Global competition, shorter product lifecycles and increasingly demanding customers are creating significant pressures for the creation of innovative organizations. By examining eight case studies in various industry sectors in Europe, Australia, Japan and Thailand, this book provides a qualitative explanation of the complex relationships between innovation capability, e-commerce, sustainable development and new product development. The book explores how organizations develop innovation capability through the application of e-commerce, sustainable development-orientation, and new product development in order to gain competitive advantage. This knowledge will help managers, academics and policy-makers understand “what works, and why and how it works” in creating innovation-driven organizations from an international perspective, thereby providing an integrated approach to innovation management.

Contents:

• Development of an Integrated Innovation Capability Model
• Strategic Shift from Product Orientation to Innovation Solutions Capability in the German Biotechnology Industry: Sartorius AG
• Managing Strategic Change Through Mainstream and Newstream Innovation at Eurocopter, France
• Leveraging Innovation Capabilities at Caterpillar Underground Mining (UGM) Pty Ltd.
• Drivers of Innovation Capability at Sun Microsystems (SMS)
• Development and Exploitation of Innovation Capability at a Defence Project Engineering Company (DPEC)
• Drivers of Innovation Capability for Effective Sustainable Development: Best Practice at Vaisala
• Developing Innovation Capability Through Intellectual Property Strategy in the Australian Biotechnology Industry: Starpharma
• Development of Innovation Capability at Invincible Company in Thailand
• Multiple Cross-Case Analysis: Conclusions and Implications

“As organizations have downsized and worked on cost reduction for many decades now, and similarly improved their quality and service, they have generally achieved efficiency and process stability outcomes. The next battlefield that will drive the international competitiveness and business outcomes of organizations is innovation. This book, in a highly readable style, presents success stories of international “best” innovation practice companies, informing managers and management researchers “what works, why and how it works” in creating innovative organizations. I strongly recommend it to managers, researchers and lecturers in innovation.”

“Managers require knowledge on how to create new products, and how to identify and capitalize on opportunities to innovate. Sustainability has clearly begun to assert itself as a driver for innovation. This book justifies the need for continuous innovation based on qualitative evidence from several “best” practice innovative organizations in Australia, Europe and Asia that have effectively integrated sustainable development, e-commerce and new product development in their pursuit of innovation capability. This book demystifies the misconception of innovation as a technically-driven strategy and argues that innovation is the driving force for future survival of organizations. I strongly recommend the book to practitioners and academics.””

“Innovation is a complex process, one easily identified as being of critical importance for organizational success, yet not easily understood and managed. The book provides a good balance between rigor and relevance. Terziovski and his co-authors have developed easy-to-read case studies which have practical application at every level of the organization, and are theoretically ground in the innovation literature. I highly recommend this book to managers, professors and researchers.”