Building a Radical Innovation Competency

Abstract

OVERVIEW:As growth and profit alternatives continue to erode for many companies, the importance of radical innovation as a mechanism for organization rejuvenation is increasing. Some firms are building entire management systems to enable radical innovation over and over again. They are experimenting with different organizational structures that vary in terms of their relationship with R&D and in terms of how far down the commercialization path they oversee projects. To have a fully developed RI capability, firms find they must manage three sets of activities and ensure that the transitions between them are smooth. These are discovery, incubation, and accelerated growth of new businesses. In addition, firms with different cultures of innovation can all develop RI competencies. This article reports interim results of a three-year longitudinal study of 12 well known, large industrial firms with a declared strategic intent to develop a competency in radical innovation.

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