A Framework for International Commercialization of Innovative Products in Residential Construction: A Case of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) in the United States and Saudi Arabia

This dissertation presents the development of a new framework for international commercialization of innovative structural products in residential construction. Development of his framework required the examination of six subjects related to international commercialization. 1) commercialization models previously developed, locally and internationally, 2) barriers to the process, 3) stakeholders, actions, and decisions critical to the process, 4) characteristics of innovations that are suitable for international use, 5) characteristics of foreign markets that are ideal to adopt such innovations, and 6) strategies to overcome barriers The framework development was based on one structural product, SIPs. This product has been successfully developed and implemented in the United States and is being considered for commercial use in Saudi Arabia. Structural product clusters are particularly appropriate because of their innovative nature and their major influence on the structure of residential buildings. The study relies on sequential explanatory mixed-method research design, consisting of two distinct phases (Creswell 2003), to gain insight into processes surrounding commercialization. The rationale for this approach is that quantitative data and its results provide a general picture of the barriers to international commercialization in the available sample, which can mapped onto an initial framework. The qualitative data and its analysis help to refine and expand statistical results by exploring participants’ actual decision processes that can be also mapped to a second framework. Both data sets can be merged, mapped onto one final framework. Variables related to the six subjects, mentioned above, were distilled from literature into open-ended questionnaires for two groups of key stakeholders in the supply chain of innovative structural products: 1) SIPs stakeholders in the US and 2) stakeholders of innovative structural products in Saudi Arabia. The primary purpose of the open-ended questionnaires was to ensure usage of correct terminology used in this study and to encourage full, meaningful answers—capturing all possible factors affecting the process of international commercialization. The author collected responses using web-based surveys. The results yielded the development of a reliable instrument to be implemented in further steps of this research. Next, the researcher collected variables related to the questions from previous openended questionnaires into closed-ended questionnaires to collect the data (on perceived barriers to international commercialization), using web-based surveys, and performed a preliminary analysis of the data using frequency analysis. This process yielded marketbased strategies for developing an initial framework for international commercialization in residential construction. III | P a g e Subsequently, a focused examination of barriers to international commercialization was needed. The researcher collected such data through an applied understanding of the specific development processes for SIPs to be introduced to a new, international market, namely Saudi Arabia. Based on the model’s structure, the researcher conducted six case studies of real stakeholder processes along the supply chain, SIPs development domestically and internationally, and tracked data for real risks of the commercialization process. Findings suggested perceived versus actual risks and barriers to the commercialization process for an integral product to the residential construction process. This was an important distinction because of proposed development methods and the application of market diffusion. Based on the barriers identified, the researcher developed marketbased strategies to be incorporated into a second framework. This framework along with the initial framework and the literature-based framework have been triangulated to develop one final framework. The final framework was then introduced to a few experts in the industry to increase its validity.