The Lost Link: Why Successful Innovation Needs Sound Project Management

To function in an effective way, organizations must learn the principles of successful innovation that will fit their environment and mission. However, having the best and most innovative ideas is not enough. Successful innovation requires setting up well organized and well run projects that will put things in place in the most effective and efficient way. While the research literature on innovation management is rich and developed, there are very few studies on the linkage between innovation management and project management. The goal of this paper is to provide new and practical insights on the problems of innovation and how these problems can be resolved with proper project management that will fit the situation, problem, and the specific organization. Our premise is that managers must learn how to adopt the right project and its management style to the specific type of innovation, environment, and organization. We will address a wide spectrum of different innovation types, including the traditional distinctions of incremental or radical, and up to more modern concepts such as Roger´s product adaptation model and Christensen´s innovator´s dilemma. In each case we will create an integrated approach to the problems of how to put the right project in place for the specific type of innovation or initiative.