Protecting multiple types of innovation

Engaging in multiple types of innovation with different time horizons and risk levels has been found to be important for organisational performance. However, organisations face particular challenges when they engage in more than one type of innovation such as radical, incremental, customer-oriented, and technological innovation. Typically, innovations with a greater likelihood of short-term success command greater attention and resources, frequently crowding out longer-term radical innovation projects. Management control systems, broadly defined  to include systems which manage the culture of the organisation, strategic plans, performance measurement and budgeting systems, have significant potential to influence the attention and resources directed to different types of innovation.

 

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