Leading innovation – resolving creativity’s paradoxes

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Brian Leavy

Purpose Corporate innovation is an often misunderstood process, largely because managing it successfully requires inherently contradictory aims, such as control and freedom. This article looks at a variety of approaches by leading authorities. Design/methodology/approach A number of recent books have examined the paradoxical tensions at the heart of the innovation process. The article assesses the guidance they offer practitioners on how to manage a process replete with conflict and contradictions. Findings Several authors suggest unconventional approaches to unleash the talents of individuals and groups in ways that are productive for the organization. Practical implications One of the main challenges in leading innovation is to cultivate both cohesion and dissent. Originality/value This masterclass is a useful primer for practitioners leading an innovation initiative.

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Finn Rieken ◽  
Thomas Boehm ◽  
Mareike Heinzen ◽  
Mirko Meboldt

Purpose Corporates have recently invested in company-owned makerspaces with the goal to skim the potential of makerspaces as innovation driver. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the first framework describing elements and the innovation-related impact on users of corporate makerspaces (CMSs). Design/methodology/approach The CMS framework is based on a critical review of 116 scientific articles on makerspaces and the embedding of the review findings into the corporate context. Findings A prototyping infrastructure, a community infrastructure and facilitators are proposed to be key elements of CMSs. Further, CMSs are suggested to have an impact on ideation, concept iteration during the innovation process and collaboration of its users. Research limitations/implications The framework on CMSs is based on a critical review of makerspace literature and not on empirical research data. Practical implications This paper sheds light on key elements and the expected innovation-related impact of a CMS on the users and thus contains useful information for corporate innovation management on how to plan, build and implement a CMS. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first review of makerspace literature with focus on their elements and innovation-related impact. Additionally, the review provides the first academic definition of the growing phenomenon of CMSs and describes elements and the innovation-related impact of CMSs on its users in companies, which paves the way for further research on CMSs.


2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Hargadon

PurposeThe author has spent the last ten years studying the innovation process in modern organizations and found that the most successful firms pursue an innovation strategy termed technology brokering.Design/methodology/approachHow are the objectives achieved? Include the main method(s) used for the research. What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or subject scope of the paper?FindingsRather than chasing wholly new ideas, these successful firms focus on recombining old ideas in new ways. The results have sparked many technological revolutions and produced a steady stream of growth opportunities for existing businesses.Research limitations/implicationsNeeds cases showing that technology brokering, and the complementary work practices and people, can successfully execute such a strategy.Practical implicationsBy transforming traditional R&D organizations through a strategy of technology brokering firms can build competencies for continuous innovation..Originality/valueTo pursue a strategy of recombinant innovation, corporate leaders must put themselves in position to be the first to see how existing technologies in one market could be used to create breakthrough innovations in another.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catharina von Koskull ◽  
Tore Strandvik ◽  
Bård Tronvoll

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on an aspect of service innovation processes that has remained fairly hidden so far, namely, the role of emotions. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use the strategizing approach from strategy research, which focusses on detailed processes, practices, and discourse, to understand the influence of emotions on service innovation processes. The empirical data stem from a longitudinal ethnographic study of a service innovation process. Findings – In the investigated case, the dominant emotion of anxiety is revealed. The authors focus on this emotion in order to explore how it affects the innovation process itself and the outcome. The authors identify five emotion-driven practices that form elements of what the authors label emotional strategizing. Practical implications – Emotion seems to give energy and direction to the service innovation process. This is both positive and challenging for top-level managers. Originality/value – The authors reveal a hidden aspect of service innovation processes – the effect of emotions. Furthermore, the authors show that emotions are important because they give energy and direction to the innovation work, and emerge in practices. Emotional strategizing, as a new term, gives visibility to this important issue.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 10-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. Kotter

Purpose – This internationally recognized innovation expert asserts that today's organizations need a powerful new operating system to address the challenges posed by mounting complexity and rapid change. Design/methodology/approach – As a consultant to companies seeking to re-invigorate the innovation process, the author can describe how they have implemented the dual operating system – a network and a hierarchy – that he advocates. Findings – When organizations are dangerously slow to adapt to competitive threats and to pursue promising innovations, the solution to, which has been adopted successfully by many organizations, is to add a second operating system that is organized as a network that can create agility and speed. Practical implications – The author explains how all successful organizations operate with a dual system more or less during the most dynamic growth period in their life cycle, so a dual operating system will be somewhat familiar to veteran leaders. Originality/value – The organization's top management plays a crucial role in starting and maintaining the network and managing its communications with the hierarchy. For senior practitioners, the author describes the five basic principles of a well-functioning dual operating system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 10-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Leavy

Purpose This masterclass examines the blue ocean value innovation process, how it works in practice and how it has evolved since the publication of Blue Ocean Strategy (2005) by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne as explored in their new book their new book Blue Ocean Shift (2017). Design/methodology/approach The main focus is the value innovation methodology that underlies blue ocean strategy. Findings Blue ocean strategy is a process of value innovation that uncovers new aggregations of demand by redefining the offering category. Practical implications Blue ocean strategy tends to focus on value innovation that uncovers new aggregations of demand by redefining the category while disruptive innovation tends to concentrate on new demand-creation that expands the current served market. Originality/value Blue ocean strategy sets out to reconfigure value propositions in compelling new ways that can deliver a quantum leap beyond the current red ocean value-cost frontier through raising buyer value and lowering company costs simultaneously. The emphasis on both value and innovation is essential to the creation of new “blue ocean” market spaces.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-15

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This research paper concentrates on how the creativity of individuals interrelates with the innovation processes and productivity of UK businesses. It was found that while creative results are difficult to consistently compartmentalize into each of the four innovation process stages, it tends to be that creative individuals add the most value in the earlier two stages of an organizational innovation project. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-471
Author(s):  
Jorge Cruz-Cárdenas ◽  
Jorge Guadalupe-Lanas ◽  
Ekaterina Zabelina ◽  
Andrés Palacio-Fierro ◽  
Margarita Velín-Fárez ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand in-depth how consumers create value in their lives using WhatsApp, the leading mobile instant messaging (MIM) application. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts the perspective of customer-dominant logic (CDL) and uses a qualitative multimethod design involving 3 focus groups and 25 subsequent in-depth interviews. The research setting was Ecuador, a Latin American country. Findings Analysis and interpretation of the participants’ stories made it possible to identify and understand the creation of four types of value: maintaining and strengthening relationships; improving role performance; emotional support; and entertainment and fun. In addition, the present study proposes a conceptual model of consumer value creation as it applies to MIM. Practical implications Understanding the way consumers create value in their lives using MIM is important not only for organizations that offer MIM applications, but also for those companies that develop other applications for mobile phones or for those who wish to use MIM as an electronic word-of-mouth vehicle. Originality/value The current study is one of the first to address the topic of consumer behavior in the use of technologies from the perspective of CDL; this perspective enables an integrated qualitative vision of value creation in which the consumer is the protagonist.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arian Razmi-Farooji ◽  
Hanna Kropsu-Vehkaperä ◽  
Janne Härkönen ◽  
Harri Haapasalo

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to understand data management challenges in e-maintenance systems from a holistically viewpoint through summarizing the earlier scattered research in the field, and second, to present a conceptual approach for addressing these challenges in practice. Design/methodology/approach The study is realized as a combination of a literature review and by the means of analyzing the practices on an industry leader in manufacturing and maintenance services. Findings This research provides a general understanding over data management challenges in e-maintenance and summarizes their associated proposed solutions. In addition, this paper lists and exemplifies different types and sources of data which can be collected in e-maintenance, across different organizational levels. Analyzing the data management practices of an e-maintenance industry leader provides a conceptual approach to address identified challenges in practice. Research limitations/implications Since this paper is based on studying the practices of a single company, it might be limited to generalize the results. Future research topics can focus on each of mentioned data management challenges and also validate the applicability of presented model in other companies and industries. Practical implications Understanding the e-maintenance-related challenges helps maintenance managers and other involved stakeholders in e-maintenance systems to better solve the challenges. Originality/value The so-far literature on e-maintenance has been studied with narrow focus to data and data management in e-maintenance appears as one of the less studied topics in the literature. This research paper contributes to e-maintenance by highlighting the deficiencies of the discussion surrounding the perspectives of data management in e-maintenance by studying all common data management challenges and listing different types of data which need to be acquired in e-maintenance systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 755-770
Author(s):  
Maria Krambia-Kapardis

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a profile of whistleblowers and to determine whether whistleblowing legislation would encourage those individuals to bring to light some illegal or unethical behaviour that otherwise would remain in the shadows. Design/methodology/approach Having identified whistleblowing correlation, a survey was carried out in Cyprus of actual whistleblowers and could-have-been whistleblowers. Findings Males between 46 and55 years of age, regardless of whether they have dependents or hold senior positions in organizations are significantly more likely to blow the whistle. However, could-have-been whistleblowers did not go ahead because they felt that the authorities would not act on their information. Research limitations/implications Because of the sensitive nature of the research topic and the fact that only whistleblowers or intended whistleblowers could participate in the study, the sample size is limited as a result. This, in turn, limits both the number of respondents in each category (actual and intended) as well as constrains the statistical analysis that could be carried out on the data. Practical implications It remains to be seen whether EU Member States shall implement the European Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union Law, in its entirety by the due date, namely December 2021. Originality/value This study provides a literature review of whistleblowing and reports an original survey against the backdrop of the European Directive.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 29-31

Purpose Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings The problem with developing a reputation of being something of an oracle in the business world is that all of a sudden, everyone expects you to pull off the trick of interpreting the future on a daily basis. Like a freak show circus act or one-hit wonder pop singer, people expect you to perform when they see you, and they expect you to perform the thing that made you famous, even if it is the one thing in the world you don’t want to do. And when you fail to deliver on these heightened expectations, you are dismissed as a one trick pony, however good that trick is in the first place. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


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