Innovation: Sources and Strategies

The process of innovation is inherently risky and unpredictable. There is, therefore, good reason to plan strategically for the implementation of the innovative process within the enterprise. Such strategic planning may help to minimise risk, ensure that a return on investment in innovation can be made, and enhance corporate chances of long‐term survival. This is the first of two linked articles on strategies for innovation and their implementation. The purpose of this article is to examine the strategic process of planning implementing innovation within the enterprise. It does this by analysing some of the major sources of innovative opportunity open to the enterprise, and considering some of their practical implications; examining three practical innovation strategies which are to be found in both large and small enterprises; and by outlining some basic prerequisites to successful innovation strategies.