Innovation strategy
The innovation strategy is a sub-category of the corporate strategy and is used to make decisions about the planning, feasibility, implementation and controlling of a company's innovation activities. An innovation strategy is typically developed on the basis of a competitive orientation as an "innovator" or on the basis of existing growth or sales deficits that arise in corporate planning due to the desired goals.
In contrast to innovation management , the innovation strategy describes the mostly long-term planning and orientation for achieving the defined innovation goals. The conceptual recording of all strategic elements through the development of new products and processes as well as the development of new target groups and markets with the help of innovations is covered by the innovation strategy.
Types of innovation strategies
Every innovation strategy consists of several elements, each of which has to be planned and formulated in an innovation strategy. Content-related decision-making fields of innovation strategies are e.g. B .:
- Type and degree of innovation
- Differentiation from competitors through quality or cost leadership
- Timing of R&D and market entry time for innovations
- Extent of technology and knowledge used to realize innovations
- Resources for innovation activities (make or buy, cooperations, open innovation )
Various types of innovation strategies can be derived from these decision fields, which are listed below.
The customer-oriented innovation strategies put the value of an innovation for the end customer at the center of consideration. Only those activities are pursued that help to understand customers better, to align innovations with customers and to be accepted by customers.
The market-oriented innovation strategies relate to the degree of innovation. The type and degree of innovations lead to the fundamental question of which product and service areas a company focuses on and on which markets they are offered with which degree of innovation.
The competitive innovation strategies determine the form in which a division of the company wants to compete with its competitors. These strategies answer the question of how a company differentiates itself from its competitors through innovations. With the competitive innovation strategy, the division tries to gain a competitive edge over its competitors .
In technology-oriented innovation strategies, the focus is on the use of technology that is required to implement innovations. Here it has to be decided which technology fields should be covered with what depth and breadth of expertise or with what use of resources in order to generate innovations.
The temporal delimitation and classification of the company and the innovations are determined within the framework of the time-oriented innovation strategies (see also time-oriented competitive strategy ). Within this strategic category, the questions of when and at what speed research and development are carried out and when innovations are introduced on the market compared to the competition are answered.
With the cooperation-oriented innovation strategies it is decided whether the innovation projects alone or with other companies z. B. should be implemented as part of a cooperation . The advantages of cooperation are that the cost pressure and the risks associated with the development of a product or service are shared. Complementary competencies and resources that one's own company lacks can also only enable innovation activities through cooperation with other companies that a company would not be able to undertake on its own.
Components of an innovation strategy
- The role of innovations
- The innovation goals
- The fields of innovation
- The basic type of the main innovations
- Platforms and Roadmaps
- The market entry strategy
- The procurement strategy
The innovation role qualitatively determines how the alignment of the innovation strategy should be designed. Innovation roles can e.g. B. Expanding or securing the market position. The innovation goals quantify what the innovation role dictates. There are basically three classes of goals: output goals that define the targeted result of the innovation activity, process goals that measure the efficiency of the innovation process, and input goals that quantify the planned use of resources for the innovation.
The definition and selection of innovation fields follows as a sub-strategy of the selection in which strategic business fields the company wants to be active, the phases of position determination, trend analysis and development of future scenarios. It is about focusing innovations on selected business areas.
For each innovation field it must be determined whether pure product innovations , pure business model innovations, combined product plus business model innovations or a mixture of the three types should be pursued as part of the strategy.
Common (technology, brand or business model) platforms should be defined due to the complex and often cost-intensive innovation projects in order to realize synergies . Roadmaps , as a project management tool, illustrate the rollout of the platforms along the time axis and the links between products and technologies.
The company can choose between two market entry strategies : It can enter the market as a pioneer ( first mover strategy ) and generate first mover advantages, or as an imitator it can pursue a cost-leader-oriented imitation strategy that often brings higher margins through lower costs.
The procurement strategy determines whether the resources and know-how required for the innovation project are to be acquired internally or externally. In times of the open innovation paradigm, innovations are often implemented in cooperative networks. That means: In addition to internal development, various alternatives for the procurement of external competencies and external know-how are used: from the acquisition and integration of start-ups through joint ventures to in-licensing.
See also
literature
- O. Gassmann, P. Sutter: Practical knowledge of innovation management: From the idea to market success. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2010.
- A. Gerybadze: Technology and innovation management: strategy, organization and implementation. Vahlen Verlag, Munich 2004.
- J. Hauschildt, S. Salomo: Innovation Management. 4th, revised, supplemented and updated Edition. Vahlen Verlag, Munich 2007.
- J. Tidd, J. Bessant: Managing innovation: integrating technological, market and organizational change. 4th edition. Wiley Verlag, Chichester et al. 2009.
- D. Vahs, R. Burmester: Innovation management: From the product idea to successful marketing. 3. Edition. Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag, Stuttgart 2005.
Individual evidence
- ↑ RC Wentz: The innovation machine. Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2007, p. 53.
- ↑ E. Geulen: Innovation strategy through the ages . In: L. Dietrich, W. Schirra: Innovations through IT. 2nd Edition. Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2006, p. 40.
- ^ W Müller: (2009): Innovation strategies - conception and best marketing practices. (= Research paper series. Volume 19). University of Applied Sciences Dortmund, Department of Economics, p. 9. ( fhdo.opus.hbz-nrw.de ( Memento from August 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ))
- ^ W. Müller: Innovation strategies - conception and best marketing practices. (= Research paper series. Volume 19). Fachhochschule Dortmund, Department of Economics 2009, p. 17 ff. Http://fhdo.opus.hbz-nrw.de/volltexte/2010/68/ ( Memento from August 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ RC Wentz: The innovation machine. Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2007, p. 53 ff.