Abstract:
The New Zealand agriculture ecosystem is in an innovation slump. The New Zealand
government has signalled the need to raise innovation levels to capitalise on local and global
opportunities. The researcher identified that one of the potential contributors to the innovation
problem is the ecosystem's inherent focus on resilience. The COVID-19 pandemic has
reinforced the need to investigate the interplay between innovation and resilience as short-term
solutions for resilience have come at the expense of long-term growth opportunities. Hence,
there is also a need to see how organisations can innovate during a crisis to envisage future
environments. Despite the rich history of innovation and resilience in the current literature,
there is a limited understanding of the interplay between innovation and resilience in service
ecosystems (Fehrer and Bove, 2022). Consequently, this study used the empirical setting of the
agriculture ecosystem to investigate the interactions between innovation and resilience; where
they are reinforcing, hindering and how the ecosystem supports the reconciliation of innovation
and resilience capabilities. This study utilised an embedded comparative case study design to
explore 2 cases embedded within the agriculture ecosystem—the researcher adopted a study
design embedded in inductive reasoning. Fourteen exploratory interviews were conducted
across a broad subset of the agriculture ecosystem, with the analysis centred on the 2 cases.
Interview data was supplemented with secondary data. Analysis of the findings showed a
complex and dynamic interaction between innovation and resilience. New Zealand agriculture
organisations have shown to be focused on stabilising activities that inhibit the ability of the
ecosystem to transform. Further the findings showed instances where innovation and resilience
reinforce each other, demonstrating how organisations can create value whilst remaining
resilient. This study adds to the limited literature on the interactions between innovation and
resilience in service ecosystems. Further, this study adds to crisis literature by explaining how
organisations can innovate during crises to enhance resilience and engage in activities that
create value beyond the crisis.