The International Handbook on Innovation

Larisa V Shavinina

• Publisher: Pergamon
• Year: 2003
• ISBN:
  9780080524849
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Approx.1200 pagesApprox.1200 pages

PART I

INTRODUCTION

Understanding Innovation: Introduction to Some Important Issues

Larisa V. Shavinina

Département des Sciences Administratives, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada

Abstract: This introduction provides an overview of the multidisciplinary and multi-faceted research on innovation presented in the following chapters of this handbook. The main contents of each chapter are summarized, and approaches taken by chapter authors are described.

Keywords: Innovation; Creativity; Approaches to understanding innovation; Management; Business science.

Introduction

Most scholars and decision-makers will agree that innovations are necessary for individuals, groups, and society as a whole. There is also a consensus that human beings must advance in their study of innovation in greater detail. But there are a relatively small number of individuals around the world who study innovation. My goal in bringing them together in this handbook is to present a comprehensive picture of contemporary innovation research by integrating the quite diverse findings obtained by scholars from highly specialized and frequently remote disciplines, and to outline directions for further research, thus advancing the field. In choosing chapter authors, I was particularly interested in those new models, theories, and approaches, which they proposed. My deepest belief is that any handbook on any scientific topic should not only report the current findings in the field, but must also advance that field by presenting challenging new ideas. In one way or another each chapter in the handbook adds something new to our existing edifice of knowledge about innovation. This is the main merit of this handbook, which is international in scope, reflecting American, Canadian, Asian, European, and global perspectives. The chapter authors take a number of different approaches, both empirical and theoretical, reflecting a variety of possible perspectives and research methods aimed at understanding innovation. These range from case studies and autobiographical and biographical methods to experimental methods. I will briefly describe these approaches below. The handbook is divided into XV parts. The first part provides a general introduction to the work. Parts II to XIV, consisting of 69 chapters, represent distinctive, although sometimes overlapping, approaches to understanding innovation. The final part of the handbook integrates these approaches.

Part I comprises just the present chapter, Chapter 1, which sets the stage for understanding innovation. This chapter describes the various approaches used by authors of this handbook in understanding innovation and briefly summarizes the main contents of each chapter.

Part II of the handbook describes work aimed at the understanding the multifaceted nature of innovation, its basic mechanisms and its various facets. This part presents neurophysiological, psychological, philosophical, sociological, economic, management and business science perspectives on innovation. This part comprises 15 chapters.

In Chapter 1 of Part II, The Neurophysiological Basis of Innovation, Larry Vandervert describes for a broad audience how the repetitive processes of working memory are modeled in the brain’s cerebellum. He argues that when these models are subsequently fed back to working memory they are experienced as new, more efficient concepts and ways of doing things. As this process is repeated, the resulting degree of generalization (abstraction) increases. When multiple pairs of models are learned in working memory, they may give rise to sudden experiences of insight and intuition. To illustrate the working memory/cerebellar process of innovation, Vandervert walks the reader through three of Albert Einstein’s classic subjective accounts of discovery. This is the only chapter in the handbook, which sheds light on the neuropsychological nature of innovation. The neuropsychological foundations of innovation is a promising new direction in research on innovation.

Chapter 2, On the Nature of Individual Innovation, by Larisa V. Shavinina and Kavita L. Seeratan, introduces a fascinating theme, which also will be discussed in other chapters of the handbook from various angles. The theme is why some individuals are exceptionally able to generate new ideas, which lead to innovation. The chapter presents a new psychological conception of individual innovation. According to the conception, individual innovation is a result of a specific organization of an individual’s cognitive experience. This organization is, in turn, a result of the protracted inner process of the actualization, growth, and enrichment of one’s own cognitive resources and their construction into an unrepeatable cognitive experience during accelerated mental development. The direction of this process is determined by specific forms of the organization of the individual cognitive experience (i.e. conceptual structures, knowledge base, and mental space). The unique structure of the mind, which makes possible the creative ideas leading to innovation, is being formed on the basis of this process. The uniqueness of innovators’ minds expresses itself in objective representations of reality; that is, in their unique intellectual picture of the world. This means that innovators see, understand, and interpret the world around them by constructing an individual intellectual picture of events, actions, situations, ideas, problems, any aspects of reality in a way that is different from other people.

In contrast to one of the psychological understandings of innovation presented in Chapter 2, Dora Marinova and John Phillimore’s Models of Innovation, Chapter 3, reviews a number of models developed by economists, management and business scholars, sociologists, geographers, and political scientists that are used to explain the nature of innovation. Their overview includes six generations of models: the black box model, the linear model, the interactive model, the systems model, the evolutionary models, and the innovative milieu model. The authors view innovation mainly as a process leading to generating new products. Marinova and Phillimore analyze each model, its explanatory power and related concepts, and draw further research directions. A comprehensive review of the six models of innovation provides readers with a panoramic picture of the evolution of researchers’ views on the nature of innovation.

In Chapter 4, Evolutionary Models of Innovation and the Meno Problem, Thomas Nickles proposes a philosophical view of innovation. He presents universal Darwinism as a new approach to understand innovation. According to this approach, innovation is the product of blind variation plus selective retention (BV + SR) and is thus a kind of adaptation, that is, a selective-adaptive process. In Nickles’ view, accepting BV + SR enables human beings to recognize sources of innovation other than new ideas of creative and talented individuals. He, however, points out that the human design model is not entirely wrong, but it turns out to be based on previous applications of BV + SR.

Chapter 5, Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness: Its Implications for Understanding the Nature of Innovation, by Joseph S. Renzulli, is the chapter where an author was given an explicit assignment; in this case, to apply his well-known conception of giftedness toward achieving an understanding of innovation. According to the conception, giftedness that leads to innovation emerges from the interaction and overlap of three clusters of traits; high ability in a particular domain, task commitment, and creativity, and occurs in certain individuals, at certain times, under certain conditions. This is another psychological attempt to address the intriguing issue about where innovation ‘comes from’. Renzulli’s Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness focuses on creative/innovative productivity, which differs from academic giftedness, and is thus appropriate for understanding forces leading to the appearance of innovators.

In Chapter 6, Innovation and Strategic Reflexivity, Jon Sundbo presents a strategic innovation theory, which explains activities that lead to innovations in firms. His theory, in which strategic reflexivity is the core concept, is based on evolutionary theory. According to the theory, market conditions and internal resources are the drivers of the innovation process. Firms manage their innovation process and market position through the strategy. Reflexivity is considered as a process during which managerial staff and employees define their strategy. Sundbo presents case studies of innovation in service firms, which support his strategic innovation theory.

Chapter 7, The Nature and Dynamics of Discontinuous and Disruptive Innovations from a Learning and Knowledge Management Perspective, by Elias G. Carayannis, Edgar Gonzalez and John Wetter, discusses the nature and dynamics of innovation as a socio-technical phenomenon. Specifically, these authors analyze the evolutionary and revolutionary dimensions of innovation, that is, discontinuous and disruptive types of innovation, respectively. They claim, and provide evidence to support that claim, that the key to organizational competence for generating and leveraging discontinuous—and especially disruptive—innovations is in the individual and organizational capacity for higher-order learning and for managing the stock and flow of knowledge. This chapter is the first in the Handbook to introduce important topics of organizational learning and knowledge management and their growing role in the emergence of innovation. This role is so significant that it is generally recognized today that we live in a society, which is largely based upon a knowledge-based economy.

In Chapter 8, Profitable Product Innovation: The Critical Success Factors, Robert G. Cooper analyzes the critical success factors that underlie new product performance, relying upon his and other’s research into hundreds of new product launches, probing the question: ‘what distinguishes the best from the rest?’ Ten common denominators or factors appear to drive new product success, profitability and time-to-market. The chapter outlines these ten critical success factors, and notes the management implications of each.

Chapter 9, Types of Innovations, by Robert J. Sternberg, Jean E. Pretz and James C. Kaufman, describes various innovative forms, each representing a different kind of creative contribution. Based on Sternberg’s propulsion model of creative contributions, the authors present the following eight types of innovation: replication, redefinition, forward incrementation, advance forward incrementation, redirection, reconstruction, reinitiation, and integration. For example, a conceptual replication is a minimal innovation, simply repeating with minor variations an idea that already exists (e.g. when Mercury puts the ‘Mercury’ label on what is essentially an already-existing Ford car). Forward incrementations represent next steps forward in a line of progression (e.g. the 2001 version of a 2000 Ford car). Redirections represent a totally different direction for products that diverges from the existing line of progress (e.g. electric cars). The authors discuss these types of innovations and the circumstances under which they are likely to be more or less successful.

In Chapter 10, Problem Generation and Innovation, Robert Root-Bernstein further extends our understanding of innovation. Following Albert Einstein and many other innovators in the sciences and engineering, Root-Bernstein argues that problem generation or problem-raising is far more critical to innovation than problem solution, involving not just a thorough grasp of what is known (epistemology), but of what is not known (nepistemology). The key thesis of nepistemology states that we must know what we do not know before we can effectively solve any problem. People are creative and innovative only when they need to do something that cannot yet be done. Root-Bernstein explores strategies used by successful innovators to generate productive problems.

In Chapter 11, The Role of Flexibility in Innovation, Asta S. Georgsdottir, Todd I. Lubart and Isaac Getz, define flexibility as the ability to change, emphasizing that innovation encompasses different types of change. Innovation is essentially a science about change, so it is not surprising that ‘innovation’ is frequently considered synonymous with ‘organizational change’. The authors analyze different types of flexibility, particularly concentrating on adaptive flexibility (the ability to change as a function of task requirements) and spontaneous flexibility (the tendency to change for intrinsic reasons, to try out a variety of methods). The issue of how these types of flexibility are important at different stages in the innovation process is also considered.

In Chapter 12, The Effect of Mood On Creativity in the Innovative Process, Geir Kaufmann focuses on creativity aspects of innovation, discussing a recent stream of new research on the importance of mood and affect in the process of creativity. He addresses the issue of the effect of mood states on creative problem-solving as part of the process of innovation. Kaufmann criticizes the dominant opinion that there exists a positive causal link between positive mood and creativity. He analyzes research findings, which demonstrate that under certain conditions positive mood may in fact impair creativity, while negative and neutral moods may facilitate searching for creative solutions to existing problems. Finally, Kaufmann presents a new theory of mood and creative problem-solving and provides data supporting it.

Chapter 13, Case Studies of Innovation: Ordinary Thinking, Extraordinary Outcomes, by Robert W. Weisberg, presents another approach to understanding the nature of innovation. He challenges the existing view that innovation is the result of extraordinary thought processes, such as Wertheimer’s productive (as opposed to reproductive) and Guilford’s divergent (as opposed to convergent) thinking. Weisberg asserts that innovation is the result of the use of ordinary thinking process; creative thinking is simply ordinary thinking that has produced an extraordinary outcome. The author uses quasi-experimental quantitative methods to examine case studies of innovators in the arts and science to support his approach. A sampling of case studies includes Picasso’s development of his painting Guernica, Edison’s electric light, Mozart’s compositions, and the Beatles’ stylistic innovations.

In Chapter 14, Innovation and Evolution in the Domains of Theory and Practice, James R. Bailey and Cameron M. Ford claim that innovation appears when individuals produce novel solutions, and members of the relevant domain adopt it as a valuable variation of current practice. The authors assert that at the individual level, creative or innovative actions are adoptive responses to tensions between the person and situation. In domains such as the arts or sciences, person–situation tensions are best resolved by favoring novelty, whereas in domains such as business, the same tensions are best resolved by favoring value. Bailey and Ford employ a neo-evolutionary view of creativity to propose that these within domains tensions create intractable tensions between domains.

Chapter 15, E-Creativity and E-Innovation, by Keng Siau, is about developments in the field of artificial intelligence, which provide researchers another means of analyzing the creative process. The author reviews germane work and discusses the existing approaches to e-creativity and their application for understanding einnovation. He concludes that we can build creative programs, which have the potential to shape the future of innovation.

Although many of the above-mentioned chapters consider individual differences in innovation to some extent, Part III of the Handbook, Individual Differences in Innovative Ability, concentrates directly on this issue. This Part consists of one chapter, The Art of Innovation: Polymaths and Universality of the Creative Process, by Robert Root-Bernstein, that discusses individual differences in innovative ability, which are caused by human innovative thinking. The author takes an interesting approach to the topic: he focuses on polymaths, that is, those innovative artists who have made scientific discoveries, innovative scientists who have made artistic contributions, and those who bridge both sets of disciplines without claiming allegiance to one the other. Root-Bernstein argues that examples of such scientists and artists are unexpectedly common. He concludes that it is precisely those polymaths, that is, those people who incorporate modes of thinking belonging to many cognitive domains that are those most likely to become innovators. Root-Bernstein’s analysis of the most innovative polymaths leads him inevitably to the consideration of sciences–arts interactions from the viewpoint of their mutual contribution to innovation.

Part IV of the Handbook, Development of Innovation Across the Life Span, is aimed at understanding innovation mainly from the viewpoint of developmental psychology. It thus reflects developmental perspectives on innovation, showing how it develops in individuals from early years through late adulthood and until the end of the personal life. The developmental approaches to innovation explain many of the individual differences in innovation caused by the specificity of human development.

Chapter 1, Young Inventors, by Nicholas Colangelo, Susan Assouline, Laurie Croft, Clar Baldus, and Damien Ihrig, analyzes a special kind of innovation in children and adolescents, namely inventiveness. The authors briefly review the history of the study of young inventors. They further describe research on the young inventors who were part of the Invent Iowa program and who have been evaluated as meritorious inventors at local and regional invention competitions qualifying for the State of Iowa Invention Convention. This research revealed a wide range of important findings regarding perceptions of young inventors about the inventiveness process, their attitudes toward school, toward students, and an analysis of their inventions. It is interesting to note that boys and girls have equally strong interest and equal participation in inventiveness programs.

In Chapter 2, Exceptional Creativity Across the Life Span: The Emergence and Manifestation of Creative Genius, Dean Keith Simonton connects major innovations in the arts and sciences to the output of creative geniuses. He addresses the two main questions: “How do great innovators appear?”; and “How does their creativity manifest itself?”. Considering the first question, Simonton analyzes the early experiences that contribute to the development of extraordinary creative potential. Those factors include family background, education, and professional training. In order to address the second question, Simonton focuses on the typical career trajectory of great innovators. He discusses the ages at which geniuses tend to produce their first great work, their best work, and their last great work.

Chapter 3, Innovations by the Frail Elderly, by Tomas Heinzen and Nancy Vail, presents an exceptional approach to understanding innovation. The authors point out that the study of extreme, unusual, or unlikely populations represents one seldom-used yet insightful research strategy. In their opinion, non-normative populations can...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• About the Authors
• Preface
• PART I: INTRODUCTION
• PART II: THE NATURE OF INNOVATION
• PART III: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN INNOVATIVE ABILITY
• PART IV: DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATION ACROSS THE LIFE SPAN
• PART V: ASSESSMENT OF INNOVATION
• PART VI: DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATION
• PART VII: INNOVATIONS IN DIFFERENT DOMAINS
• PART VIII: BASIC APPROACHES TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF INNOVATION IN SOCIAL CONTEXT
• PART IX: INNOVATIONS IN SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
• PART X: INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
• PART XI: INNOVATION LEADERSHIP
• PART XII: INNOVATION AND MARKETING
• PART XIII: INNOVATION AROUND THE WORLD: EXAMPLES OF COUNTRY EFFORTS, POLICIES, PRACTICES AND ISSUES
• PART XIV: INNOVATIONS OF THE FUTURE
• PART XV: CONCLUSION
• Author Index
• Subject Index