Innovation management in the world under occidental dominance and in a new multi-polar world: a comparative perspective

This is a conceptual research study in the field of comparative management. For more than five centuries, the occident has been an economic, military, and cultural dominating force throughout the world, but now this long trend is reversing. Non-occidental countries are gaining momentum. China and India have become new world powers, anticipated to surpass the USA in economic might. The result will be global occidental dominance being replaced by a multi-polar world. The objective of this study is to conduct a comparison - focusing on implications to innovation management - between the world under occidental dominance and the new multi-polar world. This approach is novel in comparative management. This study points out that multi-polarity will broaden the foundation for innovation, thus, giving rise to new and different innovation. Multi-polarity will enhance both the demand for and supply of innovation. An implication of multi-polarity for practice is that in multinational corporations operating in more than one major historical cultural sphere, it will be exceedingly difficult to maintain a uniform basis for the legitimation of innovation.