Crossing the Valley of Death: Managing the When, What, and How of Innovative Development Projects

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Midler
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Product Development ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Development Phase ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Global Innovation ◽  
Valley Of Death

The last few decades have seen a profound transformation of innovation project management within automobile firms. During the 1990s, the product development phase was revolutionized by the deployment of heavyweight project management, project portfolio processes, and platform strategies. The 2000s saw the forces of change move upstream in the innovation process, with the development of new methodologies intended to develop and orient creativity, as well as new upfront units acting as innovation labs. However, many upfront creative endeavors still encounter an innovation valley of death when they move into the rigid and risk-averse development phase. Thus, the frontier of innovative project organization seems to be the ongoing quest to reconcile the emergence of breakthrough innovations in the upfront phase with the more rationalized nature of development phases. Based on a case study of a disruptive low-cost car, this article analyzes how the product development phase can support innovative exploration to overcome the challenge of achieving a major cost breakthrough. We analyze the specific content of the project’s innovations ( fractal innovation) and the management practices and organizations used to implement them. We characterize how such innovative product development can contribute to a new economy of innovative effort within the global innovation funnel of the firm. We compare this global innovation process, where development projects play a major role as a locus for organizational learning, to the customary one in automotive firms, where learning happens essentially in front-end marketing and engineering departments.

Projectification

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-564
Author(s):  
Christophe Midler
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Product Development ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Emerging Countries ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Innovation ◽  
Management Literature ◽  
Innovation Processes

Purpose The last few decades have seen the rapid emergence of two transformative streams in large firms. The first is the development of project management, aimed at improving the performance of innovation management, while the second, the internationalization of innovation organizations and processes in response to strategies of redeployment toward emerging countries. Both streams have been closely analyzed in the fields of project management and international management, respectively. However, the links between the two have been less studied. The purpose of this paper is to consider the hypothesis that a firm’s projectification might have an important impact on its pattern of internationalization in innovation. Design/methodology/approach First, we present the models of internationalization of innovation processes used in the multinational corporation literature. This field essentially focuses on the components of permanent organizations: global internationalization strategy and legacy, R&D footprint, characterization of local subsidiaries and the role of central head offices. Projects figure only as a context in which those elements operate, not as a structuring variable of the global innovation process pattern. The authors challenge this view by exploring whether the specificities of the firm’s projectification pattern can influence how it builds its global innovation process. The paper is based on a longitudinal case where the authors analyze the organizational transition within the Renault group, an emblematic case of a multinational that implemented a spectacular internationalization transition in the 2000s. Findings Our results demonstrate project organizing’s major impact on the internationalization patterns of innovation processes within the firm. They show how the deployment of a polycentric innovation footprint has been the consequence of a specific projectification transition, giving the project and program functions the autonomy to transgress centralized product development norms to adapt their project to the local environment; use the initial breakthrough project as the foundation for a new and specific global product development network through a lineage logic; and sustain this innovation global network as a permanent process of the firm. Research limitations/implications The paper demonstrates the importance of the organization’s projectification characteristics as an important vector for successfully implementing the most advanced internationalization strategies (i.e. reverse innovation) and innovation processes models (i.e. integrated networks). Practical implications The paper characterizes project management related conditions that can govern the success of innovation strategies in high-growth emerging countries: the autonomy and empowerment of project functions; colocation and integration of teams; existence of a program function; and HR policies capable of supporting lineage management and project-to-project learning processes. Originality/value Bridging project management literature with multinational management literature. Demonstrate the key impact of projectification on internationalization pattern of the firm. Longitudinal analysis of a firm internationalization transition on a ten-year period.

Using action research in innovation project management: building legitimacy and organizational learning in an SME during a merger process

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance Elizabeth Kampf ◽  
Charlotte J. Brandt ◽  
Christopher G. Kampf
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Project

PurposeThe purpose is to explore how the process of action research (AR) can support building legitimacy and organizational learning in innovation project management and portfolio practices in merger contexts.Design/methodology/approachMeta-reflection on method issues in Action Research through an action research case study with an innovation group during an organizational change process. This case demonstrates an example of an action research cycle focused on building practitioner legitimacy rather than problem-solving.FindingsKey findings include (1) demonstrating how AR can be used for building legitimacy through visualizing the innovation process, and embedding those visuals in top management practices of the organization; and (2) demonstrating how AR can work as an organizational learning tool in merger contexts.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on an action research cooperation during a two-and-a-half-year period. Thus, findings offer the depth of a medium term case study. The processes of building legitimacy represent this particular case, and can be investigated in other organizational contexts to see the extent to which these issues can be generalized.Practical implicationsFor researchers, this paper offers an additional type of AR cycle to consider in their research design which can be seen as demonstrating a form of interplay between practitioner action and organizational level legitimacy. For practitioners, this paper demonstrates a connection between legitimacy and organizational learning in innovation contexts. The discussion of how visuals were co-created and used for building legitimacy for an innovation process that differs from the standard stage gate model demonstrates how engaging in AR research can contribute to developing visuals as resources for building legitimacy and organizational learning based on connections between theory and practice.Originality/valueThis case rethinks AR practice for innovation project management contexts to include legitimacy and organizational learning. This focus on legitimacy building from organizational learning and knowledge conversion contributes to our understanding of the soft side of innovation project management. Legitimacy is demonstrated to be a key concern for innovation project management practices.

The Back End of Open Innovation

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-85
Author(s):  
Henry Chesbrough
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Talent Management ◽  
Business Units ◽  
Front End ◽  
Compensation Systems ◽  
Valley Of Death

There is a Valley of Death inside many organizations, between the innovation managers and the business units of the company. This internal valley results from human, organizational, and structural bottlenecks that impede the flow of knowledge from the laboratory to the market. A powerful example of these bottlenecks surfaced in recent research at NASA. Four companies’ practices for managing these bottlenecks are discussed: SAP, Intel, EMC, and Royal Bank of Scotland. Companies must approach these bottlenecks with care, and examine their compensation systems, their funding processes, and talent management practices, to connect the back end of the innovation process to the front end of that process.

IS Project Management Contemporary Research Challenges

2005 ◽  
pp. 1673-1678
Author(s):  
Maggie McPherson
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Service Improvement ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Modern Project ◽  
Modern Business ◽  
Traditional Fields

Although project management is often said to have its roots in other traditional fields, such as construction, Morris (2002) asserts that modern project management practices have their origins in the 1950s US aerospace agencies. Much has been written about Information System (IS) / Information Technology (IT) project initiatives in both the public and private sectors. In fact, many information systems frequently fall short of their requirements, and are, more often than not, costlier and arrive later than anticipated, if indeed they are completed at all. For instance, according to a report for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2001), failures of major IT investments and key systems development projects have raised concerns for the achievement of service improvement through information technology. Additionally, it has been argued that failures in IT projects are more common than failures in any other aspect of modern business (Nulden, 1996).

COMPARISON OF OPEN SOURCE TOOLS FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (02) ◽  
pp. 189-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDRÉ MARQUES PEREIRA ◽  
RAFAEL QUEIROZ GONÇALVES ◽  
CHRISTIANE GRESSE VON WANGENHEIM ◽  
LUIGI BUGLIONE
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Software Tools ◽  
Tool Support ◽  
Maturity Model ◽  
Capability Maturity

Software projects often fail, because they are not adequately managed. The establishment of effective and efficient project management practices still remains a key challenge to software organizations. Striving to address these needs, "best practice" models, such as, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) or the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), are being developed to assist organizations in improving project management. Although not required, software tools can help implement the project management process in practice. In order to provide comprehensive, low-cost tool support for project management, specifically, for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in this paper we compare the most popular free/open-source web-based project management tools with respect to their compliance to PMBOK and CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV). The results of this research can be used by organizations to make decisions on tool adoptions as well as a basis for evolving software tools in alignment with best practices models.

Integrating service practice into project management: a matter of “do or die”?

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thommie Allan Burström ◽  
Mattias Jacobsson ◽  
Timothy L. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Product Development ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Development Project

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze service management practices within a project management context. Design/methodology/approach – This research supporting conceptual developments was both exploratory and qualitative in nature and utilized an in-depth case study of a major product development project. Findings – The conceptual framework developed is applied to empirical observations of product development project. Because there is an adequate fit with observations, elements of a service management approach appear to be viable in the description, managing, and control of projects. Research limitations/implications – Because the research was built on a case study, one has the limitations common with that approach. Conversely, case studies are acknowledged as useful in the identification of important variables in situations in which there is little control over events in a real-world context. Practical implications – Customer satisfaction is a requirement of project organizations, which is an inherent requisite of any service organization. Consequently, one turns to those elements in the practice of service management that lead to best management practices. Originality/value – This paper contributes with a practice-based understanding of how project management is based on integrated service practice.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document