Introduction

The pace of business today requires creativity, new ideas and new product innovations on an almost on-demand basis. We know that those organisations that are consistently successfull at managing innovation outperform their peers in terms of growth and financial performance.

However, managing innovation requires skills and knowledge, which is significantly different from standard management skills and expertise. Because most managers have not developed skills to manage innovation effectively, they simply do not manage it or manage it on an ad hoc basis, therefor innovation is not sustainable. A study in 2008 showed that only 12% of organisations successfully manage innovation, and only halve of these do so consistently over time (Study by Jaruzelski & Dehoff as quoted by Tidd, J and Bessant, J).

Click here to view a video that explains the innovation cycle.