| The U.S. household wood furniture manufacturing industry has seen significant increases in competitive pressure from foreign producers in recent years. An important factor in the competitive arsenal of foreign producers comes from their ability to produce quality products at relatively low prices. The production of comparative or superior products at lower prices arises because of technological advancement and relatively low wages abroad. As in other industries, household wood furniture manufacturers have found that process innovation serves as a fundamental element in the quest for competitive advantage.;Researchers have identified organizational structure and institutional pressures as key influences in organizational adoption of innovation. Research has yet, however, to establish conclusively the relationship between the elements of organizational structure and the adoption of process innovation. Further, the literature is indefinite regarding the relationship between the adoption of process innovation and institutional pressures faced by manufacturing firms. The results of this study advance the understanding of the adoption of process innovation by (1) identifying significant relationships organizational structure, specifically centralization, complexity, and firm size, and the adoption of process innovation, (2) providing evidence that institutional pressures in the form of normative pressures, mimetic pressures, and firm age relate to the adoption of process innovation, (3) demonstrating the benefit of conducting studies utilizing multiple paradigms studies in the adoption of process innovation, and (4) identifying variance in these relationships based on whether firms are early, later, or final adopters of process innovation.;The study consists of a two-stage research design. In the first stage hypotheses are tested using multiple regression to analyze survey data from 226 household wood furniture producers. The second stage consists of structured interviews with fifteen firms within the same industry which industry experts had categorized as early, later or final adopters of process innovation. A comparison of the interview data from Phase Two with the statistical analysis from Phase One suggests both organizational structure and institutional pressure relate to the adoption of process innovation, and that these relationships vary across adopter categories. |
