Project Team: Clare Flinders ([email protected]), Dr. Patrick Lynch ([email protected]), Dr. Mary T. Holden ([email protected])
This project is funded by RIKON’s Academic Research Unit.
The Project Aim
This project aims to centralise the management of innovation in the early stages of the new product development (NPD) process. The purpose of this project is to detail the critical episodes that enabled an SME to successfully overcome the barriers to managing new product concepts from inception and, in so doing, presents implementable guidelines that can be used by SMEs to manage the delivery of creative and attractive new product concepts in the early stages of NPD.
Methods
Participatory action research (PAR) was used to conduct this longitudinal study of overcoming the barriers to managing innovation in the early stages of NPD. PAR builds on the idea that knowing about the subject under investigation cannot be imposed but must evolve in a collaborative mode. This action-oriented model involved (i) diagnosis, (ii) a series of interventions and (iii) evaluation. These phases were underpinned by principles of reciprocal collaboration and active consultant-client relationships. This approach allowed the participants of the study to engage with their own theories of action (at an intra and interpersonal level) in relation to how they have been managing innovation within the early stages of NPD, before attempting a collaborative intervention for resolving their innovation dilemma.
Engagement Activity
This project has significant engagement with international hotel schools and with Fáilte Ireland and has the support of the IHF which is the key player informing the strategic direction of the critical hotels sector, and an important repository of data sources relating to the industry. Fáilte Ireland is a major source of information and insight into Irish tourism and hospitality and the project will build on existing knowledge bases within the national tourism agency.
Impact
A major outcome of the study is an integrated framework which allowed an SME to overcome the barriers to managing innovation, delineate the stages, stage procedures, and specific outcomes for each stage as well as key skill sets. To date, feedback from the case company supports the validity of our framework.
RIKON 2013.