Management of technology in traditional industries: A pilot-study in 10 Belgian companies

• Main Author: DE MEYER, Arnoud Cyriel Leo
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1983
• Subjects: Operations and Supply Chain Management; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5470
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Empirical Research about management of innovation has mainly been limited to the Anglo-Saxon world. In this paper the author reports on a pilot study, which is part of a larger project, in ten small and medium-sized Belgian companies, all of them active in rather mature industries. The study concerned aspects of idea generation, problem-solving, project selection, and some organizational aspects of the innovation process. An interesting hypothesis resulting from this study is that innovation is mainly an incremental process along a natural trajectory characteristic for the sub-industry to which the company belongs, and that the selection process is for the majority of these companies only a minor problem.