Mar 3, 2010
Appendix 1: The Innovation Process
Appendix 1: The Innovation Process
From a review of the literature (Boeddrich, 2004; Goulding, 1983; Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006; Leonard and Sensiper, 1998; Majaro, 1988; McAdam and McClelland, 2002 and Sonnenburg, 2004) a working model of the innovation process is delineated (Figure 35).
This process of developing new products, technologies, ways of HR collaboration, public works projects and new marketing and promotion initiatives consists of three central stages,
- Idea Creation (Figure 35(b)),
- Idea Concretisation (Figure 35(c)) and
- Innovation Projects (Figure 35(d))
– which are book-ended by a foundation stage involving the creation of strategic guidelines for innovation (Figure 33(a)) and an implementation/commercialisation (end-use) stage (Figure 35(e)).
To further subdivide the process, it is possible to characterise the first three stages as a kind of idea management/concept-finding/pre-development process (primarily utilising intellectual resources) (Figure 35(f)) and the last two phases as a matter of multi project management (involving the utilisation of more tangible resources) (Figure 35(g)) (Boeddrich, 2004).
According to Boeddrich (2004) the innovative process can be said to ‘straighten out’ over the stages (Figure 35(h)). The earlier stages are the ‘fuzzy’ end of innovation, while the later stages are governed by more formal procedures and structures and are thus ‘straighter’ – i.e. less flexible, with more guidelines and requirements to be met.
It is, perhaps, important to note that the fuzzier (earlier) end of the innovative process (idea creation and concretisation) is not strictly linear and is informed and influenced by iterations, feedback loops, co-occurrences and interactions (Sonnenburg, 2004). Note that this is not a complete description of the process and all its interrelations and iterations but rather a synthesis of the literature so as to provide an overview of the key issues involved in the innovative process which provides the context for further discussion.
Figure 35: The Innovation Process: An Overview
a. Strategic Guidelines for Innovation:
The first bookend is the setting out of strategic guidelines for innovation. For products to be successful in the market (or for process and technological innovation to be of value in the organisation) then ideas must be linked with the organisation’s strategy, vision and goals at a very early stage of the development process. Accordingly, a set of strategic guidelines for innovation developed by top management and the innovation managers (if any) is an essential foundation for the creation of a successful and sustainable creative and innovative system with the organisation (Boeddrich, 2004). The particulars of such guidelines will be a function of the firm’s knowledge vision and driving objective (Nonaka and Toyama, 2005), strategic objectives of the firm, its resources (present and future) and the industry and environment.
b. Idea Creation:
Idea creation (Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006), idea generation (Goulding, 1988; Majaro, 1988; McAdam and McClelland, 2002) or idea generation and adoption (Boeddrich, 2004) is the first phase of the innovation process. In this stage, an individual comes up with a product idea (Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006) or a service, marketing or process idea. While it is acknowledged that there are myriad interactions that will influence individuals within organisations or teams, this paper recognises that the raw idea must, at its birth, sprout from an individual source (refer to Section 2.3). As development moves through the creation and concretisation stages, ideas are subject numerous challenges, modifications, and co-occurrences which will change the ideas and perhaps even spark new ideas at the top of the innovation process.
c. Idea Concretisation:
Between the creation of ideas and their progression into formal innovation projects within the organisation, ideas must be screened, (Boeddrich, 2004; Majaro, 1988; McAdam and McClelland, 2002), developed further conceptually (Boeddrich, 2004), tested for feasibility (Majaro, 1988; McAdam and McClelland, 2002) and be incorporated into preliminary projects (Boeddrich, 2004). This in-between stage is termed idea concretisation by Griffiths-Hemans and Grover (2006) and the output of such a stage is a blueprint, plan, prototype or detailed report and so on that represents a concrete vision of the desired result. Concretisation will mean different things to different functional groups, and as such recognition of concretisation will depend (at a basic level) on the type of project being undertaken, which functional groups are involved, and the relationships between such groups (Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006).
d. Innovation Projects:
The innovation projects (Boeddrich, 2004) stage involves three steps. First, in moving from idea concretisation, decisions must be made on which projects to proceed with (Boeddrich, 2004) – this is idea commitment as described by Griffiths-Hemans and Grover (2006). The idea commitment phase begins when concrete ideas are presented to top management for appraisal, and the ends with the acceptance or rejection of the idea in its present form (Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006). Organisational involvement in this stage is restricted to the evaluation of plans and the ironing out of problems if they arise, if the idea is sent back to the drawing board, then Griffiths-Hemans and Grover (2006) regard this as the same as rejection of the idea. Furthermore, ideas may be supported to differing degrees by the organisation from which they originate (Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006).
Once commitment has been made to the idea, development of the innovation elements begins (Boeddrich, 2004). This is the route that the concrete idea travels from formal commitment from the organisation through to readiness for use in the market (in the case of new products, services or marketing strategies) or within the organisation (in the case of new technologies or processes). Detailed discussion of this stage is beyond the scope of this paper.
The final step in the innovation projects phase occurs when the project has been developed to an extent that it is ready for use within the company or commercialisation (Boeddrich, 2004). Typically all that occurs in this stage is the realisation by those involved that the idea has reached a level that meets all assessment criteria specified by management. This may involve a final presentation to those in charge, the submission of a completed physical product, repeated demonstrations in a controlled setting, or any other number of assessment criteria.
e. Use:
The end results of innovation flow through two channels on the way to being utilised – the commercial (Boeddrich, 2004; Majaro, 198 and the internal. Commercialisation and implementation of the results of innovation (in this case new product or service development or new marketing initiatives) ideally ends with market launch (Boeddrich, 2004). Similarly, the ideal end for internal products is implementation or integration into the organisation. In this case new technologies, new processes, new ways of HR communication (Boeddrich, 2004) are productively utilised within the firm and ultimately disseminated into the wider public domain (either for profit, or not).
References:
Majaro, S. (1988). Managing Ideas for Profit. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
The Creative Gap: Managing Ideas for Profit
