Abstract:
Existing theories in the broad field of innovation management suggest that organizational
culture affects the propensity of firms to be innovative, in their new product development
offerings. A major thrust of inquiry implies that mature firms often lose their propensity to
be innovative, as some aspects of organisational culture that were previously associated
with successful incremental change, become the current cultural inhibitors of radical
innovation. Whilst a large proportion of the existing empirical research has concentrated
on incremental innovation or innovation management in general, there is little known
about the specific aspects of organisational culture that facilitate radical innovation.
Furthermore, the literature tends to focus on ‘innovation stories’ in larger firms which
often simply assume that smaller firms are more agile and therefore more innovative in
their approach to value creation. This paper reports the results of an exploratory case study
into specific aspects of an organisational culture within a R&D setting that enable radical
product innovation, in a small to medium sized UK based company in the tobacco industry.
A grounded research methodology and an action research approach utilised an “issue”
focus to surface the presence and intensity of cultural attributes that enable and inhibit
radical product innovation. This investigation identified nine emerging themes and key
constructs of a “local” innovation culture that were found to influence radicalness in new
product development ventures. The interrelationships between the themes are mapped and
discussed in the context of current theoretical perspectives in the field of innovation
management. Finally a conceptual framework incorporating two archetypal forms of
innovation culture is outlined to articulate and scope the transition between these two
“ideal” states.
