The innovation process in firms with border region location

The paper focuses on how the uncertainty in innovation processes created by intertwined technological and commercial forces is managed in border region (BR) firms. The aim of the research is to study the firms' capability to innovate, and to investigate the firms' innovative status within a framework of high-involvement innovation. In the three cases in the study, the managers of the researched firms focus on the need for innovation management and organisational change to thrive in the manufacturing industry in Østfold and Västra Götaland characterised by global competition and advanced technology. The empirical findings show that diffusion of innovations is not only dependent on the flow of information on user characteristics in a user-producer interaction, but also on the organisational structure of a firm. A producer organised as a cost-centre in a corporation might be a factor that influences the close relationship needed to innovate successfully. The major findings describe the innovative status of the researched firms, and provide analysis of and discuss the firms' capabilities to involve employees in innovation. Based upon the firms' level of high involvement innovation and organisational culture, the framework applied provides insight into how to identify capabilities, or cluster of behaviour, required to develop the investigated organisations.