The Innovation Journey

by Andrew H. Van de Ven, Douglas E. Polley, Raghu Garud

The Innovation Journey presents the results of a major longitudinal study that examined the process of innovation from concept to implementation of new technologies, products, processes, and administrative arrangements. Its findings call into question most of the explanations of the innovation process that have been proposed in the past.
The Minnesota Innovation Research Program, on which this book is based, involved over 30 researchers who undertook longitudinal studies that tracked the development of 14 diverse innovations in real time and in their natural field settings. Studying its results, the authors find that the innovation journey is neither sequential and orderly, nor is it a matter of random trial and error; rather it is best characterized as a nonlinear dynamic system.
The system consists of a cycle of divergent and convergent activities that may be repeated over time and at different organizational levels if enabling and constraining conditions are present. This divergent-convergent cycle is found to be the underlying dynamic that explains the development of corporate cultures for innovation, learning among innovation team members, leadership behaviors of top managers or investors, building relationships and joint ventures with other organizations, and developing an industrial infrastructure for innovation. Resource investments and organizational structure enable this innovation cycle, while external institutional rules and internal focus draw the boundaries of the journey.
The authors conclude with advice for innovation managers and entrepreneurs: learn to "go with the flow," because while they can learn to maneuver through the innovation journey, they cannot control its flow.

Genres: Business

440 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 1999

Reviews

[Ken Davidian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ken What’s great about this book is that it provides a “fully digested” perspective of the MIRP studies done in the 1980s. Ten years after the first comprehensive collection of results that came out in 1989, the authors had time to “go back to the library,” think through all the MIRP studies’ results implications, and package the content in a very readable book. This is probably the best work on market emergence and innovation development employing the perspective of markets based on social systems, instead of based on price or technology competition.

[Jim Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good perspective on spread of innovation - esp as it applies to organizations. Complementary to Everett Roger's Diffusion of Innovation.

[Javier Garzon]

quiero leerlo

[Sam Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for class. Lots of great concepts. Skipped around a bit because, as a research summary, it is a bit more extensive than necessary for my purposes.