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This article analyses innovation management techniques (IMTs) or practices and their efficiency from a new perspective — stakeholder management — through three proxy models: environmental strategy, quality management, and corporate social responsibility. It also investigates the role of the Research and Development (R&D) function, particularly its critical position in adopting IMTs. It incorporates recent concepts such as co-innovation, design thinking, lean innovation, and artificial intelligence models. In this relationship, through a comprehensive literature review, this article develops a theoretical context to understand the evolution of the theory and practice of IMTs. This study draws on field research with data on 529 Spanish firms, their IMTs and stakeholders’ management practices, and their innovation results. Through a partial least squares (PLS) analysis, this study illustrates a model delineating the role of stakeholders’ focused management on the effect of IMTs on a firm’s innovation performance. This research concludes on the relevance of IMT use to the incremental innovation output of companies. The stakeholders’ management and R&D focus is supporting the innovation process. The main result is that incremental innovation is the path to radical innovation development. Thus, the findings conclude that a well-structured innovation system with precise stakeholder engagement underpins overall inventive activity inside firms. Various innovative approaches (IMTs) provide a systematic approach to invention, increasing the launch of successful ideas to the market.

The Six Facets Model of technology management has previously only been applied to process innovation at the firm and the industry level. In this article, the model is applied to product innovation for the first time. In the context of genetically-modified organisms in the agribusiness industry, we examine radical product innovation through the Six Facets Model. We propose, based on the history of genetically-modified organisms in agribusiness, that when applied to product innovation the Six Facets Model will benefit considerably from the inclusion of potential negative externalities and the reactions of external stakeholders.

The Accelerated Radical Innovation (ARI) methodology, an integrated approach to shepherding radical innovation from initial concept through commercialization, was compared to the approach used by an investor-funded seed-stage innovation incubation firm. Similarities include traversal of the same major stages of innovation, emphasis on front-end analysis before escalating commitments, and using an extended "probe-and-learn" process. Key differences were in emphasis. The ARI model relies on analysis and intelligence gleaned from external sources, while ConduIT views each innovation project as unique, requiring tailored responses that will not be found elsewhere. And while the ARI model relies on a structured process, ConduIT favors a more intuitive, people-centered approach. The message for ARI is to become more flexible and adaptable to each innovation's uniquenesses. For ConduIT the challenges are increasing portfolio turnover and scaling up, which will require a more repeatable, teachable, standardized process such as the ARI model.

Despite the many attempts of researchers to integrate the innovation literature, it continues to be fragmented and its results not cumulative. After a thorough review of the literature, this article proposes an integrative framework that reconciles the theories of innovation by having the types of innovation on one dimension and the degrees of innovation on the other dimension to reduce the confusion in the field and further the development of a workable theory of innovation management. The many factors that influence innovation are then identified and categorized along a four-by-four framework to lead to a comprehensive classification that will reduce the ambiguity and inconsistency in the innovation literature. The implications of this framework for future research on innovation as a profitable product or service are addressed.

This paper addresses the ongoing discussion in the literature on innovation typologies, taxonomies, terms, and measurement. It also put forth a proposal for a novel concept and typology for radical innovations based on a holistic and dynamic innovativeness understanding on the level of the individual innovation project with respect to different context levels and process stages. By differentiating between the degrees of innovativeness at the stages of concept, realization, and impact, the so-far neglected process dimension of innovation is now considered in the proposed radicalness typology called "Total Project-Radicalness Matrix". In order to illustrate this approach, the case of the "ROBIN" innovation project was analyzed, which later became the nucleus of the new "Toll Collect System" for electronic road pricing in Germany. This novel approach tries to support managers and researchers alike in enhancing the categorization, monitoring and measurement of innovation projects during the innovation process.

This paper explores how geographical diversity of an alliance portfolio benefits resource-based firm innovation. We propose that there are inverted U-shaped relationships between geographical diversity of an alliance portfolio and a firm’s radical and incremental innovation. In addition, resource characteristics and alliance governance structures are considered as important moderators between geographically diverse alliances and innovation. Relevant resources of alliance partners help focal firms to acquire valuable resources from different locations, thus improving organizational capabilities and achieving innovation. Governance structure choices concentrate on opportunism and transaction cost in coordinating resource sharing and recombination activities, which determine focal firms’ cost of knowledge management and then innovation outcome. Our research could advance the literature on alliance portfolio diversity by studying how firms use their alliance portfolio from diverse locations to recombine resources and then to enhance innovation, which remains less explored.

This study examines how characteristics of chief technology officer (CTO) drive radical innovation of the firm. Using data of 140 firms in US manufacturing industries, this study finds that the characteristics of the CTO explains a significant proportion of a firm’s relative radicalness even after controlling for CEO and top management team (TMT) characteristics, organizational capabilities, and other firm characteristics. Specifically, a CTO’s diverse functional experience increases a firm’s radicalness. In terms of individual prior functions, marketing experience was significantly related to radical innovation. In addition, the CTO’s diverse industrial experience increases the firm’s radicalness. In contrast to the existing theories, the CTO’s education level, tenure and age showed insignificant effects. However, the number of degrees in engineering and science showed significant effect on the performance of radical innovation. These results of the analysis on firm-level radicalness provide implications for both academics and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of performance-based rewards on radical innovation. In doing so, it explores the role of knowledge acquisition and innovative work behavior (IWB) as possible mechanisms that underlie the relationship between performance-based rewards and radical innovation. The subsequent effect of IWB on promoting radical innovation is explored. The study employs data from 235 unit managers in manufacturing and technology firms in Jordan. Structural equation modeling was used to test for reliability, validity, and the hypothesized relationships. The results indicate that performance-based rewards positively affect knowledge acquisition. In addition, knowledge acquisition mediates the link between performance-based rewards and IWB. IWB is also significant and positive in promoting radical innovation. This paper is one of the first to examine how radical innovation can be promoted through IWB. It offers insights into and contributions to the literature on the role of performance-based rewards in driving radical innovation through the mediating effect of knowledge acquisition and the subsequent impact of IWB on radical innovation.

In the last few decades, the connection between innovation and sustainable development has been brought to the surface due to the concerns of academics, scientists, and policymakers regarding environmental and social issues. Although numerous studies have discussed the significance of innovation in achieving corporate sustainable development (CSD), the relationship between these two concepts remains vague. Under this background, the aim of this study was to examine which types of innovation have a significant impact on CSD. In particular, four types of innovation were tested — incremental, radical, product, and process innovation — with the three dimensions of CSD: the social, environmental, and economic dimensions. The data collected from medium- and large-sized firms revealed that incremental, radical, and process innovation had a significant positive impact on CSD. These results have substantial theoretical and managerial implications, as they indicate what types of innovation managers should focus on in order to improve their sustainable business performance.

This paper looks at the management of service innovation. In particular, it explores the challenge of public services and argues that there is a need for new approaches to the ways which engage users as more active co-creators within the innovation process. It draws on wider research on radical innovation being carried out as part of a long-term international programme and reports on a series of case studies of experiments in the health sector in the UK using tools like ethnography and prototyping to enable innovation.

The paper argues that a potentially valuable toolkit can be found in the field of design methods. By their nature, design tools are used to help articulate needs and give them shape and form; as such they are critical to the "front end" of any innovation process. Methods like ethnography allow for deep insights into user needs, including those not clearly articulated whilst prototyping provides the possibility of creating a set of "boundary objects" around which design discussions which include users and their perspectives can be carried out.

This paper postulates that corporate core-rigidities affect an established firm's adaptation to technological innovation. This manuscript further clarifies that when the implementation of new activities is sacrificed at the cost of an established firm's core-rigidities, the firm may find it difficult to (incrementally or radically) incorporate new technological innovations into their operations. To analyze these issues in greater detail, this paper evaluates the Toyota Motor Company as a case study for an organization's struggle to simultaneously adapt two innovations. Interviews at the Chinese production base for Toyota served as the methodology for this case study.

This paper poses a critical view on radical innovation (RI) management research and practice. The study investigates how expected RI performance influences firms’ understanding of their RI capability. RI performance is often based on output measures such as market shares or fiscal return. On the contrary, RI capability building advocates for exploration, learning, and accepting uncertainty. Hence, RI capability building often focuses on the processes of the firms, and not the outcome. Thus, it is argued that the RI capability-building and RI performance expectations are based on different managerial orientations. Coupling a discussion of the literature with case findings from four large international firms, this paper identifies a discrepancy between RI capability-building and RI performance within literature and practice. This is regarded to be a major contributing factor to RI program failure. This study presents three misunderstandings related to RI research and practice and discusses implications of these findings.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how Front End Innovation (FEI) is supported and managed among companies of different nationality within the context of pharmaceutical R&D. The present study is carried out in order to contribute to the development of a clearer understanding of active facilitation of innovation management and FEI in theory and in practice across international borders. I aim to show how different aspects of Pharma and nationality affect the way innovation management and radical FEI are supported within organisations. This is examined through an in-depth case study of the Danish and US based pharmaceutical company, H. Lundbeck A/S, and a comparative study including five European and American pharmaceutical companies. The findings from the study reveal a number of similarities and differences in innovation management and FEI support of radical projects and among the different nationalities. This presents propositions of important aspects to consider in facilitation of radical FEI in general and in multinational pharmaceutical companies. In addition, proposals are made for a global study of innovation management and FEI support including Chinese and other Asian pharmaceutical companies, which represent a growing market. The value added and the contribution of this paper to the existing FEI literature is therefore in the specificity of the empirical setting in which the issue is investigated.

Trust within teams is a central performance driver in product innovation. In this paper, we examine the antecedents to and performance implications of trust in firms engaged in radical innovation compared to those working towards incremental innovations. Our findings suggest that systematic processes and structures are significantly linked to trust in firms conducting radical innovation, but not so in firms conducting incremental innovation. Our findings also indicate that trust is significantly linked to business performance in radical innovation firms, although we do not find that the link between trust and performance is stronger for radical innovation firms, compared to incremental innovation firms. A central contribution of our study is therefore a better understanding of how trust operates differently in radical innovation firms, compared to incremental innovation firms. Our findings are of interest to research on radical innovation management, as well as to researchers studying the role of trust in a context of product innovation.

In several industries, competitive and societal factors have highlighted the need for incubating dedicated radical innovation (RI) capabilities. Traditional approaches to RI strategies have often emphasised either organisational or cognitive aspects, but tend to overlook how these dimensions interact within the organisation. This paper tackles the issue of these interplays by investigating the effects of a creativity-based collaborative method, the KCP Workshops, on the RI capability of a firm. We present an in-depth case study of a leading aeronautics firm that adopted the method to face its RI challenges. While being consistent with prior research and underscoring the impact of organisational settings on creative cognitive processes, our analysis empirically demonstrates a triple capability developed through the KCP Workshops: (1) collectively building a conceivable RI strategy, (2) deploying a monitoring process adapted to the exploration of cognitive breakthroughs, (3) collectively building “emerging creative organisations” at the ecosystem level to support the development of RI strategy. Beyond the performance of the RI capability for commercial applications, these findings underline how the collective design of an RI strategy also involves players in the exploration and establishment of organisational innovations.

Existing theories of organisational behaviour have addressed the relationship between the role of leadership behaviour of project manager and outcomes of subordinates in developing new products (e.g., improving innovation speed and new product performance). However, only a small number of researchers have investigated the impact of leadership behaviour on the fuzzy front end. Specifically, the role of leadership behaviour in reducing uncertainty in the fuzzy front end for each innovation type has been largely overlooked. Apart from employing the path-goal theory and using survey research, this research collects data from the food & beverage, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries in Thailand ($N=244$) and analyses the data with structural equation modeling. Our results can contribute how the leadership behaviour of project manager impacts on development of each type of product innovation. The findings reveal that the directive path-goal behaviour of project managers helps to reduce uncertainty in the fuzzy front end during incremental innovation development. In contrast, achievement-oriented behaviour of project managers helps to reduce uncertainty in the fuzzy front end during radical innovation development. Additionally, reducing uncertainty in the fuzzy front end can enhance the new product performance of these two types of innovation.

The aim of this paper is to study the influence of the environment on the link between intellectual capital and ambidextrous innovation. The environment has been considered taking into account the technological turbulence and the market turbulence. Using a questionnaire survey approach, data were obtained from 155 directors representing Tunisian SMEs. Two main theoretical implications were highlighted. The first is the extent of the intellectual capital contribution, with its human, organizational and relational components, to the reading of the ambidextrous innovation within the organization. The second is the moderating role of environmental turbulence. From a practical side, the study tried to reap the intellectual capital benefits and the intermediate effect of environmental turbulence to improve the manager’s yields in term of innovation. Interestingly, results show that human capital affects ambidextrous innovation. It influences radical innovation more than incremental innovation. Relationship capital promotes only incremental innovation. Organizational capital influences ambidextrous innovation. Its effect on incremental innovation is greater than on radical innovation. Both technological and market turbulences moderate negatively the human capital effect on incremental innovation. Counter to our expectations, however, environmental turbulence does not moderate the interrelationships selectively between relational capital, organizational capital and ambidextrous innovation. The present study is one of the few studies conducted in Tunisia investigating the field of intellectual capital and the first studying its effect on the ambidextrous innovation in a turbulent environment.

Many organisations face intense pressure to produce radical innovations. Consequently, innovation researchers have highlighted the need for incubating dedicated radical innovation capabilities. R&D teams are especially pivotal in generating these radical, highly-novel, original ideas at the front end of innovation (FEI). But such efforts end more often in failure than success. Organisational learning theorists have begun to draw on Goal Orientation theory as a motivational driver that might boost the success rate of teams working on such radical innovation projects. But, as yet, no fieldwork has been conducted on R&D teams to explore this promising theoretical model. In this paper, we use a case study of a corporate experiment comprising two innovation teams to investigate how situationally induced goal orientation in R&D teams might impact the radicality of innovation ideas. We find that a shared team Learning Goal orientation is associated with radical innovation and that a shared team Performance Goal orientation is associated with incremental innovation. This paper provides field-based evidence of the role of shared team goal orientation on FEI ideation outcomes. An implication of our findings for R&D managers faced with the difficulties of generating radical innovations from internal teams is that more attention should be paid to the situational cues that impact team FEI efforts, and in particular, a team’s goal orientation.

The beneficial value of leveraging external networks in the innovation process has sparked widespread attention by open innovation scholars. With the rise of novel digital technologies such as social media, the opportunity space for accessing a multitude of external knowledge outside the organisation has significantly expanded. For instance, social media is currently not only vital in monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak, but also in leveraging knowledge to find a treatment for coronavirus. Nevertheless, theory and empirical evidence on how user integration using novel technologies such as social media affects radical innovation remains scarce and inconclusive. Using data obtained from 269 senior managers in new product development departments, this study reveals that the use of social media tools for new product development positively impacts radical innovation. The positive relationship is further strengthened by higher levels of an organisation’s technology acceptance of social media. However, we also find that routinisation with social media technology weakens the positive relationship, suggesting that frequent social media users may be more vulnerable to the systemic challenges of social media tools. This study advances open innovation research and information systems literature, elevating the controversial and debated impact of customer integration and information technology for radical innovation into the digitisation era.

The aim of this research is to study the impact of inter-organisational strategies on performance of radical product innovation. We distinguish three kinds of strategies: (1) individual strategy, (2) cooperation with non-rivals strategy, and (3) coopetition strategy. We study innovation at the product level, and we analyse the market performance. We develop and test the hypotheses comparing the effects of these three strategies on the market performance of radical product innovation. An empirical research is carried out to study the video game publishing industry. We perform a quantitative analysis on a sample of 100 video games that involve radical innovations, identified among 822 video games launched between 2006 and 2011. The main results show that coopetition is the most fruitful strategy for developing a radical innovation. In this process, a direct competitor becomes the best and the most viable partner for that type of innovation.