TAKE OFF IN INNOVATION - CASE STUDY OF AALBORG AIRPORT
Author
Hrabovszki, Dorottya
Term
4. term
Publication year
2021
Submitted on
2021-01-07
Pages
113
Abstract
Many small airports face financial challenges even though the aviation industry continues to grow and these airports play a major role in local economies. Innovation is widely seen as the path to growth and profit, but at small airports it is often not prioritized because of political influence, a public-utility mindset, and limited funds. Aalborg Airport in Northern Jutland, Denmark, is a notable exception: as a small regional airport, it has been an active innovator and claims to be the first in the world to use RFID-based baggage sorting technology. This thesis examines how Aalborg Airport manages innovation. Through interviews with former and current managers, the airport’s innovation activities and management were compared with established theories to identify what might be new and/or replicable. The study finds that, even without a formal, codified innovation management system, Aalborg Airport closely follows theory by adopting an open innovation approach (working with external ideas and partners) and an opportunistic innovator strategy (seizing opportunities as they arise). The research also found that the airport lacked a way to evaluate the results of its innovation efforts. To address this, data were collected and a quantitative evaluation tool was developed. As a proof of concept, the thesis shows that innovation performance can be measured using a modified gravity model estimated with loglinear OLS, where innovation activity is an explanatory variable and its coefficient can be interpreted as a quantitative measure of the activity’s performance.
Små lufthavne har økonomiske problemer, selv om branchen samlet set vokser, og de har stor betydning for den lokale økonomi. Nøglen til vækst og overskud er innovation, men i små lufthavne bliver den ofte nedprioriteret på grund af politisk indflydelse, en offentlig service-mentalitet og knappe økonomiske ressourcer. Aalborg Lufthavn i Nordjylland er en undtagelse: Som en mindre regional lufthavn har den haft succes med at innovere og hævder selv at være først i verden med RFID-baseret bagagesortering. Afhandlingen undersøger, hvordan Aalborg Lufthavn arbejder med innovation. Gennem interviews med tidligere og nuværende ledere blev lufthavnens innovationsaktiviteter og ledelse sammenholdt med gængse teorier for at se, om der er noget nyt og/eller noget, andre kan kopiere. Resultatet viser, at lufthavnen, selv uden et formelt og nedskrevet innovationsledelsessystem, i høj grad følger teorien ved at bruge åben innovation (at samarbejde og hente ideer udefra) og en opportunistisk innovatørstrategi (at gribe muligheder, når de opstår). Det blev også tydeligt, at lufthavnen manglede et evalueringsværktøj. Derfor blev der indsamlet data og udviklet et kvantitativt værktøj. Som et proof of concept viser afhandlingen, at innovationsperformance kan måles med en modificeret gravitationsmodel estimeret med loglineær OLS, hvor innovationsaktivitet er en forklarende variabel, og dens koefficient kan tolkes som et kvantitativt mål for aktivitetens performance.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords