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Paper Innovation Management Techniques and Tools

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Innovation management techniques

and tools: a review from theory


and practice
Antonio Hidalgo1 and Jose Albors2
1
Department of Business Administration. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, c/José Gutiérrez
Abascal, 2 28006 Madrid, Spain. ahidalgo@etsii.upm.es
2
Department of Business Administration. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, c/Camino de
Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain. jalbors@omp.upv.es

Knowledge is considered to be an economic driver in today’s economy. It has become a


commodity, a resource that can be packed and transferred. The objective of this paper is to
provide a comprehensive review of the scope, trends and major actors (firms, organizations,
government, consultants, academia, etc.) in the development and use of methods to manage
innovation in a knowledge-driven economy. The paper identifies the main innovation manage-
ment techniques (IMTs) aiming at the improvement of firm competitiveness by means
of knowledge management. It will specifically focus on those IMTs for which knowledge
is a relevant part of the innovation process. The research study, based on a survey at the
European level, concludes that a knowledge-driven economy affects the innovation process and
approach. The traditional idea that innovation is based on research (technology-push theory)
and interaction between firms and other actors has been replaced by the current social
network theory of innovation, where knowledge plays a crucial role in fostering innovation.
Simultaneously, organizations in both public and private sectors have launched initiatives
to develop methodologies and tools to support business innovation management. Higher
education establishments, business schools and consulting companies are developing innovative
and adequate methodologies and tools, while public authorities are designing and setting
up education and training schemes aimed at disseminating best practices among all kinds
of businesses.

1. Introduction: paper objectives zation can have of (relative) longevity in an


environment of fast-moving markets. It is

I nnovation is something of a buzzword. As


it is now perceived as central to achievement
in the business climate of the 21st century,
also the best guarantor, even though nothing is
guaranteed, of long-term survival in today’s
knowledge-driven economy.
organizations, large and small, have begun to Various scholars from social and economy
re-evaluate their products, their services and fields were pioneers in advancing the concept of
their operations in an attempt to develop a culture a knowledge-based economy and predicting the
of innovation. This re-examination of organi- decline of a manufacturing industrial culture
zational purpose is due to the recognition (Clark, 1940; Young, 1961; Bell, 1974). New trends
that developing a culture of innovation within and types of data in the economy supported the
the organization is the best insurance an organi- idea of knowledge as a resource (Machlup, 1962).

R&D Management 38, 2, 2008. r 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 113
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA, 02148, USA
Antonio Hidalgo and Jose Albors

Subsequently, Drucker (1969) identified the con- ple, knowledge gathering and knowledge
cept of ‘knowledge workers.’ transfer.
Furthermore, the knowledge-driven economy is  The degree of connectivity between knowledge
a recent idea based on the long evolution of agents has increased dramatically.
previous concepts such as knowledge, the knowl-
edge economy, etc. In the mid-1990s, the concept This paper has three major objectives:
evolved to refer to, at least, two supposed char- 1. To provide a comprehensive review of the
acteristics of the new economy. Firstly, knowl- scope, characteristics, trends and business re-
edge is more quantitatively and qualitatively levance of the main innovation management
important than ever before. Secondly, applica- methodologies developed by relevant actors in
tions of information and communication technol- this field (those that seek to provide advice to
ogies are the drivers of the new economy (Godin, firms, and that focus on knowledge as the most
2003). The knowledge economy can be said to be important benefit to a firm) across the Eur-
based on an efficient system of distribution and opean Union, the United States and Japan.
access to knowledge as a sine qua non condition 2. To clarify and facilitate both a conceptual
for increasing the amount of innovative opportu- framework in this area and a consensus among
nities (David and Foray, 1995). The OECD (1996) the relevant actors developing and using these
defines knowledge-based economies as ‘economies methodologies.
which are directly based on the production, dis- 3. To analyze the perceptions of various key
tribution and use of knowledge and information.’ players – the promoters and users of such
It is not simply about pushing back the frontiers of methodologies.
knowledge; it is also about the more effective use
and exploitation of all types of knowledge within The paper is organized as follows: First, innova-
all manners of economic activity. tion management has been reviewed from a con-
In this direction, two schools of thought have ceptual knowledge framework, paying special
developed (Dankbaar, 2003) linking knowledge attention to the challenges of the knowledge-driven
and innovation management: that of Drucker, economy context. Second, innovation manage-
already mentioned, which, following Taylor, sug- ment techniques and tools are introduced and a
gests that innovation management involves the taxonomy is proposed. Third, the results of the
application of knowledge to the work of knowl- survey are discussed. Finally, the last section con-
edge workers within a clear and defined context, cludes by outlining the conclusions of the research.
and, alternatively, that of Burns and Stalker
(1961), which outlines a context of more blurred
organic and flexible structures that foster creativ- 2. Knowledge and innovation
ity by limiting bureaucracy. management: innovation techniques
The increasing importance of knowledge is
changing the way firms compete and the sources 2.1. What is innovation?
of comparative advantage between countries. For
The first and seminal definition of innovation was
countries in the forefront of the world economy, it
proposed by Schumpeter (1934). He associated it
is a reality that the balance between knowledge
to economic development and defined it as a new
and tangible resources has shifted so far toward
combination of productive resources. His work
the former and that knowledge has become per-
defined five specific cases: introduction of new
haps the most important factor determining the
products, new production methods, exploration
standard of living (World Bank, 1998). Today’s
of new markets, conquering of new sources of
most technologically advanced economies are
supply and new ways of organizing business.
truly knowledge-based. The main changes asso-
Since then, the conception of innovation has
ciated with the importance of knowledge as an
evolved significantly over the last 40 years. Dur-
economic driver in today’s economies are:
ing the 1950s, innovation was considered to be a
discrete development resulting from studies car-
 Knowledge is increasingly considered to be a
ried out by isolated researchers. Nowadays, in-
commodity. It is packaged, bought and sold in
novation is no longer conceived as a specific result
ways and to levels never seen before.
of individual actions, but more as the following:
 Advances in Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) have reduced the cost of  A process, more specifically, a problem-solving
many aspects of knowledge activity, for exam- process (Dosi, 1982).

114 R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 r 2008 The Authors


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Innovation management techniques and tools

 An interactive process involving relationships  Strong support for joint ventures and colla-
between firms with different actors (Kline and borative efforts that develop and commercia-
Rosenberg, 1986). lize innovative solutions.
 A diversified learning process. Learning may  Good project management for the identifica-
arise from different issues: learning-by-using, tion, development and commercialization of
learning-by-doing or learning-by-sharing, in- innovations.
ternal or external sources of knowledge and
From an external perspective, innovation man-
the absorption capacity of firms (Cohen and
agement is driven by different knowledge-inten-
Levinthal, 1990; Dogson, 1991).
sive organizations (KIOs) that build knowledge as
 A process involving the exchange of codi-
their primary value-adding process. They can be
fied and tacit knowledge (Patel and Pavitt,
defined as organizations where employees with a
1994).
high degree of knowledge are critical to the
 An interactive process of learning and ex-
primary function of the organization. They have
change where interdependence between actors
relatively little financial capital but instead have
generates an innovative system or an innova-
as main assets the knowledge and competence of
tion cluster (Edquist, 1997).
their personnel (Kipping and Engwall, 2002).
Such organizations are also characterized by
Other authors (Rogers, 1983; Urabe, 1988; having core activities that cannot be automated,
Utterback, 1994; Afuah, 1998; Garcia and Calan- material assets that are not a central factor,
tone, 2002; Mc Dermott and O’Connor, 2002; critical assets (intellectual capital) residing in the
Pedersen and Dalum, 2004, etc.) have outlined minds of employees and in networks and custo-
other aspects of innovation more related to the mer relationships and systems for supplying ser-
final consumer of innovative goods or services as vices. In addition, there is a heavy dependence on
well as to the innovation process. Finally, the the loyalty of key personnel, a tendency to mea-
latest editions of the Oslo (2005) and the Frascati sure success not solely by financial criteria and a
Manual (2004) have brought into consideration a balance sheet value that differs strongly from real
holistic view of innovation. organizational or customer value.1
The evolution from a technological network The seminal work of Utterback (1994) and
perspective of innovation management to a Tushman et al (1997) has analyzed how external
social network perspective (Rogers, 1983, Ahuja, environment affects business organizational dy-
2000) has been led by the challenge to transform namics and strategic change. Von Hippel (1988,
information into knowledge (e.g. information 2005) has analyzed the increasing role of users in
contextually connected to the development or innovation diffusion processes and its impact on
improvement of products or processes). Knowl- product development. Although it goes farther,
edge-based innovation requires not one but many the latter could be inscribed with the open in-
kinds of knowledge. Furthermore, it requires the novation model proposed by Chesbrough (2003).
convergence of many different kinds of knowl-
edge retained by a variety of actors.
From a strategic point of view (Schlegelmilch et 2.2. Impact of knowledge on innovation
al., 2003), innovation is driven in two different management
ways: internally and externally. From an internal
perspective, innovation is driven by senior The increasing importance of knowledge as an
management attitudes, marketing, information economic driver has major implications for in-
technology departments and the organization’s novation management, which is, in turn, a key
employees. Collaborative efforts support and determinant of national and regional competitive-
facilitate the innovation management process. ness in the global, knowledge-driven economy.
These are evidenced by: The contribution of knowledge to innovation is
achieved in part by reducing transaction costs
 Senior management teams that devote time to between firms and other actors, most notably in
investigate the future and to understand the the areas of research and information, buying and
needs of the marketplace, the resources at their decision-making as well as innovation policy and
disposal and the competitive business environ- enforcement (Maskell, 1999).
ment. The systemic approach to innovation recog-
 Working environments and organizational cul- nizes that innovation and knowledge generation
ture that encourage creative solutions. take place as a result of a variety of activities,

r 2008 The Authors R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 115


Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Antonio Hidalgo and Jose Albors

many of them outside the formal research process The challenges of the new knowledge-driven
(Liyanage and Poon, 2002). Knowledge is thus economy can be classified into the following
generated not just in universities and research groups:
centers but also in a very wide variety of locations
within the economy, and notably as a product  New characteristics of the market. The market
(learning-by-doing) or of consumption (learning- is constantly changing, it is becoming more
by-using). In the current economic context, global and new competitors are emerging. In
growth must mainly originate from increasing addition, technology complexity is increasing,
the productivity of knowledge work, and increas- product life-cycles are shortening and knowl-
ing this productivity is the most important con- edge is consolidating as a crucial input. All of
tribution management can make. The most these new characteristics of the market require
valuable assets of a 21st-century firm are its the development of additional competitiveness
knowledge workers and their productivity. from firms.
KIOs, ranging from knowledge-intensive service-  New types of innovation. Innovation takes
providers to high-tech manufacturers, need to many forms. There is technological innova-
manage innovation processes so as to increase tion, but also innovation through new business
knowledge productivity (Drucker et al., 1997). models and new ways of organizing work,
Innovation and knowledge generation have innovation in design and in marketing. Inno-
been analyzed by Popadiuk and Choo (2006) vation can also consist of finding new uses and
from a specific systemic approach considering new markets for existing products and services.
the market role, the knowledge architecture, It emerges where the market offers incentives
etc. and the innovation alternatives (process, pro- to introduce new products and production
duct, radical, incremental) outlining a parallel methods, and where people are willing to
comparison between both processes (knowledge take risks and experiment with new ideas
and innovation). (Bullinger et al., 2004).
In comparison with traditional mechanistic  New needs of stakeholders. Customers, owners
command and control management, innovation and stock markets increasingly equate an orga-
management entails a fundamental change in the nization’s worth with its ability to get winning
strategic perception of the organization, which products to market on time, every time. This is
accordingly has to consider the following man- especially true in the case of SMEs (Libutti,
agement challenges: 2000; Scozzi and Garavelli, 2005).
 New approach to innovation management. In-
 Manage human capabilities in a strategic man- novation management encompasses all the key
ner. Modern management has to face the areas that need to be mastered to develop
perpetual challenge to place the human being successful products and services, efficiently
at the forefront of operations, and understand and continuously. The capacity of a firm to
that an organization is a collection of different implement innovation management revolves
human beings (James, 2002). around its success in dealing with these two
 Network with internal and external partners. main challenges: top-line growth and bottom-
People have different attitudes, different line efficiency (Liyanage and Poon, 2002).
customs, different professional backgrounds –  New technology innovation assessment skills.
management should focus on integrating The rapid development of new technologies
the web of formal and informal relation- prompts firms to assess and implement the
ships inside and outside the company (Ahuja, most appropriate technology according to
2000). their need to retain their competitiveness
 Create adaptive and interactive organizational (Ram, 1996).
structures. If the organization is to remain  Need for new innovation management tools. The
responsive to external change, a flexible and development of knowledge-based innova-
adaptable organizational structure is a neces- tion management requires the capacity to
sity (Schlegelmilch et al., 2003). implement technical and relational tools.
 Balance order and chaos – process efficiency Technical tools refer to the acquisition and
versus destructive innovation – and individual utilization of new information and commu-
and corporate motivation by developing an nication technologies – they do not create
innovation strategic vision (Martensen and a competitive advantage because they are
Dahlgaard, 1999). readily available to others. The creation of

116 R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 r 2008 The Authors


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Innovation management techniques and tools

competitive advantage rests in relational tools


– the way of doing business, both in the
internal and the external environments of firms
(Lengrand and Chartrie, 1999). Moreover,
technology and innovation require a holistic
approach today (Butler, 1999; Martensen and
Dahlgaard, 1999).

2.3. IMTs
Taking into account the previous considerations,
Figure 1. Management of technological innovation: a holistic
innovation management has been associated with approach (Dogson, 2000).
knowledge management (Coombs and Hull,
1998). Coombs et al. (1998) define ‘Knowledge
Management Practices for Innovation’ as those to the survival of both in a competitive, changing
‘. . . observable routines involved directly in the marketplace.
development and application of knowledge.’ The In innovation management, there is a wide
previous authors have identified these tools by range of IMTs available on the market. This
observing the practices of numerous R&D firm study focused on IMTs that complied with the
departments. It is from this basis that innovation following parameters:
management has been approached in a holistic
way. Freeman and Soete (1997) include in the 1. IMTs that were sufficiently developed and
innovation process all those activities encoura- standardized, and had fairly systematic meth-
ging the commercialization of new technologies. ods of application. In other words, the imple-
Moreover, Dogson (2000) proposes a holistic mentation procedures and the benefits for the
model that includes six specific areas in the IMT were generally known and recognized in
management of technology innovation: R&D, the market.
new product development, commercialization of 2. IMTs that aimed to improve the competitive-
innovation, operations and production, technolo- ness of firms by focusing on knowledge as the
gical collaboration and technology strategy. He most important benefit. Companies make use
points out that the context of Management of of a variety of tools and techniques to perform
Technology Innovation is complex (of systemic their daily management. This study considered
nature) and risky. There are problems associated only IMTs that include knowledge as part of
with uncertainty, knowledge appropiability and the innovation process.
costs unpredictability. As a consequence, firms 3. IMTs that were freely accessible on the market
trying to develop organizational competitiveness and not subject to any copyright or licensing
in innovation will require knowledge manage- agreement.
ment and organizational skills in order to learn
fast (see enclosed Figure 1). The application of a group of selection criteria
Innovation does not always mean using the resulted in 10 groups of IMTs called ‘IMT typol-
very latest cutting-edge technology. On the con- ogies.’ Table 1 summarizes the 10 IMT typologies
trary, it is less a question of technology and more and their associated methodologies/tools.
a way of thinking and finding creative solutions There is no one-to-one correlation between
within the company. In this context, IMTs can be one firm’s specific business problem and the
seen as a range of tools, techniques and meth- methodology that solves it. As a result, it can-
odologies that help companies to adapt to cir- not be claimed that there is a closed set of
cumstances and meet market challenges in a developed and proven IMTs for solving, one by
systematic way (Phaal et al., 2006). The growth one, the challenges faced by business as a whole.
of IMTs results from a new way of thinking. It is Furthermore, IMTs do not usually act in a
not necessarily due to technology, but more to the deterministic, unique manner and the diversity
capacity of firms to apply their knowledge to of firms and business circumstances means that
improve their businesses internally and their re- there is not a single ideal model for innovation
lationships with external actors. This is true for management, although there are some principles
both large and small firms, as innovation is vital of good practice.

r 2008 The Authors R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 117


Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Antonio Hidalgo and Jose Albors

Table 1. IMT typologies and associated methodologies1 an effective outcome. To achieve the best fit
IMT typologies Methodologies and tools
between an IMT and the company, an under-
standing is needed of the firm and its business.
Knowledge Knowledge audits This understanding is necessary to support the
management tools Knowledge mapping definition of clear objectives, and the criteria for
Document Management
knowing when those objectives have been
IPR Management
Market intelligence Technology Watch/ achieved. The criteria can be framed in terms of
techniques Technology Search survival, growth, new product introduction, com-
Patents Analysis petitiveness, etc.
Business Intelligence
CRM: Customer relationship
management
Geo-marketing 3. Methodology: field work
Cooperative and Groupware
networking tools Team-building The methodology followed in this research is
Supply Chain Management based both on an exhaustive literature research
Industrial Clustering
and a survey carried out of a balanced sample
Human resources Teleworking
management Corporate intranets (geographically and activity wise) of firms, aca-
techniques On-line recruitment demic centers, business schools, consulting firms,
e-Learning business support organizations (BSOs) and gov-
Competence Management ernment agencies.
Interface R&D - Marketing Interface
The research was financed by the European
management Management
approaches Concurrent Engineering Commission and was carried out among respon-
Creativity Brainstorming dents from the 15 Member States of the European
development Lateral Thinking Union. In total, 4,000 questionnaires were dis-
techniques TRIZ tributed. The target audience was defined as
Scamper Method
follows: 50% from industry and 50% distributed
Mind Mapping
Process improvement Benchmarking across four categories: consultancies, business
techniques Workflow schools, academic centers and BSOs. Question-
Business process re-engineering naires were available in four languages: English,
Just in Time French, Spanish and German. To facilitate both
Innovation project Project management
the collation and analysis of questionnaire re-
management Project appraisal
techniques Project portfolio management sponses, survey participants were mostly re-
Design and product CAD systems quested to select their answers from a closed list.
development Rapid Prototyping Some questions, however, were open-ended so
management tools Usability approaches that participants were able to describe some of
Quality Function Deployment
their suggestions and experiences on the imple-
Value analysis
Business creation Business Simulation mentation of IMTs. The questionnaire was tested
tools Business Plan before launch of the questionnaire to the target
Spin-off from research to audience with a pilot audience sample.
market The choice of the number of organizations
1
Developed by authors based on various sources (Thom, 1990; from each country to send the questionnaire was
Cordero, 1991; European Commission, 1996; Ram, 1996; determined according to the following factors:
Libutti, 2000; European Commission, 2005; Scozzi and Gar-
avelli 2005; Phaal et al., 2006).
population of each EU Member State and eco-
nomic weight, measured by the GDP. However,
there was a bias to these conditions, simply
because the degree of innovation culture and
For these reasons, an innovation management development of IMTs within a country has no
technique cannot be considered in isolation. The direct relationship with its size. This unavoidable
usefulness of one IMT for a particular business bias was carefully reviewed to take into consid-
challenge is normally measured in combination eration the qualitative aspects related to the
with other IMTs, this combination being adapted object of the study. Additional factors were then
to varying degrees for each specific case. The introduced, such as policies recently developed,
benefit gained by the company depends on a priority given to IMTs by universities and busi-
combination of IMTs and the firm itself, and ness schools, etc. The resulting selection of target
the mix of these two elements is what determines sample represented in the opinion of the study

118 R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 r 2008 The Authors


Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Innovation management techniques and tools

40
Activity

39
Organisation size
50
% 20 40
30
%
10 20
10
Figure 3. The knowledge management industry.
0 0
Consultancy
Business Schools
Academic Centers
Industry
Business Support. Org
Public Office
Financial Org

>250 250< 10-250 10<

role in the development and/or promotion of


methodologies to support innovation manage-
ment in the knowledge-driven economy. This
definition of major actors is closely linked to the
final product delivered by the firms involved. In
Figure 2. Sample characteristics. defining the major actors in the knowledge-driven
economy, we consider that knowledge manage-
participants a fair cross-section of European in- ment and/or knowledge is the main product sold
dustries and institutions involved in IMTs, in or disseminated by these actors. These actors were
proportion to country size, with respect to popu- classified into four groups: business schools, con-
lation, GDP and degree of innovation. sultancies, academic centers and research and
The results were 426 completed questionnaires technology organizations (RTOs) and BSOs.
returned. The information collected from the sur- Such agents play an important role in the knowl-
vey was completed via phone interviews with the edge management industry. They also interact with
most representative stakeholders, which went into each other e.g. consultancy firms cooperate with
more detail on certain issues of relevance for the academic institutions and business schools in the
study and clarified some outstanding questions.2 creation of management practice. Figure 3 shows
Figure 2 shows the characteristics and compo- the relationship between such actors.
sition of the sample in size as well as the type of The roles of the different actors and the rela-
participating organizations. tionships between them vary from country to
The questionnaire was structured in four basic country. In some regions such as the Nordic
areas. In the first, the participant described its countries, management education has a long
organization, type and size. In the second, its history and a large number of management grad-
perception and experience with IMTs. The third uates are active in practice, consultancies and
part was dedicated to the roles to be played by other companies. In other countries, France and
actors with IMTs and the challenges posed by the Germany for example, education plays a stronger
knowledge economy. The last part was dedicated role in linking together actors in the different
to evaluate the needs related to competitiveness fields of management. It is also worth highlighting
that could be met by IMTs. Except for a couple of that the socioeconomic context is crucial to un-
questions the questionnaire was composed of derstanding the development of the knowledge
closed questions, to be answered through Likert- management industry. Highly industrialized
scale replies. countries with a large number of multinational
corporations, particularly with a high degree of
internationalization, are more likely to exhibit an
expansion of actors than those nations with a
4. Results: key perceptions from the lesser degree of industrialization and those with
leading actors and business relevance larger numbers of small companies.
of IMTs The study produced the following overall views
on the roles of the major actors:
4.1. Role of each actor in innovation
Academic centers, including RTOs, are promo-
management and roles of IMTs
ters of IMTs and, in some specific cases, devel-
promoters
opers of them. In that case, they only
For the purpose of this study, ‘major actors’ were adapt specific tools for SMEs. Their capacity to
defined as those bodies that play an important develop IMTs is concentrated sometimes in the

r 2008 The Authors R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 119


Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Antonio Hidalgo and Jose Albors

development of strategies to raise the level of IMTs in cooperation with consultants. In this
R&D activity among local or regional govern- case, IMT represents a tool for assisting firms to
ments and some evaluation of R&D public pro- evaluate market opportunities and to assess the
grams. One example might be the definition and value of investments, to identify gaps, strengths
implementation of a structured tool deployment and weaknesses and to formalize a strategy.
for an R&D department, in order to evaluate the Finally, the opinion of managers within the
strategic optimization of the R&D outputs and, at companies was that consultancies are the main
the same time, the awareness and monitoring of actors promoting the use of IMTs (27%), jointly
the intellectual property rights (IPRs) and unique with business schools (20%), and BSOs (20%).
selling positions of their R&D activities. With respect to helping firms use IMTs, consul-
Business schools consider themselves as devel- tancies are seen as the major agents (41%), while
opers and promoters of IMTs. From the develop- business schools (16%) and BSOs (15%) have less
ment perspective, it is the academic specialists importance. The companies themselves consider
with a high research orientation and high specia- their role to be more as users than developers of
lization who integrate business schools, because such methodologies.
many of them develop part of their research Actors agree that the effect of their ‘consultancy
activity directly in academic centers and combine work’ is very difficult to evaluate. First of all,
academic and research work with consulting the consultancy intervention is only one factor,
activities. The academic work carried out, for and probably not even the most important one,
example in the form of doctoral dissertations, determining the performance of firms, making it
has the effect of transforming their unique com- difficult to isolate its impact. Second, the inter-
petence into common knowledge. As promoters vention itself destroys any base for comparison,
business schools use several tools. However, they making it impossible to see how the firm would
mostly do not classify them into a defined se- have done if it had not called in consultants.
quence of employment. The most interesting All the major actors agree that only a few IMTs
mechanisms used to disseminate methodologies are widely recognized, and most are unidentifiable
are the organization of seminars and workshops. and inaccessible by firms. Over 37% of the actors
Consultancy firms consider themselves more as declared that most firms are not aware of the
developers than promoters of IMTs and, for that existence of IMTs, while 34% stated that few
reason, some of them in Europe were founded in IMTs are sufficiently defined to be successfully
order to support the regional economy or to applied within firms.
diversify national economic activities. Most of Consultancy firms and business schools gener-
the consultancies’ activities in relation to IMTs ally believe that most firms are not aware of the
have to do with technology transfer i.e. to transfer existence of IMTs. Academic centers and industry
results from R&D to SMEs (high-technology generally see IMTs as systematically applied only
companies, start-ups, etc). Some individual con- in firms that want to be market leaders. BSOs
sultancy firms stressed the importance of motiva- mostly believe that very few IMTs are defined
tion. These firms considered it one of their main sufficiently well to be successfully applied within
objectives to motivate people to run their busi- firms. All actors are convinced that new chal-
ness, and to motivate SMEs to diversify activities lenges coming from the knowledge-driven econ-
in view of European Union enlargement. The use omy require new IMTs (Figure 4).
of IMTs was identified as a growth area currently
under-serviced.
BSOs consider themselves as promoters and
4.2. The companies’ perspective
users of IMTs: they make available some tools
to the SME members of their organization, for The process of innovation management is some-
example, the wider use of benchmarking and thing that can be built into the culture of a firm. It
related methodologies in entrepreneurship. They can be promoted by using specialized techniques,
also act as a link between SMEs and innovation and building a prevailing atmosphere of encour-
consultants and try to encourage the use of IMTs agement for new ideas. The goal is to change the
among third-party organizations (other BSOs). firm, to achieve a metamorphosis from a group of
For example, coaching a network to develop people doing a job to a highly energized team that
innovative ideas and transform them into solid is constantly searching for new and better ways
business plans. BSOs also consider themselves as of making the vision a reality. The experience of
developers of IMTs, but only when adapting many European firms provides an interesting

120 R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 r 2008 The Authors


Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Innovation management techniques and tools

New challenges coming


from the new knowledge
driven economy requires
new IMTs

Very few IMTs are


defined sufficiently to
be successfully
applied within firms
IMTs are systematically
applied in firms that want
to be leader in the market

Most firms are not aware


of the existence of IMTs

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
%

Figure 4. Opinion over innovation management techniques (all actors included).

insight into strengths and needs in innovation, and the flexibility and adaptability of production
investments into innovation and the output to market needs. Exceptionally, basic skills are
achieved, and cooperation and the sharing of also identified as requiring improvement.
knowledge in practice. In the main, the evidence The industrial responses placed great emphasis
showed that: on how important it is to change attitudes, and
also how difficult this can be. The hierarchy
 The share of new or renewed products or
within a company can hinder innovation, with
services introduced within the last 2 years
some staff believing that innovation is a senior
accounted on average for 22% of firms’ turn-
management responsibility. Reservations about
over. In general, two companies out of three
the economy also restrict innovation because staff
introduced new products or services over the
is constantly afraid of redundancy. This makes
last 2 years.
them less likely to take risks or put themselves in a
 Innovative efforts focus evenly on organiza-
position where they are associated with a project
tional changes, new products and new pro-
that might fail. Encouraging staff to share their
cesses; there is a clear interdependence in the
acquired knowledge within the firm is a major
top priorities of managers, confirming that
challenge, and possibly one that can be encour-
they perceive innovation more as an overall
aged within the knowledge-driven economy by
strategy than as specific, independent improve-
the application of technology-based tools to sup-
ments.
port this process.
 Business leaders are aware of the importance
of innovation for their company and are con-
fident in their performance.
 Cooperative agreements are an important tool 4.3. Difficulties and challenges in facing
to launch new products or services or to the knowledge-driven economy
introduce new processes, and more executives
Many of those involved in promoting better
are keen on sharing their knowledge and/or
innovation management expressed their opinion
resources through such agreements.
about the difficulties and challenges facing com-
 New approaches to the management of inno-
panies. The main difficulties seemed to revolve
vation will focus in particular on the relation-
around the fact that introducing an IMT within
ship with suppliers and users.
an organization means an extra effort that re-
Many companies feel that more effort is needed quires time, motivation and money. The challenge
to motivate staff at all levels to acquire new is to motivate management support, to think of
competencies and to adapt to changes. At the the future and foster creativity, to install a culture
same time, managers attribute their strength in of innovation, to formulate an innovation strat-
innovation in the first place to the qualification egy and to implement the innovation process.
and professionalism of their staff. The next most IMTs are sometimes considered to have a more
important strengths are seen as good cooperation academic than practical role, because they are
with suppliers, customers or trade associations subject to a lack of awareness and motivation,

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Antonio Hidalgo and Jose Albors

and consequently a widespread ignorance about management accounting model. This model was
how IMTs can help companies to survive in the developed for the industrial economy and is not
new knowledge-driven economy. On the other able to deal with today’s knowledge economy,
hand, many actors stressed the lack of an inno- where most corporate value creation is based on
vative culture in firms, as well as the uncertainty knowledge assets rather than on physical re-
in predicting the conditions for competitive per- sources and financial capital.
formance in new markets. Another difficulty is IMTs applied in business have to be able to
that innovation management cannot be handled manage change and take into account the chal-
as product or as production management. The lenge of the new knowledge economy. It is always
reason is that many firms do not have the capacity useful to be able to measure the impact that the
to identify innovations and introduce them into implementation of IMTs has within companies.
the normal production process. Further difficul- However, it is extremely difficult to create any
ties include: bureaucratic complexity, low aware- measure of knowledge that will show an absolute
ness of innovation technology amongst managers, one-to-one correlation between a knowledge shar-
lack of suitable metrics, and unwillingness to ing action and a business result. Many senior
share knowledge. managers understand that sharing knowledge and
From the challenges point of view, actors high- re-using experience are simply good business
lighted four specific areas as presenting the great- sense.
est obstacles: For the purposes of this study, and as a means
of quantifying the business relevance of the dif-
 Financial investment needed. Difficulties in
ferent IMTs, the survey questionnaire detailed a
obtaining finance applied both to access to
list of benefits for the IMTs that respondents were
public funding and internally, where firms
invited to evaluate. The list of benefits is as
may be short of cash to invest in new product
follows:
development.
 Difficulty of accepting failure. Acceptance of  Increasing flexibility and efficiency.
failure is a natural part of the innovation  Managing knowledge effectively.
process. Yet few managers wish to be asso-  Increasing productivity and reducing time to
ciated with failed projects, as it damages their market.
profile in the company. Firms discourage fail-  Facilitating teamwork.
ure as it reflects on the decision-making pro-  Enabling online gathering of marketing infor-
cess within the company and on the mation.
participants who made the decision to carry a  Improving relationships with suppliers.
project forward.  Integrating differing sources of customer in-
 Excessive bureaucracy and uncertainty also formation.
need to be overcome, by shaping policies and  Making client relationships more effective.
legislation that encourage innovation and re-  Eliminating redundant processes.
duce bureaucratic administration procedures  Reducing costs by implementing IT-based so-
(both locally as globally) that hinder the in- lutions.
novation process itself, especially when public  Reducing bureaucratic tasks (those that did
authorities are trying to finance initiatives. not add value).
 Finally, actors underlined the need to support  Using e-learning.
training schemes and to overcome intercultural  Exploring e-commerce.
complications, particularly when knowledge  Increasing the market range of goods and
sharing is necessary. services.
 Improving relationships with employees.

4.4.2. Business impact according to the major actors


4.4. Business relevance of IMTs The business schools’ point of view is that the
4.4.1. How to measure the business relevance main advantages that IMTs give firms are in-
In the knowledge economy, products and com- creased flexibility and efficiency, an understand-
panies live or die by information – the most ing of how to use e-learning, facilitated team-
successful companies are those that use their work, improved gathering of on-line marketing
intangible assets better and faster. Corporate information, and integration of the different
reporting is still founded on a financial and sources of customer information (Figure 5).

122 R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 r 2008 The Authors


Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Innovation management techniques and tools

To increase flexibility and efficiency

To use e-learning

To facilitate teamwork

To gather on-line marketing information

To integrate all sources of information


about customers

50 60 70 80 90 100
%

Figure 5. Innovation management techniques relevance for business schools.

To manage knowledge effectively

To reduce costs by using IT-based solutions

To increase productivity and short time-to-market

To increase flexibility and efficiency

To gather on-line valuable marketing information

To facilitate teamwork

50 60 70 80 90 100
%

Figure 6. Innovation management techniques relevance for academic centers.

Business schools apply creativity development, with customers more effective (Figure 7). Con-
business plan development, e-learning techniques sultancies consider business plan development,
and customer relationship management (CRM) project management, corporate intranet and
internally. benchmarking as the IMTs most used within their
From the perspective of the academic centers, organizations.
IMT benefits tend to be in the areas of managing From the perspective of BSOs, IMTs serve
knowledge effectively, reducing costs by using mainly to increase flexibility and efficiency, in-
IT-based solutions, increased productivity and crease productivity and reduce time-to-market,
shorter time-to-market, increased flexibility gather on-line marketing information, manage
and efficiency, better gathering of on-line market knowledge effectively, and increase the effective-
information, and improved teamwork (Figure 6). ness of relationships with suppliers (Figure 8).
Project management, corporate intranet, BSOs are more oriented toward project manage-
spin-off and e-learning techniques are the IMTs ment, corporate intranets, business plan develop-
most successfully applied by the academic centers ment and outsourcing.
and RTOs.
Consultancy firms tend to the view that the
most important benefits are managing knowledge 4.4.3. IMTs business impact in firms
effectively, increased flexibility and efficiency, Within the firms that actually implement IMTs,
facilitating teamwork, reduced bureaucratic the perspective of the managers involved is that
tasks, increased productivity, improved relation- IMTs can help their firms to foster competitive
ships with suppliers, and making relationships advantages in the following ways:

r 2008 The Authors R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 123


Journal compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Antonio Hidalgo and Jose Albors

To manage knowledge effectively

To increase flexibility and efficiency

To facilitate teamwork

To reduce bureaucratic tasks

To increase productivity

To increase relationship with suppliers

To make relationship with customers more effective

50 60 70 80 90 100
%

Figure 7. Innovation management techniques relevance for consultancy firms.

To increase flexibility and efficiency

To increase productivity and short time-to-market

To gather on-line valuable marketing information

To manage knowledge effectively

To increase effective relationships with suppliers

50 60 70 80 90 100
%

Figure 8. Innovation management techniques relevance for business support organizations (BSOs).

 Increasing flexibility and efficiency (86%). to innovation itself. To them, the importance of
 Managing knowledge effectively (76%). IMTs would be part of their culture or overall
 Improving productivity and time-to-market approach to innovation; their appreciation of
(73%). IMTs seems to be very superficial. They all agree
 Improving relationships with suppliers (72%). to recognize that IMTs are not well known, not
 Gathering on-line marketing information readily identifiable and are inaccessible.
(69%). On the other hand, the lack of a clear and
 Facilitating teamwork (67%). homogeneous view of innovation makes it diffi-
 Integrating different sources of customer in- cult to relate it to the knowledge economy; the
formation (66%). relationship between the two concepts is far from
 Reducing costs by using IT-based solutions obvious and its relevance is not easy to demon-
(65%). strate. In fact, managers are themselves asking for
 Eliminating redundant processes (64%). new inputs to better understand the extent and
the scope of this question. Innovation in the
Companies tend to focus especially on techniques managerial process and in information systems
in the areas of project management, business plan should be distinguished from product/services
development, outsourcing and benchmarking. innovation and technology-based innovation,
Innovation is seen as a key business opportu- for instance.
nity for many consultancies and industrial part- Although success in the application of any IMT
ners, but not for all of them. For some managers, gives a measure of its ability to be accepted by
IMTs do not seem to be central to their business industry, uncertainty and risk are, to a certain
concerns. Rather, their major issues seem to relate extent, inherent in the innovation management

124 R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 r 2008 The Authors


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Innovation management techniques and tools

process. For instance, the use of creativity meth- corporate intranets (66%) and benchmarking
ods is inherently risky because the value of such (60%). Less used IMTs included Delphi method
methods is often not fully appreciated at the start and lateral thinking. Some 43% of the actors in
of implementation. Therefore, the value cannot the study stated that they have successfully used
be defined in monetary terms. IMTs in their own organization. Another 32%
Encouraging staff to disperse their acquired said that they do not use IMTs, but the techni-
knowledge within the firm is a big challenge, ques were known to them.
and possibly one that can be encouraged within This study shows that proper application of
the knowledge-driven economy by application of innovation management techniques facilitates a
technology-based tools to support this process. company’s ability to introduce appropriate new
Some managers focus on the uncertainty of the technologies in products or processes, as well as
innovation process. This inherent uncertainty in the necessary changes to the organization. How-
both the market and product development means ever, most companies do not have an innovation
that conventional methods do not meet the re- culture that favors the introduction of change
quirements of the knowledge-driven economy. within the organization, more often there is a
strong resistance from staff and sometimes from
management. Also a lack of qualified personnel
5. Conclusions with experience in IMTs; most SMEs do not have
the necessary in-house knowledge of IMTs and
A knowledge-based economy is defined as an their implementation.
economy directly based on the production, dis- Few national or regional programs specifically
tribution and use of knowledge. In such econo- address the promotion of IMTs, or consider
mies there is a high degree of connectivity business innovation and technology management
between the agents involved, and knowledge is techniques as a strategic aim to increase industrial
widely used and exploited in all manner of eco- competitiveness. Companies can use consulting
nomic activity. We have now progressed from the firms to get advice in this area, but generally have
knowledge-based economy to the knowledge-dri- no tradition of asking consultancies for their help,
ven economy, emphasizing the fact that the cur- a practice that has resulted in a limited range of
rent contribution of knowledge is very much as operational models. This limitation is com-
the dynamo of our economy. pounded by the fragmentation of the consultancy
The evolution of theories of innovation man- sector working for SMEs.
agement can be explained by the increasing im- Finally, the following suggestions are intended
portance of social ingredients in the explanation to help promote an innovation culture, to assist
of innovation, which was originally based solely companies to increase their competitiveness
on tangible forms of capital. The earlier ideas are through innovation, and to help take advantage
that innovation is determined by research (tech- of the opportunities of the knowledge-driven
nology push theory) and by unordered interaction economy:
between firms and other actors (technological
networks theory). The insight is that knowledge 1. Set up an overall scheme together with na-
plays a more crucial role in fostering innovation. tional and regional governments to promote
The growing importance of knowledge as a innovation management. The objective is to
production factor and as a determinant of inno- improve the know-how of actors promoting
vation can be explained by the continuous accu- innovation management methodologies and
mulation of technical knowledge over time, and tools within firms, in particular to SMEs.
by the use of communications technologies that Also to promote the development of global
make that knowledge available very rapidly on a networking among the various actors to
worldwide scale. encourage the exchange of knowledge and
IMTs are critical to increasing competitiveness. experience.
IMTs can be defined as the range of tools, 2. Support for well-designed awareness initiatives
techniques and methodologies that support the to enhance citizens’ confidence in innovation
process of innovation in firms and help them in a as a means to foster competitiveness in com-
systematic way to meet new market challenges. panies and well-being in our societies. Against
Participants in the study found that the main this backdrop and due to its importance for
IMTs used were project management (82%), both consumers and firms, priority should be
followed by business plan development (67%), given to a new awareness initiative to promote

r 2008 The Authors R&D Management 38, 2, 2008 125


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Antonio Hidalgo and Jose Albors

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Pedersen, C.R. and Dalum, B. (2004) Incremental
Versus Radical Change – the case of the Digital North
1. These organizations and their activities have been
Denmark Program. International Schumpeter Society
studied by various academy schools, which have
Conference. Italy: DRUID/IKE Group, Department
denominated them as KIBS or KISA.
of Business Studies, Aalborg University.
2. For further information on the survey, see European
Phaal, R., Farrukh, C.J.P. and Probert, D.R. (2006)
Commission (2004).
Technology management tools: concept, develop-
ment and application. Technovation, 26, 336–344. Antonio Hidalgo N is Professor and Director of the
Popadiuk, S. and Choo, C.W. (2006) Innovation and Research Group of Innovation, IPR and Technol-
Knowledge creation: hoe are these concepts related?
ogy Policy, and Director of the Master and Doc-
International Journal Information Management, 26,
torate Programme in MoT, Universidad
pp. 302–312.
Ram, S. (1996) Validation of expert systems for in- Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. He received his
novation management: issues, methodology and em- PhD in industrial engineering from the Universi-
pirical assessment. Journal of Product Innovation dad Politécnica de Madrid in 1992. He has acted as
Management, 13, 53–68. expert to the European Commission as technology
Rogers, E.M. (1983) Diffusion of Innovations. New consultant in the European Innovation Monitoring
York: The Free Press. System. His works have appeared in Production,
Schlegelmilch, B.B., Diamantopoulos, A. and Kreuz, P. Planning and Control Journal, Journal of Intelligent
(2003) Strategic innovation: the construct, its drivers Manufacturing, Journal of Technology Transfer,
and its strategic outcomes. Journal of Strategic International Journal of Product Development, and
Marketing, 11, 2, 117–132.
International Journal of Enrerpreneurship and In-
Schumpeter, J. (1934) The Theory of Economic Devel-
novation Management. He teaches technology
opment. An inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit,
Interest, and the Business Cycle. Cambridge: Harvard strategy to MBA/PhD students and executives.
University Press.
Scozzi, B. and Garavelli, C. (2005) Methods for mod- Jose Albors G is Professor of Universidad Politéc-
elling and supporting innovation processes in nica de Valencia, Spain. He received an MBA and a
SMEs. European Journal Innovation Management, PhD in industrial engineering from Universidad
8, 1, 120–137. Politécnica de Madrid. He has 30 years international
Thom, N. (1990) Innovation management in SMEs. experience in engineering. He has published a num-
Management International Review, 30, 2, 181–192. ber of articles in various journals such as Journal of
Tushman, M.L., Anderson, P.C. and O’Reilly, C. (1997) Technology Transfer, Production, Planning and Con-
Technological cycles, innovation streams, and ambi-
trol, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development,
dextrous organizations: organizational renewal
Management Research News, and European Regional
through innovation streams and strategic change. In
Tushman, M.L. and Anderson, P. (eds.), Managing Studies. His current research focuses on innovation
Strategic Innovation and Change: A Collection of and technology management. He teaches technology
Readings. New York: Oxford University Press. and innovation management to undergraduate and
Urabe, K. (1988) Innovation and the Japanese manage- PhD students and carries out consultancy on tech-
ment system. In Urabe, K., Child, J. and Kagono, T. nology management.

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