The Impact of Innovation Management Techniques on Radical Innovation: An Empirical Study

While research in innovation management has provided many insights into specific aspects of innovation, the encompassing problems confronting general managers, especially managers of small and medium-size firms, have been overlooked in the development of innovation management techniques and tools. This paper analyses the way innovation management techniques (IMTs) influence innovation in firms. Specifically, this paper focuses on studying the role of IMTs in radical innovation. To this end, we propose a specific model of analysis, tested in a sample of more than 500 Spanish companies. Research results highlight that different sets of IMTs relate to radical and incremental innovation in different ways, and that therefore companies seeking radical innovation look for certain IMTs rather than others. This empirical study will help managers and practitioners to understand the role of IMTs in structuring radical innovation strategy, as well as researchers to focus on the role of such IMTs in innovation.