UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL LEVEL FACTORS OF INNOVATION

Innovative Behaviors and Learning

Innovation Value Chain

Inputs• Resources

devoted to innovation effort.

Processes• Transformation of

inputs into outputs.

Outputs• Qualitative results

of innovation efforts. Value created for company.

Outcomes• Quantitative

results of innovation efforts. Value created for market.

Creating Return on Innovation

Innovation FacilitatorsLeadership• Innovation Strategy• Vision• Champion• Tolerance for failureStrategic Assets• Input, Process, Channel,

Customer and Market Knowledge Assets

People • Innovation Champions• Skills & Competencies• IntrapreneursOrganization Culture• Values • Norms• CommitmentResources • Compensation• Intellectual Capital• Financial• Time• Space

Innovation Performance

New or altered products, services, processes, systems,

organizational structures, or

business models.

Return on InnovationBusiness Results• Growth• Profits• Increased MarginsMarket Results• Market capitalization• Market growth

Innovation BehaviorsManagement Practices• Formal Innovation Processes• Unstructured Innovation Processes• Collaborative Innovation ProcessesKnowledge Processes• Capture of existing internal and external

knowledge• Creation of new knowledge• Dissemination and sharing of knowledge

Innovative BarriersMindset• Not-invented-here• Nothing-is-invented-hereShortage of resourcesOrganizational bureaucracyLack of motivation

SOCIETAL FACTORS• Society / Culture• Historical Context

REGULATORY FACTORS

• Government & Social policies

ECONOMIC FACTORS• Technology

• Intellectual Resources• Strategic Partners

National Context

The Role of the Individual

Innovation happens because people do certain things, behave in certain ways.

Innovation requires people to learn something new and unlearn what they believe they know.

How does this happen?

Innovative Behaviors? Understanding of innovative behavior remains underdeveloped

(Wolfe 1994). The contributions thus far include: innovative behavior at the firm level – what does the company

have to accomplish to achieve competitive advantage through innovation.

innovative behaviors of consumers, what do consumers “do” that is unusual, unexpected, and unorthodox, and enables or drives corporate innovation.

alignment between strategy and structure to facilitate innovative behavior.

determinants of innovative behavior – such as leadership and reward systems, or creating a culture to support innovative behavior.

differentiation between facilitators and inhibitors of innovative behavior.

Innovative Work Behaviors West and Farr (190, p.9): the intentional introduction

and application within a role, group or organization of ideas, processes, products or procedures.

…from Janssen (2000, p.299): this definition restricts innovative behavior to intentional efforts to provide beneficially novel outcomes.

Scott and Bruce (1994): innovative work behavior is assumed to be a multi-stage process, covering both the creativity and implementation components

Three tasks of innovative work behavior: Scott, S.U. & R.A. Bruce. 1994. Determinants of Innovative Behavior: A Path Model of Individual Innovation in the Workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 37: 580-607.

1. Idea generation: formulation of new ideas of any sort, which are benefical to organizational conduct (Woodman, Sawyer and Griffin, 1993)

2. Idea promotion: capitalizing on ideas generated by finding sponsors and allies with the necessary influence and authority (Kanter, 1983, 1988)

3. Idea realization: the production of a prototype or model of innovation…that can be touched or experienced, that can now be diffused, mass-produced, turned to productive use, or institutionalized (Kanter, 1988, p.191)

Innovating versus Innovation

Goedhuys et al (2008) differentiate between innovative behavior and innovation offering that, “innovative behavior is influenced by the firm's internal capacities while innovation affects firms' profitability, survival, and employment“.

INNOVATION AS A LEARNING PROCESS

Innovation as a learning process Innovation is the creation of a solution to a

problem. Innovation requires knowledge. Learning is the process of acquiring and/or

creating knowledge.

INNOVATION PROCESS & IDEATION (Davila et al, 2006: p.125)

Generation of IdeasRadical

Innovation

IncrementalInnovation

Sel

ectio

n

Ex

ecut

ion

Cre

atio

nO

f Val

ueGeneration of Ideas

Generation of Ideas

Product, Service and/or

Process Innovation

Knowledge position

Innovation position

Product/MarketPosition

What innovation position can we execute given what we know? What knowledge is needed to support our innovation position?

Given what we know what product/market position can we execute? What do we need to know to execute our product/market position?

What innovation position should we pursue given our product/market position? Given our innovation position, what product/market position make the most sense?

Knowledge, Learning & InnovationMcDonough, E., M.E.Zack, H.Lin & I. Berdrow. 2008. “Integrating Innovation Style and Knowledge into

Strategy. MIT Sloan Management Review, 50(1), pp.53-58.

How do organizations learn?(Davila et al, 2006)

Learning to act – Can we improve things we are already doing? Incremental improvement of current actions.

Learning to learn – how do we create, acquire, adapt and disseminate knowledge? Are we good at it? Questioning current actions and seeking new opportunities.

Symptoms of learning disability

Disbelief in effectiveness of innovation Accidental rather than strategic execution of

innovation projects Focus solely on incremental innovation Lack of investment in innovation

TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE

Explicit – what can be codified, stored and retrieved

Tacit – intuitive, not well-articulated, needs to be interpreted to be expressed

Where does knowledge reside?

Individuals – vision, experience, images, metaphors

Groups – shared meaning, language, conversation

Organizations – routines, systems, rules and procedures, artifacts

Organizational Learning As a Dynamic Process

Feed forward

Individual Group Organizational

Feed

back

Individual

Group

Organizational

Intuiting

Institutionalizing

Interpreting

Integrating

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND STRATEGIC RENEWAL by Mary M Crossan; Iris Berdrow, Strategic Management Journal; Nov 2003; 24, 11; pg. 1087

Making it work:

Make learning a strategic issue. Hire the right people. Provide the right environment. Engage in unlearning as well as learning. Remove barriers to learning. Monitor progress and learn some more!