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Prior research has proposed five conditions that support corporate entrepreneurship: rewards, management support, resources including time, organizational structures (at the macro level), and risk acceptance. This article investigates the sufficiency [...]

Many studies have been performed previously to investigate different theories of motivation and, more specifically, how to motivate technical professionals. The problem with these studies is that they consider groups of scientists, engineers, or technical professionals as a whole or 'on average,' despite the fact that not all technical professionals are the same. One particular set of individuals--technical visionaries--is a key driver of technical innovation and new product development within technology-intensive organizations. While the literature intimates the existence of these highly innovative individuals in industry, technical visionaries have not been investigated in a systematic manner. Through in-depth interviews with 24 technical visionaries, identified as such by managers in their firms, this study identifies what methods are used in industry to motivate these exceptional individuals, what works and what does not. Our results show that technical visionaries are first and foremost motivated by internal factors, including the desire to see their ideas become a reality, and enjoying working 'on-the-edge,' and innovating. While many aspects of standard incentives and reward systems used to motivate technical professionals in general are also motivating for technical visionaries, these results indicate that they are motivated by additional factors not generally discussed in the literature. Index Terms--Incentives, innovation, motivation, technical visionaries.

This paper considers the upstream flow of product attribute forecast information often used to drive the technology planning process. It is noted that, while downstream customers are willing to pay for improvements in key product attributes, they do not always provide accurate and timely product attribute forecasts to upstream suppliers. As a result of this increasing distortion of product attribute demand as information flows upstream, upstream suppliers often either fail to develop technology that will be needed in the marketplace or develop technology that ultimately is unused. This is shown to be a strategic, technology planning analog to the tactical, order decision problem of order quantity bullwhip observed in the field of supply chain management. As such, we define the technology planning problem under consideration here as 'product attribute bullwhip' Based on solutions employed to address order quantity bullwhip in supply chain management, we propose a methodology to reduce product attribute bullwhip by comparing product attribute information obtained directly from the end user with that which flows upstream through the supply chain. To illustrate this effect, we apply the proposed methodology to an example from the wireless communication industry by comparing trends in the perceived value of cellular telephone handset face area with trends in the perceived value of face area observed at the component level of the supply chain. Index Terms--Product attribute bullwhip, supply chain management, technology forecasting, technology planning, technology roadmapping, value.

The SAILS methodology is considered to be a systematic approach to investigate the areas that provide insight into the existent or potential disruption. It is difficult to predict the purpose of disruption for technology roadmapping.

Edmund Phelps ('Economic Justice and the Spirit of Innovation,' October 2009) wrote with insight regarding the 'morality of the marketplace.' Having spent the past seven years studying--with Abbie Griffin (University [...]

Byline: Raymond L. Price, Abbie Griffin, Bruce A. Vojak, Nathan Hoffmann, Holli Burgon More than improving today's business, breakthrough products can transform business, creating positive transitions into the future. However, these projects can have trouble gaining acceptance into the firm's development pipeline. Fortunately, some individuals in some organisations have come to appreciate how embracing a firm's politics can facilitate first a breakthrough idea's acceptance into development, and then the development of that concept into a commercial product. If innovators became more aware of the political actions that contribute to successful project acceptance and became more capable of motivating and taking such actions, perhaps more breakthrough products would be developed. The role of politics in product development practices has been identified but rarely explored deeply. This study addresses this gap by generating an understanding of the political actions that benefit New Product Development (NPD) practices. We identified and interviewed 19 serial innovators about their innovation processes across diverse, mature corporations.

For over 25 years, research on innovation has taken the perspective that new product development can be managed like any other (complex) process. In sharp contrast to this process view, we reframe the problem by exploring a people perspective on innovation, focusing on the cutting-edge serial innovators who repeatedly create and deliver breakthrough innovations in large, mature organizations. These employees are powerhouses who solve customer problems and contribute substantially to their firm's financial value. In this paper, we provide an overview of who serial innovators are and how they develop novel products; we also share insights about how to better understand, emulate, enable, support, and manage these unique individuals for long-term corporate success. INSET: The Study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]