The Effects of New Technology Flexibility on Innovation Performance in the Post- Implementation Age
Bo Li

Abstract
Increasing market competition and quickly moving globalization require companies to improve their competitive advantages through both incremental and radical innovations. The new technologies, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, radio-frequency identification (RFID), big data analysis, and internet of things (IoT), play important roles on a company’s innovation performance and sustainable competitive advantages. In this paper, ERP system is chosen as a specific case representing a major category of new technologies, to illustrate our analysis on those new technologies. In the current post-implementation age, when nearly every Fortune 500 companies and many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have installed their ERP systems, this research investigates the relationship between new technology implementation, flexibility of new technology, and innovation performances. This study proposes a research framework for the decision makers to systematically improve their overall competitive advantages through flexible new technologies and strategic management on innovations. This paper also identifies several potential future research opportunities for other researchers.

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