General cybernetic model for innovation network management

Lately, due to intensive global competition, both academic and market society have paid more attention to concepts such as ‘open innovation’ and ‘innovation network’. To make a constructive literature review, at first, in this paper, theoretical aspects and literature of innovation network and its management are reviewed and examined. This review shows that most studies have limited their investigation and the development of the model to their particular views and applications. In other words, there rarely exist comprehensively and systematically framework developed in the literature. This paper emphasizes on the development of a comprehensive and systematic model for innovation network management. For this purpose, the literature is analysed and the related aspects and factors are classified. This led to the categories consisting of: building blocks of network management, managing innovation, dimensions of relational network, types of innovation and performance. Also, due to the complexity inherent in dynamic systems, management and control processes for innovation networks are often non-linear and hard to observe and control. In addition, knowledge about regulation, control and communication functions in any system is known as ‘cybernetics’ which is closely related to control theory and systems theory subjects. Finally, this paper by using cybernetics and assigning classified theoretical aspects toa general cybernetic model develops a comprehensive innovation network model.