The process of innovation in five industries in Europe and Japan

The study examines the relationship between outside influences and the firm´s innovation process. A sample of commercially successful and unsuccessful R&D projects of a number of firms is discussed in terms of diverse market, resource, technical and organizational factors. The stimulus for a project, the sources of ideas used and the influences of competition and regulatory constraints were expected to vary among industries, and these differences are described. The authors suggest that their findings might be understood based on the evolution of a business from one having initially fluid and independent product and process technologies to one having a highly automated process technology designed for a specific standard product. Consequently, the relationship between product and process will shape and constrain the firm´s ability to innovate in response to a changing environment.