Strategy and Communication for Innovation

Companies that are experienced in open innovation integrate open innovation activities as part of their strategy. By contrast, open innovation research has not been adequately integrated into the strategy literature and vice versa. In this chapter, we discuss a number of existing strategy fields that offer inroads to connect open innovation to strategy. The need to connect open innovation to strategy is illustrated by describing how companies increasingly organize new business development projects through open innovation ecosystems where an increasing variety of partners do not only act as sources of innovative knowledge but also provide input to a joint strategizing process.

The most common question we get as researchers and practitioners is: how to instigate creativity in teams and organizations? Some managers are focused downstream, on the development of a product; others are focused upstream—such as how to start thinking big. However, managers often forget about the mid-stream process. In this chapter, we combine insights from scientific research with actual examples and case studies to identify specific stage-setting processes that leaders and managers need to take in order to keep the raft moving through the mid-stream rapids and get downstream, and finally ashore. We point out the key challenges at each point in the creative river and how to leverage the talents of the team and organization.

This chapter will first examine why open innovation is increasingly common. Rather than a mere spread of management know-how across the field, I argue that it is the increasing connectivity that results in plummeting transaction cost, which in turn, has driven the widespread adoption. I will then examine what principles an organization must adhere when building the collaboration platform for open innovation before reaping maximum payoff. The analysis leads to testable propositions for future researches.

Innovation failures happen when management neglects to follow a number of well-known innovation rules. This chapter reviews some of these rules and it identifies frequently found—root causes behind their non-observance. We will first focus on the non-respect of a critical strategy rule—the imperative need to anticipate and react to external changes—and a basic execution rule—the necessity to build integrated innovation process roadmaps. Failures also come from not abiding by the rules that determine technology leadership, product leadership and access to market, three combined conditions for innovation success. In most cases, the root causes are managerial. They often point to a disconnected approach between the technical and business sides of the organization resulting from a deficient innovation governance.

Open innovation describes innovation processes that span across the boundaries of organizations or research and development (R&D) departments. It integrates different types of innovators—regardless of their institutional affiliations—to generate creative ideas, innovation concepts and novel solutions. The purpose of this chapter is to describe underlying mechanisms and strategic options for realizing open innovation. It presents three types of innovators and their functions in innovation endeavors and introduces five classes of tools that facilitate open innovation. Finally, challenges and core tensions are discussed as a basis for the successful management of strategic open innovation initiatives.

In order to gain and maintain innovation capability, organizations have to adapt their profiles and processes to perpetually changing environmental conditions. However, the resulting need for a high degree of flexibility, which includes avoiding an information undersupply by being stable but inflexible, entails the risk of an information overload. Therefore, a balance between an organization’s flexibility and its stability is needed. Top Management Team (TMT) cognitive diversity seems to constitute a promising resource, which under certain circumstances can be turned into an organizational competence, allowing for a high but stable level of organizational flexibility. Employing insights from complexity theory and adopting agent-based simulation is suggested as a further research method in order to deduce underlying causal interrelations.

In this chapter, we argue for the overlooked potential of pairwise communication for innovation efforts in organizations. We review the research that documents that pairs outperform other team constellations when it comes to idea development and refinement. We describe how to setup and optimize such dyadic communication so that it can contribute to organizational innovation. In the chapter, we give readers a strategy to leverage teams of two for innovation efforts, and we show how managers can enable pairwise communication. Cornerstone of the chapter is a concise and instructive typology of creative pairs as well as guidelines for their setup, management, and transition. We conclude the chapter with an outlook on future research on dyadic communication for innovation.

Innovation is the most important driver of growth. In the digitalized information age, the way of innovating, however, has changed and attaining a better understanding of communication—as a critical factor supporting successful innovation—is exceedingly decisive to strategic success. This chapter answers the question: How can companies develop information communication designs to successfully carry on stakeholder dialogs for enhancing corporate innovation? The objective of this chapter is to present an agile method for communication planning and emphasize the importance of dialog communication in multisensory worlds to shape an authentic open innovation-culture. After presenting a theoretical approach of innovation communication management, this chapter focuses on communication planning and introduces an agile communication method related. In addition, the frame of this chapter Visual and Scent-based Communication describes a new form of communication in the digitalized information age.

Firms aim to foster open forms of innovation by collaborating with external partners, e.g., suppliers, customers or firms operating in foreign industries, in order to gain a competitive advantage. At the same time, there is no unique role model of how to realize the potential of open innovation in terms of systematically addressing the external resources. Based on survey data and multiple case study researches, we suggest that more attention should be directed toward a strategic application of innovation communication. We draw on open innovation literature and relational based view to investigate how distinct innovation communication assists a holistic (in terms of breadth and depth) open innovation approach. Our findings illustrate that firms can foster open innovation visibility, partner acquisition, and relationship management through systematic innovation communication. Furthermore, the results reveal how distinct aspects such as timing of communication during the innovation process, the communication channels and corresponding target groups constitute the idiosyncratic open innovation approach. The content of communication, however, is mostly similar to that of firms with a restrained open innovation approach. Accordingly, the findings of our study enhance understanding of how firms can benefit from distinct innovation communication in terms of open innovation.

In this chapter, a longitudinal case study is examined of Scanalyse, a technology spin-out company from an Australian university that grew from start-up to a global market position within a decade and was then sold through trade sale to one of its main competitors. The case provides an example of how a small innovative firm assesses the value of the economic rent it can secure from an innovation and the strategic decision-making and “pivots” it must undertake to create value. It also demonstrates the key role played by social capital, strategic networking, and word of mouth communication in facilitating the commercialization process.

Nowadays, innovations are crucial for nations, the progress of societies and the success of companies. But only if they are noticed and appreciated by people in their daily lives, employees, customers, experts, academics, journalists, and other opinion leaders, they can fully be effective. Therefore, communication management has to take into consideration, that the advantages of innovations can be re-evaluated from different points of view—employees worrying about their jobs, companies struggling for sustaining their competitiveness, or customers who mistrust products with the label “innovative”. It is the balance between facts and figures on the one hand, and emotions on the other, which is often neglected in internal and external corporate communication. The article presents a balanced framework for creating a communication strategy for innovations and discusses results of surveys from communication directors in the top 500 companies in Germany.

Innovation clusters continue to be an important focus of economic development policies in many nations. Leading innovation clusters demonstrate that regional concentration strengthens the innovative capability and can lead to successful competitiveness on a global level, as demonstrated by regions such as Silicon Valley (US), Cambridge (UK) and Sophia Antipolis (France). However the successful creation of clusters still presents a challenge to policy makers as efforts to do so regularly fail. The development of innovation clusters has therefore received much academic and policy maker attention. While past research has examined a variety of factors as drivers for clustering effects, the role of communication within the cluster—and, specifically, the role of key individual communicators—in underpinning successful cluster development has received almost no academic attention. In this chapter, we will draw upon the relevant literature to develop a conceptual framework that will underpin research on this important topic by investigating the role of communicators in innovation clusters. Building on communication theories, the framework suggests that there are four influence levels that shape and impact the role of communications in innovation clusters: the Individual Level, the Organizational Level, the Cluster Level and the Context. The interdisciplinary view on clustering effects contributes valuable insight to both communication studies and cluster theories. The framework developed within this chapter provides a structure to aid future research on the role of communicators within innovation clusters.

As innovation processes become accessible to consumers and other interested public parties in the sense of open innovation, innovation communication faces new challenges. The interface existing between internal and external commercial interests must be systematically coordinated in order to ensure that the development process is efficient and effective and that the developed innovation is successfully implemented on the market. Innovation communication plays a key role here in securing that the points liaising internal and external interests are integrated over the length of the innovation process. This is a complex task and involves coordinating communication objectives and publicity, integrating communication instruments and, not least of all, aligning the numerous target groups—from the research specialists in R&D to the Internet bloggers. This chapter uses impulses stemming from integrated communication to develop a phase-oriented concept for integrated innovation communication that is capable of guaranteeing a systematic coordination of the interfaces involved and providing a central support in promoting a satisfactory outcome for the innovation process.

The Competing Values Framework, a model for understanding paradoxical tension in an organization, can explain how managers help translate new ideas into actionable improvements to ultimately fit an organization’s culture and operations by managing tasks and culture. Middle managers’ central roles at the crossroads of defining culture, strategy, process and markets allow them to act as a fulcrum for leaders to pry people and systems toward delivering meaningful change, yet also serve as a lynch pin to hold organizations together amid stress. These managers play alternating roles, first as agents of change and then buffers to temper the same, internalizing competing values stress then forging its resolution. An ambidextrous ability to shift focus then de-focus through skillful communication can yield significant results.

In this chapter, we consider the relationship between effective leadership, communication, innovation, and creativity within organizations and teams. In a dynamic business world where innovation is a critical driver for competiveness and growth, we argue that closing the gap between ineffective and effective leadership and communication approaches matters. To assist, we provide two interrelated “tools” that can improve effective leadership communication practices at every stage of the innovation cycle—from ideation through to implementation. These lead to clear, open, and compelling communication interactions that underpin innovation and engagement at inter and intra-organizational levels. Our focus is on increasing the chances of successful innovation outcomes by using effective leadership and communication approaches, combined with “communication intelligence” and “fair process” involvement.

The continuous growth of the digital economy is redefining the way innovative companies are collaborating with external partners. We analyze the case of the technology driven companies which are at the forefront of this evolution that impact both the inbound phase of the collaborative innovation, to get new ideas, knowledge as well as technology, and the outbound phase of commercialization and adoption of innovative products and services.

The quest for customer-centricity drives top-management relationships with customers in business-to-business (B2B) markets. But the impact of executive engagement varies greatly across supplier–customer relationships. Based on exploratory field research, this paper develops a taxonomy of top-management–customer interaction roles. We also provide suggestions for leveraging senior executives for both supplier and customer benefit.

What is the inherent source of enterprise-generated future cash flows? While no firm wins forever in a market, dynamic capabilities allow an entrepreneurially managed firm to renew and leverage its difficult-to-imitate resources so as to gain competitive advantage in high-velocity environments. This chapter aims at presenting innovation communication as a dynamic capability from a strategic management perspective. After a brief literature on innovation communication, the dynamic capability of innovation communication is defined and its construct dimensions explained in detail. Second, the direct and indirect effects of innovation communication capability on company value are illustrated and propositions are set up to further develop theory. Finally, innovation communication is described as one of four communication fields in information–innovation management practice.

This chapter responds to the question “What are the strategic considerations in using social media platforms and open source practices such as crowdsourcing as tools in innovating organizations?” The following arguments are put forward in response to this question: (1) Organizations have moved from a learning to a sharing paradigm. (2) The most valuable organizational asset is social capital, accessible through social media and open source practices such as crowdsourcing. (3) Communicators have a role to play in accessing this social capital for purposes of innovation. (4) Changing conceptions of audiences underlie strategic communication planning. (5) Strategic planning for innovation must reflect the character of audiences fashioned by social media. In responding to this last question, the chapter explores seven characteristics of audiences that should be taken into account in planning for innovation and suggests theories that support a user orientation.

Large, established organizations fear disruption from large technology companies and startups alike. In trying to thwart this, they have explored several innovation approaches such as labs, acquisitions, and spinouts. Most have not succeeded often due to the impediments that traditional twentieth century corporate culture and organizational design bring. The Innovation Engine is a framework developed to overcome organizational impediments to innovation at scale. The framework has been derived from taking organizational design and processes from successful technology growth and mature companies and the learnings from their application in more traditional companies outside the technology industry.

The increasing demand for more agility and flexibility in innovation development projects also sets new requirements for market and user experience (UX) researchers. In this chapter, we discuss several challenges and issues inherent in the liaison between agile innovation development and the claim for user centricity. We outline one specific approach to agile market and UX research in the project field User Driven Innovation at the Telekom Innovation Laboratories. By introducing two different types of user researchers, the UX consultant and the UX tester, who are deployed in different stages of an innovation project and who operate in different working modes, we offer a hands-on solution based on experience for the issues described. Two short case studies exemplify more agile and flexible methods that are tailored for fast but yet profound market and UX research. We argue that Rapid Ethnography and the Customer Advisory Board are ideal for the new requirements mentioned. In conclusion, we list critical success criteria for user integration in agile innovation development projects.

For nearly 170 years, the foundation of Siemens’ success has been innovations that do not simply offer new ideas but instead disrupt the market in the form of new products, technologies, or services. Innovations ensure growth and competitiveness. The underlying ideas begin in the minds of individuals and are then advanced within Siemens in open development processes that follow the “Open Innovation” paradigm. Development is not everything, however: These ideas also have to be communicated. Therefore, a targeted communications strategy is crucial for success. The case study in this chapter shows how Siemens’ newly aligned Innovation Communications meets this challenge. The chapter follows the path from communications concept and its interdepartmental implementation to subsequent evaluation of the actions performed.

This article describes a company case from the ICT industry and illustrates how collaborative innovation involving several actors is realized and why communication plays a crucial role within this process. Taking a social structural perspective on innovation and communication, it becomes clear that meaning and reality, which are the prerequisites of novelties, are constructed in communicative interactions between companies and their internal and external stakeholders. Consequently, communication cannot be considered as an instrument of innovation management that might be used or dropped in different innovation phases like a tool. The theoretical perspective also underlines that innovation-related actions are influenced by structures: rules and resources enable, modify, and limit innovation actions. The Global Co-Innovation Lab Network (COIL) of SAP, analyzed in the case study, can be seen as a corporate, communicative resource due to its role as an interface between internal and external stakeholders of the company. It enables all parties involved to define framework conditions of a shared co-innovation project and to execute it. Structurally, COIL connects stakeholders across the globe, such as certified or potential SAP partners, users or internals, such as existing and potential units. Therefore, collectively shared structures, like co-innovation projects, are created. They are considered as a prerequisite for future innovation and communicative actions. Based on previous expertise and experiences, COIL helps to specify shared structured for each project and thus enables successful co-innovations.

Online Research Communities (ORCs) have ushered marketing research into a new era and are one of the fastest growing segments in the industry. ORCs offer a selected number of consumers a closed online environment in which they interact and co-create with the company not only in “one-off” projects but over an extended period of time. The approach distinguishes itself by the flexibility and diversity of market research methodologies that can be applied. In our case study, we describe the set up, live phase, and post-processing of the Vorwerk Thermomix Research Community. Over the duration of 3 weeks, Thermomix invited customers, who are also registered users of the brand’s official online receipe community, to participate in a moderated ORC. There were two major goals. First, Thermomix wanted to understand consumers’ “cooking journeys,” i.e., learn how they decide what to cook, plan their cooking, buy groceries, etc. Second, Thermomix aimed to co-create with its customers and develop new features and functionalities for the Thermomix recipe community which serves as a central meeting place for cooking enthusiasts and brand fans. In the study, we show how the ORC was designed to answer our research questions and what methodological benefits the method yields. Furthermore, we investigate the user types that contributed to the platform most and provide insights into how to boost activity levels on the platform. In today’s social media context, ORCs are a valuable tool for brands to connect with their customers and engage them in value creating activities. This chapter sheds light on this new research approach and unveils the potential of brand community members for insight generation and co-innovation.

This chapter describes the importance and integration of innovation in today’s art and design education, leading to radical changes in the curricula of the universities of fine arts. Modularization replaces not only the old system of master classes but opens the individual choices of subjects to a system of projects. Adding to this, the installation of nonconsecutive curricula integrating science and art as well as co-operative curricula between classical universities and art institutions offer new horizons in both creative as traditional industries and sciences. Another step is the installation of In- and At-House-Institutes acting as professional links between education, management and politics. All of these elements that have been developed within the past decade are described on the example of the Saar University of Fine Arts (HBKsaar) which was the first Fine Art University in Germany to be fully modularized. Creativity has, at last, gained high importance as a key issue of industrial and economic development, and the professional education in this field will acknowledge the creative entrepreneurship in both arts and design.