Managing innovation processes in industrial sector. Qualitative study

Figures & data

Table 1. Papers selected for synthesis and analysis.

No	Author(s)	Model type	Stages included in the model
1	Neese (2015)	Descriptive	Idea generation and mobilisation, advocacy and screening, experimentation, commercialisation, diffusion and implementation
2	Trias and Kotler (2011)	Descriptive	Objectives, research, ideas, evaluation, development, lunch
3	Kamps (2013)	Graphical	Main innovation management process: Idea management, filtering, R&D, innovation controlling, patent management Supplementary process: Strategic management, customers marketing, production, market implementation, customers/market
4	Vaikuntam, Raja, and Ramachandran (2016)	Graphical	Model 1 Phase I (goal setting, project identification, project selection), phase II (research, development, production), phase III (diffusion) Model 2 Exploration (idea studies, pre-studies), process development (testing and modelling, pilot studies, plans trials), technology transfer (prestudies, preparation for production), production
5	Cormican and O’Sullivan (2004)	Graphical, descriptive, functional	Analyse environment and identify opportunities, generate innovations and investigate, plan project and select sponsors, prioritise project and assign teams, implement the plan
6	Hansen and Birkinshaw (2007)	Descriptive	Idea generation, idea conversion (including screening and funding), idea diffusion
7	Andrew and Sirkin (2008)	Descriptive	Idea generation (including development, testing, and evaluation), commercialisation and realisation (begins with the market launch and ends when the product or service comes to the end of its lifecycle)
8	Havlicek, Thalassinos, and Berezkinova (2013)	Graphical, descriptive	General process: Research, development, testing, production, commercialisation Process in SMEs: Looking for business opportunities, analysis of resources, innovation plan and decision
9	Vitezic and Vitezic (2015)	Graphical	Analysing the company to understand situation, idea generation and selection, idea realisation, implementation and launch, monitoring
10	CGMA (2013)	Graphical	Idea generation, idea selection, investment phase, launch, post-launch

Source: own development.

Figure 1. The innovation process.

Source: own development.

Table 2. Interviewees’ characteristics.

No	Age	Gender	Job position	Experience	Industry	Area of expertise	Length of interview	Sampling
1	38	M	Project leader	13	Chemicals	Prod	23:12	P
2	45	M	Senior management	21	Electrical machinery	Prod	29:55	P
3	35	F	R&D manager	10	Pharmaceuticals	Prod	14:16	P
4	28	F	R&D manager	2	Chemicals	Prod	19:06	P
5	64	M	Senior management	40	Pharmaceuticals	Prod/proc	21:16	P
6	38	M	R&D specialist	13	Pharmaceuticals	Prod/proc	17:48	S
7	37	M	Project leader	14	Pharmaceuticals	Prod/proc	21:33	P
8	47	M	Senior management	25	Electrical machinery	Prod	12:32	P
9	36	M	Senior management	9	Computing machinery	Prod	13:22	S
10	34	M	Project leader	10	Computing machinery	Mrkt	12:40	P
11	41	M	Senior management	3	Electrical machinery	Prod	13:42	S
12	40	M	R&D manager	18	Electrical machinery	Prod	16:23	P
13	43	M	R&D manager	20	Computing machinery	Prod	22:45	S
14	37	M	Senior management	14	Computing machinery	Mrkt	17:23	P
15	32	F	Senior management	10	Pharmaceuticals	Prod	19:39	P
16	58	M	Project leader	35	Chemicals	Prod	21:37	P
17	40	M	Senior management	16	Pharmaceuticals	Prod	14:11	P
18	32	M	Project leader	7	Electrical machinery	Prod/proc	25:01	S
19	50	F	Senior management	25	Computing machinery	Mrkt	18:57	P
20	33	M	R&D specialist	23	Electrical machinery	Prod	16:41	P
21	38	M	Project leader	16	Pharmaceuticals	Prod/proc	27:38	P
22	37	M	Project leader	13	Pharmaceuticals	Prod/proc	11:26	P
23	38	F	Senior management	13	Chemicals	Prod	15:46	S
24	37	M	Senior management	15	Electrical machinery	Prod	26:45	P

Source: own development.

M – male, F – female, prod – product innovation, proc – process innovation, mrkt – marketing innovation, P – purposeful sampling, S – snowball sampling.

Figure 2. Key components of the design and interactions within the innovation process.

Source: own development

Table 3. Key components of the design of innovation process.

Label	Definition	Description	Exclusion
Pre-preparation	Actions taken before the innovation process	Interviewee speaks about the actions taken before the actual innovation process begins and their impact on the process	Interviewee speaks about actions detached from the innovation process
	E.g. ‘Company determines all its activities based the on analysis of the market, thus we build also our innovation policy based on it’ (respondent 5)
Reproducibility	Procedures allowing the reproducibility of processes	Interviewee emphasises the importance of formalised procedures in repeating successful processes	Interviewee speaks about other formalised procedures
	E.g. ‘We are not interested in developing one innovation, we are interested in creating a system that guarantees a constant influx of innovation’ (respondent 2)
Information sharing	Sharing information between the parties involved	Interviewee stresses the role of sharing full and objective information in improving decision-making process	Interviewee speaks about publicly/company-wide available information
	E.g. ‘Both (testing procedures) are often performed simultaneously, which means that information flow needs to be instantaneous’ (respondent 18)
Control	Monitoring and control of the process	Interviewee underlines the benefits of innovation control system which allows modification of the process in response to deviations	Interviewee speaks about control mechanism detached from innovation process
	E.g. ‘Once a deviation occurs we need to be able to act straight away’ (respondent 7)

Source: own development.

Table 4. Key interactions in innovation process.

Label	Definition	Description	Exclusion
Outcome interactions	Interactions between the representatives of interconnected stages	Interviewee emphasizes the importance of one stage’s outcome in determining the success of the consecutive stages	Interviewee speaks about a stage’s outcomes that have no relation to the success of the following stages
	E.g. ‘We rely strongly on marketing research, otherwise you may develop a breakthrough innovation that no one pays for’ (respondent 16)
Resource interactions	Interactions between resource administrator and resource user	Interviewee stresses the role of mutual understanding in granting the resources and determining the level of autonomy	Interviewee speaks about non-negotiable resources
	E.g. ‘Although we are highly autonomous, we usually struggle to acquire the financing that we need’ (respondent 4)
External cooperation	Cooperation with the third parties	Interviewee underlines the significance of cooperation with universities, research institutes and other companies	Interviewee speaks about intra-firm cooperation
	E.g. ‘We cooperate closely with universities and research labs as it is cost-effective’ (respondent 8)

Source: own development.

Table

1.  How do you select projects to be implemented in your company?

- a formalised procedure is applied

- there is no formalised procedure

If there is a formalised procedure, how and at each stage of the process is it applied?

2. Does your company have formal research and development (R&D) department?

- yes, we do have dedicated R&D department

- no, but other department has similar functions (if this answer is selected, specify which department and what functions exactly)

- no we do not have any R&D department

3. To what extent R&D department depends on developed routines?

- there are no routines (each project is entirely autonomous)

- there are routines (R&D reproduce the previously developed solutions)

If there are routines, what is the optimal level of the routinisation?

4. Is information sharing inside the company, or with the external environment mostly exploited in innovation processes?

- only inside the company

- mostly inside the company

- both are equally important

- mostly with external environment

- only with external environment

Are there any formalised procedures to structure information sharing?

5. Is the selection of new product/technology/solution directions preceded by the environmental business analysis?

- it is always confirmed by the environmental business analysis

- sometimes/partially confirmed by the environmental business analysis

- it is not based on environmental business analysis

6. Is the selection of new product/technology/solution directions based on business strategy analysis?

- it is always based on the company's strategy

- sometimes/partially based on the company's strategy

- it is not based on company’s strategy

7. Does your company have any formalised testing procedures?

- yes we test mainly inside the company

- yes, we test both internally and directly on the market

- yes, we test mainly directly on the market

- no

Why?

8. Are there any features subjected to the control after new product/technology/solution introduction? Which features? Who controls?

- no control is carried out

- there is a control and includes among others:

9. Final success of a project may depend on the decisions made at its initial stages. When is your company's commitment to developing innovation the largest, in the initial or in the later phases of the process?

- the most attention is paid to innovations before and during R&D

- the most attention is paid to ready-made solutions during introduction to the market/implementation

Explain how the later stage representatives interact with the initial stage representatives

10. In the case of complementary and competitive projects what is the generally accepted approach in your company - is it better to introduce more small projects simultaneously or individual large one?

- it is better to introduce more small projects simultaneously

- it is better to occasionally run a project with a breakthrough potential

Explain what are the basis for making such decision

11. In the case of limited resources does your company focus more on launching new products/technology/solutions or on optimizing processes?

- resource administrator usually supports new products/technology/solutions

- resource administrator usually supports the improvement of internal processes

Explain what determines the decision of the resource administrator

Table

age	sex
position	seniority
company	area of expertise

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Vaikuntam, L., Raja, R., & Ramachandran, V. (2016). Innovative Process Development in Metallurgical Industry. London: Springer.

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Cormican, K., & O’Sullivan, D. (2004). Auditing best practice for effective product innovation management. Technovation, 24(10), 819–829. doi: 10.1016/S0166-4972(03)00013-0

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Hansen, M., & Birkinshaw, J. (2007). The innovation value chain. Harvard Business Review, 85(6), 121–130.

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Andrew, J., & Sirkin, H. (2008). Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

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Havlicek, K., Thalassinos, E., & Berezkinova, L. (2013). Innovation Management and Controlling in SMEs. European Research Studies, 16(4), 57–70.

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