has received little academic attention. In this paper, we examine different business functions (production, marketing and sales, purchasing and logistics, research and development (R&D) and finance) within a supply chain partnership. We collected data for each individual function from 279 high-tech SMEs and examined the relationship between the specific types of partnerships and the overall performance of the SMEs. The results indicate that it is only in the area of R&D that partnerships have a significant positive effect on overall firm performance. The results imply that SMEs primarily can benefit from particular types of supply chain partnerships, i.e. R&D partnerships. The results contribute to the debate in the literature by explaining why many SMEs were found not to benefit from these partnerships. We also provide implications for firms and how SMEs can better utilise supply chain management (SCM). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study deepens our knowledge on innovation barriers within public sector innovation (PSI) processes. Our research contributes to the barrier approach to innovation. We develop a conceptual framework, which expands the conventional view of barriers. The exploratory empirical evidence based on 99 cases from Italy, Japan and Turkey identifies the dynamic nature of the barriers within innovation processes. We uncover tactics that are used to overcome these barriers and the mechanisms that can surprisingly contribute to fruitful outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a systematic review of the empirical literature on barriers within public sector innovation processes, based on data from 63 articles. We investigate the nature of barriers using four dimensions: (i) classification; (ii) interrelations; (iii) innovation process and (iv) types of innovations. A new classification is developed to show that interaction-specific barriers emerge during collaborative innovation. Significantly, we identify that the nature of barriers are more complex than has previously been recognized, where there has been an emphasis on organizational barriers. We identify that the nature of barriers differ in process and innovation types. Moreover, they show interrelations across the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]