Powering product innovation

Cynthia Hardy and Deborah Dougherty

European Management Journal, 1997, vol. 15, issue 1, 16-27

Abstract: The ability to generate successful new products is vital for organizations to adapt to changing markets, technologies and competition. But many large, established organizations find, sustained innovation difficult. This study explores the role of power to show how it can both inhibit and facilitate innovation. Analysis by Cynthia Hardy and Deborah Dougherty shows that when organizational power is aligned with innovation, innovators can draw on the organization's competencies to develop viable new products. However, when organizational power is aligned against innovation, innovators cannot access these competencies, and must, instead, focus on protecting their new ideas from the anti-innovative context. They explore these implications by drawing on a study of 40 new products in fifteen firms. They then contrast two case studies of product innovation to explore the pro- and anti-innovation configurations of power, and to consider how the latter can be changed.

Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263237396000709
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eurman:v:15:y:1997:i:1:p:16-27

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/115/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... me/115/bibliographic

Access Statistics for this article

European Management Journal is currently edited by Michael Haenlein

More articles in European Management Journal from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().