Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management

Purpose – This work provides validation of a model for successful commercialisation of innovative products for residential construction. The development of the model is motivated by the persistence of failed commercialisations due to inadequate business plans. This paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach – The current paper validates the model with data from case studies of 15 manufacturers of recently commercialised innovative residential-construction products. The research team interpreted the interview data and correlated this data with the model. The correlations illuminate critical steps within the commercialisation process; perceptions of the less important steps; decisions and resulting actions that support commercialisation, accelerators and barriers of commercialisation; and prototypical commercialisation processes.

Findings – A total of 15 case studies of successfully commercialised products provide empirical support for the commercialisation model that was developed from literature review and previous surveys.

Research limitations/implications – The research is based on content analysis of in-depth interviews from 15 case studies, a methodology that yields a small number of general conclusions from a large data set. More case studies are needed to expand the implications presented in this work. Conclusions drawn from the data have important implications for establishing a normative description of the process of transforming an invention into a commercialised innovation in residential construction.

Practical implications – The commercialisation findings presented here could benefit innovators and adopters of construction products. The research indicates best practices, key accelerators and key barriers to the commercialisation of products in the residential-construction industry.

Originality/value – This work presents the second phase of development of a domain-specific commercialisation model for innovative residential-construction products. This commercialisation model serves as a roadmap to entrepreneurs, which avoids the most common pitfalls along the path of commercialisation.