Managing Innovation within Networks

While innovations are constantly developing, firms still experience great difficulty in commercializing them successfully. Studies in the area have more often looked at innovations from the manufacturer's point of view and neglected the organizations who are to use the products. However, these networks are a vital part of the market-orientated development process; they can increase effective innovation and company profitability. This study analyzes new product development using a network perspective. It surveys current theories and offers practical guidelines with direct managerial relevance based on evidence collected from case studies. First introducing innovation and theories of product development, adoption and diffusion, it then places them in the context of industrial networks, investigating user-involvement, interaction and market strategies. From this it draws important implications for the managerial role.