Jennie Björk

Ideation capabilities for continuous innovation

This paper explores ideation capabilities in large organizations. Based on the dynamic capabilities framework, it is seen that ideation capabilities are managerial and organizational processes for the stimulation, identification, selection and implementation of ideas. In order to explore how these capabilities are manifested and used in firms, case studies of four Swedish companies have been performed. The results of the study show that there are different approaches to ideation. In terms of the nature of innovative ideas, the observations lead to the suggestion that ideation presents some seemingly paradoxical issues to management. Firms with an explicit focus on building ideation practices experience that there are some negative consequences of the resultant formalization. Furthermore, the extent to which many employees should be involved in ideation is a difficult aspect, even though new technologies make this more viable. Also the degree to which the search for ideas should be directed is a non-trivial question, as the ideation processes can be facilitated by both freedom and limitations. It is nevertheless seen that firms can benefit from more deliberate approaches to ideation, in particular if these are broad and balanced and focus on both building capabilities that formalize the informal, in terms of establishing explicit processes, roles and systems, and building capabilities needed to manage informal structures in new ways.

Ideation Capabilities for Continuous Innovation

This paper explores ideation capabilities in large organizations. Based on the dynamic capabilities framework, it is seen that ideation capabilities are managerial and organizational processes for the stimulation, identification, selection and implementation of ideas. In order to explore how these capabilities are manifested and used in firms, case studies of four Swedish companies have been performed. The results of the study show that there are different approaches to ideation. In terms of the nature of innovative ideas, the observations lead to the suggestion that ideation presents some seemingly paradoxical issues to management. Firms with an explicit focus on building ideation practices experience that there are some negative consequences of the resultant formalization. Furthermore, the extent to which many employees should be involved in ideation is a difficult aspect, even though new technologies make this more viable. Also the degree to which the search for ideas should be directed is a non-trivial question, as the ideation processes can be facilitated by both freedom and limitations. It is nevertheless seen that firms can benefit from more deliberate approaches to ideation, in particular if these are broad and balanced and focus on both building capabilities that formalize the informal, in terms of establishing explicit processes, roles and systems, and building capabilities needed to manage informal structures in new ways.

Idea management systems for a changing innovation landscape

Over the last few decades, the nature of innovation has changed from being primarily related to incremental product innovation towards more business model innovation, discontinuous innovation and open innovation. These changes impose new demands on the ideation phase of the innovation process and on idea management systems. This article explores what an idea management system that handles some of these different forms of innovation ideas may look like. The studied idea management system differs from previous typologies in that it is dual, i.e., aiming to generate, evaluate and select both continuous and discontinuous innovation ideas and employing different processes and criteria within the same system.

Knowledge Domain Spanners in Ideation

Ideation is increasingly receiving attention as a management issue, and we can at present witness the emergence and diffusion of a range of different proactive approaches towards ideation. This dev ...

Exploring the incorporation of users in an innovating business unit

The importance of user involvement has long been stressed in the innovation management literature. However, we argue that this literature does not take sufficient account to the employment and inco ...

Turning ideas into innovations – introducing demand-driven collaborative ideation

Web-enabled tools for ideation are becoming increasingly diffused in companies, but their true impact on innovation performance has been questioned. A factor that can explain some of the so far missing performance of these firm-internal systems for ideation is a lack of attention to the demand-side of ideation. Frequently, the focus of ideation is put more or less unilaterally on the supply-side, with the aim to generate as many or as good ideas as possible, instead of focusing on innovation needs. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse demand-driven collaborative ideation, with a particular emphasis on its management aspects. In order to empirically investigate how to manage this new approach to ideation, a case study of Ericsson, a Swedish multi-national corporation, has been performed. The results highlight that incentives, visibility and resources are three main components of demand-driven collaborative ideation and outline key challenges with this new approach to ideation.

Ideation High Performers : A Study of Motivational Factors

As innovation today is one of the keys to success for firms, creativity among employees becomes an important asset and the understanding about what motivates employees in ideation is consequently of high interest. This article addresses differences in motivation among high and low performers in ideation and contributes to existing theory by enhancing the understanding about what characterizes motivation among ideation high performers. The empirical data used in the article is based on a study performed at a multinational consumer goods company with headquarter in Sweden, surveying employees’ performance, motivation, and their preferences toward collaboration and competition. Among the key findings is the possible combination of collaboration and competition mechanisms as a motivating means in firms’ ideation management.

How do RaD employees use their social networks to acquire user information

Purpose - This article aims to investigate how R&D employees use their social networks to acquire user information and how this information is used in the development of new products.Design/met ...

Establishing and managing a network for continuous innovation: Invoking organizational pressure

Social networks in organizations have been identified as important both in terms of increasing our understanding of innovation and for organizations to realize innovation outcomes. While previous studies have informed us of the importance of networks for innovation, we know little of how companies intentionally can design and utilize networks to achieve continuous innovation. The aim of this paper is to explore how a network for continuous innovation can be established and managed. A longitudinal case study has been performed using data covering the establishment and subsequent management of a network for supporting continuous innovation, spanning the product management and R&D department of a large multinational company. The results reveal the potential to use intra-organizational networks to invoke organizational pressure conducive for making innovation happen. This pressure is induced by autonomy and self-organizing in the network and consists of reciprocal expectations and demands between the top (management) and the bottom (employees involved in the network) of the organizational hierarchy. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.