-1679476342.png){kind=logo}
Abstract
Learning to manage innovation is essentially about developing and modifying capability to search, select and implement and being able to repeat the trick. Developing ‘routines’ which allow for regular innovative activity is central to capability building – but the paradox is that as the firm routinises so its ability to cope with the unexpected diminishes. Successful innovating organisations also require the ability to review those routines and extend or change them.
We suggest that discontinuous innovation highlights this problem of dynamic capability in that it forces firms to learn new approaches and let go of old ones around the core search, select and implement questions. In this paper, we explore the challenge of extending and replacing routines for ‘selection’ in the face of discontinuous challenges and highlight the problems of ‘bounded space’ within which both explore and exploit routines operate but which are insufficient to cope with challenges in discontinuity.
Keywords
References
- 1. (1975). ‘A dynamic model of product and process innovation’. Omega. 3, 6, 639-656 Google Scholar
- 2. (2001). ‘A complex systems approach to learning, adaptive networks’. International Journal of Innovation Management. 5, 3, 149-180 Google Scholar
- 3. (2003). ‘Exploitation, exploration, and process management: the productivity dilemma revisited’. Academy of Management Review. 28, 2, 238-256 Google Scholar
- 4. (2003). High Involvement Innovation. Chichester:John Wiley and Sons Google Scholar
- 5. (2007). Twelve Search Strategies Which Might Save Your Organization. London:AIM Executive Briefing Google Scholar
- 6. (2009). ‘Backing outsiders: selection strategies for discontinuous innovation’. R&D Management. forthcoming Google Scholar
- 7. (2007). ‘Finding, forming, and performing: creating networks for discontinuous innovation’. California Management Review. 49, 3, 67-83 Google Scholar
- 8. (1997). The Innovator’s Dilemma. Cambridge, Mass:Harvard Business School Press Google Scholar
- 9. (2003). The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth. Boston:Harvard Business School Press Google Scholar
- 10. (2001). Winning at New Products. 3rd ed., London:Kogan Page Google Scholar
- 11. (2006). Peripheral Vision: Detecting the Weak Signals That Will Make or Break Your Company. Boston, Mass:Harvard Business School Press Google Scholar
- 12. (1982). ‘Technological paradigms and technological trajectories’. Research Policy. 11, 3, 147-162 Google Scholar
- 13. (2000). Leading the Revolution. Boston, Mass:Harvard Business School Press Google Scholar
- 14. (1990). ‘Architectural innovation: the reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms’. Administrative Science Quarterly. 35, 1, 9-30 Google Scholar
- 15. (2002). The Competent Organization. Buckingham:Open University Press Google Scholar
- 16. (2001). ‘New concept development model: providing clarity and a common language to the ‘fuzzy front end’ of innovation’. Research Technology Management. 44, 2, 46-55 Google Scholar
- 17. (2006). ‘Balancing exploration and exploitation in alliance formation’. Academy of Management Journal. 49, 4, 797-818 Google Scholar
- 18. (1995). Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation. Boston, Mass:Harvard Business School Press Google Scholar
- 19. , Starbuck, W. Nystrom, H. (1981). ‘Ambiguity and choice in organisations’. Handbook of Organisation Design. Oxford:Oxford University Press Google Scholar
- 20. (1998). ‘Strategic innovation in established companies’. Sloan Management Review. 39, 3, 31-42 Google Scholar
- 21. (1984). ‘Sectoral patterns of technical change; towards a taxonomy and a theory’. Research Policy. 13, 6, 343-373 Google Scholar
- 22. (2002). Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital. Cheltenham:Edward Elgar Google Scholar
- 23. (1974). The Politics of Organizational Decision-Making. London:Tavistock Google Scholar
- 24. (2006). The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. New Jersey:Wharton School Publishing Google Scholar
- 25. (1996). The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development. New York:John Wiley and Sons Google Scholar
- 26. (2004). Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution Is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations. New York:Berrett Koehler Google Scholar
- 27. (1992). Organizations. Oxford:Basil Blackwell Google Scholar
- 28. (1997). ‘Dynamic capabilities and strategic management’. Strategic Management Journal. 18, 7, 509-533 Google Scholar
- 29. (2009). Managing Innovation – Integrating Technological, Market and Organizational Change. Chichester:John Wiley Google Scholar
- 30. (2000). ‘Capabilities, cognition and inertia: evidence from digital imaging’. Strategic management Journal. 21, 10/11, 1147-1161 Google Scholar
- 31. (1996a). ‘Ambidextrous organizations: managing evolutionary and revolutionary change’. California Management Review. 38, 4, 8-30 Google Scholar
- 32. (1996b). Winning through Innovation. Boston, Mass:Harvard Business School Press Google Scholar
- 33. (2005). What Customers Want: Using Outcome-driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services. New York:McGraw-Hill Google Scholar
- 34. (1994). Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation. Boston, Mass:Harvard Business School Press Google Scholar
- 35. (1999). The Innovation Journey. Oxford:Oxford University Press Google Scholar
- 36. ‘Puzzles in organizational learning’. British Journal of Management. 2002, 09, 13, 7-16 Google Scholar
- 37. (2004).
‘Managerial responses to cognitive dissonance: causes of the mismanagement of discontinuous technological innovations’.
Paper presented at the IAMOT Conference ,Miami Google Scholar - 38. ,
Khalil,
T. (2006).
‘Managerial responses to cognitive dissonance: causes of the mismanagement of discontinous technological innovations’.
IAMOT 2004 , New York:Elsevier Google Scholar - 39. (2002). ‘Absorptive capacity: a review, reconceptualization and extension’. Academy of Management Review. 27, 2, 185-194 Google Scholar
