Creating a market-oriented product innovation process: A contingency approach

This study analyzes how and why a firm's change program to create a market-oriented innovation process depends on its environmental, innovational and organizational context. Based on an organizational-learning capabilities framework, the results from a multiple case study indicate how a firm's change objectives, activities and approach are affected by this context. Whereas in low-tech firms a market-back approach with changes in organization structure and project management structure was effective, high-tech firms were more effective implementing a combined programmatic and market-back approach with changes also in philosophy and process management structure. The study contributes to theory by demonstrating that a firm's change program depends on its context and a one-best-way-fits-all change program is not feasible. It also shows that the change program could start with a coherent set of changes in structures, systems instead of starting with people's values and attitudes in order to change their behavior. The findings suggest that firms use a much more fragmented emergent approach to organizational change than the literature suggests. In addition, managers creating a market orientation in a key process – product innovation – need to use an approach different from a cultural change program as often advocated to change a whole organization.