Innovation activities and outcomes

It's very difficult to present a universal list of activities that occur during the innovation process. The following, which draws heavily from Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt's (2001) Managing Innovation and Mike Robert's (1997) Product Innovation Strategy, Pure and Simple, is a start:

ACTIVITIES IN THE INNOVATION PROCESS

+ Search/Scan
+ Select
+ Resource
+ Implement
+ Reflect

And what are the tangible outcomes of these activities?

Search/Scan Outcomes:
+ A body of ideas for products, processes, business models etc. (Without judgment.)

Select Outcomes:
+ A ranked list based on firm's innovation strategy. Followed by increasingly detailed risk-reward assessment: Floodlight to spotlight to microscope.

Resource Outcomes:
+ Funds. Support. Commitment. Time. People. Champions. Energy. Capabilities. Technology.

Implementation Outcomes:
+ An implementation plan. A list of players in the market (and their relative influence), along with critical success factors. Specific actions: by whom? when?

Reflect Outcomes:
+ A list of lessons learned.

You can see here that there still needs to be a formal innovation strategy against which all the numerous "good" ideas can be screened. The formal innovation strategy also cuts down the number of arguments that can occur during these activities.

The key here is being able to balance the rigidity that this list demands and being able to respond to any unexpected developments. Also, this list of activities is probably better suited to firms pursuing incremental, sustaining innovation strategies.




innovation management in Asia