Some people joke that every change is one or another form of innovation. Do You agree with them?
there are two types of innovation; (1) technological innovation and (2) non-technological innovation.
technological innovation usually either product-based or process-based innovation.
non-technological innovation usually referred to the innovation in marketing, although anything that is not technology is also referred in this category.
not all changes are innovation as some of them are just a continuous improvement.
innovation can be evolutionary or revolutionary, they should 'redefine' the process/product/etc in some ways.
Dear Arvydas,
In our latest paper, we argue that innovation can be about new processes that are introduced into a firm’s operations to enhance efficiencies or about new products and services that are introduced to the market to meet customer needs (Afuah, 2003). Innovation is also categorized as exploitative and exploratory innovation. Whereas
exploitative innovation builds on the firm’s existing knowledge base to improve its existing processes and products, exploratory innovation involves a shift to a different knowledge domain with the aim to adopt or create new processes and products
(Benner and Tushman, 2002).
Please see the following for more details:
Article: The Effects Of Geographic And Network Ties On Exploitative And Exploratory Product Innovation
Muammer Ozer · Wen Zhang
Full-text · Article · Apr 2014 · Strategic Management Journal
I would agree with what Mr Zaidi says about two sorts of innovation. I think technological innovation has had so much attention that I shall focus here on non-technological innovation, which does not involve science and technology as generally understood. If innovation is doing something that has not been done before, even if we refer to one’s firm, one’s workplace or one’s country, a number of examples can be cited. Take employee performance evaluation – in the past, assessment was done alone by the manager or by a person in a supervisory role. Today, in many enlightened or progressive organizations, we have what is known as 360 degree assessments where peers, subordinates and superiors are asked to give their opinions.
Whereas in the past, the managers were securely ensconced in air-conditioned offices or in offices with ceiling fans to keep the temperature down, and giving directives while seated comfortably on plush swivel chair, managers started to do what has come to be known as management by walking around – they went around to see what was happening on the factory floor or on the warehouse floor, and in effect taking corrective actions before things got worse. That is innovation. Another form of innovation is one in which the manager rolled up his/her sleeve and showed the employee how to do it rather than calling out what to do – I call that managing by doing it. As a technologist, I used to suggest some ideas to my engineers who would then go away and think about them, effectively sowing the germ of an idea; and they would come back with the same idea, now convinced it is theirs -- I did not care whose idea it was as long as the idea was pursued for the benefit of my company. Another form of innovation could involve the project manager writing some of the software code herself with other parts of the software being done by others – I think no one would object if I refer to it as “co-creating” or “co- writing”.
When I taught a heavy course in operations management and logistics (with lots of mathematics involved), I had as many as 300-320 students on the course. The innovation then did involve technology such as for example simulation of queues or of processes using computers. Later, when taught in small groups of no more than 25 students, I used a non-technology approach and started the class with a 10-minute test of the previous week’s class material. That was an innovation. I then decided that instead of assessing the tests myself, I would randomly hand out the tests to other students who would then assess another student’s work – this was effectively testing the students twice. I would then give the answers for the students to check against. That, I submit is innovation in small-scale classes. [I hasten to add that the testing necessarily entailed multiple-choice questions, which I am not enamoured of, but with five options to choose from making it a bit more difficult.]. For my Master’s level courses in technology and innovation, students were given sheets of paper with which to design and launch paper aircraft to see who could come up with a paper aircraft that could traverse the greatest distance..
In athletics using pacers to help star runners to break distance-running records can be viewed as innovation. In high jump, the Fosbury flop is an innovation, and first used successfully by the American Richard (Dick) Fosbury to win the gold medal at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 (7ft 4.25 ins = 2.24 m). Since then every high jumper has used that techniuque. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeLIqipjoxA
In cooking, the English celebrity chef, Heston Blumenthal used ideas from chemistry particularly physical chemistry to produce interesting new dishes; he would, use liquid nitrogen, for example. His contributions were recognised by the universities of Bristol, Reading and London who separately awarded him honorary degrees; he was subsequently made a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry.
I am convinced that anyone can be an innovator – you do not have to be a scientist or engineer; the humble gardener or that poorly paid cleaning lady can be an innovator, or that poor hungry child with no toys to play with, on some remote, under-developed shores far removed from the economically developed countries, can be an innovator, if only he or she or you will try.
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