OR as innovation
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EDITORIAL
OR as innovation In an increasingly turbulent and competitive
Figure 1: Stages in the innovation process
environment, it is something of a cliché to suggest that
Perception
organizations need to become more adaptable and
innovative if they are to succeed in the future. Product innovation is an obvious aspect of this requirement, but often just as important is innovation in organizational processes, which give rise to greater efficiency, cost savings, or the freeing of scarce resources to deploy on a broader range of activities. These innovations need not be of a large-scale, radical kind. Various researchers
Conceptualization
vague idea build support for idea decision to let project go ahead elaboration of idea project proposal drawn up
approval for project sought Development
have pointed out the significant contribution to
if
accepted then action plan drawn up definition of conditions of technical feasibility
consideration of commercial viability and organization
commercial success of small incremental innovations ¡n both products and processes.
Most if not all OR is aimed at incremental process innovation. The OR contribution may be to provide the innovation itself, such as a new decision support or
Operationalization
information system, or to provide analysis to help design
integration decision to proceed with innovation on a larger scale, or not
integration into everyday activities
of organization (investment in equipment, training, information
an innovation, such as an inventory reduction plan or reorganization. Product innovation within the OR
systems)
function leads to the provision of an enhanced service to clients, for example in offering techniques for forecasting or investment appraisal.
Much of the innovation literature is concerned with identifying the factors which influence an organization's capacity to innovate, usually based on empirical study of a number of innovation projects (for example: Lemaitre
The growing interest in organizational innovation has
and Stenier [130 innovations]; Marquis [570
led to a burgeoning literature concerned with the
successful management of innovation. Now this should be of great interest to operational researchers, because of the potential overlap of concerns with OR practice. The
innovations]). Lemaitre and Stenier's study identifies a useful list of factors to consider in each stage of the
innovation process, in particular the perception and
general management orientation of the innovation
conceptualization stages.
literature raises the real possibility of new insights for the OR practice as innovative activity. But conversely there
Perception
may be scope for exploiting OR expertise in a more
A key concern at this stage is the stimulation of an environment conducive to the generation, receipt and development of new ideas. Factors that help to create such an environment include: sufficient slack resources (information and time); ability to anticipate crises which call for rapid innovation; "newcomers" who can bring a fre
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